Page 13 of Classified (The Elite 3)

“Like, I don’t know—”

“Yes, you do.” Panther let me go and floated to his back, bobbing up and down over the cool water, and as he relaxed into the steady rhythm, my heart began to thump.

He was right. I knew exactly how he looked at me. Like he loved me. But since neither of us seemed ready to say it just yet, I’d leave it as is, because as far as I was concerned, life seemed pretty damn perfect to me.

11 Panther

I WEAVED EASILY between lanes, giving Solo just enough of a lead to make him think he had me. The fading light from the setting sun winked off the back of his bike, beckoning me to come closer, but I hung back because the view of his shirt riding up his muscular back was too enticing to miss. After spending the entire day at the beach, his skin was now a dark golden brown with the faintest hint of red, and I couldn’t wait to get back to the barracks so I could run my tongue along the warm lines of his body.

Solo veered off suddenly, catching me off guard as he headed down a side street that definitely didn’t lead back to the base. Curious, I followed. The road was narrow, not a main thoroughfare, and it made me wonder if Solo actually knew where he was going.

As the road began to wind up the side of a mountain, we flew by several drives that disappeared behind gated fences and luscious landscapes, and I knew whatever view they had would be worth the twists and turns to get up there. The very reason, I was sure, Solo had picked this particular road in the first place.

Nothing like the thrill of the chase, especially up a death-defying road that could barely squeeze two cars by, if that. As we rounded the last hairpin turn and climbed the final few miles, I saw Solo pull off to the side and cut his engine right beside a For Sale sign.

I slowed to a crawl and maneuvered my bike in beside his, and as I came to a stop, Solo drew his helmet off. Fuck me, he was sexy. Sitting there straddled over his motorcycle with wild eyes, I could tell he’d enjoyed the trip up here almost as much as I had.

I tugged my own helmet off and placed it between my spread thighs, looking past Solo’s shoulder to the slightly overgrown foliage behind him. This place was a little less manicured than the rest, probably due to being on the market for some time. Solo flicked his kickstand down and climbed off his bike, and I did the same.

“What is this place?” I said as I stopped beside Solo.

“Have no idea. I stumbled across it one night when I first got here.”

“Just stumbled over it, huh?”

Solo glanced over at me, a wide smile on his face, and shrugged. “Yeah. I took a joyride one night after this guy I had a thing for had a fight with me and got me all hot and bothered. He was still working out that he thought I was the sexiest thing on the planet…and since I wasn’t about to go and fuck just anyone—”

“Something I’m sure he’s thankful for.”

“Mhmm. I found this place instead.” Solo winked at me and then held out his hand. “Wanna take a look?”

“Uh, as in go inside? We might need to call the realtor for that, and I’m pretty sure”—I looked over my shoulder to the sign—“Patty Hinkle is done for the day.”

Solo chuckled and tugged on my hand. “Not inside. I’m talking about the outside.”

I looked at the gate in front of us and was pretty sure that scaling it constituted as trespassing, but when Solo waggled his eyebrows and said, “Come ooon, we’re not going to do anything to the place, just look at the view,” I relented.

“If my ass gets in trouble for this—”

“I promise I’ll kiss it better after the spanking.”

“I was actually going to say don’t think I won’t tell them it was your idea.”

Solo scoffed as we reached the gate. “As if they’d ever believe it was yours.” Then, quick as a cat scaling a tree, he was up and over it before I could blink. Clearly he’d done this before. “Come on. It’s your turn.”

“Why do I feel like this is the beginning of some movie where the cool kid coaxes the strait-laced one into doing something he really shouldn’t…”

Solo grinned like a fiend and reached for the edge of his shirt. “I mean, if you want to miss out on getting your hands on this”—he smoothed his hand up over his rigid abdomen, and my mouth practically watered—“you can stay out there like a good little boy.”

I narrowed my eyes on his taunting ass. “Little, huh?”

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