Page 1 of New Tradition

1

Sunday, December 9th

Samuel

Samuel felt his heart rate increase as adrenaline coursed through his veins. Being careful not to make too much noise, he moved from behind one tree to dart behind another.

A round of ammunition smacked into the tree he'd just abandoned. He didn't wince, and he didn't look back, just kept darting forward from tree to tree as he kept his eyes out for the target he was hunting.

A flash of black and orange crossed into his field of vision and he calmly squeezed the trigger and watched with satisfaction as he hit his mark.

“Fuck, I'm dead,” he heard his victim say into their walkie talkie.

He smirked and switched the volume back up on his own earpiece.

“Tagged another one, boys. How many are left?”

“Pretty sure we're down to four boss. Your girl is lasting longer than you gave her credit for.”

He winced then. He would likely pay for doubting her when they got home later. No worries, he would remind her who was in charge when they got home and washed all the paint off.

“Just remember, she's mine to tag,” he said as he checked the ammunition supply in his paintball gun.

“Wouldn't dream of killing your woman boss, not even in a game of paintball,” Cannon Ripley said in his ear.

He felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end and he caught Erin's scent. It was one he'd become very familiar with over the last few weeks.

Transitioning from soldier to civilian had not been as difficult as he thought it might be, and he owed that to her. Restlessness lingered at the edges of his mind, but he drowned it out by throwing himself into his new job and educating Erin on the more carnal aspects of his life. That part had made focusing on his job a little harder because when he wasn't fucking or playing with her, he was thinking about fucking or playing with her.

Now, he was prowling through a wooded area hunting for her and a group of her employees. She was chief of staff for a splashy new senator in D.C. and she'd wanted to do a team building activity before her boss was officially sworn in after the new year.

When she'd asked for his help, Samuel at first thought she was just feeling sorry for him and trying to give him some excitement, but she'd thrown herself into the idea he presented with all her energy, treating it just like she did running Anette Ware's campaign, or filling out the D.C. staff for the senator-elect's office.

He pressed himself flat against a tree and waited for the subject of his thoughts to creep by. She hadn't spotted him yet.

His walkie talkie crackled and one of his former team members confirmed that two more of Erin's team had been taken out.

Cannon spoke up next. “I've got my eye on the third one. Looks like it might just come down to you and Erin.”

That was a more satisfying outcome than any other he could think of.

"Do me a favor and give me a wide perimeter so I can have some alone time with her and then we can get our asses of out of this snow and into a hot tub.”

He switched the walkie off, not wanting any more interruptions as he waited for Erin to pass the tree he hid behind.

♦♦♦♦

Erin cursed under her breath as she heard her last team member go down. She’d known Samuel and his team would beat hers. She just didn’t think it would be this spectacular of a loss. To her knowledge, they hadn’t taken out a single one of his friends. That’s what she got for asking a trained military operative to help her with a team building exercise.

Adjusting the strap on her paint ball gun, she crept in the direction she’d heard the latest commotion coming from. As she passed a large tree, the air changed, and she sucked in a breath. Samuel. He was definitely nearby. Was he waiting to pounce? There had been at least two occasions where Cannon or one of the other guys could have taken her out, and they didn’t. Were they purposely avoiding her at Samuel’s request? It might piss her off if they were.

She didn’t have time to think about it any longer because his thick gloved hand closed around her throat and dragged her behind a tree.

“Don’t scream unless you just want Cannon and the others to see me fuck you against this tree,” he growled in her ear as he dragged her gun strap over her head and tossed it nearby.

She could fight him, she could tell him no. But why? A chance to have sex with him outside? No way in hell she turned that down.

Though she was bundled in thick pants and leggings, he’d already begun to work them down her legs, and soon her bare backside was pressed against a cold tree.

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