I hesitated for a second, but then went over to him. He didn’t say a word as I sat on his lap, and he wrapped his arms around me. His body was warm against my back, and I let out a contented sigh. A girl could get used to this.
“We’re not going to fuck you over,” Mike murmured into my ear as he rubbed the goosebumps on my arm. “And we definitely wouldn’t let you drown.”
“It’s not drowning as much as it’s…” I hesitated, unsure if I should say what I was actually thinking. Mike stayed quiet and didn’t pressure me, so I took a deep breath and decided to just go for it. “It’s about me relaxing in the water, getting comfortable, then being kicked out of the pool and asked to leave the premises.”
Mike stilled underneath me. “That wouldn’t happen.”
“Nothing in life is sure,” I told him. “People come and go out of your life and your heart.”
“Not always,” Mike said quietly. “And that’s the military life that you’re talking about. Your team is always changing, your buddies get orders to different commands, newbies show up to be trained, and your colleagues get promoted and demoted. Not even your duty station is definite as your orders can change at any time.”
“Yeah,” I said as I breathed out a sigh. “Nothing is permanent. There’s no such thing as home.”
“But there can be,” Mike murmured. “Stay with us.”
“Do you realize what you’re offering?” I turned to face him. “That’s a serious commitment. And you can’t speak for the rest of the guys.”
Mike smiled. “You said ‘offering’ not ‘asking’, so this is something that you want. Believe me, I know precisely how Davis, Rich, and Trevor feel about you.”
I scowled at him. “And this has nothing to do with you wanting to get in my pants?”
“I never said that,” Mike said with a grin. “But when I slide inside you, I want to know that you’re all mine – heart and soul.”
I raised an eyebrow at him as I turned to straddle him. “Is that right?”
Mike shifted beneath me so I could feel the hardness of his erection pressing against me. “You’re not the type of girl that I can get out of my head with a quick fuck,” he said as he ran his hands over my thighs. “You’re an obsession that creeps into my every thought. When I think of my life five years down the line, I want to see you in it. I want you fighting beside me, laughing with me, and sitting beside me in the darkest parts of the night.” “Fuck,” I said with a groan as I lowered my mouth to his.
Mike’s full lips met mine, and I tangled a hand in his hair as I lost myself in the sensations of kissing him. Mike groaned as I rubbed up against him, and he gave my ass a squeeze. Desire pulsed through me as his body pressed against mine. I slid my hands up his shirt to explore the hard ridges of his abs, and Mike trailed kisses along my bared throat as he ran his hands up to my waist.
My blood was on fire, and I couldn’t feel the cold air at all. Mike slid a hand in my shirt to cup my breast, and my nipples hardened as he played with one of them. I ground myself on his cock and groaned. “Are we really doing this out here?” he murmured.
“Are you asking because you want to go inside, or are you trying to be a gentleman?” The privacy fence around the backyard would be enough to hide us from the neighbors but being outside in the open gave this an even more illicit feel to it.
Mike chuckled as he slid both hands in my pants to massage my ass. “Just giving you an out if you want to take it.”
“There’s something else I want to take right now,” I said breathlessly as he slid his thumb along my ass crack, igniting all the nerves in my nether regions. I sat back and pulled the waistband of his sweatpants down to free his cock. I used my hand to get him even harder until he lifted me up by the waist. I turned around so that my back was to him, and he slid my pants and panties down to expose me. The cool breeze against the wetness between my legs just ignited my senses even more. He teased my clit, but I was already ready to go.
Mike guided his cock inside me as I lowered myself down, and I groaned as he filled every aching inch of me. I started moving atop of him and Mike took hold of my hips to increase the depth of my movement.
“Fuck,” he groaned as he slapped my ass. Without sliding out of me, he grabbed ahold of my hair and wound his fist in it. With his other arm around my waist he stood, and I bent down to lean my weight on the side table we usually used to rest our beers.
I cried out as he pounded into me. He was hitting deep and at exactly the right angle in this position, and my orgasm started cresting. He pulled my hair back to bare my throat, and it sent me over the edge. My muscles clenched around him, trigging his own orgasm. The world was still and quiet around us, the only sound was from us both panting.
My legs were like jelly as Mike pulled out of me and gently pulled me to a fully standing position. “That was amazing,” he murmured as he used his shirt to clean me up.
“Yeah,” I agreed. Any other words were far beyond me right now. All I could manage were single syllable words.
Mike tugged me back towards the chair, and I straddled his lap. He wrapped his arms around me, and I sighed in contentment.
The kitchen light flicked on in the house behind us, and I reluctantly pulled away from him. “Looks like the team is awake,” I murmured as I pressed my forehead to his.
Mike sighed reluctantly, not moving beneath me. “We should probably get ready for strenuous training day.”
I brushed my lips over his one last time before standing. “To be continued?” I asked cautiously. I was giving him the opportunity to tell me this was a mistake, to say that we were just friends and he didn’t want to fuck up the team dynamic.
But Mike didn’t say any of those things. Instead, he looked up at me with a combination of lust and affection on his face. “Yeah, let’s push pause for now.”
I took a deep breath of the cool air outside and willed my body to calm down. The guys would be able to smell the arousal on me the second I walked in the door, but I wanted a clear head before I said anything stupid. Mike put a hand on the small of my back and gave me a kiss on the top of the head before opening the sliding glass door that led back into the house.
I stepped inside as Trevor gave us both an unreadable look, but he didn’t say a word. He continued measuring out the protein powder for his shake as we walked through the kitchen and back to our respective rooms. I wasn’t sure if I was happy or disappointed that Mike and I had been interrupted. My body wanted to curl up with him and enjoy the afterglow, but my brain was warning me that sex after a heart to heart talk and then followed up with cuddling was too risky. I was getting comfortable with these guys, and I was starting to let them in more than I had initially planned. But oddly enough, I wasn’t as worried as I should be.
Chapter 17
I struggled to keep my head up as Trevor and I circled each other in the ring. Blood dripped into my left eye, and I fought to keep my vision steady. Trevor had gotten me with a kick to the head, but I refused to give up and yield the fight to him. If I was still standing, then I could fight. I ignored his shirtless, sweaty, hard body full of muscles sculpted by hard work and training and focused on what I had to do to win this quickly. I wasn’t going to make it another round.
I kept my eyes on his, but slightly shifted my weight to my left foot. I could see him step forward to respond to the punch he thought I was going to throw, but instead I barreled right towards him. His eyes widened in surprise for a second, but it was too late, he was already off balance and I was coming in fast. I slid down on one knee, trapping his ankle by wrapping my leg around it and used my momentum to shove my shoulder into his gut and grab the back of his legs. He grunted as I crashed into him and forced him to the ground.
A wave of dizziness hit me, and my moment of weakness allowed Trevor to reverse our positions. Before I could even blink, he was on top of me with one hand on my neck. “Yield,” he growled as he gave my throat a threatening squeeze.
I g
rabbed his forearm with my right hand and used my left arm to cross over his chest and to the right side of his neck. I then kicked his hip with my left leg so I could pivot my body and get my right leg over his shoulder. He tightened his grip on my neck, making it impossible to breathe. I knew I only had seconds until I passed out, so I swung my left leg up over his head so that I was pulling the arm around my throat with my hands but pushing him away with both legs against his shoulder. He attempted to let go of my throat and pull his arm back, but I moved so that I had complete control over his arm.
“Yield or I’ll break your elbow,” I said breathlessly, stars swimming in front of my eyes.
“Fine,” he snapped out.
If I weren’t seconds away from falling unconscious, I would have pressed the issue and made him actually say the words. But I had to take the victory as it was. I let him out of my hold, and Davis laughed as Trevor stood up. “Not the way you wanted to end up between her legs?”
Trevor held out a hand to help me up, ignoring Davis completely. “That was a good move.”
I let him pull me to my feet but moved slowly to avoid embarrassing myself by falling.
“Thanks,” I said as I tried not to sway on my feet. “We done for today?”
Trevor put his arm around me. “You are,” he grumbled. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”
I blinked in shock. Had I actually passed out? Or was this a hallucination? Trevor was never kind and gentle. Before I could decide, Trevor had scooped me up in his arms and was striding off the wrestling mats. He gently set me down on one of the weight benches and knelt down in front of me. “How’s your head?”
“I feel like I got kicked in the head by a donkey.”
Mike laughed out loud. “I think the word you were looking for was jackass,” he called from across the room.
“You and Davis are next,” Trevor told him. “And I fully expect him to smash your skull into the mat a few times.”
I smiled at the teasing and then gulped down some of the Gatorade that Trevor handed me. “Should I get Anna?” he asked worriedly as he wiped at the blood that had dribbled down my face.
“Nah,” I said with a laugh. “I have a thick skull and quick healing. I’ll be good in an hour or two.”
Trevor stared at me for a moment, and my heart thumped in my chest. His magic swirled around us, and it was as if his eyes could penetrate through my façade, deep down into the depths that I always kept hidden. Trevor’s phone pinged with an incoming message and shattered the connection between us. He got up from his crouch to walk over to his gym bag to get his phone but cursed when he got the message. “Mike, Davis, table the fight for now. We’re needed up at the main house.”
My stomach dropped. What was it this time?
“Rich,” Trevor called out. “Take Sam upstairs to get cleaned up and stay with her until we know she’s not going to pass out from her head injury. Mike and Davis, I need you to patrol the grounds. James needs me at a location at the edge of the property.”
The other guys all nodded without asking questions, but I couldn’t hold it in. “What’s happening?”
Trevor looked at me and hesitated before speaking. “Hopefully, nothing. But by the time you’re done cleaning up, I may have more information.”
Liar. I knew he was hiding something. And if I wasn’t on the brink of passing out, I would have challenged him. My eyes slid over to Rich. I might not be able to get anything out of Trevor right now, but Rich might let something slip if I played my cards right.
Rich put an arm around my waist after the other guys had all disappeared so that he could help me back upstairs. “I still have some stuff in the blue room,” I told him. We walked slowly, but my injuries ached more with every step. Trevor didn’t pull his punches, and the guy hit hard.
“You okay?” Rich asked sympathetically.
“Yeah,” I told him as my knee made a creaking sound that I was pretty sure wasn’t normal.
I had to hold onto Rich tighter than I would have liked to make it up the stairs, and there was a slight sheen of sweat over my body. Rich might look shorter in stature and less bulky than the other guys, but he was wiry with muscle, and I appreciated his strength. He helped me through the guest bedroom and to the attached bathroom. I started the shower but winced when I tried to pull off my shirt. Turns out my shoulder was kind of fucked up, too. Fantastic.
“Uh, you need some help?” Rich asked awkwardly after watching me struggle and curse at the damn shirt.
I let out a frustrated breath. “Sure. You got your utility knife on you?” My shirt was stained with blood and slightly torn anyway, so it was a lost cause.
Rich’s eyes widened for a second before he pulled a knife out of his boot. “Of course.”
I had to laugh when he sliced through my thin tank with ease. “Just the shirt,” I warned him. “I can manage the rest.”
Rich’s hands were warm on my skin as he pushed the remnants of my shirt off my shoulders. He ran them back over my shoulders and down to the clasp of my bra. “May I?” he murmured. Heat flooded my body, and I struggled to keep my breathing even.
“Yeah,” I agreed, trying to play it cool when my heart rate had just doubled at the thought of him touching even more of my bare flesh. Rich didn’t overstep any bounds as he helped me out of my clothes, but I found my pain quickly fading to the back of my mind as my skin heated up under his gaze.
“You good in the shower?” he asked politely, but with simmering heat in his gaze that let me know I hadn’t been the only one affected by his touch.
“Yeah,” I said with an attempted shrug that made me wince.
“If you don’t mind,” Rich said with a small smile. “I’ll stay nearby so Trevor doesn’t rip my head off if you pass out in the shower.”
I rolled my eyes. “It would be more his fault than yours.”
Rich chuckled. “Not in his eyes.”
Despite the frosted glass that hid me from Rich’s eyes, showering in front of him was a surprisingly erotic experience. If I had been feeling better, I might have even invited him in, but at the moment it was taking everything I had to stay standing. Is that the only reason? A little voice inside my head whispered to me. Or are you deliberately trying to keep your distance?
I turned off the shower and squeezed the water out of my hair. “You need a towel?” Rich called to me.
I slid the shower door open a crack. “Yup.”
Rich passed it through, but a rush of dizziness hit me when I leaned to grab it. I steadied myself and then wrapped the towel around me before stepping out. Rich kept his eyes on mine as I dripped water onto the bath rug outside of the shower. “Let me brush your hair?” he murmured. “I’ll be gentle.”
My eyebrows rose at the unusual request, but I turned around to give him access to my hair. True to his word, he started at the bottom of my hair and gently tugged the brush through the snarls. I closed my eyes to enjoy the moment. I’d had plenty of sexual experiences with attractive men, but I’d never had a guy do something so affectionate and caring for me before.
In my experience, men only did what they thought was necessary to get your panties off. I looked over at the reflection of Rich and myself in the bathroom mirror. Even though I was wet and naked under the towel, Rich wasn’t eyeing me up like I was a tasty steak. He finished brushing my hair and stepped back with a small smile. “That should do it.” I waited for another beat to see if he would make a pass at me, but he was watching me as if he was worried about me, not like he was considering pulling my towel off. “You okay?” Rich asked with a frown.
“Yup,” I said cheerfully as I turned away from him to hide my thoughts. Unfortunately, I turned a little too fast and had to reach out and grab the doorway to avoid falling on my face. That would have been embarrassing. Rich definitely noticed how wobbly I was with my balance because he trailed after me.
“Sam,” he said worriedly. “Maybe you should sit down for a couple minutes?”
I w
as about to shake my head, but then thought better of it. “Nah, I’m good.”
The hot water had eased the ache in some of my muscles, and I was able to dress myself, only much slower than I normally would.
“Sam!” I heard Anna’s voice call out to me as Rich and I made our way back downstairs.
“I’m so glad you’re here.”
The gorgeous blond wolf was casually dressed in jeans and a hoodie, but she was the type of girl that was naturally pretty and didn’t need anything else. Today she was filled with nervous energy and apprehension that wasn’t normal for her.
“Do you know what’s going on?” I asked curiously.
Anna nodded. “It would really help if you could talk this through with me. I feel like I’m going crazy.”
“Yeah, definitely. You got anything to eat? Trevor put us through a brutal workout today.”
Anna jumped up to her feet with a big grin. “Cooking always helps me think, so you’re in luck. I can throw together some Chicken Parmesan and then whip up some brownies while that’s cooking.”
I blinked. I could cook if I really had to, but it took a lot of time, effort, and motivation to get me there. I didn’t ‘throw things together’ or ‘whip things up.’ Even with a clear recipe, I could still manage to create inedible meals. “Uh, yeah. Let me know what I can do to help.”
Anna started pulling ingredients out of the fridge and passing them off to me and Rich as she rattled off instructions. “I don’t know how much you guys already know,” Anna said with a smile. “So stop me if I’m being redundant.” She stuck her head in a cupboard and started pulling out a couple of mixing bowls and pans. “You know Justin, Austin’s brother?”
I nodded as Anna handed me a glass bowl and a roll of parchment paper. “Just make sure it’s lined well so we don’t have to scrub the pan,” she told me.
“Okay, I can totally handle that,” I told her confidently.
Anna gave me a nod before instructing Rich on how she wanted the chicken breasts cleaned and cut. “So, we had a run-in with him the other day, and it was worse than usual.” She chewed on her lower lip, and I could feel the worry radiating off her. “There was something wrong with him that made him even more intolerable.”
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