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“Never, baby. I’ll never let you go,” he swore deeply as he lowered himself, bracing his weight on his elbows as his hands clasped her head, staring down at her as he began to move inside her with quick, long strokes that sent frissons of sensation shooting up his spine.
She was so tight, so hot. Clenching around his flesh with rhythmic strokes that had him groaning roughly as his hands clenched in her hair.
“Reno…” Her nails bit into his shoulders as she stared up at him, her expressive face filled with confusion, with love, with such arousal, it had his scrotum drawing up tight as warning tingles of release began to sizzle at the base of his spine.
“Yeah, baby?” He was fighting for control. Just a few more seconds, he thought desperately. He could feel her tensing further beneath him, her own explosion nearing. “Tell me what you need, Raven,” he said, panting. “Anything you want, baby, it’s yours. Anything you want.”
He watched her eyes turn liquid, tears filling them, but never spilling over as the emotion in her gaze intensified.
“I need you.” Her legs tightened around him as the words whispered from her lips, hesitant, filled with longing. “I need you, Reno.”
He lowered his head again, his lips whispering over hers as he felt her rising, felt the impending explosion moving through her.
“You have me, Raven,” he whispered against her lips. “Forever, baby, you have me.”
He pushed inside her harder then, deeper, his strokes increasing until he was jackhammering inside her, exploding with her, his soul dissolving and merging with hers until he had no idea where Raven ended and he began; all he knew was that he would never, could never, let her go.
* * *
Raven walked into the bedroom that afternoon, coming to a slow, careful stop as she caught sight of Reno packing the duffel bag that had lain nearly empty since the first night he had spent with her.
He was dressed in the camouflage fatigues, black boots, and dull green shirt that were trademarks of his job. As she watched, he lifted his holster and the deadly weapon it contained and packed it carefully.
He was leaving. No warning, no time for her to prepare for it. She stared at him, fighting the building dread that rose within her.
He flashed her a strained smile. “I should be back in about a week. Command called about an hour ago. There should be a car to pick me up soon. I’ll be at the base tonight, before we head out first thing in the morning. I left you a present in the kitchen.”
She swallowed tightly, shoving her hands into her jeans pockets as she pushed back the emotions roiling inside her. Fear, pain, desperation. They hadn’t had enough time together, less than a week, not even long enough to build up the memories to hold her through the long, empty nights.
“Sure.” She smiled back, certain she came off as perfectly relaxed as if he had told her he was heading to the corner store. She would not be like her mother. She would not send him away, worried, stressed, uncertain about her state of mind. “Be careful.”
She leaned against the wall, memorizing his face. The curve of his lips, his dark, stormy gray eyes, the strong arch of brows.
He watched her carefully, his expression concerned. Tense.
He shrugged his shoulders as though shifting some invisible weight.
“I’ll be back,” he said again.
She smiled back at him. “Of course you will.”
He seemed to relax then, at least marginally, the smile on his face curving more naturally. This was who he was. He was a warrior. You can’t tame the wind, and you can’t housebreak a warrior. She had to accept that.
“I love you, Raven,” he said then.
I love you, Raven. I love you, Raven.
The words rebounded through her soul.
She drew in a hard, deep breath. “Did you get everything packed?”
She moved quickly to the dresser, opening and checking drawers. “Clint is always leaving his stuff strung around the place when he visits. I swear, he’s a slob. I pick up after him for a week after he leaves.”
Nerves were jumping beneath her skin as she fought to hold on to her composure. She wasn’t going to cry, she wasn’t angry, but she was suddenly realizing how much more she stood to lose than she ever had.
“Raven.” His hands landed on her shoulders, holding her. “I love you.”
She stilled, then turned to him, staring up at him desperately as he watched her. Something inside her was splintering, fragmenting. What was it? She wasn’t angry as her mother had been when her father went on assignment. Raven had been through this too many times with both Reno and Clint. Admittedly, she didn’t have as much to lose then as she did now, but this part she knew how to handle. Didn’t she?
