Uncharted by Adriana Anders

Chapter 31

For the first time, Leo got it—what it meant to want something more than life. To crave to the point of endangering herself. It was how she’d felt just now, as Elias withheld himself. She’d thought that it would go away when he kissed her.

Silly woman.

Just a kiss. Lips, teeth, tongue. It wasn’t so much to ask, no big deal. Where was the danger in that?

Herewas the answer. Right here. Because kisses weren’t supposed to be all-consuming, but this one was. It tore her open, made her feel things she’d never acknowledged. Or even understood were there.

They were pressed together, writhing, the sleeping bags and blankets in serious danger of taking off in the wind, but she wasn’t cold. At all. She was nothing but a ball of hot, searing sensation.

And now she wanted more. Him, inside her. Her body bucked, reaching for him. And like before, he lifted up, pulling out of the way.

“I want you, Elias,” she muttered against his lips. “Want you so bad.”

His “Yeah?” was a deep bass. “Want you, too.” He took a long, slow breath and nuzzled the side of her face like he had all the time in the world, like he could do this for hours, days, years. “But we need a condom.”

“In your pack.”

“You found those, huh?” He made another low, happy sound, close and intimate. “I’m too happy to move.”

She inhaled his warm breath, listened to the wind, which hadn’t been there a second ago, had it? And homed in on the scattered rap of rain on the top layer of fur.

Okay, so maybe he was right. They needed a break.

Her next breath in was full of musky man scent. She should hate it, be disgusted by the smoky sweat smell of him, but instead, she wanted to lick him everywhere. The idea drove her wild, made her squirm and reach for his erection. “Can I touch you?” At his nod, she went on. “Let me make you come.”

“I don’t need to…” He grunted when she ran her hand up his shaft to cup the thick crown. “Fine. Together. Let me do the same for you.” He nudged her. “On your side.”

Leo hadn’t left the armed forces to take orders from men, and yet those three words worked in ways she wasn’t prepared to examine. Her breasts went tight, her hips flexed of their own accord, and before she knew it, she’d slid off him and done as he instructed.

“Here.” He curled up behind her, did something down low, and urged her to lift her top leg. For a breathless second, she wondered what she’d just agreed to.

“I didn’t think we were…”

“I’m not gonna fuck you, Leo,” he said, spooning her close from behind. “I mean, I will, when the time’s right. If you want that. But not without a condom.” He paused, and even his breathing went silent for a second. “Are you on the pill?”

She shook her head, so pissed at her past self for going off it, even though the hormones made her miserable.

“Better like this.” All business, he tapped her thigh and she closed it, ensnaring his erection, hot and hard and right against her wet lips, snug between them.

He wrapped his arm around her and put one rough hand to her belly—not a place she usually liked being touched. From there, though, he could guide her or hold her still while he moved. And she liked that very, very much. “And I want to fuck you when I’m not bone tired. When we do it”—he slid forward, the tip of him hitting one pleasure point after another, turning her mindless—“we’ll do it right.”

She had no doubt of that. Given how just this friction felt, sex with him would be mind-blowing.

He came and went between her legs, in slow, long slides, each move calibrated to give her pleasure—and to take his own—in a way she found refreshing. He was unabashed, forthright, and sexy as hell.

“That’s good, Leo. So good.” He pulled her hip back until she was flush to him, reached up to use her belly as leverage, and quickly plucked at one nipple—the whole thing an easy, expert dance.

And all the while, she couldn’t possibly breathe a word, didn’t want to stanch the masterful ebb and flow of his body, playing hers like a maestro—like a man who loved women.

A jolt of something ugly reared up, and she shut it right down. No point in being jealous of whoever came before. She wasn’t the jealous type.

Or she hadn’t been—until right this moment.

“I’m close. You?”

She could be.

“Can you…touch me there?” Her voice was a meek echo of its usual self. Where was regular Leo? The one who told dudes what to do, was happy to let them get her off, and even happier if she never had to see them again. Men were complicated, annoying, filthy, and…

He didn’t have to do much to play her like his own personal instrument. He cupped her between the legs and let a finger dip down, quick to give her the pleasure she sought. Panting, control gone, she shifted back and forth, seeking nothing but fulfillment.

“Yeah,” he whispered hotly in her ear and she wished she could see him, see the yeti out of breath and almost out of words. “That’s it.” He thrust again between her slick inner thighs and this time took a break from touching her to grab the head of his own erection, the move so unconsciously hot, so base, so in his body that she couldn’t have kept herself from coming if she’d tried.

She sucked in air—what felt like every drop of it present in this tight space—and held it high in her lungs while the rest of her exploded. He worked her hard with his cock, giving her enough friction to draw it out…and out… And still she couldn’t breathe.

His hand was frantic now, his breathing in her ear a shaky, messy chorus of sounds that she’d never imagined someone like this making. Finally, just as she reached the highest peak of her climax, he let go with his own.

Somehow her hand was there. Had she been touching him this whole time? When he came, she rubbed him, loving the quick, angry jerks of his body, and once he was spent—in a move she’d later have to deny—she slicked it up, over her belly to the nipple he still pinched between his fingers.

For a few long, languid, out-of-body seconds, they rubbed him into her skin together, the act so lurid, so intimate, so different from anything she’d ever done that something inside her blew. Tears pushed at her eyes. Every muscle tightened in her effort to hold back the emotion.

“Hey.” He let go of her hand, nudged her shoulder until she flopped to her back, and leaned over her. “Hey, Leo. Sweetie. Leo. Leo.”

Okay, so maybe the yeti didn’t have the magic words to fix this—whatever the hell she thought needed fixing—but the kiss he put on her lips went miles toward setting her insides straight. And his little noises did that too. Soft, sweet sounds, so different from the way he’d literally growled through his orgasm.

But, crap, she refused to cry. She wouldn’t. Swallowing back the burn, she forced a touch of humor into her voice. “I may have lost my mind.” Or at least a few brain cells.

He sighed, the sound shaky, and put his forehead against hers. “Not the only one.” His body scooted to one side, where he leaned on an elbow, giving her space—but not too much. She liked that—being boxed in with him, with the option to escape. “You okay?”

She opened her mouth, an easy yeah on the tip of her tongue, and then closed it. Was she? This wasn’t her, getting emotional for no reason. This feeling things. Overwhelmed by sensations she’d never experienced before. “I don’t know.”

He seemed to be holding himself very still. “You regret it?”

Her muscles jolted like she’d been shocked. “No! Oh, God no.” She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulled him close so she could whisper. “It was good. This is good.”

“Yeah?” He drew back and though she couldn’t see his smile, she could hear it. “On a scale of one to—”

“Stop it.” She bopped his shoulder and let out a shaky breath. “Hey. Where’s Bo?”

“Must’ve taken off for calmer climes.”

“It’s storming outside.” A light laugh tumbled up and out.

“Yeah, well. Got pretty rowdy in here.”

“It was…”

“Unbelievable.” He shifted. “What about for you?”

“Honestly? That was the best orgasm I’ve ever had. Colossal. Like…I don’t know… The one orgasm to rule them all.”

He barked a laugh. “And in the darkness bind them?”

She snickered. “Bind us.”

Their laughter petered off. Uh-oh. Why did that seem so real? A bond more inexorable than rings on fingers.

For a few careful seconds, she held her breath. She couldn’t see his eyes, but she could feel the humor in them, could sense the affection there. Could picture the lines splaying out at the sun-creased corners. And hell, there it was again—that outpouring of emotion that she had no freaking idea what to do with. It wasn’t easy, but she held it back and concentrated on him instead, letting her hand explore his mysterious face, learning it in the dark.

While she was running her fingers over his lips he yawned, ended on a chuckle, and pulled her in to give her the sleepy, slow, content kind of kiss she remembered her parents having. When she pulled back, he nudged her over, half on top of his splayed-out limbs, the position a perfect yin and yang.

Every muscle in her body hurt, her skin chafed, and her belly rumbled with hunger, but it was nothing compared to this thing blooming inside her. What was it? Was it happiness? Possibly. Probably. But good God did it scare her. More than crashes and enemy fire and running for her life across a frozen lake. Shit, it turned out, had just gotten real, in a no-going-back kind of way. And she had no idea how to handle it.