Page 123 of Falling Overboard

“Do you like that?” Hunter said the words against my neck.

“Can’t you tell?” My eyes were literally rolling back into my head.

He grinned. “You know what they say about making assumptions.”

“Is it ‘come here and kiss me again’?”

“Yes, that’s exactly it,” he said before he returned his mouth to mine, hot and urgent, demanding and hungry.

Everything was burning. I was dizzy, breathless, floating, and totally on fire. I was lost to everything except his lips scorching me, his body hard against mine. It was like I had lost all sensation in my legs—as if he’d melted them away.

My stomach swirled and tightened with that same heat and I was suddenly completely out of breath, falling backward. He had backed me up to the bed and I hadn’t even realized.

“Is this okay?” he asked as he came down to join me.

I scooted back as he advanced, making room for him. “Yes.”

He stalked forward like some kind of predator and it thrilled me. I was more than willing to be caught and consumed. My desire for himmade me lightheaded and apparently clumsy—I stumbled a bit moving backward with my elbows.

He didn’t seem to notice.

Then I was beneath him and nothing had ever felt so absolutely perfect or right before. Like this was where I belonged. And judging from the soft groans and growls of pleasure he made, he felt the same.

His kisses grew insistent, desperate. And whether that was because of all the time we’d spent denying ourselves or because we knew that this might be our last chance to be alone like this for a very long time, I wasn’t sure. But we were frantic for each other.

It was like a fever, this need I had for him. I was shivering, burning, sweaty, slightly delirious, and breaking out in goose bumps everywhere he touched me. I wanted to get closer to him, to see if he was having the same kind of reaction. Would his flesh be slick beneath my hands?

Without thinking I reached under his shirt and brushed my fingers against those hard abs of his and he let out a sharp moan from the back of his throat that had me wanting to explore even more of him. To navigate and discover this new land of Hunter Cartwright and claim it as my own.

As if he could read my mind, he removed his shirt with one fluid motion, barely breaking contact with my mouth while he did so. I would have been impressed if he hadn’t made me so mindless for him. He wrapped one of his hands around my throat and kissed the exposed side, forcing me to stay put.

It didn’t stop me from kissing what I could reach—his strong shoulder. I wanted to taste his skin and flicked my tongue out and felt him shudder against me in response.

He started murmuring whispered promises against my skin, his warm breath heating me even more. I couldn’t make out what he was saying, mostly because I was far too busy running my fingers along every muscle and ridge in his back. There were so many. I could have happily spent all day doing this, noticing the way he would contract beneath my touch, tense up, and then relax.

“Lucky.” He breathed my name out, and there was a hint of wonder in it, along with an overwhelming desire that made me feel like I was drowning all over again.

“Do you know how badly I want you?” he asked in a low voice that made me tremble all over. I was past speaking. I wanted him, too—I just couldn’t manage to form actual words.

His mouth was on mine again, possessive, as hungry for me as I was for him. This time I was the one letting out soft breaths and moans as he began exploring me the same way I had him. His fingers brushed against the bare skin of my stomach and I quivered in response. My heartbeat seemed to be keeping time to the rhythmic pulse of his kiss.

As his fingers began to climb my rib cage like a ladder, I put my hand on his wrist. “Hunter, wait.”

He immediately stilled.

I understood where this was leading. More clothing would come off. It would be so easy and so enjoyable to take the next step. And the next. And the next.

But we couldn’t. If I broke the rule so flagrantly, I wouldn’t be able to look the captain in the face.

Or Hunter’s parents.

Or myself.

And the last one was what mattered most. Captain Carl had asked me to be in a position of leadership, to follow the rules. I wanted to be worthy of that trust. Rules were important.

No matter how very badly I wanted to break them.

I couldn’t let things go further with Hunter. Not like this. “We can’t.”

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