«Look at me,» he said, coming down on top of her, his fingers intertwined with hers, holding her hands to the floor as his thighs roughly opened hers.
He groaned when his cock encountered the slick wet heat of her swollen vulva. Very nearly plunged in and impaled himself to the hilt in one fast, hard stroke. But he managed to hold himself at her entrance. To meet her gaze and then slowly, an inch at a time give himself to her-just as slowly, an inch at a time, he claimed her for his own.
«Ukiah,» Marisa said, her fingers tightening on his as he pushed deeper, his name filling her soul as completely as his cock filled her channel.
She shuddered when he reached the end of her, wrapped her legs around him as if afraid he'd try and leave her. She rejoiced in the heavy feel of his testicles against her buttocks. Wanted to close her eyes but his coal-black gaze commanded that she keep them open, that she see the possessive way he gazed at her. Acknowledge the ownership he claimed as his hips began moving, first in short, forceful jabs, and then in long, full-length strokes that left her mewling and whimpering, crying for him.
He covered her lips with his and began thrusting in earnest. Made her scream in climax as he filled her with his seed. His release a violent hammering that had him going lax against her before rolling to the side and gathering her in his arms.
The sound of their breathing was harsh and ragged. Loud in the small cave. It drowned out the drip of water and the crackling of the fire. Masked even the far away droning, the continuous undertone that made Marisa think of chanting but was probably the sound of wind through rocks, or more ominous, deep shifts in the mountain range.
She cuddled against him, content as she'd never been before. Then made a murmur of protest when he released her and stood. But a moment later he'd once again scooped her into his arms and carried her to the sunken indentation filled with heated water.
«This is wonderful,» she said when he sat, positioning her so that she was straddling him, her head on his shoulder, the water covering her legs and lapping at her lower back. The pool only barely large enough to hold the two of them.
Ukiah brushed his hand along her spine. His heart filled with not only the beauty of the woman in his arms, but at what they'd already shared. Even without the Creator guiding him to her, gifting him with her, he would have been drawn to Marisa.
«How did you end up on these lands?» he asked. «When I was in Hohoq earlier today, no one mentioned there were visitors staying in town.»
Marisa's eyebrows drew together in surprised confusion. Hohoq ? That was the name of the town where they'd stopped for lunch days ago. And after they'd left, it had taken them hours to get to the campsite.
She reached for one of Ukiah's narrow braids, finding comfort in the feel of the smooth beads and soft feathers. «Am I close to there?» It occurred to her that she didn't really know where she was, other than in a cave. «Am I close to where you found me?»
He chuckled, a rumble that vibrated against her and made her smile. «Yes to both questions.» His fingers skimmed over her backbone again and made her shiver and press more tightly against him. «So you were lost?
Her hand clenched on his braid. Then she forced herself to release it in favor of touching his skin, of curling her fingers around his biceps. «I was lost. Mainly I was trying to get somewhere safe.»
Overhearing the conversation to kill her. Running. Her terrified escape. It seemed like a nightmare now. Unreal. Unbelievable. Something that had happened to someone else. While this…being here with him… It felt like they'd always been together. Not in the same way as people who've known each other years, but in the way of people whose souls are linked.
Marisa remembered her earlier thoughts, of knowing him in another life. Of belonging to him then. She shivered then laughed silently at herself. Attributing her flight of fantasy to artistic temperament.
Ukiah leaned back and in the process forced her to shift position so he could look into her face, his hand tangled in her hair held her still for a lingering kiss before he pushed her for answers.
The tension in her body a moment earlier-along with the motorcycle tracks on the road above where he'd found her-told him the safety she'd been seeking was more than shelter from the storm or the approaching night. «Someone was chasing you?» he whispered against her lips and she immediately jerked in his arms.
She met his eyes and everything inside him responded to the fear he saw in them. His cock stirred where it lay snug between her wet thighs, filled, grew ready to offer physical reassurance that she was safe, cared for.
Marisa's fingernails dug into Ukiah's biceps. Tears formed at the corner of her eyes, and a quiet sob escaped when he leaned forward, kissing them away. Nuzzling her, rubbing his cheeks to hers and finally taking her mouth again. His tongue twined with hers, reassured, eased the ache in her heart until the pain of betrayal gave way to heat and warmth, the beginnings of love.
When they separated, she made him smile by guessing at the source of his question, by asking, «You saw the bike tracks?»
«Yes. Who was chasing you? And why?»
Marisa exhaled on a long shaky sigh. «My brother and his girlfriend. Kaitlyn's the one who finally caught up with me, but not before I'd already taken a fall down the mountain. Though I guess that turned out to be a good thing. It fit with their plans perfectly so they were willing to leave me there and let nature take its course rather than help it along.» She leaned in, shaking despite the heated water they were sitting in. Hugged him tightly. «If you hadn't found me…»
Ukiah slid his arms around Marisa and held her to him, glad her face was buried against his neck so she couldn't see the rage in his expression, the utter determination to destroy those who wished to harm her. Who had left her to die. «Why were they trying to kill you?»
«Over money.» She shuddered, a soul-deep protest of betrayal and Ukiah thought she wasn't going to say anything more, but then she seemed to force a calm into her body. «I'll know more when I get back home. But for the last couple of years my brother Ethan has been managing the money our father left me. At first I got a monthly allowance, but as my art started to actually pay for my apartment and anything else I needed… It was stupid not to pay attention, but Dad left Ethan the business. He trusted him with that. So I trusted Ethan too. I wanted to believe we were a family.»
«You were close?»
«Our father left his mother and married mine-while she was pregnant with me. So no, we weren't close when we were growing up. But after our father died…» She shrugged. «But maybe that was all pretend, even if I'd like to think Ethan changed because of Kaitlyn. That she somehow convinced him to do this for her.»
Marisa took a deep breath. «They were planning on a rock-climbing accident. Only once we got here… There were so many images I wanted to capture on paper. And then when I saw where they wanted to climb… It made me feel scared. Maybe part of me guessed what they intended to do.»
She closed her eyes and Ukiah speared his hands in her hair and tugged, the sharp little pain making her lift her face so that once again he could cover her lips with his.
This time his tongue coaxed hers, tempted it to enter his mouth so he could hold it, suck on it, a gentle offer of sympathy as well as an acknowledgement of the rawness of her emotions. An offer of closeness and safe haven which she accepted with the softening of her body, with the opening of her thighs and the press of her swollen cunt lips against his engorged penis. When she whimpered he abandoned her hair in favor of grasping her hips and lifting her, settling her on his cock as he held her tongue captive in his mouth.
Marisa was helpless against Ukiah's sensual assault. There was no protest in her mind. No thought other than to invite him further into her body, their movements synchronized to his sucking, so subtle that the water barely rippled and yet each tiny thrust sent shards of white-hot pleasure through her clit. Each slide of his penis over desperately hungry internal muscles starved her for more. Their connection was so intense, so profound, that he became everything that mattered to her. And with a cry, orgasm ripped from the deepest part of her. A place that had never responded to another man like it responded to Ukiah. A place sealed closed until he came into her life.