Page 18 of Shielding his Legacy (Shattered SEALs #7)

Gavin had never been so hard in his life.

He was right back on the side of that road, staring at Evie for the first time, soaking her up like a rock in the sun.

There was a type of heat that could own you, that could pull you in tightly against it until you screamed out with equal parts pleasure and pain, a willingness to burn alive as if you knew death would almost be better than watching this woman walk away.

And she’d felt it, too.

You felt like home.

The chemistry between them had been so intense, she’d crossed the line into intimacy with him that she hadn’t even crossed with the man who wanted her to be his wife. She’d felt every last goddamn thing that he’d felt from the first moment he’d set eyes on her.

He wanted her again, right now. Right here in his truck. Because the pull between them was strong enough to make the whole goddamn world fall away, and the only thing that mattered was finding his way back inside her again.

She deserved better than the bench seat of his F-150, but that alone wasn’t what was stopping him from showing her exactly how good home could feel.

It was his keen awareness that he had no condoms. After what happened the last time, there was no way he would take a chance on making love to her again without one.

Just one little touch.

Just one kiss.

He licked his lips. “Jesus Christ, Evie.”

“Please, just drive,” she said.

He furrowed his brow, shocked by her tone. “What’s wrong?”

“I just want to get there already.”

“Did I do something wrong?”

“No, I did.” She crossed her arms, her body as far away from his as she could physically get without flinging her door open and running into the forest. “So stupid,” she said under her breath.

“Who’s stupid? Me?”

“No, Gavin, I’m stupid. Okay? Like I didn’t learn my lesson the first time and now I’m going to throw myself at you all over again and wonder why you still don’t want me.” She gestured to the dark stretch of road beyond the windshield. “Can you just drive, please?”

“Wait a second, you think I don’t want you?”

She blew out air. “I know you don’t.”

He looked skyward, letting the back of his head hit the headrest, considering what to do.

The retort that sprang to his lips was crass, planted there by his genuine desire to prove to her just how much he wanted her.

He hesitated. Maybe the truth was exactly what she needed to hear.

“Then tell me why I have the biggest boner of my life pressing against my fly so hard it hurts?”

“Really?”

He let his head roll to the side to face her. “You want to come over here and see for yourself?”

She was quiet so long he considered apologizing for the base suggestion, but just when he was about to do it, she surprised him with a hesitant, “Maybe.”

The floodgates to his cock were flung open wide, even more blood rushing to his eager erection. “Don’t tease me, baby. I’m dying over here.”

Turning to face him fully in the dark cab, the moment seemed to stretch out for an eternity before she slowly inched toward him.

His brain screamed no condoms even as he reached for her, clutching her hips and hauling her desperately against his body.

Their mouths found each other, her eager tongue exploring his mouth as his fingernails dug into the sweet, ripe curve of her ass.

Her right leg snaked in front of the steering wheel and over his lap to press against his door as the heat of her crotch came to rest over his engorged erection.

He groaned loudly as he moved against her, hearing her intake of breath in his ear and loving the crush of her swollen breasts against his chest. He threaded his fingers from her neck up through her hair, fisting the strands in his grip and tugging her head back to reveal her soft, vulnerable neck.

Tasting her with his tongue and loving the tender column with his mouth, he kissed his way up to her ear and ground out regretfully, “I don’t have a condom.”

She made a noise down deep in her throat, her devastation clear. Her back arched like a bow before her hips rocked solidly against his. Another couple of those, and he wouldn’t need a condom—he’d need a sandwich and a nap.

He wrapped his arm around her waist and pressed her firmly down, stilling her movements. “You’re killing me, sweetheart,” he said, all but lost in the sensation of having her against him.

Then she was arching her back and pushing against his shoulders. “Let me go,” she said, and he released her, but she merely got off his lap and came back at him, pushing and tugging him sideways. “Turn around.”

It wasn’t until his back was to his door and her head was bent over his belt that he understood what she was doing. He swore desperately, his breaths coming in heavy pants as her fingers worked the button and zipper at his waist, carefully exposing the proof of his desire.

Unconstrained, his shaft elongated, the sensation of expansion overshadowed by the dip of her head and the first tentative ministrations of her hot, wet mouth.

“Jesus, Evie…” he ground out. She felt so good, better than anyone else could ever feel around him.

The muscles of his ass were working to the rhythm of her tongue as he writhed on the bench seat of the truck as he watched her take him deep.

Her hair draped around her, the long strands tickling his thighs and lower abdomen as he fought to control the speed of his ascent.

One of her hands lifted from beside his hip and moved to his sensitive balls, just like he’d taught her to do that weekend in the hotel, and the memory pushed him over the edge.

He was lost.

Gone was the ability to pace himself. Gripping the base of her neck so he could thrust into her mouth, he asked, “Is this okay, Baby?”

Her moan of pleasure vibrated, and he was overwhelmed by sensation when her throat opened to take him more deeply. He gasped, his glutes clenching as he withdrew and filled her, over and over again.

“I’m gonna cum,” he hissed, releasing her, but rather than retreat, she milked him with that mouth. Light exploded behind his eyes, and he poured his seed into her throat, her name a reverent whisper in the heating truck cab. “Evie. Jesus, Evie…”

The sudden loud tapping on the window behind him had them jumping apart, Gavin bending forward to shield his body from the blinding light now streaming into the vehicle.

Abby emitted a sudden, high-pitched screech as a muffled, disapproving male voice called through the glass, “Move along, people. Find yourselves a hotel room instead of using the shoulder of a public road.”

Gavin squinted against the policeman’s flashlight, aware of the blue and red lights that flashed in his rearview mirror and Eva’s cowering form across the seat.

Abby proved that her initial screech was mere practice for the performance of displeasure she was now putting on, and Gavin held up a hand to block the blinding beam of light. “Sorry, Officer.”

“There’s freezing rain up ahead, you know that? You’re driving right into it.”

“Only got to go another ten miles up the road,” said Gavin, gesturing to the road ahead of him.

“You hear me son? Freezing rain. They’ll probably need to shut this highway down.”

“Yessir.”

The trooper’s displeasure was obvious. “You drive safe.” He headed back toward his police car.

“Oh, my God, I’m so embarrassed!” Eva said, clearly overwhelmed and trying to disappear across the seat.

The headlights behind them moved away as the officer hooked a U-turn, and Gavin pulled back onto the road, feeling well and truly chastised for the first time since Sister Mary Groves had caught him making out with the captain of the cheerleading squad in the stairwell at Our Lady of Lourdes.

He shot a quick glance at Eva, and raised his voice to be heard over the baby’s fretful whimpers. “You okay?”

“Oh my God,” Eva said again in a horrified chant. She twisted around to look behind them. “Is he gone?”

“Yeah.”

She climbed over the seat to tend to the baby, and he couldn’t help the mental image of her breasts leaking milk that immediately popped into his mind.

Eva had just given him the best blowjob of his life, but he was no closer to getting his need for her out of his system than he was a year ago.

On the contrary, his list of things he wanted to do with her continued to grow.

Abby’s cries stopped abruptly, his truck filling with a rhythmic suckling noise he desperately tried to ignore, but it was no use. He’d had a taste of the physical pleasures that awaited him in the playground of her body, and he wanted her even more now than he had before.

Surely it wasn’t a bad thing to lust after the mother of your child.

The phrase nearly stopped his heart mid-beat.

The mother of his child. The too-young-for-him, stunningly beautiful Eva, who was too innocent, too loving, too good.

But that hadn’t stopped him from taking her to bed or ruining her life, or from waking in the night to steal something even more precious.

Suddenly, he could see with suffocating clarity all that he’d taken from her, how the entire trajectory of her life had been changed by his desperate desire, and still he wanted more.

It would never be enough, no matter the price she had paid.

The dragon was alive and well and living inside him, a beast who cared only for himself and primal satisfaction.

He rubbed a trembling hand over the scruff of his cheek.

Lusting after her would drive him to take her to his bed, where he couldn’t protect her from the monster living inside his very soul.

And as long as that was true, the best thing he could do for Eva was to get as far away from her as possible.

He’d already come too close to crossing that line.

If it hadn’t been for the baby awakening at the cabin, or his current lack of protection, he would have crossed it already.

Eva and their daughter deserved a beautiful life, the most perfect life he could imagine. He wasn’t good enough for them. Fixing his mouth in a tight frown, he tried to promise himself he’d keep his distance, knowing he shouldn’t touch her again. But the lie wouldn’t come.

He was powerless where Eva was concerned, and he would do anything he could to be close to her.