Maybe she was just being a coward. There had only been one man since Chris and it just hadn’t… clicked.
“Okay, Beckett. You win. Come back tonight and we’ll do the deed. Maybe you’ll get it out of your system and I can go back to my peaceful existence without you.”
“Umm… thank you. But tonight won’t work for me.”
Melina tilted her head back as she laughed off his refusal. She was surprised how much it stung her ego… and how disappointed she was.
“Why, Beckett? Change your mind already? Let me clarify—I’m saying yes.”
Gower kept his gaze on her foot as he rubbed. He reached up behind her leg and stroked her calf down to her heel. She purred like a contented cat as he gently stretched the muscles. He squirmed in his seat, wanting to make her purr more.
“I… can’t tonight. Sorry. Truly, I am sorry.”
Melina snickered again at his even more polite and sincere second refusal. “And you wonder why I say you confuse me. I cave to your flirty demands to sleep with me, and suddenly you’re a chicken shit. I don’t get the sudden change of heart, Beckett. What kind of mind game are you playing here?”
Gower lifted one shoulder and frowned. “The kind where Dillon has school tomorrow. He needs to have dinner at a decent hour and get to bed early so he does well. And I don’t use sitters very often because he still has a problem with being left alone with them. His mother went out on a date and never came back. I try not to worry him whenever I can help it. That’s one of the reasons I haven’t been indulging my urges.”
“Oh,” Melina said, chastised. She nodded and sighed. “Sorry, Beckett. I was being a…”
“Real dick about it?” Gower suggested.
Melina laughed at the slam. It was the first time she’d hit his pissy button. Well, he deserved to be mad. “I was going to say bitch because you’ve got me feeling all girly.”
Gower barked out a laugh. “Fuck. I’m so desperate for a date with you that I’m going to take that lame apology as you flirting back.”
“Whoa—hold on there. I didn’t say anything about dating,” Melina declared, wagging a finger.
Gower stopped rubbing. “Well, I’m not sleeping with you if we don’t. What kind of a man do you think I am?”
Melina snorted and gave him a look that had quelled the worst sarcasm in the greenest of her recruits. Gower just grinned at her look and ducked his head. His rebellion thrilled her when it shouldn’t have. He was simply not intimidated. And he’d been the same brash person in the doctor’s office insinuating a relationship between them that didn’t even exist—at least not yet.
It was becoming more and more clear that Gower Beckett didn’t care about rules like she did. Why in the hell was that so attractive to her after the life she’d led?
“I think you’re the kind of man to take advantage of any edge he’s given,” Melina said, narrowing her eyes.
“And you’re a very good judge of character to think that,” Gower admitted. He nodded, sighed, and finally shook his head. “Melina. Melina. If I sleep with you only because of that invitation, we both know I’ll never see you again. You’ll just write me off afterwards as a one-nighter and that will be that. At the risk of losing my man card, one night is not going to be enough for me. I want to date you, Melina. I want to know what you do when you’re not being a hard-ass Marine. Call me crazy.”
“Okay,” Melina declared. “You’re crazy. And that was way too easy a shot to even be any fun.”
“Yes. Ha. Ha,” Gower declared, staring her down as his fingers worked her arch. “I’m absolutely crazy about the most interesting woman I’ve ever met. It’s growing stronger each moment I’m around her. I want to swim in her gaze and feel her body vibrating around my throbbing, aching…”
“You’re laying it on too thick, Beckett,” Melina accused, interrupting him before she started visualizing what he was describing.
“Yet what I’m saying is still one hundred percent true about what I want,” Gower replied.
There was silence as she leaned her head back, closed her eyes, and sighed in relief as the pain finally started to ease. “Okay. Maybe you are an expert on rubbing,” she conceded. “And you’re a good father to put your son first. I respect that. What do you want from me—from our dating as you call it?”
“A few lunch dates and middle of the day sex that ends by two-thirty so I can pick up Dillon from school. That will tell us if what we have is worth pursuing further.”
Melina raised one eyelid as she snorted.
“Anything else?” she demanded with a chuckle. Gower remained silent over her question, but his stroking hands never ceased their task. His head bent over her foot was hands down the sexiest sight she’d ever seen. Looking at the man would be very easy to get used to, even if he did make her regret her age.
“Yes. I want to kiss you goodbye today before I leave,” Gower said quietly.
Melina breathed out a sigh. “Okay—I guess a kiss is the least I can do as a thank you for the foot rub. It really did help.”
“Great. Now that we got our dating settled, I guess I should go and let you rest. I’ll bring lunch again tomorrow if that works for you.”
Melina nodded. Would lunch tomorrow mean sex in the afternoon? Her heart picked up an erratic beat just thinking about it. Damn it. He was getting to her.
Gower moved from his chair to leaning over Melina’s. Needing to get lower to kiss her properly, he put a knee beside each of her thighs until he was practically kneeling in her lap. He bent to her mouth and used the force of his kiss to push her head back. He lifted and ran both hands through her hair making her quiver with each stroke.
Pulling his mouth from Melina’s was hard… just as hard as the rest of him.
“You are my angel. And you are the most competent, self-possessed female I know. You also make me feel more like a man more than anyone ever has. I think I could be really good to you. We could be really good to each other. I hope you believe that too before you let me into your bed.”
Melina nodded silently. Her throat was too tight to speak. She felt abandoned when Gower left the chair and headed to the door.
“Gower,” she called out, clearing her throat.
He stopped at the door and turned back to her. “Yes?”
“It was good to see you today,” Melina declared, watching his gaze shift from worried to exultant. His satisfied grin over her statement made butterflies dance in her stomach.
The ache his leaving caused in her lower regions as he closed the door announced just how much trouble she was in.
Chapter 9
As Melina reapplied her lip gloss, the reality of what she was doing finally hit her.
She stared at the woman in the mirror, wondering how it was she was once again dressing to please a man. A few days ago she’d sent her logistics team off to the desert to line up support for their SEALs. Now she was waiting for some guy she barely knew to arrive at her door so she could sleep with him. How fair was that?
Well, it wasn’t fair. But that’s how it worked, and she knew it. If any of her guys had stayed behind, they’d be out bar hopping and getting laid. Some would be going home to wives and families… and to dogs that got walked and cuddled and fed while they were away.
Feeling sorry for what she didn’t have wasn’t going to change anything. At the least the guy coming was interested in her sexually.
She tightened her jaw and stared at her reflection, wondering if she could really leave the military behind, even if she physically exited. Would she continue to wonder what her guys were doing? Would she continue to wonder if they were doing okay without her? Were they her pseudo-family?
Melina shook her head as she stepped away. It wasn’t just her attraction to Gower Beckett that was confusing her. And if she didn’t give her Sergeant Major an answer soon, she could kiss her current assignment good-bye for sure. They wanted to make Jack a Gunny and he deserved the promotion. But this was her life they wer
e pressuring her to change.
Being a Marine was all she knew about herself for certain. It wasn’t like she’d stored up a second career to move on to.
The doorbell rang, bringing an end to her internal debate. Gower Beckett was at her door. Gower with his wide shoulders, his wickedly arrogant grin, and penchant for sexual flirting. He might not clear up any thinking for her, but maybe he would offer a distraction.
She walked slowly to the door, sans cane today. Her foot was tender, but Gower’s foot rubs had truly helped. And the stitches had sealed the wound. She wasn’t a hundred percent, but she was as good as she could be.
Melina opened the door and her heart fluttered at the man standing there. His smile widened as he took in her lip gloss, mascara, and earrings.
“You look amazing,” Gower declared. “And I’m flattered you would do this for me.”
“Full out girl mode,” Melina answered. “You coming in or standing in the hall all day.”
Gower chuckled. “Oh… there you are. For a moment there, I wasn’t sure I had the same woman.”
“Is that just sandwiches in your bag?” Melina asked.
Gower laughed. “Yes. And I’m glad to see you too.”
Melina sighed. “This is as nice as I get, Beckett. Put the bag down and kiss me hello. ”
Gower dropped the bag on the coffee table and turned back. “Okay. I’ll take it.” He held out his arms.
She stepped into him, feeling his heat as she reached for his mouth. He wasn’t a lot taller, so a tiny head tilt down erased the distance. His tongue in her mouth matched the hard bulge that grew against her as he pulled her closer. Her hands explored his upper body, finding their way under the t-shirt he wore. His back was as heavenly as his chest pressing against the front of her. Her breasts perked right up at the pressure.
Gower was hard everywhere—hard and hot. And acting as needy as she felt. His hips seeking hers presented some hard evidence. Her hands fell to his hips to help them find the perfect fit. One of his legs slid smoothly between her thighs proving that he wasn’t an inexperienced boy.
They groaned together as their tongues tangled. Shock at the strength of their desire soon had them pulling apart before things went too far to retreat. Melina swallowed her embarrassment to be so turned on so quickly. His fingers under her chin forced her gaze back up to his.
“How polite do you want me to be? I’m supposed to be feeding you lunch before this.”
The whispered question had her closing her eyes. She wasn’t sure what Gower was seeing when he looked at her.
“Melina,” he repeated, tightening his hold on her chin. “Talk to me. Don’t make me read your mind. I don’t want to be wrong.”
Her eyes popped open and saw he meant what he was saying. She twisted free of his fingers and planted a hot kiss in the palm of his hand. “I don’t want to wait any more than you do. Watch my stitches—that’s all I ask.”
Gower nodded and swung her up in his arms. They needed to be horizontal as soon as possible. Her arms hooked around his neck as she planted her hot mouth against his neck. Melina continued the assault, nipping and sucking as he carried her down her hallway and to the bed he’d so studiously ignored before. He was in stony erection hell by the time they got there.
Gower crawled into bed with her and let her slide from his arms as gently as he could. Her hands bunched in his shirt and ripped it upwards as she pulled him on top of her. It cleared his head just before their mouths met again.
He melted into her, devouring, and then pulled back from insanity to run a hand under her shirt. A thin lace covered bra was the reward of his explorations. Her breast rose to meet his grip and drove him crazy.
He pressed between her thighs needing some relief, thrilled when Melina moaned. It meant she needed it too.
“You’re losing the shirt,” Gower ordered, skimming it up over her breasts. He caught a glimpse of panic in her gaze and a glimpse of pink lace barely covering dark peaks. He covered her mouth hotly again, groaning at the pleasure of her response. Then he pulled away to look.
“You’re more beautiful than I imagined. I…” The compliments he wanted to offer got lost as his mouth slid to a lace covered peak. Melina arched up and hissed his name.
He arched against her—twice. She called out, vocal in her response. He wrenched his mouth off her, rose high enough to look down. She looked wild. He pressed against her, moving her hands down the bed and anchoring them with his to hold back both of them.
“There’s only one first time and I don’t want to miss anything. I’m going a little crazy right now. You look…” he paused, “fuck… I got nothing. You shut down my brain. Tell me this is okay and I’m going to make us both very happy in the next few minutes.”
Melina stared up in Gower’s determined gaze. She saw a man on the verge of forgetting that he was civilized. She’d been there with men before, but never with one who seemed to care so much that she meet and match him. His restraint was sexy… and maddening… and a challenge to destroy.
She sighed and sucked her bottom lip while she held his gaze. Then she shifted her hips before she spoke. His eyes darkened. She wanted to laugh, but didn’t dare. He could have things however he wanted. She had no doubt he was going to take her along.
“You want me to talk dirty or pretend I’m the girl next door?”
“Stop tormenting me, Melina. Answer the damn question. Do you want this as much as I do?”
Melina let her lids drop as she hooked her legs behind his calves and slid them up his thighs.
“Do I want this as much as you do?” she repeated. “No. I think I want it more. I’m aching in places I never knew existed inside me. Wanting you to fill them is why I went to all the trouble to break out the lace and the lip gloss. Stop stalling, Gower. You’ll be lucky to get inside me before I go off with a bigger boom than an RPG hitting its target.”
Gower stared down at the sexy woman beneath him, momentarily frozen by her confession of mind-numbing lust. She’d just compared her impending orgasm with him to the boom of a rocket propelled grenade going off. He’d never been more turned on by a woman in his life. Thank you, Uncle Sam, for making the perfect one for him.
A horrible thought followed his epiphany though. He was more pleased than ever that his predecessor had been a stupid horn dog and lost his chance with her. Gower hadn’t even been inside her yet and already wanted to be in this position with her a zillion times more. He wanted all rights to look down into that low-lidded gaze of hers inviting him to do whatever the hell he wanted to her body.
Well, what he wanted was to make her beg—that would come later. He was going to enjoy every minute of sensual torture until Gunny Angel lost her cool with him. And if he was really good… maybe he’d also earn the rights to her heart.
He knew Melina would be royally pissed to know he was already thinking of the future, but how could he not be when he was about to make her completely his? His current determination to please her had never happened to him before. He wanted Melina to want him over and over again. If he was being a possessive dick in that kind of thinking… well so be it.
A sound Gower had never heard himself make erupted from deep in his throat as he lowered his mouth to hers. Melina was all fire and restless urging beneath him as she kissed him back with the kind of heat that backed up her words.
He pressed against the heaven between her legs as hard as he could, their clothes blocking the connection he wanted more than breathing now.
He unhooked her bra as he kissed her. As he stripped it off her shoulders, her now freed hands unfastened his pants. One slid competently downward and showed him she felt a kind of ownership of him as well. Brain cells started dying with every confident stroke. He’d found a sexual partner—a real one—and he couldn’t be happier. Her age was only an asset to what they were doing.
He lost track of what happened after that thought, but finally their clothes were all gone. He remembered pausing once to admi
re her military sculpted nudity and to check her stitches. He kissed gently around them on her thigh before moving up over her hip and finding her eager mouth once more.
Melina was firm and toned and hot and welcoming. Sliding into her felt just like it was supposed to feel only ten times more than he’d imagined because she hissed his name as he entered her. She also exploded around him almost immediately… just like she’d warned.
Happy already, he worked the rest of her orgasm off legitimately.
His satisfied smile when she generously and unselfishly rode his own eruption out with him cemented everything that just happened with absolute clarity. This woman was the one. He’d known it since the moment he’d seen her standing over two punks with a broken crutch.
Gower kissed his way to her ear so he could whisper. He didn’t want to disrupt the moment with loud words. Melina moaned with every movement he made as he shifted. She wrapped her unwounded leg around his waist to anchor him to her. It was obvious she wanted him again.
God… he’d never felt so proud of himself.
“You okay, Angel? Besides the fact our first time lasted about ten seconds.”
Chuckling, Melina ran a hand down his back. “It was great. I’m just feeling… needy. You scratched my itch but you made it worse, Beckett. Yes, I’m squirming around down here hoping for a repeat. Are you staying for a while? Or do you have to run off? I don’t want to make you late picking up Dillon.”
Gower chuckled at her thoughtfulness, and pressed in closer, not wanting to leave her body yet. “It’s only lunchtime, honey. At the risk of losing man points, I just got here twenty minutes ago.”
“Seriously? Twenty minutes?”
Melina froze in her stroking. Then laughing again, she ran both hands down to cover his talented glutes and squeezed. She used the pressure on his backside to pull him closer too. When Gower snickered above her, she decided liking him was unavoidable and she needed to stop looking for excuses.
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