But as intoxicating as Zarina’s scent was, it was the simple, honest conversation they had as they walked that did it for him. For the first time ever, he stopped tiptoeing around the subject and admitted how much he cared about her. And she’d done the same. While the word love hadn’t come up—neither of them seemed ready to go there quite yet—they’d both admitted they needed the other. That was a huge step. At least it was for him. He’d spent a good part of the past three years pushing everyone as far away as possible. He wasn’t sure he knew how to behave any other way around people anymore, especially someone as amazing as Zarina.
In addition to talking about their feelings, they’d also discussed his PTSD and what they might be able to do to get him help. He wasn’t ready to go running into the nearest VA clinic for a group therapy session, but maybe he could handle a one-on-one setting with a psychologist if Zarina was there with him.
It was crazy, but a part of him was almost ready to believe he could get to a point where he didn’t have to fear losing control and hurting the people he cared about the most. He wasn’t so delusional to think it would be easy to get to that place, and he knew it would probably take some time, but simply being able to imagine that day as a real possibility was pretty damn awesome.
Tanner was still lost in those thoughts when he realized they’d reached the cabin he and Zarina had shared the night before. Had it really been one day since they’d left the campsite behind and moved into the prepper cabin together? With all the emotional terrain they’d covered today, it felt like they’d been here weeks.
He turned and gazed down at Zarina, finding her looking up at him with excitement as well as a little hesitation.
“Hey.” He reached out to tip her chin up, marveling at how her perfect, plump lips looked oh-so-kissable. “We don’t have to jump into anything if you’d rather wait. We’re not in any rush.”
Zarina smiled and closed the distance between them until she was so close, he could feel the heat pouring off her body through the zipped-down opening of her jacket. “No more waiting. We’ve been putting this moment off for a year and a half. That’s the textbook definition of not jumping into things.”
He waited, checking for any reluctance in her voice or doubt in her eyes, but all he saw now was passion, need, and certainty. That was Zarina. When she knew what she wanted, she went after it and let nothing get in the way.
Even so, a part of him still worried he was making a mistake, that he should keep Zarina at arm’s length for her own good. But he’d be lying if he said he didn’t want this too, that the urge to pull her into his arms and lose himself in her body and soul was nearly overwhelming.
He reached out and tugged her forward the last few inches until her breasts were pressed tight to his chest, then dipped his head and found her mouth with his. A growl immediately rumbled through his throat as her body melted against his and the delightful taste of her tongue scrambled his senses.
Tanner moved his lips urgently against hers, slipping his tongue in deep and playfully teasing every inch of her mouth as he glided his hands down and over her hips, finding his way to that perfect ass of hers by pure instinct. She whimpered, the sound making his cock tighten in his jeans and his fingertips tingle. He was on the edge of giving in to his hybrid and letting the animal come out to play, and it took everything in him to get a grip on the beast. He wanted Zarina so badly right then, he could barely think.
It wasn’t until she started unbuttoning his flannel shirt that he realized they were damn close to having sex right there on the doorstep of the cabin.
While he wanted Zarina worse than anyone he’d ever been with, he knew they’d end up regretting it if their first time together came complete with an audience. He forced himself to pull away and take a step back.
“Maybe we’d better go inside before we draw a crowd?” he suggested hoarsely.
Zarina blinked, looking dazed. Then she gave him a sheepish smile. “I completely forgot where we were.”
Tanner chuckled and reached around her, pushing the cabin door open. Inside, he moved across the small room and flipped the switch on the small lamp on the bedside table. Since it was being powered by nothing more than the small bank of batteries located behind the main hall and recharged each day by an equally small array of solar cells, the light wasn’t very bright. But it would do.
Zarina had already lowered the piece of wood that barred the door of the cabin from the inside by the time he turned back to her. The sultry look she gave him made his jeans very uncomfortable all of a sudden.
She crossed the room and wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing her body teasingly against him. “Of all the places I imagined making love, a tiny cabin in the middle of the wilderness was definitely not one of them.”
He couldn’t help but smile. “So, you spent a lot of time imagining us making love?”
The look she gave him was hot enough to scorch his skin. “You have no idea.”
He trailed his mouth along the curve of her jaw, then down the soft, perfect skin of her neck. “Actually, I have a really good idea, because I spent a lot of time thinking about
