Assignment: Learning to Love [Hawt Men In and Out of Uniform 2] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic)

by Honor James

  “You’re just saying that because I didn’t subject you to the General’s wrath immediately after the trauma of last night. Plus the fact I’m keeping you tucked out of sight of your mother. You can admit it. I don’t mind, mainly because it is the truth,” he said in a low tone.

  “Good point.” Gigi found herself grinning. “Because it’s the truth. Thank you for all of that, by the way. For keeping me out of the sight of the entire wedding party. Mother and Sandy would both have heart attacks and would demand that they were the ones hurt, not me.” She wished. “Anyway, enough of that. I’m too happy right here where I am at the moment to think about them anymore.” She pulled back to look at him. “So, tell me about yourself.”

  “Uh, me?” he asked with a startled expression. “What do you want to know about me, Gigi?” he asked. He truly appeared stunned that she was asking to know more. She wasn’t sure why, but got the impression there might be a story there.

  “Anything and everything you would want to tell me. It just seems as if you already know everything that there is to know about me, so tell me a bit about you,” she asked quietly. “I just figured that since you are sleeping with me, you should tell me a little bit about you, right?”

  “Oh, guilt-trip me, why don’t you?” he asked with a laugh. “Well, let’s see. I have an older brother, David. He works for an agency that I’m not even entirely sure what their title is, to be honest. They do big, international busts involving blood diamonds and the people that use them for funds. It’s likely a hell of a lot more complicated than that, but that’s the CliffsNotes version for you. It was just the two of us and my dad growing up. Mom passed from a faulty valve on one of the arteries leading into her heart when I was about twenty. Both David and I were out of the country at the time. I was on my first deployment and he was on his third. After that is when he retired and went to work for the agency. Your godfather, Sid, actually runs the joint and runs interference for him through Washington. I like long walks on a non-hostile beach at sunset, I enjoy picnics where I don’t need to be tucked into a hole of rocks to have it, and I happen to like watching romantic comedies. Though, I will not lie, I do enjoy a good Bond film.”

  Gigi nodded and petted Michael. That was the only thing that would explain the way that she was stroking her hands up and down Michael’s chest. “I’m sorry that you lost your mom so long ago. While my mom isn’t the Mother of the Year, she’s still mine and she loves me. Even if it is in her own little way, I know she loves me.” And while the woman confounded Gigi more often than not, she was still her mother, and Gigi honestly did love her. “But you likely already know this, I’m totally a daddy’s girl. He understands me and that’s awesome. Not many people get me.”

  “What’s not to get?” he asked her. “You’re a pure soul who doesn’t apologize for living the life you do, your way. The whole society crap doesn’t interest you, being real does. I can appreciate that. While I’ve learned when to keep my mouth shut in certain situations, the whole political lean hasn’t ever been my thing. I prefer saying what I’m thinking as I’m thinking it, without a filter. I mean what I say, and I say what I damn well mean.”

  “That’s a very good thing,” she told him honestly. “Society functions have always driven me nuts. The whole military social part of it though I get. Believe it or not, I’m able to find my way very easily in that venue, which is surprising.” She had been with her father to more than one function and had loved it. “You are right though, I live life my way. We only have one, and since we are all born dying, I’m damn well determined to live the life I was blessed with instead of simply existing.”

  “Good policy, that was something my mother always used to say. I always wondered if maybe she knew about her condition. Looking back, she always seemed to be careful, but not overly. She ate right, exercised in moderation, and always lived each day like it was to be her last. She taught both David and I to do the same. Especially since we were already leaning toward following our father’s footsteps into the military.”

  “It could be. I have nothing wrong with me, knock on wood, but I still fully believe in living life to the ultimate fullest.” She rubbed her cheek to his chest again and sighed happily. “This is rather nice, just relaxing and chilling out here with you. I could become very accustomed to something like this.” She hadn’t slept with a man before. She hadn’t ever let someone stay that long and come that close to her. “Life was meant to be lived and not just dredged along in. Right?”

  “Very true,” he said. His hand was sliding up and down her back slowly. “Which means you have to grab hold whenever something good comes along. There might be consequences, but who cares? If it makes you happy, and you derive pleasure from it, go for it, I say.”

  “I couldn’t agree more. And sometimes the good things come into your life when you didn’t think that they would. I like that.” Goodness, she wanted to be able to give him just a bit more of a hug or even a kiss. She never really thought about things like that, at all. She did though. She wanted to kiss him.

  “True,” he said quietly. He slid his hand up under her hair and rubbed his thumb along her neck. “So, what do you want in life, Gigi? I mean besides your mother getting a reality check and your cousin becoming a real human girl.”

  Gigi smiled, but she had to think about that for a moment. Finally she said, “I would like to know that the love that I write about is real. Learn how to understand that love that people have for each other. To know it for myself.” She didn’t believe in love, mostly because she had never had reason to believe in it. “But again, that’s an illusion. Love, that is.”

  Michael was quiet for a time, his thumb stroking up and down her skin. “You actually believe that,” he said softly. “I know your mother isn’t exactly a sterling example, but how can you believe that true love doesn’t exist, honey?”

  “Because I’ve never met anyone that has stayed together. Every single person that I know has divorced, cheated, been cheated on, and so on. The only one that I know loves me without question is my dad. Mother wants things from me, but Daddy has never wanted anything from me other than me being happy. To me, that’s what love should be, and honestly I’ve never found that anywhere or with anyone. Even my friends have all been divorced and whatever. Then you add the fact that the three boyfriends that I’ve had in life have all skipped off for either my mother or a friend of mine. Period.”

  “Okay, that is rather overwhelming proof against love, but it does exist,” he said softly. “I’ve seen it, often. My brother, for one, has found the love of his life. She’s a mean little bundle of energy, but she loves him just as much in return. My parents loved one another until the day my mother died, and my dad still mourns her. He never remarried because he couldn’t do anything halfway, and marrying a woman just to give his boys a mother was wrong in his book.”

  “I’m happy that they had that and your brother has that. It’s good. I’m glad that you were able to see what love was.” She still didn’t buy into the hoopla of love though. “I hope you find it one day, too. Hopefully we will stay friends so one day you can tell me all about real love from a personal point of view.” Weird, she had to rub at a slight ache in her chest that saying those words caused. That was very odd indeed.

  “You keep trying to kick me to the curb, Gigi. Why is that?” he asked. Shifting around, he leaned up on an elbow to look down into her face. Gently, he brushed her hair off her face and tucked it back out of the way. “You proposition me in one moment, then you’re practically shoving me out the door. Whatever is going on inside that head of yours, honey?”

  “Not trying to kick you to the curb.” She lifted the hand that she used to rub at the ache she had in her chest and touched her fingers to his lips. “I’m just saying that when you find it one day. You will, I know you will.” She told him while stroking her fingers over his lips lightly.

  Michael stayed still while she touched him, not even speaking as she ran her fingers ov
er his lips to his cheek. “Oh, I know I will. I’m just curious which of us is going to be more shocked by it,” he said with a smile slowly spreading over his face. “My bet’s entirely on you,” he added. Leaning in, he brushed a light kiss to her lips. Once again, he moved and pulled her carefully into his arms. “Get some rest. When you wake, we’ll get you a hot bath and check out your wounds. I’ll have to change the bandages anyway, so we might as well give you a bit of a soak at the same time.”

  “That sounds wonderful to me.” She was shocked that he had kissed her. She was more than a little surprised and felt her lips tingle. “I think you should kiss me again though. I feel all kinds of tingly and I would like to know if it’s a fluke of nature or not.”

  “I don’t want to hurt you, honey. You’ve got one hell of a nasty split lip there,” he told her. Michael brought his head in closer though, his breath warm on her lips and chin. “Gently, so that there’s no pain.” His hand cupped her face as he lightly pressed his lips to hers.

  She lifted her bandaged hand to his cheek and then dug her fingers into his hair to pull him closer. She opened to him, lifting her leg and wrapping it around his hips and pulling him closer. She kissed him back just as he kissed her.

  The low moan he let out, along with the flex of his fingers on her face, told her he was fighting himself. He rolled into her more, pressing her back to the bed as some of his weight held her in place under him.

  Gigi might hurt, but she wasn’t dead. She wrapped her other arm around him, and when she was on her back, she wrapped her other leg around him as well, holding him in the vee of her thighs. She moaned, unable to hold the sound at bay.

  “Gigi,” he growled against her mouth. She tugged him back down, and he didn’t seem to be in the mood to fight her. He kissed her, still with a lot of care, but he was taking it deeper as she opened to him. His tongue sliding over hers, dancing and twisting as they dueled.

  She moaned into the kiss. She tugged him as close and as tight as she could possibly get him. Yes, her lip hurt, but honestly the kiss felt too good, too right for her to give it up.

  They did part though, their foreheads touching, and she grinned. “Wow, you are good,” was all she could say because in truth her brain wouldn’t come up with anything else other than just telling him exactly what she thought about the kiss that he gave her. “I think you should kiss me often. At least while we are together. What do you think?”

  “I think I should, too,” he said. “It will be even better when your lip is healed. Hell, it’ll be a hell of a lot better once all of you is healed.” Smiling, he brushed another kiss to her lips before letting out a groan and moving off of her. “I should not be crushing you when you are still recovering. Damn woman, you completely fried my brain and made me forget all my good intentions.”

  “Didn’t mean to fry your brain,” she told him. “How about you just hug me? I think that we should get up and do something. I’m hungry, and while I would much rather be able to remain here in your bed and arms, I think that we should get up and eat. Thoughts?” She didn’t want to walk, but surely he had a table or something he could bring over to them, right? “Will I see you again? After we are liberated from this island, that is?”

  “You sure? You did just take a painkiller after all. I’m all for getting you up to eat something. I’ll have to go and raid the kitchens, I think. I somehow doubt they are providing room service right now.” At her nod, he sat up and moved to help her to sit, going nice and slow. “If you want to see me again, Gigi, absolutely. With bells on, even.”

  “I think that I would like that—to see you again. Only no hideous red dresses anywhere near and hopefully no men trying to kidnap me.” She had been thinking about that, a lot. “Daddy is going to up security around me. I know that he’s hired at least one man to follow me, maybe more, but for the most part they stay off in the shadows. He’s going to lose his mind with this new development and that’s very frustrating.”

  “Maybe I can get him to assign me to watch after you,” he said. Climbing off the bed, he lifted her and carried her over to the only chair still at the table. Sitting her down, he dragged an ottoman over from the lone armchair and put her feet up on it. “How you doing?” he asked, his eyes on her as she took a few deep breaths.

  “Hurting, but it’s a little numb, too,” she said honestly. Looking up at him, she grinned. “I would like that. A lot. Him assigning you to watch over me. I think that would be a wonderful thing. I might have to drop that thought upon him.”

  “Yeah?” he asked, rocking back on his hips. Smiling, he nodded and squeezed her thigh lightly. “Then go for it. I would not be in the least opposed. Though I wouldn’t show as much enthusiasm at the thought when you propose it to him. He might get more than a little suspicious. No need to put my ass on that man’s radar right off the bat.”

  “Oh believe me, Michael, you already are. Especially if Daddy knows that you are keeping me in your rooms. He’s likely already dug up absolutely everything that there is about you. I would also wager that he has already contacted your brother and maybe your dad as well. We might be stuck on the island, but I would bet he’s doing all the recon on you that he can.”

  “Well, hell,” he muttered. “And I thought my dad was bad when I was in high school. Your dad definitely trumps anything he ever did. I really hope I didn’t do anything too bad along the way. Oh, wait.” He cringed and made a face. “Okay, so there was this one time. But really it wasn’t that big of a deal. I was ten, for the love of God.”

  She laughed, she couldn’t help herself. “Oh God, you are priceless. I like that. A lot. I think that you are way too funny. I think that you will get past Dad’s walls. He already likes and respects you.” If not, Gigi wouldn’t be there and would instead be locked away in her dad’s rooms, and she knew it.

  “Okay, okay.” He nodded, rubbing his hands up and down his sweatpants. “But if he brings up anything to do with an old Chevy, stick your fingers in your ears and make noise. You do not need to hear those lies, and some of it actually is lies.” Grinning at her, he stood, moving to grab a bottle of juice that he handed to her.

  “Okay, I’m going to go and get us food. Do you have any preferences, given how puffy and sore-looking your lip is?” He was digging into his bag and tugged on a Marines sweatshirt. Looking over to her, he glanced around the room. “I’m going to need to leave the door unlatched. No telling when the power will come back on and I currently have no clue where the hell my keycard is. With that in mind, I really should leave you with a weapon, just in case. If you’re comfortable with that and swear not to shoot me.”

  “Nothing overly salty, and yes, I’m fine with a weapon. You keep forgetting who my dad is.” She shook her head. “Honey, I bet that I knew how to shoot and fieldstrip a weapon before you did.” It was bonding time according to her dad, and she had loved it. “Just turn off the safety and pull the slide back for me.” She held up her hands. “Because I don’t think that I really can right now.”

  “Considering I’m older than you and had a military father as well, doubtful.” He was laughing though as he pulled out a couple of weapons. He looked to her hands and put one back. Coming to her side, he flipped off the safety and drew the slide back to show her the round already in the barrel. “This has a pretty sensitive trigger, only needs about four ounces of pressure, so you won’t need to squeeze too hard to fire. Just remember rule one, identify your target before you shoot. And rule number two because of where we are, disable first, terminate second. I’ll knock and announce myself before I come back in.”

  “Don’t worry. I have this. I wouldn’t let that asshat take me without a fight, and now that I have a weapon, there won’t be anyone else trying to take me either,” she said with a slow smile. “Go. Do what you need to do. I will be right here waiting for you to come back. Oh, and if you happen to bring back a soda, I wouldn’t be all that angry with you either.”

  “I’m planning on bringing back a
lot more than a single soda.” He moved to his bag again and dug around, coming up with another gun, this one he tucked against the small of his back. “See you soon,” he said. Moving to the door, he pulled the chair out from under the knob and set it aside but in the path of anyone that came busting in. He grabbed an envelope and used it to keep the door from locking when he slipped out.

  Gigi watched the man leaving and had to sigh. Goodness, she liked that man. He was sexy, he was kind, he was everything that a woman would want in a man. She liked the man, and that made him dangerous to her. She did hope, however, that they would be able to remain friends when they left the island.

  Chapter Seven

  A tap on the door sounded, followed by his voice identifying himself. Michael stepped into the room a minute later, pushing a cart. He moved the chair out of the way and then back under the doorknob. “Your dad said to say hi, and he’ll be visiting later. No option, he didn’t give me a chance to even tell him no.”

  He wheeled the cart to the table and grinned at her. “Your mother made three attempts to gain my attention, all of which failed of course. Even your cousin got into the act, trying to get me to pay her any attention. She was rather pissed when I asked who the fuck she was and if she’d been invited. I feel for her new husband, he’s really going to get an earful at some point tonight.”

  “Oh God, he’s a spineless asshat and they work well together. She’s an ass and he’s an idiot, so they will be fine together. Promise,” she said and then sighed. “Are you sure that we have to let Daddy in? You know he’s going to lose his ever-loving mind about how I look, right?” She looked down at her bandaged hands and then back up at him. “Especially if my jaw, chin, and face look half as bad as they look right now.”

  “You really don’t want a truthful answer to that,” he said. Michael grinned and shrugged. “Or do you want the truthful answer to that statement? I could just get you a mirror and let you judge for yourself. No, better not to do that. Women tend to see shit that doesn’t actually appear anywhere on their bodies.”