Against All Odds (Outback Hearts) Read online

  She should’ve been terrified, at the very least anxious, but there simply wasn’t enough room for fear and doubt amid the anticipation and lust raging within her. He grinned and reached for the hem of his T-shirt.

  “No.” Her outburst shocked him almost as much as her. He froze with his arms crossed in front of him and his eyes wide. She squirmed to the edge of the bed and pushed to her feet. “I’ll do it.”

  And there was that stranger who’d taken control of her again. She didn’t just want to see him, she wanted to explore, touch, and taste every ripple, every crease, every plane. She peeled his hands from his T-shirt and pressed them to his side. His warm breath bathed her as she ran her fingertips up the corded muscles of his arms and down his chest. She cupped his pecs and thumbed the tiny ridges his nipples carved into the cotton.

  He hissed and palmed her hips. “You’ve got thirty seconds.”

  She slapped his hands away and drew another whispered curse from him by biting his chest. After trailing her palms over each ridge carved into his abdomen, she grasped the bottom of his T-shirt and slowly eased it over his torso. With every band of muscle she exposed, she edged closer until his erection brushed her belly. He groaned and ever so gently thrust against her. She sucked in a breath as the swollen head pushed deeper. He froze and tried easing away, but she lunged forward and wrenched up his T-shirt.

  She hoisted the shirt up as far as she could before physics crushed her amateur attempt at domination. She stood pressed against him, her arms outstretched, her nipples gouging craters into his chest, his erection trapped between them, and the T-shirt twisted around his head.

  His face pulled at the material as he shook it from side to side. “Smooth.” He trailed kisses down her nose, across her mouth, and along her neck while the cotton separating them added yet another layer of texture to the sensations tingling over her skin.

  She tugged the T-shirt free and flung it over her shoulder like she’d planned the whole thing.

  He eyed her with one raised eyebrow before cupping her butt and grinding his cock into her. “Time’s up.”

  The need to claim him, to have him inside her, was so powerful it almost overwhelmed her resolve, but if this was all destiny was throwing her way, she was reveling in each second even if it drove her insane.

  She shook her head and threaded her fingers through the lush blanket of hair covering his chest. “You’re still wearing too many clothes.”

  The playfulness fell from his face as he stilled and reluctantly let her slide down his body. Anxiety darkened his features. She knew the look all too well, because she’d seen it reflected back at her in the bathroom mirror just a few minutes ago.

  She secured her arms around his waist and kissed the valley between his abs. “You’ll never have to hide who you are from me.”

  He forced a smile, but the tension constricting his muscles betrayed him. She continued to gaze up at him while lapping at his skin. His sweat’s salty tang mingled with his scent. She inhaled him into her body and savored each breath. Hooking her fingertips into the waistband of his shorts and briefs, she nibbled and licked her way down the trail of soft hair leading to his groin until she knelt before him.

  A nest of mahogany hair emerged as she dragged his shorts lower and stretched the elastic over his erection. He groaned and jerked as her knuckles grazed the smooth skin sheathing his cock. She delicately pried loose the cotton and set him free.

  The musky scent of his need filled her lungs as she studied the sheer male perfection jutting proud in front of her. Like the rest of him, his cock was hard, massive, and magnificent. She slid her palms down the rock-hard mounds of his butt and cupped the backs of his thighs. She ignored the tension pulsing through him as she caressed the lip of the socket joining his prosthesis to his leg and continued exploring. A drop of pre-cum oozed from the tip of his cock and glistened against the engorged head. Driven by the stranger who’d taken control of her, she leaned forward and tasted the salty-sticky drop of need she’d drawn from his body.

  A guttural roar echoed through the silence as a tidal wave swept her off her knees. He crushed her into the mattress and covered her mouth with his as his hands rasped over her skin. Capturing her face, he steadied her and stared straight into her soul. “Time’s up.”

  She licked the lips hovering just above her face and glared back, daring him to claim her. She thrust her hips upward and drove the silken heat of his shaft between her thighs and over her clit until it parted the drenched folds of her sex.

  He cursed and drove an arm beneath her, pinning her between his hand and his hips as he sucked in a breath and shook his head. “You’re not ready.”

  Like hell she wasn’t. Years of field-testing the toys Olivia had recommended had transformed her into a self-help expert, and by the way his cock glided between her thighs, she was more ready than she’d ever been. “Fuck me, please.”

  A desperate moan poured from his mouth and flowed over her face and down her neck. He sounded like he was in such agony she even stopped her gyrating. Before she could suck in a breath to clear her mind, he descended onto her neck and nibbled his way to her nipple. He pulled and sucked while caressing and massaging her other breast. She sank her teeth into the ridge of muscle running the length of his shoulder and bucked against his cock.

  He tortured her with his tongue, his lips, and his teeth before trailing his hand down her belly and cupping her sex. She thrust into his palm and bit harder. Ever so gently, he parted her lips and guided the tip of his finger inside her. He caressed her swollen clit and shot bursts of electricity up her spine and into her brain. She raised her hips and forced his finger deeper as she matched the gentle rhythm of his hand. He trailed kisses over her superheated skin before feasting on her other nipple while parting her core with a second finger. He kneaded and stretched her as he stroked her clit with his thumb.

  She tore her teeth away from his flesh and gasped as she hurtled toward an abyss as foreign as it was terrifying. Nothing she’d experienced had come close to this. The bulk and heat of his body crushing her into the mattress, the power of his muscles pulsing above her, and the gentleness of his caresses as he coaxed her closer to release.

  “Come for me.”

  His words propelled her over the edge. She arched off the mattress and screamed into the silence as wave after wave of ecstasy rippled through her. He paused just long enough to chuckle and kiss her before resuming his assault. While his fingers explored deeper, he licked and nibbled his way between her breasts and over her stomach until his warm breath flowed over her pussy.

  She slammed her eyes shut and clawed into the mattress, but his fingers stilled inside her as even the frantic rhythm of his breathing silenced. She slowly opened her eyes and raised her head to find his predatory gaze locked on her from behind the neatly trimmed hair above her sex.

  A vicious smile consumed his face as he descended. His eyes never left hers as he feasted on her clit while his fingers eased deeper and angled up. Ecstatic torture surged through her and launched her into a realm devoid of gravity. She floated with her body limp, her skin tingling, and her mind lost in a world where only he existed.

  Like the ebbing tide, ripples of sensation trickled into her consciousness. The delicious liquid heat pooling between her thighs, the breath gushing in and out of her mouth, and the pinpricks of electricity skittering over her damp skin as it cooled in the still air.

  He eased his fingers free of her sex and rose to his feet. While she drifted somewhere between ecstasy and insanity, he looked ready to explode as he prowled across the darkened room toward his backpack. When he returned a tiny gold packet glinted between the same fingers that had been buried deep inside her just moments ago. In her euphoria she’d completely forgotten about the condom she’d so skillfully and stupidly stashed in the lounge room.

  He stood before her with his entire body clenched like a fist and his glistening, rigid cock thrusting proud of his pelvis. He leaned down and ki
ssed her forehead before pecking her lips. “This doesn’t have to go any further.”

  “Like hell.” She shoved up from the mattress, grabbed ahold of his waist, and wrenched him down. She found herself straddling his stomach without much of a struggle, which meant the mind-altering orgasms still trickling through her had granted her superpowers, or all his energy had drained into his manhood.

  Concern gripped his features and sweat beaded across his forehead, yet the steel muscles beneath her remained completely still while his cock brushed her sex. Either the army had some freaky ways of training their soldiers, or he had inhuman self-control because it was taking all her willpower not to ignore everything she’d heard about the first time and impale herself on him.

  He trailed his knuckles up the length of her torso, caressed the side of her breast, and gently brushed away the wig’s hair that had fallen across her face. “I’m yours.”

  The lion surrendered to the lamb. She lost herself in the dark pools gazing up at her and pressed her lips to his. “You’re mine.”

  She whispered the words into his open mouth and eased the foil packet from his limp grasp before shimmying down his body. After tearing open the wrapper, she fumbled with the slick latex until she was sure it was the right way round and grasped the base of his cock. He arched beneath her and almost knocked her off the bed before he growled an inaudible apology and steadied her.

  She grinned and tightened her grip, so much for his inhuman self-control. The realization she had the power to turn this man into a jittering mess was almost as intoxicating as the feel of his silken skin sliding over his steel flesh. She wanted to run her tongue over every smooth inch, savor the need coating the head, feel the heat and hardness between her lips, but his pained groans and her own surging desire overwhelmed her.

  She pulled the condom over the soaked head and rolled it down the shaft. Each movement of her fingers causing him to flinch and moan her name. With every desperate plea and whispered curse, the pressure within her grew until all she could focus on was claiming him.

  She straddled him and braced her palms on his chest. Raising her body, she shifted her hips until the head of his cock settled between the folds of her sex.

  He captured her thighs and nodded. “Slowly.”

  His whispered warning only served to fuel her need. She gazed down at him and eased lower while his hands supported her, guided her, and protected her. With each gentle rise and fall, her body stretched to accommodate him. His invasion was absolute, overwhelming, and perfect.

  His gentleness only amplified her desperation to consume him and decimated her self-control. She arched her back and cried out into the silence as she sank home and joined their bodies.

  He grabbed her butt and hefted her into the air. She gasped and toppled forward only to have him catch her and cradle her against his chest. The concern twisting his features dampened her shock until she realized his anxiety was for her.

  She captured his sweat-soaked face and kissed him. “Relax, you’re not that big.”

  He hitched an eyebrow and kissed her back before easing his hold. “Slowly.”

  The quirking of his lips wasn’t quite a smile—the poor man’s body was probably coiled too tightly to allow it—but his concern for her once again flooded her with emotions she’d never experienced: safety, understanding, caring…lust, oh God, the lust.

  She bit into the thick muscle running the length of his shoulder and grabbed his cock. As he tensed beneath her she drove down onto him. She locked her gaze on his and rode him. With each thrust, she drove down harder and faster until the delicious sounds created by their bodies combined with their whispered moans to create an erotic symphony that carried her into another world. Breath pumped in and out of her as she arched her back and bucked harder. Each thrust propelled her forward until her entire body clenched around his shaft.

  No.

  The distant command grew louder as the heat between her thighs surged into her belly.

  Not without him.

  She forced her eyes open and took in the tortured man battling his own desire to protect her. She fell onto him and locked her fingers into his hair before staring into his eyes. “Come with me.”

  Something snapped within him, and the mass of rigid muscle beneath her exploded. His fingers clawed into her butt as he drove into her. She claimed his lips and groaned into his mouth as she met each thrust with her own. She erupted as he clamped her body to his and groaned her name into the darkness.

  Chapter Twelve

  A thousand sensations drifted through Ryder’s mind as he floated, boneless and limp, into blissful darkness with Abi’s scent smeared over his mouth and the memory of her molten heat constricting around him.

  The desire he feared could never be sated awakened and consumed him. It sparked life into his unconscious muscles and charged his growing erection. He should give her more time to recover, to come to terms with whatever was happening between them, but the desperation to hold her, to possess her, to be inside her shredded the tattered remains of the self-control she’d torn apart during the night.

  He reached for the luscious warmth that had been curled around him…and found nothing but cold, lifeless sheets.

  He shot upright and scanned the room. The images of her endless curves and amazing smile faded with the light spilling in through the windows. Daylight? When had he fallen asleep? He swatted the hair from his face and rubbed his eyes. When was the last time he’d slept the entire night? Shit, he hadn’t even felt her get up. He held his breath and closed his eyes, but the only sound penetrating the silence was the screaming inside his head and the thudding in his chest.

  Adrenaline froze the blood surging through his veins. He shook the panic from his thoughts and tugged at the covers tangled around his legs. Thank God he’d been too preoccupied to remove his pirate’s leg. He wrenched the sheet free and shot to his feet. The desperation to find her, to make sure she was okay, overwhelmed his disorientation.

  His clothes lay in a crumpled pile on the floor where she’d thrown them. He clambered into his briefs and stumbled along the hallway only to skid to a stop as he charged into the lounge room.

  She stood in the open doorway with her ancient suitcase sitting by her side like an obedient Labrador and her laptop bag and backpack hanging from her shoulder. She must have been so lost in her thoughts she hadn’t heard him because she continued staring into the corridor like it was a portal to another dimension. Her pink scarf was back in place, along with her faded jeans and ratty sneakers, but instead of her lime-green Wonder Woman T-shirt she wore a canary-yellow top with what looked like Tweety Bird’s butt sprawled across her shoulders.

  The relief of finding her evaporated the instant the sleep haze cleared from his mind. Christ, had he hurt her? No, he couldn’t have. When she’d finally caught her breath after coming, she’d grinned down at him like he was a god. He’d wanted to take her again right then and there but she was totally spent, which had shot another jolt of stupid male pride straight through his chest. She’d purred into his ear and curled around him before giving in to fatigue. She’d fallen asleep within seconds, but he’d spent hours simply taking her in. The softness of her body, the swollen pink nipple topping the luscious breast splayed over his chest, the smooth curve of her hip… Shit, even her feet were perfect. He’d have been content spending the rest of the night listening to the breath pass between her parted lips and watching her eyelashes flutter as she dreamed, but somewhere during the night the unconscious sleep he’d been hunting so long claimed him.

  From the moment he’d lost himself in those incredible eyes on the plane, he’d wanted her, but with each casual glance and touch and with every verbal salvo they’d fired at each other, he’d grown more convinced this rare link they shared was more than simple lust. It had to be. Lust wouldn’t have him wanting to find out everything about her or make him feel he’d known her for years. Had he been wrong? Could the most amazing hours of his life have on
ly been the prelude to a one-night stand for her, a way to rid herself of her virginity before returning to her real life? The way she’d claimed his mouth and stared into his soul as they’d climaxed together, the way she’d curled up in his arms and drifted asleep, that had to have meant something, hadn’t it?

  The tactical part of his brain sparked to life and slapped the memories and visions from his mind. He silently cursed himself as he studied the suitcase standing beside her. What the hell had he expected? One ride on the merry-go-round with Sergeant “Super Stud” Harper and she’d spend the rest of her holiday wiping sweat-soaked dust from her face and waving flies away on a cattle station in the middle of goddamned nowhere just to spend more time with him? He forced himself to suck in air and unclench his fists. He was the luckiest son of a bitch in the world to have shared one night with her. But even as he tried convincing himself that he should’ve been smiling his stupid arse off and high-fiving the world, he knew one night with her was not enough.

  Her body deflated as a sigh eased out of her. If this had been an anonymous one-night stand for her, why hadn’t she made a break for it when he’d been asleep? His senses had been conditioned to keep him alive not to help him understand women, but the life that had been bursting out of her the night before had dimmed, leaving only a shadow in its place. He had no idea whether it was instinct or a desperate, pathetic shred of hope still clinging to his barren soul, but he didn’t care. He’d believe anything if it allowed him to spend more time with him. “I’ll take you anywhere you need to go, just tell me what I did wrong.”

  She flinched and almost dropped her bags. For a terrifying instant, he thought she was going to flee into the corridor, but the breath she’d sucked in gushed out of her as she lowered her backpack and laptop to the floor and slowly turned to face him. The blissfully content face he’d kissed good night a few hours ago had transformed into a twisted ruin of pain and anguish. His gut clenched as he took in the devastation carved into her features.