“Good. Can we get to the good stuff now?”
They stared at each other. Louie rubbed his groin against her hip, his hard erection burning through the layer of fabric still separating their bodies. “This feels pretty good to me.” He closed the gap between their mouths to brush a kiss over her lips. It started off slow, growing to passionate. Desperate.
Mac struggled with the button and hook of Louie’s fly, desperate to feel his entire body, to fondle his ass. He had the sexiest butt. Finally, she gave up in frustration. It was difficult to concentrate on more than one thing at once. Kissing Louie fried her brain. She tried not to think about it too much, the way he made her feel. Happy and excited. There was no time in her life for a relationship. This thing with Louie was all about the sex. She tore her mouth from his. “Can we do this?”
“All in good time.”
“But this isn’t romance. It’s fucking to scratch an itch,” she snapped, glaring at him. Why wasn’t he like other men? They craved sex and took what they wanted without a desire to savor the experience.
Louie stilled. Surprise then determination flitted over his face. Maybe some intrigue as well. Dammit, she didn’t want to captivate him, make him want to pursue her. She wanted him to understand that this was casual, without expectations on her part. What was wrong with plain, selfish sex? The world had gone mad, becoming way too politically correct for her liking.
Louie stepped back, his gaze softening as he studied her body. “You’ve lost weight. You need to eat.”
“You’re not my mother.”
Laugh wrinkles formed at the corner of his eyes. Grinning, he unfastened his trousers and slipped them and his boxer-briefs down his legs. “A fact I am truly grateful for.” He reached for the mattress on the bottom bunk and lifted it onto the floor, flexing biceps attracting her attention.
In Fiji, she’d licked the flowing lines of his tribal tattoos, tasted his skin and indulged herself. The fleeting idea of repeating the experience brought a frown.
After flicking the lock on the door, he strode over to her. “You’re right. Let’s fuck.”
Although she’d used the term a few minutes earlier, the harsh word seemed to echo between them. It hurt.
Aware of the contradiction in her thinking, she forced a smile while confusion reigned inside her. Ignoring the inconsistencies in her thoughts, she let Louie seduce her. Sexy smile. Gorgeous body. It didn’t take much to fall into his embrace.
His hands skimmed with purpose and the skill she’d become used to. His mouth was soft on hers, and he kissed her until desire grabbed every scrap of her attention. She shivered, feeling the weight of her breasts, the heavy expectation flooding her body. A soft, needy sound escaped and she tilted her neck, silently asking for the redirection of his mouth.
“Not your neck.” Louie kissed the slope of her breast and sucked until her inner walls clenched with need.
“More,” she whispered. “I need more.”
“Patience,” he countered. “I told you, we have time.”
He didn’t intend to hurry, so she gave up and went with the flow. Skin brushed skin, and she squirmed and twisted when he tongued her breasts, stroked her arse. He lifted her and settled her on the mattress, following her down. Things became more serious then. Heated whispers. Touches designed to inflame. Mac felt as if she floated, his touch making her want more of the erotic assault.
Louie parted her legs and lifted her hips in a smooth move. Seconds later, his mouth and tongue devoured her swollen flesh. His stubble scraped the tender skin of her inner thighs while his tongue traced wicked patterns around her clit. A moan escaped, and she bit her bottom lip to still another cry. A finger pushed inside her with a hot, easy glide. Her stomach hollowed, her hips canting to push against his tongue.
“Louie, please. I need you to fill me now. We can do it all over again. I just need you now.”
Louie stilled and glanced up at her. “Promise?”
“Yes.”
He nodded, the undeniable masculine interest deepening. “I know how you feel about promises.”
Oops, she’d forgotten that. While they’d been in Fiji, the discussion had come up. She couldn’t remember how, but she’d told Louie she never, ever went back on her word.
He pulled his finger from her and without breaking their gaze, he licked it clean. Her breath caught, her chest tightening with a wave of emotion. Even though she knew nothing could come between them because of her vow to her father, she couldn’t help but wish things were different. This man, he touched places inside her…
Swallowing, she tugged him closer, sure every emotion shone on her face for him to read.
“Hey, don’t you want to go on top?”
“Plain old missionary is fine for what I have in mind.” Hard, hot, sweaty sex. The kind that made a woman forget her problems.
Louie didn’t say anything, but he grinned and it made her catch her breath again. He was stunning when he smiled, and despite her complaints, his take-charge manner didn’t bother her. It was part of his military training and something she respected. Trusted. During their time in Fiji, he’d bound her with silken scarves, the loss of freedom making the sex sizzling hot. She sighed as he moved over her and slipped inside, the head of his cock barely embedded.
“Louie.” Mac tried to move but he held her still.
“I wouldn’t want you to think you’re getting your own way.”
Mac snorted. “How could I think that? This is torture. You’re tormenting me.” He opened his mouth as if he were going to speak but didn’t. Instead, he pushed a little deeper and pulled back. In a silence thick with tension, they stared at each other.
Mac clenched her inner muscles and he groaned, pushing inside her fully with one slow, toe-curling stroke.
“I love the first, perfect stroke,” she whispered. “I like the way it feels when I stretch around you.”
“Feels pretty damn good on this end,” Louie said with a strangled laugh.
At first, he kept the thrusts slow and steady, but she urged him on, digging her fingernails into his shoulders, kissing his neck, the whorls of a tattoo and undulating against his muscular body with sighs of sincere appreciation. There was no pretense because Louie really did it for her. Later, she’d probably think about how wrong it was to let her emotions show, about the danger to her sanity and the way he screwed with her focus and future plans. Yeah, later. Right now she intended to wring every bit of enjoyment from their encounter.
Mac met each of his thrusts while their lips met in wild abandon. His scent surrounded her, his taste filled her. She climbed higher and higher, then for one scary moment, she balanced on a knife-edge of pleasure. A moment of clarity before she soared over the precipice into ecstasy. No other word for it. Mac clutched his sweaty shoulders and hung on, savoring the lingering pulses of her sex as she sailed back down to earth.
“Louie,” she whispered.
“Good?”
“Yeah.” The word was a soft sigh of pleasure.
“We’ll see if you can go again.” His chuckle, laced with sin, made her smile. He increased his strokes, changed the angle, and to her surprise, a sweet burn flared. She melted against him, her hands busy touching as much of him as she could reach. Her hands came to rest on his muscular butt. Nice.
“Aw, damn, Joanna,” he whispered hoarsely against her neck. He slammed into her with hard, digging strokes, the sounds of fucking loud and distinctive.
Mac didn’t care. She felt a primal sense of satisfaction as his cock jackhammered into her and at the hunger etched on his face. He came with deep body shudders, his seed splashing into her. When he finally stilled, he rolled, laughing when they fell off the mattress onto the floor. He wrapped his arms around her and held tight. Mac knew she should move, that they should clean up, shower and maybe hit the gym. Instead, the urge to move trotted right out of her mind, replaced by contentment. Cuddling in Louie’s arms felt right, and that should have scared her half to death
.
Chapter Five
Five days later
Louie hit the shower early, untangling his body from Mac after another session of lovemaking. Every time they returned from a grueling day, they had sex. Most days, he admitted, although they were both careful about it. Sometimes they hit the gym first, either lifting weights, pummeling a boxing bag, or sprinting up and down the basketball court with the others. At other times, they met in their room and sweated out their stress by bumping body parts. Louie lived for those moments, and it was starting to eat him alive not being able to tell Mac how he felt.
“Hey, Louie. You’re up early,” Simon said.
“Yeah, couldn’t sleep.” Not without wanting to fuck Mac again. Holding her close and trying not to wake her had driven him to the shower. Luckily, the cold water had done the trick before Simon arrived.
“It must be difficult rooming with Mac,” Simon said.
Louie adjusted the water to warm and grabbed the soap. “It’s not so bad now. After seeing the way she handles herself, it’s easier to think of her as one of the guys.”
“And that’s why you’re up so early taking a cold shower?”
Louie wanted to tell him to fuck off but knew Simon would suspect something. He needed more finesse. “Can’t help being a male.”
Simon snorted. It could’ve been a laugh. Louie wasn’t a hundred percent sure on that.
“We still training this morning?” Simon stripped and turned on another shower.
Louie appreciated the change of subject. “Yeah. And a recon this afternoon. The news company wants to film out west of the city.”
“Don’t tell me. They want to go to the latest bombing site.”
“No, they want to interview some of the villagers out there. See how they’re getting on with their day-to-day lives.” Louie didn’t believe it for a moment. Carolina Eastern had an agenda and it involved Mac.
“But it’s near the bombing site?”
“Yeah.” Louie turned off the tap and grabbed his towel. After roughly drying himself, he wrapped the damp towel around his waist, scooped up his shower bag and headed back to his room.
Mac was still asleep when he entered and he tiptoed around, trying not to wake her. He’d never met a soldier like her. Just about every soldier he met slept lightly. Not Mac. Despite being a heavy sleeper, the moment she opened her eyes she was alert and hit the ground running.
Louie dressed and powered up his laptop before checking his watch. He crouched beside Mac and resisted the urge to kiss her awake. “Mac.” He shook her shoulder, and when she didn’t stir, he shook her a fraction harder and raised his voice. “Mac, wakey, wakey.” A third hard shake did the trick.
“Is it time to get up?”
“You have time for a shower before breakfast.” Louie stood and moved over to his laptop.
With a groan, Mac rolled to her feet. She lifted her arms above her head in an unconscious stretch. Louie couldn’t help enjoying the show. He cocked a hip against the desk and unabashedly stared, a smile playing around his lips. He loved her hair loose and tumbling around her shoulders. Her breasts bore a couple of bruises, small suction marks he’d made. It gave him a sense of satisfaction, knowing they were there, hidden beneath her clothes while they went about their daily work.
Her breasts pulled to tight nubs, affected by the cooler morning air. Sleek muscles rippled as she stretched, freezing when she noticed his attention.
“Having fun?”
Louie ignored the frigid tone. “Hell yeah.”
“Bastard.” Mac pulled on a long T-shirt and a pair of baggy shorts. After grabbing a towel and a shower bag, she slammed from their room.
Grinning, he signed into his email account. The first email was from Nikolai. He scanned it. Nothing new there. No one Nikolai had talked to knew much about Mac, although Nikolai hoped to catch up with some of the soldiers she served with at a reunion dinner coming up later in the month. He scanned the details again and stopped at one thing he’d missed. Mac’s father had been a soldier. He was still alive, but her mother had died twenty years ago. Interesting. He’d ask Nikolai to research that angle for him.
Aware of the need to hurry, Louie fired off a return email, sending his special love to Nikolai’s wife, Summer, because he knew it would piss off his friend. He was very protective of his wife, but an adventurer at heart, Summer didn’t make it easy for him.
Louie signed off just as Mac arrived back from her shower.
“You put love bites all over my breasts,” she snarled at him. “You’re lucky no one noticed but me.”
“I’m sorry.” Not true, but he wasn’t stupid enough to admit it. He’d never acted possessive about a woman before. Until Mac. He hated the other men seeing her naked in the shower. At least he could touch when they were in private. But if Mac re-upped for another six months…
He had to change her mind. Somehow. Even though the woman handled herself better than most, he’d worry about her.
“Hell,” she said in disgust. “You’re not sorry at all. What is wrong with you? Do you think the others will respect me if they think we’re fucking each other? They’ll start watching me like I’m a bug in a jar. I’ll have to prove myself all over again.”
She was right. It wasn’t fair, but that was the way it went. “I’m sorry. Okay? Why don’t you tell them you did it when you fell yesterday?”
“If they ask questions I will, but I doubt they’ll believe me.”
“They will after training today,” Louie said. “We have a grueling session in store. You won’t be the only one with bruises by the end of the day. Do you want to check your email before I turn off the laptop? You have time if you’re quick.”
Mac dressed rapidly in her neutral-colored shirt and trousers. “Thanks. That would be great.”
“I’ll leave you to it. Power the laptop down for me once you’re done.” Without waiting for her reply, he left their room.
Halfway down the passage, he smelled the coffee. Most of the team was already there, plowing through a huge breakfast.
“Hey, Louie. Word is you and Mac have something going. Is that true?” one of the men called.
Shit. Louie forced a huge grin. “Aside from the fact that Mac’s fiancé would likely try to gut me if I touched his woman, the lady isn’t interested in me.”
“And what about the bruises?”
“What bruises?” Hell, they’d noticed the bruises but hadn’t said anything to Mac. Yet.
The guy gestured at his chest.
Louie turned away to pour a coffee. “No idea. She fell pretty heavy at training yesterday.”
“So you didn’t look?” another asked.
“Not polite,” Louie said. “Like I said, she has a man. She’s not interested in any of us.”
“Damn straight,” Mac said entering the room. “Why would I want any of you when Sam is waiting for me at home?”
“You really engaged?”
“Yep,” Mac said. “Getting married soon.”
“Why are you here?”
“Why are you lot so nosy?” Mac countered.
“Not much else to do.” They all laughed at that.
“I’m here for the money, the same as most of you. And you do realize I’m doing you all a favor sharing with Louie? The boss snores like a freight train.”
Louie grinned at the hoots, playing along. Mac wouldn’t know because she slept through anything, especially after sex. He shrugged, accepting the teasing and winked at Mac on the sly. They could say what they liked about him. It was better than letting them hone their wits on her.
Mac moved up the mess line beside him, the good humor absent now that her back was to the rest of the men. When he looked closer, he noticed the faint redness of her eyes. Hell, had she been crying?
“You okay?” he asked gruffly. Like most men, crying women scared him half to death. He never knew what to do and usually ended up making things worse. Yeah, he had a healthy respect for women and tears.
“Why shouldn’t I be?” The snap in her tone warned him to tread lightly.
“No reason.”
“I’m fine. What time are we back from training?”
“Only a couple of hours today. Should be back by eleven at the latest.”
Mac gave a clipped nod and moved away to join some of the others. Louie wanted to follow but forced himself to take a seat with Simon.
“Have you seen a photo of her fiancé?” Simon asked.
“Nah, Mac’s a pretty private person.”
“Don’t you think that’s weird? Everyone else carries a photo of their wife or kids or girlfriend. Don’t you think Mac would show everyone?”
Good point, but then he knew Mac didn’t have a fiancé. It was a cover to keep her fellow soldiers away. Not a bad strategy. Producing a photo would bolster her story and give it the ring of truth. Maybe a ring as well, although not many of the married security force wore rings on their fingers. “As I said, she’s a private person. You want to know, you ask her. I’m not about to snoop through her things.”
“So, you’d leave your room open so one of us could do the snooping?” one of the guys asked.
“Hell no,” Louie said. “I didn’t come down in the last shower. That would give you free range to rummage through my stuff as well.”
The banter continued throughout the meal, a way of dealing with the stress of their job. Louie kept a surreptitious eye on Mac and noticed she didn’t eat much, pushing her food around her plate. Something had happened after he left the room. She’d intended to check her email, which suggested she’d received news from home. He wondered how to handle the situation. With most of his men, it was easy. He called them into his office and they talked the problem through. Other times, his men approached him. Personal problems wreaked havoc on a soldier, taking their head out of the game. They were a team. They relied on each other. One screw up could mean loss of their VIP or that one or all of them died.
The situation with Mac was different because of their personal history. Louie scowled down at his plate. He’d play it by ear. Observe. It was the only thing he could do in the circumstances.
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