“Bethesda.”
“Cool. We’re more, uh, Laurel. Sort of.”
“Oh, you mean Fort Meade?” Haylee asked a touch too innocently.
“Not precisely,” Wolf said. “But close.” Haylee had finished her pizza by now so he stood, beer in hand, and tipped his head toward the pool table at the other end of the common room. “Do you play?”
Haylee turned to look at the table where two of his teammates were currently embroiled in a match. “Actually, yes I do.”
“Want to play a game? Pass the time?”
“Sure. Why not?” She unfolded herself from the chair and stood. Her head didn’t come above mid-chest on him.
“I’ll even give you the break,” he said, feeling generous.
She stopped and arched an eyebrow. “Maybe you shouldn’t do that. What if I’m a shark?”
His senses tingled. Nah, she couldn’t be. She was just teasing him. Flirting. He liked it. “If you’re a shark, then maybe you want to make a friendly bet on the game? Winner take all?”
He’d know in a moment if she was bluffing. Instead, she looked gleeful. Her smile spread across her face like she had a secret. A really good secret. “Absolutely, Dean. But why don’t we make it interesting instead of friendly?”
Chapter Six
Haylee shouldn’t have drank that second beer. Not that she’d drank it all yet but she was about a third of the way through. It tasted good, dammit. And she felt looser than she had in weeks. Almost happy, in spite of herself.
Wolf towered over her, beer bottle in hand, big hard body relaxed and tense all at once. He looked surprised. “Seriously? What did you have in mind?”
The one named Mal was still sitting. Still watching them. He was attractive too, big and hard and pretty in that masculine I-could-rip-something-in-two-without-breaking-a-sweat way that these men had about them. Geez, if she’d had any idea that hanging around a military base would have netted her guys like these to stare at, she’d have hopped over to Laurel and its whereabouts more often.
Not that Bethesda didn’t have its share of military men and women. But not these kind of military men. Not commandos. Special Operators, she corrected. Delta Force. Green Berets. Navy SEALs. The kind of men that made a girl shiver—and want to throw her panties at him at the same time.
She shrugged. “I don’t know. What do you have to offer?”
Wolf seemed to recover his equilibrium. He grinned and stepped in close. So damned close, until the heat of his body hit her like a wave. His scent—steely, woodsy, masculine—slammed into her. His damned gray-blue eyes bored through her soul. Her limbs felt liquid. “Whatever you want, baby. Tell me.”
Uhh, were they still talking about pool here?
She took a step back so she could breathe. She could feel Mal’s eyes darting between them. Maybe he was safer. Maybe she should be flirting with him instead.
But she didn’t want to flirt with him. She wanted to flirt with Wolf. And she wanted him to flirt right back.
“Let’s start simple. For every shot I sink, you owe me five bucks.”
He reared back, studying her as if she’d dropped in from Mars. “Five bucks a shot? That’s what you want? That’s a potential forty bucks. Not very high stakes.”
Haylee took a step closer to him. He didn’t back away. She felt the danger rolling through her. The excitement. She hadn’t felt this carefree in months. This crazy. “Okay, smartass—make it twenty a shot. That better?”
She’d been trying to take it easy on him, but he wasn’t having any of it. He had no idea how good she could be. How natural shooting pool was for her. Then again, what if he was more than just a guy who played pool with his buddies to let off steam?
“Twenty a shot. Fine. Best of five for the championship?”
“Sure, hotshot. I’ll take those odds.”
Mal bounded up from his chair, waving his arms. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, amigos. That’s not interesting enough, is it? I mean a hundred and sixty bucks per game? Big deal. What else you people got?”
Wolf didn’t take his eyes from her. “Stay out of this, Mal. That’s eight hundred if somebody wins all five.”
“Yeah, but make it more interesting.”
“What did you have in mind?” Haylee asked without looking at Mal.
“A kiss,” Wolf said before Mal could add anything. “With tongue.”
Haylee’s heart skipped a couple of beats. Her nipples tightened. What the hell? Mal laughed. “Now that’s some stakes. Though they seem to benefit you the most, Wolf,” he added.
“Go away,” Wolf growled without looking at his teammate. “Haylee? Got another suggestion?”
“Deal,” Haylee said, throat closing tight because she couldn’t think of anything else except the possibility of kissing this man. “If that’s what you want.”
“Yeah,” he murmured, gaze dropping for half a second, skimming over her collarbone, her chest, and then back up to her eyes. “It’s what I want. For every shot I sink.”
Haylee wanted that too. But it was too easy. She couldn’t give it to him. “No. If you win a game, you get the kiss.”
“And the ultimate prize?”
Her heart thumped. “There is no ultimate prize, Wolf. Five kisses are up for grabs here. Or a hundred and sixty bucks per game. Unless you’d rather change your prize to money?”
He shook his head. “You know what, I’d say the prize is one-sixty per game and a kiss. With tongue. If you want to collect on one, you have to collect on the other.”
Oh, he was good. Haylee’s belly twisted. But dammit, she liked it. Liked the way he thought. “Okay, fine. One-sixty and a kiss with tongue.”
“Winner has to collect both or forfeits both.”
“Fine.”
“Fine.”
Mal snickered. “Hoo-wee, this is gonna be fun.”
“Mind your own business, Captain Tight Pants,” Wolf said without looking away from her.
“Naw, man. This is much more fun.”
Wolf stared at the pool table and the vision before him. He shook his head, wondering if he’d had too much beer. He hadn’t. He knew he hadn’t. Four beers in two hours wasn’t too much for him.
No, the truth was that Haylee Jamison was a pool shark. He didn’t know how. He didn’t know why. He didn’t understand a damned thing about it, but the girl was sinking shots like the Black Widow during her exhibition games in Vegas. Fucking hell.
“Where’d you learn to do that?” he asked as she chalked the cue and bent over the table, gaze intent on the cue ball and her target. Stripes. Girl had chosen stripes and she’d already sunk four of them. He hadn’t even gotten a turn yet.
“Misspent youth,” she said, lining up the shot and taking it. The eleven ball dropped into the pocket, the cue ball ricocheting across the table and missing everything else in its path. He hoped she’d sink one of his balls so he could have a turn and put the cue ball wherever he wanted it but so far it was a no go. “Three more to go, hotshot.”
“You’re a sore winner, you know that?”
Dark, dancing eyes met his. Fucking hell he wanted to kiss her. Which he would get to do even if she won. And that, he decided, made the whole thing less annoying. Win or lose, he still got to kiss Haylee Jamison.
“Haven’t won yet.” She sank her sixth ball in a row and he snorted.
“Only two to go, babe.”
Mal stood on the sidelines, cheering Haylee on. Bastard wanted in her panties, Wolf was sure. Wasn’t happening. He shot his teammate significant looks but Mal only hooted and urged Haylee on. The rest of the team filtered over, interested in the commotion. He and Haylee had waited their turn at the table. Once Gem and Easy were done, they’d taken over. Gem and Easy had melted away but now they were back. All eyes were on Haylee. Sexy, sweet, pool shark Haylee. Damn the girl was smooth.
“Fifteen in the corner pocket,” she said, pointing at the far corner. She didn’t need to say where she was sending that ball, but she did anyway. And then
she sent it sailing, sinking into the pocket like it was magnetized to go there.
“Day-um,” Saint said.
“Holy shit,” Ryder “Muffin” Hanson added.
“Fucking awesome,” Zane “Zany” Scott breathed.
Wolf didn’t let the heat rolling through him rattle him at all. Was he irritated that this slip of a woman was about to beat him at pool without him even getting a chance at the table? Hell yeah. Was he upset that she was better than he was, at least for this game? Uh, no. It was pretty fucking fantastic to watch. And maybe he’d get a break on the next game.
“Eight ball, side pocket,” she said, rolling around the table with the fluid grace of a cat. The room was silent, swear to God, when she lined up her stick and cradled it in her fingers. And then she shot it toward the ball—and the ball broke perfectly, gliding across the table and dropping into the pocket as if someone had pulled it on a string.
Haylee straightened and pumped a fist in the air. Echo Squad seemed to stare as one, silence reigning—and then they broke into laughter and cheers. Wolf stared at the table while Gem and Easy slapped his shoulders. “Man, she fucking owned you!”
Yeah, he wished she owned him. Privately. Completely. At least for a night.
Haylee met his gaze across the table. She smiled shyly. Then she shrugged. Wolf didn’t care. Didn’t care about any of it. He strode around the table to her side. She gazed up at him.
“You get a kiss,” he said. “Fair and square.”
He could see the pulse beating in her throat. “Later.”
“Now.”
She frowned. “Maybe I plan to save up and collect all at once. You ever think of that?”
“Nope. Now.” Wolf snaked an arm around her waist, tugged her in close, oblivious to the pool cue still in her hand. She could gut him with it if she chose, but instead she gasped as their bodies came into contact. Full fucking contact.
“Wolf,” she breathed, both hands coming up to press against his chest, the pool cue part of the picture as it lay between them. He thought back to the circumstances in which he’d found her and kept his hold loose. If she pushed, he’d let go. But if she stayed?
Hell, that thought excited him. “Part of the deal, Haylee. One-sixty and a kiss. I always pay up.”
She tilted her head to the side, eyebrows lifting. “You paying the cash right now too? Or just the kiss?”
“Cash later. Kiss now.”
“Doesn’t seem quite fair,” she said, but she didn’t push him away.
“Does to me.” They stared at each other for a long moment. And then he dropped his mouth to hers—and the world faded away.
Haylee’s heart threatened to punch its way out of her chest. She’d been an idiot to agree to a kiss and twenty bucks a shot, but she hadn’t thought he’d want to pay up right this second. She’d thought maybe she could put all of it off—and then she’d tell him she didn’t really want the money, so he could keep his coin and his kisses. Even though she really wanted to kiss him.
She’d sorely misjudged, however. Not only his determination, but her desire to let it happen. She was in his embrace, bent back over firm forearms, his mouth on hers. She blinked once and then her eyes closed automatically. Wolf’s tongue slipped along the seam of her lips. Vaguely, she heard cheering. His teammates. Whose side were they on anyway?
His tongue pressed lightly—and her heart hammered. She wanted to open to him—and she was scared to. Scared she’d like it too much. Scared she’d want more. He pulled back slightly, kissed the corners of her mouth. “Haylee,” he whispered against her skin. “Let it happen.”
“I—” she began. But the very act of speaking meant her mouth opened. And his tongue slipped inside, stroked across hers. Haylee shivered. Her body went limp. Simply folded up like an umbrella that someone had collapsed.
Wolf’s tongue teased hers. Dipped and darted. And oh, she couldn’t help but respond. Her arms slipped around his neck. She tilted her head. Sighed. Let him all the way in. A tingle settled between her legs, set up a regular rhythm.
His grip on her tightened. Her stomach somersaulted. Tongues met and tangled. His mouth was a revelation. Hot, sensuous, soft. He tasted like beer and determination. Like the sex she’d been lacking for so long. If they were alone… Dear God, if they were alone she’d jump him.
But they weren’t alone, as the hoots and hollers brought back to her. They were here. In El Salvador, on a military base. This was a temporary reprieve from real life, and she wasn’t about to let herself forget that. Real life waited. The Juarez Cartel waited. They needed exposing, and she was the woman to do that. Wolf was a distraction. Hell, it hit her then that she didn’t even know his last name.
Haylee pressed her palms to his chest, pushed. He took the hint immediately, breaking the kiss even though he continued to hold her. Her body pressed close to his, her senses firing like ping pong balls from a cannon. His eyes—those incredible gray-blue eyes—stared down at her, questioning.
“I think that’s enough,” she said hoarsely.
His nostrils flared. Then his hands fell away, his arms, until she was standing there with no support. “Next game then. You ready to lose?”
Haylee reached deep for the ability to act unaffected. “Puh-leeze, GI Joe.”
Curiosity flitted across his features. “Where’d you learn to shoot pool?”
She took a step back, relieved that he didn’t stop her. “My mom was a single mom for much of my childhood. I spent far too much time with a neighbor who was obsessed with the game. She taught me.”
“So you’re telling me a neighbor taught you to shoot like a professional? And you just happened to remember those lessons tonight?”
Haylee couldn’t help herself. She laughed. “Not quite. Yes, a neighbor taught me. But I was obsessed, so I practiced a lot—and I worked my way through college partly by making bets.”
Wolf frowned. “You paid for college with pool winnings?”
“Uh, yep. Partly, I said. Once people figured out I was good, they stopped playing me.”
“So I should forfeit the games and let you collect your kisses?”
Haylee snorted. “Aw, come on, Dean. I haven’t seen you shoot yet. I’ll even let you break on the next game.”
He shook his head. “Yeah, I’ll do okay—but the second I miss a shot, you’re going to cream me.”
Haylee laughed. “I tried to hold you to five bucks a shot. Remember?”
“Yeah.” He backed away and started pulling balls from the pockets, dropping them into the rack. “Not giving up, Haylee. Even if I should. Not my style.”
“I’m glad to hear it,” she said, thinking she hadn’t had this much fun in, well, forever. “Even sharks have bad shots, you know. You might best me yet.”
“I might,” he said, eyes sparkling as he picked up his cue. “You want to check the rack?”
“Sure.” She went over and peered at the balls, then lifted the frame off the triangle. “Go for it, Wolf. Make me sweat.”
Belatedly, she realized what she’d said. Haylee swallowed as Wolf’s mouth curved. “I intend to, babe. One way or the other.”
Chapter Seven
“Hey, babe,” Wolf said, shaking Haylee’s shoulder. She’d sat down on the couch opposite the pool table and fallen asleep. He’d left her like that for a while but now it was getting late and they were the only two left in the common area. He didn’t want to wake her, but he also didn’t want to leave her sleeping out here in the open.
She blinked awake, her eyes unfocused and hazy for a second. But then she seemed to remember where she was because she jumped and scrubbed her hands over her face. “Oh, sorry, is it my turn?”
He laughed. “No, we’re done. You beat me.”
“Did I?”
“Yep, four games in and you won every single one. I don’t think we need another one for the championship, do you?” Hell, they hadn’t needed a fourth, but watching her play was so much fun that he’d racked the
balls and took the opening shot anyway. He’d missed the third ball and she’d taken over from there.
“Oh, no, I guess not.” She grinned up at him sleepily. Damn she was pretty.
“So, I’m not exactly carrying cash on me at the moment, but I’ll get the money to you.” He really shouldn’t have bet so much. It wasn’t like him to be so reckless, but it was too late now. He still had plenty to send back to Mom and Dad. And he’d had fun tonight, so there was that.
She waved a hand. “Forget it. It was just fun to play. And I exaggerated the amount because you scoffed at five bucks.”
“Big mistake on my part, eh Sharky?”
“Huge.” She stretched big and he enjoyed the way her chest thrust out. She had a nice rack. Two good handfuls there. He imagined peeling off her clothing, kissing her pretty nipples. He wanted that pretty badly, but he also wanted to know her better. Not quite the usual from him, but then again he’d never met a woman he was this attracted to on a mission either.
He forced his thoughts to the present moment. “I always pay up, Haylee. Like I said… You’ve still got three kisses coming, by the way.”
Her eyes sparked. He figured she’d deny those, but he hoped she wouldn’t.
“Well,” she said, dropping her gaze.
“Unless you don’t want them.” Why the fuck did you say that, dude?
Her head came up, dark eyes meeting his. “Do you?”
Not what he’d expected her to say. “Yeah, I do.”
“Okay then. Though maybe not tonight. I’m kinda beat.”
“Understandable.”
She shrugged. “I thought I’d slept enough already, but I guess everything caught up with me. Though I’ll probably be wide awake for hours now even though I still feel as if I’ve been run through a wringer.” She glanced around the room. He could see the moment she realized it was empty. Her gaze darted back to his. “How long have they been gone?”
“About an hour. I thought you’d wake up on your own.”
“You stayed here while everyone was gone? Because I was asleep?”
HOT Justice: A Hostile Operations Team - Book 14 Page 6