by Julie Rowe
“No good?” She pressed her lips together, then punched him. “What does that mean?”
“I live a dangerous life. At least, I used to. My new life might still have some scary moments, but I’m hoping we can work around it.”
Her mouth hung open for several seconds. “You’re really not in the Army anymore?”
“Nope. Now, it’s just me and her,” he said, inching toward her to cup her face in one hand. “Naked on a bed, in a room with a locking door.”
Her jaw dropped open again, and she sputtered. “You…me…” Her voice trailed off into a panicked pant. “I…”
“Easy,” he said, rubbing the back of her neck. “I love you. I figured that out in the first twelve hours after I met you, so if you don’t feel the same, you’d better tell me now.”
A sob broke out of her. She buried her face in the hollow of his shoulder and clutched him tightly.
He settled her in his arms and rocked her for a couple of minutes, murmuring reassuring words in her ear.
When she quieted, he pulled back to look at her. “You okay?”
She nodded, sniffed, and he handed her a tissue from the box on the table next to the couch. “I had a fiancé,” she told him. “He was a soldier, like you. He died in Afghanistan a year ago. Friendly fire incident.”
“I remember.”
“He took risks. More than he should have, I think, but no one could stop him when his mind was set. He thought he was untouchable. Invincible. Until he wasn’t. I felt like he left me every time he was deployed.” She stared at him, fear etched on her face right to the bone.
“I’m not a soldier anymore,” he said, tilting her face up so she met his gaze. “I’m not going anywhere, unless it’s with you.”
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
She slid one hand off his shoulder to play with one of the buttons on his shirt and whispered, “I love you, too.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
Ava couldn’t maintain eye contact with River, not when the heat in his gaze was hot enough to burn her clothes off.
He kissed her nose, her cheek. Then, slowly, gently kissed her lips. It was a chaste kiss, but when he came back again, that kiss wasn’t chaste at all. He licked her bottom lip and nipped it. When she opened her mouth to him, he took her mouth like a man who’d been forbidden to drink for days.
His taste went to her head faster than any hard liquor, and she climbed up him so she could straddle his hips.
He took her hips in his hands and said, “No.”
The spear of hurt that word sank into her chest damn near killed her.
“I want you on a bed,” he growled, standing with her still in his hands. Once on his feet, he snugged her hips up to his and urged her to wrap her legs around his waist. “Where is it?”
She managed to breathe again, though it was shaky, and pointed over her shoulder at the hallway behind her. “It’s on the left.”
“You thought I was refusing you?” he asked, his voice quiet.
She didn’t answer, too embarrassed and scared he’d take offense.
“You,” he said into her ear, his lips caressing the sensitive skin there, “always come first.” He started walking. “That means you get the first several orgasms, in case you were wondering.”
She laughed. She couldn’t help it. “Several?”
“Many.” He groaned into her ear. “Lots.”
She giggled until he set her on the bed and fell on top of her.
His kiss was ravenous, his hands everywhere. He managed to pull her shirt off, then stopped to stare at her breasts. She’d worn a nice bra today, one decorated with lace and ribbon. He kissed the skin above the cups while his hands reached under her to undo the clasp.
He pulled the bra off and cupped her breasts with both hands, his thumbs stroking over her nipples. It sent a shot of pleasure through her, and she arched her back.
“River?”
He kept playing with her. “Hmm?”
“I need your mouth on me.”
He glanced at her face, and whatever he saw there drove him over some invisible edge, because he groaned and fell on her like a beast.
She didn’t remember pulling his clothes off or when the rest of hers were removed, but his skin was warm under her fingers. He sucked on one of her nipples while one of his hands teased her clit and the sensitive opening of her vagina.
“What do you like?” he asked as he kissed his way up her neck. “What will get you off?”
“I love—” Her breath hitched as he found a spot inside her that made her limbs shake. “That.”
“What else?”
“Um…” She’d only been with Adam before him.
He stopped kissing her long enough to gaze at her with a slow grin. “I guess we get to go exploring.”
“Yeah,” she said, wiggling her hips. “Later?”
“Whatever you want.” He kissed her, thrusting his tongue into her mouth, a prelude to what he was about to do with her body.
She palmed his cock and discovered it as big as she remembered. “Wow, you’re…” Her voice trailed off.
“You’re giving me a swelled head.”
“I sure hope so.”
His gave her neck one last suck and nip, then circled the entrance to her body with the head of his cock before pushing in. And in. And in.
Ava arched her back and rotated her hips as far as she could, which wasn’t very far, because River had a good grip on her. “Oh my God.”
He pulled out a little and pushed back in until he bottomed out. “Fuck, you’re tight.”
“It’s been a long time,” she panted, wiggling again. Need was a growing pulse in her blood, her body. “Please.”
He groaned again, braced his forearms on either side of her head, and began to move. He increased his pace and the strength of his thrusts until she was nearly mindless with pleasure. It built and built, and then he changed the angle of his thrusts, and it sent her into the stratosphere.
She rode the high for a long time before coming down enough to realize that he’d just slowed things down for a little while. As soon as she met his eyes again, he gave her a grin and said, “I want to watch you do that again.”
She climaxed twice more before he followed her into bliss and sank down onto her body, holding her close.
“Three orgasms,” he said. “I’ll do better next time.”
That made her laugh out loud.
…
River was making Ava and himself a bed picnic of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches when his phone buzzed.
Dozer.
He answered the call. “What’s up?”
“We finally got into Palmer’s computer,” Dozer said without preamble. “The son of a bitch had help.”
“What kind of help?”
“Help from someone whose computer was located in Kuwait. We’re still piecing it together, but it looks like Palmer received instructions and something he refers to as a gift almost a year ago. There are one or two references to other people expecting other gifts.”
“Well, that’s fucking shitty news.”
“Yeah, ain’t it just.” Dozer cleared his throat. “You and Ava doing okay?”
“We’re absolutely awesome.”
Dozer huffed a laugh. “Don’t rub it in. Asshole.”
River just laughed.
“Listen, you got any Army buddies who might be interested in joining the Outbreak Task Force? Rodrigues is nagging at me for more people, but Homeland doesn’t have any to spare right now.”
River thought back to his last overseas deployment and his friend Smoke, who rarely spoke, but was a man he’d have at his back any day. “Yeah, I might have a name or two.”
“Fantastic. Let Rodrigues know so she’ll stop bugging me. I’d like to get some sleep this year.”
Bugging him? Not likely. River had seen how Dozer watched Dr. Rodrigues when he thought she wasn’t looking. The guy was more than a little interested
.
“Will do. Stay frosty.”
Dozer’s answer was a grunt and a dial tone.
“River?” Ava’s sleepy voice found him.
“Be right there,” he said. “On my way with PB and J.”
Her laughter reeled him in as if she were a competitive angler and he was the catch of the day. “You say the sexiest things.” She reclined on the bed, wearing nothing but a grin.
“You inspire me.” It came out a growl. “To do illegal things to you with my tongue.”
That had her laughing and snatching a sandwich from the plate he carried. “I can’t wait.”
He lay down next to her to eat his own sandwich. “Eat up. You’re going to need it.”
She laughed again.
“Are you busy next weekend?” he asked.
“Not that I know of.”
“Cool. Want to go to Vegas and get married?”
She blinked. “For real?”
“Yeah.” He rolled his eyes. “Rodrigues isn’t going to give us a ton of time off.”
The grin that spread across her face could have powered a city for a day. “Yes, please.” Then she grabbed the sandwich out of his hands, tossed it aside, and tackled him, kissing him everywhere. “Yes, yes, yes!”
“I’m sorry,” he asked as she tried to hold him down and kiss his entire torso. “That was a vague answer. Could you be specific?”
“Oh, you.” She tickled him, then planted a big kiss right on his mouth. A kiss that grew heated fast. “I’m gonna specific you.”
“God, I hope so,” he replied, then rolled them both over so he was on top. “I love you, Mouse.”
“Back at you, Mr. Smooth.”
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Acknowledgments
Writing a book is not a solitary process, and without good editing, it wouldn’t happen at all. Thank you, Robin Haseltine, for being my creative partner.
About the Author
Julie Rowe’s first career as a medical lab technologist in Canada took her to the Northwest Territories and northern Alberta, where she still resides. She loves to include medical details in her romance novels, but admits she’ll never be able to write about all her medical experiences because “Fiction has to be believable.”
Julie writes romantic suspense and romantic military thrillers. Her most recent titles include Viable Threat, the first book in the Outbreak Task Force series, and Viral Justice, book three of the Biological Response Team series. You can find her at www.julieroweauthor.com, on Twitter @julieroweauthor, or on her Facebook page: www.facebook.com/JulieRoweAuthor.
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