Storm Watch Read online

  Still asleep, she hummed in pleasure and wriggled her butt, which caused a predictable reaction in him.

  “Mmm,” she murmured in her sleep.

  Yeah. Mmm. He loved how she made him feel, and he kissed the back of her neck, then an inch lower, making his way to her shoulder, nudging the covers out of the way as he went. She was hot, and sweet, and still sleepy enough to drop some of her guardedness. That, or somewhere along the way, through all of the crazy long hours they’d spent together, she’d come to trust him.

  He’d take that, because for some reason, this woman mattered. Having her trust him mattered. He could hear the storm still beating the hell out of the building, but also knew there was nothing they could do about it, about anything, until daylight.

  Right now, right here, it was just them. “Lizzy.”

  “Mmm,” she said again with a soft sigh, still out cold.

  He shifted to get even closer, and so did she, and her silk-covered breast filled his hand. Her nipple hardened through her bra against his palm, and she made that “mmm” again, and then—

  Went utterly still.

  “Jase?” she whispered.

  There she was. “Expecting someone else?” He lightly sank his teeth into her shoulder, then kissed the spot.

  “Oh, God.”

  He really hoped that was oh, God, you feel so good and not an oh, God, this isn’t happening, but then she sat straight up, cracking him in the chin as she did.

  “Ow,” he said.

  “Is it morning?”

  “No. It’s only…” He peered at his watch. “Two. Come here.” Instead of waiting, he reached up, slid his arms around her sweet bod and tugged her back in.

  “Oh,” she breathed, rocking her ass into him, wrenching a groan from his chest. “We’re not dressed.”

  “We are not,” he said.

  “The danger of hypothermia is gone,” she whispered.

  “Yes, since I’m hot as hell.” He grazed his thumb over her nipple. “And, God, Lizzy, so are you. So damn hot.”

  She turned her head and peered through the dark up at him. She didn’t shove him away or try to move. She reached up and touched his face, open to him in a way she hadn’t shown before now.

  Not realizing how much he’d needed that from her, he let out a breath and felt the last of his blood drain from his brain, heading south for the winter.

  “We slept together,” she murmured.

  There was a blue glow to the night, washing over her face, casting them in contrasting shadows even as it highlighted the shine of her eyes, the curve of a breast, the arch of her hips. He skimmed his hand down her side, over her thigh and back up again, stopping short of her panties, letting just the tips of his fingers play beneath the silky material. He’d once felt things for her that he didn’t understand. He still felt those things, only he understood them now, not that that made them any less terrifying. “Not slept slept.”

  “The rules of hyperthermia don’t say anything about not having sex.”

  “No.”

  “I’ve always been one for following the rules.” And she wriggled again.

  He groaned, but no words came out of his mouth because, with no blood left in his brain, he couldn’t talk. Could only feel as she pulled his head down to hers, her mouth sweet and eager.

  God, he wanted this, wanted to connect as he hadn’t managed to do all those years ago, as he hadn’t managed to do at all lately because these days, thanks to his profession, his life was always on the edge.

  No softness.

  But here she was, warm and naked and very, very soft. It made him ache, ache to change the way he’d been dreading the future, ache to have hope instead. Hope that he could find peace, happiness.

  Love.

  It’d been a damn long time for him, and that it was Lizzy, the girl who’d once stolen his heart without even knowing it, made it all the sweeter. Lizzy all grown-up and dancing a hand down his thigh, squeezing the muscles there as she rocked that sweet ass into him.

  She was killing him. Killing him. He unhooked her bra at the same time that he dipped his head and kissed her shoulder again, skimming his hand up to cup her now bare breasts.

  A low, hungry sound escaped her as she clutched his wrist as if to hold his hand to her.

  He didn’t need the encouragement. Her breasts were perfect handfuls and he could spend all day touching them.

  “I’ve always wondered,” she murmured.

  “Wondered what?”

  She hesitated. “If you’re as good at the rest of this as you are at the kissing.”

  He huffed out a low laugh against her skin as he rasped his thumbs over her nipples, back and forth, making her stretch and let out a shuddery moan, shifting her hips restlessly. “I’ll give it my best shot.”

  “Thank you—” She broke off with a soft gasp as he hooked a finger in the edge of her panties.

  “I do my best work without these.” He tugged them off, then slid a hand between her thighs, where he found her creamy wet and hot.

  God, so hot.

  He played there, his fingers gently opening her, finding what he sought, dragging a callused finger over slick flesh as he nibbled on her shoulder, the back of her neck, her ear…

  “Okay,” she managed. “You are good—” She let out a shuddery breath as he slid a finger into her. “Really good…”

  “Shh.” He had a plan. Tear at her defenses until she let him in. And maybe, just maybe, she’d do the same for him. To that end, he kissed her neck, and with every glide in and out of his finger, scraped his thumb over her center. She arched, holding him to her, and when her breathing changed into quick, desperate pants, he knew that she was close, so very close. As she tightened around him, he added another finger, and she burst with a soft cry, coming apart in his arms.

  As she relaxed into the mattress, he nuzzled at her throat.

  “More,” she murmured. “The rest.”

  That worked for him. “I have a condom somewhere gathering dust in my bag—”

  “I’m on the pill.” Turning her head, she blindly sought his mouth. “And it’s been a long time for me. You?”

  “Very long.” Things got a little crazy then, as crazy as the storm wailing outside, and the next thing he knew, she’d rocked her hips back and he’d rocked forward, and he was inside her from behind, deep inside, surrounded by all that silky, wet heat. “God,” he breathed with a shudder. “God. I’ve never—”

  “Never?”

  “I mean—not without a condom.”

  “Me, either,” she whispered, and arching back, lifted an arm around his neck, gasping his name when he began to move, thrusting into her, slow and deep, speeding up as she shifted her hips to meet his, both of them breathing like lunatics. When she cried out his name, he nearly came from that alone.

  It’d been so long.

  So damn long, and she was doing as he’d known she would, slowly destroying him, tearing apart his defenses, letting herself inside his heart, making herself at home there.

  And she had no idea…

  “God, Jase…don’t stop…” She was moving with him, letting out the sexiest little pants and whimpers he’d ever heard every time he pushed into her. When he slid his hand back between her legs again, she burst in a series of gorgeous tremors that took him with her straight over the edge, where only one coherent thought managed to stick.

  Cast him a line, because he was going down.

  11

  CECE HAD TO GIVE Hunter credit—he was cool under pressure. He simply seemed to accept what fate had brought him that day—a hugely pregnant chick. One who was losing it.

  “Oh, God,” she whimpered. “Goddammit.”

  “Another one?”

  “Another one, the same one.” She tried to curl into a ball. “It’s all the same one.”

  “Look at me. Cece, focus on me.”

  She inhaled sharply and, following his calm, assertive request, stared into his eyes.

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