Page 24 of Shielding his Legacy (Shattered SEALs #7)

Eva hadn’t meant to fall asleep.

The men had been discussing different ways they might draw the killer out of hiding, none of which seemed terribly promising compared to using her as bait. But Gavin was adamant—he wouldn’t be able to protect her in that situation, so it was off the table as an option.

She’d felt her eyelids growing heavy, and had made a small sleeping area for Abby on the floor next to the bed. When she laid down to feed the baby, she hadn’t stood a chance against the rush of relaxing hormones that came with her milk letting down.

Eva opened her eyes to the dim golden glow of the fire through the window on the woodburning stove. She thought of Abby and jerked awake with a start, finding the baby sleeping peacefully in the makeshift bed she vaguely remembered cobbling together.

Gavin must have moved her.

Leaning back against the pillows, she turned toward the other side of the bed to find him sleeping soundly beside her, and remembered how insistent he was that she stay out of harm’s way, refusing to accept any plan that put her in danger.

Her mouth slid into a grin ripe with pleasure. Other flashes of memory assailed her, too. Sweet, handsome Gavin with his back against the inside of his truck door, his muscular legs stretched out on either side of her as she adored his shaft with her mouth, the taste of him salty and forbidden.

Desire flooded her at the memory, desperate and warm and pooling between her legs. She arched her back, her head pressing more deeply into the pillows as she imagined him moving between her legs and loving her with his mouth just as she’d done for him.

Stop. If she kept thinking about this, she’d get herself worked up until she was an aching ball of need.

But this time, he wasn’t just a distant memory.

Her pulse quickened. The chemistry between them was devastating.

She could see his green eyes boring down on her, could feel the way he wanted her in the intensity of his stare.

She’d thought they would make love tonight, and she cursed the fatigue that had drugged her as surely as a sedative.

She longed to wake him up, to touch his warm skin, to feel the weight of him on top of her, holding her down, but she didn’t have the heart.

Surely, he was just as tired as she had been.

Her eyes drifted closed. A small desperate noise escaped her.

Reaching down, her hand snaked along her abdomen and slipped into her panties.

She needed to stroke the bud hidden atop the sensitive lips of her sex, needed to think of this man and imagine his lovemaking.

The pad of her finger kissed her swelling clitoris, pushing back the hood and settling against her sensitized flesh, images of Gavin driving her movements and making her breath hitch in anticipation of what was to come.

He’d touched her like this that first weekend in their hotel room, the gentle, circular motion of his thumb making her writhe against the bedsheets until she was begging for him to enter her.

And he’d obliged—but not the way she’d anticipated.

One thick finger had slid inside her ready body, stroking the sensitive spot at the front of her engorged vaginal wall until a shuddering orgasm rioted through her body with brain searing intensity.

Now her fingers worked the sensitive nub, her hips bucking against the mattress, her free hand clutching the pillow in a fisted grip. She longed to feel something inside her—wished it could be Gavin’s sweet cock, but knew anything was better than this aching need that demanded release.

Her breaths came in heavy pants, her finger circling her swollen sex before dipping lower to the slippery wetness that pooled at the entrance to her body.

Returning her fingers to her clitoris, the lubrication relieved the friction that had been building and instantly had her climbing to a higher plane of sensation.

The orgasm suddenly ripped through her, only one thought filling her mind, a gentle moan crossing her lips in a plaintive, desperate whisper.

“Jesus, Eva.”

She jumped. Her hand stilled, pleasure retreating like a wave on the sand rushing back into the sea.

Heat suffused her cheeks and chest, her eyes opening as if for the first time, and there he was, beside her in bed, those piercing green eyes nearly black in the dim golden light of the firelit room.

Embarrassment washed over her. She hadn’t meant to wake him, hadn’t meant to put this desperate physical need on such prominent display. She moved to pull the covers up to her chin.

“Don’t.”

The urgency in his voice made her freeze mid-motion, and she let go of the blankets. His intense gaze raked over her exposed chest, the swell of her breasts just barely hidden by the covers. When he spoke, his voice was hoarse, throaty. “Tell me what you think of when you touch yourself.”

“You.” The single word held all the desperation wound tightly in her body, as if the orgasm she’d just experienced was a mere blip on the radar of the approaching storm. “It’s always been you.”

He groaned deeply and moved closer, the springy hair of his thigh grazing her own. Her heart galloped in her chest. Anticipation was like a current of electricity running just beneath her skin, and she held her breath when his fingers trailed along the edge of her covers.

“I never thought I’d get to touch you again,” he said quietly, reverently. “I didn’t think I’d get the chance.”

“Please,” she begged, her hips twisting against the mattress.

Leaning in, he pressed his lips where his fingers had been. “Eva.” He trailed kisses along the border of her exposed chest, hovering for a beat as his mouth rested against her breastbone.

Unable to wait for more, she pulled the covers down to her waist, turned into his arms, and kissed him with a depth of emotion she’d been hiding even from herself.

This was Gavin she was kissing, Gavin she was about to love with her body as she already loved him with her mind.

Gavin, the father of her precious child, the man who’d owned her heart from the moment he’d hitched half his mouth into an alluring grin on a side of an Arizona highway and smiled at her.

“Yes, baby. Just like that,” he encouraged her now, reminding her of his gentle instructions the night he’d taken her virginity. But they’d long since transcended the roles of teacher and student, and she easily took the lead, pressing him onto his back and straddling his hips.

Their underwear was the only thing separating her damp heat from his engorged erection, and she let her weight settle against him, her gasp accentuating his desperate groan of pleasure. She was riding him rhythmically, physical need winding tightly around her pelvis. “I bought condoms.”

Abruptly, he sat up and wound his fingers in her hair on either side of her head, bracing her. “Me too.” He kissed her deeply, melding her mouth to his with an almost punishing control, and she buckled beneath his command.

He was overpowering her attempt to lead, moving her onto her back and plundering her with kisses that left her breathless and weak with need. Her legs were spread splayed eagerly around his hips, the swell of her engorged sex pulsing with the need for his touch.

Gavin sank down her body, pausing to lap at her breast before moving lower and separating the folds of her vulva with his thick, knowing fingers.

Her mouth opened as her eyes closed and she pressed her ear against the pillow.

Nothing could prepare her for this man, nothing could brace her against this onslaught of sexual pleasure.

He made a guttural sound deep in his chest. “You’re so ready for me.”

Her breathing was growing ragged. “Yes.”

“I’ll be right back.” In one smooth movement he was out of bed, careful to avoid Abby’s bed on the floor as he crossed to kitchen counter and located a box of condoms, the same ones Eva herself had bought.

He looked like a god in the firelight—a beautiful, muscular man, his erection weeping with pre-cum that glistened in the dim light—and she knew she would never want another man as much as she wanted this one.

He made his way back to bed without seeming concern for his own nakedness, and she held the covers back for him to rejoin her. He wasted no time, hooking the side of her panties and pulling them down her legs.

He kissed her thigh, then the inside of her knee, then her ankle on his way down, each time finding sensitive spots she hadn’t known existed. Groaning hungrily, he moved between her legs and settled his skillful mouth against her swollen, aching clit.

Eva gasped at the sensation as he loved her swollen bud with his tongue and lips, one finger inching into her heat.

Her hips lunged forward, desperate for him to penetrate her, needing him to fill her up, knowing how good he would feel inside her.

“Please,” she pleaded, and he slipped his thick finger into her completely, making her gasp and writhe against his hand.

She was climbing faster than she would have thought possible, sensation exciting the nerves in her pelvis and tension building behind her eyes.

Her legs and arms reached for him, pulling his head toward her.

Hooking her ankles around his neck, she came apart beneath his skillful mouth and the thrusting fingers of his hand.

In the haze that followed, she was barely aware of him tearing open the condom and sheathing himself with a practiced motion.

Then he was on top of her, pressing that sweet, thick cock into her swollen sex with a whispered, reverent curse.

“I’ve missed you so much, Evie.” He filled her with one hard thrust, her back arching as she cried out softly and her body stretched to accommodate his.

Until that moment, she’d honestly believed her memory had exaggerated how good it felt to be with him.

But this was no exaggeration, it was pure unadulterated bliss.

From the thrusting of his pelvis to the hulking mass of his torso poised above her, every piece of him worked to love her and bring her to dizzying heights of pleasure.

The thickly bunched muscles of his arms and chest coiled tightly beneath her searching fingers, his springy body hair tickling her sensitized skin. Already her body was shuddering, and she inadvertently held her breath, sensation building to a fevered pitch that promised an epic release.

He made a noise of desperation and slowed his pace, clearly working to prolong her pleasure, and she thrust her hips, equally desperate for him to love her with a wild abandon that couldn’t be controlled. “Don’t stop,” she whimpered.

His control broke, all restraint thrown aside as he pumped into her harder and faster than before. “Jesus, Evie. I can’t… I have to have you… you feel so fucking good…”

Her climax overtook her with a riotous burst of decadent sensation, her pelvis tilting forward and her muscles knotting tightly against his driving shaft.

Gavin wrapped his arm around her shoulders, bracing her against the force of his final thrusts. Light exploded behind his eyelids. This was Evie beneath him. Evie, the mother of his child. Evie, the only woman who’d ever mattered, the woman he would never again be foolish enough to give up.

“Evie.” His hips slowed, then stopped. His head fell forward.

She reached behind his neck and pulled him toward her, their foreheads touching. “I’m here, baby,” she whispered. “I’ve always been here.”