Jill Shalvis - Hiding Out At The Circle C

The icy wind vanished. So did the hard, ungiving ground and their fear. The horror. He wanted, needed, to plunge in and ride deep. "Are you sore, Haley?"

"No. Now, Cain." She tried to wrap her legs around him to bring him closer, but with a little laugh at the wildcat he'd created, he held her off for a moment. He rose up on his elbows to see her better, wanting to feast his eyes on the delectable sight she made, stretched out before him, but he could barely see. Still, his blood surged hot and thick, centering between his legs. This frenzied need for her went beyond lust, far beyond mere wanting. "You take my breath away."

She reached for the snap on his jeans, then hesitated, suddenly shy. His fingers closed over hers, guiding them back. "If you don't free me soon," he said a little desperately, "it'll be too late, darlin'."

She laughed breathlessly, then slowly worked the soft denim open. He nearly died of pleasure when she took him in her hands. With a hum of approval, she stroked him and he just about erupted in her hands like a novice.

"Oh!" she gasped, yanking her hands back when his hips jerked. "Did I hurt you?"

He could still laugh. "Not quite." Striving for some semblance of control, he bent to her mouth.

Her tongue touched his. Her perfect body pressed up against him, and he lost himself in the emotions she created, in how she made him feel. He kissed her for all he was worth, on the edge already, and from just touching her. As if wanting her as desperately as he was, his fingers slid down over her, sinking into the silken curls between her thighs. She let out a surprised, thrilled moan, and pushed against his fingers for more.

So very wet . The discovery made his head swim with desire. Exploring, he found the tiny nub that drove her and gently, so gently, squeezed. She shrieked, and the sound echoed in the cave. More than satisfied by her response, he covered her mouth with one hand, while the other feathered and teased mercilessly. Whimpering and panting, she thrust her hips against his fingers. When her muscles clenched, caught in the torturous slice of time before climax, he stopped. "Wait," he murmured, sliding down her body slowly. "Wait a sec."

She moaned, sounding dazed, bewildered. Desperate .

He pressed her legs wide-open with his palms, brushed a kiss against her inner thigh. Then the other.

She stiffened. "Cam," she whispered, sounding a little panicked. "Stop. I don't think-"

"Just for a minute, darlin'." He reached up, took her hand and set it over her own mouth. "Hush now, okay?" He nuzzled, kissed her center softly, then lightly grazed her with his tongue. He expected the brutal grip on his hair this time, and he licked at her as if she were his last supper.

His sweet, modest Haley shucked all inhibition and went crazy beneath him.

He lifted his head. "You still want me to stop?"

In answer, she yanked on his hair, pressing his mouth back to her.

He laughed softly and used his teeth until she was sobbing his name behind her hand, and her thighs were trembling violently around him. Still, he stroked and laved and suckled until she all but shattered beneath him and was left quivering, dazed and sated.

He rose above her, shaken and needy, stunned by what she did to him.

"I want you inside me," she said, her voice thick and emotional, and she reached to guide him to her.

"Oh, yes." He barely held on as he sank into her slowly, gradually, deeper and deeper, until he had nothing left to give. She arched her hips to meet him, reaching blindly up for him, and he responded, bending over her for a long scorching kiss. He started to move, his firm, fluid thrusts matching the greedy, eager motion of her hips.

Whispering her name hoarsely, he surrendered to the ecstasy only she could create. She held him as he hovered at the brink, struggling to hold back a little longer. But then she shuddered-close, so very close. He rode her off the edge of sanity as his release pounded through him, rocking his body, his world.

"Wow," Haley said shakily into the dark cave, some time later. "That gets better and better."

Pulling her close with the last of his energy, he nuzzled her hair. "Well, darlin', I have to agree there."

She held him tighter, as if she'd never let go.

"You're not going to pull my hair again, are you?" he joked, "because-"

"No," she whispered, kissing his jaw. "Oh, Cam. I'm so thankful to be with you. You saved my life tonight. I still can't get over that."

"Why not? I love you." Catching the telltale glint of tears in the dark, he tucked her against him, cradling her head in the crook of his arm. "I'm sorry. Pull my hair all you want. I won't complain."

She didn't laugh.

"Did I hurt you?" he asked her huskily. "Was I too rough?"

"No, God, no."

He tried to smile, there on the cold, hard floor of the cave, but it was difficult. "It could give a man a complex, Haley, if you cry every time he makes love to you."

"You love me," she said in a small, choked voice, curling into his arms. "I have a hard time dealing with that. Or the future at all, as a matter of fact."

"You'll have to get used to it. Do you love me, Haley?"

"I've never loved anyone before. I-" She lifted her hands from him in a helpless gesture. "I don't know."

"Sure, you do," he said mildly, though nerves raced through his body. "You just have to listen to your heart."

"I'm not ready," she whispered, and though he couldn't see for sure, he imagined her blue eyes wide with panic. "I told you, I can't face the future right now."

Ironic, he thought. His love scared her more than a gunshot missing her head by a scant fraction of an inch. "I can deal with you not being ready," he said, though it terrified him that she never would be. "What I can't deal with is knowing you still plan to go to Branson at the first opportunity. It's not an option, Haley. You're not going, even if I have to squire you away somewhere and hold you against your will." Gently he disentangled himself, sitting up to right first her clothes, then his, but when a little sob escaped her, he pulled her back to him. "Ah, Haley… it's going to be all right."

She shook her head, her swing of hair sliding over his face. "How, Cam? He won't stop hunting for us. In the morning-"

"We'll get out." Freezing night air blew in over them and he put his jacket back on her. Wishing they were warm and safe in his bed, he cursed the fates that had them in this cold, dark cave. "He works alone?"

"Yes."

"And no one else has a system like this?"

"No," she said firmly.

"We'll find a way to stop him."

"But how?" Sagging against him, she rubbed her face against his shirt sleepily. "I don't even know if our government will believe me." She yawned. "I'll rot in jail."

"No, you won't."

"Maybe the USGS will help." Again, she yawned. "But this is a pretty crazy story, and they're years behind where EVS was. Even if they believe me, they might want me to recreate the system, as well."

"Just tell them you can't."

"They'll know better than that." Her words had turned fuzzy, slurred with exhaustion. He rocked her against him. Amazement filled him over what this woman had accomplished, what she was capable of. Squeezing her close, he allowed his hands to sweep down her narrow back, over those slim limbs that drew him so. "Haley," he whispered, streaking his hands beneath her blouse just to feel her warm skin. Her body pressed heavily against his. "Haley?"

She'd become a dead weight against him. Knowing she was near complete and utter exhaustion, he tried to shift her to a more comfortable position.

She stirred. "Cam?"

"Shh," he whispered. "Sleep now."

"Can't… sleep," she mumbled, turning in his arms. "He might find us."