Page 65 of Cross-Checked

The smirk gracing her lips lets me know she’s teasing, so in response, I trail my fingertips up her thigh under her dress, pressing her back into me so she can feel how I’m already growing hard from just her proximity. When I reach her waist, I toy with the top seam of her underwear. “Really? That’s myonlysaving grace?”

She drops her voice even though no one is around. “I mean, I guess you give me decent orgasms as well.”

I let my fingertips creep along her skin until I can feel the curls right above where her legs meet. “Decent, huh?”

Pressing her head back against my shoulder, she whispers, “We can’t...” and then takes a gasping breath when I slide two fingers over her clit and slip them into her. “We can’t do this here.” She’s panting as I work my fingers inside her and she lets me continue just long enough that I don’t think she’s going to stop me.

“No, really,” she says, her hand flying to my arm. “I want to. But I can’t. Not out in the open like this.” She pulls my arm away from her so that my fingers slip out.

I hold her tighter against me, lowering my voice. “This morning at the gym, when I went to wipe my face with my towel, I found I still had the scent of your cum on my hand.” I press my now rock-hard cock into her lower back. “All I’ve wanted to do since then is touch you again...make you come so hard you forget how to speak.”

She reaches her arm up, sliding her hand back around my neck and pulling me even closer. Then, in a low, sultry voice like the one I dreamed she might have, she says, “You don’t like it when I talk?”

I tilt my head to the side so I can meet her gaze as she looks up at me over her shoulder. “Let’s get one thing straight. I think you’re fucking brilliant, and I love talking to you. But I love it even more when I’ve brought you so far over the edge that the only word you remember is my name. And I’m going to take you over that edge again, ideally right fucking now.”

“If we’re caught...” I can tell her eyes are darting back and forth to the paths that lead to either side of the bridge.

“We’ve hardly seen a single person out here.”

“Yeah, but if wedid. I don’t have the luxury of being wanton like that in public. If I’m caught, I could lose everything—the reputation I’ve built, the award I’m nominated for, and possibly even my job.”

I let her words sink in, let myself fully understand her worries. She’s worked so hard and broken every stereotype to get where she is in this industry and with this team. I don’t want to ruin that for her. But I also don’t miss how “everything” for her is really just work.

“Come here,” I say, taking her hand and leading her across the bridge.

“Where are we going?” She’s struggling to keep up with me in her cute little fashion sneakers. I didn’t tell her we’d be hiking, but to be fair, I didn’t know at the time. I thought we’d stopby the visitor’s center and see some of the historical buildings. I didn’t realize I’d be so desperate to be alone with her that I’d suggest we “take a walk” on what turned out to be actual hiking trails.

“There are some ruins up this trail,” I tell her. “I suspect we can find somewhere more private.”

“You really can’t wait?” Her voice is teasing, but also, she sounds surprised. She deserves to feel wanted, to know what it’s like to have a man in her life who’s desperate to be with her. And the fact that she’s been married—and yet hasn’t experienced that before—pisses me the hell off.

I spin so I’m facing her and pull her toward me, my eyes scanning the trail below to make sure there’s no one within earshot. And then I take her good hand, bringing it between us and pressing it against my cock. She sucks in a breath when she feels how hard I am.

“Does it feel like I can wait, Sunshine? Because I feel like I’m about to die if I don’t get to touch you again right now. And from the way you were dripping all over my hand, I’m thinking you don’t want to wait, either.”

She lets out a small whimper of longing while she strokes me, and I take a small step backward, breaking contact.

“Oh my god.” The words are practically a whisper as they fall from her lips, and the way she’s looking at me with those glassy eyes, dark with desire, there is no doubt that she wants me as badly as I want her—even though we’re in the middle of a national park.

“But if I’m wrong, and you want to wait, we will.” I hold my hands up in mock defeat.

A strangled gasp leaves her—as if she now can’t stand the thought of waiting, even though a few seconds ago, she was suggesting it—and she steps toward me. Raising onto her toes, she wraps her arms around my shoulders and kisses me, rightin the middle of the path. And my mind races, considering the quickest way to get her alone and naked, before determining that my suggestion of the ruins is, in fact, probably the best option.

“Come on.” I nod my chin up at the hill. “Let’s find somewhere more private.”

As soon as we crest the top of the trail, the stone walls of the old bottling factory come into view. I recognize it from the video at the welcome center, and I’m even more thankful that I paid attention.

We take the stone steps up, and AJ murmurs, “Are you sure we’re supposed to go in here?”

“The ‘watch your step’ sign makes me think it’s okay,” I say. “But hopefully no one else wants to explore this area for at least the next five minutes.”

She snorts a laugh. “Only five minutes, huh?”

“We’re going to have to be quick,” I tell her, keeping my voice low because I know how sound can carry through the valleys carved between these rolling green hills.

“No multiple orgasms this time?” Her whispered teasing makes me wish we had all the time in the world, but I’m not willing to risk getting caught.

“I’m going to make you come so many times tonight that you’ll lose count. But today, I’m going to fuck you so hard and quick you’ll come faster and harder than you ever have.”

---