Joaquin set the camera aside, ran for his holster and weapon. “Grab the shotgun, and go into the bedroom. Lock thedoor.”
“ButI’mthe soldier. I’m nothelpless.”
“I know you’re not helpless, but he wants you not me. I’m not letting this bastard get another shot atyou.”
She ran on bare feet to where the shotgun stood propped against the wall, grabbed it and the box of shells, and disappeared into thebedroom.
Weapon drawn and loaded, Joaquin walked over to the closed blinds, peeked outside, then let out a relieved breath. “Come see ourintruder.”
He set the pistol down on the table and picked up his camera, then opened the blinds so that Mia couldsee.
She stepped out of the bedroom carrying the shotgun, her expression transforming from fear to delight. “Oh, it’sbeautiful!”
The mountain lion—a big male—stood outside on the deck, looking at them with what could only be feline horror on itsface.
Cougars were notoriously shy aroundpeople.
“I wonder if he’s cold.” Mia ditched the weapon and knelt down on the opposite side of the glass. “Look how long his tailis.”
The mountain lion hissed, scratched at the glass, then took a few backward steps, clearly unsettled to find himself this close to humans andoutnumbered.
Joaquin got a couple of shots of the cougar before it turned tail and vanished into thenight.
“Wow.” Mia stared after the mountain lion, a big smile on her face. “I’ve never seen one in personbefore.”
Joaquin sent a text message to Nate just to let him know the mountain lion was in the neighborhood and got a quick thank you in reply. Then Joaquin and Mia picked up where they’d left off, deleting the last of the nude photos and checking out the shots he’d just taken of the mountainlion.
Mia slid a hand up Joaquin’s thigh, cupping him through his boxer briefs. “You know what I found in thebathroom?”
“Uh…” His brain had goneblank.
“There’s a gianttub.”
“A giant tub, huh?” He set aside his camera. “Is it big enough fortwo?”
* * *
Mia heldonto the edge of the tub, her knuckles white, Joaquin pounding into her from behind, one clever hand busy with her clit. “Oh… my…God!”
She came fast and hard, pleasure swamping her in a wave of perfectbliss.
Joaquin let himself go, his fingers digging into her hips as he came. He sagged against her, breathing hard, pressing kisses to her spine. “I thought you said you couldn’t come likethis.”
Mia laughed, only too happy to be proven wrong. “You make me into aliar.”
“You should make a list of all the ways you think you can’t come so that we can work our way throughthem.”
“You are very sure of yourself.” She loved that about him. Somehow, he managed to be confident without all the machobullshit.
He grinned. “I reallyam.”
He got rid of the condom, and they sank back in the tub together, Mia resting against Joaquin’s chest, neither of them speaking, silence stretching between them, warm and golden in theafterglow.
She hadn’t known it was possible to feel this close to another person—or to feel so at ease in her own body. Images drifted through her mind. Joaquin with his camera focused entirely on her. A photograph of a pretty woman stretched out naked, a teasing expression on her face. Joaquin looking up at her while his mouth devouredher.
That pretty woman was Mia. Joaquin had used his camera to show her a side of herself that she hadn’t known was there. She still didn’t know how to feel about it. Everything was so new—her ability to come so easily and have multiple orgasms, her sense of self, her feelings forJoaquin.
It was as if a missing piece of her life’s puzzle had fallen intoplace.