Leo shrugged.
“Hmmm. I tagged you as military right off. Might have had a little something with the duffel bag,” Doug grinned. “But the habit you have of not saying much of anything tells me you’ve been around the block a time or two.”
Leo took another sip of his scotch.
“I’ll just ask you outright. Are you good for her?”
“I really think I am, Doug. But that’s got to be for her to decide, now doesn’t it?”
“Yep, I like you.” Doug clinked his glass against Leo’s.
“Ouch,” she mumbled. What in the hell was digging into her shoulder?
Daisy sat up and realized it was her satellite phone. She’d been sleeping on it. How had that happened?
God, she was hot.
She pushed off the covers and realized she was stark naked. This was so not how she normally slept. She looked around the room and it took her more than a minute to remember what happened. She looked down at the end of the bed and saw a black T-shirt waiting for her. She knew immediately it was Leo’s.
Looking over at her duffel and backpack, she could see how empty they were. He must have sent out her laundry to guest services. She turned on her satellite phone. What time was it? For that matter, what day was it?
Getting out of bed, she slipped on the shirt and then grabbed her vanity case out of her bag and took it into the bathroom. After she was done in there and her teeth were actually brushed she felt halfway human. It was ten in the morning. There were still bruises underneath her eyes, but now she didn’t look like a zombie, so score one for sleep.
She grabbed one of the bottles of water that the hotel had provided then sat back down on the bed and started to scroll through her messages. Her team had handled almost everything that she had been contacted about. She loved these people. She had almost finished her bottle when her phone rang. It was Leo.
“Hello.”
“You sound much better. You’re not even slurring your words.” She could hear the smile in his voice.
“I feel much better.” She put down the bottle, then switched ears with the phone. “I really appreciate your help yesterday.”
“It wasn’t any problem. I was just glad to help.”
Daisy felt her cheeks heat. “You mean you would have done that for anyone?”
“I probably wouldn’t have cuddled one of my teammates in my lap, no.” Leo chuckled.
If she blushed anymore, she’d suffer from heatstroke.
“You still there?” he asked.
“Yeah.”
“You’re blushing, aren’t you?”
“Yeah.”
“You know, for someone who runs an international charity, you sure do like one-syllable answers.”
This time it was her turn to laugh.
“I’d really like to see you today, Daisy.”
“I have to go back to the camp.”
“The others, including Rayi, have already left.”
“They what?”
“You snooze, you lose. Everybody figured you could use the extra sleep.”
“But I need to show them around.”
“Annie already talked to the head man at the Red Cross and arranged for a tour. They’re set for today. Doug said to tell you that tomorrow you can set up a tour with the ladies you want your team to meet.”
“Goddammit, Leo. I don’t like this. I wanted to go.”
“Daisy, you have to admit you’re burnt out. According to Doug, he’s never seen you like this, not even when you first started. You know you need to cut yourself some slack.”
Her gut reaction was to fight back and tell him he was wrong, but she took a moment to really think. “I’m not sure that I can,” she whispered. “I’ve gotten so many things wrong. What if how I’ve been running things has been wrong? Maybe I’m too hands-off? I sit in my office, moving chess pieces around on the board, playing God. How can I possibly do that without walking in their shoes?”
“I’m coming upstairs.”
“What are you talking about? I’m fine, Leo.”
“You better damn well open the door when I knock.”
“Leo, I don’t…” She was talking to thin air.
19
The door opened before he even knocked on it.
He stared down at her shining, beautiful face and glared. “Tell me you looked through the peephole.”
“I just wanted to prove you didn’t even have to knock.”
“Daisy,” he growled.
She held up her hands. “I looked, I looked.” Her eyes were twinkling. Well, that was better. He’d been worried that she’d been spiraling. Oh, who the hell was he kidding? He was still worrying.
“Leo, don’t look at me like that, I’m going to be just fine. And why is it that you always have to find me in hotel rooms when I’m falling apart?” She damn near flounced to the bed and sat down. He noticed that her linen pants and white shirt were clean. The laundry service had really come through.
“You never fall apart. You’re one of the strongest people I’ve ever met.”
“Bullshit. You’re a SEAL, you hang around with SEALs. I cried all over you because of fucking daddy issues. Don’t tell me I’m strong.” She shot back up off the bed and started to rip off the blankets and tugging up the sheets.
“What are you doing?”
“What does it look like? I’m making the bed. I always make the bed. I just hadn’t gotten around to it yet.”
Leo went to the other side and started pulling up the sheet.
“Stop it. I can do it myself.”
Leo ignored her and continued to help.
“You’re not going to listen to me, are you?” she asked.
“I will when you tell me something worthwhile.”
“What, you think the whining I was just doing over the phone was worthwhile? Me being upset because I can’t figure if I should or shouldn’t be at the camp? Whether I should or shouldn’t be working in the States? Sure, Leo, who the hell wants to hear that load of crap?”
She grabbed the comforter off the floor and swung it over the bed. Leo grabbed his side and then let it waft over the bed.
“I want to hear that crap. Haven’t you figured it out yet that I want to spend time with you and hear all about you, the insignificant minutia, the things that trouble you, the heart-wrenching and the funny. I want to hear it all.”
Her eyes went wide. “Are you high? We’ve known each other for three days,” she scoffed.
Leo could have taken it as a gut punch, but he had three older sisters and two teenage nieces. He could see the vulnerability that Daisy was working so hard to hide. And he could hardly blame her for still being angry that he’d ghosted on her when she needed him the most. That’s the story of her life. And it was up to him to convince her that he was the next chapter.
“We’ll take this a step at a time, okay?”
Her eyes narrowed. “What does that mean?”
“Finish telling me what you started on the phone before I came up here.”
“No. I was just being a whiny baby.”
Leo went over to the window, sat down on the sill, and folded his arms. He waited.
“You think that tactic is going to work on me?” she asked.
He didn’t say anything, just raised an eyebrow.
“Seriously Leo, I’m sick of hearing all the crap swirling around in my brain, why would you want to hear it?”
Once again she sat down on the bed. “I mean seriously. Where is my time better spent? At the home office, where I can really help bring in the money and coordinate the resources, or figuring out where W.A.N.T. is truly needed? And if it is on the ground, how can I do that without spending time with them? Did you see the girl? Abia? My God, Leo, she is so bright, she has so much potential, but the conditions she’s living in are horrific, and when you add on the fact that she’s living in a household run by a woman, she doesn’t stand a chance. What can I do?”
In four long strides,
Leo was in front of her, then he knelt down. He put his hands on her knees. “Honey, you’re so tired you can’t see the forest for the trees. You’re not the same person I met three weeks ago. I’ve seen this happen so many times before. Have you ever been in-country like this when you were trying to help?”
“Sure, all the time. There was Haiti, the Philippines, Guatemala, and the Sudan.”
“When was that?” His thumbs rubbed circles on her knees.
“The last time was probably five years ago. Since then I’ve been more administrative.”
“Bullshit—you’re not administrative, you’re running the whole damn thing. Now, what did you do when you were in the field?”
“I helped where I could, and I submitted reports to recommend where funds could be best spent.”
“Could you have made the decisions of where to spend the money back then?”
She shuddered. “God, no. I would have wanted to spend all the money, wherever I was at the moment.”
He nodded. “Exactly. That’s what’s going on right now. That’s why you’re spiraling.”
For long moments she looked down at his hands. Finally, she looked up, her eyes fierce. “What is my fucking problem? How could I have not seen that?”
“Probably because you’ve not had food or sleep, would be my guess,” Leo gave a slight chuckle.
“How dumb could I be?”
“Don’t call my girlfriend dumb.”
Daisy threw back her head and laughed. “I heard that. Thought you could sneak that by me, did you?”
“Like I said, you’re in a vulnerable state, you can’t see the forest for the trees. Seemed like a good time to stake my claim. Plus…” His voice lowered.
His eyes heated.
She shivered. “Plus what?”
“You’re sitting on a bed. In a hotel room, and…” His voice was a whisper.
He could see her eyes dilate. “And what?”
“Nobody is expecting us to be anywhere, and I’m here in front of you. Where I want to be. On my knees.”
“Bloody hell,” she moaned.
She grabbed his hair and angled her head. Her pillowy soft lips collided with his and his brain went haywire. Her tongue parted his lips and Leo relished her aggression. He wrapped his arms around her waist and stood up, taking her with him. He curved one arm under her ass and coaxed her legs around his waist, turning so that he sat on the bed. She straddled him. It was perfect.
He stroked his hands down her glossy brown hair, luxuriating in the satin feel. Then his hand drifted along her neck, slowly tracing down her soft skin toward the first tantalizing button of her linen blouse. One button undone. Two buttons undone. Then the third. And the fourth. All by touch as he continued to let her take him to dizzying heights with her kiss.
Leo had never let a woman take the lead like this. Daisy’s small hand gripped the nape of his neck, pulling him closer. He smiled against her lips when he heard a feminine growl as she clutched him even tighter. It was as if she wanted one damn thing at this moment that she could control, and if he was it, he was happy to oblige. But when she started to grind the molten heat between her thighs against his erection, it took everything in him to continue to let her command the situation.
“Daisy,” he groaned. “I didn’t bring condoms with me. They’re in my room.”
“Bad Boy Scout,” she glowered. “I’m on birth control. Are you good with that?”
His dick leapt for joy. “God yes. Are you?”
“Oh yes,” she said before she went in for another soul-shattering kiss.
He pulled her shirt open and flicked open the front clasp of her white cotton bra. Touching her breasts was like touching warm silk. He clasped the slight weight in his hand, relishing how she fit perfectly against his palm, her tight nipple throbbing against his hand, begging for a deeper touch. How could he deny her body anything? He circled her areola with his thumb, gratified at her moan of pleasure.
“More,” she gritted out.
He continued with the teasing touch, knowing what she wanted, but wanting her to ask. That had been such a fun game three weeks ago. Round and round, his thumb revolved around the soft skin, waiting…
He jerked when she bit his bottom lip, then he laughed.
“Harder,” she growled. “You know what I want. Harder.”
Once again he was happy to oblige. He dipped his head and sucked her nipple into his mouth, twirling his tongue around the tender nub. She gripped his head, trying to pull him closer, but she was no match for his strength. Her nails bit into his scalp, signaling her desire. Delicately, he bit her nipple and she groaned her satisfaction.
“Yesss. Oh, Leo. Yesss.”
He massaged her other breast, pinching and torturing the nub as she pushed her chest closer to him. She was glorious. She was going to kill him.
It was long minutes of pleasure for both of them before she shoved him away. “I want more. Clothes off now.” Her eyes glittered with desire and determination.
He lifted off the bed with her in his arms, then let her slide slowly to the floor, letting her sensuous body torture his. She reached for his belt and fumbled. Then she stopped and looked up at him.
“Fuck it. It’s too slow that way. Strip,” she commanded.
He laughed again. Laughter and loving, could it get any better?
“Aye, aye.”
He pulled his T-shirt over his head and then looked at her watching him. “No fair,” he said. “You’re not stripping, you’re just watching.”
“No woman with a pulse would blame me.” Her tongue ran across her bottom lip.
“You better strip, Woman, otherwise I’m tearing off those clothes, got it?”
She gulped. “You wouldn’t… Would you?”
“Not only that, I’d use the strips to tie you to the bed.”
Her eyes widened. He could tell she was intrigued. They didn’t have time—maybe round two. “Daisy, strip,” he ordered as he sat down on the bed to unlace his boots.
This time he got to watch.
She pulled off her shirt and bra, and he damn near fucked up the knot on his bootlace.
Concentrate!
He looked down and got his boots and socks off in record time.
“Hurry,” she said as she skimmed out of her pants.
He got up and unbuckled his belt and pulled down his pants.
“No underwear?”
He shrugged. “It’s hot in Yemen.” He looked at her in her little white lace panties. He picked her up and positioned her on the bed, then slowly, ever so slowly, slid her panties down her shapely legs.
She sucked in a deep breath, then sighed. He looked up into her eyes; she was his every dream.
“Here. Come here.” She lifted her arms toward him. Leo slid up her body so they could be chest to breast, heart to heart.
“You feel so good. I feel so safe when I’m in your arms,” she breathed into his neck.
Had any woman ever made him feel so good?
This time he started the kiss. A tender kiss, one that let her know how he felt—the care, the longing, the love. She parted her legs, her foot caressing the back of his calf. He felt the warm, wet welcome of her against his cock, but it wasn’t enough. He had to be sure.
Sliding a hand down past her taut stomach, he parted her soft folds and lightly touched her delicate bundle of nerves. She jerked hard against his fingers.
“No, don’t do that,” she begged. “I’m too close. Together. I want us to fly together.”
Her hand smoothed down his erection and guided him towards her entrance, and he was lost. He pushed home in one long glide, relishing her tight depths.
“God, Daisy, you’re killing me.”
She gasped. “My line. That’s my line.”
Her legs wrapped around him and she arched upward, taking more and more of him. She was a goddess as she reveled in the sensuality of their union. He breathed in the vanilla and orange blossom scent of her as she shared
her pleasure, which reverberated back on him. Thrust after thrust in her snug, honeyed depths, robbing him of breath, he was just intent on making sure that she reached her pinnacle before he did.
Her nails scored his back, as she lunged upwards.
“Leo,” she cried out, then her teeth gripped his shoulder as she shuddered beneath him, sparking his release into oblivion. His last thought was to wonder how was it possible that he felt surrounded and cared for, as if she had taken him to a place where their souls communicated as one.
20
“I need to get video of Abia,” Effie said to Daisy.
“Why?”
They were walking around the camp. Doug and Annie were back at the hotel trying to put together a proposal on how they might be able to funnel some monies toward this project. Effie came along with Leo, Rayi, and Daisy in her function as the Director of Public Affairs. She was outstanding in her job, and it was through her strategic thinking and her ability to tug at donors’ heartstrings that Daisy could get so many donations.
“That smile. That enthusiasm. And I hate to say it, but when people realize she’s five years old, that is going to kill them. They’ll be opening up their wallets. I can’t believe how emaciated all of the kids are around here.”
Daisy stopped walking, her stomach churning at the thought of using Abia’s underdeveloped body as a selling point.
“Hun, are you all right?” Effie asked.
Daisy just shook her head, trying to clear it. “I’m fine.”
“You don’t look like it.” Effie dug in her oversized purse. “Here, have some water.”
Daisy took it and drank a third of the bottle. It did help a little bit. She needed to be more careful. “Effie, I’m not sure I want to use Abia in that way.”
“Hun, it will really help with the campaign. This is not going to be an easy sell, with everything else we have going on. I think we’re going to need a lot of photos. Some drone footage so they can see the size of the camp, and some video of Abia and have her introduce her family. Trust me, this will work.”
“We’ll see.”
Effie sighed.
Meanwhile, Rayi was taking notes of the conversation, which concerned Daisy. Leo was busy watching everybody and everything as if there were a bogeyman around every corner. Daisy really wished Annie and Doug were here.
Her Sensual Protector: A Navy SEAL Romance (Night Storm Book 5) Page 14