Shane pushed her onto her side and squeezed her diaphragm, and she spit up more water, gasping for breath. After long moments, she sat up, still wheezing, but alive, and froze.
The sun beat hot on her skin when only a moment ago she shivered in the night air. How was this possible?
“Are you hurt?” Shane demanded, startling her.
“I’m okay,” she whispered with the little breath she had as she sought the eyes of the man she adored. But why was he glowering at her like that?
“Someone took a shot at you. Someone with a damn good aim. I saw you keel over. Are you sure you’re not hurt?”
Olivia took in his disheveled hair, scruffy chin, and his bloodshot eyes. His coat was gone and so were several pounds. He seemed aged, as if years had elapsed since her capture. He had the same black hair that always stuck out in every direction no matter how long or short, and the same fiery, green eyes, against the same dark complexion. But a different attitude—a different stance. He looked war-torn, hardened, and acted like a stranger.
She followed his gaze down to her chest and gasped. Her breasts were totally naked. She moved to cover herself, but he stopped her, his fingers around her wrists, his eyes riveted to her bare body, looking right through her. Shane had always seen deep inside her.
Olivia tore her eyes from him to scan the quay and the buildings around her and caught sight of their reflection. Her heart almost stopped.
Next to Shane’s mirrored image, she didn’t catch her own pleasantly plump figure, but a lean, tall mixture of perfect curves. Olivia gasped and swiped the long, dark hair from her eyes and looked closer. She would have recognized that body anywhere.
Hunter.
And now Olivia understood. It was a simple solution really. And it saddened her that after all the days of waiting, she’d lose her love. He’d institutionalize her. Yes, the answers were right there in the reflection. She’d gone mad.
The din of a crowd nearing them made her whip to her feet, not understanding why, but knowing she somehow had to hide.
She turned to run, but Shane caught her around the waist and pulled her roughly against him so her naked breasts were plastered to his broad chest. Olivia shivered at the sudden gesture, searching his darkening eyes.
“Come with me,” he said.
Not a question, not a suggestion. A
command.
Chapter Five
In a hidden inlet, miles down the south coast, Shane set anchor and went below to check on the stunning brunette. Although an expert sailor, he’d hardly been able to stay focused on his route with the thought of her in the shower—naked and afraid—only a few feet away below deck.
And now, she eyed him nervously, like a little panther in a cage. Dressed only in a T-shirt he’d given her, she sported a half-moon tattoo on her ankle, and the Leo sign on her wrist. A Leo. Just like Olivia. A lightning bolt decorated her bikini line and he wondered whether it continued under the tiny white scrap of Lycra. She may have had a lot of explaining to do, but Jesus, he couldn’t keep his eyes off her.
He swallowed and dragged his stare away, only too late. His cock sprung up. His mind was on full red alert now, big neon warning signs flashing in his brain.
Stay away from this one—she’s real trouble.
If she hadn’t been hit by those flying bullets, she owed it to her prowess. Shane suspected she was a dancer or an athlete judging by her strong but curvy legs. This woman simply oozed sexuality from every pore.
But now, she curled up on an armchair, shivering and lost.
He hated to cover paradise, but she distracted him, so he retrieved a soft, pale blue throw from the chest of drawers and knelt at her feet to put it around her shoulders, looking up into her eyes, more than conscious of his blooming erection.
“I’m Shane. What’s your name?”
She didn’t answer, still in shock. But whoever had tried to gun her down would try again and he needed her to be alert.
“Come on, talk to me. Who is it that wants you dead?”
“I-I have no idea.”
“Do you owe anyone any money? Did you see something you shouldn’t have? Did you
do
something you shouldn’t have?”
She shook her head and tucked herself tighter in the chair. Hard for a girl her height. A wave of pity passed over him, and still on his knees, he touched her arm gently, unable to ignore the surge of lust running riot throughout his body.
Down boy, she’s scared enough as it is.
The last thing she needed was a sex-craved, madman pawing at her. The first thing
he
needed was to lose himself inside her. He knew it would be an absolutely mind-blowing fuck.
“You can’t go back,” he whispered. “I’ll protect you.” Shane tucked his finger beneath her chin and lifted her face. “You’re not afraid of me, are you?”
Her amber eyes never left his face as she shook her head.
“Good girl. I’m going to get us away from here, further down the coast somewhere, and get you some clothes and food.”
And possibly have a wank in the bathroom before I explode.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
Shane watched her face, transfixed. What the hell? This wasn’t the first pussy that swam his way. So why the fuck did his hands shake and his throat go bone-dry?
Before Shane could stop himself, he slid a hand around her tiny waist as if he’d done it a thousand times. As if he already knew her body by heart. Christ, he did, having practically x-rayed her on that boat. From the amazingly toned, high ass, to the flat tummy and endless legs, he knew her. She could have easily been a model, although she looked more to him like a goddess. A sex priestess.
Yeah.
The swell of her luscious curves, even now under the throw, excited him beyond his veneer of gentlemanly restraint. He’d had hundreds of women in his lifetime, but none had ever had this effect on him since Olivia. She was pure woman. Übersexy. But, he’d be damned, she had absolutely no idea, with the way she watched him with those enormous soulful eyes, biting her lower lip as if afraid he’d abandon her. And yet on the boat she’d been a right floozy, flirting shamelessly with him. What a transformation.
He’d never paid that much attention to the faces of the women he’d encountered after Olivia, but this one had eyes to die for, eyes that attracted him unexplainably, ensnaring him under her spell. If on her boat she’d looked like a dangerous, wily siren, up close she was sensational. Her long, black lashes looked almost fake, and all that smudged makeup hid a gorgeous face with full, dark, trembling lips.
Did she avoid meeting his eyes out of fear, or did she feel it too? This sensory overload? Was her blood rushing madly around her body, swelling her pussy, moistening it in preparation for him? By the way she sat, eyelids heavy, he hoped she felt the same thing. His heart rate accelerated in response to the wild thoughts roiling in waves in his brain. It wouldn’t be long now.
Inside her lurked something compelling, alluring, and the way she looked at him spoke to his soul, passing right through his cock. Amazing. Surreal. It also scared the shit out of him. Because he’d promised himself that after Olivia, he’d let no one inside. No one. Let alone someone he’d known for less than an hour.
She put her hands on his arms timidly, as if she were afraid he’d change his mind, and when his other hand slid around her waist again, yanking her to the edge of her seat and against his aching cock, she caught her breath and a delicate “oh” escaped her lips.
Trying to curb his need, Shane—more gently this time—pulled her onto his lap until she straddled him.
Those eyes were killing him. They conveyed a sense of mystery and enchantment, and deep within him beat a primitive rhythm.
He traced her jaw in a feathery caress, and she moaned softly, closing her eyes again. He watched her throat as she swallowed. Gently his lips searched hers, testing, tasting. She yielded under him, and he let his senses guide him.
The cabin was quiet but for the sound of their breaths and their lips kissing, sucking. Shane folded her in a possessive embrace, the throw drifting to the floor, pooling at their feet.
“You feel it, too, don’t you?” His voice cracked. “This awesome thing happening between us?” He took her hand and placed it on his groin. “Can you feel how hard you’ve got me?”
She simply nodded and murmured something unintelligible. Instead of scaring her off, his straightforward declaration of lust pulled her in, and she leaned against him in total abandonment. His cock lurched forward, searching for her. His desire was no longer merely a hunger to feed on her beauty, but something he wanted to share with her, something he wanted to take slowly, to be special.
Until now, he’d only wanted to bask in the warmth of a female body, drink up as much woman as he could, and move onto the next one as quickly as possible before the cold in his soul set in again. But now that he had a hard-on the size of the bloody Gherkin building and her thighs were wide open to him, he didn’t want to rush it.
They sat, groins touching, in total silence but for their breaths. Shane fought to keep his under control. Man, she pushed all the right buttons without even trying. Her thighs were tanned and toned, and, swallowing, he gripped them, never taking his eyes off her face.
“Please, Shane, I want you to f-fuck me,” she whispered, and Shane’s cock grew even harder at the sound of her soft plea. He bunched up the bottom of her T-shirt, his lips burning a path down her neck and along her breasts.
She lifted her arms to help him, and he slowly, lovingly, caressed and kissed her ribcage and breasts as he travelled upward, and her long, black hair cascaded around her slender shoulders and onto her breasts, hiding them from his hungry stare. His gaze fell to the tattoo above her breast. A rose, so small and delicate. So feminine.
Shane’s body trembled as raw emotion coursed through him. He instinctively squeezed her hips to brace himself for it, but it hit him. Hard. He gasped, like when under the sea with her, dying for air. Now he crouched before her, dying to draw the breath from her until she shook, helpless, in his hands.
Shane ducked to her trembling lips and tasted her again, halting, almost expecting her to change her mind and stop him while his fingers feathered over her arms. She shivered, her eyes liquid amber as she opened her mouth for his kiss that grew deeper. She moaned softly and he pulled her against him, heartbeat against heartbeat, breath against breath.
Hell, he was jutting up against her and a moment away from taking her. But first he wanted to kiss those sweet lips swollen. Softly. With all the tenderness inside him. Go figure.
Shane ducked to lick one, taut nipple as his thumb strummed the other, bringing them to full attention. Her soft skin smelled like berries, and when his teeth gently tugged, her moistness pooled over him. God, he had to rein in all his strength to keep from coming, and he wasn’t even
inside
her yet.
She lifted her arms above her head again and moaned softly as he took her other nipple, tasting her slowly, deliberately, and his hands traveled up her thighs to where their bodies touched, but had not joined yet. Soon. Soon he would be inside her.
His searching hands drew her breath from deeply within, and she closed her eyes and shivered. Christ, she took his breath away.
He watched, slack-jawed with want as she reached down and unbuttoned his jeans. Together, they watched his cock spring up, hard, searching for her hands as if it knew they were there. Shane shivered, too, as her fingers circled him, nowhere near reaching all the way around his width. He was very big, and for a moment he feared she’d back away.
“Naked,” she pleaded, pulling his jeans down past his hips, her fingernails lightly scraping his thighs. In two quick movements, his clothes disappeared and he pulled her once again on his lap.
Easy
. He wanted to do this right. Shane didn’t want to treat her like he had all the other women. His gut told him she deserved better.
Her feet softly brushed on the carpeting as she lifted herself above him to unfold her legs so that they were parallel with his, but his cock jutted forward in protestation to the few seconds they were apart.
His fingers enjoyed the silky feel of her skin and the tendons behind her toned knees. Her female scent pierced through under her perfume, not floral or anything he was accustomed to. She smelled wonderful, like woman in a bed. Exactly where he wanted her.
She kissed him more urgently now, her teeth nipping at his lower lip as her hands gently squeezed his cock, her thumb caressing the head. Shane gritted his teeth. Hell, he wanted to come
now
, under the white scrap of her bikini that was damp with her juices.
Hang on, boy,
he ordered his body.
“Wait,” he blurted and stretched toward his night table, not wanting to leave her for a single moment. When her hands took the condom from his and rolled it onto his cock, he hissed, looking down and pulling her bikini aside to reveal her thick black tuft glistening with moisture. He
wanted
to take it slow, but his body simply didn’t listen.
Shane traced the downy covering with the back of his fingers, and she jerked like he’d stabbed her. She panted, eyes closed. Swallowing, he guided his knuckles over the ridge between her soft, wet folds.
“Oh…” Her eyes flew open and their gazes held as his fingers found her clit and flicked it, this way and that, almost carelessly, and she jolted again and again on top of him, her beautiful mouth open, her eyes shut so tight she looked like she was in pain. Shane cupped her swaying breasts in his hands and ducked to lick them.
“No,” he said, his hands now clearing her mane off her shoulder and kissing her throat. “I don’t want you to come like this. I want to be inside you.”
She opened her eyes and her hair fell back over her breasts. Heavenly. There was no other word for her.
Shane lifted her momentarily off his lap to reposition himself at her entrance. She mewled, and Shane caught her hips. His mouth on hers again, he pulled her down toward his enormous, screaming-for-her, erect cock.