“Condom… pants,” I panted out, trying to pull myself away for a moment to retrieve the rubber I had in my wallet. It sat a few feet away in my pants.

“We’re good. I’m good,” she gasped when I rolled my hips again. Her eyes rolled back slightly with each buck of my hips; she was so close to falling apart and I knew I needed to be inside of her when she did.

“You positive you’re okay with this?” I needed to be sure it wasn’t just a spur of the moment thing.

She looked up at me with hooded eyes that conveyed she understood just what I was really asking. “We’re good. I’m sure.” I brushed the wet hair off her forehead and brought my mouth down on hers as I pushed forward and slid inside for the first time full skin-on-skin. Not a single word could describe what I was thinking right at that moment. I couldn’t have formed words if I wanted to. The only thing that came from my lips was a deep growl of satisfaction.

The feeling of taking her completely bare had a wave of pinpricks running up my back. My knees buckled slightly and I groaned against her mouth. Pushing in again and again, Amelia gasped loudly and sucked my lip into her mouth, giving me a soft nip with her teeth as she rocked her body with mine. I picked up my pace, rolling my hips with each movement as she ground hers back against me.

“Fucking hell” I moaned and dropped my head to her neck, and pulled the creamy flesh at the top of her shoulder into my mouth. Without even thinking, I left my mark for the world to see. In one quick movement, I’d claimed her. She was mine and I was fine with everyone knowing it. Amelia tipped her head slightly, giving me better access and telling me without words how she felt about it. Her soft mewling turned to louder moans with each suckle.

“Yes, oh, God, yes,” she cried out, pushing back against me with her hips. Digging her nails into the muscles of my ass, she pulled me forward with each thrust. Moments later, she screamed out my name, clamping around me. I drove into her, harder and harder. I bit down on her shoulder as my eyes rolled back into my head. I growled long and low when my balls drew up tight and I finally let go.

“You okay?” I asked between fast breaths, realizing in our haste her back was separated from a hard metal truck with only a soft fairly thin blanket. The sun had set at some point while we’d been tangled around each other and a pleasant breeze was keeping us comfortable.

“Yeah, I’m more than okay.” She smiled serenely; her lips curved up in a way that had me gently pressing my own against them. She felt perfect under my hands—soft in all the right places with skin as smooth as silk. I rolled to my back bringing her with me and tucking the blanket around her back. Her hair fell around our faces, creating a curtain to a moment I wouldn’t have imagined I would be in. This girl I’d pegged as a snotty city chick had surprised me at every turn, and with her lying in my arm, I realized I was in deep… and I was perfectly all right with it. Before I could even begin to tell her any of how I felt, I needed to get a few things cleared up.

“What’re you running from?” I always was one to blurt out the first thing that popped in my head. It’d gotten me in trouble more times than I could count over the years.

“A life I wasn’t meant to have,” she answered quietly, her body tensing up slightly. She rolled off me and snuggled up to my side. My hand running slowly up and down her arm until she relaxed again.

“You sure you aren’t an escaped convict or a murderer on the run?” I half joked.

She giggled and teasingly ran her fingertips down my chest and abs, my muscles tensing every time she drug her nails slightly. “I’m not a criminal. Just looking for a new place to start over and was run off the road by a hunk of meat.”

I laughed lightly at her recount of the night she made her entrance into my life. Never in all my years had I seen a woman trying to beat up a cow. I’d never forget it either. A spur of the moment idea formed and I completely forgot about the private investigator. “Think you’d like to stay around here?” I closed my eyes and waited for her to laugh or tell me I was a fool. Seconds ticked by and still she hadn’t made a sound. I opened my eyes and looked over at her cautiously, only to find her head tilted up searching my face for something.

“I’m seriously thinking about it,” she replied quietly, her brow furrowed in thought.

“’Melia, I haven’t felt like this bef— Ah, fuck!” I yelled cutting my own words short. Amelia shot up and looked at me as if I’d lost my mind, while I jumped up and tossed our blanket aside, searching around for whatever had just bitten me. When I couldn’t find it immediately, I threw Amelia over my shoulder and jumped down off the back of the truck. Unceremoniously dumping her in the cab, I quickly slammed the door while she looked on bewildered. I ran back to the truck bed to find the snake and kill it. Seconds later, Amelia tapped me on the shoulder throwing her hands up when I spun around quickly.

“Whoa, cowboy! It’s just me. What the hell?”

“Snake, a snake bit me. You’ll get bit. Get in the truck,” I rushed out, flicking my eyes every which way, completely oblivious to the fact we were both still buck ass naked.

“Where?” she asked looking at me.

“I don’t know. I’m trying to find it but you need to get out of the way so you don’t get hurt.” I moved to pick her up again when she put her hands out to stop me.

“No, where did it bite you?” she sighed, clearly exasperated.