My hands wander. My teeth scrape. My fingers grab.

Rhett’s mouth seeks mine in a kiss that kicks up the gravity. He lifts me to the edge of the counter, reading me too well. Or maybe it’s wishful thinking because he presses his hard-on into me.

All I need to show is a little intent, and I swear they can sense it—when I want them not to ask and just take. To give myself over to them.

I’ll happily give myself over to Rhett right now.

His hands tug open my fly and inch my pants off my hips.

I moan across his tongue before he pulls back to grin at me, yanking my pants down my legs. It’s telling that I’ve thought of getting clothes that offer easier access for moments like this.

I’m grabbing at him when he’s back within reach, wanting skin. Rhett’s. Unbuttoning the collar of his shirt, I spread my fingers over his collarbones, shoulders, and neck.

He’s unleashed himself and is swiping the head of his cock through my folds, spreading the wetness gathered there. God, I swear I wasn’t this wet and achy a few minutes ago. But the burn from his pressing inside me drags a low, needy noise out of me.

After a few strokes, he thrusts easily, but the friction is perfect.

Those strong hands of his hoist my knees up, leaning me back on my hands to stay near him. Tipping in to grab my mouth in a hot kiss, he moves in small taps. A few adjustments to his grip on me help him find a spot that makes my eyes roll back.

Fuck, the spike of unadulterated pleasure has me shaking. It’s spreading and amplifying. I reach up and grab his collar, and he slowly leans me back, dropping my ass off the end of the counter for the perfect angle for his hips to swing harder, pumping longer strokes.

My head falls back. I can’t keep myself up any longer.

Body relaxing into it, I ride that steep takeoff toward my first orgasm. I don’t fight it. I’ve learned not to. It gets so much better when I don’t.

I barely stifle my cry as I climax. Writhing and wriggling under him has his teeth clenching until he slowly pulls out of me, teasing my pussy until he dips his cock lower, nudging himself into my ass.

We’ve made a lot of discoveries about my likes and dislikes over the past week. Like when I’m properly warmed up, they can eventually make me come like this alone.

It surprised me, but it shouldn’t have. Not with how focused they are on giving me pleasure instead of pumping out their own and moving on.

But, God, I mean he is pumping now, pounding, really. The hard, rough moves only prove to drench me. I am so alive right now.

Rhett hooks my knees in his elbows and curls his hands under my shoulders. And those beautiful brown eyes make different parts of me ache. The ones most closely guarded.

I want to believe what I see when he looks into me like this.

So I do what I do best. I hold on, let it fester, wait until later to unpack it all.

And of course, I come a few more times, too.

29

STERLING

The op didn’t go as planned. A small lead turned into an ambush. Getting shot at. Nearly dying. Our retreat.

Neither Shepard nor I were hit, but that was closer than I like.

Although we did confirm our suspect as one of the bigger arms dealers, it’s not enough of a win to make it worth the trip. But at least we didn’t come out with nothing.

Shepard is abnormally quiet on the ride home.

I bet he’s equally considering what this is all for when we could have been with Sloane today instead of on this operation.

It’s a fear I had long ago that resurfaces now, a pang in my chest that worries about this case being over and having to let Sloane go off on her own again. If that’s what she wants.

It’s quickly becoming something I do not want. Not at all. Having my house full again is too nice.