Dangerous: Delos Series, Book 10

by Lindsay McKenna

  So lost in her own hunger, she lost track of time until she heard Dan call out.

  “You can come in and wash my back now.”

  “Coming…”

  Coming. Oh yes, she wanted to come. The glass-enclosed shower was steamed up, Dan’s naked body barely visible in the fog. She grabbed a dry washcloth and opened the shower door. His back was to her. He had the most beautiful ass she’d ever seen on a man. It was tight and thickly muscled. She gulped, tearing her gaze from those cheeks. Hurriedly, she washed his back, starting at his shoulders and working her way downward.

  “How are you feeling?” she asked, focusing on scrubbing his back.

  “Really good,” he rumbled. “Better than I thought I would. Damn, this hot water makes me feel halfway human.”

  “Good,” she whispered. Quickly rinsing him, she stepped back. “Do you need help getting out?”

  “Naw, I’ll be okay. You can go. I feel so good that I’m going to dry myself off and try to climb into those clothes you left out for me. I’d like to get the hell out of that gown and robe.”

  “Don’t overdo,” she cautioned. “Call me if you need me.”

  Sloan left but kept the door slightly open. She knew he wouldn’t be able to bend over to dry his legs or lower body. Sure enough, as she peeked through the opening, she saw him grimace as he tried to dry off. Finally, she stepped in. “Dan, let me help you? You’re pushing too hard, too soon. You don’t want to rip those stitches inside your body.” He stood with the towel gripped in his right hand, looking like a beautiful Greek god come to earth just for her. Sure enough, his erection stirred.

  Forcing herself to concentrate, Sloan quickly dried him off. She asked him to sit in the small chair so she could help him get dressed. His hair was still dripping, and she took a small towel, quickly drying it and his nape. She felt him twinge a little, knowing that was an erogenous zone for him. Picking up the comb, she drew the damp strands into place.

  “Sloan…”

  Her head snapped up, and she stopped breathing for a moment, drowning in the stormy look his eyes. “I want to kiss you so damn bad I can’t stand it anymore,” he rasped, his fingers tightening around her arms, holding her those inches away from him. “Tell me you don’t want me to kiss you, Sloan? It’s all I’ve thought about for the last week. I promised you I’d try to treat you as my equal. I’m asking. You need to tell me what you want from me?”

  She placed her hand on his shirt, feeling his powerful chest beneath, the pound of his heart against her palm. She’d been so alone, abandoned for so long, without the touch of the one man she’d needed more than life, and it rendered her incapable of thinking clearly.

  “Yes or no, baby?” he growled.

  It was impossible! It was so unfair that her body turned traitorous against her. “Yes…kiss me, Dan,” she heard herself whisper. The moment he curved his lips against hers, she collapsed lightly against him, trying to be aware he was still wounded. Slipping her hand around his shoulder, she caressed his nape, his mouth becoming powerful and commanding against her opening. A deep groan of pleasure rolled through his chest. Sloan allowed her breasts to barely graze him, the nipples suddenly hardening to sharp peaks begging to be further seduced.

  He kept one hand on her upper arm, the other cupping her cheek, angling her expertly, gaining full entrance to her eager lips. Dan had seen Sloan fighting her need for him over the week. He’d seen it in her eyes. How many times had he wanted to reach out, tunnel his fingers through her hair, and pull her mouth toward him and take her, just as he had so many times before? And she’d loved it, his need for her matching her own intense desires.

  This time, Dan knew it had to be different. He couldn’t arbitrarily take Sloan as he had four years earlier. She’d been like a willing, hot-blooded sex slave to his whims and lusty appetite then. Whatever feelings he had for this beautiful woman, he was going to show her he was trying to change to be what she needed him to be. He’d asked to kiss her, and that was all he’d do. She kissed him with eagerness, with such hunger and need, he felt himself starving to please her. He tore his mouth from hers. If he didn’t, Dan was going to tear that blouse of hers open, pull her breast out of that bra she wore and capture one of those hardened nipples, pulling it deeply into his mouth. Sloan was particularly sensitive in that area, and he gloried in teasing her, sucking her deeply, making her so wet that sweet, thick honey flowed out of her small, tight entrance. He could almost taste her, wanted to taste her, wanted to eat her until she screamed with the need of release as he sampled and stroked her beautiful body.

  Breathing harshly, Dan watched her through slitted eyes, feeling the pain of his erection. Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes drowsy with arousal, her lips swollen from the power of the kiss they’d just shared. He continued to cup her cheek, feeling her quiver. It was a sign of the need for her to have an orgasm. Dan had never forgotten how Sloan’s body reacted to his lust for her.

  “Dammit, Sloan, don’t deny yourself to me. Let me ease your pain, baby. I know how much you’re hurting.” He searched her eyes. She could hide nothing from him. Not when it came to sex. He felt her fingers dig into his shirt, saw the flit of agony she was trying to hide from him.

  “Let me help you. Do you think I’m going to hold this over you? I can see you need me. I can give you the relief you want. Let me at least do that for you. You owe me nothing, Sloan. It doesn’t mean I own you. It doesn’t mean I’m going to stop trying to be a better man for you.” He caressed her lips, feeling her tremble. It was then that he realized that those same intense feelings he’d held for her were front and center right now. He didn’t know what to call them, except that he swore he could feel her raw need of him. She had suffered so long without him, and they’d had something so beautiful. Good sex with the right partner, as Dan had found out too late, was one in a billion. And Sloan was here, in his arms, giving him a wild, confused, hungry look.

  “Give me your answer,” he demanded harshly. “I can’t stand to see you like this. It’s not necessary. Let me help you…” Dan could still see her trying to fight her body, fight what occurred naturally between them. It was more than lust. The hunger he harbored for Sloan burned down to his soul and enclosed his heart.

  “Your wound,” she whispered unsteadily.

  “Don’t worry about it. No gymnastics today, baby. I intend to get you on your back, and I’ll make damn sure you get the relief you need. Let me help you for once?”

  He’d never kissed her that way before, and yet, it was exactly what she’d wanted from him. Now, he was offering to ease that awful ache between her legs. Before, Dan would have dragged her off to the bed and had his way with her, not asking her what she wanted or needed. He had always taken, never given. When they had sex, he came first, climaxed, and only later, would he attend to her needs.

  It spun Sloan into a quandary she’d never expected. She felt if she gave into his request, she was reverting to what they were at Bagram. That all the progress, the rules she needed to open her heart to this man once again, were part of this terrible choice.

  Her body made her decision, and she whispered brokenly, “Help me, Dan.” She couldn’t think anymore, lost in that powerful sexual heat of her own body that had been starving for so long for Dan. She didn’t blame him at all. As she shakily undressed, she could no longer think.

  “Lay on the bed, Sloan. I’ll join you. I don’t need my clothes off to do what I’m going to do.”

  Dan came around to the left side of the bed and lay on his right side, his hand moving her thighs apart, she closed her eyes. He was going to touch her. She moaned, her back arching as his fingers grazed her wet entrance. She couldn’t stop calling his name, turning toward him, wanting his fingers to magically touch her, capture that swollen, hurting knot at her entrance. “Hurry, hurry,” she cried out. “Please, Dan…please…”

  CHAPTER 17

  Sloan whimpered as Dan’s fingers slipped easily between her wet folds, lifting her
hips, desperate for him to engage with her knot. It was so swollen, throbbing with a painful ache. She couldn’t speak. All she could do was moan his name, and hungrily absorb his skilled fingers moving toward her entrance.

  She heard his voice, low and thick, as he slid his arm beneath her neck, lifting her against him. He guided her thigh over his, opening her fully to him. Her fingers dug into the soft lavender bedspread.

  “Easy, baby,” he crooned near her ear. “I know you’re hungry.” He kissed her cheek, trailing his mouth down the line of her jaw.

  Dan slid his fingers into her aching entrance, caressing that swollen knot, placing his lips over one of her nipples. Her whole body exploded as he sucked her deeply. The release was beyond anything she’d ever experienced in her life. He grazed her nipple with his teeth, sending shards of savage fire erupting once more deep within her. He teased her with ruthless precision, lifting his lips from one nipple to the other. As he grazed the other with his teeth, those shards exploded into a second orgasm that rolled fiercely through her.

  She arched, moaning his name as he thrust as far as he could go within her. Then he began to stroke the nerves along her wall. Sloan had never known about them until she’d met Dan. It was one of the first things he taught her about her body. That sensitive area, so deep, gave her the most long-lasting, most intense orgasms. Sloan whimpered, as he triggered a third orgasm, feeling the savage rush beneath his knowing caresses. Sloan had no idea how long she was a puppet to this pleasure and didn’t care. Dan left her nipple, kissing her parted lips, soothing her as he eased his fingers slowly out of her. Right now, she was naked and vulnerable with him once more—and he’d never disappointed her in that respect. Even now, as she lay beside him, she felt his love cascade through her. Sloan knew it was love. It was the only time she could feel close to him emotionally. She kept her eyes closed, absorbing every touch of his hand. Dan knew her hot buttons and how to milk her body, pleasing her endlessly until after the storm of orgasms.

  She yearned for the time when he’d be far enough along in his physical healing to allow her to love him in return. What shattered her was that Dan had gone out of his way, despite his surgery, to care first for her.

  Her head rested in the crook of his shoulder, her cheek pressed against his shirt. And for the first time, she completely surrendered over to him.

  “Talk to me, Sloan,” he rasped thickly against her ear, kissing her temple, his other hand cupping her breast.

  “You…” she struggled to whisper, opening her eyes. “You’re different…changed…” She watched his mouth move into a careless smile, making him look younger, even boyish, at that moment.

  “Almost dying has done some major reorganization within me, Sloan. It’s continuing; it’s not something I can stop. I guess I don’t want to, either…” He skimmed her cheek, looking deeply into her eyes. Sloan felt herself dissolving at that moment, no longer separate from Dan.

  “Everything feels so new,” she managed, “between us, Dan. Do you feel it too?”

  He pressed a kiss to her brow. “I feel something,” he said. “I don’t know what to call it, but it’s a nice, new feeling.”

  Closing her eyes, she pressed her lips against his, lifting her hand, and cupping his cheek. He might not ever have the words, she realized.

  Dan lifted his mouth reluctantly from hers. He eased strands of her hair away from her cheek, smiling down into her glazed eyes, seeing how fulfilled and happy she was. Hell, so was he. “I need to get out of this position, or I’m going to have to take a pain pill, baby. I want to stay right here beside you the rest of the night. I don’t ever want you to leave my arms again…”

  Feeling as if still floating in a dream state, Sloan slowly sat up, pushing her hair away from her face. Worriedly, she said, “Let me help you sit up?”

  “Yeah, that would be nice. Thanks.”

  As she slid off the bed, coming around to the other side, she realized that Dan had asked for help. Another first. Placing her one knee beside him, she leaned over, sliding her arm around his shoulders. Using her strength, despite feeling languid, she eased him into a sitting position. She could tell that what he’d done for her had cost him dearly in physical terms. He was pale beneath that tan of his, his eyes darkening. “Tell me what you need?” she whispered, coming and sitting beside him. Her gaze went to his shirt to see if it was stained with blood or not. It wasn’t, to her relief.

  “Just let me sit here for a few minutes?” He gave her a slight smile. “I can really feel those inner stitches right now.”

  “You stretched too much,” she whispered, turning, and quickly opening the buttons on his shirt. She placed her palm against the long, red scar, looking for swelling beneath his skin. It would mean he’d torn his inner stitches open and that would be a very bad thing—she’d have to get him to the hospital as soon as possible. Dan would have to undergo another surgery to close that wound where his kidney had once been. Her heart pounded with relief as she felt no swelling. “You scare me to death sometimes,” she muttered darkly. “You shouldn’t have done that. It’s too soon.”

  He cocked his head, catching her anxious gaze. “I’m okay, Sloan.”

  Shakily, she nodded. “There’s no internal bleeding.” She shook her head. “Dan, sometimes you drive me crazy.”

  His lips curved and he raised his right hand, caressing her flushed cheek. “Baby, you drive me crazy every time you come near me. So? We’re even. All right?”

  “You’re impossible,” she muttered, standing. “Let me get dressed. I’ll walk you to your bedroom.”

  “Do you have to? I mean, I’ve missed seeing you naked in my bed.”

  Sloan gripped his hand and slid out of his reach. “We need to talk, Dan, but not right now.”

  “I knew that was coming.”

  “Don’t get grumpy about it, Malloy.”

  He watched her appreciatively as she picked up her clothes and put them on, sorry to see her beautiful breasts covered back up by her blouse. “I’m feeling better. Does that count?” he teased. Right now, Dan’s heart was still wide open to her. He saw the softness in Sloan’s eyes and felt damned good about pleasuring her. His erection ached, but this wasn’t about him right now. It was about showing her that he could be her man in all ways, not just in bed. He hoped his care for her counted.

  “Next time you need some relief, come and see me sooner.” He saw Sloan blush. “I’m pretty good at it, you know,” he gloated, reaching out, catching her hand, and giving it a gentle squeeze of reassurance. “And we were always good in bed. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with us taking advantage of that, do you?”

  “I don’t know, Dan…I’m still feeling my way through everything that’s just happened.”

  He patted the bed on his right side. “Then let’s talk it out?”.

  “Are you serious?”

  “Well, hey, maybe a tiger can change his stripes, right? Come on, sit here next to me?” He needed her closeness.

  “I’m hoping,” Sloan admitted, sitting down. He opened his arm, sliding it around her shoulders. “In some ways,” she began, her voice low, “I feel like I’m in some dream with you.”

  “What do you mean?” Dan held her worried stare, felt her searching, and unsure of herself. This wasn’t like her at all.

  Opening her hands, she said, “I miscalculated how much of a physical effect you’d have on me. In fact, it never crossed my mind when I asked you to come here to heal up. I was more than ready to care for you.”

  “And I’m grateful. You’ve put yourself out in a lot of ways to do this for me.”

  Dan watched her struggle, tears in her eyes. “Hey,” he murmured, “what’re those tears about?”

  Trembling inwardly, Sloan knew she had to be honest with him. “I wonder if I just took one step forward with you Dan, and five steps back.”

  Frowning, he saw the tears glimmer in her eyes. “Tell me more?”

  “It’s my stuff,” she mumble
d, wiping her eyes. “When you walked out of my life at Bagram, I swore I’d never let another man define what and how we were with one another. And then, four years later, I meet you again. And seeing you now?” she risked a look in his direction, her voice growing strained, “it was like yesterday to me. I thought I’d gotten over you, Dan. Thought the love I’d felt for you was gone. But it wasn’t.”

  “I’ve been a bastard toward you, Sloan. I guess after I saw you again, I figured you probably hated me. And when you said you were still in love with me? That stunned me. I didn’t know what to say. What to do.”

  “Made two of us, believe me,” she rasped, shaking her head. “I screwed up with you. I hadn’t meant those words to ever leave my mouth.”

  He dragged in a heavy breath. “I’m not sorry you said them. When we had our talk out at the beach, I guess I felt relieved about it.”

  “What do you mean? You asked for a second chance with me.”

  “Yeah, not that I deserved it. Not after what I’d done to you.” He gave her a grim look. “You need to know the rest of the story. Why I walked out on you like that at Bagram.”

  “What do you mean?” Sloan swallowed hard, staring at his set mouth, his eyes closed for a moment. There was such heaviness and grief surrounding him.

  He reached over, placing one of his hands over hers. “Remember the crash investigation?”

  “Yes.”

  “There was a colonel who was the head of it,” he began wearily. “That man I told you about who had never liked me. It’s a long story, but when I was a new pilot in his squadron years before, I got into a verbal disagreement with him. He didn’t like it and told me that he was going to ruin my career. I was young and cocky. I told him to try.” Dan shrugged. “It wasn’t my finest moment. That’s why I got a transfer out of his squadron. But, he was good for his word. If I’d just kept my mouth shut…I was arrogant, Sloan. I brought this on myself. That’s what I didn’t tell you. I felt too ashamed to admit it to you.” Glancing at her, he saw her eyes go soft with sadness for him.