He covered her with his body, tangled his left hand in her hair as he rested his weight on his right elbow, and kissed her as he began moving inside her. Each long, slow stroke was torture and bliss rolled into one. He swallowed her moans as he thrust into her, trying to keep the pace of them leisurely, a tender joining of their bodies and entwining of their souls.
He drew back and looked down at her again, lost himself in her eyes as they moved together. The instincts grew stronger, clearer still, and he couldn’t stop himself from gripping her nape, from holding her at his mercy as he pumped her, curling his hips to reach all of her. She didn’t seem to care that he was holding the back of her neck, keeping her in place.
In fact, she seemed to like it.
She moaned and arched against him, pressed her nails into his shoulders and then shifted her right hand to his nape. Her face screwed up as she gripped it hard, digging her fingertips into it, sending a thrill bolting down his spine that had his cock growing harder still and came dangerously close to wrenching control from him.
He growled and dropped his head, seized her lips and kissed her hard as he began to pump her faster. He shifted his weight to his left elbow and gripped her hip with his right hand, lifted her slightly and relished her sweet cry as he plunged deeper still. Her nails scored his nape, sent heat blasting through him to make his thoughts hazy as he felt the sting of them raking over his skin. Another growl pealed from him as he took her harder, unable to hold himself back as she pushed him deep into his instincts.
His fingers flexed against her nape, his claws emerging as the hunger to bite her there mounted inside him, threatening to tear what little control he managed to retain from him.
He drove into her again.
Groaned and shuddered as she cried into his mouth, as her body trembled and throbbed around his, shattering the urge to bite her as her release triggered his, had seed boiling up his cock. He breathed hard with each hard pulse of his length, heat and tingles racing through him as he gently thrust into her, as he pressed their bodies close together and clung to her.
Sweet gods.
She sagged beneath him, her breath leaving her on a contented sigh that had calm washing through him.
Lowe sank against her, kissed her slowly, softly, savouring the warmth and the deep sense of connection that rolled through him. He felt her smile against his mouth as she stroked his back, as she feathered her fingers down his chest and kissed him, was sure she was feeling the same way as he was, swept up in this moment, deeply aware that what they had was something special.
Once in a lifetime.
Something she confirmed for him as she eased back and her eyes darted to her nails, widening as she stared at them. “Oh my God. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—”
He silenced her with a kiss, one he hoped would chase her worries away, because he wasn’t angry that she had clawed his nape so hard she had drawn blood.
He was overjoyed.
Because her reaction to him could only mean one thing.
Cameo was his fated mate.
Chapter 14
Cameo nursed her coffee as she stood on the deck of Lowe’s cabin, enjoying the afternoon sunshine, not feeling the bite in the air as the warmth of the log burner escaped the open door behind her and heated her back. She stroked her fingers over the soft material of the cream sweater Lowe had taken great pains to clean for her, idly shifting them back and forth. She couldn’t stop smiling as she took in Black Ridge, and it wasn’t only because the valley was beautiful, with its towering white peaks bright against the clear blue sky and snow-dusted pine forest.
It was because her leg was already feeling better, wasn’t causing her any pain. Lowe had given her a pair of too-large black sweatpants that fitted over her cast, and it was nice being in something clean and being more mobile.
It was because she felt incredibly sated. She had never been with someone like Lowe. What they had shared had been intense, incredible, and she wanted an encore, but Lowe had needed to speak with Saint and Knox about something and had left her with only a kiss when she had tried to get that encore going.
Cameo was sure that it was because of what she had told him about Karl.
Just thinking that name was enough to set her on edge, had her casting her gaze over the cabins situated around the clearing and then the trees that surrounded her on all sides. How long would it be before Karl found this place? She hoped the answer to that was never. Karl wasn’t the kind of man who enjoyed mountains and the great outdoors. He preferred cities.
The sensible part of her said that wasn’t going to stop him from coming after her.
The only way to stop him was to get him his money or deal with him.
Her stomach squirmed at the thought, at how easily she could think about killing him and his men. It wasn’t like her, and she knew deep in her heart that even if she had the opportunity to take him down, when it came down to it, she wouldn’t be able to go through with it. She wasn’t a killer.
Was Lowe?
She hated herself for thinking that. Lowe was kind. Gentle. Didn’t strike her as the sort of man who would murder someone. She looked at the mountains again. He did live up in this wild place though and he did seem able to handle himself. If it came down to it, she felt certain that Lowe would do whatever it took in order to stay alive or in order to protect her.
Her thoughts drifted to the mountain, to when the man had grabbed her and how she had reacted. She had fought him. The instinct was there inside her too and she had the feeling that if she saw Lowe in danger or was facing death, she would find the strength and courage to do the unthinkable.
She wasn’t sure what that made her.
Cameo looked down at her feet and sipped her coffee, tried to distract herself from her dark thoughts. She wriggled the toes of her left foot, pleased when her leg didn’t ache. She had taken one of the pills Yasmin had left for her this morning when her leg had been a bit sore, and they had been quick to steal that pain away. She smiled. Her feet looked so funny with one in a black plastic cast and the other in a boot. It made her lopsided too. The heel of her boot was higher than the one on the brace. Lowe had chuckled about that when he had found her walking around his cabin, testing her leg because she had wanted to get some fresh air.
The need to see Lowe that had been steadily building inside her reached a crescendo and she willed him to come back to her. She wanted him to take her mind off everything and she knew just the way he could do it.
She lifted her head and took another sip of her coffee, and her smile widened as Lowe stepped out onto the deck of Saint’s cabin, as if he had felt her need of him, and quickly took the steps down to the compacted snow. He turned towards his cabin, his stride hitching as he spotted her and then falling back into an easy rhythm as he strolled towards her.
Cameo wanted to growl at the sight of him.
He looked more than good with his dark green and black checked fleece hugging his broad chest and navy jeans tightening across his powerful thighs with each step. He looked like a predator on the prowl as he closed the distance between them, and she shivered as she stared into his eyes, aware that when he reached her, he was going to eat her whole.
Lowe suddenly spun away from her, twisting to his right and landing hard in the snow.
The gunshot reached her ears a split-second later.
“Lowe!” Cameo darted for the steps of the deck, shrieked as another bullet tore through the wooden post to her right and fell back towards the cabin door, dropping her mug.