Page 98 of All the Missing Pieces

Colt’s fingers deftly unbuckled his belt as he kicked off his shoes. The pants dropped, revealing black boxer briefs. Then the pants and socks were gone altogether, and he was climbing the railing. “If I break my neck pulling this ridiculous stunt, I’m going to haunt your ass.”

I grinned up at him. “I could be into a little ass play.”

Those eyes darkened again to that shadowy brown that was full of promise. Then Colt launched himself from the railing. But he didn’t go for an easy jump. He did some sort of flip that landed in a cannonball, sending a fresh wave of water over me.

But Colt didn’t surface. I turned in circles trying to see where he might’ve popped up, but he was nowhere to be found. My heart picked up speed, and just as I was about to dive down, a hand locked around my ankle and tugged.

I shrieked as Colt popped up right in front of me, laughing. I splashed water in his face. “I’m going to kill you for that.”

He grinned, and it had a boyish quality to it. The kind that reminded you of innocent mischief and the teasing tug of pigtails. He shook the water out of his hair, and it coursed down his face in rivulets. “You wanted me to live a little.”

“Yeah, live. Not scare twenty years off my life.”

Colt pulled me to him, then swam us close enough to shore that he could stand, the grin still on his face. “Sorry, Chaos.”

My legs wrapped around his waist. “You’re not sorry at all.”

That grin widened. “Maybe not.”

His fingers dug into my ass, massaging there. My body responded instantly, heating at his touch, leaning into him in a quest for more. My fingers threaded through his hair, almostmidnight now that it was wet, and tugged on the ends of the strands.

“Need something, Chaos?” That rasp to his voice was back, the one that had skated over my skin in a pleasant shiver since the first time I heard it.

The only problem was that I was becoming addicted to the sensation. It was a dependency I didn’t want to study too closely, so I did the only thing I could. I kissed Colt.

He tasted like a mix of iced tea and mint, and his scent of bergamot and cloves swirled around me. Colt met my kiss in that duel for supremacy I could always count on him for. It was as if we were always starving for each other. Maybe because we knew this thing between us had an expiration date. Only, we had no idea what that date was.

Today had been a reminder of that. I could’ve just as easily been wrapping up the case, mapping out the lineup of final podcast episodes. But instead I was in this lake, with Colt.

And he was making mefeel.

I was good at doing things that reminded me I was still alive, still breathing. But no one and nothing made me feel more alive than Colt.

Remembering that spurred me on, my legs tightening around his waist. I felt his length press against my core and moaned into his mouth as I rocked against him. I searched for friction, for pressure, but what I really needed was him.

Colt tore his mouth away from mine. “Chaos,” he growled, the warning clear in his voice.

I searched those dark eyes. “Remind me I’m alive.”

He must’ve read the desperation in my voice, the need, because something shifted in him. His hands tightened on my ass, pulling me harder against him, showing me how much he needed me too. “You feel how much I want you? How I’m dying to be inside that tight heat, stretching you, taking you?”

My walls fluttered, crying out for exactly that. “Yes.”

One of Colt’s hands left my ass, skimming up my waist to cup my breast. “Your gorgeous fuckin’ nipples are already hard enough to cut stone. Cheeks flushed, lips parted. Most beautiful sight I’ve ever seen.”

“Colt,” I breathed.

“You know what hearing my name on your lips does to me.”

I did. But what he didn’t know was that it did something to me too. The promise of it.

“Take me,” I whispered.

It was all he needed. That hand dropped from my breast, curving around my waist to hold me as he tugged my underwear free with the other. Then he reached for his boxer briefs, pulling them down. His tip bumped against my entrance as my legs encircled him again.

Those dark eyes flashed, all heat and promise. “Tell me again.”

“Take me.”

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