As Ghost predicted, the women got along well after the first hurdle. None of the women held any animosity towards Catherine and they all became fast friends. They planned to get together often now or at least meet in the middle especially when the men went off to who knew where. Catherine still couldn’t believe her good fortune that none of the women hated her or blamed her. Catherine took an instant liking to Rayne, and listened as the woman explained how she met Keane and the horrors she went through in Egypt. Kassie explained more about her ex and the blackmail she went through. Catherine found she had a lot in common with these women and was thankful to have met them and get to have closure with Emily finally.
“You’ll be at the race tomorrow, right?” Rayne asked her.
“Yep, I’ll follow along with the other events, but I’ll be waiting at the finish line for Charlie.”
“There are going to be some sore losers tomorrow. None of our men like to lose.” Kassie commented.
“That’s why they have us to cheer them back up.” Rayne winked and giggled which got the other women to join her.
“Do I want to know?” Ghost asked Rayne pulling her back to his chest.
“I was saying there will be some sore losers tomorrow and you menfolk need us women to cheer you up.”
“Are you implying it’s my team that will lose?” He growled at her, but his words held no heat.
“Not at all.”
“Good,” Ghost kissed her on the cheek and stood up still holding Rayne to his chest. A testament to his strength. “I hate to cut the night short, but we all have a long day tomorrow.” His tone dropped an octave at the end, hinting there would be a little more something going on than sleep which caused Catherine to blush. She was thankful it was dark, and her back was to Charlie, so he couldn’t see. The women hugged each other and exchanged numbers with Catherine, while the men shook hands and teased Charlie about how he’ll lose tomorrow.
“Did you have fun?” Charlie asked her once they were alone.
“I did. After the initial shock of seeing Emily again, and knowing Kassie was involved too. Thanks for the heads up by the way.” She scowled at him.
“Would you have still come over to see them if I had?” His question gave her pause. Would she have? She had fled Fort Hood so fast she had never thought to see anyone from there again. She had been a nervous wreck thinking about meeting more Delta Force operatives and their significant others. Had she known Emily had been amongst them she may have fled. The answer must have been written on her face. “That’s why I didn’t tell you. I had already told the guys who you were, and never did they hold any anger towards you, only concern.”
Catherine walked into his arms and wrapped her arms around his neck before kissing him. “Thank you.”
“You know there are other ways to thank me.” He teased wagging his eyebrows up and down.
“Isn’t that supposed to be bad luck to make love before a big race?”
“If it is, I’ll gladly take the risk.” He would gladly lose the race to make love to Catherine. The rest of the team and his commander wouldn’t appreciate it, but he didn’t care. He had gone two weeks without making love to her, and he couldn’t wait much longer. Catherine had been ready a few days after she got over her illness, but he didn’t want to risk her relapsing. Now he knew she was back to full strength, and his iron control was gone.
“Take me to bed, Charlie,” Catherine said against his lips. Without further ado, Charlie lifted her in his arms and carried her to bed. Catherine squealed in delight and held on tight, so he didn’t drop her. There wasn’t a chance in hell that was happening. His bag weighed more than she did. She was as light as a feather. He dropped her unceremoniously on the bed and divested himself of his clothing.
“In a hurry much?” Catherine laughed after she stopped bouncing on the bed.
“Sweetheart, it has been two weeks, ten hours, forty-three minutes and an uncertain number of seconds since the last time I made love to you. What do you think?”
“You counted?”
“That’s all you took from that?” He said exasperatedly. Catherine didn’t answer but waited for him to answer her question. “No, I didn’t count. I know it’s been two weeks I just made up the rest.”
“It’s not my fault you wanted to wait.” She yelped when he tugged her shoes and socks off.
“I wanted to make sure you were completely healthy. It would kill me knowing you got sick again because of my selfishness.” Catherine lost her playfulness at the seriousness of his words.
“Never again,” she promised him. She would never work the double shifts or even long days again. Her health was more important. She didn’t need to worry about saving up, so she could flee again at a moment’s notice. Here she would stay with Charlie.
Charlie helped her undress in record time, needing skin to skin contact. She shivered at feeling his bare skin again. Sleeping with him but not able to touch his naked skin, had been torture. Charlie had done it on purpose thinking it would help him keep his hands off her. Now there were no more barriers between them. Charlie settled over her and kissed her deeply while stroking her sides, then her breasts. He kneaded one then trailed kisses down her neck to take a perky nipple into his mouth. Catherine rubbed her legs up and down the outsides of his legs, and stroked his back feeling the play of muscles. His callused fingers grazed over her abandoned nipple and tweaked it while his tongue laved the other. She thrust her hips against his seeking, needing attention. He trailed blazing kisses down her stomach and nipped her hip bone which made her squeal.
“That tickled.” She chuckled trying to move her hip away from his questing mouth but he kept his weight on top of her preventing her from moving. He nipped the other hip then moved even lower settling between her open thighs. Catherine ceased her struggles and watched with bated breath as his tongue darted out and swiped over her core. She shuddered in rapture and he did it again while watching her. There was something erotic about having him between her legs watching him feast upon her. Her fingers trailed down and pinched her nipples as his tongue stroked her center. He gripped her ankles and spread her as wide as she was comfortable, opening her for him. His eyes watched her as she played with herself while he ate her out. His tongue dipped and swirled inside of her. It wasn’t enough, it was too much all at once and soon had her shaking. The need to come driving her. His tongue slid down towards her butt then back up and centered over her clit. She came on a silent scream feeling her whole body tense then release. Charlie lapped at her juices until the last tremor passed then crawled back over her and scowled.
“What?” She asked breathlessly.
“I know you can scream a lot louder than that.” Catherine blushed but knew he couldn’t see it. She didn’t know why she hadn’t called out. She always had before. Was she defective now? That couldn’t be it. “We’ll just have to work on that. All night if we have to.” Oh boy, she didn’t know if she would survive that. She would be mighty tired in the morning, and she wouldn’t complain.
“Ready when you are.”
“Cheeky,” he said in a gruff tone.
“It’s why you love me.”
“Is it?” Done with talking Charlie silenced her with a deep kiss that had her moaning and clinging to him. Oh, how she had missed this. “Baby, I don’t think I can wait much longer.”
“Then don’t.” She rasped. Needing no further encouragement Charlie reached down between them and took himself in hand. He rubbed the bulbous head through her folds letting her juices coat him. She arched her hips trying to guide him in, but he teased her back and forth.
“I want to take you bare.” His words stopped her. They had had sex once without protection, and he spilled his seed on her stomach. It would be foolish to do it again. She didn’t want children, and she didn’t think Charlie did either so why risk it? “I know it’s not your time to get pregnant, so we should be safe.”
“I don’t want kids.” She blurted out.
; “Neither do I.” He assured her.
“Then why risk it?”
“Because I love you so damn much, and I don’t want anything between us anymore.” He watched her, waiting for her answer. It was so silent in the room you could hear a pin drop. Catherine didn’t want to use a condom anymore either. She wanted to feel just him and not worry about condoms, but not at the risk of possibly having children. She was too old to start having children nor did she think of herself as a mother. She opened her mouth to tell Charlie, no, but through the light coming in the window, she could see the sadness in his eyes. He knew what her answer would be before she even said anything. She felt torn. If it meant that much to him, she would go bare.
“Okay, we’ll go without.” Charlie’s joy was infectious, and they were both smiling. He leaned down to kiss her and soon condoms were the last thing on her mind. He adjusted his weight to his side, and she felt the head of his cock probe her folds. She reached between them and guided him home. He slid in easily and she felt him shudder once he was fully seated and he murmured something against her temple that sounded like home. He drove inside of her with determined strokes. There wasn’t a part of her she didn’t feel him. She clung to him and raised her hips to meet him stroke for stroke. Sweat covered them both as he held her hip in a bruising grip and drove into her. Each plunge took her higher and higher. She felt his balls slap her ass as his rhythm picked up. She chanted his name and grabbed a fistful of hair as she screamed her climax into the night. Charlie growled her name, then came, a few short pumps later. He tried to roll off her, but she didn’t want to lose him yet. He was still buried deep inside her and his weight on top of her felt good.
“I love you,” she panted trying to catch her breath from their intense lovemaking.
Charlie kissed her cheeks and neck before settling over her mouth with her ready for round two. “I love you, too.” She might be ready for round two, but it would take Charlie sometime before he was ready to go again. He eased over onto his side, and he slipped out of her with a plop. Catherine cringed and looked down at the mess. Charlie got out of bed and warmed up a washcloth and cleaned them both up, setting a towel down over the wet spot.
“I see going sans condoms is going to have its drawbacks.” She mused to herself, settling herself on the towel, so she didn’t have to sleep in the wet spot.
“But the pros far outweigh the cons.” Charlie pulled her back into his arms. She settled her head on his chest and listened to his steady heartbeat. Life couldn’t get much better than this.
“That they do.” She agreed before she fell into a deep and happy sleep.
Chapter 23
Catherine stood near the finish line waiting with bated breath to see Charlie and his teammates come around the bend and cross the finish line first. She liked Ghost and his team, but she had to cheer for her man. Rayne and Emily stood beside her waiting for their men to come into view. Kassie had taken Annie to get a pretzel at a concession stand. Catherine would have offered, but she didn’t know Annie that well. Not that she didn’t fall in love with her instantly upon meeting her. Who could resist her? Annie was so bright for her age. It only made Catherine feel worse that Martin had tried harming such a sweet little girl. It still baffled her that Emily had forgiven her so easily. Catherine may not have been directly involved in the kidnappings, but she felt she should have seen the signs that something was wrong with Martin. Emily had told her that Catherine’s generosity of buying her lunches every now and then had helped her and Annie. Too bad she hadn’t been there to help Kassie’s sister. Like Emily, she hadn’t held a grudge against Catherine. Kassie knew firsthand what it was like living in fear of one’s boyfriend. Kassie’s ex before Hollywood, “Graham.” was the man responsible for everything that had happened. All the kidnappings and blackmails. Now everyone’s story was out, and Catherine felt readily accepted by all the women; she was thankful since Charlie was good friends with Ghost and his team.
“What is with that odd face?” Rayne asked her, stepping closer so she could hear her due to the cheering.
“I didn’t realize I had one.”
“You have a very expressive face. I see a range of emotions. Fear, happiness, back to fear then worry.”
It wasn’t the first time she had been told she had an expressive face. Charlie had told her more than once, she supposed as a Delta Force operative he was trained to pick up on those subtle hints and her expressional changes. “It’s not that I’m not grateful because I am, I just don’t understand how you all can accept me after what my ex did.”
Rayne peered at her as if straight into her soul. Rayne’s eyes reflected her own set of hardships. “Did you help your ex arrange for Emily and her daughter to be kidnapped?”
“No, never.”
“Did you help organize the kidnapping of Karina?”
“No,” Catherine said quietly. “But just because I wasn’t directly involved doesn’t mean they don’t harbor some amnesty towards me. I didn’t know exactly what Martin was up to, but I knew it wasn’t good and I didn’t say anything. That’s almost a crime in itself.”
“Emily knows her own mind. If she didn’t want to be friends with you, she wouldn’t. Emily and Kassie don’t hold you accountable for what happened.”
“She’s right,” Emily chimed in, wrapping her arm around Catherine’s shoulder. “Jacks is to blame for what happened to me. Jacks is to blame for Karina, not you. As soon as Kassie gets here from the concession stand, she’ll tell you the same thing.”
A huge weight suddenly lifted from Catherine’s shoulder. “Thank you, both of you.”
“Enough mushy stuff who wants to place a bet on who crosses the finish line first?” Emily asked rubbing her hands together.
“It’s tough to say. Charlie and Keane have been pretty neck and neck this whole time.” Rayne had a point. Since the beginning of the race, Charlie and Ghost were in their own competition. It didn’t matter this was for charity. They were out to beat the other. Proving who was the best of the best. The race consisted of strength trials where as a team they had to carry large logs from one point to another and tug of war. There was also rope and wall climbing and repelling. The last of the race was to run along the Riverwalk and end at the Alamo.
It had been fascinating to watch Charlie in action as he barked out orders to his teammates in carrying logs and tug of war. She tried not to gape at all the muscles bulging. She hadn’t been the only one affected. Several women had fanned themselves once or twice.
The two teams were now tied. The race would be the deciding factor on who won.
“I have every confidence Keane will take this, no offense Catherine.” She said turning to Catherine.
“None taken, Charlie has been preparing for this for quite some time.” When they weren’t preoccupied with each other. Since she came into the picture, Charlie still trained but not as hard for this race as before, from what she had been told. She should feel a pinch of guilt that he probably wasn’t performing at his peak performance but remembering how they spent yesterday in bed together quickly dissipated that guilt. His performance hadn’t been helped by his small mission two weeks ago.
“Ladies, I’ll be right back. Kassie and Annie should have been back already.” Emily looked around for any sign of her friend and daughter, but there was such a mad crush near the finish line it was hard to see near the concession stand.
“That’s fine. The guys should be here shortly.”
“Do you think she is worried something happened to them?” Charlie had warned them that Tex hadn’t been able to find Martin yet, which didn’t mean they were safe. Martin wasn’t stupid enough to pick up where he left off right? He didn’t have a team anymore to support him, and his leader was dead. What reason would he have for coming after them? There was also a serial killer on the loose in San Antonio to think about. They were safe, she reminded herself. They were surrounded by a large crowd and hundreds of military personnel. There was no way he would c
ome for them. She was starting to relax and heard a rise in cheers alerting her that the men had been spotted. She knew with every ounce of her being that it would be Charlie who won.
Suddenly something hard pressed into her lower back. She turned around, but a harsh voice whispered in her ear. “Turn around, and I’ll shoot you here in the street.” He pressed what she was now assuming was a gun, further into her back.
Catherine’s blood turned to ice and her lungs froze. She knew that voice. She had hoped never to hear it again. Martin. Why was he here? She had been telling herself he wasn’t stupid enough to come out of hiding. She hadn’t seen him in seven months, why now? “What do you want?” She looked over at Rayne to see if they had caught her attention. She didn’t know Rayne well, but she didn’t want her to become a casualty of whatever Martin was doing.
“I want you to say goodbye to your little friend and walk with me to your car.” He knew she had driven there? Had he been spying on her? The thought revolted her, and her stomach threatened to discard her breakfast.
“I can’t just leave.” She needed to stall him. If she could keep him talking until the racers came into view and the cheering escalated then she could use a distraction to get her and Rayne out of there.
It was the wrong thing to say. The gun came off her back, and his hand snaked around her waist. “I’m done playing games, cupcake.” Oh, how she hated that nickname he had once given her. It had been meant to demean her. Code for calling her fat.
Something inside Catherine she hadn’t known existed, snapped at that name. Charlie didn’t think she was fat. She was perfect, and there was no way in hell she was going anywhere with him. “Go to hell.” She spat forgetting her plan and thrust her elbow into his stomach like Charlie had taught her. She had taken Martin by surprise, and his grip on her loosened as he blew out a harsh breath. Catherine struggled out of his grip, but Martin latched back onto her.
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