“Claim it whenever you want.” As far as he could see, there were no losers in this competition. He got to touch her silky skin. A grin crawled across his face, and he’d take a bet on it appearing predatory. He thought he might add a few conditions of his own. This backrub would be a naked one because he believed in doing a job right. Hell, he’d make it an all-over body rub if she wanted. If she’d let him. “Ready to hit the showers?”
“Good idea. I could do with some food.” She checked her watch. “We’d better hurry or we’ll miss out.”
They collected their gear and went to take a shower. For once there was no one else present. Louie thought about locking the door or bracing it with a chair to keep everyone out. Tempting, but he knew it could raise questions. It was bad enough having Simon pass judgment. Louie reined in his lust and told himself he only had to last through dinner then he could head to their room. As soon as Mac joined him there, the games could begin. His cock stirred at the thought, and he didn’t even try to hide his erection from her when he stripped off in the shower.
She glanced at his chest, her eyes lingering on his tattoos before her gaze darted downward. His cock lengthened under her stare, and he had to fight to maintain control, to keep the groan building in his throat locked down tight.
“What are you going to do with that?” she asked.
His abrupt laugh echoed in the shower block, and he flicked on a tap, stepping under the lukewarm water. “I know what I’d like to do with it.”
She glanced at the door and, grinning playfully, stepped under the same showerhead as him, jostling their bodies together. Louie didn’t think. He reached for her, sliding his hands over her water-slicked back and coming to rest on her tightly muscled arse. He dipped his head and licked across the full curve of one breast.
“Louie.” Shivering, she pressed closer, trapping his erection between their bodies.
“We shouldn’t be doing this,” he whispered, raising his head to nibble at the column of her throat.
“I know. “ She grasped his shoulders and leaned up to kiss him, nipping sharply at his bottom lip. He jerked at both the bite of pain and the jolt of lust that speared to his groin. “Maybe if we make it quick,” she suggested, licking her lip and sending another look at the closed door.
“It’s dangerous.”
“Life’s dangerous,” she countered, her smile slipping to reveal a vulnerability that tore at him. Hell, he knew that more than anyone. Either of them could die at any moment. No guarantees in this war.
Bending his head, he sucked a nipple into his mouth, silently signaling his surrender. If she wanted to take the risk, then so did he. She moaned quietly, tipping her head to the side, her eyes fluttering closed.
“As much as I like that, this needs to be a quickie,” she said. “I’m ready. You won’t hurt me.”
Louie liked foreplay and exploring a woman’s body as much as the next man, any sensible man, but the idea of taking appealed to him right now. His dick ached, hard enough to hammer nails already. Danger did it for him, the adrenaline rush. He reached between her legs, wanting to groan at the welcoming sweetness, so hot her juices singed his fingers. With easy strength, he lifted her. She parted her legs and he guided his cock to her entrance. She sank down, impaling herself on his shaft.
The look on her face about killed him, the open pleasure and enjoyment, her soft sigh. His legs trembled as she gripped his shoulders and used her strength to move, the water still spraying over them. She set a steady pace, the risk of discovery aiding their speed. Her silken sheath clutched his cock, the snug fit sending an orgasmic buzz speeding through his veins.
He clutched her hips and slammed into her, their mouths meeting in an urgent, hot and wet kiss.
“Louie,” she muttered, her pussy pulsing around his cock. She gasped, her eyes screwed shut, her face painted with pleasure. Hungry noises of desire escaped her parted lips, encouraging him to come.
That was all it took. The tight grasp of her body, a whisper of pleasure, and he felt the rush of semen up his cock. He exploded inside her, the rhythmic spurts just about turning him inside out. He was surprised his legs continued to hold them both upright because they felt as steady as a newborn colt’s.
Aware anyone could catch them in the act at any time, Louie lifted her free of his spent cock and let her slide down his body to gain her footing. Gripping his shoulders, she stood on tiptoe and kissed him, the gentle suction of her mouth bringing renewed life to his dick. Damn, all she needed to do was touch him and he was toast.
Laughing softly, she flicked the head of his cock hard enough to make him wince. “One-track mind.”
“Your fault,” he said.
Mac turned away to grab her soap and turned the adjacent shower on, soaping her chest.
The shower door flew open, and Louie’s blooming erection wilted a fraction. Damn, that had been close. He ducked his head under the spray of the shower, unable to look at Mac, but he angled his body slightly to block Simon’s view.
“You’re going to miss dinner if you don’t hurry,” Simon said.
“Won’t be long,” Mac called. “We played basketball and lost track of the time. I beat him,” she added with a trace of smugness.
“Damn, woman,” Louie said, suppressing a grin. “We’ll be five minutes tops.”
Although Simon’s face bore suspicion, he didn’t say anything. “I’ll grab you some food if they start packing up before you get to the mess room.”
“Thanks,” Mac called, and started briskly shampooing her hair.
“Can I use your soap?”
“Don’t you mind smelling like flowers?” Mac asked.
“Quit teasing. Your soap doesn’t smell girlie and you know it.”
Grinning, she handed over her soap, and he washed his body.
It was ten minutes later when they made it to the mess. The food was still available and they grabbed plates.
Their arrival in the mess room was a dose of reality for Louie. He had to talk to Mac about the assignment with Carolina Eastern and he hoped Mac would tell him about her father. He deserved answers after the phone call.
“I’m starving.” Mac smirked at him, sweeping a lock of wet hair from her face. “I guess beating a guy at basketball will do that.”
Louie growled, baring his teeth. “We could always go double or nothing.”
She paused, appearing to consider the idea before nodding. “Yeah, we could do that.” She leaned forward to whisper. “A girl can never have too many backrubs.”
Her skin looked flushed and dewy after her shower and all he could think of was crushing her mouth under his. Hell, make that her entire body while he shafted her deep. Yeah, sounded like a plan. He shifted on his chair, ignoring the signals of approval from his body to shovel in a mouthful of mashed potatoes.
“The assignment for tomorrow going ahead?” Simon asked.
Louie looked up to meet his steely gaze and swallowed his potatoes. “Yeah. We might have another assignment—a special one. I need to talk to Mac about it because she’d take a major part of the security responsibility if we go ahead.”
“Eastern,” Simon growled.
“Let us eat our meal without danger of indigestion,” Louie said, in a bad attempt to change the subject. He hated the idea of this assignment. His gut didn’t like it because Mac would be on her own. That wasn’t good, no matter which way he looked at it.
Chapter Seven
“Carolina Eastern wants me to escort her into the homes of local women and protect her while she’s interviewing them?”
“Yes,” Louie said. “She is willing to pay extra and since you’ll be the one on the line, the boss said they’d pass that on to you. It’s entirely up to you whether we go ahead or not.”
“But anyone could be inside the house. We could both be shot before anyone could back me up,” Mac said.
Louie nodded, knowing it was the truth.
“How much extra money is she offering?�
�
“Five thousand for each interview she conducts.”
Mac frowned at him. “That’s a lot of money.”
“Yes, it is, but the money won’t do you any good if you’re dead.”
“I know that. I’m not stupid.”
“I never said you were.” Louie tried to ignore the hurt inside, knowing it wasn’t personal. “Maybe you should tell me about your father.”
“He has Alzheimer’s. I told you that.”
“Is he the reason you’re here in Iraq?”
Mac sighed and all the fight went out of her. “I love him so much. After my mother left us, he was father and mother to me. My mother died a few years later. He kept me with him as much as he could and arranged a friend’s wife to look after me when he had to go away on missions. It’s killing me to see him the way he is now when he always used to be so strong and robust.”
“Mac, you should have said something.”
“Why? You can’t do anything. Nothing will make him better.”
“I know that, but I could have listened if you wanted to talk. What happened? Why did I have to give him orders?”
“He’s fixated on the new people who have moved in down the road from the nursing home. He thinks they’re conducting an illegal operation.”
“And are they?”
“Of course not. The director of the rest home assures me they’re grape growers and starting to make their own wine. There’s nothing sinister about that.”
No, there wasn’t. Louie felt Mac’s frustration. It was easy to see the way her father’s health and her job tore at her.
“I didn’t have the money to keep him in the home, not if I stayed with the army. That’s why I made the decision to go into private security work. If I can stay alive it’s a way to make quick money.”
“That’s what most of us are here for,” Louie agreed.
“Do you know the areas Carolina Eastern intends to go to and the women she wants to visit?”
“No full particulars yet.”
Mac turned away from him, striding across the bedroom floor before spinning back to face him. “Get a list from her, more details and I’ll go from there. I have to admit the money is a good incentive.”
Louie wanted to protest. He wanted to grab Mac and take her far away from this war. He did neither. Mac was right. It made sense to check out the offer fully before turning it down even if the thought of something happening to her about killed him. “I’ll do that. Fancy some poker with the rest of the boys?”
“Yeah. Good idea. I’m too antsy to sleep.”
* * * * *
“I’ll do it,” Mac said the next morning after Louie had gone through the details of the proposed sorties Carolina Eastern had sent over.
“It’s dangerous.”
It was easy to see Louie didn’t want her to go ahead with the new assignment. She wasn’t exactly thrilled either, knowing all the things that could go wrong, but the money was too good to turn down. If she could make it through this, her finances would be in good shape for a while. “Yeah, I know.”
“What happens if you die? What will happen to your father?”
Shock made her gasp before anger took over. “That’s low, Louie.”
“Someone has to make you see sense.” The expression on his face said he wasn’t sorry and would do it again if that’s what it took to persuade her to reject the assignment. He cared about her, and that tamped her fury down a notch. No one had cared before, apart from her father.
Mac swallowed her fury and glared at him. “If I die the insurance will cover my father for as long as he needs it, but you can bet I’ll be trying to stay alive.”
Louie shrugged. “Shit happens. Do you have other family to take care of your father?”
“A few cousins.” No one close and it worried her. “Look, Louie. You’re not going to change my mind. Under the circumstances, I can’t afford to turn down the extra money. Why don’t we arrange a meeting with Carolina Eastern and try to eliminate as many of the dangers as we can. None of you can come into the buildings with me, but we can still watch the outside. I’ll have radio contact. If it all goes south, you can bet I’ll let you know.”
“It won’t be fast enough. Both you and Carolina will be dead before we can get to you.”
“I agree. That’s why we need to put Carolina on our schedule. I don’t think all of the interviews should take place in the same week. It’s too predictable.”
Louie nodded, glancing at the notes they had regarding the places she wanted to visit. “If you did this one first because there are more known insurgents in this area that might work.” He tapped his pen on the paper, a scowl on his face. “What do you think, Simon?”
Simon, who had remained silent up until now shook his head. “I’m with Louie on this, Mac. It’s bloody dangerous and asking for trouble.”
“Done deal,” Mac said with a trace of impatience. “Help me make it through this and keep Carolina Eastern safe.”
“Fuck, Eastern,” Louie growled. “It’s you we want to keep safe.” For an instant open emotion blazed on his face before his features blanked to soldier.
“I’m with Louie. Eastern and her bosses might pay the bills but they’re secondary. All of us want you to make it through this.”
Mac swallowed while the sheen of tears formed in her eyes. She couldn’t believe how easily she fit in here. They truly were like a huge family, and if one of them became injured, it hurt the rest of the team. She swallowed again and said, “Okay. Let’s do that. We’ll send back our conditions and see what they say.”
* * * * *
After doing two recon drives, Louie felt they were ready for the real thing. Carolina Eastern had bitched and moaned the entire time, protesting they were being too cautious. The insurgents had been quiet recently, the city going through an unusual period of calm.
Nerves jumped inside Louie as they drove along the route they’d chosen, heading for an apartment block. Two women walked along the road, carrying their shopping, and a group of children played behind a wire fence in between their school lessons.
Although it was still early, the street near the market thronged with locals taking advantage of the lack of military action to purchase food and other essentials.
“Can’t we go any faster?” Carolina demanded.
“No, we can’t,” Mac said before Louie could formulate a reply. “We have our procedures for a reason. It’s to keep us alive.”
Carolina sighed loudly but stopped her grumbling.
And so she should. Despite the network paying extra, it didn’t mean they had to jump whenever Carolina ordered. Louie scanned the road outside the car, tensing when he saw the mobile roadblock up ahead. Their driver slowed.
“Tell them we’re going to the west of the city,” Louie said.
A shot rang out over to their right, and the tension in their vehicle heightened.
“Can you see what’s going on?” Mac whispered.
The local soldiers waved them on and went running in the direction of the disturbance. A volley of shots fired, and their driver put his foot down, barreling away to their destination.
“How’s it look?” Simon asked ten minutes later, his voice crackling over the radio.
Their driver pulled up outside the apartment building.
“Carolina, wait in the vehicle until we’ve checked the vicinity,” Louie ordered. “Do not move until I give you the say-so.”
Mac and Tai slipped from the vehicle, guns at the ready, eyes narrowed watching for any hint of danger, any person—man, woman or child—appearing out of place.
Louie shoved back his concern for Mac and concentrated on the job at hand. The best way to protect her was to watch her back, to do everything in his power to keep her safe. His woman.
A snort emerged. If he said that aloud to Mac, she’d probably deck him. Too bad. Now that he’d found her again, he didn’t intend to let her flee again.
His radio crackled. �
�All clear.”
“All clear here too. We’ll move Carolina inside now,” Louie replied, already striding to their vehicle. He tapped on the window and with the jerk of his thumb indicated to Carolina she could leave the vehicle. She grabbed her briefcase and slid from the rear.
“Move it,” Mac snapped. “We don’t want to give a shooter a target.”
“I know the drill,” Carolina said, increasing her pace despite the snap in her voice.
Louie and Simon were right. The reporter came across as a bitch, although Mac had to give her points for tenacity. She worked to get her stories, doing everything in her power to make them happen.
“Good,” Mac said, running in front of Carolina, weapon at the ready.
“Clear inside,” Simon said.
Mac gave a clipped nod and followed Simon up the stairs to the first floor apartment they intended to visit. Carolina followed her with Charlie, another of their group, riding her butt.
According to their plan, Louie, Tai and Garrett waited outside at the entrance, alert for any incoming danger.
At the doorway to the apartment, they paused. Carolina was fit, Mac would give her that. After the run to the entrance and the hurried trip up the stairs, she wasn’t even breathing hard.
“Are you ready?” Mac asked.
“Yes,” Carolina said, smoothing a short lock of blonde hair off her face. “One thing, I promised the wife there wouldn’t be any guns.” Not a flicker of guilt showed on her face.
“You might have mentioned that earlier,” Simon snarled at her.
“I knew you wouldn’t have agreed.” Carolina didn’t show the slightest remorse.
“That’s it. We’re pulling out,” Simon said.
“You can’t. We’re here. All the arrangements are made,” Carolina said, anger coloring her cheeks.
“But you didn’t pass on all the details,” Simon snapped.
Carolina squeezed past Simon and thumped on the door. “I’m going inside. The network pays your team to protect me, so you’d better do your job.”
Mac inclined her head, indicating to Simon it was okay. She slid her gun into the waistband of her trousers, making sure it was out of sight. “Let’s do this. Half an hour, right?”
Military Men Page 29