Page 154 of Without a Trace
Scarlett didn’t break. She demanded.
Her other leg wrapped around me, and I caught her weight without hesitation. She was already pulling at my shirt, shoving it up like it was in the way—and it was. Everything was.
I yanked her dress up, not caring if it tore.
“Tell me you want this,” I breathed against her jaw.
She bit down on my shoulder and whispered, “I fucking need this.”
That was all it took.
I unzipped my pants, not stopping for breath, for thought, for any of the rules I used to live by. She was fire and thunder and the taste of something I’d craved longer than I admitted, and I was already gone.
When I pushed into her, her head fell back against the tree with a gasp—loud, unfiltered, mine.
I stilled, just for a second, forehead pressed to hers.
Her voice was ragged. “Don’t stop.”
I didn’t.
We moved like we’d done this before in another life—clothes half-on, her fingers locked behind my neck, my hands bruising her thighs. Each thrust deeper, rougher. Every noise she made pulled one out of me.
And when she clenched around me, biting my shoulder to keep from screaming, I came undone—buried inside her, throat raw from her name.
We stayed there, breathless, tangled, skin damp with sweat and sea air and something else—something ancient.
The bond flared again.
Hot. Real.
Scarlett trembled against me.
“You felt that,” I said quietly.
She didn’t answer, just nodded once and kept her face hidden in my neck.
I didn’t let go of her right away.
Her cheek pressed to mine, chest still rising fast. Her thighs gripped my hips like she didn’t want the space either.
“You okay?” I asked.
Scarlett exhaled through her nose. “Do I look okay?”
I waited.
Then she huffed and nudged her head against mine, softer now. “That’s not a no.”
I pulled back just enough to see her face—flushed, messy, beautiful. She brushed her hair behind her ear like it mattered, like I hadn’t just watched her come apart under the moonlight.
Her voice was quieter. “I needed that.”
I kissed her forehead, the top of her cheekbone. “I know.”
“No, I mean—” She looked down, adjusting her dress. “—not just that. I needed to feel something that wasn’t… chaos. Just for a second.”
I stepped back, letting her slide down my body until her feet hit the dirt again. She winced, smoothing her dress back over her hips.
