Extreme Danger (McClouds & Friends #5)(118)

He put her to the side and burst out of the water with a heave and a surge and a violent back slosh, and shook himself as he climbed out. “I’m overheating,” he said abruptly, by way of explanation.

He sat down on the end of a wooden bench and turned his face up to catch the cool rain that pelted down on his body, eyes shut.

Becca got up, and followed him. The rain didn’t feel cold at all. It was deliciously soothing against her feverish body.

No desperate rush, now. All her doubts were gone. She came on, inexorable as the tide. He had no place to hide from her. Not anymore.

She sank down in front of him onto her knees on the wet wooden boards, her hands on his knees, and stared into the inscrutable mask of his face as her hands stroked slowly up his wet thighs, against the grain of his gleaming hair. Her fingers tangled in the wet, wiry curls at his groin. Fastened around the thick, taut root of his penis.

She could read the language of his face. The tension in his jaw, the tremor in his eyelids, the flare of his nostrils. Cords standing out on his neck. And that hot, urgent heartbeat, pulsing in her hands.

She put her mouth to him and began to hone her newly acquired oral skills. The dim blue glow was the only light, the only sound was the hum of the churning tub and the rushing whisper of rain hitting the deck, and pattering against their skin. The pine, cedar and spruce released an intoxicating perfume. She felt so hot. Rain should sizzle right off her body into steam. She felt so excited. So vibrant and alive.

She laved and licked, swirled and massaged, loved him with her tongue, her lips, her hands, until he hung over her, gasping for breath.

She dragged it out until her own need ached and throbbed, too sharp to ignore. Then she rose to her feet, and straddled him.

He held his cock up for her, as she lowered herself. She swirled the blunt bulb of his phallus inside her cleft to make him slicker, and then sank down, letting her own weight do the work. Tears welled into her eyes at the mingled pain and perfection of that slow, huge penetration. She moved, squeezed, writhed around that thick pole. Pleasure licked and throbbed. Pressure mounted.

He pulled her face around, cupped her jaw to stare into her eyes with his wet hand. Rain dropped down his face in rivulets.

“I love you,” he blurted, his voice raw.

She stared at him, her mouth shaking for a few dumbfounded moments. “I love you, too,” she whispered back. “I wanted to say it yesterday. I almost did, but I was so afraid you wouldn’t want—”

“I do,” he broke in roughly. “I want you. I want it all.”

She gulped back the tears and tried to smile, wiping away the rain that was running into her eyes. “That’s good,” she quavered.

He kissed her again. They held each other, and every subtle sway, every sigh, every clasp and pulse and squeeze was a sultry bloom of pleasure, bursting open to astonish them. Revelation after revelation.

He pulled his lips away. “Don’t leave me,” he said.

“I won’t,” she promised. “Not ever.”

Rain pounded down, a shower of sweet sensation, an outburst of pure emotion straight from the sky to cool their molten bodies.

“I mean it,” he said, emphasizing each hoarse word as if she might not have understood. “I mean for keeps. For life. Marry me.”

“Yes. All yours,” She was laughing, weeping for joy. “Everything.”

He clutched her. She wrapped her legs around him. They were a single entity, poised on the edge of the world.

In a state of utter grace.

Chapter

25

B ecca spooned up the last bit of hollandaise sauce from her eggs Benedict and tried both numbers again, for the tenth time. Carrie, then Josh. Both numbers, still turned off. Very unlike them. All three of the Cattrell siblings had strong feelings about the importance of being connected. The niggling pinch of fear in her belly eroded even her sweet glow of euphoria from that amazing night with Nick.

And guilt, too. That she hadn’t tried harder the day before.

“What’s wrong, babe?”

Nick had paused in shoveling the last scraps of what was left of his enormous ham, cheese and vegetable omelette. He was frowning.

“My brother and sister,” she said. “I can’t reach them.”

He swallowed a big bite of toast, and glanced at his watch. “It’s 10:40 on a Sunday morning,” he offered. “I’d have my phone turned off too, if I were them. Try them when we’re back in town.”

She nodded and sipped coffee, trying to dismiss this full blown case of the heebie-jeebies. It was probably just a function of the extreme stress she was under. Not some psychic premonition of disaster.

Of course not. Nothing so woo woo. She wasn’t that kind of girl.

She’d already tried Carrie’s dorm, but no one had seen her in days. Same with Josh. None of the guys at his bachelor pad, known affectionately as the HellHole, remembered seeing him that weekend. Damn, she was going to be glad when she spoke to them, and could feel embarrassed about these creepy crawlies. In fact, she could hardly wait for the crushing embarrassment to descend. Bring it on. Anytime.

“What’s on your agenda for today?” she asked him.

“I’ve got Alex Aaro to cover for me for another few hours,” Nick said. “I’m going to go see Diana Evans.” He tapped his finger on a manila file folder that lay next to his plate. “Davy found her for me. Mathes, too, but I don’t think it’s a good idea to interview him.”