by Lindsay McKenna - Course of Action: The Rescue: Jaguar NightAmazon Gold
“Sure,” she said. “But aren’t you tired, Josh? You have dark smudges under your eyes.”
He squeezed her and kissed her temple, inhaling her scent, feeling himself growing hard, needing Aly so damn bad. But real life had to be dealt with first. “I’m tired but that’s nothing new, Angel. In my line of work, snipers catnap if they don’t have a spotter to spell them for a couple hours of sack time. I’m okay. I’m used to this.”
She worried but said nothing. “Let me change.”
“Sure. I’m going to call Mom and Dad.”
* * *
They stopped on their way back from Camp Pendleton at Carlsbad, a small town on the ocean, and had lobster for dinner. Josh ate for two people and Aly loved the quiet nook, the privacy and view of the ocean as the sun was setting. They had stopped to look at an apartment, put down a deposit and then Josh had driven her over to the local college. Aly had gotten brochures on their medical studies, enthused to see classes in pediatrics among their offerings. It had been a hectic, busy day with nothing but good outcomes.
Sitting in the curved black leather booth that faced the large windows opening to the Pacific, Aly groaned and pushed her plate away. “I feel like a stuffed crab,” she muttered, rubbing her tummy. She heard Josh chuckle. He’d cleaned up everything on his plate.
“Dessert?”
Aly groaned. “No way...I can’t eat another bite, Josh. But you go ahead.”
The waitress picked up their empty plates, took his order for some cheesecake with cherries on top, left them coffee and vowed to return. Aly watched as Josh pulled something from the small ruck that he carried with him.
“I have a dessert,” he told her in a low, intimate growl, turning to her. “I think you’ll like it....”
Aly saw him produce a small black-velvet box. Instantly she knew what it was and gave a small gasp, her gaze flying to his. He smiled and held it out to her.
“I want to marry you, Aly. At some point when it feels right for both of us. This is my promise to you that I mean it. Open it up.” Josh placed the box in the palm of her hand.
Her flesh tingled, her heart sped up as she shakily set the box on the table and carefully opened it.
“Josh!” She stared at him and then at the open box. Inside were two gold rings. The wedding ring was simple. The engagement ring held a heart-shaped, faceted blue stone that gleamed in the low light. There were several smaller round stones on each side of the heart.
“That’s blue tourmaline,” he rasped, his head nearly touching hers as he lifted her left hand into his. Meeting her wide eyes, he said thickly, “I wanted to always remember the color of your eyes, Aly. And how you stole my heart that night I saw you for the first time.” He pulled the engagement ring free and held her tear-filled gaze. “Tell me you’ll marry me when the time is right? Wear this ring as a sign of my love for you. For what we have.”
She felt tears trail down her cheeks and she sniffed, unable to speak, just nod her head. The ring slipped on, a perfect size for her slender finger.
“Oh, Josh,” she murmured, lifting her hands, framing his face, kissing him. His mouth took hers gently and her tears melted between their mouths. Finally she eased her mouth from his, drowning in his gold gaze. She loved it when he caressed her hair, his expression open for her to read. Josh loved her. Period. Nothing had changed in three months. All it had done for both of them was to deepen their commitment to one another.
“I love this,” she said, her voice tremulous as she held up the engagement ring, watching light dance through its blue facets. “Thank you.... I never expected anything.... I really didn’t....”
He nodded and framed her face with his hands. “That’s because you were never given anything after your mother died, Aly. You learned to just be a shadow, ignored and left abandoned in different ways.” His voice deepened. “Those days are gone, Angel. You are the center of my universe and I’m going to find a way to let you know how important you are to me, how you make my life happy, how I’m going to look forward to waking up with you in my arms from now on....”
More tears burned in her eyes and she pulled away, embarrassed by them, wiping her cheeks, giving him a look of apology. Her father hated tears. He’d always told her it was a sign of weakness. But Josh watched her tenderly, smoothing away the tears with his thumbs. Sniffing, she found some tissues in her purse and blew her nose. “All I want...is you....”
He grinned and kissed her cheek. “I’m all yours, Angel.”
* * *
Josh began his slow seduction after they’d showered together. Aly’s skin smelled faintly of lilac from the soap she’d used. Her flesh was velvety and firm beneath his exploring hands and mouth.
There was nothing shy about her now and he smiled to himself as she kissed him hungrily, pressing her naked body against his, her hips nestling against his, only making his erection harder. Three months without being able to touch this sensitive, willful woman had been his undoing. She took his mouth with heat and her tongue engaged his with a yearning that matched his. Her hair fell around his face, the sweet floral scent filling his nostrils as he dragged it deep into his lungs.
The instant she straddled him, her thighs against his hips, he grinned. “I think I’ve died and gone to heaven,” he teased her, running his hands down the length of her back to her flared hips. “Who knew you were a jaguar in disguise?” He looked up into her glittering, half-closed eyes filled with arousal.
“I like being thought of as a jaguar.” She moved her wet core against the warm thickness of his erection, her hands planted on his chest. He groaned, feeling her slide against him, feeling his groin ache and tighten beneath her. The tables had been turned in the most delicious, hot ways and he clenched his teeth, his fingers tightening on her hips. He watched her smile a very knowing, womanly smile. He liked that Aly was finding her confidence, realizing her power as a woman, that she was just as strong, even stronger emotionally, than he would ever be.
“I’ve been dreaming of this night for three long months, Patterson,” she whispered, taking his mouth, moving her tongue along his lower lip, feeling him tense, his hips thrusting upward, his erection urgent against her entrance. And then he slid into her. She moaned, closing her eyes, lost in the heat and scalding connection boiling between them.
Their teasing dissolved as he tantalized that swollen knot swelling within her. And when he brought her firmly against him, his hands pulling her down upon him even more firmly, she gasped. The slickness of perspiration combined with his movements and Aly felt the walls of her body suddenly contract. An inner explosion of heat and fluid flooded her and she gave a cry, arching into Josh’s hands holding her steady. The burning flood of pleasure enveloped her lower body. All she could do for those moments was freeze, the powerful intensity of the orgasm sweeping through her, erasing her mind, flinging her somewhere into light, love and ecstasy combined.
And just as she began to relax, to come down from the first orgasm, she felt a second one building right behind it as he thrust deeply into her, guiding her, holding her so she was perfectly angled to stroke that knot of swollen nerves inside her entrance. A serrated cry tore out of her as she was overwhelmed with a tidal wave of raw, wild pleasure racing through her body. Afterward, she sank weakly against Josh’s body.
She was breathing as raggedly as he was. Josh gently turned her over, placing her on her back, sliding into her, taking her, stroking her until she moaned, feeling his power surging into her. Then, and only then, did he allow himself to release within her.
Aly didn’t think it was possible that she could orgasm a third time, but he slipped his hand beneath her hips, placing her at that sweet angle where her body conspired with his, and she cried out, gripping his thick, tense shoulders just as he came. He’d rasped her name, his fists knotted near her head, groaning, teeth clenched as his spilled into her warm, welcoming body.
The silence was warm and Aly could feel the fierce love that Josh held for her a
fterward. He’d pulled up a sheet, the fabric flowing up to their waists. She nuzzled his jaw, placing a kiss on it. “This is the best dream ever,” she whispered. Josh squeezed her a little tighter for a moment. He lay on his back and the bedroom was darkened except for some light around the edges of one curtain.
“You’re my dream come true,” he told her huskily.
Closing her eyes, Aly felt her heart expand with so much love for this man that all she could do was squeeze him in return. Love transcended words. Just...touches...kisses...warm intimacy with their bodies against one another—that was more than enough.
“I love you so much,” she whispered. “I look back on what’s happened and I’m in awe of it all.”
“Sometimes,” Josh said, “when life is painful, there is a kind of birthing that takes place. Something good happens out of the bad. That’s us.”
Nodding, Aly closed her eyes, inhaling his male scent, his soft hair tickling her nose. “You said you have a year left on your enlistment, Josh. What are you going to do? Reenlist?”
He stirred and sat up, bringing her into his arms so he could see her eyes, her expression. Sliding strands away from her cheek, he said, “I’ve been giving that a lot of thought, Angel. Before I met you, there was no question I’d re-up. I have nine years in the corps. I was going to make it twenty.” His voice lowered and he searched her shadowed gaze. “But I wasn’t counting on meeting you.... I never thought much about marriage. A wife. Children, maybe.”
A seriousness shimmered in his eyes. “But now?”
She saw one corner of his delicious mouth hook upward.
“Now?” He kissed her nose. “I have you. You’re my partner whether we’re married or not. You have a vote in this, Aly. What would you like to see me do?”
She grimaced. “I know what it’s like to be a military brat, Josh.”
“I’m more concerned about me being deployed again overseas for nine months to a year. How it will impact you, Aly?” He caressed her cheek, holding her gaze. “What do you want me to do? I’m fine with any decision you make. Just tell me what’s in your heart. Because that’s all that matters.”
She swallowed hard, looking away for a moment, compressing her lips. Josh deserved her courage and she lifted her chin. “I don’t want you to reenlist. I want you...a life with you, Josh. I want to marry you, settle down in one spot and never move again. I’m so tired of never having connection, friends...”
“I know that,” he said. “How would you feel, if after I get out of the corps, we get married at my parents’ ranch in Texas? I’d like to invite as many of my Sidewinder friends who can make it as well as our huge family. You could invite your father, as well. And then, I’d like to ask my dad for about five acres of land nearby, on the ranch.” He looked at her, his voice thickening. “I want to build you that two-story house you dreamed about, Aly. I’ll paint it white with green trim. There won’t be any Rocky Mountains, Angel, but we’ll plan this house together. You’ll have that lavender bedroom with that four-poster bed and the curtain hanging around it. Does that sound like something you could live with? Marry a Marine and end up with a Texas cowboy? All I want to do is make you happy, Aly. I want to try to make up for all you’ve lost over the years....”
She sniffed and nodded. “Yes...yes to all of it, Josh. It sounds wonderful.” And she kissed him longingly, feeling him groan, feeling him begin to grow hard once more against her hip. Most of all, the way he framed her face, taking her mouth tenderly, she felt as if her entire life was changing for the better because Josh was in it. A part of it. A part of her.
After wiping her eyes, she took his hand and placed it against her belly. “I want children, Josh. Not right now, but maybe in a few years? I love children and I want to carry yours. Are you all right with that?” She saw the love in his eyes for her, felt his fingers splay out across her belly.
“We want the same thing, Angel. I know I’m an only child this generation, but my grandmother had six children. My great-grandmother had ten.”
She laughed and shook her head. “I was thinking maybe two or three. Not a dozen, Patterson.”
He grinned and held her tightly against him. “It’s up to you, Aly. I’m happy if it’s one child or a dozen. I’ll love them all because I love you....”
Epilogue
“Hey,” Pete Winbourne teased, “you’re going down, Patterson. Another good Sidewinder bites the dust.” He slapped him on the back.
Josh took the ribbing in good stride from the Air Force PJ, a brother Sidewinder, who stood in his uniform of dark blue. They were all waiting for the music to begin, signaling it was time for the crowd of friends and family to sit beneath the light blue tent where his marriage to Aly would take place. “I don’t mind biting the dust, bro,” he told him.
Pete nodded. “She’s a looker, no question.”
“Hey,” Dan Taylor said, limping up with a makeshift cast on his thigh, “you think if I get an op to go rescue a pretty girl like Aly, I might get lucky, too?” He grinned and slapped Josh on the back.
“You Army Special Forces types are crazy,” Josh muttered, shaking his head. Taylor had been wounded in Afghanistan, was recuperating in Honolulu, Hawaii, and had skipped out in the middle of his rehab, to attend his friend’s wedding to Aly.
Travis Cooper, who used to be a Navy SEAL, wandered over to the group with Duke Carmichael in tow. Both of them were married. Travis had one child and another on the way. Duke, an Air Force Combat Controller, was still in the military, happily married to Anya. Travis looked Taylor up and down. He was dressed in a well worn set of Levi’s, a dark green T-shirt, leather sandals and he wore his hair rather longish. The device on his thigh looked as if it was some kind of alien attached to his leg. An enemy bullet had shattered his femur.
“You might sit at the rear...” Travis drawled, grinning at Taylor. “You look like something the cat dragged in.”
Dan laughed. “Hey, we Green Berets are pretty good at being chameleons. I had to get my physical therapist, who I’m chasing down, to help me get here. Cait felt sorry for me, got me some civvies to wear out of there. Otherwise, someone would have nailed my ass and stopped me and I wouldn’t have gotten here.”
“She liked you enough to make you look like a Banzai pipeline surfer dude from the islands.” Travis shook his head. “You look pitiful, bro.”
Taylor took it in good stride and gave them an amused look. “At least I’m here. Right? Stealth? Secrecy? Surprise? All in a day’s work for us Army black-ops types.”
Duke looked him up and down and then looked at Josh and said, “Really? You’re lettin’ him in the same tent with all of us good-looking Texans?”
Everyone roared. It was like old times and Josh couldn’t believe that all of them had made it to his wedding. There was a tight brotherly love between them. “I’ll let you stay on one condition, Taylor,” he drawled.
“What’s the condition?”
“That you stop tomcatting around, eyeing every single woman out there,” Josh said, hooking his thumb toward the tent area. “You were always the biggest flirt among us.”
“Yeah, and I sure as hell got more girls than the rest of you put together.”
The hoots, jeers and chuckles rolled through the group of men.
Taylor held up his hand. “Actually, I’ve got my eye on Cait back at the hospital.”
“I feel sorry for her,” Josh said. “She doesn’t know once you put your sights on a woman, she’s yours.”
Smugly, Dan nodded. “Yeah. I just gotta get her convinced I’m the best thing since sliced bread.”
Duke snorted. “She’ll have your ass when you get back to the hospital, bro. You’re nowhere near well enough to be on that leg. Even I can tell that and I’m not a medic.”
Gently patting the device that protected his thigh, Dan said, “I’ll pretend to be hurting when I get back to Oahu. She’ll take pity on me.”
The music from the organ inside the tent began to play
. The men lifted their heads. Each shook Josh’s hand and drifted out to their wives. Pete, who was still single, had already spotted a good-looking blonde named Riley Fairchild. She was Aly’s best friend and an internationally known mezzo-soprano singer. Riley was going to sing at the wedding reception. He ambled in that direction, intent on sitting with her. Josh shook his head and smiled. He saw his father, Ted, dressed in a gray cowboy suit, a gray Stetson on his head, stand beside him.
“Ready, son?”
“Yes, sir, I am.”
Ted looked up at his son who was two inches taller than he was. “You know, you were smart in getting Aly to stay with us.”
Josh didn’t want to gloat and tried to look humble. “Dad, I’m not black ops for nothing.”
A grin edged Ted Patterson’s mouth. “You did good, son. We love Aly. She’s going to make you a fine wife.” He put his hand on his son’s shoulder and lowered his voice. “And I hope like hell you get her pregnant. Soon. Lisa is bugging me about talking to you about it. She desperately wants a grandbaby.”
Groaning, Josh nodded. “We’ll work on it, but first, I want to build Aly her house.”
Ted’s blue eyes twinkled. “Well, that’s part of the wedding gift me and your mother are giving you two. When you get back off your two-week honeymoon in Hawaii, I’ve hired a construction crew and foreman to work right alongside you. Cut down the time it’ll take to get that house up and in order.”
Josh shook his head. “Dad, did Mom put you up to this? Get the house built sooner? So Aly can get pregnant? Have a baby sooner?” He saw his father flush. Yeah, women ran the world, no question, and he laughed, slapping his father on the back.
“You’ll learn,” was all Ted rumbled with a chuckle, and left for the tent.
Josh’s best man was Duke Carmichael. The rest of his Sidewinder brothers, his best men. Even Dan Taylor, surfer dude, stood in a line, waiting for him to come up to the front.