Sierra shook her head. “I can do this. Stay sober. I know I can. If you can just let me crash at your place in Tennessee until I find a job, I can get back on my feet. Please, Hunter, you’ve done enough. It’s time for me to take care of myself. Once I have a job, I can get a place of my own. So if I can just stay—”
“No, you can’t.” He went over to the cabinet, took out a glass and turned on the faucet, too damn thirsty to wait any longer.
“Please, it won’t be for long,” Sierra pleaded.
Without turning around, he took a long drink. The water solved the problem of his thirst, but it didn’t change what he had to tell Sierra and, because she was still in the room, Maggie. “I don’t have a place anymore.”
No one said a word, but he knew they were thinking the same thing he was. He didn’t have a home because he was flat broke. He couldn’t even afford to keep a roof over his sister’s head. Yeah, she should have stayed in rehab, but that didn’t change the fact that when she eventually did get out, he still wouldn’t have a place for her to sleep while she rebuilt her life. Sierra was his sister, his family. She meant more to him than anything in the world—his job, his pride, anything—and he had no way to take care of her, not without money. He had nothing to give either of these women.
Hunter glanced at Maggie. He could tell himself he only wanted kinky sex with her until he was blue in the face. After last night, he knew the truth. A week with her wasn’t enough. He wanted her in his life. But he couldn’t start a relationship when he had no way to take care of her.
Hunter closed his eyes and mentally set aside his pride. He’d beg if he had to, but he wasn’t letting his sister walk away from her recovery. “I don’t have a place right now,” he clarified. “But I’ll have somewhere for you to stay soon. And right now, you need to go back to rehab.”
“I can’t,” Sierra said. “It’s too expensive.”
“Sierra—”
“I’ll pay for it,” Maggie interrupted.
Silence filled the kitchen as Hunter turned his attention to Maggie. She looked determined, just as she had that day he’d watched her present her book to a room full of generals. Hunter shook his head. “Maggie, I can’t ask you to do that.”
“I’m offering,” she said. “I have the money.”
“Sierra’s my family. Helping her is my responsibility.”
“I know all about responsibility. I’ve been buried under it most of my life. Sometimes you have to ask for help.”
Hunter snorted. “Yeah, you’re great at that. You nearly bit off my head earlier for fixing your gutters.”
“I didn’t say I was good at it, but I’m getting better,” she said, offering the faintest hint of a smile before her expression turned serious again. “Please, Hunter, let me do this. Not just for you, for your sister.”
Hunter watched as Maggie reached over and placed her hand over Sierra’s.
“If money had been the only thing standing between my father and sobriety, I would have done anything and everything to get it, even if it meant accepting someone’s help.” Maggie turned to Sierra. “I want to help you. I admire your determination. That was something my father never had, and no amount of pushing on my part could change that. Please, Sierra. It would mean a lot to me.”
“Thank you,” Sierra said, slowly withdrawing her hand from Maggie’s. “But my brother’s right. We can’t take your money.”
“There’s another way,” Hunter said. “I was offered a private security job. It pays well. I’ll give them a call and see if the offer still stands.”
“You’d leave the job you love instead of taking my money?” Maggie asked.
“The work might not be that different.” He’d told the company a flat-out no without getting the details. But whether they shipped him off to a war zone or kept him stateside, it wouldn’t be the end of the world.
“No,” Maggie insisted. She turned to Sierra. “I’ll give it to you as a loan. You can pay me back. Whenever you’re ready.”
A loan. The last thing he needed was another IOU, and he damn sure wasn’t going to saddle Sierra with the burden, not when she needed to focus on staying sober. “Sierra, can you give us a minute?”
His sister nodded. “Sure.”
“You can wait on the porch,” he said. Once his sister was out of earshot, he rested his hands on the island and looked at Maggie. “Why are you doing this, Maggie?”
“Because we’re friends. I can’t fix your gutters, but I can do this. After you leave and I finish my book, after the sexual part of our relationship ends, I like to think that we will remain friends. This is what friends do for each other, isn’t it?”
Hunter ran his hand through his hair and looked away. “Christ, Maggie, you don’t understand. Her treatment is expensive. It’s taking nearly all I have and then some right now. It could be years before I can repay you. I have a mountain of debt. This isn’t the first time Sierra has needed money.”
“Then I’ll wait,” she said. “Hunter, look at me.” He turned to her and saw the open honesty in her eyes. “Please. Let me do this. I couldn’t save my father. But Sierra? I can help her. I want to help her. Not just for you, but because she deserves a chance to stay sober. Please, let me pay for it.”
“Maggie, I want you to understand, I will repay every cent. I promise you.”
“I believe you.” Maggie smiled. “I know you don’t break your promises.”
“Good. As long as we’re clear. This is a loan. Let’s tell Sierra the good news. And then get her the hell out of here and back to rehab so I can thank you properly.”
“More s’mores?”
“What I have in mind involves your guest room shower,” he said.
Maggie smiled at him, her eyes lighting up with that intoxicating mix of boldness and innocence. That look—it hit him square in the gut. The thrill he found when jumping out of a helo with his team? It didn’t compare to the rush he got from being with Maggie. That twinge he’d felt when she walked away last Saturday had grown into something more, something that threatened to march him straight into relationship territory.
He’d fallen for her. As it stood now, he’d fallen so far he couldn’t settle for being the guy she turned to for orgasms, to fulfill her fantasies. He needed the promise that she’d be there for him the next day and the day after that. He wanted to be the man she woke up to, not the one she walked away from after sex. Hell, he’d had a better time last night sharing s’mores on a bale of hay than he’d ever had working as a Ranger. He didn’t need his job, a promotion or a pay raise. What he needed was standing right in front of him. Maggie.
With her, a relationship wasn’t about what he had to give, it was about taking care of each other. She could help him provide for his family and he could offer her the stability she needed. He could be the person she trusted.
Hunter frowned as he followed Maggie through the swinging door. What he wanted didn’t matter if she didn’t trust him. Maggie had serious control issues. She might fantasize about letting someone else take the lead, about letting another person into her life, but in reality, it was hard for her to trust. And if she ever found out he’d withheld information for her book? She’d run for the door.
He wasn’t going to let that happen.
16
AT EIGHT THAT EVENING, they pulled into the parking lot at the Guest Suites hotel a few miles down the road from Fort Campbell. Maggie had kept her gaze focused out the window, taking in the local sites—the quaint Clarksville downtown, the local bars and, as they passed over a bridge, the Red River.
Hunter put the car in Park and turned to her. “Sure you’re ready for tomorrow?”
Maggie nodded. They’d spent the entire flight to Tennessee talking about her interviews with his teammates. For the first time since they’d started working together, he’d answered all of her questions, telling her everything he could about the men she would meet in the morning. He’d told her how to put them at ease, what questions e
ach man could answer for her and what questions might make them nervous and clam up. “Thanks to you, I’m more ready than I’ve ever been for an interview.”
Hunter smiled. “Good. That’s good.”
Maggie reached for the passenger-side door, but something, maybe it was lust, or maybe she’d simply grown accustomed to having him around, made her pause and turn to him. “Would you like to come up?”
His smile faded. “I’m okay, Maggie. I called one of my buddies. I’m going to crash on his couch tonight. I’ll meet you for breakfast and drive you over to the base.”
“I wasn’t asking you because I didn’t think you had anyplace else to go,” she said. “I’m asking because I want you to come up.” She wanted one more night with him, one last chance to live out her fantasies. After she interviewed his teammates, his role as her liaison would end. Sure, he’d asked to read her rough drafts, but that could all be done long distance, over email. He was a highly trained soldier; the army couldn’t afford to keep him in upstate New York for more than a week, not when he could be off fighting the bad guys. She’d known when she’d stepped on the plane this afternoon that she would be flying back alone.
Even if their work wasn’t keeping them in separate states, Hunter had made it clear he was not interested in anything long term. And if he changed his mind? It still wouldn’t work. She needed stability and control. She couldn’t handle a head-over-heels love affair.
But maybe she was ready to spend the night with him. One night in his bed. She could do that without panicking, couldn’t she?
“Please,” she added.
“Maggie, if I come up, I’m staying the night.”
She nodded. “I know. Just promise me we won’t get too much sleep.”
Hunter leaned over and brushed his lips across hers. His hand reached up and caressed her face. “Honey, that’s one promise I can keep.”
* * *
HUNTER LED THE way from the parking lot to the check-in desk, waiting patiently with the bags while Maggie retrieved her room key. He knew she’d invited him up because she thought this would be their last night together. She would fly back to New York tomorrow afternoon after she met with his teammates. She thought that was the end. But it wasn’t. Not if he had his way. He planned on telling her how he felt about her before she left. And when he did, he hoped like hell that when she flew home, things wouldn’t end between them.
He was willing to do whatever it took to keep her in his life. Sure, his job was a bitch when it came to relationships, but this time he’d make it work. He didn’t have a choice. He needed her in his life. He wanted to come home to her. At the end of the day, that mattered more than damn near anything else. Once he shared his feelings with her, how could she walk away forever?
They were more than bed-pounding sex. She had to know that by now. Not that he wanted the off-the-charts sparks between them to simmer down. Hell, just the opposite.
Hunter grinned like a fool, nodding to an elderly couple passing through the lobby. He’d tell her how he felt, all right. But first, he’d show her.
When Maggie returned with the keys, he picked up their bags and followed her to their ground floor suite. The hotel wasn’t as fancy as the Marriott near West Point. Everything about the room was generic from the desk to the white robes hanging on the outside of the door to the bathroom—everything but the queen-size four-poster bed.
Hunter took Maggie’s bag from her and wheeled it aside. Then he leaned forward and brushed his lips over hers, offering a soft, gentle promise before he pulled back. He’d take this slow even if it killed him, learning and fulfilling Maggie’s every desire and need. When he was done, there would be no doubt in her mind that he was the man for her.
“I want to take care of you,” he whispered against her lips. “All of you. I want to make your dreams come true.”
“Hunter,” she murmured.
He kept the kisses light and playful, gliding his tongue along her lips and then withdrawing when she opened her mouth against his. He felt Maggie’s hands under his shirt, moving up his back, drawing his body closer to hers as he kissed a trail down her jaw.
His mouth found the place on her neck that drove her wild as his hands ran over her waist and up under the front of her T-shirt. Taking his time, he teased the erogenous area, before drifting down to her shoulder then back to her neck. Maggie whimpered in his arms and he repeated the move.
While his lips worshipped her soft, soapy-sweet-smelling skin, his fingers glided up and down her torso, brushing the fabric of her bra before drifting lower again. When he couldn’t wait any longer, he drew her clothing up, pausing briefly to cup his hands over her breasts.
“Lift your arms,” he said softly, his lips never breaking contact with the back of her neck. His command sounded more as though he was begging than demanding, but he didn’t care. Maybe it was the sweet smell of her hair or the softness of her skin, but all he could think about was Maggie. Naked. Now.
Command or not, she obeyed, raising her arms up even though he could feel her body turning to jelly the more he kissed her sensitive neck. Stepping back, he pulled her shirt over her head and tossed it aside while Maggie fumbled with the waistband of her pants.
“Too many clothes,” she muttered, stripping off her underwear and tossing it on top of her skirt.
“Couldn’t agree more.” Without taking his eyes off her as she deftly removed her bra, he shed his clothes in record time, not caring if he ever found them. But Little Miss Maggie didn’t make a run for the bed. Instead, she turned to face him, and with that brazen glint in her eyes he remembered oh-so-well from their first night together, dropped to her knees, her mouth inches from his erection.
“Maggie,” he managed, his voice hoarse with anticipation. God, he wanted her, too, but tonight was about her.
“Please. I want to taste you.” Her lips hovered so close he felt her breath as a few drops of liquid spilled from him. And then she wrapped her lips around him.
Hunter closed his eyes and refocused on his self-control, driving away the I’m-going-to-come-now urge. He wasn’t a teenager, and this wasn’t some supersmart high school senior he’d taken for a ride in his mother’s car. He wanted this woman now, tomorrow and the next day.
Opening his eyes, he watched her tongue run up from the base of his erection to the tip. His body told him he couldn’t take much more of her teasing.
“Maggie, I like this. Hell, you know I love it,” he gasped. “But I can’t take much more. When I come, I want to be inside you, face-to-face, watching you come with me.”
She gave him one last kiss before pulling back and looking up at him. “Right here?”
“On the bed.”
He watched her rise and back away from him slowly. When her legs hit the bed, she let herself fall. Propping herself up on her elbows, she looked at him with a hint of hesitation in her eyes. “Are you coming?”
Hell, yes. But that brief glimpse of oh-my-God-am-I-doing-this-right in her gaze kept him from pouncing and burying himself inside her. When he entered her, he wanted her to be out of her mind with need, so focused on her own primal wants that she couldn’t second-guess herself. And he knew just how to get her there. He knew how to blow her fantasies out of the water.
Taking a step back, he searched for his clothes, bent over and pulled a condom out of his pocket, tossing it on the bed beside her. “For later.”
“Just one?”
“To start. But we’re not there yet.” Reaching for the hotel robe hanging on the bathroom door, he pulled the belt free. He smiled, letting his eyelids lower slightly.
“Do you trust me, Maggie?”
* * *
MAGGIE COULDN’T TAKE her eyes off the white sash in his hands. Her thighs clenched at the thought of what he might do with his makeshift rope. Bind her hands? Her feet? Strap her to the bed and take control of her body? The images set her need on edge.
But it all came down to trust. Did she trust him with her bo
dy? Yes. Her desire demanded it. Still, she hesitated. Did she trust herself not to panic when he restrained her? Could she give herself to him physically and keep her emotions in check, the ones that sent her into panic when she lost control?
“Maggie?”
“Yes,” she said simply. Hunter lunged before her lips had even closed around the word. He moved like a warrior intent on his prey. A visibly aroused, naked warrior.
Hovering over her, the sash pulled taut between his fists, he smiled wickedly. “I’m going to tie you up now.”
She’d never thought those words would feel like a caress on her skin, but her nipples hardened in response and she felt herself growing impossibly wet. She’d made the right choice. She wanted this.
“Hold out your arms.”
Maggie obeyed, letting her body fall back onto the down comforter. He moved onto the bed, straddling her abdomen, one knee on either side of her as he quickly and expertly bound her wrists together. Sash in one hand, he supported his upper body with the other, and as he leaned forward, he drew her arms up. She couldn’t see anything but Hunter, the stubble on his chin, the tension in his toned chest, and lower down the hardness she’d tasted earlier, but she heard the swish of the fabric as he tied her to the bedpost.
He pulled back, still kneeling over her. His gaze ran down from her hands to her breasts and his eyes narrowed, lips parted. Heaven help her, he looked like a man on a mission.
“Hunter?” Now that he had her here, at his mercy, what did he intend to do? She tried to lift her arms, tugging at the bonds. He’d left her barely an inch of leeway.
“Trust me, Maggie,” he said, his voice rough and low. “I’m going to take care of you.”
He leaned forward again, and for a second she wondered if he meant to loosen the sash a bit to reassure her, but then she felt his lips brush her arms, his tongue slip under the binding to graze her wrists. Her body writhed beneath him, her hesitation replaced with lust.
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