“Harder,” she gasped, and I obeyed, my grip tightening as my pace quickened.“Yes, there, right there—”
I adjusted my angle, guided by her voice, and she cried out, the sound echoing off the tiles.Her fingers scrambled to hold on as I kept at it, relentless now, feeling her tighten around me with every stroke.
“Wheels,” she panted, her head dropping between her shoulders, her whole body trembling.“I’m close.I’m so close, don’t stop, please don’t stop—”
“Never,” I growled, the word torn from somewhere deep, primal.“I’ve got you.Let go, Goldie.I’ve got you.”
She came with a shuddering cry as her body seized, clenching around me in waves that dragged me over with her.I buried myself deep, my forehead dropping to her shoulder, my groan lost in the steam and her name, spilled out of me like a prayer, like a promise.
We stayed like that for a moment, both of us shaking with the water still pounding down, now turning cool against my overheated skin.Then I carefully pulled out and turned her around, gathering her against my chest.She came willingly, boneless and trusting, her arms wrapping around my waist, her face pressed to my throat.
She sighed, her breath warm against my cooling skin.“That was—”
“Yeah,” I agreed, because I didn’t have better words, because nothing I could say would capture what that had been, what she was to me.
I kept touching her, my hands moving in endless circuits, learning the new topography of her, the way she felt after, the way she fit against me.
“It feels like I’ve known you forever,” I said, the words slipping out before I could stop them, before I could consider whether they were too much, too soon.
She laughed, breathless and warm against my chest, her arms tightening around my waist.“We definitely did put the pedal to the metal with this relationship.”
I smiled into her wet hair, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.“That happens when you’ve got a bunch of psychos trying to kill you.”
“Is that what this is?”She pulled back enough to look up at me, her eyes soft, her smile easy, no trace of the darkness that had brought us together, only the light we’d found in each other.“Stress bonding?”
“Maybe at first.”I cupped her face, my thumb tracing her cheekbone, the line of her jaw.“Not anymore.”
She held my gaze, something shifting in her expression, something vulnerable and brave.“No,” she agreed quietly.“Not anymore.”
“Your back’s still dirty,” she said eventually, her voice muffled against my skin.
I raised an eyebrow, though she couldn’t see it.“Is it?”
“Filthy.”She pulled back, her eyes sparkling with mischief, and reached for the soap she’d left on the shelf.
“I think you’re just trying to get your hands on me, babe,” I chuckled.
She winked and lathered the soap between her hands.“Maybe, but I don’t really think you’ll complain.”
And complain I did not.
Chapter Twenty-One
Wheels
Podge found Gene Kettler right after lunch.
I knew because he came out of Twister’s office holding his laptop like it was a bomb about to go off.
The clubhouse had been loud before that.Normal loud.Gramps bitching about his coffee being cold.Nugget trying to convince Plug that tacos were breakfast food if you ate them before noon.Tempi and Britta arguing over whether the kitchen needed to be cleaned now or “after one more cup of coffee.”Hodge leaning against the bar, half-listening to all of it while looking like he wanted someone to give him a reason to hit something.
Goldie sat beside me at the table, one knee tucked under her, reading through another stack of permits even though I’d told her three times to take a break.
She’d found the tunnel hatch yesterday.Actually found it.She deserved a damn break from all the papers and permits.
Podge stopped at the edge of the table and adjusted his glasses.“I found Gene.”
Every conversation in the room died.
