The stretch borders on pain. It's been eight years, and he's bigger than I remember, filling me completely, forcing my body to accommodate him. I dig my heels into his ass, pulling him deeper despite the burn.
"Christ," he groans against my neck. "You're so tight. So perfect."
He starts to move, pulling almost all the way out before slamming back in. Each thrust hits deeper, harder, the headboard striking the wall with steady rhythm. My hands findpurchase on his shoulders, his back, anywhere I can reach, needing the anchor as pleasure builds with brutal intensity.
"Harder," I gasp. "Don't hold back. I need?—"
He covers my mouth with his, swallowing the words, and picks up the pace. The bed frame protests with each thrust, but I don't care. All that matters is the slide of his body against mine, inside mine, the friction building heat that threatens to consume me.
Colton's hand slides between us again, finding my clit and working it with firm circles while his cock drives into me with relentless force. The dual stimulation pushes me toward the edge faster than I can process.
"Rachel," he groans against my ear, my name desperate on his lips.
The words combined with the pressure on my clit and the perfect angle of his next thrust send me over the edge. The orgasm slams through me, back arching, thighs clamping around his hips as I clench tight around him. I cry out his name, nails breaking skin on his shoulders.
He doesn't stop. Keeps thrusting through my orgasm, prolonging the pleasure until it borders on overwhelming. Then his rhythm stutters, his body going rigid, and I feel him pulse inside me as he comes with a broken groan.
We collapse together, breathing hard, sweat cooling on skin. Stryker's weight presses me into the mattress and I wrap my arms around him, holding him close despite the sticky mess between us.
"I love you," I whisper into the silence. "Never stopped. Even when I hated you for leaving, I loved you."
Stryker shifts to look at me, eyes searching mine with intensity that makes my breath catch. His hand cups my face with surprising gentleness considering how rough he just was.
"I can't lose you again," he says, voice raw. "Can't survive it. You and Lucas—you're everything. If something happens?—"
"Then don't let go." I thread my fingers through his, feeling the tackiness of sweat and other fluids between our palms. "Stay. Choose us. Keep choosing us every day."
"I choose you," he promises. "Every day, every mission, every?—"
The alarm cuts through his words like a blade. Sharp, piercing, the sound that means Echo Base security is on high alert.
We're on our feet instantly, scrambling for clothes, for weapons, for anything. Stryker's comm unit comes to life, Tommy's voice tight with controlled panic.
"All personnel, priority alert. Multiple hostile contacts detected in the area. Positive ID on target: Kessler himself. I repeat, Kessler is in the region."
14
STRYKER
The alarm cuts through the room like a knife through flesh, sharp and unforgiving. I'm already moving, grabbing my tactical pants from the floor and yanking them on while my brain shifts from the woman in my bed to the threat outside these walls. Rachel scrambles for her clothes with shaking hands, fear bleeding through the post-sex haze in her eyes.
Tommy's voice crackles again through my earpiece, more urgent. "Stryker, Kane needs you in ops now. Kessler's got multiple operators with him, thermal equipment detected. They're sweeping the area in a grid pattern."
Kessler's using thermal imaging. That realization hits me like a punch to the gut. He's not just searching blind anymore. The bastard's hunting for heat signatures, looking for any indication of human presence in an area that should be empty wilderness. Echo Base's location depends on staying hidden, on being a ghost in the Montana backcountry that nobody can find.
"Copy that," I respond, already pulling on my shirt. "Initiating lockdown protocol. Rachel's headed to ops."
Rachel finishes dressing and reaches for me, her hand catching my arm. "What's happening?"
"Kessler's closer than we thought. Tommy's picking up thermal scanning equipment." I cup her face, forcing her to meet my eyes. "Khalid has Lucas in ops. I need you to get there and stay put. Don't leave unless one of us tells you to move."
"How close is he?" Fear sharpens her voice, but she's keeping it together.
"Close enough that we're going full lockdown." I kiss her hard and fast, tasting the fear on her lips beneath the lingering sweetness. "Get to ops. Now."
We move through the corridor at a run. Emergency lighting transforms the base in the minutes since the alarm sounded, casting everything in red. Throughout the facility, the team mobilizes. Heavy boots strike stone, commands echo down hallways.
Dylan meets us at the junction, tactical vest already on and rifle in hand. His expression is all business, the easy-going exterior stripped away to reveal the operator underneath.
