Nixon (Raleigh Raptors 1)

“I’ve already seen this one,” I smirked.

She pushed my chest, and I fell backward, landing on the incredibly hard surface of her cot.

“Holy shit, this must be like sleeping on stone,” I cursed.

“Shut up.” She slid over my lap, straddling me, and I forgot all about the cot, the tent, the whole damned world. None of it mattered when she was in my arms.

“We should talk.” My hands slid to her ass, and I groaned at the feel of the curves under her shorts.

“That didn’t go too well last time.” She gripped the back of my neck as her eyes dropped to my lips.

“Yeah, I know.” My chest lit off with an excruciating ache, just thinking about how we’d left things back in North Carolina. But I was here now, and even if it was just for the next few hours, we could push the hurt away. We could grab the moments where they counted. “But there are things we need to say.”

“Later,” she said against my lips. “I swear I’m going to die if you don’t kiss me right now, Nixon Noble.”

We needed to talk. I needed to tell her the decision I’d made regarding that contract. We needed to sort out what was going on between us.

She kissed the shit out of me, and I forgot all about using my mouth to talk. I cupped the back of her head and took her deep, sinking into her mouth with an urgency that roared through my blood.

Fuck, yes. There was no gentle ease about this. No romantic, lingering sigh. This was hunger, pure and simple. She tugged at my hair. I threaded my fingers through the hair at the nape of her neck, spearing into the little bun she’d woven it into. Then I pulled, breaking the kiss and exposing her neck.

I licked down the line of her throat, tasting salt and that sweet, heady taste that was Liberty.

“Nixon,” she groaned, rocking her hips against me, but not quite reaching my cock with her belly between us.

I grabbed a handful of her ass and sucked at the swell of her breast. “You are so fucking sexy,” I said against her damp skin.

She pivoted, swinging her leg over so she sat in my lap, then didn’t pause a heartbeat before reaching past my waistband and gripping my cock with her fingers.

“Fuck,” I moaned. She was going to have me mindless in the next thirty seconds if I wasn’t careful. I wanted her too badly, and she tasted too good.

I reached between her thighs, then dipped beneath her hemline—oh hell yes. She was dripping wet and so slippery that my fingers parted her folds and thrust inside her with one smooth motion.

“Nixon!” she cried out, then buried her face in my neck to muffle her next groan as I started to fuck her with sure, deep thrusts of my fingers. She shifted, and I had enough room to bring my thumb in on the action, strumming across her clit as I took her mercilessly. I didn’t draw it out, didn’t make her beg.

No, I brought her to orgasm hard and fast, then nearly lost it myself as her fist squeezed my cock. She tensed all around me, moaning into my neck as she came with near-violent rocks of her hips. I stroked her through those aftershocks, then when she was good and hazy-eyed, I kissed her deep, swirling my tongue around hers with decadent licks before pulling back.

If I waited one more second to speak, I was going to be inside her with way more than my fingers, and then there would be no words besides yes, more, and harder.

“So here’s the thing.” My voice dropped as I slipped my fingers from her core. “I can’t live without you. I tried. I can’t. It’s not possible. So, we’re going to need another tent, because I’m not into the mom-can-hear-us kink, and I guess I’m just going to have to get used to checking my shoes for spiders if this is going to be our home.” I grinned.

Her eyes flew impossibly wide.

20

Liberty

“Say that one more time?” I said, my head clearing of the blissful, hungry fog that had filled it. I drew my hands back from his zipper like I’d touched a hot iron.

Nixon shrugged. “I’m telling the Raptors when I get back.”

“Telling them what?”

“That I’m not signing the contract they offered,” he said and reached for my hands. “I’d rather live with your love than the love of a hundred million fans. So I’m done.” He shook his head. “I’d rather be with you and support your dream.”

The wind picked up outside, and my entire body felt the tremor as Nixon’s words sunk in. He kissed me, and in my shock, I let him. I lost myself in that kiss, his warm lips, that tongue that knew all the right places to tease me. Lost myself in the taste of him, the feel of his body against mine.