Under Threat by B.J. Daniels (reading the story of the .TXT) 📕

just maybe, there was some softness under there. In the way he wanted to protect her, in the way his mouth explored hers.

Even if there was no gentleness in him, he used his strength as a kind of softness. He was a protector, and that was his gentleness. She admired that. Deeply.

“Natalie...”

He didn’t have to speak further, she could feel him pulling back, if not physically, mentally.

She clutched him tighter, not willing to let this go. She’d sacrifice her pride for this. “No, don’t.”

“For every minute we spend doing this, we are putting ourselves in danger. Every minute one of us isn’t watching the cave entrance and paying attention to our surroundings, we are increasing the danger that we are in. Exponentially.”

“I don’t care.” She knew that was stupid, but she couldn’t bring herself to care. Her care was worn out and afraid and tired. “We’re already in danger, what’s a little more?”

She trailed her hand farther down his chest, across the clear indentation of his abs, doing something far bolder and more brazen than she’d ever done. Something she almost couldn’t believe she was doing herself.

She placed her palm over the hard length of his erection.

He groaned, sounding tortured and desperate. She smiled, not minding making him tortured or desperate in the least.

“My job is to keep you safe. I can’t... Do that...”

“Right now I want your job to be to make me forget. I want to forget I’m scared. I want to forget my life was burned to the ground. I want to forget that I’m on the run and in danger. I want to forget that my sister’s missing and there has been nothing I could do about it for years upon years. Vaughn, I want to forget. Let me forget.”

She traced the hard length of him, and his grip on her tightened.

“It would be a dereliction of my duty...”

“Derelict with me. Please.” She stepped back from the tight embrace of his arms, and he let her. Probably thinking that that was going to be it. That she had come to her senses. But that was the absolute last thing she had come to. She pulled the T-shirt over her head and tossed it toward the backpacks on the ground.

“Natalie.” His voice was all gravel, but his eyes were hot and on her.

“I want you, Vaughn. I don’t care where we are, what it takes. I want this, and it’s been so long since I’ve had anything I wanted.”

She could tell he was fighting a war with his conscience, so she did her best to win it for her side. She shimmied out of the shorts she’d been wearing. Because the ground was rocky, she left her shoes on. It was probably a ridiculous sight, her in her underwear and tennis shoes. Based on Vaughn’s tense reaction, she thought she was getting her point across, though.

He took a step toward her, and because she couldn’t quite read his expression, whether he was going to insist she put her clothes back on or possibly do it for her, whether he was going to give in to touch her, she held out a hand to stop him.

“No, no, no. Lose your shirt and pants first.”

He stood there, a solid wall of granite. The fact he was even standing there, even debating, was a triumph. It was a win.

He clenched his fingers into fists and then relaxed them, and they went to the hem of his shirt. She exhaled the breath she’d been holding. She was fairly sure that as he lifted his shirt over his head, she whimpered.

He was... Perfection. He had abs and muscles and was just this powerfully broad man whose impressive upper body narrowed to mouthwatering lean hips. She wanted to trace each cut and dip. Possibly with her tongue.

“Pants too,” she said, though it was really more of a squeak than her voice.

Again there was a moment of pause. As though he couldn’t believe he was doing this. But that didn’t stop him. Thank goodness, it didn’t stop him. He undid the button of his jeans and then the zipper and pushed them down. Underneath he wore a loose pair of black boxer shorts, but as loose as they were, she could still see the evidence of his arousal. She could see everything. And he was gorgeous and perfect and she wanted nothing more than to be underneath him. Or on top of him. Or both, alternating.

“Am I allowed to approach now?” he asked, the gravel still in his voice, but a hint of humor underneath.

She opened her mouth to say yes. In her mind she said the word regally and coolly. As though she were in control of the situation, as though she were in control of the rioting sparks inside her. In reality, nothing came out of her too-tight throat, and she just had to nod.

When Vaughn grinned at her—at her—nothing else mattered. Not the danger they were in, not what might happen afterward. All that mattered was him and now.

He took a step toward her, but his hands didn’t reach out to touch. He stood so they were still a couple inches from being toe to toe. He looked at her, right in the eye. It felt more intimate than standing there in her underwear. The fact that he was looking at her, seemed to look into her. That was... Somehow huge and emotional.

“We’re going to move a little deeper into the cave. That’ll be a safer option. We’ll have more of a warning if something happens.”

“Remember when I said you were so very conventional?”

“I’m a man, Natalie. But I am a man determined to keep you safe, no matter what.”

“Are you at least also a man determined to make love to me, not just take off his clothes?”

For the first time since this whole thing had gone wildly out of control, he didn’t hesitate. “Yes. More than determined.”

It was her turn to grin, and she helped him gather all of their