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
“KATA?” 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.”