“Most doctors too,” I agreed sadly. I glanced down. “And triage is necessary sometimes.”
“Yup.” His hand drifted down to my neck, and his thumb traced the line of my jaw. “Fortunately for those other prisoners, though, Champ is the other person I know who thinks the way you do.”
“Wait, what?” My gaze flew to his, amazed and pleased.
“We got every single one of them out, got them medical attention, and got them repatriated, even though it cost Champ truckloads of his own money to do it. Which is another reason I’m telling you Percy Champion won’t give up on us. He’s fucking amazing as both a team leader and a friend.” Riggs’s cheek twitched up in a half-smile. “Don’t tell him I said that, though.”
“Well, I think you’re pretty amazing,” I said softly.
“Wow. Not sure if you realize, Dr. Carter, but you just complimented me. Is that the fear talking again?” Riggs teased—except part of me wondered if it was really all a tease or if there wasn’t a part of him that was sincerely asking the question.
And because that was so, I took a second to evaluate his question so I could give him a sincere answer.
“It’s not,” I told him honestly. “And I know that because I’m still very much afraid, but… I do think we’re going to get out of here.” I said the words with conviction, believing them for the first time since that scene in the kitchen. “And thank you for telling me that story. For… for trusting me with that,” I added softly. “It helped.”
“Good.” He brushed aside a lock of damp hair that had fallen on my forehead and pressed a chaste kiss to my lips, then leaned back against the pillows and stretched out, pulling me against his side. “Maybe we should get some sleep so we’ll be rested for whatever tomorrow brings.”
“Or.” I scrambled to my knees and threw my leg over his waist to straddle him, not caring that the move made my towel come undone. “We could get back to what we were going to do before I ‘let the fear get in my head.’”
Riggs brought his hands up to my hips in an instinctive gesture, but when I leaned down to kiss him, he pulled back, his eyes darting back and forth between mine, checking on me. Protecting me, even in this.
Whatever he saw on my face must have convinced him I was all good because his thumbs stroked the ridge of my transversus abdominus muscles, making wide circles across my lower belly that made need pool low in my gut.
“And what exactly did you think we were going to do before?”
I felt my smile grow. “Well. I thought about the last two times you and I were together like this… which were seriously hot.”
“Mmhmm. Agreed.”
“And I thought, ‘What would it be like if we actually set out to have sex for once instead of falling into it in the heat of the moment?’ And I decided I wanted to experience that, no matter what happened tomorrow. I still do.” I looked him directly in the eye, letting him see how much I meant it. How much I wanted him. “I want you inside me. I want you to fuck me.”
Just thinking of it, just imagining it, made my half-hard cock go fully erect against the hard slab of his abs, and I rocked a little, knowing from experience how phenomenal it would feel.
Riggs’s breathing hitched, and when he looked at me, I knew he was remembering that night back on the little pallet at the clinic just like I was. He shifted me slightly so his hardening cock lined up with the crease of my ass, and I made an involuntary little mpfhh noise.
“Ah, shit, that’s so good,” I groaned as I moved again. “I knew it would be. You know, even way back on the night we first met at the Licking Nuthatch Gala, I thought—”
“Carter,” Riggs interrupted. “That was a little over two weeks ago, baby. Not exactly way back.” His fingers tightened on my hips, setting a lazy rhythm for my rocking like the bossy bastard he was. I was shockingly okay with that.
“Only two?” I frowned. Then I blinked because holy shit, he was right. I felt like I’d lived four lives since then—traveling to Gelada, meeting the people there, this whole nightmare with Gustavo… But I guessed there were some things in life that were just so huge, they changed you in an instant. My parents dying had been one. This trip to Venezuela was definitely another.
“Only two,” he confirmed.
“Feels like more,” I grumbled.
“It does.” Riggs’s circling thumbs moved in widening arcs, brushing through my trimmed hair. “Facing down hordes of capybaras together does that, I guess.”
Capybaras. I snorted. Then I rotated my hips against him, making his eyes roll back in his head.