Captive Angel

"Whoa, sweetheart," Hunter hissed, grabbing a stick of wood that threatened to tumble out of his arms. "What did you find?"

"The stone! The reason that Sebastian is after us. It was in that passage you left off at," she grabbed a couple of the pieces of wood off the top of his arms and hurried over to the wood box to stack them with the rest. "Come on, dump the wood and come here."

Hunter stared at Angel for a moment, his feelings in turmoil. If she found it, then there was really no reason for them to stay at the cabin any longer, unless this snowstorm dumped a huge amount of snow on them. But the thought of being safe, of having Sebastian out of their lives was too tempting by half. He sighed, stacking the rest of the wood up. "I have to go get another load, save that thought until I get back in."

He almost ran, going out the door, leaving Angel to stare at him in surprise.

The air outside was almost silvery with cold, stealing his breath even though he'd been expecting it. It burned against his cheeks, the wind ruffling his hair. Stomping over to the woodpile, he took his time, stacking the wood into his arms, his thoughts seeming to run in circles in his mind.

He didn't want to lose Angel, that's what it all came down to. He didn't want to drop her off in Michigan with a kiss on the cheek, and a maybe we could get together again someday. He didn't want her away from his side, period. The thought of her in Michigan and him in Texas almost sent a thrill of panic through him, as did the thought of never seeing her again.

What right did he have to ask her to stay when his life was in such a complete mess right now? "Fuck," he sighed, the condensation from his exhale rising like a plume around his face. Shivering, he turned back towards the cabin door, shaking off the gathering snow. He could pray for a blizzard, which would give him a couple more days at least with his beautiful cabin mate.

"Wow, it's really coming down out there," Angel said, brushing the cold snow off of his shoulders as he stacked the wood in the box. "It doesn't look to stop anytime soon either." She looked up into his eyes that were the color of the snow clouds outside, dark gray and temperamental. "Are you all right?"

"Fine," he said, brushing away her concern and her hands as he walked over to the door to shed his coat and boots. He held his cold hands out to the fire. "So tell me, what did you find?"

"Oh, yeah," she said, her green eyes sparkling. "It was right after that spot you read to me, right before you got in the mood to sell off some swamp land," she laughed, making him grin despite his mood.

]

"Hey, you were pretty interested in buying, so don't complain."

"Was I complaining?" She went to the kitchen to stir the pot of soup she'd decided to fix when she'd realized how cold it was outside. "You won't hear a peep of a complaint out of me," she giggled, shivering when he came up behind her and laid his cold hands against her warm abdomen.

"We could take this and make it dinner in bed while we talk over 'conditions of the sale'?" he whispered into her ear, his cold fingers pulling on her nipples and making them stand out like hard little thimbles under the tight thermal shirt she wore.

She turned in his arms, reaching up to wrap hers around his neck, holding him to her. "You seem to want to distract me from the journals, Hunter. Is something wrong?"

He sighed, and would have let her go and walked away but she held on tight until he relaxed against her. "Dammit, I enjoy having you here with me and don't want to see it end, okay?" he growled, wrapping her against him tightly.

He felt her smile against the skin of his neck, heard her chuckle quietly.

"Well, you don't have to be so mad about it," she teased him.

He flushed, realizing he was being an ass but still at a loss about what to do about it.

"I'm sorry, Angel. This place has been like a little oasis away from our problems. I know we can't stay here forever but...would a few more days be a bad thing?"

"No, a few more days would be wonderful," she said, reaching up and letting her lips caress his. "But only if I can do that thing where you can't touch me again," she murmured against his lips.

He growled, hauling her up tightly against him, his mouth turning almost feral as he kissed her. "Hmm," he groaned. "Too bad we didn't bring those shackles with us. I kind of like the idea of you in nothing but chains, mine to do with as I please."

Angel burst out laughing, hearing him chuckle also as he let his forehead rest against hers. "I have this picture of that outfit Princess Leia was wearing in one of those Star Wars movies. You know, the gold bikini thing," she grinned.

"Oh God, my adolescent fantasy come true," he sighed, closing his eyes. "She looked so hot in those chains."

"Pig," she laughed at him.

"If I can find the outfit, would you..." his voice trailed off as he gazed down at her with a playful but hopeful look in his eyes.

"Hmm, maybe," she said, laughing when his smile grew and he picked her up in his arms. "Hey!"

"What?" he asked, not stopping as he headed back toward the bed.

"Dinner? The soup I've got going on the burner, any of that sound familiar to you?"

He turned, not letting her down and flicked the off switch on the stove before turning back to the bed. "Happy?" he asked.

"You're incorrigible," she accused though with no heat in her tone. She was actually enjoying the pleasure he got from her body, the way she could turn him on with little or no effort. She liked feeling sexy and seductive, liked knowing that he couldn't keep his hands off of her. She loved knowing that he didn't want their little paradise in the woods to come to an end. She didn't either, though the realist in her knew it would have to, for Sebastian and his men could find them if they stayed in one place too long.

He tumbled her to the mattress on the floor, growling as he nuzzled her neck. "You have way too many clothes on," he complained, his fingers going to the button on her jeans. "We need this cabin down around Florida, that way you could stay naked for me all the time." He nibbled on her lips, biting the bottom one gently.

Angel sighed, her fingers going to the buttons of his flannel shirt, pulling them open.

She felt him tugging at her jeans and lifted her hips, helping him sweep the jeans and the panties she had on under them off together. Then his hand was between her legs, slipping into her heat, his fingers strumming over her clit causing her body to arch, her hips to push up against him.

She moaned and sighed, letting him control her body with his touch and his kiss, pliant under his stroking hands as he turned her over under him. He stroked the sexy line of her back, finding the cleft of her ass, his thumb trespassing and sliding between the twin globes of flesh. His lips touched the back of her neck, his teeth gripping lightly at her nape, his tongue swiping over her soft flesh.

Hunter felt the need to possess her, to let her know without words how he felt. He growled her name, chewing lightly upon her ear before finding her neck with his lips and teeth. Gripping her hips, he pulled them up, sitting back on his haunches to view the swollen lips of her pussy, see her glistening with need for him.

"Hunter? What are you...ahhh," she cried as his finger swept through her cleft, pushing inside of her. He stroked it in her slowly, adding another finger as she started to thrust back against him. With his other hand, he undid his jeans, fishing his cock out of his boxers, stroking it slowly in the same rhythm of his fingers moving inside of her.

]

"You're so wet, Angel," he growled. "You're so fucking tight around my fingers. I can't wait to slide my cock into your heat."

Angel looked over her shoulder at him, seeing him slowly stroking his cock, the head shiny with the slickness of his own excitement. She licked her lips, hearing his groan as he watched her wet pink tongue slide across the sweet flesh of her lips.

Her belly ached to feel him inside of her, her mouth longed for a taste of his hot flesh. She wanted his hands on her body, wanted to feel him slam himself against her, pushing so deep inside of her that she didn't know where he ended and she began. She wanted him to make her come until she couldn't see straight and then do it all over again.

"Fuck me," she begged him. "Fuck me now."

"Do you want my cock, baby?" he asked her hoarsely, wanting to hear her say it.

"Y...yes," she moaned, seeing his hand twist around the long thick shaft of it.

"Tell me," he ordered, slipping his hand from inside of her and rising to his knees, letting her feel the head of his cock against her wet flesh. "Tell me you want my cock."

Her hips moved, trying to capture him between her plump, wet lower lips. Her teeth bit into her lower lip, her eyes stared blindly around as the sensation of emptiness grew immense inside of her. "I...I want your cock, Hunter. Please, please," she begged.

He slid inside of her smoothly, stretching delicate flesh, feeling the clinging of her wet muscles and the way she seemed to be made to fit him and do it so perfectly.

His hands captured her hips, holding her still as he set a long, slow rhythm, refusing to let her hurry him in any way. He could feel her shiver, knew she wanted more, but he wasn't ready to rush this yet.

Her red hair gleamed like fire in the flickering flames, her eyes shone like emeralds, sparkled under heavy lids. Her lips were wet, full and parted with her panting breaths as she thrust back against him. He'd never seen anything as lovely or as impossible to look away from as the sight of her beauty at that moment.

It felt as if his heart surrendered right there in that moment, and he gave up the thought of letting her go back to her old life in her old home town. "Angel," he groaned, his grey eyes looking almost silver as he moved against her.

"Y...you feel so wonderful," she breathed, closing her eyes and arching once more.

Holding herself up with one hand, she reached between her legs, feeling his cock and the stretched out flesh of her body as he pushed inside of her. She was wet and hot, her clit feeling like a tiny pebble, his balls slapping against her hand as he picked up his pace.

She was surprised when he pulled out of her, rolling to his back and holding her above him. She reached between them, holding Hunter's cock in her small fist, guiding him back inside of her with a sigh of expectation.

"Oh God, baby, you're hot," he groaned, his hands on her waist, pulling her down on top of him. "You're so hot and tight. I can't get enough of you," he growled, his heels digging into the mattress as he shifted his big body, thrusting up inside of her.

She moved over him like some kind of sprite, her body lithe and pale in the fiery light. Outside, the wind howled, blowing at the cabin windows, raging through the trees as the storm gathered its fury. Inside was another kind of storm, words of passion and moans mingling with the wet sound of slapping flesh. It filled the cabin, the two beings in the center unaware of anything but the other as their maelstrom of love took them into the long slide of pleasure.

Angel rode Hunter, her fingers sliding over his body as if it were the first time she'd touched him, awed by the sheer power and beauty of his masculine form. She rode his cock mindlessly, little crooning cries coming from between her lips as she stared down at him.

His hands were never still, his long fingers sliding over her skin, finding every sensitive area of her body and exploiting it to push her pleasure higher, never letting her slide back from the heavy pulse of passion that racked his own body. He dragged her down, kissing her with every emotion he felt at the moment, amazed that what started as a kiss of plundering excitement changed into one of gentleness and love.

She came apart as he kissed her, shattering into an orgasm of such intensity, it held her rigid against him, unable to breath or see, moaning his name. It held her captive for a long moment even as his own body jumped and jerked beneath her, once more filling her with his creamy seed.

Then it was done, and she collapsed down on him, shaking and weak in his arms, tears slowly leaking from her eyes to wet his shoulder.

"Angel?" he breathed the question, afraid he'd hurt her with his demands. "Are you okay, baby? I didn't hurt you, did I?"

"N...no," she sighed, closing her eyes as his big hands came to her cheeks to hold her face up so that he could look into her eyes.

"Then why are you crying, love?" he asked, concern darkening his eyes to a stormy hue.

"I...I'm not sure, I guess it's because I've never felt like this before." She turned in his arms, wrapping hers around his neck and snuggling close. Speaking into his chest, she continued. "I never knew it could be like this," she said, her voice muffled.

"I know," he breathed into her hair. "But that's because you hadn't been to bed with me, baby," he said, making her chuckle. "I still can't believe that someone as beautiful, bright, intelligent and wonderful as you was still a virgin after all these years. I swear, the guys in Michigan must need glasses to have let you get away."

"Their loss is your gain," she answered flippantly, leaning back and looking into the stormy gray of his eyes. "Do you feel better now?"

"No," he said, dropping a kiss on her soft lips. "Some insatiable little vixen keeps taking me to bed and won't feed me. I'm starving." He rolled her over quickly, grabbing her wrists in his hands before she could smack him, laughing at the astonished look on her face. Using his big body to hold her down, he nuzzled his face into her neck and then nipped her earlobe. "Maybe I should just snack on my insatiable vixen," he laughed, nipping again.

"Aaron Hunter, you let me go right this minute," she demanded, seeing him wince as she used his full name.

"God, now you sound like my mother. How can I bed a woman when she sounds like my mother?" He sighed, sitting up and pulling her with him. He rose to his feet, laughing when Angel stood and her knees started shaking before he helped her dress again and then put on his own clothes. Then he went to the stove and lit the burner under the soup, stirring it slowly.

"Okay, since I don't have to worry about you running off on me, why don't you tell me what you found?"

Angel sat down at the table and picked up the journal, scanning the page to find where he'd left off. "Remember, you were reading about the stone and how you mother went into some kind of trance, finally telling your dad not to touch the stone?"

"Vaguely," he replied, reaching into the cupboard and pulling out a couple of bowls.

He ladled out the soup and picked up the plate of sandwiches that she'd made earlier, the bread now only slightly stale, and took them to the table.

"On the next page, he has a bunch of numbers; I think they're coordinates of some kind, telling where the cave is. He also tells of what they found in the cave. Gold, Hunter, a lot of gold, and some precious stones. But the biggest prize there, he wrote about. It's a ruby. He said it had to be the size of his hand. He goes into some pretty heavy detail about the stone, but after what his wife said about the cave, he didn't want to touch it or take anything from the cave, worried about curses, I guess. Kind of like the one that was supposedly on King Tut's tomb." Her voice was excited as she spoke and he could see the treasure hunting fever in her eyes.

"Does dad say where the cave is?" he asked, sitting down across from her and reaching for the journal as he saw her pick up a sandwich and take a dainty bite.

"No," she said, after she swallowed. "Just the coordinates, but shouldn't those be enough?"

"Depends upon how specific he got." He turned the page seeing the list of numbers on the page. "Damn, what I wouldn't give for my lap top right now."

"Well, we could pack up and leave tomorrow," she said, her voice sounding a little disappointed at the thought of leaving their hideaway.

"No we can't. I'm not done ravishing your sweet body yet, love. You'll just have to contain your curiosity for a few days more. Besides," he glanced out the window where a gust of wind had swirling icy snow hitting the glass hard. "We might be stuck up here all winter long."

"Well, if we're snowed in, that means they are snowed out, right?"

Hunter moved the journal and brought his food in front of him. He took a huge bite of his sandwich. "I guess I'd better eat then. I'm going to need my energy," he said, smiling as she giggled.

* * * *

Shanna saw Brandon as he was walking across the street toward her. She sighed, long and tiredly, knowing that they would probably be fighting some more as soon as he got to her. It seemed as if that was all they ever did, fight. She swore he would say the grass was blue as long as he could differ with her.

She'd been terrified, the entire flight from Washington D.C., running from her abusive husband and his thugs but she was tired of hiding the bruises and listening to his apologies. She was tired of being his punching bag, tired of sitting at home, afraid to go out in case someone should see the bruises, knowing her husband was off banging whatever piece of fluff caught his attention that week.

She should have never married him. She should have listened to Dillon and Aaron when they told her he was trouble. But she'd been tired of being under her brothers' thumbs, wanting nothing more than her own chance to have a life, to have a little fun. Jackson had been perfect for that, taking her out, showing her only his kindness and consideration. He even understood that she wanted to be a virgin on her wedding night and hadn't pushed.

Of course, all his consideration and understanding had stopped as soon as he'd slipped the wedding ring on her finger. She cringed as she thought of the pain and humiliation she'd felt on her wedding night when her husband of only just a few hours had rudely torn the delicate and beautiful wedding dress she'd worn off of her body, throwing her down on the bed and thrusting between her thighs with his cock, brutally taking her virginity. He hadn't even given her a chance to put on the delicate negligee she'd bough just for that evening. Instead, He'd pumped inside of her, ignoring her cries and her pleas, grunting as he shot his seed inside of her torn flesh before pulling out of her and rolling on his back.

When she'd tried to object to how he'd treated her, he'd slapped her, not hard, just enough to make her understand the way of things from then on. Then he'd gotten up and gone down to the lobby, going to the lounge to finally drag his ass back to their suite early the next morning, smelling of cheap perfume and alcohol.

He'd cleaned up his act a little since running for a governmental position, always demanding that she dress and act the part of a political wife. She wasn't allowed her own feelings or allowed to make friends of her own choosing, staying with what Jackson had considered the right people.

How she'd put up with him for the ten years she had, she'd never know.

"Day dreaming?" a snide voice asked, pulling her from her thoughts.

Shanna looked up in the rich green eyes that were surrounded by thick lashes that would have been the envy of any super model. He was tall, easily dwarfing her petite five feet, two inches. Somehow, she'd missed out on the tall genes when it came to her family, both her brothers were over six feet, her father had been also.

Brandon had dark hair that turned gold in the sunlight, a strong face that would have been considered almost pretty if it weren't for a hint of ruggedness around his eyes and mouth. He had a form to match his height, strong and muscular, filling out the designer suits he always wore, with an ass that made a woman want to reach out and take a bite.