“Only every second of the last 189 days.” She brought her hands to his face and ran her thumbs over the stubble. “How is it possible to love you even more right this second than before you left?”
Luke let out the breath he didn’t know he had been holding. Was that relief? Deployment could and did change people on both sides. The thought that she wouldn’t wait or wouldn’t want him the way he wanted her when he came home had crossed his mind a few times in the long, dark hours of the night.
There had been too many nights that stood between him and those words.
He crushed his mouth to hers until he felt her knees give out.
“I need you.” The words sounded harsh to his ears, but he couldn’t soften them. He was rock hard for her. His hands cruised over her body, unzipping her thin jacket and tugging up her long sleeve shirt so they could roam over her skin. Her breasts were bound by a sports bra.
“How do you get this off,” he growled against her mouth.
Harper’s husky laugh had him forgetting to be gentle. “I need my hands on you, Harper. Do you trust me?”
She drew back a fraction of an inch, wide-eyed, but nodding.
Luke pulled the pocketknife from his pocket and yanked the fabric away from her skin. “I’ll buy you a new one,” he breathed, slicing the fabric cleanly in two. He tossed the knife to the ground as her breasts tumbled into his palms.
He hefted her soft flesh and said, “Baby, we’re not going to make it to the truck.”
“I was hoping you’d say that,” she said, spreading hungry kisses down his throat and tugging at his belt.
He needed to be inside her, to feel her close around him. He wanted to watch her eyes go dreamy as she slowly came down from the high.
Luke stayed her busy hands and dragged her back into the trees. He yanked off his shirt and dropped it on the mossy ground. In a single fluid motion, he swept Harper’s feet out from under her and took her to the ground. She gasped into his mouth and he got impossibly harder.
It would be a miracle if he could last beyond the first thrust. Luke tore his mouth away from Harper’s and moved lower. He pressed a kiss to her sternum before turning his attention to one perfect breast.
“I’ve dreamed about this,” he whispered against her straining nipple before taking it into his mouth. She arched against him, and he could feel her heat through the layers that separated them.
“Are you wet for me?” He already knew the answer, could almost feel it as he pressed his hard-on against her. He moved to her other breast and licked and sucked until her nipple stood at attention. She was so responsive to him. One touch, one taste was all it took. He took the taut peak into his mouth and worked it with his tongue until she moaned his name.
He had waited so long to hear his name on her lips like this again.
“Once I start, I won’t be able to stop, baby,” he warned.
“Please, Luke. I just want you inside me. Please.” Her breathless plea had him ripping open his nylon belt and thanking God for the Velcro fly of his pants. Freed, his thick cock strained toward Harper’s heat.
She wriggled under him, trying to free herself from her running tights. With his help, they wrestled them down to her ankles before peeling off a shoe.
Unable to wait any longer, Luke pushed her back against the forest floor and positioned his erection at her wet entrance. He paused for just a second. He wanted to memorize her face. The devastating need. The desire she had for him to fill her, to take her over the edge. She belonged to him.
Luke drove into her in one fierce stroke. Harper buried her cry in his shoulder.
He was finally home.
He didn’t give her a chance to get used to him.
“Jesus, baby, you are so fucking tight,” he grunted as he thrust into her again. All the way to the hilt, every inch of him was surrounded by her. Again and again he drove into her, his heavy sack slapping against her. Already he could feel the flutter of her muscles around him. She was so close to coming apart.
He leaned down and took her nipple in his mouth, suckling hard enough that he knew she felt both pleasure and pain. His thrusts became shorter, faster. Harper hitched her legs up higher on his hips.
He heard the snap of twigs, the rustle of leaves, but it didn’t matter. Harper’s eyes widened and she turned her head toward the direction of the trail just feet away, but Luke clamped a hand over her mouth and turned her gaze back to him.
He shook his head and continued his assault, looming over her, driving into her, changing the angle at the last second. Harper’s eyes glazed over as he slammed into her again, grazing the sensitive ache in her deepest center.
It was a small group of joggers that thundered by on the path, but all Harper saw was Luke mouthing the word, “Come,” as he drove into her again. Her quivering muscles obeyed, clamping down on him as he let loose inside her. He let those beautiful squeezes milk him dry before collapsing on top of her, her bare breasts crushing into his chest.