River Arrow (New Guardsmen Book 2) (2 page)

Mari’s body rocked. She kept her eyes closed and tried to take stock of where and what. Her leg hurt like a mother fucker. She was thirsty. Her throat scratched. What the hell was going on? And where was she?

Then she remembered the collapse of the compound’s wooden gate and the half dozen men who’d poured in, taking hostages and fighting off anyone who stood up to them. Too fast for her to take them down. Too many for her to defend against. She’d scaled the wall and shot one of them with an arrow before another had climbed up behind her and stuck her with his bowie knife.

She’d fallen. The impact with the ground hurt but not as much as knowing she couldn’t stop them because she was outside the walls. They’d come after her and she’d run.

Now, she was on Jared Covington’s boat.

A crazed laugh choked her. A grunt answered.

Never one to waste words, Jared had spoken sparingly to her on his yearly trading trips. This season, he’d already stopped at Memphis Village on his way down the river. On their way back, they’d pass here and head to that mysterious place up north that produced fruits and vegetables. Cloth. A few pints of fuel. Seven years of news and a taste of the outside world but he’d never responded to her overtures to tell her more of the outside world. No, he didn’t open up to her, but he did with the elders when they’d whisk him away to feed him and pump him for information.

Forget information, she’d wanted him to pump
her
, but she’d never figured out how to jump his bones. The man never stood still except to salute goodbye when he and his men floated away.

“Where’s your crew?” she croaked.

In the dark, she barely saw the movement of his shrug. “Left them in Memphis City for a few days. Thought I’d fish instead.”

She nearly asked why he wasn’t spending time in a real bed, against a real body, but then her senses came to her.

Taking stock of her aches and pains, she struggled into a sitting position. A small fire stove gave off a little light. All that time she’d wanted in this deckhouse and in his bed, and she was finally here. It had to be his pallet because it smelled like him—or what she assumed he smelled like. It fit him. Male. Wild. Her clothes hung on a chair in front of the fire and yes, she had another wish. She was nude and he’d taken off her clothes, but he wasn’t pumping her. No, he’d bandaged her leg and then sat outside, leaning on the door and facing away.

Had he closed his eyes when he’d taken off her clothes? Had he felt her? Stroked her?

She shivered and clenched her hands on the covers. The sheet had fallen to her waist but she wasn’t going to pull it up and hide herself. For too long she’d wanted his gaze on her tits. Let him look. Oh God, please let him look.

His head turned at her movement, and he did look. Even with the shadows hiding his expression, the glitter of his eyes left no question that he unabashedly stared at her chest, lit by a streak of moonlight through an open window. His voice was rough but smooth, like water over rapids. “You all should’ve moved to the city years ago.”

“We can take care of ourselves.” It was an old argument. Today had called that bluff and it hurt. Deep in her heart, it hurt.

Jared made a disbelieving sound. “I’ll take you to Memphis City. They can take a look at that leg.”

“I need to check on everyone,” she insisted.

“I’ll do it.” He let his head fall back on the doorjamb with a thunk.

“I can’t leave. It’ll take me days to get back and by then who knows what will happen. I can’t abandon them. I’ll swim from here if I have to.” Dizzy and aching, she closed her eyes and gripped the sheet. “First I’ll throw up, then I’ll swim back.”

“Foolish and rash. Even now.”

She slung her braids over her back, knowing it exposed more to his gaze and not caring.

“Don’t worry, I will get my foolish self off your boat.” She tried to stand. With a cry, she fell back. Her thigh couldn’t hold her and the pain nearly made her threat to throw up happen on his bed.

“Foolish,” Jared whispered. “Stay there. For tonight. I’ll keep watch. You’re on your own tomorrow.”

All the fight left her and she accepted that he was right about one thing. She needed to rest.

His gruffness should have made him unappealing. He’d never be a sensitive man, and he didn’t do favors. Stoic, rarely laughing even with his crewmen, he wore his job and responsibilities on the exterior, but somehow, he’d made it his personal mission to do his job to help others—but only in a rigid, controlled exchange of goods. Except, truth be known, he’d done them favors, cloaked in his cold trading ways. A few survivors from the old city Memphis had built this compound and had made their way toward rebuilding a community but after too many hard winters, they never would have survived without Jared’s unequal trades. All that food and all they ever gave him were woven mats and hand sewn clothes he’d never wear.

“I’ll make it home.” Her throat ached.

“If it’s still there.” He didn’t say anything else.

It had the ring of finality. Her chest clogged and she couldn’t breathe. Sinking further into his bed, she curled on her side and lifted the sheet over her head. She’d been unconscious for hours. Long enough for the invaders to wipe out everything.

“I wanted out,” she whispered too low for him to hear. “But not this way.”

“You what?” he asked in a puzzled tone. Had he heard her?

She bit her lip and didn’t respond, didn’t want to reveal the ugly secret inside her, that she couldn’t wait to get out of this village, if only for a few weeks. The world may be dangerous, but she wanted to see it. She hadn’t expected, not really, that that world would come here, to her village.

The men who’d slashed her thigh would even now be getting drunk and eating all the food stores, sleeping in their beds, and if they’d left any women alive—she couldn’t think about it. Tonight, she’d let the salty water leak from her eyes but tomorrow, she’d make new arrows and she’d hunt them down.

A hand gently pushed her shoulder and directed her to lie back. Jared whispered something she couldn’t make out. Then the sheet covered her. She curled on her side and Jared sat on the side of the bed. The heat of his hip touched the small of her back, but he didn’t move again or say anything for a few moments.

“We all want out sometimes,” he murmured.

So he had heard her.

Guilt was a real, live thing in her chest, bearing her down. She had to release the pressure. It tumbled out, unstoppable. “It’s my fault. It’s my fault the drifters attacked.”

“Nonsense. Didn’t I say you’re being foolish and rash?” He sounded as angry as she’d be at herself, if the pressure on her chest would let up.

“It’s because of my good luck this morning. I had to have the bad, didn’t I?”

“You didn’t do this,” he hissed.

“On my way to watch from the lookout, I caught a snake going into the chicken coop. He’d gotten to some eggs before, but I got him.” She took a deep breath and admitted the rest. “I didn’t go to guard duty. No. I was too pleased with myself. I skinned the snake. Took the meat to Cassie for her to cook up. Was proud of myself, wasn’t I? Still didn’t get myself to the platform to watch. I had to go take care of the skin, brag to everyone what a great day it was. Didn’t even have my boots on yet.”

Jared squeezed her hip.

That hand—solid, strong, hot—stopped all the words.

Then he shushed her, swung his body around behind her, and ordered her, “Stop that nonsense and go to sleep. If you’d been on duty, they’d have taken you out first. You did have luck today. You were lucky not to get killed.”

“I don’t think…”

“That’s right. Don’t think.” He squeezed her hip again and her core clenched around a feeling of emptiness.

“How am I supposed to sleep with you in my bed?” She tried to sound mad, but she didn’t think it’d worked ‘cause her entire body was lit like a fire was inside her.

“Because it’s my bed,” he responded wryly. “You will because you believe in luck, that a day can be good, that you do your duty and all will be well. You’re a protector. But you can’t do your duty if you don’t heal. Go to sleep.”

His words vibrated from his chest and across her back, he was so near. This closeness with a man, it was new. She’d been naked with men before, but nothing like this, where a man offered protection as comfort and still wore his clothes. He wasn’t attempting to make a move on her. It wasn’t about that, even if his erection pressed against her ass, hot and hard through his clothes and the sheet between them.

His tense body was coiled, waiting, but the moment spun out, lingered, spread over her, and finally, eased.

Somehow, despite the low throb of lust simmering in her blood, her eyelids grew heavy and she did as he wanted. She slept.

Sunlight woke her. Jared still held her around with waist. His hot wall of muscle pressed into her back. His long body fitted against her from where his legs trapped her ankles all the way to where a masculine arm crooked under her head.

He’d stayed with her all night. If he hadn’t have been here, she wouldn’t have closed her eyes all night. She’d have gone back, in the dead of night, and done something foolish in the haze of pain.

Today, she’d be more herself, able to help her village, but she needed just a little more, just a little to keep her going. He wasn’t so aloof, so cold now. Last night he’d wanted her. This morning she wanted what she’d coveted for so long.

Rolling within his tight embrace, she sought his full lips.

Her hands gripped at him, fingers shoving into his ginger hair and fisting the strands to keep him there as she opened her mouth on his. She groaned and licked his closed lips. His chest rumbled and he made an animal sound before he parted his lips and let her tongue inside. His touch was everywhere. She was still nude and those big hands, rough and callused, ran down her side and clamped on her ass.

She wiggled closer, parting her legs and lifting one over his. Desperate, she rubbed against him, riding his pants-covered thigh.

“I want this,” she said against his lips.

He moaned something affirmative and grabbed one of her breasts. Her nipple went tight and hard in his palm. He plucked her erect flesh as their tongues clashed. Her clit was eager and aching. She couldn’t quite get the angle she needed on his leg. Frustrated, she jerked back and scowled at him.

His gorgeous face scowled right back.

“Use your fingers on me,” she insisted. Before she lost her nerve, she settled into the pallet and spread her legs.

His lips turned up slightly but even with that hint of a smile, it didn’t detract from his severe concentration. His hair was mussed and sexy as the sun glinted on the thick strands to bring out the red that gave her shivers. “Anything else, while I’m letting you give orders?”

He cupped her mound and gave a light brush with his fingers against the place she most wanted him.

“Umpf.” She’d think of other orders later.

He descended on her breast and teased her nipple.

“Oh, fuck, you know how to use your mouth.” She wanted that mouth everywhere at once. The intense rush sizzled through her and gave everything a keening edge.

Chuckling against her chest, he gave her a lick as his finger stroked boldly over her clit. He went for it. No teasing, no building her up. Stroking her like mad with steady determination, he did his best to get her whole tit in his mouth and swallow it. There was no finesse. Only hunger.

It was just like him, every bit of him that turned her on, focused, determined. He was going to get her off. Fast and hard. She raced toward it.

“Come on, Mari. Come for me,” he whispered against her breast.

“Is that an order?” She asked through clenched teeth.

She didn’t stand a chance. The words only sent her higher.

She tensed. Tight. Everything was tight. Hot. Her legs shook. She fisted his shirt and held on. Her heels dug into the pallet as she bowed off the bed in small thrusts against his finger.

“I’m coming,” she cried out, unable to hold it in.

White flashes blinded her. Her world narrowed to Jared and how he’d made her feel, how it’d been such a keen edge of passion she’d never felt before. Wanting more, she grasped at the quickly fleeting euphoria.

Shaking, she reached for him, trying to make it last, but he’d pulled away.

Through the haze of blurry vision, she saw him. His frowning intensity—that part of him that had always attracted her—focused completely on her. It made her dizzy, incapable of thought.

Humming, he licked her juices from his finger. From the movement of his shoulders and the sound of flesh slapping flesh, she watched his face as he found release. His eyes closed, hiding those gorgeous browns.

Then he rolled away. A pang sank into her. She hadn’t gotten a good look at him, or really touched him. Only seconds later, she wanted more. She jerked her head to the side, to stop looking at the soft look in his eyes. It made her chest hitch. The light shifted in the window.

“The morning is burning away. No time for another round.” She slowly turned to face him again.

He didn’t answer and though he was never chatty, the silence lay unnaturally between them.

“That was—” she started. Still unable to figure out what was different, she licked her lips to keep his taste with her for that much longer.

His expression darkened as he waited for the words she couldn’t seem to form. With a shake of his head, he jerked to his feet.

“There’s coffee.” He hitched his pants around his waist and walked out of the cabin.

She held her breath until a strange hurt faded. She’d had sex before. It was pretty infrequent since hardly anybody came to Memphis Village. Hell, she even canoed down the river to Memphis City on regular trips to get what she needed. But she was never tempted to stay, even to connect with a man. The village was around a hundred miles north of the city and the two groups of people hadn’t found each other for a good decade. By then, they were all settled and invested in making their communities thrive. They were too different, too separate to have joined together.