Page 64 of Take a Hike
“I have excellent judgment.” To prove that, she unbuckled both of their seat belts and climbed onto his lap, facing him. His hands settled on her hips, feeling so natural there that she couldn’t stop grinning. Despite all of his arguments, his body knew they belonged together.
Even as his fingers gently squeezed her hips, his eyebrows drew together. When he opened his mouth as if to argue further, Charlie kissed him. She was sick of talking. Ever since she’d first seen the surly firefighter at The Coffee Spot, she’d wanted him. After falling in love with him, that want had grown to a desperate need. Now that she had him underneath her, she wasn’t about to let this opportunity slip away.
Just like his hands, his lips knew there were better things to do than to argue. Humming with pleasure, Charlie deepened the kiss as she reached for the lever on the side of the seat. With one yank, she dropped the seat back so it was almost horizontal. His surprised grunt was muffled against her mouth, but then he was kissing her again, and nothing else mattered.
Kieran released her hips, but before she could feel aggrieved at the loss of his touch, he buried his fingers in her hair. With both hands, he clutched her head tightly, holding her as close as he could physically manage. That lurking, frantic need she’d seen in his gaze during their entire discussion—argument—about his lovableness was evident in the way his fingers clutched at her and his lips pressed almost desperately against hers.
As much as he’d protested that she couldn’t love him, she could feel how much he wanted to believe she could.
Her heart both broke and warmed at his silent confession, and she clutched him back, telling him over and over again how much she loved him with her lips and hands. As they frantically kissed—any technique thrown out the window, replaced by desperate need—she stroked his face and neck.
He groaned against her lips, and the vibrations shot through her entire body, leaving heat and oversensitized skin in their wake.
A tiny niggling thought wouldn’t let her be, and she somehow managed to wrench herself away just enough to speak. As she did, the fading evening light reminded her of something important. “We can’t do this out in public.”
“We’re not, unless you’re counting squirrels as the public.” He pulled her back into the kiss, but enough of her brain was not-mushified to remember that wasn’t why she’d pulled away.
“Wait—we need to get to Denver. We only have fourteen hours.”
He scowled. “Right.” His gaze flicked down to her mouth,and he leaned in, as if drawn to her against his will. “Just five more minutes.”
Just the warmth of his breath on her lips was enough for her to forget any objections. “Okay.”
Then his mouth was on hers again, and everything—her mom, the necklace, the treasure hunters, Barney Thompson—disappeared. The only two people that existed in the universe were Charlie and Kieran, and they were doing their best to merge into one being.
Charlie yanked at his shirt, almost desperate to feel his skin but not willing to stop kissing for a moment to concentrate on removing it. With a grunt, Kieran helped her pull it up until his belly and most of his chest was exposed, and then did the same to her. She didn’t even notice him unhooking her bra, but the cool air brushing the bare skin of her breasts told her he’d managed it.
With a nip to her bottom lip, he ended the kiss. Before she could do more than pull in a breath to groan out a complaint, he’d latched onto her nipple. A string from where his mouth touched buzzed all the way to her low belly, electrifying her skin. She tightened her fingers in his short hair, unable to grip the handfuls she needed to hold him in place and never, ever let him get away.
Then he scored her lightly with his teeth, and it felt like the top of her head blew off. She heard someone babbling, promising all sorts of things if he just continued what he was doing, and she wasn’t even embarrassed when she realized the words were coming from her.
She worked open the button and zip on his pants, needing more—more skin, more contact, justmoreof Kieran however she could get it. Without removing his mouth from her breast, he lifted his hips to help her as she yanked his pants and boxer briefs down over his hips. With her prize in sight, she left his clothes crumpled around his thighs and wrapped her hand around his erection.
His head jerked back as he hissed, and she instantly missed the feel of his mouth. Tightening her fingers just enough to make him clench his jaw, she leaned forward to kiss him.
Kissingwasn’t the right words for it, though, not for what they were doing. It was too intense for such a fluffy word. They were trying to consume each other, to merge together and become one person with too many limbs so that they’d never be without each other again.
Kieran yanked her pants and panties down to the tops of her thighs so they were a disheveled matched pair, but it allowed enough access for him to slide two fingers between her legs. They slid easily through her wetness, a light tease of a stroke that made her nip at his lip in retaliation.
His rough chuckle was muffled, but she still felt the glow of it. Charlie was pretty sure she’d never get tired of making Kieran happy. His fingers disappeared, and she groaned her disappointment. When they were replaced by something bigger, something hot and hard at her entrance, that sound turned into a moan of encouragement instead.
Apparently, his Charlie-moan translator software wasn’t fully updated, since he paused. “This okay?” He held her gazeintently. “I don’t have condoms on me, but I haven’t had sex for years, and we’re required to be tested for STIs regularly for work. If you’re not on birth control, though, or want to wait until after you see my last test results or just don’t want to do this now or—”
She kissed him—short and hard and sweet—to stop the flow of words. It was disconcerting—and incredibly endearing—to hear Kieran actuallybabble, but she was too desperate for him toaweover it now. In fact, she could barely get coherent words to form, but she knew from his intent look that he wasn’t progressing anything until she answered him in actual words.
“Yes,” she managed to get out. “I have an implant. I want this. With you. Now. Please.” She broke off as he pushed inside her, her ability to speak lost to pleasure once again.
He held her on top of him, controlling her descent. The restriction of her pants around her thighs kept her legs together, slowing the process to an erotic crawl that made her want to scream with impatience and, at the same time, with pleasure. She felt every tiny slide and twitch of his erection as Kieran slowly entered her, and she was so sensitive that it felt like every inch of her skin was buzzing. Charlie gripped his biceps, clinging on tightly, using him as her anchor to keep her grounded as she felt things she’d never experienced before.
She kept kissing him because she had to—there was no other option. She’d been in awe of his desperation for her, but now it felt as if she was just as frantic as he was. The power of the moment was shared equally between them, and leaving herself open was the scariest thing she’d ever done.
Once he was all the way inside her, he paused, his fingers digging into her hips. Reluctantly, she lifted her lips from his so she could meet his eyes, needing to know that he was just as invested in this moment as she was. When their gazes connected, she sucked in a breath.
His surly mask was gone, stripped away, leaving him so raw and vulnerable and open that it almost hurt to meet his eyes—but there was no way Charlie was looking away. She knew he could see everything—her desperate need for him and how terrifying she found that—just as she could see his. They were locked together in both their bodies and their gazes, and it was so much bigger and more overwhelming than she’d ever expected.
She clung to his arms as her body clenched around him, and his eyes snapped shut, breaking their gaze as his head tilted back. His groan of pleasure vibrated through her and her own eyes slid shut reluctantly, even though she wanted to continue watching him. She couldn’t imagine ever getting tired of looking at him, but he started to move, and pleasure stole away every other thought.
Digging his fingers into her hips, he shifted her up and down, the burn from the almost-unbearable stretch just adding to her pleasure. He controlled the movement, and she was shocked that she was okay with that—more than okay. She loved just letting him move her, so that all she had to concentrate on was feeling.
