“Are you going to tell me you love me or am I going to have to work for it?”
Making a show of thinking about it, I pursed my lips and tapped my finger on my chin, enjoying the growl from him.
“We are going to tell your parents about us?”
“Yes, when I get back from Sydney,” he nodded, still scowling at me.
“So ten more days of—”
“Oaklee! For fuck’s sake, will you put me out of my misery and fucking tell me you love me, woman!” Cole demanded, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth, his shoulders losing some of the coiled tension.
Holding out his hand to me, I stepped forward and laced our fingers, loving what the tangle of digits did to my mood. Mesmerised by the love shining from his face, my throat clogged up with so much emotion, I gave him the best truth I had.
“Do I love you? Cole, I don’t think I have ever loved anyone or anything more than how I love you,” I whispered, laying my heart at his feet, trusting him to keep it safe.
Standing there, our arms stretched out, our clasped hands the only part of us touching, Cole visibly shuddered, a low breathy ‘thank fuck’ forced from his lips.
“I was raised in a home where I was surrounded by love, and I saw it every single day. I never doubted my parent’s love for me or my extended family’s. Joining the army, I had the same feeling about my job. Being a 2nd lieutenant and a part of Team FIVE, nothing meant more to me; then I did something stupid, and out of it, I found the meaning of what love is.”
Pulling me to him, Cole’s big body crowded me in that way that made me feel secure and safe. His big hands cupping my cheeks, his eyes demanding mine.
“I love you, Oaklee, fucking need you to breathe. You are my light, baby, no matter how dark shit gets, you will always bring me to the light. I love you … I am in love with you. Nothing is going to change that.”
Tears stung the backs of my eyelids as I covered his hands with my mine. They were shaking from the sweetest, most beautiful declaration from my dark and brooding man.
“It can’t change, honey, because I am in love with you too. Since you, I have felt a healing deep inside me, and you give me the strength to be that person I always wanted to be.” Touching my lips to his, I held them there and just revelled in our love.
“You make me feel wanted, Cole, and that is all I have ever wished for.”
Groaning, Cole kissed me. The kiss was hard and demanding and fuelled with passion. A kiss that stole the air from my lungs and encased my heart, cementing our commitment to each other.
“I will never stop wanting you, baby, that isn’t possible.”
“Hmmm,” I hummed against his lips, mentally pushing away the need to repeat my mantra.
Only ten more days, I can handle that. Can’t I?
“Fuck, please baby, I don’t want to come in your mouth,” Cole groaned, but his hips lifted again, his dick hitting the back of my throat.
“Then focus, Rambo, use some of that control you are famous for,” I teased around his thick cock, dragging my mouth slowly off and swirled my tongue across the bulbous head. “Because I intend on having some fun.”
His string of colourful curses would have made me laugh had it not been for the bead of pre-cum that slipped from the tip of his dick and onto my tongue.
Yum.
Cole was not a good lover when it came to letting me give him head. And by that I meant, he rarely let me suck his dick because he was always feasting on my pussy for too long before I was begging for him to fuck me. This time, it was my turn to get my fill of his essence, and he was just going to have to suck it up because I needed this.
Shuffling on my knees, I got further between Cole’s open legs, not stopping until my breasts were pressing into his heavy balls, my nipples hard bullets and aching.
“You have no idea how sexy you look kneeling down there in front of me, my cock in your mouth, your lips puffy and wet,” Cole marvelled, stroking his fingers through my hair, holding it off my face so he could watch me.
Inspired by the look of utter desire on his handsome face, I grabbed hold of each side of his hips and took him deep into my mouth; using my hands for leverage, I began a slow rhythm. Up and down, licking and sucking, I worked his cock in and out of my mouth. Breathing through my nose and relaxing my throat, so I didn’t have to stop the delicious torture. I never thought giving head could make me so … needy, but it was. Each time Cole groaned or hissed a breathy yes, my core clenched. His fingers fisted in my hair, then let go to a more gentle hold in an attempt to control himself. I didn’t want him controlled, not that way. If today showed me anything, it was how much I love Cole and want him in my life forever. Our agreement to hide our relationship may very well blow up in our faces, but with Cole now fed up and insistent on talking to his dad, I had to believe that everything was going to work out in our favour.
Memphis would understand, as she was a lover of romance, and she lived her own fairy tale every single day with her own knight in black leather. She wouldn’t deny me my own HEA, not her. Creed though? I was leaving it up to Cole to deal with him.
Moaning around his cock, I pushed all thoughts of family drama and guilt aside and concentrating all my efforts on loving Cole.
He loves you, and you love him, nothing else matters.
Suctioning my lips down the outside of his shaft, I sucked until I reached his tight balls, wetting them with my tongue, smiling at his feral groan of delight as I lathed and sucked them gently.
“Fuck, Temptress … can’t … gonna … come!”
Cole’s dick throbbed, the thick vein pulsing beneath my touch. Taking him back into my mouth as far as his long length would go, I made a swallowing motion just as he jerked violently, his hips lifting off the edge of the bed, and a loud bellow echoed in the room as Cole filled my mouth with ropes of cum. Eager not to waste a single drop, I swallowed and gulped down his thick, salty but pleasant tasting release, holding his cock in my mouth until he stopped spasming and I felt his dick soften slightly. Cole’s hands cupped my cheeks gently, pulling my face up until his dick left my mouth with a satisfying pop.
“Jesus Christ, baby,” Cole panted, lifting into a sitting position and slamming his mouth down on mine. My tongue was coated with his taste, but Cole didn’t seem to mind as he kissed me deeply, tangling his tongue with mine.
Sucking in a deep breath, Cole pressed his forehead to mine, his black eyes shining with love and satisfaction but also worry.
“I was wrong to suggest we see each other in secret. Had I not made that decision, today would never have happened, and you wouldn’t have had to second guess yourself.” His hands firmed around my cheeks just enough to give me the impression of how much he was worried about me, about my triggers.
“I let my own shit take precedence over what is really important.” Touching his lips to mine, Cole breathed out a sigh. “You baby, you’re what’s important. Us. Not what my dad seems to think is wrong with me being with you.” His eyes narrowed, his face darkened for a split second before he gave me a tight smile.
“I don’t want to be the reason you and your dad have a falling out, honey,” I admitted.
Shaking his head, Cole kissed me hard, a brief, desperate kiss.
“No, you won’t be. I am a grown arse man, I am capable of making my own decisions. Whatever the problem is, it lies with Dad, and it has nothing to do with us.”
“I’m not living a day without you, Oaklee. My job will take me away from you for periods of time, but I can handle that if I know you will be back here … knowing you are mine.”
Getting to my feet, I climbed onto Cole’s lap; our naked bodies pressed so close together, I could feel the beat of his heart against my breasts. Wrapping my arms around his shoulders, my face pressed into his warm throat, my lips opening over the skin, kissing him there.
“I have never been this in love before, never felt the pull of another person as I do with you, Cole. It’s wondrous and amazin
g and scary all at the same time,” I whispered, then pulled back to give him my eyes, my hand caressing the back of his neck.
“I will always be here waiting for you, honey; there is no other choice for me because I love you. You are who you are, Cole, a soldier, a fighter and the best man I know. I would never change that or want to.”
Cole’s onyx eyes bored into me, in them I saw the internal battle that went on behind them. The loyalty to his father and his love for me was putting him at odds with himself, and I couldn’t help but take a lot of that guilt on. If I had been stronger, more confident in myself, then maybe this would be playing out differently. Better or worse we will never know because we chose a path … wrong or right we chose and now we needed to fix it.
“I love you so much, Oaklee, and I will make this right. With Dad, Mum and with you. You will never doubt your worth to me ever again, I promise.”
His lips descended, taking mine in the sweetest, softest kiss, full of love and promises. A little niggle tingled in the back of my brain but I swept it away. Not wanting to deal with too much right now.
Cole had the same intensity, the same loyalty, and pride his father possessed. They were both stubborn and hard-headed, both fierce when it came to the ones they love. It frightened and worried me just how far those qualities would push the two men into a corner, whether it would bring them closer together or push them apart, because of me.
Blinking away the sting of tears, I lost myself in Cole’s lips. Committing them to my memory for those lonely nights ahead.
Ten days.
Then everything will be fixed.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
COLE
Sitting in front of a panel of my superior commanding officers wasn’t how I expected to be spending my first day at Holsworthy Base. Yet, here I was. So much for this being a training commanded report for duty.
“2nd Lieutenant Stephens, am I correct in understanding that you left your team under the orders of Major Arthur?”
Looking at the colonel, I nodded once. “Yes, sir, it was decided that all of us going back in would only stir the situation further. Team FIVE and the SASR were low on ammo, needing to refit before any further participation.”
“But you stayed, radioing the mission commanding officer?”
“I did, that is correct,” I affirmed, sitting up straighter in my seat, aware of the men at my back. “I saw Private Williams being taken from my vantage point. I was far away from the HLZ at that time, and radioing to the major was a call I made with the time I had.”
This wasn’t the first time my team was hearing this; I told them all the whole story when I landed with Deke after handing him off to the relevant army officials. Gabe had listened in his usual quiet, contemplating manor. Bastian had ranted and raved about how stupid the major was, which was not surprising considering how Ammo felt about our commander. All in all, they had not been happy, but they understood orders, lived by them, just like I did.
“You went out on your own 2nd Lieutenant Stephens, you radioed in and requested orders. You made that call without your team,” Brigadier Bryant barked at me. Being one of the highest-ranking officers on the panel, he was the main one I had to answer to sitting there.
“Yes, sir, I did, and I would do it again. That night we walked into a firefight of fucked up proportions. Locals we were told we could trust turned on us; I had no choice but to get the team and our support out of there. Had we all gone in after Deke, it would have been much worse.”
“Worse than losing Private Williams?”
Fisting my hands on my thighs, I resisted the urge to tell one of the highest-ranking officers in the army to go fuck himself. To scream at him, ‘Would he have done it better with the resources and time available that I had that night?’. Challenge him to do what I do every time they send us to a foreign country and to step away from his one-star rank and think like a soldier in the heat of battle.
“No one feels the loss of my teammate more than me right now, sir, I was the one that saw him take his last breath. I got him out; I did what I was ordered to do,” I defended, hearing low affirming mumbles behind me from my mates.
“And yet he died.”
“From injuries sustained before I got to him,” I shouted, losing my control briefly, then quickly gathering myself before I said something that would get me court marshalled.
“They had been at him for hours before I reached him; I had no idea of the extent of his injuries at the time. I carried him to the LZ, got him on the chopper before we knew anything; he didn’t tell me and I didn’t ask. I had other things on my mind, like getting the hell back to the FOB.”
“We read the medical report,” the colonel interjected, giving the Brigadier a sideways glance, “Private Williams’ internal injuries were extensive, and you could not have known. What we are interested in is why you agreed to go in alone? You had to know that the world media would get hold of the news that military forces gunned down a whole village.”
“Rebels,” I interrupted, “rebels who infiltrated and deceived our side, sir. To my knowledge, no civilians or friendlies were hurt in any way. That compound belonged to armed forces, no women or children were there.”
I could feel the anger vibrating off me, I felt the same from my team. If the brigadier thought he could land the blame at my feet, then the prick was very wrong. I followed orders, always. Yeah, I gave the major an option or two, but at the end of the day, it had been his decision, not mine, but when he gave it, I did what I was told.
No way were they going to make me feel more guilt than I was already carrying.
The last member of the panel, a major general, who out-ranked all the members, stared at me with a look of disconnect on his face.
“I know that Team FIVE has a … let’s say a legendary reputation in the army. Thanks to the original team and now the one Captain Booth commands. I do not necessarily like the loose rope we let you run with, but I agree that what you offer to the force is worthwhile and needed.” Pausing, the major general glared at the men behind me, his head shaking. “In saying that, let it be known that Team FIVE is on my radar as of now. The special privileges you all enjoy are still in place, you report when ordered, and until then, you have the freedom the regular members don’t have. But—”
Pointing his finger at me, then behind me, his eyes narrowed and the contempt evident.
“I will not be supporting any further advancements in rank for any of you for the foreseeable future. Lance Corporals Walsh and Webber will advance to the rank of corporal. That motion was set before this disaster occurred, so I will not stop that.”
“The rest of you, will remain at your current rankings. Lieutenant Johnston, your promotion to captain is on hold, as is Captain Booth’s to major. Major Arthur has been informed his promotion is off the table as well. This hearing is dismissed.”
“2nd Lieutenant Stephens?” the brigadier barked at me, his tone demanding my attention.
“Sir?”
“Your skills are unequivocal to us, that is not in dispute. The skillset of all Team Five is too, for that matter, but what won’t be tolerated is blatant disregard for procedure. The US Navy has demanded answers to why one of their SEAL teams was your back up that night. I do not like being commanded to a ‘please explain’ on something I have no intel on. Is that understood, soldier?”
“Yes, sir, it is,” I clipped, barely refraining from giving him the bird instead of the salute I gave him.
Standing up, the officers walked around the long table, each one shaking their heads at me, but it was the major general who looked the most annoyed.
“I dealt with the original Team Five back in the day, and they were the same pain in my arse as you lot are.”
Biting back a chuckle, I stood at attention while they filed past me, keeping my face stoic, but inside I was laughing my arse off.
You don’t have a clue how more annoying we can be. Sir.
“Nothing like getting your
arse fucked by commanding officer’s dicks to start a day,” Bastian growled, throwing himself down on his bunk.
“Did you know this was happening today, Tank?” Rafe asked, an expression of complete bewilderment on his face.
“Not a fucking clue,” Gabe affirmed, “had I known I would have been sitting next to Ghost.”
Looking at my captain, I could see how pissed off he was at the panel ambush. Colonels, majors, brigadiers and fucking major generals! What the fuck!
“Where the hell is Major Arthur? Shouldn’t he have been in there with Cole?” Kodah shouted angrily.
“You would think, seeing as though it was his orders I was following,” I scoffed, unlacing my boots and toeing them off.
“With a little help from you whispering in his ear, hey Ghost,” Kodah muttered darkly. Not that I blamed him for his mood, he lost a chance at moving forward just as much as the rest of us. Making Lt ranking meant a lot to me, but it wasn’t the end of my career if I didn’t. Bastian held that rank above me, and it was unusual for two ranking LTs in one unit. If I was to advance, it was possible the brigadier would assign Bastian or me to another team. That idea did not appeal; Team FIVE belonged together, where we started and would finish if I had anything to say about it.
Kodah obviously still had a beef with me over Deke or something else.
“Yeah, I told him I could go in alone. I made a call that was for the best thing for the team, Kodah. Giving me shit about it now won’t do any good, and it certainly won’t change the outcome. Deke’s injuries are what killed him, not me,” I insisted, believing in my gut that I was right in going in without them. Thankfully so did my captain.
“Kodah, for fuck’s sake, will you listen to common sense and not your fucking anger,” Gabe bellowed, jumping off the chair he’d slumped into when we got back to the barracks.
“Whether we agree or not, we had to return to the FOB to re-fit. That much time with eyes off Deke would have resulted in his body never being found instead of his family having it back to bury. Ghost made a judgement call I would never want to make. Put yourself in his shoes for just a second instead of up your arse.”
Cole: The Wounded Sons Page 16