Healing Home

by Madden, J. M.

  Several scars marred the skin of his back and she ran her fingertips over them carefully, trying to read his history. It had been painful, she knew that much, and so very different from her own life.

  Squeezing more sunscreen into her hand, she reached for the arm closest to her, massaging the triceps muscle, then lifting his arm so she could rub the bicep and tri at the same time. Link groaned as she manipulated his arm so that she could pinch the muscles.

  “You’re killing me,” he told her, voice rough.

  “No, I’m welcoming you home.”

  As she looked down the long expanse of his body, she decided that she was getting too much enjoyment out of this assignment to be paid. Lincoln had the hard, corded body of a man constantly on the move, fighting. And she had a feeling he would love just as hard.

  The thought of taking him into her body tantalized her. She’d seen the evidence of his own interest, though he’d tried to hide it. Looking at her body had excited him, and in turn it had excited her even more.

  They were on the beach, in public, but her body was slick with arousal. She’d enjoyed talking with him and looking at him, but she absolutely loved touching him. and she had a feeling that he would be an exquisite lover.

  Just the thought of laying with him sent a frisson of pleasure through her. Her nipples went hard and her breath quickened. They’d only been together a few hours— less than a whole day— but she felt like being with him would be the right thing.

  Feeling a little daring, she allowed her hands to drift down his back and over his ass to his legs. Link jerked, as if this area of skin was super-sensitized. BB began rubbing her fingers into the muscles of his thighs, then down to his calves and finally his feet. She supposed it was a little odd to rub a stranger’s feet, but she didn’t linger. She worked her way back up his legs to focus on his heavy quads on the backs of his thighs. If her fingers scraped a little high on one side, or a little deep, he didn’t say anything, but she could feel the tension humming in his body. It was humming in hers too.

  “I’m going to have to call Uncle,” he said, face turned to her side.

  She jerked her hands away. “I’m sorry. Am I hurting you?”

  He barked out a laugh. “You’re killing me.”

  BB watched as he shifted on the sand, but he didn’t roll over. Instead, he reached beneath himself and adjusted. BB felt her cheeks flame in the heat of the day, but she grinned. It made her happy that he was affected by what she was doing.

  But, he’d been gone a long time. Maybe any female would do for him. She didn’t know what kind of life he led, or how promiscuous he was in his off time. She knew he’d had a marriage dissolve, but maybe he’d contributed to that.

  There was no way to know. The one thing she did know, in her heart, was that she wanted to sleep with him. Her body was humming, and needy.

  “Maybe…” he stopped, then lifted up on his elbows. He looked at her, the glasses showing her her own reflection. “Maybe you should head back to the house.”

  BB cocked her head, wondering what he was thinking. “Okay,” she said slowly. “Why?”

  He sighed, his head hanging. “I’m very aware of your contract, BB, and I’m not going to jeopardize it. But I’ll be honest. You are a fucking beautiful woman and I’m not strong enough right now to not react to you. I’m hard as a board and I’m really trying to be a good guy and not freak you out.”

  His jaw clenched and she felt bad for antagonizing him. “Roll over,” she told him softly.

  Link shook his head like he didn’t believe what she was saying.

  “Roll over, Lincoln.”

  He did as she told him, muscles straining and flexing as he flipped onto his back. Her eyes were immediately drawn to the erection straining the front of his nylon shorts. Her breath stalled in her throat. “You don’t have to hide that from me.”

  Gathering her courage, she leaned forward and pressed her lips to his. Immediately Lincoln gripped her head in his broad hand and pulled her tight to his mouth. As he settled back to the sand, it just seemed natural to lay against him, across his chest, as she explored his mouth. It was as she expected. Lincoln was a very good kisser. And what she had seen and could now feel down below was going to please her very much.

  BB planted her hands to his sides, centering her mouth over his own. His hands cupped her ribs, then moved down to her hips. When his hands tightened on her hips, she expected him to grind up into her. She hadn’t expected how much it would affect her though. Shock ran through her veins and heavy, liquid heat settled low. Instinctively she straddled his hips, needing to be closer. He groaned and rocked up into her.

  In the back of her mind, BB knew they were getting a little out of hand, but it wasn’t until she heard someone giggle that she pulled back. Link didn’t want to let her go, but she was insistent. She sat back harder on his hips, feeling the length of him align between her thighs. Damn, he felt so good.

  When he reached up to cup her breasts she grabbed his hands, laughing, and pushed them down to his belly. There was a dazed expression in his eyes, like he was focused only on touching, loving her.

  “Link, we’re causing a scene.”

  Blinking, he rocked his head in the sand, looking down the beach, then back at her. Finally, he grinned, his bright teeth flashing. “I’m okay with it. They’re walking away.”

  She gasped, playfully smacking his chest. “I’m not, damn it.”

  Bracing herself on his chest she ignored his grunt and pushed to her feet, stepping away. Then she turned back to him and held out a hand to help him up. She thought he would wave her away, but instead he took her hand and pulled. BB had to brace against his weight as he came to his feet, but she appreciated that he’d taken her help. Most men wouldn’t have.

  But then he used her hand to tug her into his body, and she understood why he’d held on. His mouth settled against hers again and she completely forgot why they’d stopped. Oh, yeah, they were on a public beach.

  “Come on,” she said, twirling away. She snatched up her dress and managed to get it over her head before he caught her, dragging her into a kiss. Well, he didn’t really drag her. If she were honest she kind of fell against him as she tried to get her head through the arm hole of her dress. And he held her steady as she figured out where she needed to go. BB wished she could be like these pristine little romance heroines that could do no wrong. It seemed like as smooth as she imagined doing everything in her head, it never turned out that way in real life.

  It was great for her cartoon strip. She always had material for Sonya. But it was comical in her own life. Actually, she’d been grinding on Link pretty hard. Maybe she better make sure she hadn’t hurt him.

  She glanced south as he took her hand and began to lead her back to his house. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

  With a frowning look, he shook his head. “Not at all. Well, I’m about to explode, but that’s my issue not yours. You’re right, though, it was time to stop. I’m sorry about that. I kind of lost myself.”

  BB pulled him to a stop and waited for him to look at her. “No, it’s our issue. We both just participated in that kiss and if I’m honest, I instigated it.”

  He scowled, but didn’t deny her words.

  Deliberately, she lifted his hand to her face and kissed his knuckles, then she turned and started leading him up the beach toward the gap in the bushes where he’d led them through. He had to guide her a little bit, but they eventually made it back to the house.

  Frankie acted as if she’d been left alone for days rather than a few hours, circling them in a fury, then prancing in front of the door waiting to be let out. With an apologetic look to Link, she took the dog outside.

  It gave her a minute to gather her thoughts and wonder if what she was doing was right. The two of them only had another day and a half together. The thought caught her up, because shouldn’t she be looking at it the other way? They’d only been together a day and a half, and she was already
thinking about sleeping with him, which was totally out of the norm for her. She could count on one hand the number of sexual partners she’d had, and none of them had ever made it into her bed this quickly. Most had taken weeks of dating to get where Lincoln was now, but there was something about the man that appealed to her. Something about his quiet confidence and humble personality. He’d been burned before and she could see the reluctance in him to jump into anything big.

  They both knew this was a temporary interlude. If they went into it with their eyes open, why couldn’t they enjoy themselves? They were grown ass adults.

  Carolina would skin her though. Just the thought of even broaching the subject with her sister gave BB a shiver of fear. Carolina was fanatical about following the rules and if BB slept with Link, that would most definitely be breaking the rules.

  She kinda didn’t care though. Her body was still thrumming with awareness, and she wanted to go back in and straddle his thighs just like she had a little while ago. But this time she wanted to ride them both to pleasure.

  * * *

  Lincoln watched BB through the window, hands planted on his hips, and wanted more sharply than he’d ever wanted anything before in his life. She’d wrecked his emotions today by playing with him the way he’d wanted to play with a significant other. The ocean was a huge part of his life and even after the SEALs he knew he’d have to be close to some large body of water to feed his soul. And BB appeared to be okay with that.

  Not that this was going anywhere or anything, but it made him hope that someday he’d find someone that could merge into his life the way she had.

  Forcing himself to turn away, he looked for something to do. He could go out into the garage and work out, he supposed. He had to do something with this excess of sexual energy. BB was probably going to take this time to distance herself from him, because it was a no win situation for her. He knew women were more emotional than men when it came to sexual relationships, and he was honest enough with himself to know that he wasn’t a good bet, relationship wise. His buddies on the team were apparently aberrations. Or maybe he just hadn’t found the right heart to match his own.

  Link ended up in the kitchen rinsing dishes. That only took him a few minutes. So he wandered into the bedroom and began going through his equipment. He should have done it yesterday but he hadn’t even thought about it. Too many other things going on. He’d just loaded a load of laundry into the washer when BB and Frankie came back into the house. Link looked down the hallway, his eyes connecting with hers, and there was some… connection. Somehow he knew that she would walk toward him, and his life would change.

  BB gave Frankie a dog treat, then began walking toward him. Just as he opened his mouth to say something, she lifted the little white dress over her head, revealing the swimsuit. In his mind he heard some kind of snap, like the shell on his heart had just cracked. BB had a great body, solid but slim, and his own body reacted rather predictably. He hadn’t completely cooled from the beach interlude anyway, he’d just been doing busywork trying to get his mind to focus on something else.

  The lid slammed on the washer, but they didn’t even notice. As she walked toward him down the hallway, he tried to remind himself that this was a short term interlude, but it was harder than hell to remember that.

  BB stopped in front of him, her big green eyes looking up into his, and his breath caught. “I release you from the no-sex stipulation.”

  Grinning, Link reached out to run the back of his finger across the swell of her right breast, over the nylon fabric of the suit. There was a flower positioned rather provocatively over her breast, and he began to trace it. “Oh, really. Are you sure?”

  She nodded, reaching out to brush her own hand over his chest. “Positive. I’m not tying you to me in any way, but I think we will enjoy each other.”

  “I’ll make damn sure you enjoy yourself,” he promised.

  That was all the warning he gave her before he took her mouth in a demanding kiss, sinking his tongue deep, like he’d been imagining all day. She moaned, fingernails dragging over his shoulders and up his neck into his short hair. Link shivered, loving her touch. His body curled into hers instinctively as he brought their hips together. He pressed himself against her and she gasped, a shudder rippling through her. Good, that was exactly how he wanted her to react.

  His entire hand cupped her breast through the suit now, but it wasn’t enough. He drew back enough to slide the strap down over her shoulder. That gave the fabric enough room that he could push it beneath her breast.

  “Oh, baby, you have such pretty nipples.”

  BB had beautiful, very pale skin. He was glad he put suntan lotion on her back because she could have very easily burned.

  Brushing a finger over the turgid peak of her breast, then, circling it, he watched the darker tan skin pucker. In the light of the sun, he could see the baby fine hairs across her skin, glinting pale gold. She breathed out a raspy moan, and he caught it with his mouth, working his lips over hers. Leaning into him, she kissed him back with just as much enthusiasm.

  Then she began pushing him and it took him way too long to realize she was pushing him toward the bedroom. Grinning, he let her tug him to the room, kicking the door shut behind them. Then she did this little shimmy and started rolling her bathing suit down her body and over her hips.

  Lincoln’s mouth went dry and he took a minute to look as she kicked the fabric away. Fuck she had a beautiful body. Full breasts and a nice hourglass shape to her hips, dark patch of hair at the juncture of her thighs… damn! His body was already hard, but just looking at her was about to push him over the edge. The tip of his cock tingled and he fisted himself, trying to choke the release away. In desperation he turned away from her and panted harshly, trying to re-oxygenate his brain.

  In his mind’s eye he began breaking down one of his HK sidearms, just to give himself a momentary breather.

  It would have worked if she hadn’t stepped up behind him, her breasts against his back and her hands going to cup his ass. Oh, shit. The elastic of his shorts tightened as she began pushing them down over his hips, and he felt her palms against the skin. Reaching around she brushed his own palm away and cupped his cock in her hand, squeezing tentatively.

  Lincoln knew something needed to change before he embarrassed them both, but her touch felt so damn good. It had been so long.

  Lifting one arm he turned in her grip, grinning when she refused to release him. She grinned as well, quirking a brow. She looked down at his cock, and ran her fingers around the head. Then she stroked her thumb up through his slit, and something about the way she did it almost set him off. BB had an expressive face, and she could see exactly what she was doing, but she didn’t seem to mind twisting him in knots.

  Carefully he began bumping her back toward the bed. In a show of helping her, he cupped her breasts in his hands and she giggled. The bed bumped the back of her knees and she melted to the mattress, her arms going seductively over her head and her thighs separating to welcome him.

  With a growl, Link fumbled in the bedside drawer for a condom and rolled it on as quick as he could. Then he lowered himself into her open arms, his body aligning with hers as if they’d been made for each other. The head of his cock seemed to know exactly where to go, and it only took a light push to find the path into her body. She was soaked with moisture, the muscles of her body rippling around him as he pushed deep.

  “Oh,” she breathed, her knees going wide. “You feel so damn good, Lincoln.”

  Fingernails dug into his ass even as she lifted her mouth for his kiss, and it was all he could do to stop long enough to give her the kiss she deserved. She arched up into him, encouraging him to move. He could tell by the way her body was reacting to his that she seemed to be driving toward orgasm and he had to give her that. Concentrating, he moved, surging and retreating deliberately, adjusting as he heard her breath hitch in her throat. Kissing her, hips pumping, he concentrated on her release and no
t his own.

  After an interminable few minutes, her breath caught in her throat and the most amazing rippling feeling dragged up and down his cock. BB ripped her mouth from his and cried out, her body contracting and releasing.

  Lincoln held his own orgasm off as long as he could, but the sound and feel of her pleasure triggered his own. Slowing his movements, he let the tight rein on his body go. His vision went dark and he thought he was going to lose consciousness as the most incredible orgasm he’d ever experienced hit him straight in the solar plexus. His spine actually cracked as he pounded into her, unable to get close enough.

  But the most euphoric feeling came when she wrapped her arms around him and cradled him between her thighs. Bracing his arms to the side, he allowed his head to rest against her shoulder as he caught his breath. He kissed her neck and ear, but that was all he could manage at that moment.

  Until someone slammed against the door of the bedroom.

  Fight or flight kicked in. Lincoln leapt from the bed and BB’s arms and lunged for the safe. Why didn’t he have a gun out?

  Then he heard laughing as there was another bang at the door. He looked at BB like she’d lost her mind, then looked at the door. It wasn’t someone trying to break in. Well, not exactly.

  Lincoln opened the bedroom door with a scowl. “Seriously?”

  Frankie sauntered in like she owned the place, walked to the bed and looked longingly up at it. BB was giggling on the mattress in the middle of the bed, her knees drawn up, her bright eyes full of laughter. Lincoln grimaced, realizing he had to look like a maniac jumping out of bed like that, dick swinging. He shook his head, a reluctant smile tugging at his lips. He cupped himself and headed to the bathroom to dispose of the condom. When he returned Frankie was in the same place.