Page 27 of Bewitched By the Mountain Man
“I’m not letting you go,” he says. “Not ever.”
I nod, my body trembling as the wave builds higher, threatening to crash. His hand moves between us, finding my clit, circling it with a gentleness that contrasts with the intensity of his thrusts.
“Come for me. I want to feel it.”
His words push me over the edge. A shuddering release rips through me, my body clenching around him as I gasp his name. He follows a moment later, his body trembling with the force of it.
He holds me after, his heartbeat steady against mine, his arms wrapped around me as we lie tangled on the couch.
“I meant it,” he says after a long moment. “I’m falling for you, Tessa.”
I meet his eyes, heart pounding. “I’m falling for you too.”
He leans in, kissing me like it’s the only thing he needs.
8
LACHLAN
The past two weeks have been the best kind of torture.
I watch Tessa from across the lecture hall, her head bent over her notebook, pen moving across the page as I discuss cognitive dissonance. She's wearing that blue sweater I peeled off her last night, and the memory of her skin under my hands makes it difficult to concentrate.
She glances up, catches my eye for half a second, and I see the heat there before she looks away. Professional. We're being so goddamn professional, it's killing me.
Class ends and students file out, Tessa among them. She doesn't look back. We agreed on this. No special treatment, no lingering, nothing that would raise suspicion. But fuck, I want to follow her, pull her into my office, taste that mouth that's been driving me insane all morning.
Instead, I pack up my materials and head to my car. We're meeting at the coffee shop ten miles from campus. It's become our routine, neutral territory where we can be together without raising questions. Just two people grabbing coffee. Nothing suspicious about that.
Except everything about this is suspicious, and we both know it.
Derek's threat hangs over us like a guillotine. Two weeks of silence, and I don't trust it. Men like him don't make threats and then walk away. He's planning something, waiting for the right moment to strike.
Tessa thinks I don't notice how jumpy she's gotten, how she checks her phone constantly, expecting the other shoe to drop. But I notice everything about her now. The way she bites her lip when she's nervous. The little sound she makes in the back of her throat when I kiss that spot on her neck. How she reaches for me in her sleep like she's afraid I'll disappear.
I'm in deep. Deeper than I've been with anyone.
The coffee shop is crowded when I arrive. I spot Tessa immediately at a corner table, already nursing what I know is a vanilla latte with an extra shot. I've memorized these details about her the way I used to memorize case files.
"Hey," she says when I slide into the seat across from her.
"Hey yourself. Did your friend Madison dig up anything?"
“No, she’s been asking around,” she says. “Quietly. Digging through Derek’s friends, trying to see if anyone knew about the footage, but nothing so far. Either they’re keeping their mouths shut, or he really hasn’t told anyone. But that still doesn’t explain how he got it in the first place.”
"It would have come from the club's own system," I say. "Someone with access pulled it and gave it to Derek. The question is who."
"And why." Tessa wraps her hands around her cup. "Why would someone do that? The whole point of that place is discretion. If word gets out that they're leaking footage…"
"It would destroy their reputation," I finish. "Which means whoever did it had a personal reason. Someone who knew Derek, or knew you, or…"
"Or both," Tessa says, and I can see her mind working. "Someone who would benefit from Derek having that information. Are you sure there’s no one you could ask at the club?"
I shake my head slowly. "I made it a point to stay in the shadows there. No real names. No attention. That’s how I was able to steer women away from the guys I thought had bad intentions. It was undercover in a way, even if I had no right to do it."
Before she can respond, the bell over the door chimes and Tessa's entire body goes rigid. I follow her gaze and see a young woman walking in.
"That's her," Tessa whispers. "That's Vanessa."
