Page 69 of The Outpost (Jamison Valley 4)
Two different worlds. Beau’s words popped in my head and my shoulders fell as it dawned on me. He was country. I was city.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath as the realization cleared away my confusion. All along, I had known it would hurt when I eventually left Beau. He had been giving me time so that I could decide if I wanted to go through that pain or not.
Beau Holt was such a good man.
And if he was willing, there was no way I was going to keep up a barrier between us. I was an expert at self-preservation, but pushing Beau away to spare my feelings just wasn’t an option. He was already a part of my heart. If it was going to get shredded when I left, I was going to take as much Beau as I could get until then.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen in one month or two, Beau. I don’t really even know what’s going to happen tomorrow, but I do know that you’d never intentionally hurt me.”
“This thing between us isn’t small.”
“No, but it’s not going away.”
“Are you sure you want to sign up for something that could end in disaster?”
“Are you?”
He nodded. “I’m not going to lie and say I don’t want you. We both know I do. But I’m going into this with eyes wide open.”
“Me too. I don’t want to always wonder ‘what if.’ ”
He studied me for a moment before sighing. “Okay.”
My heart filled with joy and my smile stretched wide. “The sex will probably be horrible anyway,” I teased.
He laughed and stepped into my space. With one burst of strength, he picked me up and crushed me against his chest. My legs wrapped around his hips as he bounced me up further so we were nose to nose.
I closed my eyes, waiting for him to ki
ss me, but his soft lips just barely skimmed mine as he asked, “Should we find out?”
I nodded, breathing, “Yes.”
Beau’s lips spread into a grin before he spun us around and walked back toward the outpost. As soon as his feet were on the right course, his mouth claimed mine. Damn, he could kiss. Everything about him took control. Not just his mouth, but his entire body. One of his arms banded even more tightly around my rear while the other came to the back of my hair. His hand was so large, he had complete control over my head.
With one gentle twist, he slanted my face and thrust his tongue between my lips again. I opened for him immediately so our tongues could tangle. My arms and legs squeezed tighter and my hands dug into his back, clinging to him with every ounce of strength as he walked. I didn’t need to keep a grip, he’d never drop me, but I clutched at his shoulders anyway.
I’d told him on numerous occasions that I didn’t like to be hauled around but Beau could carry me like this any day of the week. How he managed not to trip on the uneven ground or run us into a tree was amazing given how fast he was moving. It seemed like we had just started our kiss when he broke away, fumbling with the door of his truck.
“What are you doing?” I panted.
“Condoms.” He didn’t set me down as he reached into the truck and rifled through the console. It was a good thing he had some stashed away or I would have forced him to drive back to town to buy a box. My birth control shot had run out weeks ago, and now that we’d finally agreed to sex, I was not going to sleep tonight without it.
As soon as he had condoms in hand, his mouth came back to me, this time working its way from the corner of my lips, across my jaw and down my neck. My head lulled to the side as Beau’s soft lips traveled. The tickling of his beard sent shivers all the way down to my belly.
“Hurry,” I moaned, tipping my hips up to grind even further into his body.
Beau wasted no time carrying me inside. He crossed the threshold and slammed the door closed with a kick, leaving Boone outside. In the middle off the room, he carefully set me down so he could whip the sleeping bag off my cot and fan it out on the floor.
I swallowed hard, trying to keep my feet steady, but the room was spinning. Beau’s kiss had the power to make me nearly faint. Whatever was coming next might kill me, but at the moment, I couldn’t think of a better way to die.
“Sabrina.” Beau’s sexy, deep rumble filled the room as he held out a hand. The instant my fingers brushed his palm, he tugged me into his hard chest and wrapped me up in his arms.
Between us, I dropped both hands to the hem of his shirt, sliding my fingertips under the cotton to trace the dips of his muscled stomach up to his pecs. I lifted his T-shirt as my fingers explored, and when I finally reached his collarbone, Beau reached behind his neck to jerk the shirt off and sent it flying behind my back.
My eyes dropped from his face to his chest and as my fingers continued to explore, I leaned in and pressed a kiss against one of Beau’s nipples before doing the same to the other. Each time my tongue darted out and found his skin, he sucked in a sharp breath. The erection behind his jeans jutted firmly against my stomach and got harder with every lick.
I alternated between his nipples, enjoying the brush of his chest hair against my lips, until Beau grabbed both my hands, stopping them from reaching for his belt buckle.
