by Dawn Ryder
Intimacy.
It was more than a word, it was a concept. And Jaelyn seemed to hold the power to make him believe in it.
He craved it, too.
Pushing forward into her body with a hard motion.
“Yes…”
She was purring, her face a mask of delight.
He liked knowing he made her look that way.
It was base, just like the urges driving him. But it was all laced with something else, something that kept him watching her face as he moved. Whatever it was, it kept his pace even, maybe even slow as he became determined to savor the ride.
Savor the feeling of her thighs wrapped around him.
She was lifting up to take each thrust, the walls of her passage tight around his meat. His balls were tightening, the burning increasing as he fought back the moment of release.
Not yet …
Her satisfaction became a driving point of his own need. Her eyes were glittering with hunger, with the need to be driven over the edge.
“Harder…” she said, her voice raspy. “Stop being … a … nice guy.”
“Jaelyn…” he warned.
“Harder!” she insisted.
Later he’d remember how much he wanted to make love to her. Now, there was only the way her voice sounded as she demanded freedom for the beast inside him.
It liked the sound of it, too, uncurling from that spot Bram kept it contained in. He worked his hips in a fast motion, enjoying the wet sounds her body made when his cock entered her.
It was fucking mind-blowing. The birds fluttered again as he hit the point of release, growling out while Jaelyn gasped and sputtered. He lost his load inside her, straining against her in those final moments. Pleasure ripped into him, tearing everything else away, and dropping his ass in a pile of quivering limbs like some trophy she’d earned.
Fuck, he’d be lucky to be taken in by her.
So damned lucky.
CHAPTER SIX
“Good morning.”
Her grandfather was waiting for her the next morning. Milton was watching her door, aiming his gaze straight at her.
Jaelyn felt her cheeks heat as she drew in a deep breath and quelled the urge to melt back into her room.
Not going to be a wuss … remember?
“You think I’m acting like LeAnn.” They were hard words to say. Jaelyn cringed but couldn’t seem to stop herself.
She felt like confessing.
Bram was temptation and she couldn’t seem to stop herself from sinning. In the bright light of day, and the direct stare of her grandfather, she lasted all of three minutes before she started babbling.
Her grandfather cleared his throat before settling himself against one of the huge boulders that formed the fence.
“I think that girl just might have gotten her head on straight at last.” He drew in a breath. “Not that I wished something so harsh on any of us. Still, you have to admit LeAnn is a much better person to be around now.”
Jaelyn searched for something nice to say but ended up offering her grandfather a shrug of her shoulders. “Sometimes life gives you the kick in the tail you need.”
“Ha!” Her grandfather choked on a chuckle. “And I’ve got a few bruises to prove it myself.” He winked. “Most of them were delivered by your grandma.”
There was a groan and roar as one of the large construction trucks started to move. Conversation died until it was far enough into the distance for them to hear one another.
“I think you’re more like Jeanie.”
Her grandfather smiled, his eyes lit with the memory of his late wife. “She told me we were getting married, too.”
“What?”
Milton shrugged and grinned. “I was a lot like Bram. Enamored with my uniform and top secret posting. Oh man, I was high on my position.” Her grandfather paused to take a sip of his coffee. It didn’t matter what time of day it was on the site, there was coffee brewing and that made Milton a very happy man. Jaelyn frowned at him, because his doctor had told her to limit his caffeine and he knew it.
Milton toasted her with his cup, a gleam in his eyes.
“Now things were a little different back when I was dating your grandmother. She was a flower child. In touch with her feminine spirit and damned were any who tried to rein her in. She got herself arrested for walking on the beach topless more than once. I swear she got off a couple of times because the cops just loved her so much.”
Milton let out a low whistle. “I loved that rebel streak in her. It was everything I wasn’t and she enjoyed testing my resolve. Walked right up to me the first time I saw her and caught me looking at how thin her top was and asked if I wanted to make love … right there…”
“Get out,” Jaelyn said. “Why am I only hearing about this now?”
“Because we were young and stupid before the Internet. I could say she decided you two needed a solid role model but the truth is, she didn’t want my career to suffer. So as far as the rest of the base was concerned, she was straight and narrow. At least until the bedroom door was closed.” Milton wiggled his eyebrows. “Jeanie hid the pictures in a shoebox, but you and LeAnn found it one day while playing hide and seek.”
Jaelyn searched her memory. “I don’t remember that.”
“I do!” Her grandfather chuckled. “Jeanie threatened to crack my skull with the rolling pin over it.” He had to stop talking because he was laughing so hard.
Milton winked. “She didn’t think those pictures of her without a bra were appropriate for you girls while you were too young to not mention them to your schoolyard friends.”
Jaelyn slowly sobered. “I think I need to keep my memories of Grandma being respectable.”
“Why?” Milton demanded. “I see Bram isn’t the only one who thinks his generation invented everything. Let me tell you, Jaelyn, your grandmother and I scared the birds in that old barn more than a few times.”
Jaelyn felt her face go up in flames. Her grandfather sobered, sending her a serious look.
“You marry your young man, and don’t let him be pig-headed about it. Men need a rolling pin applied to them sometimes. When I tell you you’re more like Jeanie, that’s what I mean. Not that you cook and clean and take care of me.” He shook his head lovingly. “No, you are a woman in touch with her nature. Never forget what a blessing that is, young lady. Too many folks go through their whole lives never being comfortable in their skin.”
There was a gleam in her grandfather’s eyes that she hadn’t seen very often. Jaelyn realized it was respect. He was talking to her like an adult, sharing wisdom with her but not as her grandparent. No, this was human to human, from a man who had learned from life experience.
“Thanks, Grandpa.”
He nodded and started to stroll away, a happy whistle on his lips. In the distance, Jaelyn caught sight of Bram. He’d taken to wearing a gun openly. The distance was pretty far but she knew it was strapped to his thigh as he leaned over a work table Saxon and Vitus had plans rolled out on.
Well, maybe he had a gun, but she knew where Ginger kept the rolling pin.
And the lace stockings.
After all, there was more than one way to win a war.
* * *
“You’re working too late, son.”
Milton Sondors eyed Bram for a moment before he went over and shut the office door. He came back on the slower steps of an older man, even as there was something about his demeanor that made Bram feel like straightening his back.
“Time for you to go over and discuss details with my granddaughter about your wedding.”
Milton settled down in a chair.
Bram was avoiding Jaelyn. Or perhaps it was a little more precise to say, he was trying to shield her from the way his composure shredded every time he got close to her.
“If you’re sitting in here, driving your buddy insane because he has a pretty little wife waiting for him … well, I can see it’s time for a few more pearls of wisdom, son,” Milton expl
ained.
“I’ll give you the room,” Saxon said.
“Stay right there,” the old man instructed.
The layers of age on Milton seemed to grant him authority in spades. Saxon Hale, Shadow Ops team leader, shut his mouth and sat as instructed.
At least Bram realized he wasn’t alone in being unable to dismiss Milton. The old man was striking Saxon the same way he had Bram. Milton was one of those men who didn’t have to brag about his life accomplishments. No, there was just something about his demeanor a smart man recognized and respected.
“You’re a damned lucky bastard,” Milton began, “to have a gal like Jaelyn willing to wear your ring.”
“I’m no good for her,” Bram said. “You’ve lost everything because of me.”
“Now that is where you’re wrong, son.”
There was something about the way Milton said the word “son” that made Bram feel about two inches tall.
“The only things a man ever owns are his faith and his word. If he’s the sort who keeps his word, someday, he might…” Milton paused and sent them both a hard look. “… might just discover life’s true riches are measured by a woman who will put up with him. A gal who will remember how he likes his coffee and notice when he’s down to his last pair of clean shorts. That’s called ‘making a home.’ It’s not about the structure where it happens.”
Milton shifted his attention to Saxon. “You know what I’m talking about. I see the way you look at that wife of yours.”
Saxon drew in a deep breath. “I do.”
“I know what Jaelyn is worthy of,” Bram said softly. “I’m not up to that standard.”
Milton only chuckled, which turned into a dry cough before he was slapping his knee. “We’re men,” he explained. “It’s an ongoing battle against just how stupid we are at our cores.”
Saxon let out a soft sound of amusement that had Milton pointing at him.
But Milton’s face went dead serious a moment later. “We’re dogs. Men, that is. Some a little closer to wolves than others … and it’s a necessary thing. To be untamed, to have men who will charge into the fight while knowing they just might get ripped to pieces.” He looked at Bram. “You think your hands are too dirty, that she can’t accept you … only that’s the part of you that you let the world see.”
He’d nailed it. Bram was nodding and he realized Saxon was, too.
Milton’s gaze shifted between the pair of them.
“Come on,” Milton said. “I want to show you something out in the barn.”
It had been twenty-four hours and Bram was still thinking about the way he and Jaelyn had been in the barn. Returning to the old structure with Milton was awkward to say the least, but Milton’s surprising ability to spring things on them was growing on Bram.
As in, he really wanted to know what the guy was going to drop this time.
The barn was packed with cars. The ones lucky enough to be inside were in far better condition than the ones out behind the house. Milton wove between them, seeming to know the way. He stopped next to one that had a tarp over it.
“Give that a pull for me,” he said, directing Bram.
A tug on both ends loosened the tarp. It slithered off the car beneath it, revealing a vintage Volkswagen camper van.
“This was mine.” Milton was rocking back onto his heels, staring at the faded yellow paint. “Never thought to see her again and that’s a fact.”
“You’re full of surprises,” Saxon muttered.
Milton sent Saxon a look. “You’re the sort of man who’s well acquainted with the reality of just how tangled up life can be. The moment you don’t think something is going to come back around and surface in your kitchen is the exact time you get caught with your shorts down.”
Bram opened his mouth but Milton held up a finger.
“I know you know it, son,” he said in a low tone. “And I’ve heard you saying how that’s the reason you don’t want to take Jaelyn down that road by marrying her.”
“Are you sure you need me here?”
Bram felt himself sending Saxon a raised eyebrow. His team leader was a former Navy SEAL and a Medal of Honor recipient who was at home living off the grid. He didn’t ask for permission to leave the room. Or get rattled by very much.
Milton was living up to the feeling Bram had of him alright.
“You’re here to help me kick some sense into this kid,” Milton continued.
“Maybe I think he knows what he’s talking about.”
Milton turned his full attention onto Saxon. “How’d you meet that pretty little lady who’s having your children?”
“This isn’t about me,” Saxon declared.
Milton chuckled and shook his head. “Let me take a guess: you ran into her during a case and just couldn’t resist. Bet you tried, though.”
Saxon didn’t answer. He clamped his jaw shut, earning a nod from Milton. “This wasn’t the first location I was assigned to. Met my Jeanie out West, on the California coast line. God, but she loved the sun and waves.”
He was lost in the memory for a moment.
“I bought the HoneyBee here”—he nodded toward the VW van—“so we could spend the summer parked a few steps from the sand and she could wear almost nothing.”
Milton turned his attention back toward Bram. “I was expecting my application with the Minute Man program to come through in the fall of that year. Like you, I didn’t see my career mixing with a girl like Jeanie. Wanted to shield her from the dangers I was looking forward to shouldering.”
“Not to be insensitive, Milton, but the dangers are a little different.”
Milton shook his head. There was a serious look on his face that Bram realized he’d only seen there when he had been going out the door after Jaelyn.
“The Cold War was just as bloody as any other, son, don’t doubt it. Men disappeared and so did their wives, as the locations of these silos were hunted down. Body parts got mailed to men in order to get them to give up classified locations, men hunted men, and did their best to break them. I know there are truly evil men in this world.”
“I’m glad you understand, Milton,” Bram responded.
“Oh, I do,” Milton continued. “I told Jeanie the same thing. Know what she did? Spent most of August and September sewing together a patchwork quilt. She got the scraps from some church and would sit out in the sand with a hand needle, just stitching.” He made a scoffing sound. “Damn it was an ugly thing.”
There was a long moment as Milton was lost in his memories once again.
“Well, son,” he said, looking at Bram. “When the season changed and I had to set out for my deployment, Jeanie shook that quilt out over the bed right inside there and climbed into it, bare as could be, and made it clear she wasn’t going to be scared off.”
Milton grunted. “Jaelyn is just like Jeanie. Make the mistake of overlooking that and you’ll regret it.”
* * *
Was he selling her short?
God, he wanted to say yes.
The need to admit it was tearing up his insides. Just the thought seemed enough for him to make his way back toward where Jaelyn was. Milton wandered off, leaving Bram alone with his questions.
“I was pretty determined to cut Ginger loose. You were there. In New Orleans.”
Bram looked over at Saxon. There was a rare, unguarded look on his face.
“Food for thought, Magnus. I’m glad things didn’t turn out the way I thought they needed to.”
His team leader took off for the back door of his house. There was a way Saxon looked when he was gazing at his wife.
Like she was the only water in miles of desert.
Like he looked at Jaelyn.
“Are you ready to come in, Bram?”
He thought she’d risen up from his thoughts because he was so deeply fixated on her.
Instead, he found Jaelyn watching him from the open door of her quarters. She had every reason to avoid him. He caught a hint of
uncertainty in her eyes and realized that was his fault.
And it was unacceptable.
“Yes, I am, baby.”
* * *
Her insides twisted as Bram came toward her. The curl of anticipation was one she enjoyed, knowing it was going to spark off a blaze of need.
Bram came through the door and shut it softly behind him.
The only light on in her quarters was the red glow coming from a small clock on the dresser. It seemed enough for him, though, as he reached out and stroked her face.
“I’ve never made love to you, Jaelyn.”
Her breath caught as he traced her lips with one fingertip.
“I’m a bastard for that.”
She might have responded but he was stroking her cheek and all she managed was to draw in a gasp.
“I’ve been told I’m a fast learner though.”
He’d made it to her hair and slid his fingers into the strands before tightening his grasp. He controlled his grip, holding her hair tightly enough to make her his, and still spare her pain.
“Maybe you should give it a try,” she said. “I’m a great study buddy.”
He buried his face in her hair, inhaling as he bound her against his body with his other hand. “I might need a lot of practice, Jaelyn.”
“I sure hope so,” she said. “What’s the point of getting married otherwise?”
He quivered.
It was a declaration that cut her to the core and promised her a companion in her own need for him.
It was more than physical. There was so much about him that captured her attention so completely, right down to the smallest details.
Like the smell of his skin.
Or the sound of him breathing in the scent of her hair.
Their clothing was a barrier. Neither of them seemed willing to endure being separated by the layers of fabric. The sound of them stripping made her cheeks heat but not out of shame or some sense of awkwardness.
No, it was with anticipation.
She leaned over and ripped the bedding free, allowing the faint red glow to illuminate the white sheet.
He wrapped her in his arms the moment he was bare, leaning down to scoop her off her feet and cradle her against his chest.