"See," he said, moving in right behind me, his hands stretching out on either side of my body and sticking his fingers in the holes on the sides of my head.
"See what? How close you were to shooting me?"
"See how close I can get without even grazing you," he corrected, not moving away though his hands dropped. "Shooter is the best shot I've ever seen, Maze, but I'm a damn close second."
"I don't understand what the purpose of this was," I said shaking my head a little and I could feel the back of my skull brush against his chest. He was way, way too close.
"Maze, I'm a lot of things, but I'm not stupid or unobservant," he started. "You trust the lot of us just about as far as you can throw us which, with those little arms of yours, is not very far. And, well, a trust fall is just too God damn cheesy."
"Seriously? This is just trying to get me to trust you? Will you do the same thing to Renny and Duke when they get their turns with you?"
"No. But the difference is, I don't need to with them."
"Why bother with me when you guys are obviously doing everything in your power to get me out?"
"Maybe this doesn't have anything to do with them, Maze. Maybe this is about you and me."
I felt myself stiffen. "There is no you and me," I said, my voice quiet.
"Sure there fucking is," he said, his breath in my ear, his words emphasized by a rolling of thunder.
"There can't be," I objected, shaking my head as I watched one of his hands slide up my thigh then up and across my belly, folding over it and pulling me against his chest.
"And yet," he murmured, his head ducking. His lips found the sensitive spot just below my ear, pressing in gently and making a shudder pass through me.
"Repo," I whispered, hearing a pleading in my tone, but not sure that I was asking him to stop, or to give me more.
His nose tilted up, teasing the edge of my ear before his tongue moved out to tease the lobe. "Tell me you don't want this and I'll stop," he said as the first few fat drops of rain landed on our heads and shoulders.
Of course I wanted it.
I wanted it like I wanted The Henchmen to accept me, like I wanted K to be proud of me, like I wanted to keep on breathing.
It no longer felt like something as simple as a want, a desire. It felt like a need, like something necessary to keep going.
So I swallowed the lump that was trying to get me to stick to the plan, follow the rules, do the right thing, and admitted the truth. "I want this," I sighed as his arm squeezed my belly, his teeth nipped my ear, and the sky finally opened up.
"Turn around, honey," he said in a deep, rolling way that made my belly flip over as I turned in his arm. His one arm settled low on my back, the other raised to brush across my neck until it grabbed my ponytail and pulled my hair free, slipping the band over his own wrist for safekeeping, before cupping my jaw.
Above us, the thunder roared again loud enough for the ground to shake under our feet. "Should we take that as a bad omen?" I asked, eyes seeking his as the rain poured down our faces. To me, it was welcome, cooling my overheated body, washing the sweat away.
"Probably," he agreed, tilting his head a little as he closed the space between us, "but it's not gonna fucking stop us."
With that, his lips crushed into mine, hard, desperate, not a hint of restraint in him as he slanted his head, bit into my lower lip, claimed my tongue. His hands didn't stay where they were. As soon as my arms went around his neck, his hands started roaming, both moving down my back and slipping up under the wet material of my tee, sliding up to my bra strap and making short work of the clasps.
"Arms up," he said, pulling his lips from mine and dragging the material of my tee and my cut and pulling them upward. My arms went straight up and the material was gone in seconds. His hands moved out, brushing the straps of my bra off my shoulders. They slid down my arms until they disappeared, leaving me topless in front of him, the cold rain and heavy dose of desire making my nipples harden almost painfully. To my surprise, his hands didn't immediately go to cover my breasts, instead they moved to the sides, teasing over the skin that was usually looked over, then stroking down my sides to the waistband of my pants. They tickled across my belly before they moved to unfasten and drag the material down. As he was exposing me, he lowered down onto his knees in front of me, planting a kiss right below my navel before he reached down to untie and remove my boots, then slip my pants and panties off my body.