Page 53 of Line of Resistance

He pulled his hand away and lifted his eyes to hers, cocking one brow. “I want an answer, Eloise.”

Her dark eyes narrowed. “I think I hate you again.”

“You don’t really mean that.” Nate grabbed the sleeping bag he’d left folded in the corner, dragging it up. “Even if you do, I don’t think you’ll mean it long.” He tugged the thick layer higher as he leaned down for his first taste of her.

He’d imagined Eloise like this more times than he should be willing to admit, but not a single one of those fantasies came close to the real thing.

Because up until recently, he didn’t know the real her.

And now that he did, there was no going back. No cooling down. No backing off. Especially not when she rasped his name into the frigid air.

The sound of it on her lips—the recognition he was the one touching her, the one pleasing her—reached into a part of him he’d guarded for so long.

He knew what it was like to need someone. To wake up every morning wanting to see their face. Wanting to hear their voice. He’d put a woman at the center of his world before and then had to watch as it all burned down around him.

But he was younger then. Hadn’t seen even part of the good and bad the world had to offer. And yet he let it hold him back. Allowed the loss to dictate every aspect of his life. The risks he took and the ones he didn’t.

And Eloise was definitely a risk.

He dragged his tongue along the seam of her pussy, sliding between the heat of her slick folds to find the nub of her clit. Taking his time wasn’t an option. It was too fucking cold. No way would he leave her exposed like this, even covered with the sleeping bag, for long.

But Eloise needed to know she could rely on him. That he was done letting her down. Done being less than what she deserved. She needed to know he would always take care of her in every way.

When he curled his fingers inside her body, raking across the slightly textured spot at the front of her slick channel, she nearly came off the blanket. Her hand shoved under the sleeping bag, fingers finding purchase in the hair he always spent so much time perfecting, tangling it into a mess as she fisted it tight.

He didn’t care. She could rip out every hair on his head and it wouldn’t matter. All that mattered was proving her wrong. Proving he wasn’t what she thought.

When her thighs clamped tight against his ears, he pursed his lips, sealing them around her clit and sucking gently with a steady pulse as he continued working his fingers into her.

She rocked against him as she came, the sound of her cries echoing through the quiet night air, testing his self-control in a way nothing ever had. By the time she collapsed against the makeshift bed he’d created, boneless and panting, the threat of his own climax was barely beginning to ebb. His dick was never going to go down at this rate and his balls were going to be permanently blue.

It would still be worth it. He’d made her suffer for nearly a year. It was his turn to return the favor.

Nate carefully slid from under the blanket, using one hand to wipe the wetness off his mouth as he pushed up to his knees.

Eloise was already glaring. “Don’t look at me like that.”

He groaned. Now that he knew she was more bark than bite, her snarky attitude was starting to be cute as shit. Like a feral little kitten trying to bite the hand feeding her even though she’s starving. “Like what?”

Eloise bit back without hesitating. “Like I should be impressed.”

He reached under the cover and tugged her pants back into place, buttoning the fly before raking up the zipper. “I don’t know. I’ve gotten you off twice today. I think that’s pretty impressive.”

Eloise rolled her eyes, but a small smile lifted her lips. “Is this how you always are? You need to hear what a good boy you’ve been?”

Nate eased down to the blanket beside her, pulling the opened-up sleeping bag over both of them. “Sweetheart, the whole forest just heard what a good boy I am. It’s not a secret.”

Eloise’s eyes went wide and her skin flushed a pretty shade of pink. “That didn’t happen.”

Nate pulled her closer, tucking the blanket tightly around them. “I wouldn’t be worried. I don’t think the bears will hold it against you.”

Eloise paled, the color he was enjoying so much draining from her complexion. “Are there really bears out here?”

“Of course there are bears out here.” Nate snagged the thin blanket he took from the cabin and draped it over their faces to block the worst of the cold from hitting their lungs while they slept. “I thought you were from Alaska.”

Eloise shot him a dirty look but it lacked any real venom. “I don’t mean in general.” She glanced around. “I mean specifically. Have you seen evidence of bears being close by?”

Interesting. She was unfazed by the moose and undaunted by the trek across unknown territory while possibly being tracked by unknown assailants with guns, but it would appear Eloise was not prepared to meet a bear.

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