High Flyer - Michelle Diener Page 0,55

their bodies joined and it was his turn to groan into her mouth.

“Should we take a risk?” she whispered.

“It's probably not wise.” His hands slid under her shirt and jacket and kneaded her back. “And you're injured.”

Then his mouth moved down her neck and she tilted it, giving him access.

“Not that injured.” Guess she wasn't feeling all that wise and neither was he, because it seemed like moments later she was naked, back in Iver's lap, sliding down inch by delicious inch onto the hard length of him.

She arched back in his hold as they moved together, undulating in a smooth, slow dance that sped up when he latched on to the tip of her breast and sucked.

She shuddered as she came, held him when he did the same, and then sat quietly with her head on his shoulder, enclosed in the loop of his arms, and slowly got her breath back.

His fingers began a lazy, light stroke from the top of her spine, down to the small of her back, and she hummed in contentment.

The sound of shouting voices from down the valley drifted up on the gentle breeze, and for a moment she ignored them, shut them out.

“Guess they discovered you're missing.” Iver's grip on her hips tightened, and with a soft curse he lifted her off him.

She leaned forward, resting her forehead against his for a moment, and then forced herself to move.

She looked down the hill as she struggled back into her clothes, trying to work out where her searchers were headed.

“They must have decided to wait until it got light before coming to look for me.”

Iver was crouched beside her, both packs in hand, all their debris put away. He ran a finger down her neck as if he couldn't help touching her and she shivered.

“They're down by the river.” His voice was deeper than usual, a little rough.

“Hopefully that's just them being thorough. Maybe they'll think I headed for Touka City.”

Iver shrugged. “That would be helpful, but they won't want to go that way looking for you. Now they know the smugglers are watching for them, they won't want to give them a chance to follow them back to camp.”

“It's surprising the smugglers haven't found them before now.” She'd wondered about that. Brynja, Craven and their friends had looked like they'd been in the Spikes for a lot longer than Bret and his crew had been at the camp.

“My guess is the smugglers don't live in this valley usually. They probably saw the lander come through by chance, but were too far away to follow it. Maybe they saw it from afar a few times and tried to narrow down where it was going until they set up a watch for it.”

That would explain their unkempt appearance. If they were far from their usual camp, making do while they waited for the lander to show up, they'd look a little rough.

“Come on, let's move. Hopefully they're just checking the river for obvious signs of you, but it doesn't hurt to take precautions.”

She looked over at him, frowning. “Where are we going?”

He pointed upward, to the ceiling of the overhang. “This is a large rock embedded in the hill. Up top there's been enough of a soil buildup that long grasses have gotten a foothold. It's a good place to hide and see out over the valley.”

He must have found that after he'd carried her up here last night.

She could barely remember getting much further than the river, and she gripped his wrist as he started moving.

“Thank you. I'd still be in that medbay without you.”

“And I'd be nothing but charred bone in a burned out Sig without you.” He held her gaze. “There's no tally here, Hana. I'll protect you, and rescue you, and have your back whenever you need it.”

She nodded, her throat too tight to answer, and then she followed him up the steep slope of the hill on one side of the overhang, and crawled next to him through the long grass to the edge of the flat piece of rock.

The view, as Iver had said, was excellent. If the camp wasn't shielded, they would be looking down on it, but as it was, all she could see was two women walking along the river bank, looking all around them.

“One of them is probably Grimms,” Hana said.

“She is.” Iver pointed to the one at the back, a tall woman with a tangle of dark hair pulled back from her face.

“I was