Page 4

FOUR

Eagle

He’s not mad.

Relief makes me dizzy. Or maybe it’s his leather and peppermint scent. Kane Matthews is the kind of man who is impossible to ignore, but with all his heat and muscles and… what is that pressing into my thigh?

I’m so aware of him, it’s like my cells are meshing with his, a web of electrical entanglement.

Somehow, he holds me tight and manages to reach the heat controls without even jostling me. Although I’m not sure I need the heat now that I’ve got him.

No. I do not have him. But lord, how I wish I could. Have to keep.

“I’m so glad you came along.”

He growls, looking me in the eyes, something dark and unreadable in Kane’s battle-hardened expression. The color of his eyes is midnight. Sometimes denim. Sometimes lapis-blue. Tonight, they’re oceans, dark and calling me into their depths.

“How did you find me?”

The muscles along his stubbled jaw tick, sending little quivers into my stomach.

“I’ll always find you, Eagle.”

Stop.

My heart wants that to be true. Aches, skips. Craves Kane to mean that. But he’s a man and I’m a girl, and he’s… an enigma.

Just stop, Eagle. I give myself a little shake, closing my eyes to find my center.

He’s just saying that because he’s paid to find you.

This isn’t the first time a man who worked for my father looked at me like dessert, but this is the first time I wanted that scorching, bone-rattling attention.

Kane is different.

Something changed inside me when the former SEAL took the job at our home. When he came to work for the man I despise, the man who controls my every move, I strangely felt safe.

“Somehow I believe that’s true. I know you were taught how to track people in the service. It might have saved my life tonight.”

A sound—almost pained—scratches inside his throat. “Don’t say that.”

When I drop my head to his chest, I pretend it’s home. Not a place where you put your shoes at the end of the day, but the kind of home that’s safe and protective and sees you as something other than a burden.

That’s all I want.

Sighing, I nestle closer, tears pricking at the back of my eyes like the heat from sparklers. I’ll never have that.

His chest rumbles below my ear, and arms so thick my hands couldn’t band them give me a tight embrace.

Yes. Breathless, I wiggle closer.

“Oh fuck, Eagle, you can’t be grinding that perfect ass against me like that. I’m no saint, sweetheart, and you do not want the kind of fucking I need to be satisfied.”

Shock makes me wheeze, “You like my ass?”

Kane swallows hard. Breathes like a dragon for a minute. He makes a choked sound as his hips shift below mine. “Your ass is a goddamned masterpiece. It should be illegal to wear tight pants, Eagle. You’re a criminal for making me so fucking hard.”

Oh. Wow.

Golden warmth spreads low inside my belly. The vision of Kane naked, thrusting, god-like above me swims through me so fast my head spins.

Where did that scene in my mind come from? I’ve never even watched those kinds of movies.

“I’m dying from blue balls, you little hot tease.”

“Oh. I’m sorry… I think.”

I’m not a complete fool, but I’m still in dismay that I could have any effect on a man like Kane. A man. Not a guy. Not an idiot like Charles.

Kane’s one hundred percent breeding stock.

Oh my god. I’ve lost my mind.

“What did I do?” I whisper.

“You know what you do, baby doll. I’m—” his hips thrust upward, pressing a monstrous ridge against me. “I’m five seconds from ripping a hole in those hundred-dollar cock-tease pants and stuffing you ten inches full.”

My Adam’s apple feels stuck. Oh god. I’m so vexed I say the most random thing. “What’s wrong with these tights?”

He leans down, grating his teeth across the shell of my ear. “They’re in my goddamned way.”

He lifts his hips again in a thrust while he simultaneously grinds me down harder on his lap by tightening his arms. “Do you understand what you’re doing to me now?”

No. Yes. Maybe. Lord help me. Virgin alarm is very real.

“I’m sorry, I just wanted to get warm.”

He presses his open mouth against my temple, inhaling raggedly. “You’re already scorching, Eagle. Too fucking hot for a virgin.”

My face flames, my chest does something weird, contracting and expanding so fast my nipples try to saw through my shirt.

He knows I’m aroused. The way his eyes light, his expression going feral.

I’m stumbling through what to say next when a bolt of lightning splits the sky in half.

Kane’s head falls back, a growl shaking his chest. “The storm. Dammit. I got so caught up in you, I forgot the incoming weather. We’ve got to move out, now.”

Gently, he lifts me off his lap, sliding me into the seat, buckling me up with his peppermint-laced breath intoxicating me. “Stay here, angel. I’ll drive us to the cabin.”

“But your truck?”

“Nothing matters but getting you safe.” A fierce look passes over him as he double-checks the latch on my belt, his entire body tensing—muscles popping out along his arms. “Nothing,” he repeats.

Wow.

Do not even go there, Eagle. He’s doing his job.

Neck muscles corded, Kane shuts the door, moves to the driver’s seat, and spits gravel as he tears away, fisting the wheel as he drives like a madman.

Heading right into the downpour and directly toward my father’s hunting cabin and its one, single-size bed.