Surrender to Me (22 page)

“Hunter . . .”

“I know, honey. These will come off soon. And you’ll scream like you never have. So fucking sexy. I can’t wait.”

His words were an erotic riptide, sucking her under even deeper. Drowning was inevitable, and the anticipation made her shudder.

Then he eased down her body, his mouth drifting so, so softly over her stomach. A lap here, a nip there, awakening her even more. Kata’s entire body clenched. Her yearning to put her fingers in the short strands of his hair, feel him alive and warm under her hands, assailed her like an addict craving his drug of choice.

“Free my hands. Please.”

Hunter shook his head, his thumbs brushing her erect nipples so softly, a breathless madness closed in on her. “The control is mine. This is you trusting me to give you what you need, to push you farther than you think you can stand and still make you love it.”

Kata arched, head tossed back, as she tried to endure his torment. But her body had become one giant ache that knew only the need for his possession.

His hand drifted down her stomach, into the wet curls between her legs. “Hmm, so wet and swollen. You might struggle to understand what’s happening between us, but when I touch you, I
know
your body is on board.”

He dragged his thumb over her clit again. A second later, he followed with a wicked slide of his tongue over the little bundle. She moaned, and he repeated the motion until her hips thrashed, until she cried out with a constant mewl of need.

“No coming until I say so,” he reminded.

She snapped her head from side to side in a silent scream of denial. After all the kissing, the touching, the repeated ramp-ups and cooldowns, her body was beyond primed. “I . . . can’t stop it.”

“You’re strong. You can. I’ll release you at the right time. Just trust me.”

He pressed two fingers inside her, then dragged fresh moisture over her sensitive little nub, rubbing in an unceasing, endless circle that completely unraveled her. His tongue followed once more, a hot lash that damn near destroyed her. Kata stopped breathing, stopped thinking. Every muscle in her body tensed with effort to stave off the inevitable. But oh . . . holding this orgasm at bay felt like trying to stop an avalanche with a paper plate.

“What will you give me tonight, honey?”

“Everything.” The ache for release screeched under her skin, and she whimpered with need.

“How badly do you want to come for me?”

God, he wanted her to beg. “I’ve never felt so . . . on fire. It’s like”—she panted—“an exquisite pain. Please, Hunter. Sir. Please.”

“You’re fucking gorgeous, honey. Are you on birth control?”

“Yes.” Please let that mean he intended to fuck her now.

He paused, his fingers unmoving, and her entire body seized up.
No!

“Because of Ben?”

The question slammed across her brain. Was he jealous? Would he punish her again by leaving her to ache and burn even more?

“The truth,” he demanded as he shimmied up her body, his hot body pressed against her side, flaying her with heat. “Now.”

“No. Irregular cycle. Since I was fourteen.”

“You’re clean?”

She gave him a jerky nod. In truth, she’d never had sex without a condom, but with the broiling heat of his cock hovering like a promise and a threat above her throbbing clit, she found it too hard to speak.

“Answer me.”

“Yes . . . Sir,” she choked out.

“Excellent. You’re doing really well, your gorgeous skin all warm and damp and flushed.” His hot breath caressed her ear. A shiver scratched down her spine. “Do you trust me?”

A dozen smart-ass replies died a fiery death before she whimpered, “Yes, Sir.”

He smiled as he removed both clamps on her nipples at once. Blood rushed back in, the flood painful and yet . . . She screamed with the cacophony of sensation assailing her.

“That’s it.” He eased aside and settled his fingers back on her clit and circled the responsive flesh mercilessly.

The sting in her nipples converged with the fireball between her legs. Oh God, she couldn’t stop it. The orgasm was headed her way like a freight train with no brakes, a steamroller with no off button, a supernova about to burst across space.

“Come!” he demanded.

With that one word, ecstasy climbed even more, a pleasure beyond her every fantasy, exploding across her senses, absorbing her in the earthy musk of cotton and sex, the deep timbre of his command ricocheting inside her, the salty tang of his sweat rolling down his neck, the sight of his demanding gaze electric with approval.

As the Mount Everest-sized peak broke over her and she struggled for breath, the blistering heat of Hunter’s skin seared the insides of her thighs. Shaking, keening, trying desperately to grab the headboard in her hands, Kata could only watch in helpless thrall as Hunter fit the head of his bare cock to her opening and shoved into her spasming sex.

She screamed, her back bowing at his entrance—a conquest without mercy, he compelled her surrender. It should have hurt, she thought vaguely. Instead, she welcomed his invasion as his hard flesh scraped along every brilliantly alive nerve ending inside her.

The climax grew, swelled. Hunter gritted his teeth and planted his elbows on either side of her head, gripping the headboard for leverage as he slammed into her. Then he did it again and again in a rapid rhythm. Every stroke sent her up higher, and she shouted in pleasure—for him.

“Yes, honey. Fuck yes!” He grunted out between gritted teeth. “That’s it.”

Every time Kata thought she’d catch her breath, Hunter was there to steal it, his body keeping her rolling between one incredible peak and the next, his mouth slamming down on hers as his tongue took possession and demanded all she had to give.

She lifted to him, everything inside her reaching for him, meeting him, feeling like . . . one with him. Whatever this was, it in no way resembled mere sex. This transcended pleasure, became pure energy and connection and . . . God, she could barely put words to the dazzling, overwhelming sensations.

Kata knew in that moment that this man had changed her forever.

Hunter tore his mouth away, the breakneck speed of his thrusts steady as he fused his stare to hers, his eyes so blue in his flushed male face. Sweat dripped from his temples. Every muscle in his shoulders bunched with the effort of each thrust. The cords in his neck strained with every slide deep against her cervix.

“Again,” he demanded. “Come with me now.”

God, once she’d started climaxing, she’d never stopped. But when he swelled inside her, Kata’s breath caught. He bit her shoulder, groaning against her skin, and shuddered above her. A flood of heat scorched deep inside her, sending her over another cliff with a scream.

“Hunter!”

Fire poured through her all over again. As he drove deep, his pace slowed until every measured glide against her wet flesh was a pleasure all its own. Her body convulsed again. She gave a last wail and went limp against him.

Moments later, he shifted. She heard a snap, then a click. Her wrists were free. He spent a long minute massaging each with strong hands, trailing kisses across her shoulder, her cheeks. Wearily, she closed her eyes and snuggled against him in contentment as he petted her softly.

“Put your arms around me,” Hunter requested. His voice sounded deeper, gravelly, almost desperate. “Will you?”

Their gazes met in the shadows. A zing of awareness burst over her. He’d been as affected by their lovemaking as she’d been. Inside, she sang chorus and verse of
Hallelujah
.

Hunter lifted a shaking hand to her face, caressing a stray curl from her cheek. “Please.”

Wow, after that, no way she could deny him a simple embrace—or anything, she feared.

Lifting her heavy arms, Kata wound them around his neck, pressing her fingers into his shoulders, her body so close to his. And God, more tears welled up. He’d shaken everything inside her, forever ruined her for anything simple or casual, for anyone other than him.

“Kata,” he murmured, his voice more like a growl. “You have to know . . . I love you.”

Those words sent a shock wave through her. She gasped, her eyes going wide. Love? In less than thirty-six hours? Insane. Unheard of.

Her heart stuttered, lurched. Unfortunately, she feared she wasn’t too far behind.

“You don’t have to say anything right now,” he whispered, his mouth lifting in an exhausted smile. “That look tells me everything I need to know.”

Kata knew what he saw—a woman on the precipice of losing her heart. It scared the hell out of her. She’d rather give a public speech to millions just before she jumped off a skyscraper with no safety net. But she didn’t think even fear was going to stop this plunge.

She swallowed, hid her face in his neck, but even then she was surrounded by his musk, his sweat, his strength. And as he caressed her hair, lips whispering over her temple, she felt his love most of all.

A shrill ring sliced through the breathless silence. Hunter cursed and leaned toward the nightstand, refusing to withdraw from her body. That meaning wasn’t lost on her.

He glared at the display. A scowl tightened his face, and he cursed again, longer, uglier. “Barnes. What?”

This close to Hunter, Kata couldn’t help but overhear the conversation. “I know you’re on leave, buddy, but we just received critical intel. You know that development we discussed about your last mission? We have a problem.”

Chapter Eleven

“
K
ATA?” Hunter reached across the cab of the truck to caress her shoulder.

She pulled away and looked out the passenger-side window.

Son. Of. A bitch.

Jerking his hand back, Hunter wrapped it around the steering wheel of Tyler’s truck as he drove east into the rising sun. The last thing he wanted to do while on leave and this spontaneous “honeymoon” was to report for duty, especially after coaxing Kata’s stunning surrender. She’d also revealed sensitive information about her family. Now, with his pending departure, she probably felt abandoned. But he and Barnes and other members of SEAL Team 4 had spent years trying to take down Venezuelan prick Víctor Sotillo and his arms-dealing gang. If there was even a chance that the prick’s brother, Adan, had reorganized the group after Víctor’s demise and was trying to do a big deal with his Iranian contacts in the next twenty-four hours, then Hunter had to do whatever necessary to stop them, hopefully for good.

So he’d promised Barnes that, after returning his wife to Lafayette, he’d be on a plane to the base in Virginia Beach by noon. No doubt, he’d be out of the country before nightfall.

Beside him, Kata looked shell-shocked and hurt. All his plans to make her safe, well sated, and head over heels in love had swirled down the toilet with that one call.
Fuck.

His timetable to persuade Kata to fall for him would run even shorter now that he had to take an unexpected detour to a jungle shithole. He heard the damn ticking clock in his head. Worse, he’d blurted out his feelings before she was ready to hear them. And this morning, all her defenses seemed to be back in place. Hunter began to wonder . . . He might be able to compel her body, but her heart? The sinking dread in his gut warned him that this might be one mission he couldn’t complete in time. Her stepfather had fucked up her psyche good. The question was, how could he fly a continent away to fight tangos, then heal her during the precious little time of his remaining leave so she could be free to love? It sounded fucking impossible, but Hunter refused to give up.

“You okay, honey?” He reached across the cab of the truck to grab her hand.

“Where are you taking me?” She tensed and tried to tug away.

Hunter held firm. “Back to Lafayette. I’m hoping to be gone two days, three at most. While you’re there, you’ll be guarded by friends, men I have no doubt will do everything possible to protect you.”

Kata scowled at him. “You’re dumping me on your buddies’ doorsteps and asking them to
babysit
? Hell no. I’ll get some of my cop friends—”

“We’ve already discussed this. With your assassin killed so quickly in jail, we don’t know if we can trust the police. I usually only dominate in the bedroom, but when it comes to your safety, all bets are off. While you showered, I made some phone calls.” This part pissed him off most, and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it. “You’ll stay with Tyler for the first day or two.”

“Tyler? The flirty beefcake who called me ‘baby’?”

Hunter strangled the steering wheel, wishing it were Tyler’s neck. “Yes. He’s a former detective who’s done some bodyguard work. He’ll keep you safe. I’d rather leave you with Deke, but my sister went into labor about two this morning.”

Which was a fucking shame. Not only would he miss the birth of his niece or nephew, but the worry that Tyler was hitting on Kata would be niggling in the back of his mind. His brother-in-law would never touch her. Hunter had no such warm fuzzy about Tyler.

“I’m happy for Kimber, but—”

“Jack Cole is due home tomorrow night, so he’ll relieve Tyler of duty. Jack is the best.” And the guy was so deliriously in love with his gorgeous submissive wife that he’d barely notice Kata was female.

“I know you’re trying to keep me safe, but I don’t know any of these people. I wouldn’t be comfortable camping out at their place and having them hover. There must be another way.”

He leveled a stern stare her way. “I’m going to be halfway around the world, up to my eyeballs in terrorists and their illegal shit. I’ll be more focused if I know you’re with professionals who can and will do whatever necessary to protect you. I get that it’s awkward, but I need to know that you’re safe while I’m gone.”

She leveled a
get-real
glare at him. “In other words, do what I say or I might be so unfocused that I’ll die? That’s blackmail.”

Hunter flashed her a grin. “Is it working?”

“Ugh! You annoying son of a . . .” She shook her head, glossy black curls skimming her back. “Fine. I’ll stay with your pals for a few days.”