Long, slow strokes. Pulling almost all the way out, then driving back to the hilt. Rhythmic and heavy. Every thrust feels like it's knitting something together—fusing the cracks the last few days have left in both of us.
She meets me, hips lifting, matching my pace. Her hands come up to cup my face, thumbs tracing my cheekbones.
"You feel..." A gasp steals the rest as I hit deep.
"So do you." I grind against her, watching her pupils blow wide. "Incredible."
The pace builds—friction and heat and the sheer improbability of this moment. Two strangers thrown together by violence, finding solace in the most basic human equation.
"Kade." Her nails dig into my shoulders. "I'm close. Again."
"Go." I drive harder, faster. "Let go."
She shatters. Her body clamps down on me, the wave of it pulling me under with her. I bury my face in the curve of her neck as my release hits—white-hot and absolute.
I hold her tight, anchoring us both while the world spins away.
We drift back slowly.
The wind cools the sweat on our skin. My heartrate decelerates from a sprint to a jog. I collapse onto my elbows, keeping my weight off her, but I don't pull away. Not yet.
Wren lets out a long, shaky breath, her hands sliding down my back to rest at my waist.
"Okay," she whispers, a smile in her voice. "You made your point."
I lift my head, brush a damp strand of hair off her forehead. "What point was that?"
"That we weren't finished."
I kiss her—soft, lingering, tasting the sun on her lips. "We're just getting started."
She laughs—bright and clean, chasing the shadows out of the treeline. "If this is how you handle downtime, I'm terrified to see what happens when we're actually safe."
"When we're safe," I promise, rolling off her and pulling her into my side, "I'm going to find a bed with a mattress that isn't granite. And we're going to stay there for a week."
"Deal. But make sure the bed has good tie downs.”
I let out a low, rough chuckle, my hand sliding down the curve of her hip as the reality of her "requirements" settles in. The sun is high now, cutting through the trees, but the heat between us hasn't cooled a bit.
"Tie-downs," I repeat, the word tasting like a promise. "You’ve really thought this through, haven't you?"
"I’ve had a lot of time to fantasize while we were running for our lives," she says, propping herself up on one elbow. She looks impish, a wicked glint in her eyes as she tracks the way my chest is still heaving. "If we’re doing a week in a real bed, Kade, I want it done right. I want heavy-duty anchors bolted into the frame—something that won't give when I'm pulling against them."
"Noted," I mutter, my thumb tracing the sensitive skin of her inner thigh. "Anything else on the manifest, little bird?"
"Blindfolds," she adds, her voice dropping into that shredded velvet. "I want to feel you coming before I see you. And toys. Lots of them. Leather, silicone—anything that can make me fall apart in ways I haven't even discovered yet. I want a drawer full of options so you can spend the whole week figuring out exactly what makes me scream the loudest."
I tighten my grip on her, my blood catching fire at the mental image of her pinned and blind in a room where the world can’t find us. I look down at her, at the way the sunlight hits the flush on her chest, and I feel that familiar, heavy throb return.
"You're trying to kill me before we even get to the safe house," I growl, rolling her back onto the grass until my shadow looms over her. "But consider the order placed. I'll make sure the hardware is rated for someone as... enthusiastic as you."
I huff out a breath, shaking my head as I feel myself straining against my jeans again. "I'm hard. Again. I don't know what the hell you do to me, Wren, but I don't think I've had this much sex in my entire life. You're a goddamn menace."
She doesn't look even remotely sorry. If anything, she looks triumphant, her hand wandering down to curl around the length of me through the denim, a slow, proprietary squeeze that makes my vision swim.
"Good," she whispers, her hair brushing against my stomach as she shifts with a sudden, predatory grace. She moves until she’s positioned exactly where she wants to be, looking up at me through her lashes with that wicked, impish glint.
"Let's see how you handle a bit of godly worship," she murmurs, her fingers unbuttoning my fly with practiced ease. She pauses, her eyes locking onto mine, dark and utterly serious for a heartbeat. "But there’s a catch this time, Kade. You don’t get to pull out and flip me. You don’t get to finish inside me or against the wall."
