“There we go.” His voice went dry, teasing. “A wonderful side effect of hanging around mere mortals.” He kissed her temple, sending a spark of warmth racing down her spine. The firelight danced around them, warming her in a safety she was beginning to rely upon. Huck’s heat was real, solid, the one constant she could actually rely on.
When his lips trailed from her temple to her jaw, the captain taking his time, she turned in his lap, using her knee as a lever to straddle him. Her hands tunneled into his hair, enjoying feeling the thick and unruly strands between her fingers.
He raised an eyebrow, his gaze locked onto hers with the kind of intensity that should have made her nervous. But instead, it settled her. Centered her.
“You sure you aren’t hurt?” he asked, his voice a low rumble.
“Positive.” She leaned down and kissed him, letting herself sink into his heat.
His mouth was demanding, commanding even, as both of his hands clamped onto her hips, his fingers pressing into her skin.
The captain was all hard-cut muscle and unyielding strength, but his touch was careful. Measured. As if she were something breakable despite every bit of evidence to the contrary. She hummed her appreciation when he deepened the kiss, the world narrowing to the heat and pressure between them.
Huck pushed to his feet, his arms locked firmly around her. A startled laugh tore from her as her legs cinched around his waist.
“What are you doing?” she whispered.
“Taking you to the bed.”
She murmured against his mouth, “I figured the couch.”
“No.” His words were firm, laced with that unyielding authority she’d come to rely on. “You’re still bruised and probably going to ache a lot more than you think, come tomorrow.”
Her heart warmed despite the sensible logic behind his words. As strong, intelligent, and well-trained as she was, Laurel could admit, just to herself, that she felt safe in the captain’s arms. It wasn’t about needing protection. It was about trusting someone to catch her when the world tilted off its axis.
He wouldn’t let her down. Huck was a dangerous man, his instincts honed to lethal precision. He would never let anyone get to her if he could help it, and that kind of protection came with a confidence she hadn’t realized she craved. She liked that . . . and him.
Growing up without her father around, not even knowing who he was, had been a blessing in disguise. She was quite unaccustomed to relying on the strength of a man, to leaning on someone and expecting them to hold their ground. Huck kept proving over and over again that he could be trusted. That he would be there.
And yet, they had jumped into a relationship far too soon. Without analyzing all the different angles, without mapping out the possibilities or properly assessing the variables. Even while on vacation, they hadn’t talked about long-term wants, needs, or goals. They’d just tried to heal from the loss, from several physical injuries they had both sustained, letting themselves fall into each other rather than sorting through the messy reality of what that actually meant.
Huck reached the bedroom and kissed her, his mouth going deep and insistent, carefully removing her clothing with a patience she didn’t expect. The captain could be both gentle and wildly rough when the occasion called for it. Tonight, apparently, called for gentle.
She tugged on his jeans, and he helped her remove them before tearing off his shirt. Then all of that hard, smooth muscle with several scars and scratches lay within reach. He covered her on the bed, but then rolled them over until she was on top of him, sprawled across his chest.
She laughed, breathless and feeling almost reckless, safely back on birth control. “I’m okay, Huck.”
“Let’s prove it,” he murmured, his voice thick with challenge.
“All right.” She kissed him, her body softening and arousal heightening, her thoughts slipping away with each brush of his lips.
He scratched his hands down her back to cup her butt. The foreplay was usually longer, but she wasn’t in the mood to wait. Her body was already sparking, nerves firing under his touch. So she slowly, carefully, grasped him and lowered herself onto him.
He groaned as her weight settled on his thighs, his hands clenching against her hips. “Nice.”
“I am gifted.”
“That you are.” He reached up and tweaked her nipples, his grin sharp and wicked. “I take it fast this time. Slow later.”
“Agreed.”
She pressed her hands onto his shoulders, muscles coiling as she lifted her hips and then drove them back down, their bodies colliding with a force that lit her up from the inside. He slammed her back down again, his fingers digging into her skin.
They set up a hard, unrelenting rhythm. When he powered inside her, her body went lax and loose, her muscles quivering under the intensity. She let herself sink into it, surrendering to the heat and hunger. Finally, her mind stilled. No more thoughts, only sensation. A truly rare occurrence. This was the kind of clarity she craved.
She reached the pinnacle, her body shuddering as she whispered his name, her climax tearing through her. Huck was seconds behind her, his hands gripping her hips hard enough to leave marks, his own release crashing over him as he jerked wildly inside her.
Gasping, slightly sweaty, she collapsed forward and nuzzled her face into his neck, letting the warmth of him soak into her skin. “You always make me feel better. Head to toe,” she mumbled.
