Fight for Her (8 page)

There was so much unspoken between them. Something about the darkness of the cabin, the stillness of the air, the time of night.

Everything that had gone on between them seemed to warrant this moment, this action.

Gunner took her in his arms, lifted her like a feather, and brought her to his bed.

He laid her down, still kissing her as they went, with him on top. The muscles in his arms stood out in stark relief as he held himself above her, his lips kissing slowly down her neck.

She moaned as the heat went through her.

She felt along his deltoids, letting her hands explore his exquisite body, touching his tattoos. He stopped kissing her for a moment and watched as she ran her fingers down his chest and abdomen. His stomach was hard, rippling with tightly coiled muscles—something she’d never imagined being possible outside of a cartoon version of a superhero.

But Gunner was like a superhero come to life. She couldn’t believe the texture of his skin, the sheer perfection of it.

Touching him made her wet.

And then when he touched her back…it was an explosion of ecstasy, better than she ever could have wanted.

“Oh God,” she moaned, as his hands caressed her bare legs, pushing the t-shirt he’d given her slowly up her thighs.

“Your skin is so soft,” he whispered. He looked into her eyes as his hands continued moving slowly up her legs. “I could touch you like this for the rest of my life and be happy.”

She smiled, touching his cheek, feeling his light beard stubble against her fingertips. “I wanted you to touch me like this. I kept wanting it and thinking I was being crazy.”

“You’re not crazy,” he said. “Far from it.” And then he was kissing her with renewed passion, and his hips were grinding against hers, his pelvis pressing into her.

She wasn’t wearing any panties, and he’d managed to push her shirt up to the very top of her thighs.

All that stood between them now were his boxer shorts.

Krista reached down and started to pull on them. Slowly, they came down from his hips and she closed her hands around his muscular butt, feeling him thrust towards her. She reached her hand in front to feel his hardness.

It was bigger than she would have guessed, throbbing and pulsating in her hand.

As she stroked him, he got even harder and bigger.

“I didn’t expect you to be
this
big,” she said. “You’re huge.”

He closed his eyes and breathed faster as she continued stroking his shaft.

Krista was soaking wet between her legs.

As she stroked him, Gunner reached his hand between her thighs and slowly rubbed her wetness. It was slick and ready, opening for him as he gently and firmly rubbed his fingers in a semi-circular fashion.

“Are you ready?” he asked.

Their gazes locked once more. There was no need for an answer.

He knows just from looking at me
, Krista thought, and laid her head on the bed, as Gunner pulled the t-shirt the rest of the way off her body.

Now she was totally naked and vulnerable before him.

He cupped her breasts in his hands and kissed along her neck, and then she felt him pressing his hips down against hers once more.

This time, his manhood was also pressing, pushing against her opening, sliding ever so slowly in and in and in.

She grabbed his shoulders, gripping his flesh as he split her open with his girth.

It was beautiful, ecstatic pain, but the pain was like a bright burst that lasted only a short moment as she accommodated herself to his immense size.

And then everything was wet and tight, but not painful in the least.

Gunner moved his hips ever so slowly, and each movement was another burst of pleasure through her center.

Krista cried out, raking her fingernails down his heavily muscled back.

Gunner looked at her. His eyes held her gaze as her breathing quickened. She was going to come now, and there was no stopping it.

He was fucking her slowly, expertly, and not one ounce of movement was wasted.

She came twice in a row, hard, biting down and bucking her hips into him. He was a solid wall of muscle, immovable, completely able to handle her in every way.

She’d never felt so safe while being with a man. His strength was like nothing she had even imagined before.

Gunner kissed her on the lips again, teasing her, and then drilled himself deeper between her legs.

She lost her breath.

He was drilling into her, splitting her wide open, and she threw her legs apart as far as she could, allowing him room to move himself.

Soon, he was sliding in and out, his hips furiously pounding at her. She came once more.

She was soaked with sweat and so was he. But she could also feel that he was getting closer and closer.

“Gunner,” she whispered, and he grabbed her hair with one hand and her hip with his other, as he started to slide in and out with passion and fury.

“I’m close.”

“Do it for me,” she told him.

He slid his lips down to her collarbone and pressed deeply into her one final, shuddering time.

***

Krista woke up first the next morning.

They’d slept together in his bed, naked, their bodies intertwined, and it had felt like the most natural thing in the world.

Until she’d woken up and early rays of sunlight had been pouring into the room through the window, and suddenly it didn’t seem so natural.

In fact, it seemed downright strange.

He was sound asleep, so Krista untangled herself from his heavy limbs and slid out of bed. She tiptoed into the bathroom, turning on the shower and waiting for it to get hot while she looked at her face in the mirror.

You slept with Gunner King, she thought, staring at herself without comprehension.

You slept with him and he has no idea who you really are. That’s not okay. In
fact, it’s way beyond not okay. It’s almost evil.

Krista thought about the things he’d told her, the personal stories he’d revealed.

If he knew what her real agenda was, he would be incredibly betrayed.

And yet, her feelings for him were real. She was starting to care about him a lot, and it seemed the feelings were mutual.

There was no obvious solution to the problem, so she simply climbed into the shower and washed off. She was hit with alternating waves of excitement and dread.

At some point, she was going to have to confront Gunner with the real reason she’d come to Middle River, and then he would, in all likelihood, hate her forever.

The question wasn’t if she would tell him, but simply when and how. What was the best way to do it? Was there something she could do to show him her true feelings?

As she dried herself off, Krista thought that maybe the best way to do it would be to call Drew Ellis and quit her job. Once that was done, she would tell Gunner that she’d worked for the UFF but had now quit. She’d tell him that she’d panicked and made a mistake in being untruthful in the beginning.

It would be painful, but maybe he would slowly see what she’d given up for him.

Of course, it was also very possible—even likely—that she would lose both her job and her man.

Krista got out of the shower feeling more stressed than when she’d gotten in.

Sleeping with Gunner had been a huge mistake, she realized. It would make the whole thing seem more sordid when she told him the truth.

But when she came out of the bathroom, she found him on the phone with someone, pacing the cabin in his boxers. “Really? You sure?” he sighed, shaking his head. “Okay. But later today or tomorrow morning at the very latest, right?”

She wrapped the towel tightly around her torso as she continued out, and watched him pacing and talking.

He hung up his cell and then glanced at her. “Hey,” he said, and broke into a wide smile.

Immediately, she felt more assured. There was the connection she remembered.

It was strong and real. It would survive the truth. It had to.

“Hey,” she said in return. “Everything okay?”

“Well, depends on how you look at it.” Gunner ran a hand through his hair.

“That was Ryder. He said your car had a few problems that are going to take him longer than anticipated to fix. He had to order a new part.”

“Oh, no,” she said. “That’s not good.” In reality, she knew that whatever the cost, it would be dealt with by the UFF and wouldn’t be an issue for her. But she couldn’t act like it meant nothing—that would have been suspicious.

“I’m sure it’s no big deal. Ryder said the car should be ready later today—

tomorrow at the latest.”

“Tomorrow?”

His smile faded a little. “Is the thought of hanging with me another day that horrible?”

“No, no. It’s not that. It’s just…well, I need to get back…”

“I can drive you back to Boston if you want,” he said. “Do you have class or something?”

She shook her head. “It’s no big deal. Honestly, I’m just being silly.”

He watched her curiously. “Something’s wrong. What is it?”

She looked at him.

Just tell him. Tell him now.

But she couldn’t. She needed to call Drew Ellis first, quit her job. She needed to make a statement so that Gunner would believe that she wasn’t just playing him.

She imagined herself telling Gunner.
I used to work for the UFF, but I quit. I
chose you over them. And I’m sorry I lied to you. I made a huge mistake, but I was
willing to sacrifice everything to make it up to you.

Would it be enough?

She didn’t know, and she was scared to find out.

***

About an hour later, they were sitting down to breakfast at The Middle River Inn, and Cole was pouring them each a cup of coffee.

The place was busier than usual. “Sorry, I can’t do small talk today,” Cole apologized. “We actually have customers for a change.”

The ding of the bell from the kitchen caused him to turn abruptly and leave without either of them even having a chance to say anything in reply.

Gunner laughed and shook his head, sipping his coffee. “Cole’s a good guy.”

“What’s his story, anyway?”

“Funny you should ask.” Gunner lowered his voice. “He and his brother Caden were New York firefighters. They were in the towers when the shit went down. They just barely got out in time.”

Krista gasped and put a hand on her chest. “That’s horrible.”

He nodded. “Yeah, it was rough. After that, they both stayed on for a couple more years, but it was all too much. Too many memories, too many ghosts, you know?”

She looked down at the table, shaking her head with disbelief. “They seem so happy. I never would have guessed.”

“They decided to start fresh. So they moved here about seven or eight years ago and started this restaurant. I think it suits them pretty well.” He took another long sip of coffee.

“Are either of them married?”

“Nope. Both single. We should do one of those auctions where they put single guys up on the stage and the highest bidder gets a date with them. Caden and Cole would net a bunch of dough for some charity, don’t you think?”

“Definitely.”

Suddenly, a boy about thirteen years of age came over to the table with his dad.

“Excuse me,” the boy said, “but are you Gunner King?”

She assumed that Gunner didn’t like this sort of thing, but surprisingly, he smiled warmly at the boy. “I am.”

The father interjected. “My son is a huge, huge fan. Any chance I could take a picture of the two of you together?”

“Absolutely,” Gunner said. He slid his chair back.

The dad took his cell phone and prepared to take a picture.

Krista, seizing the brief opportunity, took out her own cell phone and quickly pulled up Drew Ellis’s number. Then she tried calling him.

A few other people had gathered around Gunner and were asking him questions.

He was even signing an autograph or two.

This was the perfect time to call Drew and tell him she was done working for his company. She felt a sense of relief, realizing that somehow she’d lost herself in trying to prove her worth to him. Meanwhile, he was never going to truly be impressed with her, no matter how hard she worked.

Drew Ellis was only out for himself. He played a zero sum game and everyone else always lost.

Well, she was going to tell him what she thought of his business practices.

Except that her call kept going straight to voicemail.

So just do it on a message, she thought. Tell him to go screw and be done with it.

But somehow that didn’t seem right. Then she would be almost as bad as him. She wanted to say it to his face—or at least to his voice.

Gunner was finishing up with his fans, so Krista texted Drew Ellis and told him to call her back as soon as possible. Then she put her phone away, as Gunner sat back down.

“Sorry about the distractions,” he said, watching as the small crowd dispersed.

“It’s totally fine.”

“Funny how people are,” Gunner said, smiling a little. “I’m aware that most everyone thinks I’m a total coward for pulling out of this fight. But in real life, everyone around here treats me with nothing but respect. They don’t say all that nasty shit to me.

It’s only on the Internet that people are calling me a loser and all of that nonsense.”

Krista realized that she’d been operating off the assumption that people would be treating Gunner disrespectfully, but in actuality she was seeing that regular folks were happy to get an autograph or a picture—they appreciated him.

Maybe she’d been wrong about a lot of things. Maybe his legacy wouldn’t be destroyed simply because he had walked away from one fight.

One poor decision didn’t define anyone—not even her. Maybe Gunner would appreciate that more than most.

Cole brought their breakfast over—hash and eggs for Gunner and a broccoli and cheese omelet for her.

“So when your car finally gets repaired and you go back,” Gunner said, after a few bites of his meal, “will I see you again?”

Krista looked at him, surprised that he even needed to ask. “Of course. You didn’t think I’d want to see you again?”