“Daniel Bryant. Thank you, Master Sergeant, Merry Christmas. God bless you and keep you safe.”
They shook hands and Mrs. Bryant gave his arm an affectionate pat. The couple left without anything else to say and Paul sighed. He’d heard of stories like that, but it was the first time it ever happened to him. It made his heart hurt and elated him at the same time.
***
“You have it bad,” Damon commented after parking the truck outside Lily’s apartment.
Paul shrugged. It was nearly eleven at night and he’d been traveling for more than a day and still had hours of work to do. “You still haven’t convinced that woman to marry you, have you?”
He went to the bed of the truck and untied the Christmas pine they’d stopped to buy. Damon opened the back and extracted the plastic Walmart bags filled with a random assortment of Christmas lights, garland and multi-colored decorative balls. Paul told him to go for every shade on the shelf.
“I’m working on it. She’s stubborn. She thinks being in her thirties is too old to get married.”
Damon grunted and grabbed Paul’s duffle. “So why are we doing this again?”
“Lily’s been working a lot of extra hours because she took some vacation time for my leave. She hasn’t had time to shop, and carrying a big tree isn’t something she should be doing anyway. Did you get the keys from Rebecca?” Paul hoisted the tree up.
“Yep. Her apartment’s this way.” Damon had actually looked it up and did a map on the GPS. Neither man had been there before. For the first time since the colonel sent him on the flight, cool awareness that he was about to see Lily again for the first time in months—a very pregnant Lily—hit him square in the chest.
Focus on the task, Marine. Prep the field of battle.
If Damon noticed his distraction, his friend didn’t let on. He juggled the bags and unlocked the door. It took them a few minutes to get the tree in and set up. Unwilling to share his first few minutes in Lily’s private space with his fellow Marine, he thanked him for the ride and sent him home. Lily hadn’t texted since the message he received at National, but she wasn’t home either.
Not letting exploring her place distract him, he decorated the tree with lights, garland and Christmas balls. He didn’t know what she preferred for a tree-topper so he’d let her pick it out. The boxes he’d shipped over the last few weeks were all stacked neatly…unopened…in her dining area. Pleased that she obeyed the notice not to open ’til Christmas, he hummed while he worked.
It was nearly two a.m. when the door locks turned. Unwilling to scare the hell out of her, he stood in full view of the front door when it opened.
She stepped into the apartment and stared at him, mouth open. She looked like a million bucks. Pregnancy softened her face, gave her a fuller, more generous figure, and he couldn’t keep the grin off his face.
“Surprise, sweetheart.”
“You’re here.” Disbelief etched the whisper in her voice.
“Yeah, I’m here.” He wanted to go to her and sweep her into his arms, but he’d already staged his invasion, set up shop with the Christmas tree and surprised her. So he held open his arms and waited. “Miss me?”
“I have….” She dropped her bag on the table and closed the door, moving slower than he cared to see. Tiredness seemed to shimmer off her in waves, like heat rising from sun-baked pavement. “I really have.”
Disappointed that she didn’t run flying into his arms, he braced his patience. He’d kind of invited the attitude by dropping in unannounced. And to be fair, she was extremely pregnant. She probably didn’t race anywhere. She crossed the room and stopped just within arm’s reach.
“And I’d like to make one thing perfectly clear.”
“Okay.” Man enough to take whatever she dished out.
“What I’m about to do in no way let’s you off the hook for surprising the hell out of me…are we clear?”
He nodded. “Yes, ma’am. Crystal.” She hadn’t thrown him out yet, that had to be a good sign.
She cupped his face in her hands and he sighed, his whole body relaxing at the simple touch. She stretched up on her tiptoes and brushed a kiss to his lips, and he closed his arms around her.
“You did miss me.” He grinned.
“Yeah, what took you so damn long?”
Chapter Ten
She hadn’t even realized she slept until her eyes opened and a morning yawn stretched her jaw. Warmth snuggled to her side and she found Paul staring down at her. Tiredness lingered around his eyes, but his grin made her pulse leap. “Good morning.”
“You’re still here.” Heat warmed her face, and not for the first time, she was glad her darker skin hid a blush so well. As if to prove he wasn’t a hallucination, she brushed a caress along his cheek. Stubble rasped against her palm.
“Nowhere else I’d rather be. You fell asleep on the sofa, and I carried you in here.” He settled a proprietary hand on her belly and a fresh wave of heat kindled inside.
“I’m sorry about that.” Finding him in her apartment still seemed like a bit of a fanciful dream.
“It’s okay, it was late and you were tired. And I got to watch you sleep….” He rubbed his hand over her stomach. The slow, easy massage sent electric ripples of awareness along every nerve ending and erased the lingering traces of sleep.
“You realize that sounds distinctly creepy, right?” She’d worried how it would go, when she allowed herself to dwell on the possibilities of his visit. In Germany, he’d been too far away to be anything more than a chance meeting. A chance that left her pregnant, sure—but too far away to be anything more than a voice on the phone, an intangible.
But the man in the bed with her right then—he was very tangible. And more, he was the guy she’d gotten used to talking to—enjoyed teasing a couple of times a week at the oddest hours. They talked—really talked—about big matters and small. As unnatural as it seemed, it felt completely right that to have him with her even if seeing him in her apartment bowled her over. Emotions swamped her and although she teased him about being angry—it was the last thing she experienced.
Hope.
Relief.
Thrill.
They tumbled over each other like wrestling puppies and filled her with the strangest sense of euphoria.
“It’s not creepy, it’s a lot like pinching yourself to make sure you’re awake.” He defended his words, and she enjoyed stroking his cheek. He turned his head and caught her finger in a sweet whisper of a kiss. “Not to mention I wanted be awake to stall any chance of a disappearing act.”
Guilt flooded through her. “I did try to leave you a note.”
“I know. But it’s way too much fun to give you a hard time about it to let it go completely.” Contrition softened his expression and he went from hard man to earnest boy and back in the blink of an eye. “That said, never again. You’re stuck with me.”
Dragging her hand away from his face before she started exploring elsewhere on his body, she stretched. Her gaze landed on the clock and she blinked. “Holy crap.”
Paul laughed and pressed a kiss to her ear. “I told you, you were tired.” His voice tickled her skin and she shivered.
“But twelve hours?” The question came out somewhere between a throaty whisper and ended on a squeak. It was almost mid-afternoon. Had Paul been in bed with her the whole time?
“Hmm. Hungry?” He continued his light massage against her belly, teasing upward occasionally and her nipples tightened in anticipation. Her very naked nipples. She had no clothes on.
Stealing a glance back at him, she grinned. “Please tell me I’m not the only naked one here.”
“Since you asked so nicely….” He took her hand and pressed it below the sheets and she wrapped her fingers around his very stiff, very hot cock. Excitement raced in her blood and her sex clenched. She went from feeling like a beached whale to horny in one caress.
He traced the ridges of her ear with his tongue and she closed h
er eyes. Stroking his cock from base to tip was an indulgence he’d not allowed her the last time. Their only time. He rubbed her belly and glided up to cup her breast and she contained a groan. Her breasts were almost too sensitive. When he brushed his thumb over her nipple, she bit her lip not to cry out, but liquid heat pooled between her thighs.
“How does this feel so right and so—odd at the same time?” Odd wasn’t the correct word, but confusion filtered through the desire filling her. She wanted to explore his body, and tracing her thumb around the head of his cock, she wanted him inside of her. The explosive needs were a point, counterpoint.
“We didn’t know each other last time.” His words soothed and teased as he kissed a path from her ear to her throat. Her pulse rabbited and the lazy pleasure unfurling within her ballooned. “Virtual strangers passing in an exquisite way.” Shifting against her, the wet heat of his mouth blazed across her skin to the breast he teased.
“Do we know each other any better now?”
His mouth latched on her nipple and he gave it a tug, teeth grazing ever so lightly, and she forgot to breathe. She squeezed his cock and he caught her wrist, tugging her hand away.
She barely recognized the low mewl coming from her throat. He laved the nipple, pulling all the pleasure up to focus on that point. Maybe he did know her better than she thought. He lifted his head, his gaze locking with hers as he blew a breath. The cool air stiffened her nipple and increased the tension stretching her taut.
“I think we do,” he said, softly. He set her hands on the pillow. “Keep them there.”
Amusement curved beneath the desire and the anticipation fluttering. “You still think you’re the boss of me?”
“No. I don’t think that.” He hovered over her, all coiled strength and raw masculinity. His gaze raked over her, a physical caress that sent another flush of warmth to her sex. “I know I am.”
Confidence on a man was about the sexiest thing ever and she bit back her retort. “Yes, sir.”
His expression softened and he captured her mouth in a kiss that robbed her thoughts of their coherence. All that hard, lean muscle and hot skin pressed against her. He held himself above her, one hand braced on either side. They touched nowhere save for their mouths moving together and the twining of their tongues.
Primitive arousal soaked through her and filled her with yearning. She wanted to lift her hands from the pillow and drag him down, but she didn’t dare. He’d ordered her to leave them there, so she settled for arching her back. Her belly bumped him and he growled, so low and visceral it only heightened her need.
“I want to be patient with you,” he murmured between long drugging kisses. His ragged breathing added to her thrill. “Is it safe?”
Belatedly she realized the meaning behind the question. Dazed, she looked up at him and smiled. “Yes. We can have all the sex we want.”
He kissed her again, and sparks chased across her vision. He caressed a path, leaving wanton need everywhere he touched. She squirmed, wanting his hand everywhere, but he took his time and plundered her mouth in the most erotic kiss. Abandoning her lips, he kissed his way down her body, particularly at her breasts where he drove her mad with teasing licks, but pausing at her belly.
“Sweetheart, do you have any idea how beautiful you are?” The way his voice deepened sent primal thrill zinging from her sex to her breasts and back again. When he dipped below to kiss her thighs, she closed her eyes and fisted the pillow.
Soaking wet, and so ready for him, she thought she might die if he played with her anymore. When his fingers found her throbbing clit, she cried out and came hard, disobedient as hell and she didn’t care.
Floating on that wild cloud of euphoria, she wasn’t prepared for his mouth replacing his fingers and the dark need that erupted spiraling her higher on a fresh rising tide of need. His tongue vibrated against her clit, ratcheting up her tension to an almost unbearable level. But the earnest attention and hard strokes of his mouth tumbled her over the edge. The shocks ripped through her and she cried out.
He gave her no time to recover, pulling away and rising above her. Dazed, she stared at him as he angled his cock and pressed into her. It was one, slow, unrelenting thrust and her inner muscles convulsed around him. She tried to arch her hips to meet him, the need hurtling her right back to the edge.
Seated deep within her, he stilled and checked her with a look. “Still okay?”
“Yes.” The whispered word came out a plea and he smiled, a heart-stopping, brilliant grin, and began to thrust in and out of her.
“Come again, baby.” He stroked her clit, never ceasing his rhythm, and she came again and again, sobbing his name, one orgasm crashing into another. His hips pistoned, and thrust harder, but he seemed ever aware of her, stroking her, teasing her, heightening her pleasure and when he found his release in hot jet of heat, he called her name against her mouth and kissed her.
I love him so much…. The thought tumbled in her mind, riding the whirlpool of pleasure. So much….
***
Loving her was easier from several thousand miles away. There, he didn’t have to witness her simmering irritation when he came in from a run carrying a cup of coffee. There, he didn’t know how often she woke in the middle of the night, or that spooning wasn’t her favorite way to sleep. But there he also didn’t get to indulge himself in the softness of her body or give her foot rubs when she came in after a particularly long shift. He couldn’t deliver food to her or get to know her co-workers.
So maybe loving her from afar seemed easier, but it was nowhere near as satisfying. She loved the tree. And he even managed to coax her into buying some decorations for it—including one photo frame that boasted a miniaturized likeness of their sonogram. Baby bump still didn’t have any interest in sharing his or her gender. The baby played shy with his or her legs always closed or turned away. Paul enjoyed the anticipation, Lillianna not so much.
She was a planner.
“So what do you think of Michael?” He fixed dinner—well, he’d grabbed carryout from Damon’s restaurant. His idea of cooking consisted of anything made on a grill or take-out.
“I dated a Michael. No.” She didn’t eat properly, picking at her food and pushing it around on the plate rather than eating it. “Jackson?”
“Jackson Torres.” He tried the name.
“Hansen.” She corrected.
And there they went again. “Torres,” he repeated patiently. “I like Danniella, for a girl.”
“Then someone would call her Dani. I’m not a big fan of nicknames.” She shifted in the chair and he recognized the pinch of her eyebrows.
“You don’t mind when I call you Lily. Back hurt?” He rose and fetched the pillow off the sofa and eased it between her back and the hard chair.
“A little.” But her grimace betrayed the lie. He paused and gave her a hard stare, and she relented. “Okay, a lot. I’m not really hungry, maybe I’m just tired. And I like when you call me Lily.”
“Maybe, but you should still eat something. I can get you something else if you don’t like the fish.” Maybe he should have run the meal plan past her first.
“No, the fish is fine. In fact, I’m sure it tastes great. But it was a long day….”
“And your last one, right? You’re on leave now?” She had enough vacation time accrued to take off through the first of the year. The policy at her hospital allowed her a pre-maternity and a post-delivery leave. Which meant even though the baby wasn’t due for another six weeks, she had time off.
“Yes, I’m on leave. Signed the last papers today, I’m off work until April.”
“April.” He frowned. “That’s not a lot of recovery time.”
“Six weeks is more than enough and you’re presuming this kid is going to stay on some kind of predictable schedule. Babies tend to do whatever they want.” She grimaced again and glared at her stomach. “And kicking me isn’t helping your case.”
Paul laid his hand against her be
lly immediately. Since arriving, the baby had been pretty quiet. He’d only noticed some movement when she slept, and he was eager for the experience. When the little one thumped his hand through the belly, he grinned. “Hello there. Nice high five.”
Lily laughed. “I think that was his foot.” But the tension knitting her brows together relaxed.
“Okay, then maybe he can be a kicker for the football team.”
“Or she can be a prima ballerina.”
He’d miss talking to her—playing with her. The sobering thought kicked him square in the gut. He didn’t want to miss it. If she’d just agree with him—it would solve so much. Glancing up, he locked gazes with her. “Marry me.” It wasn’t a question.
“We’ve talked about this.” She glanced away.
“No, you’ve talked about it. You’ve given me a lot of excuses, but no real reasons. I know you’re life is here, but that doesn’t mean it’s set in cement.”
“No, it doesn’t. But I bounced around my entire childhood. I never knew where we would go next. We didn’t have any control of Dad’s assignments. I didn’t grow up in a neighborhood where everyone knew my name, I grew up in an Army where everyone moved when they were told, went to states and bases and countries they may never have heard of, and we had no say in the matter. No one took into account who my friends were or what I liked to do—if the Army said go, we went.” Tears filled her eyes. “I love my dad, I love that he loves his country, and I have always been proud of him. But Paul, I hated that. I hated not having a place to call mine, a place I could settle in and establish roots.”
Still kneeling, he covered her hands with his. “I get that. But if you stay here and I go, we’re apart. How is that fair?”
She bit her lip and gone was the sassy, tough nurse who handled everything and all that remained was the vulnerable mom-to-be. His heart fisted in his chest. “I don’t know. I don’t like it.”
Well, that was something. “You know kids don’t get to choose their families. They’re born into them. I know you didn’t like all the moving, and I can’t promise you that we won’t have to. I’m in Germany right now. I was in Afghanistan a year ago, Iraq before that. I’ve been assigned all over the world. I go where they need me. It’s who I am. But I want to be your husband, too.”
Marine Ever After (Always a Marine) Page 10