Gunnar's Game

Chapter Eight

Gunnar sat in the cabin where he could think, away from everyone and everything. He couldn't help it. He knew Jules and the others needed him. Admiral London was due to visit in another fourteen hours, and they needed to prepare. But fourteen hours was half a day away. He had some time to kill.

Time to kill, not people to kill.

Regret for the way he'd ended things with Ava hit him hard. His berserker and beast refused to rise, weighted down under lashing sorrow. For all that he'd claimed he'd killed his girlfriend and sister, he could too easily see their happy faces glowing just for him.

Gentle Sophie, his younger sister. He remembered white-blonde hair and blue eyes. A soft smile, that special pleasure she reserved just for him. The poor kid hadn't had much to smile about growing up dirt poor under the stern eye of an autocratic dickhead. And what about Susanna? For all that he thought he'd loved her, would never live without her, he'd survived long enough to join the navy, become a SEAL, a Circ, and fuck anything that moved.

At first the sexual needs had felt like a betrayal. But since screwing other women had hurt him as much as it soothed his physical needs, he'd reveled in the emotional pain, because he deserved it. If he'd been less selfish, less concerned with his fucked-up need for affection and belonging, he never would have invited Susanna into his life, and she'd still be alive today.

Sophie he should have protected, and he knew that. She'd always been in danger, but Susanna had been a true casualty of bad timing and the bad taste to see something good in him.

A replica of his father, Gunnar had the same height, the same brawn, the same cold, ice blue eyes, or so his mother had repeatedly told him before she'd died.

The bitter woman had blamed him for so much. Too weak to leave his father, she'd put the fault for Eric Tersch's abuse at Gunnar's hands.

You’re too loud, too quiet. Too neat, too sloppy. Hurry up. Slow down. No matter what he did, he was fucked. She doted on Sophie, though. His father did too, until he drank or forgot how much loved her. Sophie was the little ray of sunshine in a house from hell.

Was it any wonder he'd killed his father? Tersch had been born and trained to destroy—by example.

Eric Tersch loved order, and he loved control. The raging beast was never far from his father's mind. No, not a beast. A berserker. The fucker didn’t deserve a beast. He’d have killed it for being a pure-hearted thing. Though Tersch's beast liked his anger, he knew better than to harm because of it. His beast protected the innocent. Always. It was the berserker that went off half-cocked.

His beast puffed up with pleasure at the distinction before urging Tersch to return to the mansion to find Ava. Claim her. Need her. Love her.

Tersch rubbed his eyes, so tired of fighting himself all the time. “Christ. I do love her. That's why I'm protecting her from it, you bastard.” And now I’m crazy for talking to my schizoid beastly personality. Fuck.

He'd known from the moment he met Ava that one of them would eventually have to leave Circ central. He wanted her, but he couldn't have her. And now seeing she was Circ, he really had to go. After he dealt with the dickheads trying to kill the team, he'd look for another place to live. It would kill him to leave his friends, to leave Ava, but he had no choice. He'd learned his lesson the hard way.

Best to sacrifice his happiness than kill an innocent woman, the way his father's berserker had killed the women in Tersch's life.

He groaned and lay back on the blankets covering a section of the dirt floor.

Since he'd discovered the place months ago, he'd taken pains to make it more livable. Hayashi had helped, and Tersch now had a place to sleep, a stash of Tastykakes in a cooler to repel wildlife, and several bottles of water he filled from a nearby natural spring. Solitude and silence, just what he needed.

“I know you're in there.”

He jumped to his feet in shock when Ava pushed through the open doorway, bathed in moonlight. “What the hell?”

“Didn't hear me or smell me, I know. What can I say? I'm good.” She grinned, and the sight of her smug smile pained him enough to bring tears to his eyes.

Don’t be a pussy, Son. Man up. He heard his father's scornful words and felt the open-handed slaps to his face as if he'd been struck yesterday. So much for years of distance and repressed memories to salve the pain.

He turned before she spied his weakness, embarrassed anew. So much for control. The damned woman unraveled him like a fucking black widow.

“Gunnar?”

Shit. Not the soft, concerned voice. “I need space, Ava.”

“I know. That's why I'm here.”

Did she not hear him? “I said—”

“I know what you said. But you're an idiot. You don't know what you need.”

“Didn't you listen before?” Anger returned, and as much as he welcomed the strength of the emotion, he feared it as well. He couldn't get too carried away, or the berserker would return to hurt Ava.

“I said shut that bitch up!” Eric yelled. He struck Sophie so hard, she hit the table and sliced open her forehead. “I want space, quiet. I can’t think with all that racket.”

Momma stared at him in silence, a broken woman. And then Susanna made a noise, and his father pushed open the door to his bedroom, where Gunnar had been hiding her. She’d showed up at the house unexpectedly. He’d warned her never to come around. Especially not with Eric home, drinking, mad…

“I won't go away. Not again.” Ava's beast stared at him through dark black eyes. “I've come to claim my mate.”

He snorted, trying to pretend he wasn't shaking. “Bullshit. You're just pissed because I don't want you.”

She had the nerve to laugh, then hit him so fast and with such force, he saw stars. Before he could recover, she moved in a blur and stuck him with a specially tipped needle to penetrate his thick skin. Even in human form, Circ skin was tough.

She depressed the plunger and injected him with something. Tersch wanted to be mad, but both his beast and his berserker approved the trickery. Good mate.

Smart.

“It'll just relax you a bit. Enough to hide your rage under a calming haze, but not too much.” She smiled at him.

God, she was so pretty. Crazy but gorgeous.

“Now you just lay there while I strip those clothes off you.” Alarmed at the idea, he protested, gratified he had enough cognizance to know she shouldn't get him naked. “No. The shit you gave me isn't working fast enough. If I can still think, I can still get mad. Leave me, Ava. I don't want to hurt you.”

“You won't. You love me,” she said defiantly, as if daring him to contradict her.

“And you love me. So how stupid does that make you?” he growled. “Now let me… When—What the fuck did you put on my wrists?” Shocked, he tugged but couldn't free himself from the dark cord wrapped around his wrists and fastened to stakes on the ground on either side of his head.

“I told you I'm fast, sweetie.” Ava hummed under her breath as she used her claws to strip him of the trousers he wore. He'd left the house the day before while changed and didn't wear anything else.

“Man, have I told you how much I love that you go commando? That is one beautiful cock.”

His dick stiffened, pointing directly up at her. To his mortification, he felt his cheeks heat. “Ava, come on.” He squirmed and sucked in a breath when she closed her small hand around him.

“You're so thick, I can't wrap my hand around you. You're always big, aren't you? Even when you're not changed.” She licked her lips, and he groaned. “Now, this is how it's gonna be. I'm going to ride you until you're begging me to come. Then I'm going to make you bleed and do it all over again.” She lifted a hand and flashed her pretty claws at him.

The meanness in her tone turned him on so much, his dick grew wet. Not just from the oils he naturally secreted when changed, but from a burst of precum that dampened his slit.

“You can't. The beast might play nice, but my berserker's going to hurt you, Ava. Why the hell do you think I've never claimed you before?”

“Maybe because you're scared?” she taunted. “Not used to fucking a woman who can put you on your ass.” She ran a claw down his belly, and he shuddered.

“Hard to pound into a woman you're afraid of crushing under all that might, hmm?”

“Dammit,” he rasped, completely under her spell. He could barely concentrate on anything but the feel of her sharp nails over his skin. She didn't play nice at all.

She dug hard enough for him to feel it, but not hard enough to break the skin.

“I can do this all night.” Ava chuckled. “But I don't think you'll last that long.”

“I can last forever if I have to.” An empty threat, and they both knew it. His cock felt so hard right now, he feared he'd come without much more provocation.

She wiped her fingers over his slit and rubbed it over his cockhead.

He bucked in her hand.

“I already know how good you taste.” She licked her lips. “Do you remember how good my mouth feels?”

“Shit.” He panted, trying to bring himself back under control. He'd never been this turned on, and he kept worrying that his beast would push past the drug she'd given him. Once his beast took control, his berserker wouldn't be far behind.

“No, no. That's not right. I want your honest response, Gunnar.” Ava remained clothed, and the sight of her fully dressed while he was naked lent her an impression of power. Impression? Hell, the woman has me tied down like a fucking sacrifice.

“I'm not going to tell you again. Let me g—Ava!” She swallowed his cock in one large breath, taking all of him to the back of her throat. She didn't move or suck him, just held him there, helpless, aching, and needing to come so badly.

“Baby, oh yeah. Fuck me,” he pleaded.

She slowly withdrew until the tip of him rested against her plump lips.

He couldn't stop staring at the erotic sight, drugged on her skillful play.

“Where do you want it, sweetie? In my mouth or in my cunt?” Hearing her talk like that, watching her lick and nibble at his cock, turned him inside out. He felt his berserker rage to break free, and then Ava slapped his chest hard and raked her nails down his abdomen, drawing blood.

“You, wait for it,” she snarled, and he had the oddest notion she spoke not to him, but to his berserker.

Staring up into pitch-black eyes bemused him enough that he ceased movement. His berserker stared into the Circ he wanted with his last breath. To his astonishment, he felt something inside him give. He couldn't understand how this slight female could break him down so completely. But he couldn't deny his berserker's subtle approval. A distant surrender.

As if sensing it, Ava became pure woman once more, her now hazel eyes slumberous as she glanced down at his cock and stroked him.

“Ava, come on, baby.”

She raised a brow. “What's that? I don't think I heard a please.”

“Goddammit. I'm going to come.”

“So come.” She ran a sharp nail under his glans.

He shuddered as a spurt of cum shot from his tip. “Fuck. Ava, honey, I want to come inside you, deep in your pussy. I want all of you. Please.” He shivered, aware he'd yielded to the petite female, a thing he'd never done to any woman. Tersch knew the time had come to acknowledge her place in his life. He could only hope she wouldn't come to hate him for it.

Love blazed from her eyes, from her smile. She tore his heart from him with a look. “Now why didn't you say so in the first place?” The little witch stood and slowly stripped down, giving him a tantalizing view of her slender belly, full breasts, and long, toned legs. For a short woman, Ava had been given the requisite curves and swells of a goddess. And that ass…

He couldn't help promising, “I'm gonna fuck that ass.”

“Frisky, hmm? Oh, and ready to come, I see.”

He wanted to warn her to move slowly. He was right on the edge, aroused from being at her mercy—under the care of a strong, deserving mate. Before he could say anything, she straddled his body, giving him a view of her delectable pussy.

“Get down here,” he ordered. “Let me eat you.”

She took her sweet time kneeling, but then her folds descended to his lips, and he lost himself in the taste of her.

Sultry, womanly, powerful. Her essence reminded him why he loved her so much. And her clit, the plump bud was ripe. He was hard, and she was harder.

Tersch nipped her flesh and shoved his tongue inside her, wishing it was his cock.

He arched his hips up in the air with every stab of his tongue. Her scent changed, a sweet wildness indicating her near climax. But before he could finish her, she pulled away.

“Not yet, baby. Let me get you there.”

“No. This way's better.” The woman moved in a blur of speed as she straddled his groin and slammed hard over his cock, sheathing him deeply inside her.

The impact shot him into instant orgasm, and he roared.

She screamed his name as she clenched him tight, coming hard while he unloaded a mess of cum. The sheer agony of pleasure had him convulsing a second time, needing to tie himself to the woman.

Though he didn't change, he swore his beast joined him in the effort. Milky white seed continued to jet inside her, so much that it began trickling down over the base of his shaft, where they remained joined. And then she moved.

Despite his able readiness as a Circ to engage in sex, coming so hard had been both painful and pleasurable. He wanted to beg her for a minute to recoup, but his body didn't seem to need the respite. He remained just as hard as if he hadn't spilled inside her.

Ava rode him, her breasts bouncing, her stomach contracting. She pinched his nipples and scored his chest. When she leaned down to kiss him, their tongues dueled, and he emerged the victor. Especially when he readied once more to fill his mate.

Ava broke the kiss and whispered into his ear, “Oh, Gunnar. You're so hot. So thick.” She licked his ear and stuck her tongue in, and he came all over again, unable to stop the ferocious pleasure darkening his vision. “Yes. All inside me.

Claim me, baby. Claim me good.”

“Ava, fuck. Yeah,” he moaned and jerked his left wrist free from its restraint.

She continued to slam over him until she came again.

But this time he held her tight, gripping her back to press her down, her full breasts against his chest.

When she calmed and he'd regained his ability to do more than hug her and breathe, he ripped his right wrist free.

“Oh, wow.” Ava shuddered in his arms. “That was amazing.” She blinked at the broken restraints. “I can't believe you freed yourself from those cords. They're the latest in Circ technology, supposedly unbreakable,” she rasped, still trying to catch her breath.

“Do they work on you?” he asked, feeling replete, yet not finished. Not yet.

“Yeah.” She swallowed loudly. “You're not angry or anything, are you?”

“Angry?”

“That I claimed you. You're mine now, Gunnar. Forever.” He wanted to be more upset that she'd put herself in possible danger, but the drug she'd given him had made it possible to finally have her. “I should be mad, but all I can think about is teaching you a lesson.” She leaned up on his chest and frowned down at him. “A lesson? Honey, you should be thanking me for fucking the breath out of you.”

“Nice mouth, mate.” He liked the word as it slipped off his tongue. Mate—a word he'd never thought to use for himself. “But I've tasted your tongue. And your pussy.” He palmed her fine ass, willing and able to go another round. Thank God for Circ genetics. He could go all night long.

And so could Ava.

His grin widened.

“Oh hell. That smile is scary. Do I even want to know what you're thinking?” Ava wished she'd never asked that question. Because Gunnar had whispered in detail what he'd fantasized about doing to her. And now, bent over on her hands and knees, she remained still while he shoved that monstrous cock up her ass.

“No, don't move. And don't use that speed of yours to get free. You owe me, you little witch.” His gruff order turned her on, so she let him play his games.

For years she'd wanted to find a male to take charge of her, but Ava's strength knew no bounds. Though she gave the appearance of being smaller and less powerful, in actuality, she could take on several Circs at once and emerge the victor with ease. Only Gunnar had ever managed to outdo her; only he called to her softer, feminine side to let go and place her trust in the dominant male.

And now she was paying for it. She'd changed back at his request, smaller now. Human. “Ow. Come on, you're too big.” She glanced over her shoulder and saw him staring down at himself, where he ended and she began, with awe.

“If you knew how many times I've dreamed of this.” His whisper melted her mental resistance, though her body could only handle so much in this frailer form.

“Feel that burn, baby? That's me inside you. Fucking you.” He pulled out and pushed back inside, stretching her wider.

Ava had played with anal sex before, but she'd never been with anyone Gunnar's size. The brute knew it and took great pleasure in baptizing her narrow ass.

“I'm going to drop a load in this ass. Make it mine.” His low growl thrilled her. So possessive, so dark and demanding. Now if she could just get him to allow his berserker to come out to play.

“You going to fuck me or talk me to death?” she jeered him.

When he pulled back, then pounded back inside her, she wondered what she'd asked for.

“Oh, fuck. That is so good. Keep mouthing off, Ava. I like it,” he said in a thick voice. He continued to take her, no longer gentle. Grinding into her, he rammed that large cock deep.

The rough finger that grazed her clit threw her into a frenzy.

“Yeah, you like that, don't you? My kinky lover likes being fucked up the ass, don't you?”

She felt as if he'd split her in two, and the hell of it was, she liked it. A pain junkie just like her mate.

He grunted and shoved harder, gouging her waist as he took her. In and out, deeper, harder. And that finger. He continued to punish her clit with soft strokes, bringing her so close to orgasm. Then he'd pull it away, frustrating her.

“Make me come, Gunnar.” She tried to shift under him but couldn't budge him.

“Beg me.”

“Ass.”

“Oh, yeah. Here I come.” He yelled and shot hard, filling her with slowing thrusts. “Oh, baby. Motherfucking perfection.”

The jerk. The scent of his cum made her mad to draw him in. She needed to climax, to join him in that same bliss.

“What's that?” he asked, panting. “Need something, little Circ?”

“Gunnar, please.” She rocked back, feeling his balls slap against her clit.

“Pretty please, mate. Say it.”

“Pretty please, mate.”

“That's right.” He remained inside her ass, still half-hard, and rubbed her clit with his rough thumb.

She came hard, clenching her ass around him again.

“Damn, that's good.” He lifted her back to his chest, still joined as one. “This little pearl is so full.” He wiped her cream over her clit. “You smell so good, Ava.

Like me, but sweeter.” He buried his nose in her neck and wrapped an arm around her waist, holding her against him with ease. “I never want to move again.” After a moment, she gave a weak chuckle. “You might not want to move again, but we're going to have to. I'm swimming in you, and that iron bar up my ass refuses to soften.”

He laughed. “I can't help it. I'm always like this around you. And now I know why. I swear, sticking my dick in you is like shoving into an electrical outlet. So hot in there. That pussy and that ass.” He gently withdrew, leaving her sore, sated, and wanting to do it all over again. “I have water, but we both really need a shower.”

Ava wondered if she should press him about his berserker, but she didn't want to spoil the mood. “Do you think we could lie here together, in all our filth, for just a few more minutes?”

Grinning, her Viking pulled her with him onto some blankets and positioned her atop his chest. She leaned up on her elbows so she could see him.

His light blue eyes looked bright through her Circ senses. He liked that she smelled like him, but she liked more that he smelled like her. Claimed, taken. Off the market.

Pleased, she started purring.

“You are so sexy when you do that.” Gunnar stroked her back and began to purr as well.

“So are you.” She sighed. “I hate to ruin the moment, but I have to say this. If I ever catch you with another woman, without my consent, I will gut you and make it really hurt.”

His eyes narrowed. “Yeah, same goes.”

“I don't suffer mating heats. You don't need to worry about me.”

“Well I do, worry about you, that is. You're too pretty for my peace of mind,” he grumbled. “And I don't like the way other men look at you. Never have.” She liked this side of him very much. “Yeah, well, how do you think I feel, knowing you've banged everyone in the house with the exception of my grandmother?” At his flush, she added, just to be mean, “You didn't have sex with Alicia, did you?”

“Ava, please.” He cringed. “Give me a break. You know about me and the guys and why we fucked. It's a—”

“Circ thing, I know. And I understand about Olivia and Sheridan. But that's over now.”

“I know.” He sounded glum.

She stretched her claws over his chest and dug in.

“Sometimes you are such a bitch.” He grinned. “No wonder I fell so hard for you. Don't worry, baby. Yeah, I was with the guys a few days ago. Circ stuff. Sue me. I'm part of the team.”

She frowned. “I get that, I said.” And she wanted to see the guys in action for once. How sexy to watch three men take her mate down, to see him as a part of something greater, the Dawn Endeavor team.

“Olivia and Sheridan don't smell right anymore. I haven't craved anyone but you ever since you came out that you were Circ.”

“Good. Keep it that way,” she growled, satisfied when he hugged her closer.

“Whatever you put in that shot did the trick, baby. God, I was so scared of hurting you. But we can be together without worry now. Just dope me up with that suppressant and we can fuck like bunnies.”

Ava paused. Great. How to tell him the needle had been full of a saline solution, a placebo she'd stolen from the lab before searching out her stubborn mate? She'd always known he could control himself if he stopped being afraid and just did it. But she didn't think now was the time to tell him. He hadn't hurt her because it wasn't in him to harm someone he loved. Which brought back what he'd said before, about killing his family…

“Gunnar?”

He ran his fingers through her hair, and she relaxed into his arms. “Yeah?”

“Tell me what really happened with your family. I know you didn't kill them.” Curiosity over his history had plagued her since he'd tried to scare her away. She could only hope the great sex had softened him into telling the truth.

“Ava, I don't want to ruin this.”

“You won't. We claimed each other, right?” Actually, she'd claimed him. She wondered if he realized he had one more step to go—releasing the berserker, the core of him, to claim his mate. Until he truly accepted that part of him, he—and she—would never be complete.

“Right.” He sighed. “You really want to know, huh? I guess you should. In a nutshell, my dad was a psycho. He had his own berserker, but he couldn't control it.

He never turned into a freak show, like me. He was totally human. But the fucker was strong and always so goddamn angry. I grew up under his fists. He had big hands.” He lifted his own hand and glanced at it. “Like mine.” Ava took his hand in hers and kissed his fingers.

Gunnar blinked and tried to smile at her. The horror in his eyes brought her to tears, but she knew he wouldn't welcome them, so she forced them away.

“Yeah, the old man was a dick. My mother wasn't much better. She was a shell of a woman who blamed me for everything wrong in her life. My younger sister was the one good thing in my family. She could do no wrong, unless Dad had been drinking. He tended to forget everything but being angry with a bottle of Jack in his hands.”

“Gunnar.” I’m so sorry, baby.

“I loved Sophie. We all did. Life sucked, but it was all I knew. I don't want your pity,” he suddenly snapped.

“You don't have it,” she snapped back, one blink away from tears.

Fortunately, he didn't call her on it. “Anyway, there was a girl at school I couldn't get out of my thoughts. I'm not sure why, but she liked me back. I knew it was wrong, but somehow we were going out.”

She could see where this headed.

“I had warned Susanna not to come to the house. Told her all about my asshole father. But I didn't show up for school for a solid week, and she was worried.”

“Why?”

“My dad had beaten me pretty bad. I jumped in front of Sophie during one of his rages, the way I usually did. But I wasn't thinking. I yelled back at him, sick of what he was doing to us, to me and Sophie. My mother just watched, blaming me, probably. Dad went mental. Broke my arm and nearly my back.”

“Holy crap.”

“Yeah.” He rubbed her hair as if seeking a source of comfort but not wanting to ask for it. He glanced away from her face, caught in memories she'd forced him to relive. “Well, Susanna came to the house on a bad night. I was still healing. Even then I healed fast, but nothing like now. So Susanna snuck in, and my dad caught us.”

“Having sex?” she asked in amazement.

His dry chuckle relieved her. “No, he caught us in my bedroom. She was packing me a bag. We were going to grab Sophie and leave. But he found us.” Gunnar grimaced. “It happened fast. Dad hit me around. Sophie came in, already bloodied from his fists, and tried to protect me. So he struck her again. This time he killed her. My mom started shrieking, and he slapped her too. But she was conscious, could have called the cops for help. Instead she watched while he broke Susanna's neck.”

Oh, dear God. “You told me you killed them.”

“I did.” The hollow look in his eyes scared her. So much pain. How had she never seen it before? “I didn't protect Sophie, and I dragged Susanna into the mess.”

“How old were you?”

“Sixteen. Nearly seventeen. Old enough to know better.”

“So what happened?” He seemed steeled for pity, but she didn't give him any, and he relaxed under her.

“Something in me snapped. I don't remember much, only a rage unlike anything I'd ever felt before. My berserker.” His smile was devoid of warmth. “It finally woke up. I ripped the fucker's head clean off and passed out. When I came to, I was in the hospital. Social services took me from my mother. When she told them I'd turned into a monster and killed him, they accused her of being on drugs. She did like to drink a lot. Anyway, I escaped into foster care for a year or two, then joined the navy. The rest is history.”

They lay there together, each watching the other warily.

Ava wanted nothing more than to comfort him, but she knew he wouldn't accept it. God, I love him so much. She cleared her throat and changed the subject.

“Thanks for explaining; I was curious. Ah, I had another message from Grayson earlier. The bastard knocked me out cold again.” Gunnar sat up suddenly and cuddled her against him, checking her scalp and then the rest of her for injury. “You idiot. Why didn't you tell me? Are you okay? I'm going to brain your brother when I see him again.” Ava bit her lip to hide a smile. Her mate recovered quickly from his sorry past when her health was in question. And there was the secret to Frederik Gunnar Tersch. The grizzly was actually a marshmallow inside once she peeled past the gruff exterior.

“I'm fine, Gunnar.” At his look, she admitted, “Okay, so he knocked me out again. This time he was much more careful to speak slowly. He's being held prisoner, drugged up and held in Melissa's 'playhouse,' wherever the hell that is, with Melissa and a few rogue Circs standing guard. Apparently, she's more worried about Jack finding her than any of us reaching her. Grayson's positive they weren't in on it together to betray us. He told me to talk to Jack. And he's set Jack up to come here, on the pretext of saving Admiral London from us.”

“You lost me.”

“Grayson might be locked up, but my brother is really strong. Alicia Sharpe strong. He used up a lot of precious energy to telepathically link with Jack and told him that Admiral London would be in danger at our compound. The admiral will be here by noon tomorrow, and Grayson sent Jack instruction to help him get the admiral to safety.”

“Keiser doesn't know Grayson's been kidnapped?”

“No. Like I said, they've spoken telepathically, but not face-to-face. Jack has no clue this is a setup.”

“I didn't know Jack was a telepath.”

“He's not. Grayson is like Jesse. He makes the pathway for mental communication, and he takes it away at will. Unlike Jesse, he's not limited by distance.”

“Holy shit.”

She gave him a smug grin. “I told you he was strong. Now we need to get back, get cleaned up, and work with Jesse and Jules to finesse the admiral. I have a plan.”

She waited for Gunnar to take charge, at the very least, to order her around the way he normally did. But he surprised her.

“A plan, eh? Good. Let's nail Keiser to the wall. We'll get London to confess, and then you and I have a date in my bed.”

She grinned. “Yes, Master.”

“Oh man. Have I mentioned I have a real thing for handcuffs and whips?

You're going to love my porn collection.”

She shook her head, feigning disappointment. “Porn, Gunnar?”

“Please. If I know you, you have your own stash.”

“You're damned right. And none of mine involve girl-on-girl action, so forget it.”

“Aw, come on, Ava. What if I beg? What then?”

“Idiot.” She kissed him smack on the lips, wishing they could spend the rest of their lives alone together. Unfortunately, fate was never that kind.

They rose together, hand in hand, and left the cabin.