With only that on his mind now, he found her mouth and her hands went straight to his jeans, officially ending the conversation. Their touches were frantic while he hurried to get her out of her jeans. By the time she shoved his jeans down, alongside his boxer briefs, she was already stepping out of hers. He didn’t waste the seconds removing his fully, ravishing her with kisses he couldn’t get enough of. Desperate to get closer, to make her feel only the good he wanted her to feel, he hooked one of her legs onto his arms, keeping her pressed tight against the door, ensuring no one bothered them, and then he entered her. Swiftly and urgently, and they both groaned at the pleasure of him filling her.
He couldn’t make his thrusts hard enough. He couldn’t get deep enough into the very depths of her. She clung to him while he rode her, and he groaned with the ferocity she pulled out of him while her soft sensual moans made him move faster. This primal need she brought out in him was all about lust before. Now, with every stroke of his cock against her warm and wet channel, while she hugged his body tight and moved frantically with him, the primal nature shifted to one far more intense. His.
Alex gave herself and her talents to the world. Law enforcement agencies took, without thought or care. Her own mother chose drugs over Alex. Her father was totally absent in her life. Rowan wouldn’t repeat their failures. He’d walked away from her once. Never again.
Needing to get closer, he cupped her neck, her back sliding up and down the door as he rocked himself into her. His muscles burned. The pleasure gritting his teeth as it built…and built…and built until there was nowhere else to go but to explode.
But he would not go there alone.
She came first. Always.
He leaned away to look into her eyes, finding them shut with pleasure. He hardened further, consumed by her beauty, of how incredibly they fit together, of how simply breathtaking she looked when he made her his.
Her eyes slowly opened then, locking onto his, and widened at the hardening of his cock deep inside her. His growl rose deep from his chest, a sound that had nothing to do with pleasure, and everything about staking his claim.
He went harder then. Faster. The door banging behind them. The pleasure blinding and all-consuming, giving her what she needed and wanted from him. Until she gave a shuddering moan, tipped her chin up, and broke apart. Only then did he give in and let his control slip until he crashed into the pleasure alongside her.
CHAPTER 5
Whispering Winds Treatment Center was a gorgeous facility with sprawling gardens, a pond with a dock, and hammocks placed beneath the shade trees. The main center was a two-story building that looked more like a resort than a treatment center, and when Alex stepped out of the passenger seat of Ryder’s truck, she caught Mia gazing up in wonder at the place. Alex met Ryder at the hood of his truck while Rowan helped Mia out of the back seat. “Thank you for arranging this,” Alex said, quickly giving Ryder a hug. “You’ve gone above and beyond anything I could have asked from you.”
Ryder returned the hug. “Every person who has been through a trauma should have this available to them, not only the ones with money. I’m glad to do it.”
Alex also knew it probably hadn’t cost Ryder a cent. All the cases he’d worked, all the people he helped, all that good always came back to him. She learned a lot from Ryder over the years she’d been with him. That love from her found family, she’d never known that growing up. She turned to Rowan who had his arms around a frail Mia as they approached. Tenderness touched his expression as he looked at Alex, and her heart melted at the relief and happiness in his eyes.
They’d done it. Even if they hadn’t rescued Mia, they’d put enough pressure on Lewis to let her go. She’d done for Rowan what she couldn’t have done for herself with Lena. Saved a life.
Every hard part of her life. Every moment of loneliness and struggle and heartbreak suddenly seemed not so dark anymore. Everything she’d gone through to be the hacker she was, the person she was, all came down to saving Mia’s life. And she and Rowan did that, both of them…together.
During her talk with Mia back at the hospital, something felt different inside her. Something that wasn’t thinking of all the reasons she needed to put distance between her and Rowan, but instead, ways to bring him closer.
When Mia finally reached them, her wide eyes scanned the place. “When you said treatment center, I was thinking more along the lines of somewhere cold and depressing.”
Ryder gave her a soft smile. “It’s a gorgeous facility with incredible staff. Many of my men have come through this place when they retire from the military.”
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Which now explained how Ryder knew about it. And she didn’t doubt that somewhere along the lines, Ryder might have either helped the owner or one of the doctors out, and that was how all this was happening so quickly.
A crunch of gravel behind her had Alex glancing over her shoulder, finding a navy-blue truck coming up the driveway. She squinted her eyes but then recognized the person in the driver’s seat. Luke Hardt, retired Navy Seal. He parked his truck in one of the parking spots, then was out and approaching them with a duffle bag in his hand. He was a tad taller than Rowan and had startling blue eyes that were such a contrast to his jet-black hair. He was one of Ryder’s top guys on the San Francisco team.
“Mia,” Ryder said gently. “This is Luke Hardt, he’s one of my most trusted and skilled men. He’s going to stay with you during your time here.”
Her gaze flicked to Luke. “Hi.”
Luke inclined his head and spoke with a gentle voice, “You won’t even know I’m here, Ms. Hawke.”
A slight flicker of life came into her eyes. “Please, Mia is fine.”
Luke paused. Then a soft smile. “Mia.”
Alex felt her chest constrict, the air so thick and tense around her. None of them knew what Mia actually went through, or if she’d be okay after all this. But that little flicker of life that Alex guessed is what Mia used to look like, gave Alex hope that Mia would salvage a life after this. She wouldn’t let Lewis win.
Two people came out of the treatment center and approached, both looking like someone’s sweet grandmothers who would bake cookies and tell wonderful stories. They didn’t look to anyone else or say a word to anyone but Mia, and Alex couldn’t quite make out what they said to her, but the way they spoke to her was like they enveloped her in their warmth and affection.
When one lady placed her hand on Mia’s back and nudged her forward, Mia glanced to Rowan. He gave a firm nod. “I’ll come see you in a couple of days. I promise.” The facility wanted to have Mia for forty-eight hours without interruptions, probably to get her settled and trusting those around her.
“Okay,” Mia said, her voice trembling.