He grinned.
“So now he knows my name. And can find my address.”
“Yeah, pretty much. Not only that, but we blew the whistle on his identity. He’s a walking target.”
“Maybe that will send him away. He will run to some place people won’t know him.”
Nathan considered my words. “It’s definitely a possibility.”
“But you don’t think that’s what he’ll do.”
He scrubbed a hand down his face. “Shit, Honor. I don’t know. Part of me hopes to hell he runs to Mexico.”
“And the other part?”
His eyes met mine. “The other part of me thinks we pissed him off. Badly. I’m afraid you’ve become a challenge to him, one he won’t want to walk away from.”
I shivered. His words were scary.
“I don’t want to go back in that hole,” I whispered. Everything inside me felt numb, like my body was locking down some sort of self-protection mechanism in preparation for something terrible.
He swore in a way that only a Marine could. “You’re not going back in that hole,” Nathan vowed and pulled me into his chest. I wrapped my arms around his middle and held tight, like he was the last rooted tree in a raging tornado.
“Wait here,” he said and pulled away. I watched him go to the front door, unlock it, and walk out in the biting autumn wind.
A few minutes later, he came back inside. “I have something for you.”
His hands were empty. “What is it?”
He came up the stairs and I met him at the top. He reached behind him and pulled something out of the back of his sweats.
It was a gun.
“I want you to take this.”
I stared at it like it was the plague. “I don’t want that.”
“Yeah, I know. Take it anyway.”
Given my situation, having a gun would be smart. I may not want to carry it around, but I knew to the bottom of my slipper boots that if Lex showed up I wouldn’t hesitate to shoot him.
I’d probably shoot him more than once.
I took the gun, the weight of it not entirely foreign considering I carried one just like this the other night in the woods.
“You remember what I told you?” Nathan asked.
“Point and pull the trigger?”
“Yes.” He showed me how to work the safety and then made me show him that I understood how to use it.
“Listen to me,” he said once I knew exactly how to use the gun. “Shoot first. Ask questions later.”
“Okay.” Then I tucked the gun in my purse.
Nathan rolled his eyes.
“What?” I said. “Should I carry it in the back of my pants like you do?”
“Hell, no. You’d probably shoot yourself in that luscious ass.”
I had to admit, I liked he thought my ass was luscious.
“You gonna be okay today?” he asked.
“Of course.”
“Maybe you should just stay at your parents’ house tonight,” he suggested.
“I like my house.”
“What about my house?” he asked.
“Your house?”
“You might like it there too. I have a king-sized bed.” He arched an eyebrow at me and gave me “the look.”
“What are you suggesting?” I asked. Inside, my nerves were fluttering around like a moth near a lamp.
“Stay with me tonight. It will be safer.”
“Is that the only reason you want me to stay?”
He shook his head slowly. “I have this image,” he began, reaching out to twirl a strand of my hair around two of his fingers, “of your hair spread out over my pillow and my sheets smelling like cinnamon.”
“I should probably stay with you, then,” I said, my lips curving into a smile. “For safety reasons, of course.”
“Of course,” he murmured as he stepped closer and claimed my lips in a gentle kiss.
I felt my nipples harden and crush against the silky fabric of my bra. I pressed myself closer to him, arching just a little, and his giant, warm palm settled over one of my breasts. I sighed and his tongue licked into my mouth as his hand gently squeezed my sensitive flesh. My bra and sweater annoyed me. They were in the way of what I knew would be an all-encompassing feeling.
I pushed my hand beneath the hem of his T-shirt and raked my nails up his abdomen, around to his lower back. Gripping his taut skin, I urged him closer.
One of his thighs slipped between my legs as he brought me fully up against him. My inner muscles clenched and the rapidly swelling and sensitive bud between my legs began to ache. I bore down against his solid thigh, looking for sweet release.
Everything inside me felt wound tight as tension continued to build. I made a small, desperate sound in the back of my throat and sank my nails into his back just a little bit more. My hips gyrated over his leg as he cupped my butt and pushed me more firmly against him.
“What do you want, sweetheart?” he murmured against my mouth.
I made another little sound, not really hearing his words. My body had taken over and it wasn’t going to let me have control back until it got what it wanted.
His fingers moved to the button on my skinny jeans. The closure gave way to his nimble fingers and soon the zipper was gliding down. I shivered in anticipation. I’d never wanted anyone’s hands on me this badly.
Nathan dipped his hand into the open waistband of the jeans and reached down to cup my throbbing vagina. I groaned because just the pressure of his hand brought me a little bit closer to the edge.
His tongue circled mine as he began to back us up, moving into the living room where he gently placed me on the edge of the coffee table. My feet were planted on the floor when I looked up at him, wondering what he was doing.
He kneeled before me, sliding my fuzzy boots off and tossing them over his shoulder. Then he hooked his fingers in the ankles of my jeans and pulled. I lifted my butt off the tabletop so he could tug them away.
Nathan sat back and looked at me for long moments. The skin on his palms was slightly rough as they slid up my legs and into the insides of my thighs. The white silk panties I wore were already damp with desire.
“Will you let me pleasure you, Honor?” Nathan asked, teasing the edge of my panties with his fingers.
“Yes,” I answered, breathless, leaning all my weight into my hand without the stitches.
“You can say no right now,” he said, pulling his hands away.
“I’m saying yes,” I demanded, wanting his touch back.
He chuckled. It was a short-lived sound because he hooked both hands behind my knees and pulled me across the top of the table until my butt almost slid completely off. I watched with heavy lidded concentration as he planted my legs onto the carpet on either side of him and then he positioned himself at my center. Both his hands hooked into the waistband of the panties. “Up,” he said gently and then he pulled them away, leaving me completely bare below the waist.
Nathan stroked the area where soft, short curls grew. My head fell back and my eyes slid closed as his fingers dipped into my very wet, deepest place. He didn’t delve right in like I thought he might. Instead, he swirled his fingers around in the moisture, coating the entire area with my personal lubricant.
“It’s like liquid satin,” he said to himself as if he were utterly fascinated.
The more he circled his fingers around, the shorter my breaths became. He pinched and teased my folds until they felt thick and full. I was so very wet that some of the moisture coated the insides of my thighs.
