“How did you know the water was deep enough?” I ask him as my arms slowly wade through the water.
“Used to come here a lot as a teenager. We’d have parties down by the lake, and drunken morons would scale their way to the top and dive off. In hindsight, it probably wasn’t the best decision, but we were kids, and it was fun.”
“I bet you were such a fuckboy in high school.” He grins at me, and I roll my eyes. “That’s what I thought.”
Reaching the edge, we walk up onto the sandy shore with water washing off us, and I immediately begin wringing out my hair. Knight watches me, his gaze hooded, and I can’t help but notice the way his wet shorts stick to his body.
“You know,” he murmurs, slowly striding toward me like a hunter stalks its prey. “We’re all alone out here.”
“Oh yeah?”
He nods, stepping right into me and grabbing me by the back of my neck, pulling me in so close that all I’d have to do is push up onto my tippy-toes to kiss him. “I’m going to fuck you, Harper,” he says, his tone like a seductive command that makes my walls clench. “It’s going to be wild and rough, and I’m probably going to leave little bruises on your skin from where I hold you too tightly. You’re going to meet me thrust for thrust, but before that, doll, you’re going to run.”
My back stiffens, and I hold his stare, unsure what he means. “What?”
“Look around you, doll. We have these whole fucking woods to ourselves. It’s just you and me out here. You can scream as loud as you want. Fuck me as raw as you want, and nothing and nobody is going to disturb us,” he tells me. “By the time I get you back to my truck, I want your pretty skin covered in scratches from the tree I fucked you against. I want your hair filled with dirt and soot from rolling around on the fucking ground. I want scratches up and down my back from your nails because I fucked you so hard you physically couldn’t help it. Do you understand me?”
My heart races, a thrill pulsing through my veins as I nod.
“You’re going to run, doll, and when I catch you, I fuck you.”
I nod again as his hand trails down my back, grabbing hold of my ass. Then, without warning, his hand comes down in a firm spank. “Go.”
36
HARPER-RAYN
Itake off like a fucking bolt of lightning, a laugh tearing out of me and echoing through the woods as Knight waits behind, giving me a chance to get away. My heart booms in my chest, and if it pounds any harder, I don’t doubt it will lead him straight to me, and while I want to be a good little huntee and at least make it hard for him, I also can’t wait to be caught.
“Ten,” he calls from the shore.
Oh shit. I get a countdown.
“Nine.”
I push myself faster, skipping over the twigs before realizing that every crunched leaf beneath my foot is a beacon calling to him, giving up my location, and I slow my pace, taking each step with purpose instead of reckless bounding.
The deeper into the woods I wander, the thicker the trees get, and it becomes more than clear that this is not something I’d ever do on my own, but I trust Knight implicitly. If I were to getlost, there’s not a single doubt that he would move heaven and earth to find me.
“Eight.”
I grin. His voice is starting to sound farther away, and I can’t help but wonder just how far I’ve gotten. I take a right and then a left, not wanting the hunt to be too obvious. Hell, I even consider climbing the trees, but let’s be honest, I can barely manage a simple hike without tripping over my own feet. I wasn’t built for climbing trees.
“Seven,” he says, his voice hitching a little higher as if experiencing the same thrill that I am, and shit, I can just picture the way he’d be pacing the shore, barely able to keep himself in check and cut this countdown short. “Six, doll.”
Fuck, I’ll never get past the way he calls me doll.
“Five. Four.”
A soft laugh ripples through my chest that I hope like fuck he can’t hear as I discreetly push myself deeper into the thick woods. It takes my full attention to avoid tripping over the fallen branches and stray rocks. I brace against the trees, using them to keep me upright as my lungs heave for oxygen. It’s only been a short run, yet the rush of the run and the thrill of the chase have me remembering just how shitty my fitness levels are. It wouldn’t be the first time in the past few months when I’ve been reminded of my failing fitness.
Perhaps I need to start going on runs with Knight. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind. That is, until I pass out from lack of oxygen, and he has to carry me on his back the whole way home.
“You’re running out of time, Morticia,” he says, that hint of excitement in his tone doing wicked things to me. “Three.”
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. I’ve never been so conflicted. I want to win this. I want to be the best damn hider there ever was, but damn it, I need him to find me and put out this fire that’s burning through my body.
“Two.”
