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  “Damn bugs.” He slid a smile as he made short work of his belt buckle and fly. “They make people swell up…everywhere.”

  As he finally gave his erection its freedom, the breath audibly caught in her throat. Liquid flame dump number two, only this time, the hard-on flyboys aimed straight for his cock. He joined her in the not-breathing-and-liking-it department as she stared at his tattoo. Her gaze hypnotized him as it ran over the twin barbed wire swirls that flowed just beneath his belt line, accented with eight dark blue drops. There were four on each side of the middle break, which was now dominated by his swollen length. As he stroked it from base to head with a grateful grunt, she let out a gasp.

  “Zeke.” Her jaw fell, clamped shut, and dropped open again. “You…you’re…”

  A strange sensation invaded his face. Hot. Tingling.

  Holy fuck. He was not blushing.

  Christ, Hayes. Like you’ve never gotten this reaction before?

  Yeah, yeah, the response wasn’t new. He just had no idea what to do with this version of it, a woman who didn’t cap her surprise with greedy eyes and a come-fuck-me smile. Rayna’s astonishment was genuine. Blush-inducing.

  “I’m a big guy, Ray-bird.”

  “You’re beautiful.” She traced a finger along one of the tattoos. “All of you.”

  Her praise and her touch were a potent elixir. He spasmed, and the sweet heat of his precome emerged. He watched, fascinated, as Rayna moved her finger to the weeping tip of his penis and caught those drops. After she raised them to her tongue, she smiled like a kid who’d just discovered a new candy.

  “You taste beautiful, too.”

  He cleared his parched throat. For what he had to say next, he needed every vocal cord that would cooperate with him.

  “Touch me again,” he ordered. “Every inch of me this time, honey.” When her lips parted a little in hesitation, Z guided her hand to his pulsing shaft. He’d promised no spanking or illicit toys. He’d said nothing about a little directed seduction—which scored a direct hit for eliciting its intended response, judging from how her nipples puckered and her inner thighs quivered.

  She lifted her gaze as she stroked him with curious care. As amazing as her caresses felt, her stare affected him more. She watched him. Really watched. She clearly cared about the pleasure she brought him and was moved by it. No doubt, she could see the amazement in his stare, too. Of all the moments he’d fantasized about sharing with her between the sheets, this had definitely not been one of them. It was beyond expectation. Better than imagination.

  And her shocked cry, when she ran her grip back up his penis, was more pitch perfect than he’d dreamed.

  “What the—” She broke their eye contact to gape at the inverted V formed by the underside of his head—and the barbell nestled horizontally in the flesh there. Zeke pressed his lips to hold in a chuckle. A wise move. That made it easier to clamp his teeth as she continued to explore his piercing. Damn, if she rubbed that little spot beneath his bulb just one more time—

  “Shit!” He spilled more precome onto her fingers.

  She froze. “Sorry! Am I hurting—?”

  “No. Sweet fuck, honey, no.”

  “This is why you knew so much about genital piercings.”

  “A little real-life experience goes a long— Damn! Oh yeah, right there. That’s—that’s perf—” He closed his eyes to let them roll back in his head. “Is this how it felt when I was inspecting you?”

  She ran her thumb along his bar again. Her answer carried a gloating smile. “Karma’s a bitch, Sergeant.”

  Part of him wanted to laugh. The other half longed to flip her over and spank that adorable sarcasm into mindless screams—and pleas for his cock. God, what he could do with this woman if she were his willing submissive. The ways he’d harness her…teach her…pleasure her…

  Right before he released her.

  And hurt her.

  It was much, much better this way. One night only. A hot fuck between friends. A welcome back to the States for him, a welcome back to sex for her. A memory to make. A path they’d never travel together again.

  He was going to make the most of it.

  With a wicked grin, he pulled Rayna’s hand away from his erection. A frisson of curiosity glinted in her eyes. He loved that look… The mesmerized girl twined into the passionate woman, waiting to be shown a new discovery. He had one ready, too. He guided her fingers to it, slipping them into the valley of her labia. Her mouth parted more, an invitation he couldn’t refuse. As he fused his lips to hers, he led her fingers deeper into her sex. Her trembles became shudders. Her sighs turned into moans.

  When he was finished, he didn’t go far. With his mouth a breath above hers, he watched the arousal take over her face and crunch her forehead in a bittersweet scowl. He’d dreamed of her like this so many times on the mission. In the deepest parts of the nights, during those sleepless hours when he wondered if the next day would be his last, he’d imagine her in this bed, thighs open, fingering herself, gasping faster and faster until she came, calling out his name with her explosion. Now that he realized she hadn’t come close to making that a reality in the last two months, he was determined to help her find that nirvana in herself once again.

  “That’s it,” he coaxed. “Touch it, honey. Rub your beautiful pussy for me. Stroke your clit with that pretty diamond. Goddamn, you’re beautiful.”

  He was glad he hadn’t bothered to empty his pockets yet. In two fast motions, he had his wallet whipped out and his backup condom in hand. As he pushed his pants all the way off, he ripped the foil in a motion more natural than scratching his balls. Not that his balls screamed for anything but release right now. They throbbed harder as he sheathed up, rolling the latex over his length before positioning his head at the soft, shiny entrance of Rayna’s deepest core.

  “Oh!” Her eyes flew open, long lashes framing eyes that had become dark green oceans. Fuck. A guy’s soul could drown in a stare like that. Thank God he’d never see it again after tonight.

  “Oh, Zeke.” She breathed it she looked down. “Oh, Zeke!” The scream erupted as he pushed his tip into her, stopping just before his piercing breached her pussy.

  “I’ll try to make this easy, honey.” He barely heard the dry tree bark of his words past the blood pounding in his ears. “I can’t…guarantee I’ll…succeed.”

  Another nudge in. Rayna tensed as her tissues stretched to accommodate him. He hated admitting that turned him on, but shit, there was no ignoring it. He loved this. Rejoiced in pushing her. Reveled in taking her body to limits it hadn’t known before. Celebrated that his cock would mark her in corners nobody else had. For these few precious minutes, she belonged completely to him. Her world would become only him.

  “Damn!” She exclaimed it as he slid deeper. Her tunnel clenched his cockhead tighter as the barbell in his frenulum said hello to the sensitive skin above her ass. He pulled out slowly but plunged back in with more force. Over and over he stroked and filled and fucked her, sinking his shaft more deeply each time.

  Beneath him, Rayna went from exquisite to exhilarating. Her head arched back. Her lips fell open. Her thighs bunched, so beautifully tense as she tried to meet him thrust for thrust. As he claimed her sweet cunt with his dick, he roamed the rest of her with his mouth. He licked the salty sheen of her forehead. Bit into the straining column of her neck. Sucked each breast so hard her areolas were imprinted with his teeth marks.

  He didn’t want to stop there. He couldn’t. He needed to ensure he was stamped on her body and in her memory. Deeper. He needed to get deeper.

  “Spread your legs wider,” he ordered on a growl, “and tell your eye sockets to get ready, bird.”

  Rayna wet her lips. “M-My eye sockets? Wh-Why?”

  He didn’t answer her. He showed her. He opened the firewalls, letting the blaze in his blood take over his ass, his balls, his dick. No more gradual inches. No more tentative prods. He slammed every inch of his length into he
r wet tunnel, grunting in pleasure as his head rammed her cervix. Trojan stallion, meet the gates of paradise.

  Rayna’s eyes burst wide in shock. “Oh my God!”

  Well, that certainly registered down the hall on the big-brother-protective-posse radar screen. At the moment, Zeke didn’t give a shit about Trevor. Everything was Rayna. Only Rayna.

  He shifted his hold to both sides of her waist, openly adoring the hourglass curve. Hell, she was magnificent. He almost hated to summon the breath for his next words.

  “The Stratocaster’s fired up, honey.”

  Rayna gave him a shaky laugh. “No shit.”

  “Does it hurt?”

  “Yes.”

  His chest knotted. He lowered his fingers into her hips. “I don’t want to stop.”

  “If you do, I’ll never speak to you again.”

  “If I don’t, that’s still a possibility.”

  “Shut up, Zeke.”

  At first, he retorted to that by dropping his face to hers, twisting her lips in a brutal kiss. He barely let her free before growling, “I’m going to rip you open, Rayna.”

  The woman’s little grin wasn’t the reaction he expected. It caused him to pull back another inch. Though he’d seen her smile so many times, this expression was something brand-new. A challenge yet a surrender. Utterly soft yet completely fearless. Sweet God. He felt like a miner who’d discovered a new gemstone. Did he bellow in victory about it or savor the secret in wicked silence?

  She didn’t give him time to decide. “Do it,” she pleaded. “Fuck me. Please!”

  He gladly granted her wish. He’d just referenced a stallion—now he acted like one. He drove into her with bestial ferocity, not giving an inch of clemency or a moment of rest. He directed her body too, gripping her hard, pumping her pussy onto him, making her ride him as hard as he enjoyed her. High, aching mewls vibrated from her throat. She locked her hands around his shoulders and scratched the fuck out of his back. It was worth every painful inch. His senses spun. The room went away. The world went away. There was nothing now but the utopia of Rayna’s kisses. The silken skin of her body. The stinging bliss of her nails in his skin.

  The heaven of knowing he was about to come inside her.

  The euphoria of feeling the tremors in her skin and knowing she was just as close.

  He lifted his head again. Waiting for him were the gorgeous green oceans of her gaze. Zeke let himself get lost in them this time. Just this once, he’d know what it was like to drown.

  “Give it to me.” He dug his grasp deeper, grinding her faster onto him as he speared her with deep, long, hard passion. “Give it all to me, honey. Every drop of it is mine tonight.”

  “Zeke!” Her hands stopped where they were, though her nails turned into ten human power drills. “Zeke. Ohhh!”

  He caught the last of her long cry with his lips, using the motion to tamp his volume as much as hers. Waking up Trevor’s bro-dar was one thing. Blasting the guy’s brain to pieces from listening to his sister’s orgasm? Though Z often had an asshole side, it didn’t extend that far.

  He roared into her mouth as his climax screamed through his cock. His sex was flooded in white heat. His senses swam, his logic fled. He was seared alive, consumed by the heaven of her sex around his, her breaths twined with his, their bodies fused into one blistering, flawless flame.

  When he trusted himself not to bellow the walls down anymore, he dragged his mouth away. His breath still left him on heavy pants. Hers, too. His body shook every ten seconds, racked by crazy aftershocks from what he’d put it through. Hers, too.

  He lifted a hand to Rayna’s face, wondering about the strange sensation that overtook him when she lifted a tiny smile at him. He was breathing but couldn’t get enough air. Everything but her seemed muted, unfocused.

  Wasn’t this a lot like drowning?

  Shit.

  He forced himself to roll to his back. Pillows and sheets, joyously soft and smelling like sun, caressed his skin. After he trashed the condom, he pulled Rayna over, tangling his legs with hers, pressing her breasts to his chest. His battle-bruised body almost didn’t know what to do for a second. But only a second. It picked up on its new orders pretty fast. His muscles uncoiled. His breathing relaxed. His fingers roamed the entrancing landscape of Rayna’s back. She trailed light fingers through his chest hair.

  It was one of the most perfect moments of his life.

  She stirred a little before whispering, “Thank you.”

  “Mmmmm.” His voice sounded distant. Satiated. “Thank you, little bird.”

  Her fingers trailed down. They traced the knife-wound scar below his right rib. His memento of the sting they’d pulled on King three months ago. “I mean thank you for all of it, Zeke.”

  He brought his hand up and stroked her fingers, somehow feeling he needed to comfort her. Why had that gratitude carried such melancholy? Hell, no. It wasn’t time for shit like that yet. The night still owed them a few more minutes of perfection.

  “That’s what I meant, too.” He brushed her hair off her temple and kissed it.

  She burrowed a little closer. “Please stay.”

  He had no idea what to reply. It was raining harder outside. It was soft, warm, fragrant, and very naked in here. A paradise you shouldn’t be getting used to, asshole. This was one time. One very good fuck. Now get the hell out before you drown in her for good.

  He took a deep breath, scrounging his brain for the usual niceties. Early day tomorrow. Yeah, that was always a good one.

  “Of course.”

  Fuck.

  One night. Friends with bennies. Nothing more. You know the drill. The pants come on after the condom gets trashed. What the hell are you doing? What the hell are you thinking?

  He gave his brain a mental flip-off. She wasn’t asking him to stay and think, right? She wanted him to stay. No more, no less. She’d begged with that sweet, husky need that always ate up his blood and made him long to find fucking Atlantis for her if need be. But she never wanted anything more than him.

  And in this perfect, warm moment of now, all he wanted was her.

  His brain finally relented. As soon as Rayna’s breathing evened, he felt his consciousness slipping, too. With the sound of the rain echoing in his head, he plunged into the deepest sleep he’d had in months.

  * * *

  It was still raining. But he wasn’t warm anymore. He let a slow smile curl his lips. His little bird would help with that challenge. He reached through the sheets for her. She had to be around here somewhere…

  He realized the bed was empty when he heard her talking in the other room.

  Revision. Rayna wasn’t talking. She was arguing. And trying to be quiet about it, likely due to concern about waking him, which was hilarious. Since his normal alarm clock was usually Hawk or T-Bomb sticking their socks—or worse—in his face, this was a welcome change.

  Maybe not that welcome.

  Trevor was still here. He heard the guy biting out his name like a piece of lousy fish. Didn’t the fucker have a deposition to be at or some sap to carve up in court? It was ten in the morning. Trevor always had people to see and places to—

  Wait.

  “Huh?” he gasped, gaping at the clock again. Sure enough, the digits blared a one, a pair of zeroes, and then a two. Holy hell. Half the day was gone.

  He dug through the linens for his pants and underwear before ramming his legs back into both. As he got into his boots, he visually searched the room for his T-shirt.

  The whap of a slammed cabinet whipped his stare back toward at the door.

  “You know what, Trevor? Maybe I should go get myself kidnapped in Asia again. Those pirates gave me more leash than you do.”

  The shirt would wait. He was out the door and down the hall in the space of a half-dozen strides.

  The scene in the kitchen was about what he expected. The bright lighting and rustic French décor, down to a plate of homemade croissants and hand-iced cupcakes, d
id little to eclipse the dismal atmosphere between Rayna and her oldest brother. The guy looked like hell. His hair was more a haystack rolled in rust, and his eyes were rimmed in exhaustion. Zeke actually felt a twinge of empathy for Trev.

  It vanished as soon as the asshat opened his mouth.

  “Well, if it isn’t Sleeping fucking Beauty.”

  He decided to ignore the comment, crossing to Rayna instead. She looked like an elf immersed in Santa’s smoking jacket, wearing gray leggings and wrapped in a long-collared crimson sweater that was six sizes too big for her. She’d likely pilfered the covering off one of her brothers. One of his pullovers would look a hell of a lot better.

  He ripped that fantasy up before it could get started. Focusing instead on this real-life sprite, he affectionately bussed her forehead. “Good morning.”

  “Hi.” She tilted her head back, clearly expecting a more intimate greeting. So much for keeping his thoughts or his bloodstream in the realm of chaste. Still, he held back. Kissing her like that couldn’t happen anymore. It didn’t matter how tight his gut twisted as he watched her disappointed wince—or that damn wobble in her chin. “I-I’m so sorry, Z. We woke you, didn’t we?”

  He was grateful for the chance to lighten the air with a chuckle. “I haven’t slept past five for at least a year, honey. Believe me, it was time for Sleeping fucking Beauty to get up.”

  Maybe the self-deprecation would inject a little helium to Trev’s happiness balloon now.

  “‘Honey,’ huh? What, you’re Mike stinkin’ Brady for her now?”

  Or maybe not.

  Zeke forced down a deep breath as he fished a coffee mug out of the cupboard. He set it on the counter with a thunk that wasn’t exactly the stuff of guy bonding commercials. As he filled it, he tossed a calculated glance over his shoulder, one brow raised.

  “Sleeping Beauty. Mike Brady. You’re giving me quite a range there, pal.”

  Trevor huffed. “On the contrary, Hayes. I don’t think I’ve given you enough credit. Half-dressed sister fucker hasn’t made the list yet.”