“I’m not breakable,” she whispered.
He stared down into her brown eyes. She raised an eyebrow—an unspoken challenge. And hell, she knew he couldn’t turn away once she’d thrown down the gauntlet.
Abandoning her breasts, he reached down and guided her leg up until it wrapped around him. “Hold on tight, darlin’.”
And then he began to move. He thrust in and out, holding nothing back. Fucking missionary had never felt so good.
Next time, I’ll get creative. Doggie style. Reverse cowgirl. Next time—
> “More!” She arched her back and lifted her hips up to meet him thrust for thrust. Her nails clawed at his back as if determined to leave marks. “More, for the love of…oh God, Jack!”
He went for it, pushing into her harder, faster, giving more until he’d left gentle so far behind he wasn’t sure he remembered the meaning of the word. And then—fuck. He closed his eyes against the explosion ripping through him.
“Jack!”
She was right there with him, her body convulsing around him as he came. As his orgasm ebbed, she placed her hands on his chest and pushed. He rolled onto his back and she went with him, her legs straddling his hips, their bodies still joined. He looked up at the beautiful woman riding him for damn near all he was worth.
Her long hair fell over her shoulders, teasing her perfect, perky tits. Her lips parted as she gasped and moaned.
Breathtaking. Fucking breathtaking.
He didn’t have much left to give, but damn if she didn’t take and take…
“Oh, wow,” she groaned as her head fell back and her body fell apart. She trembled around him. Then she released her grip on his pecs and collapsed on his chest, completely spent.
“You won,” she said, her head resting against his shoulder.
I won?
“The bet,” she added, her breathing still uneven as he ran his hands up and down her upper arms.
“Yeah,” he murmured. But why did victory suddenly feel like a swift punch to the gut?
“I should get up.” She pressed her hands against his chest like she was preparing to launch off of him.
“Stay.” He wrapped his arms around her, tightening his hold. “Please.”
“I should check on my dog.”
She pulled away from him, and this time he let her go, his arms falling to his sides. He sat up and watched as she gathered her clothes and headed for the hundred-plus-pound dog in the bathroom.
He’d won. But for the first time since he’d turned five, beating his brothers didn’t feel like a victory. Because the woman who up until today had fought this thing between them—this let’s get naked now pull—she’d left him wishing for another peek beneath the tough-girl exterior she wore like a shield.
Natalie looked back at him and offered a smile. “We can toast your victory at the rehearsal dinner tonight. With the other SEALs.”
“No,” he said. But he was talking to an empty room. She’d already joined her dog on the other side of the door.
“Because you’re the prize, Natalie,” he added, knowing that he needed to find a way to say those words to her. “I was too caught up in the past and my stupid need to win that I couldn’t see it. But it’s always been you.”
Chapter Seventeen
“It’s over.” Natalie pressed her back against the bathroom door. One more step inside the bathroom and she’d literally be standing on the dog sprawled across the floor. “It’s done. He won. Now I can…”
Take her two orgasms—three if she counted riding his thigh until the friction caused her to combust—and what? Hope they returned to the status quo? She would serve him beers and listen to his stupid one-liners pretending she didn’t want him to make her scream his name again?
She closed her eyes. She couldn’t want that. Him. She didn’t need—
Silk ties… Jack hovering over her… Taking her…