Page 68 of Swept for Forever
I tilted my head, one brow cocked. I knew what she meant—not the animal, but the capital letters and all. Navy SEAL. The fantasy type. The kind women posted about in thirsty book club threads.
“More like a sturgeon,” I muttered. “Bottom-feeding. Ancient. Kind of salty.”
She laughed, full and bright.
“Oh, Dom,” she said teasingly. “I never thought you were the insecure type.”
“I’m not,” I said. Then I dropped my hand to her lower back, holding her there, half in the water, half on me. “Except when it comes to you.”
I felt her body lean in.
She said, “No, there’s no one else. No old flames. No hunky swimmer exes.”
The water tugged gently between us.
“Stay with me, Otter.”
“Dom…”
I didn’t wait. I claimed her mouth and caught her gasp, hers to give and mine to keep. Her fingers curled behind my neck, hauling me in as if she couldn’t stand the idea of space between us.
She collided with me, starved for contact.
God, I lived for that. For the way she clung, all in, no holding back. And my cock was already straining from the way her body fit against mine.
And if I drowned, I wouldn’t have even remembered it was the river that did it.
I slid my hands lower, over the slick fabric clinging to her body, and gripped her hips.
She shivered, but it wasn’t from the water.
Her breath hitched as I trailed my lips along her jaw and down the column of her throat.
When I reached the place where her neck met her shoulder, I pressed a hot, open-mouthed kiss there and felt her pulse stutter under my lips.
Then I bit down. Hard enough to startle her. Hard enough to leave something behind.
Her fingers clenched around my shoulders, but she didn’t pull away. Instead, she arched into it. Into me.
I smoothed my tongue over the spot, easing the sting.
It was a claim.
A warning for others.
She wasn’t just Autumn anymore.
She was my Otter.
My cute, brilliant Otter.
Her hands skated over my shoulders, her fingers tracing muscle, cautious at first, then bolder. She wanted to know me too, to learn every inch of me the way I already knew her.
I let her. I let her explore at her pace and take control for all of two heartbeats, until her nails raked down my chest and snapped something in me.
I lifted her, pressing her against me, her thighs brushing mine beneath the water.
She gasped against my mouth, but she didn’t stop me. She let my hands find the curve of her waist and let me kiss down her throat, past the mark I’d left behind.
