Page 54 of The Outpost (Jamison Valley 4)
“That you’re not ready. When you are, you’ll be the first to know.”
My head fell and I spoke to my knees. “I don’t know what that means.”
“I know. You just have to trust me.” His thumb hooked under my chin and lifted it up. “Christ,” he muttered. “Don’t look at me like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like your heart hurts. It’s killing me.”
“I’m fine.” I reached up and put my hand on his shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze. The heat from his skin flowed through my hand to my elbow. When my grip lingered, he inched closer, stepping between my legs spread wide on the counter where he had me trapped.
The angry fire in his eyes was gone, replaced with a dark heat. Without thinking about my movements, my hand traveled from his shoulder to his heart. Under my fingers, its thundering pace matched my own.
“Beau.” His name came out in a breathless plea.
“Fuck it,” he growled.
“Huh?”
His soft, full lips came crashing down on mine. His tongue thrust inside at the same time he erased the remaining inches separating us. I unpinned my arm from his chest to throw it over his shoulder while the other went immediately to his hair.
With one roll of his hips, the hardness behind his jeans rubbed against my center. Even through my own jeans, I could feel how much he wanted me. One of my legs wound around his hips, putting my pulsing core right against his cock again. My moan spurred Beau’s tongue to ravage and his teeth to nip.
Kissing Beau was all-consuming. It was brazen, yet tender. The most beautiful words in the world couldn’t describe how his lips turned me to liquid in his arms. We each poured all of the sexual frustration and desire from the last few months into this kiss, neither of us breaking apart even to breathe.
His palms spanned my ribs as his fingers balled up the loose material of my T-shirt. When they found bare skin, I lost any shred of control and tugged harder on Beau’s hair, urging him to give me more.
Instead, he ripped his lips away from mine when Boone’s barking echoed off the walls. The quick change made my head spin so fast I had to grip the counter’s edge to keep from falling off.
“Fuck,” Beau cursed.
“What?” I panted.
“Someone’s coming. Stay here.”
Without another word,
he grabbed the gun from on top of the fridge and walked outside. Standing by his truck, he waited for the approaching vehicle to appear on the road to the outpost. When a red truck emerged from behind the trees, Beau shook his head and jogged back inside.
“Who is it?” I asked.
“Michael. Stay inside.”
What was Beau’s brother doing here? I didn’t get the chance to ask. Beau put the gun away and ran back outside just in time to greet our two visitors.
Hidden behind the door and peeking out through its crack, I could see both men shake hands with Beau. I knew Michael right away because of his resemblance to his older brother. Michael’s large frame wasn’t as muscular as Beau’s and he was missing the beard but they shared the same angular shoulders, straight nose and square jaw.
The other man was a few inches shorter than the Holt brothers but he had an incredible physique. His short brown beard matched the color of his shaggy hair, and when he gave Beau a playful smile, it was clear that the men were good friends.
When all three turned toward the outpost, I flew away from the door, scrambling backward to stand in the center of the room and attempt to look like I hadn’t been spying on them.
Beau entered first and didn’t waste any time with introductions. “Sabrina, this is my brother, Michael.” After shaking Michael’s hand, Beau continued. “And this is Nick Slater.”
“Nice to meet you both.”
“Sabrina’s out here studying our pine beetle problem,” Beau lied. “She’s over here from Washington.”
I nodded and smiled, playing along with Beau’s story. I could ask him later what the hell a pine beetle was.
