Page 28 of Untamed Hunter Daddy

"I haven't been sleeping in it. I've been sitting in it and staring at the ceiling and thinking about you. Those are very different activities."

I smile against his skin. Outside the last of the storm drifts away and the stars multiply until the window is full of them.

Tomorrow the world comes back. Tomorrow the road opens and the team arrives and the system walks through the door.

But tonight the stars are out and the fire is burning and the man whose heartbeat I’ll fall asleep to is here, holding me.

My eyes fall shut.

For the first time in a long time, I don't dream at all.

14

Ryker

I wake sometime past two with her warm against me and the fire burned down to low embers.

Zoe’s tucked into my side, one leg thrown over mine, her cheek pressed to my chest. Her breathing is deep and even. The covers are a tangled mess around us. Outside the storm is gone.

I should let her sleep. Tomorrow’s going to be hard enough without me waking her in the middle of the night. But her skin is soft under my hand where it rests on her bare hip and the smell of her is in every breath I take and my body is already responding to the simple fact of her being this close.

I shift carefully, pulling her tighter against me. My arm slides around her waist and my palm settles low on her stomach. She makes a small sound in her sleep and presses back into me, her ass fitting against my hips in a way that makes my cock twitch.

Her breathing changes. She wakes slowly, the way she always does, body first and then mind. I feel the moment she realizes where she is and who she's pressed against.

"Ryker?" Her voice is rough with sleep.

"Yeah. Go back to sleep if you want. I didn't mean to wake you."

She turns in my arms until she's facing me. In the low firelight her eyes are dark and soft. She reaches up and traces the line of my jaw with her fingertips.

"I don't want to go back to sleep, Daddy," she whispers.

The way she says ‘Daddy.’ That's all it takes.

I kiss her with no urgency. Just the quiet middle-of-the-night need to be closer. Her mouth opens under mine and she sighs into the kiss, her hand sliding up into my hair. I roll her onto her back and settle between her thighs.

"You sore?" I ask against her lips.

"A little. Not enough to stop."

"Good. Because I need you again." I kiss the corner of her mouth, then her jaw, then the soft place below her ear. "Need to feel you bare. Without the condom. I’m clean. Promise. When was your last period?"

“Not sure. I haven’t had one in so long.”

I don’t want to risk it, but at the same time part of me would love to see her belly swollen with my child. My mind wars with the idea until the need for her takes over. “I need to be inside you. I need to feel your skin against mine.

She shivers when I say it. Her hands slide down my back, pulling me closer. “Do it. Make me feel good, Daddy.”

I work my way down her body with my mouth, unhurried. The hollow of her throat. The slope of her breast. I take my time there, licking and sucking until her nipple is tight against my tongue and she's arching up into me.

"That's it," I murmur against her skin. "Just like that. Let me make you feel good."

I keep going lower, kissing the soft skin of her stomach, the inside of her thighs. When I finally put my mouth on her she's already wet and warm and she gasps my name like it surprises her. I lick her slow and thorough, taking my time learning what makes her thighs tremble and what makes her fingers tighten in my hair.

"Ryker—oh God⁠—"

"You’re okay. I’m here." I slide two fingers into her carefully, curling them. "Just relax and let me take care of you. You taste so good, baby. Could stay right here all night."