by Anna Hackett
“How long have you been there?” he said.
“Long enough.” She stepped inside and closed the door. “Nice digs.”
He shrugged. “It’s barely bigger than a closet, but it’s a space where I can sit in silence and plan. Sometimes my squad gets pretty opinionated when we’re planning a mission.”
Apart from the desk and the chair, there was a small bookcase and one lone poster on the wall. It was from the last laser ball championship. It had been torn and taped back together. “So, you mean this is somewhere you can hide from them?”
His lips quirked. “Hide is a strong word.”
Avery dragged a finger over the wooden desk. God, he looked delectable sitting there, his shirt open and showing a tempting triangle of hard chest. That crease of concentration on his rugged face.
“How are you feeling?” he asked.
“Fine. All the effects of the drugs have worn off.” She felt a pinch of embarrassment. “Ah…I said some things…”
“Don’t sweat it, Avery. You weren’t yourself.”
She always tried to be honest. With herself, most of all. “I meant everything I said.”
His nostrils flared and he watched her steadily. “That part about wanting me more than you’ve wanted anyone before—”
“True.” She stepped between him and the desk, and leaned against the wood. “I’ve realized we have to enjoy the moment. We could all be dead tomorrow.”
He parted her legs, his hands sliding along her thighs. “Avery, I’m not interested in being some faceless fuck.” He gripped the hem of her shirt, fiddled with it.
His fingers brushed her belly, and she sucked in a breath. She felt that small touch all the way through her. “I thought you soldiers liked the soldier bunnies that flit around base trying to get your attention.”
“Some do. Nothing wrong with that.” He slipped his hands under her shirt, sliding up to cup her breasts.
God. She bit down on her lip and arched into his rough palms. He flicked his thumbs over her nipples, and she felt them pebble under his touch.
“I want more,” he murmured. “I seem to have acquired a taste for prickly personalities and fierce determination.”
“We’re in the middle of an alien apocalypse, Roth. We can’t have more. Hell, relationships hardly lasted before the apocalypse, now they’re even more precarious.”
He cocked his head. “Afraid?”
Her heart jumped. “Of you? No.”
He tweaked her nipples again, making her moan. “Of this. Of what’s between us.”
She framed his face and their eyes met. She felt fire over her skin and saw the answering flames in his gaze.
No, she wasn’t afraid to dance with fire. She was deathly afraid she’d come to love it and then it would be taken away from her.
Stop thinking, Avery. Just touch him, taste him, take him.
She moved and he did too. He closed his mouth over hers, and the kiss was hot and hard, riding an edge close to punishing.
“Door,” he said against her lips.
“I already locked it.” She pulled him closer, tongues thrusting, and Roth slipped his hands around her back, down to the top of her ass and slid her closer.
“God, Avery, you are so damned hot.” He kneaded her. “I want to taste every inch of you, but all my cock wants is to be lodged deep inside you.”
Heat arrowed between her legs. She leaned down and nipped his lips. “Well, then. Do it. I’m all yours.”
***
Roth felt like all his control was pouring off him as steam. Two words pounded in his head: Mine. Take. He tugged Avery off the desk and went to work tearing her clothes off.
She tried to help, kicking her trousers and panties away. He pushed her shirt off and ripped her bra away with one hard tug.
Then she was naked in front of him, and his chest tightened. Gorgeous. Fucking gorgeous. She had curves, but they were toned. Sleek muscles were visible in her legs, in her belly.
He sank back in his chair and then tugged her forward into his lap.
She let out a quick expulsion of air, her legs settling on either side of his hips. Damn, never in all the hours of sitting in his tiny office had he ever imagined having a sexy, naked woman in his lap. His cock was so hard it felt like he was going to burst.
Avery leaned forward and her mouth nipped along his neck, making him groan. She licked his skin, her teeth scraping along the tendon in his neck where she’d marked him earlier. Roth’s hips surged up.
She nipped him again. “I like sinking my teeth into you.”
“I’ll make you pay for that.”
She shimmied against him, the bare center of her rubbing along his hard cock, separated by just his trousers. Then she bit down on his neck. Hard. He growled. She sucked on his skin, making a small sound in her throat that said she was enjoying the flavor of him.
Roth slid a hand down, delving between her sleek thighs. She was all heat and soft skin. She made another cry, this time throwing her head back. He reared up and clamped his mouth on her exposed neck.
“Roth!”
“Payback,” he murmured against her skin. He licked, sucked and nibbled on her until she writhed against him.
He couldn’t wait any longer. He pushed her back on his thighs, yanked his shirt over his head and unzipped his trousers. He cursed as he struggled with the awkward position, and when she let out a laugh—a pure, happy laugh—he felt a warmth inside, separate to the molten desire raging through his blood.
He couldn’t take the time to get his trousers completely off. He simply freed his cock as best he could.
When he looked up, his heart stopped.
Avery’s gaze was glued to his cock. She slipped off his legs and onto her knees, bringing her face right in line with him. Jesus, had he ever seen anything more provocative?
She gripped his cock and made a small sound that he figured was designed to drive a man out of his mind. Then she flicked a hot glance up at him, leaned forward and sucked him in.
He swallowed a curse. His cock had already been hard as hell, but now, with her warm, tight mouth on him, he felt bigger than he’d ever been. “God, sweetheart…that’s it, take all of me.”
She did, swallowing against him, relaxing her throat and sucking him down. Roth slid a hand into her hair, not to direct her, but because he needed to damn well hold on to something.
Avery pulled back and licked at the underside of his swollen cock, and she seemed to find a place that sent electric tingles racing down his spine. His legs trembled and then she swallowed him again.
He groaned. “Shit…” The only words his incoherent mind could conjure were curses.
She moaned on his cock, sucking harder, the vibrations making him groan again. He felt his impending release growing, coiling at the base of his spine. His hips pushed forward against his control.
“No.” He gripped her under the arms and yanked her up. As much as he wanted to spill in her pretty mouth, he wanted to come inside her more.
He pulled her onto his lap again, the chair squeaking like crazy. She fitted her thighs on either side of his hips, and the head of his cock brushed at her hot folds.
She made a humming noise, shifting her hips and the head of him lodged inside her.
“Wait, wait.” His fingers dug into her hips to hold her there. Poised above him, her face flushed with desire, her eyes just a little wild.
His control was slipping. He’d prided himself on it…from the moment he’d made the decision to join the Army. His life had been about learning to fight better, about protecting, about never losing control.
But this woman…she challenged him, pushed him, and even here, in this sensual moment between them, she dragged feelings out of him he wasn’t ever sure he’d wanted to feel.
She moved her hips, rubbing against his hard cock. “Roth?”
“Do you have a contraceptive implant?” He forced the words out. “I just had mine removed. It was past its use-by dat
e, and the doc is still working on how to replicate new ones.” It hadn’t been an issue for him, since his sex life had been sporadic.
Avery hovered there, her mouth open. “I have one, but, God, mine would be past the use-by date, as well.”
“Wait, wait.” He wrapped an arm around her and leaned forward. That made his cock slide into her another inch and they both groaned again. Desperate, Roth yanked a drawer open and pulled out a foil square.
Avery raised a brow. “You keep a condom in your office.”
“It was a joke. From Camryn. She was bitching at me that I worked too hard and needed to get laid.” Reluctantly, he set Avery back again and tore open the condom. He was really out of practice, but he got it on.
Before he could say anything, Avery was moving back over him. “I need you, Roth.” Her voice had turned low and husky. Her hands ran up his arms and settled on his shoulders.
“Take me, sweetheart.”
Her gaze drilled into his as she cupped his cock and lined it up between her legs.
Roth felt like he couldn’t breathe. Then, she pushed down, taking him inside her.
Chapter Nine
Avery felt the heat pouring off Roth, felt the hard strength of him beneath her and his hard cock parting her.
Her heartbeat, already racing, tripped. He was big, and she hadn’t had sex for a long time. He felt enormous inside her.
“Relax.” His lips touched just under her ear.
“You’re too big.” Those clever lips made her shiver. “But I can take you.”
“I know you can.” His strangled laugh rumbled through his chest. “Damn, you’re tight.”
She pushed down more, letting him slide deep. She felt his thumb brush her belly, then slide to where they were joined. A second later, he rubbed her clit in a hard, slippery circle.
Avery cried out.
“I’m going to move now,” he growled.
“Do it,” she panted.
He slammed up, lodging deep inside her the last inch. She gripped his shoulders, biting her lip. She was so full, stretched.
And it felt so good.
He flicked at her clit again. “Avery…ride me.”
Yes. She lifted her hips, then slid back down. She rose and fell again, then looked into Roth’s face. His ice-hued eyes were glittering with fierce desire, and the tendons in his neck strained as he watched her riding him.
“So damn good, sweetheart.” He kept working her clit. “You’re so tight around me, and I can’t wait to feel you come on my cock.”
His words made her stomach clench. “Roth.”
“All that matters right now is you and me,” he said.
Him and her. The two of them. Avery’s throat thickened. She’d been alone all her life, knew it was best not to let anyone in. But now, with him moving inside her, filling her up, she let herself imagine he was hers. That it was just the two of them. Avery and Roth.
Suddenly his hand slid into her hair, tugging her head back. “Stop thinking,” he said on a growl.
He moved, so the angle of his thrusts went just a little deeper. She cried out, feeling a wash of sensation rush through her. Her orgasm, just a shimmer of promise before, moved closer, her body winding tighter.
She saw he was looking down with fierce satisfaction on his face, where his thrusting cock was sliding into her. She looked down, saw the flex of his hard abs and the way his hand was buried between her legs.
“Come for me, Avery.” He pressed down harder on her clit, and his other hand tightened in her hair. Blue eyes stayed on hers, watching, waiting, demanding. “Come, dammit.”
Avery splintered apart. The fierce pleasure stole her breath, made her scream. She felt herself clamp down on his cock, and then he was groaning. She closed her eyes, the pleasure swamping her.
“Like a fucking vise.” His head bowed forward and hit her chest.
Then he surged upwards, lifting her in the air. A second later she felt the cool surface of the desk under her back and heard papers sliding to the floor.
He leaned over her and hammered inside her. Oh, God. She felt her orgasm crest again, and she arched up.
He thrust into her one last time and held himself deep. He groaned and she felt his cock pulse as he filled the condom.
Avery collapsed back. Her muscles were completely lax and she felt the best she had since she’d awoken to the nightmare of the alien invasion.
She wasn’t sure how long they stayed there, splayed on the desk, with Roth covering her still-quivering body, but soon she felt the chill of the ventilation on her bare skin.
Roth shifted, and Avery made a small sound.
“Shh, I’ve got you.” He stood, taking her with him into his arms. He set her on her feet and grabbed at her clothes. He helped her into her panties and trousers, his palms running along her skin whenever he encountered it.
“Roth—”
“Shh.” He held out her bra and shirt.
While she put them on, he quickly dealt with the condom and yanked on his own clothes. Then he snatched up the maps that had fallen onto the floor, and dumped them on the desk.
“Come on.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the office.
Bewildered, Avery had to jog to keep up with his long strides. They hurried out of the Ops Area and down the tunnel to the personal quarters.
Mac strode around a corner and spotted them. “Hey, boss—”
Roth raised a hand and brushed past his second-in-command without a word. Avery glanced back and saw the woman watching them, a wide grin on her face.
When Roth reached his door, he opened it, and pulled her inside.
Then he lifted her up and she squeaked. He dumped her in the center of his bunk and started pulling the clothes he’d just put on back off again.
“Get naked, Avery.”
Looming above her, his hard body bare, he took her breath away. Every hard ridge of his abdomen, the broad chest and strong arms. Not to mention that hard, thick cock that had just brought her a lot of pleasure. He was all strength, all man, and she wanted him. She wanted to immerse herself in him and feed the hunger.
He took a second to rummage around in the bedside table and pulled out a long strip of condoms.
Her eyes widened. “Another joke?”
“I plan to use every one of them.” He wasted no time sliding one over his hard cock. Then he planted one knee on the bed, yanked her trousers open, and ripped them down her legs. He gripped her ankles and dragged her closer. She gasped. The look on his face warned that anyone who got in the way of what he wanted would regret it.
And Roth Masters wanted her.
Next, he hooked a finger under her panties, and in one hard yank, tore them off her.
“Roth!”
His big hands circled her knees and pushed them wide. He cupped her ass and pulled her up to him. “Again, Avery. Now. All night.”
Avery heard the unsaid word always, but she knew it was her pleasure-soaked brain imagining things. She knew always was just a fantasy.
As he covered her, his cock thrusting inside her, Avery lost the capability to think and all she could do was feel.
***
Late the next morning, Avery opened a locker in the squad room and pulled out the armor inside. She’d never worn this model before, but it was similar to what she’d used at the CCIA. She started fastening the carbon fiber plates over her black cargo pants and shirt.
As she moved, she felt a twinge between her legs, and her thigh muscles ached. She smiled to herself. She was thankful she stayed in shape, because a night with Roth Masters was a hell of a workout.
They’d woken tangled together on his narrow bunk. She pressed her fingers to her swollen lips. She’d rarely spent the night with a lover, partly because work had kept her too busy, and partly because she hadn’t thought she’d like it. Sharing her intimate space, trusting someone while she was vulnerable in sleep, wasn’t in her nature.
She’d been wrong. She liked it a
lot.
Avery heard female voices and a door slammed.
The women of Squad Nine rounded the line of lockers and paused at the sight of her.
Avery nodded, her shoulders tensing slightly, and kept working on the armor. She lifted another panel and saw the deep gouges in it. She fingered them. Raptor claws.
“Sorry about that.” A woman with dark hair that glinted with red stepped up beside her, smiling. “That’s my old armor. But we’re about the same size, so Roth thought it would be the best fit for you. I’m Taylor.”
“Avery.”
“Oh, we know who you are, Ms. Secret Agent.”
Avery glanced past Taylor and saw a tall, Amazonian woman with impossibly long, toned legs lounging on the nearby bench, pulling off her wedge heels. Her black hair was cut ultra-short, accenting her bold cheekbones and striking face. Her skin was smooth and dark, and her gaze was very direct. She crossed her long legs and made no effort to hide the fact she was checking Avery out.
“It’s never been a secret I worked for CCIA.”
“Ignore Cam.” Mackenna Carides stepped forward and thrust out a hand. “She lives to be contrary. We haven’t officially met. I’m Mac.”
Avery had heard all about Mackenna, and in one glance, Avery knew the woman was tough and no-nonsense.
“Avery.” She shook Mac’s hand.
Mac’s lips quirked. “Welcome to Squad Nine.”
The fourth woman had her locker open. She yanked off her civilian clothes, standing there in a sports bra and boy-short panties that highlighted her lush but toned curves. She had dark eyes and long, brown hair that was a mass of curls. She started yanking on some cargo trousers. “I’m Sienna. So, you’re the one who has the boss’ boxers all in a twist.”
Avery’s pulse tripped. “Ah…something like that.”
Mac eyed her. “He’s been telling us he’s after whatever knowledge you have about the aliens. We’re soldiers, but we’re also women…we aren’t stupid.”
Avery looked at her warily. “Okay.”
“Man wants in your panties, Secret Agent,” the Amazon said with a wink. “And I’m Camryn, by the way.”