Step Stalker

“Vale,” I breathe, scooting out from beneath him and sitting up, covering my breasts with one arm. “You…are you sure you don’t want to explore your options?”

Blue eyes grow sharp. Even sharper than usual. “What does that mean?”

“I mean…you haven’t even started living your new life as a discharged SEAL. You can’t just…you shouldn’t just make hasty decisions—”

“Lula…” His tone holds a stark warning. “I don’t know what puts these doubts in your head, but I meant what I said. I found my woman and I’m not fucking around.”

There’s a clattering of hope in my chest, but I’m apprehensive about trusting it. To fling caution to the wind and believe this could be real. That this gorgeous hero wants me. Only me. The girl her mother calls a “chubby hippie” when she thinks no one can hear. “I just think you should take some time to make sure this is what you want. I don’t want you to regret settling down so fast—”

“I’ve lived a lot of life in my thirty-two years, Lula.” His voice is firm. “I’ve met all kinds of people. Women? Sure. I’ve been in a few short relationships that didn’t have a fucking speck of the magic we make. I know this is right. I know what I want and need—and it’s you. If I’m moving fast, it’s only because I’m worried someone will steal you out from under me.” He swallows. “Someone who doesn’t have panic attacks in the shower.”

I suck in a breath, caught off guard by his show of insecurity. I’m not the only one. “That doesn’t make you less. That makes you more. It means you have a heart and a conscience and the capacity to feel.”

“If you believe that, then trust what I feel.”

My hands wring together in front of me, my heart begging for me to take a chance.

Vale comes closer and threads his fingers through my hair, tipping my head back and devouring me whole with a groaning kiss, his shaft hardening once again between us—

“Lula!”

I freeze at the sound of Santana’s voice, followed by Jess’s. “You better not have gotten eaten by a fucking bear, dude.”

My eyes lock with Vale’s.

There’s a question in his. It’s very clear.

He’s letting me make the decision about what I want to do. Do we walk out of here together and own this thing between us? Or keep it hidden? More than anything, I want to step through the waterfall holding his hand, but once that cat is out of the bag, there’s no putting it back in. He’ll have no chance to think this over. To be sure about us. How can he make such life changing decisions when he doesn’t even know what his new life will look like yet?

“Go back to your friends,” he says gruffly, kissing me. Stroking my cheek with a knuckle. “I’ll be watching you through the night. And we’re going to talk when we get home. As soon as possible.” He lifts my chin with the tip of his index finger. “Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, Daddy,” I breathe, as if it’s the most natural response in the world.

Maybe it is.

I just don’t know if it’s the best thing for Vale.

His eyes darken with pleasure, nearly impossible to walk away from. But I do.

With my heart in my throat, I slide into the water beneath the falls and wade out into the sunlight to a round of cat calls and whistles. “Lula! Where are your clothes?”

“What were you doing in there?”

“Naked yoga,” I breathe, flushing to my hairline and searching the ground for my clothes, heading in that direction. “It’s totally a thing.”

It takes every fiber of control not to glance back and search for Vale behind the waterfall as we return to camp. And every step of the way, I pray I made the right move.

Chapter Seven

Vale

My hands twist on the steering wheel, my gaze locked in on the back of Lula’s head. She’s riding in the car ahead of mine, halfway home from camping. It’s murder not having her in my passenger seat where I know she’ll be safe. The girl driving my precious stepsister is more concerned with changing the radio stations than the road ahead. Every time she swerves, I swear my heart is going to jump out through my mouth.

For the time being, I have no choice but to keep a distance.

Lula’s hesitance to be with me is my fault.

I knew. I fucking knew I shouldn’t have revealed myself at the waterfall.

Revealed myself as her stalker.

But the sight of her tasty body in the sunlight was too much to resist. There was no stopping me. I had to possess. Had to claim what’s mine.

And she will be mine.

There’s no maybe about it.

I have some work to do first, though, and I’ve had the night to think about it. Hours of sitting in the darkness, guarding my girl. Replaying over and over again the way her pussy clenched around my dick, her eyes losing focus, her teeth snapping at my mouth. All those sweet curves welcoming me home, her thighs struggling to get wider.