“Yeah, but it’s how I feel about you. You do things to me I can’t explain. You’re like…” His voice softened, went husky and deep with thick passion. “A part of me I didn’t know was missing. I want to get inside of you and stay there.”
His primal confession sent her libido into hard-core life. She moved in his arms as he touched her. There. Everywhere until her body couldn’t take it anymore. With silken strokes, he measured her thigh, a firm touch, now a feather-light touch, until his magic removed all thoughts of anything but him.
She gasped. “Wait. Condom.”
He complied, and within seconds he lifted her leg and entered deep. Her pussy clenched him, held him inside, caressing with strong pulses, her body ready to explode with heady orgasm. Yet he didn’t let her finish that easy. One stroke. Two. A pumping action that caressed her inner core until the slick friction vibrated along her skin. Wet. Hot. Incredible passion. She moaned continuously, unable to resist Vic’s relentless thrusts. Seconds later, he touched her so far inside she shook, shuddered, and everything came apart. She screamed, shuddering as he held her close, pounded and pounded and fucked her so hard he couldn’t keep it together. The way her flesh quaked around his cock set him off. He came apart like a firecracker. His world dissolved, and when he returned to earth he still held her in his arms.
Lying in Vic’s arms, tucked under the covers, Lucy heard powerful winds driving the blizzard outside. So much for going into work. The blinds kept sun from entering the room, and only the dimmer showed faint rays of light. With the snowstorm howling like a beast in a horror movie, there wouldn’t be that much light anyway. Better to stay here, wrapped in his arms and forget the world outside existed. Cocooned in his arms, her back to his front, she felt safer than she ever had in her life. Now they’d decided their old relationships had finished, a brand new world opened before them.
She hadn’t wanted to move since the last time he’d taken her. She flushed remembering it even now. His body had thrust inside her relentlessly. Hard. Strength behind each silken movement. Yet her body had wanted it, craved it, screamed for more. Her mind had begged, had wanted to utter the words to force him over the edge, make him free her climax. And to her relief he’d given her that release. She had screamed, her voice raw with stunned pleasure. She’d never felt an orgasm so strong. It had shaken her to the roots. In the panting, shaking aftermath, she wondered if their time would prove a dream. A dream that could be taken from her at any moment.
“Okay?” Vic’s voice rumbled close to her ear, and she jumped a bit in surprise.
She laughed and rubbed his forearm curled just under her breasts. “I thought you were asleep.”
“I was lying here thinking I’m the luckiest damn man in the world.” He cupped her breast for a second, then returned to her waist. She shivered in pleasure. His voice rasped, thick with just-surrendered sleep. “I don’t want this to end.”
The shiver that took her this time was filled with a sweet contentment so full and delicious she didn’t think it could be real. She couldn’t speak. Her body ached with it, wanted to open to his again in the most primitive way she could. Everything about this man had stolen her ability to resist. Hardness rippled as he shifted behind her, muscles like steel reminding her how incredibly strong he was. She moved in his arms until he released her and she turned toward him. Gazing at him in the low light, she took in his familiar features with a new wonder. Carved from stone, he had had a harshness, a uniqueness that wouldn’t have allowed him to win a male modeling contract. But of all the men who’d posed for the charity calendar in Clarksville, none of them could compete for sheer alpha masculinity. At least she didn’t think so. His eyes seemed to darken as he looked at her, his mouth a carnal line of seduction. His eyebrows were sardonic wings, his hair cut so short it didn’t interfere or cover those sharp angles. With arms carved like granite, a chest covered with just enough hair to scream uber-male, and ridges of muscles that proved his prowess—hell, no woman on earth could deny his attractiveness. Not unless she was short a few brain cells.
Yet there was something more that defined him, gave Vic the alpha advantage other men didn’t often possess.
He kissed her neck. “You’re killin’ me here. Am I coming on too strong?”
She laughed softly. Sliding her hand up his solid forearm and biceps, she savored her body’s reaction. Sweet. Hot. Wanting more.
“No. You aren’t coming on too strong. If anything, it’s me. I think maybe I’m the one who’s feeling too much.”
“Feeling too much?” His voice stayed quiet, undemanding.
She swallowed hard, well aware that her heart could be broken in a minute if he rejected her. “I’m thinking this is all a dream, and if I go into the next room and come back, you’re going to dissolve.”
He kissed her forehead. “I’m not going anywhere. You can trust me.”
She did. More than anyone she’d known. She held back what she wanted to say.
I’m falling for you, Vic.
No. She couldn’t say that to someone who’d been an old acquaintance a few days ago. She just couldn’t. Instead she said, “Since we’re stuck here, what do you want to do?”
“Stay here in bed and talk.”
For the next two hours, they told each other things they’d never told another person. No deep secrets, no horrific revelations, only things they had never wanted to share before. While outside the blizzard howled, a dangerous beast, it cloaked them in a warm softness she embraced. Soon, more secrets tumbled forth.
“Why did you decide to join the army?” she asked, wanting to know everything about him.
He smoothed his lips over her nose. “My father was in the army. It seemed natural.”
“So you did it just because it was tradition?”
“No. I did it because it was natural and I loved everything about it.”
“Everything?” The incredulity in her voice was unmistakable.
“Okay, maybe not everything. I just knew inside it’s what I was supposed to do. I wouldn’t have stayed so long if I didn’t like it.”
“You liked the order?”
“Sometimes. The neatness keeps chaos away.”
“And you hate chaos.”
He drew her onto his chest, and her body sprawled on top of his. “It’s damned twisted. My father was a friggin’ taskmaster. A man who saw things as black and white. I’ve always been more interested in grey. Sure, I believe some things absolutely. I love my family and my country. At the same time, I understand life isn’t black or white, but everything in between.”
Impressed, she allowed his statements to wash over her. “Sounds like me. Did the grey parts get you into trouble sometimes in the military?”
“Yes and no. I worked hard to get this rank, but it hasn’t always been an easy ride. I imagine your photography is like that sometimes.”
She skimmed over his chest, glorying in the way his pectoral muscles moved at her touch. She sighed. “Weddings can be weird. In fact, they’re the strangest events I’ve done. I have some pretty funny stories to tell.”
“I want to hear all of them.” His voice held heat and want and a huskiness that made her inside tremble. “But right now, I want to kiss you.”
He tipped her chin up and kissed her, swallowing a soft moan as she soaked in his touch and warmed under the stroke of his hand down to her waist.
It’s happening again. You’re falling for a military man.
She drew away from his kiss, panicked at the realization. “This isn’t supposed to happen.”
His brow furrowed, his disapproval sharply clear. “No?”
“I’m doing it again.”
“What?”
“Falling prey to a military man’s seduction.”
Worry cleared his face and headed straight to amusement. “You mean going from Danny to me.”
“Yes.”
“That’s old ground.”
She sighed. “There’s more. I haven’t
told you all my secrets.”
He narrowed his eyes, but he didn’t look that worried. “Yeah? Spill it.”
Did she dare? Would he think she was nuts? She swallowed hard and managed to push the words out. “I’ve dated five military men in the last five years. After Danny…well, I walked into that bar vowing I wasn’t going to date a military man again.”
“That’s old news, Lucy. I know you didn’t want to have anything to do with a military guy.”
“It’s more serious than that. Four guys, Vic. Four. One was friend of Sean’s. A reservist like Danny. One was a very short month-long relationship with a helicopter pilot that fizzled as soon as his ex came back into the picture. And you heard about the other guy before Danny.” She scrubbed one hand over her chin. “So you see, my record with military men sucks.”
His eyebrows lifted, surprise and disbelief etched firmly on his face. “Five military guys in five years?”
“Yeah.” Ruefully, she looked away from his inquisitive gaze. Embarrassment heated her face. “Crazy.”
He shook his head and sat up. “Christ, Lucy. No wonder you expected the worst with me.”
Lucy winced. “I didn’t want to tell you because I was afraid.”
“Afraid you’d jinx us?”
“Maybe.” She shrugged. “Or maybe I was sure you’d be just like the rest of those men.”
He drew her down to the bed, his arms caging her to the mattress. Fire burned in his eyes, a primitive call to action. “But you know now I’m not like those guys, right?”
She hesitated, but her mouth gave him an answer. “Yes.” When he kissed her ear she shivered. “God.”
His pheromones screamed male, screamed capable, able to do anything he wanted to with her and she’d quiver like mad under his touch. A shiver ran through her, filled with awareness of him as hard, muscular, undeniable male. She licked her lips. His mouth traced a slow, hot path over her neck and ended up under her earlobe. She couldn’t think straight with his mouth discovering sensitive new points under her chin, down to the hollow of her neck, to one nipple where he toyed with lingering licks of his tongue. They didn’t get around to talking again for a good long time.
Chapter Nine
Lucy stared at herself in the mirror, waiting for Vic Friday evening. She hadn’t dressed up for the party, choosing to wear a set that consisted of a clingy blood-red sweater and matching skirt that hugged in all the right places and ended just above the knees. She skimmed her hands over her curves, wishing Vic were touching. She knew she looked good, and wanted Vic to think so too. Frowning in the mirror, she glared at a single strand of hair at the top of her head that did a dance of insubordination. She sniffed. What did it matter? Perfect wasn’t possible, and Vic liked her just the way she was. Since she’d met him, she’d started to understand what she had missed all these years. Other men hadn’t respected her the way he did, made something inside her feel worthy in a way she’d never noted before the day he walked into her life. Before Vic and after Vic were two different tales. Two different lives.
She touched up her make-up for the second time, adding additional gloss over her red lipstick. Smiling in satisfaction, she tried to banish the last of her nervous stomach. She glanced at her wristwatch—five o’clock. He should be here by now. Worry edged around her attempts to stay cool. Two of her other military boyfriends had been notoriously late almost all the time—it wasn’t like Vic. Vic was beyond punctual. Early, in fact. Called when he said he would, did everything he said he would. Reliability, it seemed, turned her on.
“You’re just nervous because of the party,” she said out loud as she strode back into her bedroom to pull on her knee-high black leather boots.
No need to be nervous because she planned to attend a party at Marisa’s and Jake’s house. Yet she couldn’t banish the wicked dance butterflies did in her stomach.
Honestly, it was ridiculous.
As she shoved her feet into the boots, she wondered if practicality should have won the day. Maybe she should change back into jeans. Nope, she’d done that once already. Enough.
“You’re nervous because he’s late and because…you’re nervous.”
She shouldn’t be. They’d spent every night together at her house since the blizzard. It had taken them a half day to shovel out of three feet of snow, and yet they’d had a hell of a good time together. In and out of bed. Once she could get out of her driveway, she’d driven across town to her studio, Vic’s admonishment to stay safe making her feel cozy and wanted. When she got there, she called him at his request. After going through her finances, she made a decision. Maybe moving to another town with a higher population than Clarksville’s forty-thousand would bring her more clients. Sticking around here meant disaster. She braced herself as she’d thought about it. Jackson Hole, here I come. Vic’s suggestion she consider Colorado Springs left questions dancing in the air. Did that mean he wanted to keep seeing her? That this relationship could continue if she did? Was moving to a much bigger place like Colorado Springs the answer to her career and love life? Her mind had whirled with the implications, just as it did right now. No. She couldn’t count on anything yet, on a week’s acquaintance. It was insane.
They grocery shopped together and discovered she zipped through the aisles and he wanted to go slower. They cooked together and discovered he was the better cook. They fought for the remote control, they even read in bed together. All of it seemed so damn normal and natural and comfortable.
In bed. God, they were great there. As she wandered into the living room and flopped onto the couch, she stared at the darkness cloaking the land outside her front window. Nights would be colder, lonelier when Vic left. And he would. It was only a matter of time. Try as she might to hold herself back from falling for him, it seemed she was doomed. She’d never found herself so filled with passion, so reckless in her needs, so uninhibited in her desires. She thought she knew everything there was to know about sex, but Vic had managed to show her a thing or two. More than that, he’d shown her consideration, tenderness, intelligence, strength of character, good humor, everything she believed she wanted in a man. Some might say it must be too good to be true.
Her cell phone rang and she jumped. It was connected to a charger in the kitchen. She practically sprinted for it, sliding in the kitchen. She grabbed the phone, almost ripping the charger out of the wall.
“Hello?”
“Lucy?” Vic’s voice sounded funny.
She frowned. “Vic? Where are you?”
“Severely side-tracked. Listen, there’s a problem.”
A sour sensation filled her stomach and she placed her other hand over her midriff. “Oh?”
“I don’t think I can make it to the party. You’re not going to believe this. A car careened across the street on ice and T-boned me on the passenger side.”
Alarm erased any horrible suspicions she’d had a second ago. “What? Oh, my God. Are you all right?”
“I’m fine, but the other driver isn’t. It’s Danny.”
Silence echoed in her head. She couldn’t believe what Vic had said. It wasn’t possible. “No.”
“Yes. The police say he had an open whiskey bottle in his car.”
“Oh, God.” She headed back toward her room to snatch her purse and coat.
“They’re loading him up right now, and they want me to ride along.”
Concerned edged upward. “I thought you said you’re fine.”
“I might have hit my head.”
“Might have?” Her voice rose. She opened her closet and grabbed her coat, almost dropping her phone as she leaned over to fetch her purse off the closet floor. “Might have?”
He laughed softly, but the sound didn’t have much humor. “Hey, I’m fine.”
The sickness in her stomach now didn’t come from nerves. At least not the kind she’d experienced thinking of the party. “I’ll meet you at the hospital.”
Wind whisked across Lucy’s face with sharp teeth a
s she hurried as fast as she dared over ice in the hospital parking lot. Despite her thick parka, boots and gloves, the near-zero temperature threatened to bite through her clothing.
With the hospital parking full to overflowing, she’d had to take a spot on the street. Not an easy venture when a good chunk of the street had snow piled along the sides. She’d walked a half block in the whirling arctic winds. Maybe wearing those jeans would have proved the smarter idea. She didn’t care. Mixed feelings assaulted her from every angle. Worry for Vic headed the pack, a sick feeling wearing away at her composure. Second came concern for Danny. She’d called Neena and Mitch to let them know what was happening, and they planned to head to the hospital as well.
She entered the emergency room in a rush, gaze darting around the waiting area. Surprisingly the room wasn’t crowded, but she didn’t see Vic anywhere. After checking in with the desk, they had her use a telephone located on one wall to inquire about Danny and Vic. A nurse told her no information was available yet. Call back in fifteen minutes. Damn it. She was tempted to chew her nails, but she hadn’t done that since she was fourteen. Taking a deep breath to drown her nerves, she found a seat. She chewed on her lower lip for a second, then rubbed her arms. Once in a while the automatic doors in the emergency room would slide open and arctic air would blast by. She kept her coat on, but pushed back the hood and stuffed her gloves in her zippered pockets. She felt tempted to break the no-cell-phone rule and try and call Vic’s phone. The rule-following part of Lucy kept her in line. She fidgeted in her chair. Friggin’ hell. She needed to know what was happening, and she had a feeling it would take a damned long time to find out.
Ten minutes later, Neena and Mitch strode in, as well as Jake and Marisa. Sean and Eve followed in another few minutes. Keith and Freddie were on their heels. They all hugged her.
She managed a smile. “You all came.”
Eve returned her smile with a soft, reassuring voice and gaze. “Of course.”
Jake settled his big form in a chair across from Lucy. He scrubbed one hand through his short, dark hair. His mouth was a grim line. “Vic doesn’t have anyone else here but you and us.”
Hot Pursuit: Hot Zone, Book 5 Page 9