“Ride me,” he whispered into her mouth. His hands guided her as she took him in deeper. She heard a groan, long and gruff, and realized it came from inside her.

His body moved in time with hers. She pressed and he pushed. The bounce of the cushion underneath him added to the friction. Her breath came out in pants with each plunge inside of her. Every cell went wild. She felt his body around her, in her. His mouth traveled over her. There wasn’t an inch of her he didn’t touch or caress. And when his tongue licked over the lump in her throat, she lost it.

The shaking started at her toes and worked its way through her to her head. Every part of her cried out for more as she leaned back and felt him reach even deeper inside her. Her body began to buck then. All the tightness unwound and her thighs clamped against his.

As the orgasm roared through her his hold tightened. He curled into her until his mouth touched her neck and his head tucked against her hair. It was as if the shaking transferred from her to him. The quake rocked his body as a harsh moan escaped his lips.

She didn’t even know he had them sitting straight up until he dropped back against the cushion, taking her with him. The move shifted his cock inside her. Already sensitive from the first round, her body thumped at the increased pressure. Every move was magnified, and intense pleasure washed through her. The trembling had stopped but tiny tremors still pulsed inside her.

“Damn.” He sounded more in awe than anything else.

She surrendered to the sudden weightlessness of her bones and cuddled against him. “You got that right.”

There she stayed. With other men, at other times, she’d get up, satisfied, and walk away. Not let the moment be a big deal or let it show if the sex touched her. With him, she couldn’t move. Since he didn’t seem ready to race around the forest either just yet, she didn’t bother to play the well-that-was-good-but-it’s-over game.

“I don’t think I can move.”

His arm fell heavy over her back. It was reassuring to know the sex affected him as much as it did her. He wasn’t pretending to be all he-man and bored.

She leaned back just enough to peek up at him. “So, were you able to watch the door the whole time for intruders?”

“Hardly.” His chuckle, low and deep, vibrated through both of them. “I’m pretty sure I lost the ability to see at all there for a while.”

“I guess this will make you rethink your no-sex-on-the-job position.” She hadn’t meant to say that, but it slipped out. No way to call it back now. Whatever smartass thing he said next, she deserved. She’d opened the door.

“No.” His face grew serious. “Unless the job is you.”

The words fell over her, trapping her breath in her lungs. She’d almost wished he’d been a smartass. She could handle asshole men. Decent ones were not her style. “If you’re looking to guarantee more sex while we’re here, you don’t have to try so hard.”

He just stared for a second, then . . . “Neither do you.”

NINE

Natalie was the prickliest woman he’d ever met. Gabe decided that the next morning, after an afternoon inside her on the cabin floor and in the shower that turned cold long before either of them came. One of the hottest women he knew, but damn hard to read.

He should be upset. Thanks to her he’d taken years of grown-up, smart, on-the-job rules and crushed them. Not that he even held out that long against her. After only a few days alone with her, he abandoned his common sense and his control. All those comments about not fucking on the job turned around on him until that was all he wanted to do. And he could not regret that choice. He doubted he could go back to not having her either.

The way she looked, walked, talked back to him, rode his dick. Jesus, he wasn’t kidding about his vision blinking out. Seeing her naked and hovering over him twisted his control to the breaking point. But the heavy dose of denial she seemed to wallow in snapped him back to reality. Her need to put up the shield. That got fucking old fast.

Sure, he understood. He’d been wearing similar armor for years. Kept up his guard. Put Brandon first. Relied only on his brothers . . . until Rick proved that was a big fucking mistake.

But at least he’d had someone. He couldn’t imagine her life and what knowing her father killed her mother must have done to her. Unbelievable shit like that had to mess with your head.

The icy top layer of snow crunched under her boots as she walked. “You’re humming.”

“Maybe that’s frustration over your refusal to stay inside.” He’d bundled up and grabbed weapons. He’d planned to forge this trail alone, but she had other ideas—booted up and followed him. It was either tackle her, shoot her or acquiesce. He picked the third but grumbled and swore about it until she rolled her eyes and followed him anyway.

“Get over it,” she said, as she scanned the trees around them.

“You are not very clear on the whole concept of protection, are you?” He’d had people fight his role before. She made it a full-time job.

“And you’re not getting that I’m an expert shot.”

“I saw your work with a hatchet. I don’t doubt it.” The woman’s skills surpassed those outlined in her file. The suggestion that she was soft or administrative only pissed him off. Made him want to defend her, but he doubted she needed anyone speaking on her behalf. “You seem to be good at everything, actually.”

She stopped and turned to face him. “Are you talking about sex?”

Now there was a conversation jump he was happy to take. “No, but I’ll talk sex with you any time.”

It didn’t matter that she wore a heavy jacket and gloves. That she had a plaid scarf wrapped around her neck and tucked up under her chin. Or that she was all bound up with only pink cheeks and big eyes staring out. Natalie mentioned sex and his body defied the cold. Heat crashed through him, and his mind spun to memories of her breasts and how the tips fit in his mouth.

She stole his willpower until he had to fight the clawing need to scoop her up and carry her back inside. Having sex with her only made him want to experience more sex with her. Different positions. Holding her down. Stretching her out.

So much for the idea of being civilized.

“All those comments about being in charge turned out to be bluster.” She stomped her feet and caked snow fell off. “You’re actually pretty unselfish.”

He had no idea what the hell that meant, but it sounded kind of lame. Like, not what you wanted the woman you hoped to sleep with that night to say about you. “I’m not clear if that’s a compliment.”

“It definitely is.”

He decided to believe her. Then he went back to walking. Standing around seemed like a good way to freeze the soles of her boots to the ground, and he had better plans for the afternoon.

“Good.” But he did need her to understand a few facts about him. Better to be clear and in agreement than risk surprises. “You are wrong about one thing though.”

“Which is?”

“Being in charge in the bedroom doesn’t mean being selfish.” He didn’t know what kind of men she’d been with in the past, but he knew who he was. Sex meant pleasure. Sometimes hot and fast. Other times slow, drawing out every minute and every breath.

“Well, sure. I—”

“It’s about timing.”

She shot him the side eye. “Okay.”

“I am going to tie you to the bed and fuck you senseless.” Her breath hit the air in a visible puff, just as he’d hoped it would. “I just have to know no one is coming up behind me with a knife when I do. That means we wait to make it happen.”

She tucked her gloved hands in her pockets. “I thought you were convinced we were safe here.”

“I never said that.” She knew better. There were too many variables. A chance that someone out there with a big wallet had made an offer Gabe could only combat with a bullet.