by Em Petrova
“Maybe. It’s easy to believe everyone has an easier life than we do. My line of work’s taught me that isn’t usually the case. We all struggle with something.”
She chewed on her straw a moment and then nodded. “You’re right. It’s actually something I’m trying to convey in my documentary. Anyway, how are you feeling? You’ve got to be tired. You should definitely still be home resting.”
“I’ll rest on the flight.”
She nibbled at her straw again, and he took notice of how sweet the bow of her mouth was. A perfect rosebud of full upper and lower lips in an equally rosy shade.
Not only did he want to finish what he started back in her kitchen, but he had an urge to throw up a shield around her, whip out a weapon and threaten anyone who came close enough to hurt her.
In the end, that person might be me.
His phone buzzed, and he drew it to his ear. Next to him, Sascha straightened and lowered the straw from her lips.
“Hep.”
Penn’s voice filtered into his ear. “I got your transport on a private plane to Washington state. From there, you’ll be shuttled to Anchorage.”
“Damn, you really did it. I can’t thank you enough, sir.”
“Just get back in one piece. Then it’s gonna be a long time before I grant you another leave, Hep.”
Looking at his feet, he imagined Penn’s grin and knew a flood of affection for the brotherhood that took up so much of his life.
“I’m damn happy to be returning.”
He provided some details about their journey. “Stay in touch. Keep us updated when you’re on the ground in Alaska.”
“Will do.” He ended the call and took a moment to collect himself. His head still ached, and the world appeared a bit fuzzy the longer he stayed awake. But since they had transport, he could breathe a bit easier.
He held out a hand to Sascha. “We’re on a flight. Are you ready?”
She took his hand, and he enfolded her fingers in his palm. “It might sound weird, but I feel as if I’ve been holding my breath waiting for this moment to come.”
Looking down into her beautiful eyes he missed far more than he ever allowed himself to dwell on, he nodded. “I understand.”
While he grew eager to get back to his team, he had another reason for wanting to board that flight—he really wanted to sit down and do nothing for a few hours. He’d suffered from a concussion once before in his early days in the Army, but it hadn’t taken such a toll on his energy level.
Walking across the airport to the gate Penn told him to use, Hepburn’s eyes wanted to go unfocused and his steps seemed to drag the floor. At his side, Sascha walked along with her bag slung across her body and bumping her hip.
For a moment, he wondered if any of this was real. The last thing he recalled feeling normal had been the mission to rescue two women from a bunch of crazies. Weapons and ammo he understood. Blood and pain too.
Everything in between then and this moment felt like a production of his imagination. Especially losing control with Sascha and how he’d agreed for her to come.
Her curves called out to him to mold his hands to her flesh and learn how her whimpers sounded. God, she’d come for him so quickly, she hardly gained enough pleasure.
He lapsed into another fantasy, of cupping her delicate jaw on the plane and drawing a moan from her. Kneading her breast and focusing on the straining point of her nipple while she rode his fingers to completion.
Almost groaning, he flipped the switch on his imagination. He refused to make the sister of his late best friend into a member of the mile high club. Ethan would surely find a way to come back and haunt him.
When she turned her gaze on him, he saw a flash of excitement in her eyes, followed by a glimmer of concern. “Are you all right? Do we need to rest a bit?”
“I’m not about to wimp out from walking through an airport. Hell, I run miles with a seventy-five pound pack on my back.”
She squeezed his fingers, her touch warm and light and totally foreign to a special operative. Accustomed to frigid temperatures all times of the year in the mountains where too many crazy people hid away with their criminal plans, Hepburn had little knowledge of things such as sweet kisses and rosebud lips.
Even that moment in the bathroom when he’d been dizzy as hell, Sascha drew him against her body and steadied him.
Overcome with tenderness for her, he squeezed her hand in return and led her to the gate.
Minutes later, a pilot saluted him from the entrance of the plane. Sascha’s steps stalled as she saw the action. Hepburn tugged her forward a few feet before saluting back.
“Special operative Hepburn. Welcome aboard.”
“Thank you. Sascha Lacey will be accompanying me today,” he said.
The pilot nodded to her, and she offered him a nervous smile. When the pilot disappeared into the plane, she started after him.
Her head nearly struck the low doorframe, and he covered her head with his palm. “I forgot to mention—duck your head here.”
She ducked under and threw him the same embarrassed look as when she nearly tipped his water into his lap and bumped the lamp with his food tray. Not to mention the incident with her knocking over an IV at the hospital.
A genuine smile spread across his face.
The woman was unpredictable, adorable…and on the clumsy side. All traits that made him want to curl his arms around her and protect her from the world.
She settled in a seat, and he stowed their luggage in an overhead compartment. A rasp of a laugh escaped her, and her eyes danced.
“I’m really doing this.”
He couldn’t stop himself from leaning in and planting a kiss on her lips. “We are. Now buckle up. We’re in for a long ride.”
Chapter Five
Sascha stared at the front of the apartment complex. “You’re sure I can stay here?”
“Yes. One of my teammates knows someone who owns the place and had an opening.” Hepburn’s team proved to have his back more than just in moments of danger. First Penn and Cora got them on a flight and then Broshears’ girlfriend Vivian hooked him up with a place where Sascha could stay.
“Vivian said the landlord left the key in a lockbox by the porch.” He spotted the tiny metal box and shifted the bag he carried to pick it up. His brain still whirled a little, but getting out of bed had been the best for healing.
Sascha leaned in to watch him open the box. A metal key lay inside. “I didn’t think it would be so easy.”
“I’ve got connections.” He offered her a smile and held up the key. “Welcome to your apartment. Vivian said it’s a monthly lease so you aren’t locked into anything.”
“I’ll have to thank her when I meet her.”
When she opened the door, bare white walls of a simple rental unit greeted them. Sascha stepped in and cast a look at her new surroundings.
The apartment appeared stark and cold compared to her home in Texas. “I’m sure you’ll put your special touches on the place,” he said.
She turned to him with excitement lighting her blue eyes. “It’s perfect. A blank canvas.”
As she dropped her bags and took off to explore, he watched her with a soft smile. Leave it to Sascha to find good in the most mundane. Her thirst for adventure carved out a spot in his heart, though. How long had she been only existing and not living? A woman with her love of life and a trillion smiles left behind?
She moved to the small kitchen. The white cabinets were a lot different from the blue painted ones in her house. But the place came with a circular table and four chairs covered in green vinyl.
She pulled one out and stared at the fake-looking olive drab covering the seat. He thought they resembled something found in an old lady’s house, cherished since the ’60s.
“I love these!”
His smile spread as he watched her push the chair in again and take off down a short hall. Leave it to Sascha to love something completely off the wall.
When she paused in a doorway, he set his bag down and drifted through the space to stand behind her.
“Someone left a bed.” Her voice came out soft…throaty.
“Vivian said the place is partially furnished.”
“I’ll have to get a mattress, but that’s no problem.” She didn’t move to enter the room.
He stared at the elegant slope of her neck and her ears sporting the star and moon earrings. Suddenly, a memory rose up from the depths of his mind. Long ago buried.
“Remember that night we sneaked out of the house and went down to the creek without Ethan?”
She turned to meet his gaze, her blue eyes wide. “Of course I do. It’s one of my best memories from that time.”
“We walked through all that mud. I forgot until now, but you fell and were covered in it.”
A pink flush coated her cheeks. “Momma always called me clumsy, but I prefer to think I’m in the wrong place at the wrong second.”
He drank in her beautiful features. “Remember all those fireflies over the creek? A light show just for us.”
A soft smile traced her lips. “I remember it well, River.”
“We sat on the bank and talked until three in the morning. Then that bullfrog just about scared you into falling into the creek and we both laughed so hard.”
She shoved him in the shoulder. “It was dark and I didn’t see it until it landed right in the water in front of me!”
They shared a grin. After a moment, she twisted to look at the bedroom again.
Her body heat washed over his front, and damn if he could stop himself from closing that gap of air between them.
She stilled as his groin cradled her round ass. Through the blue dress, much too thin for Alaska weather except a day or two of summer, her curves scorched him.
Gaze locked on the sweeping column of her throat, he wet his lips. It’d be so easy to taste her sweet skin again. To lash her against him and grind his cock into her backside. Turn her into his arms and capture her lips and then carry her to the bed that only sported a box spring.
Anything would suffice right now—the floor, a wall…
His mind sped in five directions at once. He rejected every action that came to him except one.
He dipped his mouth to the side of her neck. A shudder ran through her. When he pressed his lips harder to her pulse hammering just beneath the skin, she sucked in a sharp breath.
She smelled so damn good…something to eat, to savor.
“I shouldn’t do this,” he murmured as he moved his mouth downward. She reached up and cradled his jaw, angling her head to give him access.
“You definitely should.”
His chuckle came out muffled against her soft skin. “Because I owe you for the sponge baths?”
“Damn right!” Her agreement ended on a cry when he sucked on the spot his lips hovered over.
Need hit his gut, and he snapped an arm across her middle, yanking her ass into his growing bulge. “I want you.” The bald truth spurted from him without thought. Maybe he didn’t have control over his brain yet.
Or maybe she drove him to the brink.
She ground into him, and fuck if he could stop himself from grabbing her hips and guiding her into the perfect spot to plant his cock. The thick rod of his erection nestled between her rounded cheeks. For a primal minute, he didn’t think he could stop.
Step away, Hepburn. She’s not ready for this.
Neither am I.
In one quick jerk, he stepped back, released her and lifted his mouth from her throat.
Twisting from her took monumental effort. He wanted to lock her thighs around his hips and thrust his cock inside her.
Running his fingers over his head, he closed his eyes against the images bombarding him the same as those missiles on the last mission.
He managed to step away.
Christ, everything in him screamed to go back to her and make her his. Finally. After all this time. Surely one time wouldn’t hurt?
It would change their relationship forever. She’d despise him when she discovered he couldn’t give her more than tonight…this moment.
Go back to her. She’s the best thing that’s ever touched your life.
No fucking way.
He continued to walk away, but his cock protested by pressing into his fly harder.
The thump of her boots followed him. Those cute little brown cowboy boots had driven him to distraction for most of the flight. Whenever he looked down and saw her shapely calves hugged by the leather, he battled with his vow not to take her in the airplane bathroom at ten thousand feet.
She grabbed him by the arm and dragged him to a stop. When he didn’t turn, she circled him, forcing him to meet her hot stare.
“What…the hell…was that?” she bit off.
“Sascha.” He fucked up. “I shouldn’t have—”
“That’s the second time you left me hangin’, buddy. Is this some act of heroics? You can’t touch me because you think you’ll hurt me?”
He’d opposed terrorists and stared into the eyes of snipers through his rifle sights before he took them out. But damn if he could meet her gaze straight-on.
She bobbed her head to catch hold of his eyes again. “Or is this about Ethan?”
Her question rocked him. In true Sascha style, she got right to the crux of the issue and all his feelings leaked out.
“Sascha,” he started.
“I don’t have time to play games, and I’m too old and experienced for that shit too. So you can either stay and not hide from the way I think you feel about me…or you can go.” She pointed to the door.
Before he could respond, his phone buzzed. He yanked it from his pocket. Penn’s number shot across his vision, replacing the cold stare of anger in Sascha’s eyes.
He brought the device to his ear. “Hep.”
“I heard you’ve touched down in Anchorage.”
He took in the woman standing in front of him like a pissed off angel.
Penn continued, “What’s your health status?”
His throat stuck shut. “I’ve gotta get cleared by a doctor for duty. I need a bit.”
Sascha narrowed her eyes.
“First, I’m going to settle Sascha, then get cleared to return as quick as possible.”
He hesitated. “Shit’s going down, and we can use you ASAP.”
“What’s going on?” Torn between his duty to his team and country, and following protocol after his injury, as well as making sure Sascha would be okay on her own in a strange place, he pinched the bridge of his nose.
“I’ll fill you in when I see you. We need you on board as fast as you can get here.”
“I’ll be there soon,” he grated out and then ended the call.
Fuck. First he couldn’t wait to return to his unit and now he struggled to tear himself away from the beautiful woman standing there looking as if he’d stomped on her heart.
He refused to walk away, not when something lay between them like a hot, live wire neither wanted to let go of even if it burned them.
“Your team needs you.” She moved past him and grabbed her bag.
She had so little to get started. She had no transportation, and he didn’t enjoy the thought of her taking public transit without him to watch over her.
“Sascha.”
She carried the bag containing her computer equipment to the dining table and set it down. In seconds, she had a very minimal office space set up.
He watched emotions play over her features. Did she have regrets because of his hot/cold behavior? Either he needed to let go of Ethan’s warning to stay away from her or let Ethan go and take what he wanted.
I wanted you then. I want you more now.
The words were lodged in his throat, but his feet carried him across the room to her. She went still as he neared.
He reached out and ran a single finger along her cheek.
Her eyelids fluttered. “River, if you can’t fin
ish what you start, then please leave. I’ve spent years longing for you. If you toy with me more, I’m not strong enough—”
Yanking her into his body, he claimed her mouth with a crushing, bruising kiss. She gasped out, and he swallowed the noise under a rumble of his own. He pressed the seam of her mouth with his tongue, and she opened to him.
Only it wasn’t her surrender—it was his.
At first, she didn’t touch him, which felt wrong to the core—he had nobody to blame but himself. He’d abused his power over her, and she didn’t trust him.
Grasping her elbows, he pulled her arms up and looped them on his neck, where they rested limply.
“Goddammit. I was wrong. I’m not toying with you.”
She wouldn’t meet his gaze.
“Look at me.” He pinched her chin lightly and drew her head up until her eyes locked with his. In the depths, emotion swirled with fear.
The sight crushed his soul.
“I’m an idiot, Sascha.”
“You are.”
“I can’t keep my hands off you, but when I get close to you, I remember who you are.”
Her beautiful features hardened. “You stopped yourself that night before you left with Ethan.”
“Yes,” he rasped, bowing his head.
“I wasn’t equipped to handle it then—you’re right. But I’m not that same girl, River.”
He saw the truth of that statement echoed in the set of her lips and the hard glint in her eyes. He nodded. “You’re tough on the surface, but deep down…you’re sweet as pie.”
Her lips parted, and he swooped in again.
This time she clung to his neck and shifted on tiptoe to get closer to him as he plundered her mouth. Sliding his tongue over hers seemed too tame, so he fucked her with it while thinking of his fingers buried in her clenching heat.
She moaned out and eased her hands down his chest, stopping with a palm resting over his hammering heart. “I want to touch you,” she whispered.
Hepburn must have lost his mind back at that red light in Texas, because damn if he could turn her away one more time.
Having her meant the part he kept under lock and key would whip open like a door in the mountain wind, and no matter how much he fought it…she’d be his forever.