Page 47 of Honor-Bound SEAL

Ridge tooka break to straighten up and stretch. And to stare with undisguised lust at the perfect ass of his new gardener.

He wasn’t a bit surprised that Raven had taken to planting their new vegetable crop with fervor and energy. Apart from baking every morning at Cheryl’s, this was her only project, and she had talked a lot about needing to keep busy since coming back from the hospital. It was good to have goals, she assured him. Good, also, to have distractions and positive, nurturing things to keep her focused.

The first couple of nights had been tough. Woken at two or three in the morning by recurring and horrendously vivid nightmares, Raven had been shaking, sweating, convinced that the images her mind had shown were real and not simply the after-effects of extreme stress. Ridge knew more than most about such symptoms and gently brought her to a better place. Good food, exercise, and vigorous, unrestrained daily lovemaking sessions had brought the color to her cheeks and a new, genuine happiness to her heart.

It was a quiet time, and for that they were both grateful. The whirlwind week after their first meeting had been no way to begin a relationship, they agreed. Maggie and Wes were the only people who, Raven decided, were to be told the truth. Only days after returning from sunning themselves in the Caribbean, they sat on their sofa in stunned silence while Raven described the events in as much detail as she thought they could handle. Then they hugged her like they might never see her again. Everyone had cried, even Wes, though he’d hidden it as best he could.

Four days after her rescue, Ridge and Raven had welcomed a tired but energized Corbett into Ridge’s home, in much happier circumstances than his previous visit. They ate roast chicken and finished a case of beer before Corbett settled the ebullient mood and announced some important news from his investigation.

He was no closer to identifying the informant, someone he described as a “fucking rat” before apologizing to Raven for his language, but the Corpus Christi side of the cocaine racket was unraveling fast, its members dispersed and its luxury boat seized, searched, and impounded by the DEA. The crew had tried one last, rather desperate, sortie up the coast but had been greeted by enough firepower to sink a cruise ship, let alone a pleasure yacht.

Corbett finished his beer and finally addressed the elephant in the room. “I think I’ve managed to persuade the DA to drop charges against Hank,” he said to Raven’s mighty relief. “He did some stupid things, but once you were smart enough to get him talking to us, he really opened up.” Corbett’s investigations were already reaping the benefits in the forms of new informants and bugging operations and a list of people who would shortly, he hoped, find themselves charged, convicted, and sentenced. “We chased a few things down, and I think Hank will prove to be one of the best sources we’ve ever had.”

“So, do you know where he is now?” Ridge asked, pre-empting Raven’s next question.

“He told me he was going to take off for a week or two, to give you two some space.” It was Hank’s way of apologizing for the turmoil and danger he had brought to their nascent relationship. “But I’m pretty sure I can get him into Witness Protection, and from there we’ll find him something worthwhile to do. Quiet, but worthwhile.”

“I think it would be best,” Raven offered, “if he worked outdoors for a while. Get some exercise, put on some muscle.” Raven glanced over at Ridge’s tree-trunk forearms with a little smile. “It will do him good. Might even help attract the ladies, for a change.”

It was late, and they had finished the beer. Ridge insisted that Corbett sleep on their couch and navigate himself back to San Antonio in the morning. Pleasantly tipsy and very ready for bed, Ridge closed the bedroom door behind him and turned to see the most delicious sight a man might ever hope for.

“It’s a shame that we’ll have to be quiet tonight,” Raven said, kneeling up on the bed in her new, lacy black lingerie. She slid a teasing hand along her flanks, cupped her thinly veiled breast, and slid a finger into her mouth. “I was just getting used toreally letting go.”

Ridge grinned and hurried to undress, joining her in a giggling tumble of bare skin and bared teeth and newly moistened panties. “I’m pretty sure he’s passed out. He’s a deep sleeper,” Ridge assured her, pinching her nipple and pushing her down onto her back.

“Yeah...” Raven said as Ridge pulled her down the bed, her legs either side of him, her hand already inside her panties. “But what if you do to me...” she asked, welcoming his touch on her inner thighs, “that thing you did last night?”

Raven’s panties were most of the way off before he saw, yet again, how utterly soaking wet her pussy had become.Without even touching her, he marveled. “You’ll just have to find a way, because that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”

He lowered himself onto the bed, lying between her legs, and kissed Raven’s warm, wet opening with a passion and sureness that literally took her breath away. Within moments, he felt her come, her moans and yelps muffled by a hastily grabbed pillow. “Good girl.” He slipped two fingers inside. “That’s the first one. Let’s see if I can break last night’s record.” Raven peeked from under the pillow to give him a look: amazement, incredulity, shock, but then lustful joy. “How many was it again?” he asked.

Raven recalled at least a half dozen but then found her calculations interrupted by a skillful tongue. As Ridge worked magic between her legs, bringing his lover to one moaning, tensing peak of pleasure after another, she counted a few more. Then, in a haze of delight, she lost control, pulling Ridge up to her, desperate to have him on top of her, close to her, to cocoon him in her arms.

She kissed him, thanking him with her tongue, and then with her hands, and then with her whole self. He could never resist, she found, when she asked him, thenbeggedhim, to come inside her. Amazed by Raven’s power to bring him to the limits of sexual bliss, he gave in, pushing all the way inside as he pulsed hard and deep into her body.

Delicious minutes passed, dedicated to an endless kiss. It could only grow, they knew. It was in the breathless, quiet moments of the dark night, while they held each other close, that he heard her say it.

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