Maverick

by Irish Winters

  “But you’re... you’re beautiful.” There was that awe thing in her tone again.

  Enough. He rolled her over, one arm cradling her head while he eased his body between her legs. He nibbled and sucked a path from the tip of her chin down between her breasts. “Guys aren’t beautiful,” he murmured before he closed his eyes and sucked in one perfectly peaked nipple.

  She moaned and arched her back, offering more. He took it, inhaling the clean scent of her skin and hair. The wildfire called passion flared. His control slipped away at the taste of honey on his tongue.

  “Handsome then,” she whispered hoarsely.

  “You know what I dreamed?” he breathed, blowing on her freshly kissed skin. With goosebumps lifting on her breasts, he kissed a moist trail up her neck to her ear, breathing heavy as he went.

  She cringed. Ah, China’s neck was ticklish. Good to know. He nestled his nose and mouth into that ticklish neck good and tight.

  “What?” she asked, her voice tight and needy, just how he wanted the rest of her to be.

  “Of you,” he breathed.

  She whimpered, her arms hugging his head to her, and conversation was over. They melted together in the fiery heat of too much anticipation. He took her lips, savoring the taste of honey and mystery, the puzzle of an amazingly strong woman who wanted him in her life. He deepened the kiss, pouring his ragged soul and his battered heart into the promise of a lifetime.

  Never again would he roam. His walk was over. Everything began and ended—with China.

  She arched at his touch, and he touched plenty. He stroked. He petted. He pinned her hands over her head and ravaged every inch of the warm, giving body beneath him until she squirmed with desire. And pleasing her became everything. His life. His final mission.

  The energy sparking off her skin filled him with heat. He sank his mouth to her breasts, aching to hear her groan for more, that blessed ‘more’ which he fully intended to give to her for the rest of her days.

  Her body responded to his every touch. Pebbling. Dampening. The scent of her arousal intoxicated every last male receptor in his body and he was drunk on her.

  She tried to be careful of his bumps and bruises. He tried to be careful of hers, but the need for each other took on a passionate life of its own. He released her hands and settled against her core. She scraped her fingernails over his shoulders and down his back, adding another shot of nitrous to ordnance already primed to blow.

  He stopped to catch a breath, consumed with his need for her lovely body. So beautiful. Her skin, soft as silk, as luscious as sweet cream.

  Sexy dark blue eyes peered up at him wearing nothing but love. Her lashes fanned her flushed cheeks. She huffed at him the way Gorgeous had once huffed into his chest. He had to know. He had to ask, if only to feel her body quicken around his. “Am I allowed to breed?”

  She answered with ten fingernails dug into the cheeks of his ass and her body opened wide.

  Good answer.

  They crashed together, two separate fires that consumed each other in one glorious blinding light. Both offered precisely what the other needed without delay. She arched upward, accepting all of his body and all of his heart. And more.

  The heavens burst with stars. He kissed her lips as they sank to earth together, needing every breath of hers. Every murmur of contentment. They lay together in silence, their hearts beating in sync. She felt good in his hands: soft, warm, and still panting against the chest she seemed so enamored with. She smiled. He could feel her smile all the way to his toes.

  He lowered his mouth to her lips and kissed her long and hard. The moment she stirred against him, he wanted her all over again. Every last inch, taste and nibble.

  “How are you feeling?” He had to make sure she was up for more athletics. There was still the shower, the coffee table, and the porch swing if they were brave enough. He had plans for this little lady.

  The steamy look in her eyes answered for her.

  Nothing in the world could keep Miss China Wolf down. But tonight, and in all the best ways possible—he meant to give her his best shot.

  She woke in a cocoon of manly arms and legs with heated breath in the back of her neck. She shivered. Maverick snored softly. Their night together had been filled with hard sex, slow sex, enlightening conversation, and what else? More sex.

  No wonder he was still asleep. This man wrapped around her knew a few tricks she hadn’t expected. Chocolate syrup? Who would’ve thought? It surely added a different flavor sensation.

  And who would’ve thought she would wake up wanting more after their marathon night together? The sensation of his naked body against hers under the sheets, primed for action, was irresistible. She wondered how long this man would stay asleep if she moved just a little to the right and pushed backwards, just a tiny bit.

  He shifted in his sleep, his hips bumping her backside. The contact elicited a spark of pleasure deep inside. She held her breath, waiting for him to say something. When a soft snore reached her ears, she grinned like a naughty little girl. She should let the poor man sleep. He was exhausted. She knew it. But every part of her craved his, and his best parts seemed to be craving hers at the moment.

  She angled her body to accommodate his position, just a little bit more to the right. If she was very careful, he would never know and—

  A soft hiss breathed out of him. She glanced over her shoulder to make sure she hadn’t disturbed him too much.

  Two dark heated eyes pierced hers with desire.

  Oh, oh. The beast had awakened. What would he do with her now?

  Shivers of anticipation danced up her spine, the spine he now breathed on with full knowledge and need. He gathered her hair into a ponytail and scrolled his gaze down her back to her bare ass. The darkest, sexiest eyes filled with lust.

  She smiled apologetically, or as close as she could come to it, her veins throbbing with need. The next thing she knew, his palm was flat between her shoulder blades, pushing the top of her forward while he circled her waist and pulled her lower half tightly into his. Right where she wanted to be. Apparently, Maverick was a morning person, too.

  He hadn’t said a word, not like he had to. He seemed to know what to do with her ass tucked into his body like it was. He planted a row of kisses. One big hand cupped her breast. He pinched her nipple, adding an element of surprise to her libido that right then and there had a mind of its own.

  She growled unexpectedly at the new sensation of pain and pleasure. He pushed forward. She shoved backward and... and...

  Every muscle clenched around him. Wanting him. Needing him in ways she had never needed another. Loving him. He set a steady rhythm that reached parts of her that had remained untouched before. With every stroke in, he created an appetite and a craving until her entire body clenched around his, needing every last inch.

  With a final thrust, he buried his face in the nape of her neck and pushed her over the edge of pleasure. The tightening sensation of her softness around his steel brought a tear to her eye.

  She wanted him. Only him. There could never be another who served her so diligently or as thoroughly as this drifter named Maverick. Who worked at her side in silence and respect. With whom she wanted to mingle breaths and days and hearts.

  The warmth of his body encompassed her. China closed her eyes and pulled his arms tighter around her, content to serve him all the days of her life.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Team picnic. Duffy’s Swim-N-Slide. 5PM. Swim trunks optional. Maverick glanced at the text message on his phone. “Looks like you’re invited to meet everyone.”

  The phone rang. He checked the caller ID and hit speakerphone so China could listen. They were tangled together on the porch swing enjoying the late morning sun and each other. “Good morning, Kyrie.”

  “Unca Mavwick!” Her happy voice bubbled over the line. “Unca Awex says I hafta call you an axe if I kin go fwimmin’.”

  “Are you going swimming with Uncle Alex a
nd Aunt Kelsey?” Maverick couldn’t keep the smile off his face. China, either. This little girl sounded so happy.

  “Uh huh, and Unca Gabe and Andy Gracie is coming, too. He buyed me a dragon!”

  Maverick listened while Kyrie dropped the phone and Alex came on the line. “Guess she’s off to play with her dragon.”

  “A dragon, huh?”

  “Yeah. The TEAM is picnicking at Duffy’s Swim-N-Slide. Just wanted you kids to know. It’s Lexie’s first time swimming.”

  Maverick studied China’s happy face. “Probably Kyrie’s, too.”

  China chimed in. “But Kyrie doesn’t have a swimsuit.”

  “She does now.” Alex sighed in the way of a good husband with a wife who knew how to use plastic. “Kelsey took care of that. Join us if you can.”

  “We’ll be there,” Maverick said. “Anything I should bring?”

  “Swimsuits and sunscreen. I’ve got the rest covered.” Alex hung up in his usual brusque way.

  China’s eyes were still fixed on Maverick’s. They’d spent an incredible night together, and, even though a picnic sounded fun, he hated ending this private time with China.

  “Are you hungry?” he asked quietly. He had never known a woman who tasted so good, from the curl of her ears to the tip of her nose, her chin and all the way down to her toes. He had tasted them and everything in between, but as hungry as he was for her, they needed real food, too.

  She smacked her lips, that smoldering heat in her eyes again. “I could eat.”

  He grinned, loving the double meaning and the sexy smile on her face. “If you do that one more time, we’ll never get out of here.” He placed her on her feet and stood with her, resisting the urge to throw her over his shoulder and haul her back inside. “Alex always puts on a big spread. We’ll get plenty to eat there. Let’s get going.”

  “Sounds like fun, but Maverick. He’s already done so much. How can I ever repay him?”

  “Let him spoil you and Kyrie.”

  “But I—”

  Maverick pressed the pad of his index finger to her lips. “You might as well get used to it. Alex makes good money, but I’m here to tell you. He doesn’t have a stingy bone in his body when it comes to his agents. The man’s a genius the way he pours good money into his business. Hell, into his TEAM, too. We’re all overpaid. He covers our health benefits one hundred percent. Believe me. If you think you can repay Alex, you’re wrong. The guy makes too damned much and gives plenty of it away.”

  “But I have to do something,” she insisted. “This doesn’t feel right.”

  Maverick shrugged. “I don’t know what to tell you. Maybe find a way to pay it forward. Come on. Let’s go meet the rest of the TEAM.” Maverick locked the safe house door, and led China to the vehicle that Taylor and Gabe had left parked at the curb. He pressed the keypad to unlock the SUV, then hit the ignition button.

  “Wow.” China climbed in next to him and fastened her seat belt. “High tech.”

  “I guess.” Maverick fastened his own seat belt before he turned to China. The normalcy of her riding shotgun struck him. There she sat with a look of contentment on her face, and not a single worry line anywhere.

  “You’re such a beautiful woman,” he murmured, his thumb brushing her cheek.

  “If you keep doing that...”

  “You’re right.” He shifted the vehicle into drive and merged into traffic with a big smile that felt almost natural. It had been a long time since he woke to a really good day.

  “So tell me why you left The TEAM.”

  He sighed. “Long story.”

  “But it’s one I’d like to know.”

  He hooked into the freeway headed south and drove for a few minutes before he could continue. China didn’t push. Her hand on his arm comforted instead of nagged. “My kid brother joined the Marines. He did it because I did. Darrell. He looked up to me. Heck, I couldn’t do anything wrong in his eyes.”

  They drove in silence. That she didn’t probe helped the rest of the story pour out. “Guess we were a couple star-struck guys on our way to save the world. He became a scout sniper like me. Somehow, we both ended up on the same mission. Big mistake.”

  The traffic flew by as the day came back to him. It was a purple task force of Marines, Army Rangers and Navy SEALs, their mission to apprehend a known Taliban warlord, Mullah Mamood. They’d entered the valley with a force of Afghani friendlies. By morning they were inside the village, a stinking conglomeration of mud brick huts, rickety goat corrals, smoky fire pits and mangy dogs. Reconnaissance proved faulty. A force of more than one hundred insurgents were waiting. By the end of the failed operation, Maverick pounded down ground fire to cover an excruciating retreat that cost nearly half the team of special operators.

  “The thing was, we all knew it was a suicide mission going in.” Maverick steeled his eyes on the road, shielding her from the particulars. He might tell her eventually. He might not. “We knew once we got in, we’d be fighting tooth and nail to get out. Guess we thought we were invincible.”

  Her hand on his forearm gripped tighter and he was done talking.

  “You lost your brother.” She said it so he wouldn’t have to, which was good because all he could do was nod at that point.

  They drove in silence for miles. Once again, the very act of not speaking was exactly what he needed as the pain that was Darrell’s death sucked the joy out of the morning.

  “Anyway.” He blew out a big breath. “Got my very own Dear John letter when I got back. Then the bastard that my ex dumped me for showed up in Virginia where I worked, and I...” He couldn’t finish. He had quit, plain and simple. Grew weary with being politically correct, of drinking too much to numb the pain, and damned sick of looking that liar, Landon Truman, in the eye every day and pretending he didn’t want to break his neck.

  “You started walking.”

  He nodded. Yeah. It seemed the only solution at the time. Walk and never look back. But in leaving, he had deserted his mother and the best friends who no kidding cared about him. Alex for one. Taylor, Gabe, and every other agent on The TEAM. Even sweet Kelsey.

  He hadn’t realized until then how much family he had. The phone call home confirmed that. After his mother had cried, she had chewed him out, told him he was wrong and cried again. So had he.

  “I’m glad you stopped in Wyoming.” China’s quiet truth pulled him back to the road.

  “So I’ve got a question for you.”

  “Shoot. Whatcha need to know? My story is your story.” She couldn’t have said anything better.

  “Tell me about Xavier Allbright. What’s Leezel got to do with him?”

  “Oh, that.” China blew out a deep breath. “I’ve never understood my sister. Umm, it’s like this. X is older than us. He worked at Shorty’s Saloon when we were in high school. You’ve probably noticed he struggles with language and communication most times, but he’s really quite smart. Anyway...”

  She blew out another sigh. “Leezel set him up. Said one of her friends had a crush on him and wanted to go dancing. Poor X fell for it. He got all dressed up in his best shirt and bolo. Even bought a brand new pair of cowboy boots instead of wearing his usual pair from Goodwill. Only, his date was a Longhorn bull dressed up in a stupid dress and a straw hat. Leezel made sure everyone in town knew about it, including Reardon and his boys. The Kings and Kreepers were all there. A lot of other idiots, too. By the time I heard about it, it was too late.”

  Maverick let her talk.

  “The thing is that X didn’t get it. He just stood there laughing along with everyone else and looking for the date Leezel promised him. It took me a couple minutes to convince him there was no girl, but then Leezel made it worse. She handed him a box all wrapped in pretty paper and tied up with a big red bow. I swear I’ve never seen a full-grown man get so excited. He couldn’t wait to get the wrapping off. Only...” China tucked her hair behind her ear. “Damn it, Maverick. She’d gift-wrapped his cat, only it was d
ead. She claimed she found it run over by a car and that she only gave it to him because she knew how much it meant, but damn her. Knowing her, she probably killed it herself. Poor Xavier pulled that cat out of the box like it was still alive. He started petting it. It took him a minute to figure out what was really going on, then he took off running and wailing.”

  “The guy’s got a big heart.”

  “He does, but Leezel and her so-called friends roared like it was all a great big joke. The poor guy ran all the way back to his room above Shorty’s Saloon with that poor, dead cat. I finally caught up to him, but damn her. He sat there on his doorstep, hugging that cat and crying his eyes out. Broke my heart.”

  “So you gave him a job.”

  “No. I gave him a home, Maverick. I gave him a safe place and told him he could keep every damned stray cat that showed up in my barn. Xavier’s been with me ever since. He’s a damned good man is what he is. X wouldn’t hurt a flea. Wish I could say that about Leezel.”

  “He’s a keeper,” Maverick said quietly, a plan for rescuing X and Z percolating at the back of his mind. “You need to know that Reardon rounded up all the cats around your place and dumped them in the river. I’m not sure Kyrie knows.”

  “He didn’t,” she hissed, her hands clenched on her lap. “Kyrie’s kitties, too? Damn him and Leezel. Why are they so mean? X never hurt anyone, and cats keep the snakes and mice population down. Everyone knows that.”

  Maverick covered her fisted hands with his palm. He pulled into the water park, found the nearest parking stall and stopped the vehicle. China slid over the console and nestled into his lap. Damned if this woman didn’t hold every last piece of his heart in her hands.

  He kissed her with the very ends of his soul, the tendrils of it that had been searching for her for years. She had seen her own share of heartache, yet there she was, filling the void in his chest with serenity and kindness and—her. A man couldn’t get any luckier.

  “You know what I just realized?” she whispered.

  “Huh?”

  “We don’t have swim suits.”