Authors: Vivian Arend
CHAPTER
15
Something had changed. Marcus eyed Becki closely, but he just couldn’t put his finger
on it.
She’d run the team through the most creative exercise that morning that required them
to climb the peaks beside the hoodoos and lower the “bodies” they’d found. The light
layer of snow that remained from last night’s fall had turned everything to sheer
mud by the time the sun had come out to bake them for a couple of hours.
Still, even grubby the squad had worked together amazingly, and the dirt and grime
seemed to pull them together even more than a good clean session in the gym.
Becki clapped loudly. “Great job, guys. Amazing.”
Tripp took a bow. “Nice exercise. Where did you get the bodies?”
Devon stepped closer, a mud-coated mannequin under each arm. “And do we have to return
them?”
“Why, you looking for a date?” Alisha taunted. A unified chorus of
oooh
s rose as she curtsied. “Thank you, thank you. Although yes, totally wicked exercise,
Becki. Thanks for training us today.”
“Brownnoser,” Devon whispered.
Becki laughed. “Drop the bodies in the back of Marcus’s truck, then you’re free to
go. Enjoy your Monday off.”
“But don’t even think of being late on Tuesday. You start at oh five hundred with
flash first-aid scenarios.” Marcus accepted their groans with a nod. “Go on. I’ll
make it oh six hundred if you’re all out of here in under five minutes.”
Their screeches of joy were deafening, people scattering in a rush.
Becki leaned on the side of the truck bed, her arms crossed in front of her, a smile
on her face. “Softie.”
“What? Can’t let you be the only good guy around here.”
She laughed. “Right, like you’re worried about competing with me. They totally look
up to you. I can see why Lifeline’s done so well over the years.”
Okay, there it was again. “Compliments now. I’d think you were looking for something
from me, but I’m not ordering you to get out of bed at the ass-crack of dawn.”
“Just calling it like I see it.”
He leaned over and adjusted one of the mannequins the crew had tossed haphazardly
in the back of his truck. “What do you want to do with the girls? And the team was
right, inspired training session, by the way.”
Becki jumped up on the edge of the truck box, twisting to sit beside where he rested
his elbows. “Thanks. It’s always more fun to have to rescue a real body, but breathing,
flesh-and-blood types tend to complain when you bury them in the mud for too long.”
Her arms were bare, and streaks of dirt coated her, not as badly as the rest of the
fake bodies beside her, but still. He touched her arm delicately, smearing a blob
down her bicep. “You need a shower nearly as bad as they do.”
“Hmm.”
Marcus looked up, and the heat in her eyes made him twitch. He’d been dreaming about
her looking at him like that, seeing
yes
written all over her face—he wasn’t sure if maybe he was imagining it. “You want
to help me clean them?”
“I don’t suppose we can lash them down and run through the automatic car wash?” Her
voice had gone silky. Stroking him and flipping every damn one of his switches past
on
, all the way to
high
.
“Someone would call the RCMP and suggest we’d done mass murder. What about the shower
room at the school?”
Where we both can get naked after the props are clean, and get dirty all over again?
Becki licked her lips slowly, her gaze trailing over him like she was one second away
from consuming something delicious. “I think that’s a marvelous idea.”
Hot. Fucking. Damn.
He stepped to the side, between her legs, and leaned against her.
She lifted her hands into the air. “Marcus, I’m covered in mud.”
“You think I care?”
He reached for her, but she caught hold of his wrist in midair, blocking his left
forearm against hers. “I’m not saying no. I’m saying I don’t want to coat the inside
as well as the outside of your precious truck with mud.”
“I don’t give a shit about the mud.” He dropped his forehead to hers. “But since you’re
not saying no, I’ll be patient and wait. Only, kiss me first.”
“Just a kiss?”
“Down payment. Appetizer. Something to hold me off from ravishing you right here against
the side of my truck.”
Becki swallowed hard. Interesting reaction. Marcus filed that idea under
future places to fuck Becki mindless
.
Then he wasn’t thinking anything because she lifted her chin and touched their mouths
together. Lips open, breaths mingling. Her tongue reaching out to tease his.
He wanted to eat her alive. He was going to at some point. But now? He soaked her
into his system and learned her all over again. The softness as she moved her lips
over his. The sharp snap along his spine as she closed her teeth over his lip and
nipped. The gentle caress as she broke contact, then stroked their cheeks together.
“How fast can you get to the school?” The words whispered past his ear.
He lifted her off the box, down his body, groaning at the pressure as she rubbed against
his full cock. They scrambled in different directions, settling into the cab. She
was still buckling up as he put the truck into gear and spun out the tires.
“Do you have to return the girls?” he asked again. Never had discovered whether the
mannequins she’d had the team doing cliff rescue with were loaners.
“No, they now belong to the school. Is this another exercise-in-patience thing? Talking
about the muddy plastic models instead of ravishment?”
“Yes.” Marcus snapped his teeth together to stop from wanting to dirt-talk a little
more. He was so close to exploding at the thought of being with Becki, it was stupid.
Going slow would be impossible.
He pulled up beside the access doors and was out of the vehicle and headed to meet
her in seconds flat.
Becki had already dragged one mannequin free from the truck bed.
“What are you doing?” he demanded.
She tossed the bald, life-sized form at him. “Cleaning up the girls. Easier to do
it now than after they completely dry.”
Had he totally misunderstood? He was sure the plan was to fuck each other senseless
as soon as possible. Frustration and confusion warred in his brain. Becki propped
the door open and carried in two more, following him into the men’s shower area.
She laid the mannequins in a row on the floor and turned on three taps, adjusting
the showerheads to the proper angles. “I’ll grab the rest, you start washing.”
Marcus eyed the mud-caked plastic bodies with less and less enthusiasm. “I’ll trade
you. You wash, I’ll carry.”
Becki laughed. “What, you have issues rubbing your hands all over naked women?”
He stopped and stared her in the eye. Deliberately let his gaze drop over her body,
pausing on her breasts, the V between her legs. “Get naked, and I’ll show you how
few issues I have.”
Becki moved in closer. Her fingers explored his waist, trickled up his torso. Tantalizing,
addictive. “Getting naked with you is one of my favourite memories.”
Her palms pressed flat to his chest. His mind filled with the image of her pressed
against the wall in that decadent suite, him fucking her from behind as the water
poured over them in the enormous shower enclosure—his control was on the edge and
he hadn’t so much as touched her.
“Start washing before I change the plan.” His voice edgy, uneven. He was going to
flash off into spontaneous combustion.
“Patience, remember?” She turned it into more than a question. Her whole body softened,
the invitation there in her eyes. Everything about her screamed
come and get me
.
His body vibrated with need. He stripped his shirt off over his head and threw it
to the side of the room.
Her eyes lit up as she took a leisurely trip down his chest. “I guess I should get
scrubbing the girls. Once they’re out of the way, we can move to other things.”
Their bodies were only inches from each other, the heat from her skin coiling around
him like a spider’s web. “Maybe we should consider
other things
first.”
Something clicked. As if she could no longer resist, Becki crowded against him and
tilted her head back. “Fine. I knew you were bossy. If you’re volunteering to wash
me, go for it. I’m feeling a little . . . filthy.”
She skimmed her hands over his hips, using her nails to trace the waistline of his
running pants. The only thing stopping her from being able to grasp his cock was how
tightly their bodies were pressed together.
He growled and pinned her in place, dragging their mouths together. He’d seen her
time and time again over the years, the images from their nights together flashing
through his brain as his hands jerked a response from his dick.
Those experiences had been black and white—pale, blurry images on a faraway screen.
This was high-def, high-resolution—real scents, real tastes. He took her mouth, the
scent of their skin rising raw and passionate around them.
Becki offered and he took, a nearly violent kiss, borderline in control. Their noses
bumped, tongues dueled. He slid his fingers around her torso and down to cup her ass.
She was tall enough that he didn’t need to lift her far to bring everything into perfect
alignment, the hard and ready line of his cock behind the thin fabric of his cotton
pants meeting the soft warmth of her sex. The fine-weave material of her climbing
gear offered a scant barrier between them as he ground them together.
She hooked her right leg over his hip and squeezed. He gasped into her mouth, a growl
following hard after as he twisted to bring her against the nearest wall, the firm
surface giving him something to support them as he worked his cock over her clit.
The coals that had flickered ever since he’d laid eyes on her roared to full-fledged
flames covering him inside and out.
“Oh God, Marcus.” She bit his shoulder and jerked a shout from his lips.
Fighting his need to rut on her like some kind of wild animal, Marcus chose the only
solution he could think of. He had to get her off quick before sating himself because
it was going to take all of three seconds to come, he was so fucking primed.
He tugged at her shirt and she helped him, slipping out of both T-shirt and bra in
a flash, pivoting slowly as she peeled down her khakis to present her naked ass to
him.
Stripping off his pants and briefs one-handed had never been more frustrating. He
might have ripped something in his hurry to hit the next stage.
Marcus turned on another shower, catching Becki against him and tugging her under
the spray.
He rested her body against his chest, capturing one breast. Something hard brushed
his palm and he glanced over her shoulder. “Sweet mother of God, you did pierce them.
I thought I felt a ring.”
“First summer break. I told you I was going to.”
She had, and wondering if she’d ever done it had played a part in his memories during
the time he’d been stuck in no-man’s-land. At least until he had decided that torturing
himself that way wasn’t healthy.
He fondled the ring in her nipple, tugging the tiny circle, and Becki dropped her
head back and moaned her assent. He slid his hand down her body, over her belly to
part her curls, and he swore again. “A clit bar?
Jesus
, Becki, I’m going to fucking explode.”
He was one second away from coming all over the small of her back, his dick rubbing
as she writhed under his touch.
“More, Marcus. Harder.”
He closed his eyes and fought the pressure in his body. One adjustment and instead
of sliding his cock in the valley between her ass cheeks, he could be fucking her.
But not until she came.
He worked her, teased her, the steam from the shower billowing around them like some
kind of sci-fi stage setting. Becki panted, little moans rising in volume as she spread
her legs wide and thrust her sex against his hand. He slipped two fingers into her
core and flicked the clit bar with his thumb, and she melted, body jerking as he supported
her, all the weight of her torso held cradled.
His arm still trapped Becki against his body as she drew herself to vertical.
Marcus didn’t give her time to go anywhere. He squatted slightly, centered his dick
against her heat, and thrust in from behind. Her welcoming gasp rang off the walls,
but it was the tight clasp of her body that overwhelmed his senses.
They stumbled a step to the side and Becki pressed both palms to the wall, thrusting
her ass back toward him and offering herself. He stared at where they joined, mesmerized
by his cock disappearing into her.
“You going to stand there all day?” she teased, the words uneven and yet happy. He
tore his gaze up to see her smiling over her shoulder at him. “Go on, fuck me hard.”
Permission granted—there wasn’t much else he was capable of. Slowing down, certainly
not. The only thing in control was his cock, balls as a backup, both demanding he
drive into her warmth. His grip on her hip anchored him and allowed enough purchase
so he could do as she’d demanded. One thrust after another, fucking, hard and dirty.
Yet her sounds of pleasure continued, increasing his desire. He was so close, so close
to the edge that one more move could shove him over. Bending over her, he thrust his
right hand between her legs and found the clit bar.