by Desiree Holt
At last, when she was sure she would faint from the intensity of it all, the shudders began to subside. Hawkeye laid a string of kisses along her spine again before easing himself from her body and off the bed.
“Back in a sec,” he whispered and left to deal with the condom.
When he returned to the bed, he slid the pillows out from beneath her and turned her to her back. Catching his weight on his forearms, he cradled her cheeks in his hands and pinned her with his gaze. Maddie searched his eyes for some clue of what this had all been about and what would come next. She was almost afraid to ask.
“I know you’re shocked to see me here,” he began.
Her laugh was tiny and edged with hysteria. “You could say that.”
He brushed his lips gently over hers. “I don’t even know where to begin. Maddie, I’ve been a loner for such a long time. When I was accepted into Delta, it became the entire focus of my life. I had never trusted relationships anyway, and now I had a good excuse to avoid them.”
“Is that what you wanted to do? Avoid them?” She kept her voice as soft and even as she could. She had no idea what he expected her to say.
“I did.” He exhaled slowly. “But then I met you. You were everything I wanted in a woman, if I’d been allowing myself to want one. Brave. My god, that standoff at your school. It took guts most people wouldn’t even dream of having.”
“I hope I don’t have to do it again anytime soon,” she told him.
“And then this whole thing with Scalzo. You never broke, never let your fear overtake you. You’re smart. Sexy. Beautiful.”
A little pain jabbed at her heart. “I think I hear a ‘but’ in there.”
“You do, but it applied to me. Everything I ever wanted was right there in front of me, and I was too stupid and blind and pigheaded to reach out and take it.” He gave her another gentle touch of his lips. “I didn’t think I could have both you and Delta. I didn’t want to get married only to have it fall apart because of the stress of what I do. Or leave someone behind who would have to mourn me if I got killed.”
“But—”
“Hush. Let me finish before I lose my nerve.”
The look he gave her was so intense she was sure he could see clear inside her soul.
She reached up and stroked his cheek, pushing the damp hair back from his face. She ran her fingers lightly over the scruff on his jaw, realizing she probably had beard burn all over her body and not caring a bit.
“Go on,” she urged.
“It was Ghost who convinced me I had my head up my ass. He and Rayne have made it work, and so have a lot of others. He told me what an ass and a fool I was. And it would serve me right if before I had the balls to come back and see you, someone else swept you up and carried you away.”
Maddie was afraid to say anything and disrupt the line of his thinking. Her heart was pounding harder, her nerves raw with uncertainty. She wanted to tell him to get on with it already, but she saw he had to go at his own pace.
“I don’t know if you can fall in love this fast,” he said. “We had such a short time together. But if this isn’t love, I don’t know what else to call it.”
“Me, either,” she whispered.
“Be mine, Maddie,” he begged. “Wait for me. I’ll always come home to you.”
“But—”
He frowned. “But what?”
She wet her lips. Nerves itching. “But you haven’t told me how you feel.”
He barked a laugh. “Well, damn. I think I need someone to write my scripts for me.” He rolled over, taking her with him, so she was stretched out flat on top of him. “I love you, Maddie. The guys on my team always say when it hits, you know it right away. I was a stupid ass for fighting it.”
She grinned, relief coursing through her. “Okay.”
He quirked an eyebrow. “Okay? That’s it?”
“I love you, too.”
He pulled her down for a kiss she felt in every inch of her body. This wasn’t an erotic kiss, or a sensual one. It was, however, filled with heated passion and so much emotion it brought tears to her eyes.
“You’ll have to help me as we go along, Maddie. I’m not real good on the communication thing. Will you teach me?”
“I’d love to.” She smiled. “We can spend years learning.”
“I only have ten days this time before my next assignment. Is it possible for you to get a substitute at school? After this, we’ll be able to plan and stuff, but this time I want to spend every single minute with you.”
She laughed. “I think that can be arranged. I’ll call the principal. We can spend the whole ten days learning and loving each other.” She sobered. “I’ll still worry about you, though. You know that.”
“I do, but you’re a strong woman. I believe in my heart that even if I come home wounded, you’ll still be here for me, loving me.”
“You got that right, soldier.”
He grinned. “Ghost told me he and Rayne discussed that possibility. You know what she said?”
“What?”
“As long as you come home with the two most important things, your heart and your cock, I’m good.”
Maddie laughed so hard she nearly rolled off of Hawkeye. When she could stop giggling, she said, “True that.”
He rolled her beneath him again. “I think we’d better get started on that learning thing right now.”
“Isn’t that why you fell in love with a teacher?” she teased.
Hawkeye smacked her ass. But then the look in his eyes turned hot and simmering, and, against her body, she felt his cock once again hard and swollen.
“I fell in love with you for a lot of reasons. And I’m going to spend the next ten days showing you every one of them.”
As Maddie opened herself to him, the pain and misery of the past weeks fell away. She knew now she was exactly where she belonged. With the man she loved who owned her heart.
Please be sure to read all the books in Susan Stoker’s Special Forces Kindle World
All around available at Amazon only
Aaron’s Honor, Lindsay Cross:
Awakening Aubrey, Shauna Allen:
Cowboy D-Force, Elle James:
Finding Ayva, Elle Christensen:
Freeing Falcon, Leigh Carman:
Marking Mariah, Liz Crowe:
No Protection, Gennita Low:
Protecting Beauty, MJ Nightingale
Protecting Love, Maryann Jordan:
Protecting Maddie, Desiree Holt:
Protecting New York, Lainey Reese:
Protecting Us, Magan Vernon:
Protection Crisis, Rochelle Paige:
Redemption for Avery, Jordan Dane:
Redemption for Misty, Anne Conley:
Rescuing Pandora, Kori David:
Saving Sarah, Kathy Ivan: