“Hi.” She wished she sounded incredibly sexy like Marilyn Monroe or Madonna or some other on-screen vixen, but all she heard was squeaky Minnie Mouse again.
“Hmm, you’re much quieter this morning,” he teased, and instantly the searing heat of a blush covered her face, neck, and, well, everything. Yes. Last night she had certainly been a little noisier. Okay, so she had been pushy. He hadn’t minded, but she was embarrassed now. Common sense had flown out the window then, and in came something definitely, wow, so unlike her. But now?
“Ah, huh.” She knew it the minute she opened her mouth, whatever came out would be dumb. She was right, but all those feelings splashing around in her muddled head made for so much confusion. Here she lay naked under the most handsome man in the world, and he eyed her like a delectable morsel. To make matters worse, her body betrayed her at every turn, arching toward his touch, flushing at his words, and pleasing him of its own accord. The heady sensation of him sprawled over her brought forth thoughts she had never entertained before. Even the stupid smile on her face was revealing, as if any part of her wasn’t.
“Are you a morning person?” He nuzzled under her chin, his breath hot and heavy. She tipped her head back to allow him more access to her body. The heat in her belly clenched tighter as his tongue played across her breasts in little circles of tingling sensation.
“May-be.” She blinked at the hunger in his voice. Right now she would be a morning, afternoon, evening, or an all-night-long person if he wanted.
“There’s one way to find out,” he teased.
How could six simple words sound so hot? With soft nibbles and kisses he made his way over her chin to settle on her mouth, his lips and tongue gently insistent while his hands and fingers wandered to her other willing body parts. And they were so-o-o willing.
Where she had been accustomed to pain, now she shuddered with tremors of pleasure under his gentle persuasion. Where she had experienced harshness, he whispered enticing words that sparked shivers of anticipation. She pulled him close as he pushed into her. It came so naturally. Surprised by the depth of wanting every part of him, she wrapped her legs around him. And it was happening again. How does he do this to me?
“Ah, ah, oh Alex,” she cried, her nails digging into his shoulders like she couldn’t get enough of him. A quivering wave of fireworks exploded deep inside again and the pleasure of it pushed her higher. She arched upward, suspended for a breathtaking moment in space and time, weightless, and totally absorbed by this man. There was nothing, but him. His arms. His legs. His breath. Him. All past memories evaporated in the cleansing, burning embrace.
He groaned as he held her tight in a final push. They clung to each other just as they had the first time. A fleeting thought of death tugged, but at last, she knew better. If she died now, she would die a very satisfied woman.
Panting, he collapsed on top of her, his weight pressing her into the mattress. Again the tears flowed she didn’t want him to see. She squeezed him tight, hoping he would stay right where he was until she got herself under control. He didn’t. Alex rolled to her side, propping his head on his hand to see her better. She heard the concern in his voice as he wiped the trail of tears off the side of her face.
“Are you okay?” He kissed her soggy cheek.
The tears wouldn’t give her a break, and her voice wasn’t any help either so she nodded.
A sexy smile tugged at his lips. “That’s all I need to know.”
Finally brave enough, she said, “I’ve never felt anything like that before.”
For some reason that made him grin. “Good.”
He wrapped her in the comfort of his body then pulled the sheet up to cover them both. She was content just breathing in the smell of him, and listening to his strong heartbeat. For the first time in all her limited experience, sex felt good. Instantly she upgraded her choice of words to great, but even that didn’t feel right. No. Exquisite. These two times with Alex were exquisite, like first time ever moments. And the best part, she wasn’t afraid. She hoped he felt as good as she did, because she felt really good.
He kissed the top of her head. “I love you.”
She sighed along with him. “Me, too.”
Alex
When Alex finally left his boring little cracker box house, it was two mornings later and he had upgraded his opinion of his house to home again. The twenty-five cradles didn’t get painted, and he had missed more consecutive days of work than he had missed in his entire career, but he didn’t care. His over the top work compulsion had at last taken to a back seat to a very delightful lady.
By then they had spent forty-eight hours in lovemaking and play the likes of which he could not remember. They had explored each other’s bodies, minds, and anything else that got in their way. While their first encounter was ruled by nothing but passion and heat, the next encounters were more deliberate and romantic, even a little enlightening.
She seemed like a woman out of a time warp, so timid one moment but rowdy the next; one minute shy, the next over the top curious. And that’s why he had needed two more days off. All her explorations turned her on as much as him. Eventually, they made it into the shower. Eventually, he had ordered the pizza, which they ate in his bed along with a bottle of wine he had saved forever. And eventually—they got out of bed.
They only made it to his front room. Kelsey spread a mattress of blankets and pillows in front of the old fireplace that hadn’t been used in years. “I thought you were mad at me when you came home from Afghanistan,” she admitted as they lounged together on the makeshift bed. She lay comfortably on his chest, propped up on one elbow and tracing little circles on his chest.
He smoothed his hand over her hair. She had so much of it. Even now it fell like a silky cascade of tangles through his fingers. “I was playing it cool.”
“Me, too. It’s funny. I wanted to run to you and away at the same time.”
“I didn’t help much, did I?”
“And I was afraid.”
“Never be afraid of me, okay?”
“Mostly, I was afraid what you’d think of me. It’s so soon after ….” She let her words trail away.
Alex sighed deeply. “It’s called survivor’s guilt, Kelsey. You’re going to live with it the rest of your life. Get used to it.”
“Do you have it?”
He nodded.
“Sometimes, I just want to be alone.”
“I can be a mean bastard.”
“You’re never mean,” she protested.
“Oh, yes.” He of all people knew better. “I am. It’s a rut I can’t pull myself out of sometimes.”
She kissed his chin, her fingers trailing through his hair while she studied his face. “I think of that last day, and I want everyone to leave me alone.”
“That’s because a part of you still wants to die.” He kissed her forehead. “I’ve got news for you. You’re here now, and I’m never going to let you.”
She stifled a small chuckle.
“Are you laughing at me?”
“No,” she smiled. “Well, maybe. You just sounded so cute when you said that.”
With a playful growl, he rolled her over. Of course she ended up beneath him, pinned with her arms over her head, and still giggling. He secured her wrists with one hand and ran the other down her ribcage to the hem of her T-shirt, which was really one of his USMC shirts anyway. With a quick flick of the shirt, he bared her belly and gazed down at her perfect navel just above the line of her panties.
“Hold still.” He placed his lips just below her navel. She tensed, her breaths shallow and fast. Pausing for effect, he drew in a big breath, and blew a big sloppy raspberry into her tightened abdomen. Goose bumps covered her from head to toe. This woman was highly responsive to his touch, and he loved touching.
“Alex. No.” She laughed and wriggled, but he held her fast as he launched another lip smacking raspberry all over her tummy. The more noise he made, the harder she laughed until
the raspberries turned to fervent kisses. He pushed the shirt up under her chin and bared her breasts. They were so small. The unlikely possibility that she had ever caught his eye on the street humbled him. He had been looking for the wrong woman all these years.
“You love it when you laugh.” He smoothed a hand over each breast as he studied them with reverence. This woman was beautiful at so many levels.
“It’s my best asset, huh?” Her eyes glistened with lustful mischief.
He looked down at her bare body with an evil smirk. “Ah, no, but it’s definitely in the top three.”
She arched against him, her head thrown back with another delicious giggle. “I feel like dessert.”
He covered her mouth with his as emotions took over. Words escaped him. Kelsey was so much more than dessert. She was an oasis in a parched desert, meat and potatoes in a concentration camp, and oxygen in the middle of chemical warfare. She was everything he had rejected for so many years, now come back to him tenfold. The enormity of her innocence and love humbled him. When the kiss ended, he held her tenderly with his face in her chest, this gift he so did not deserve.
“What’s the matter?” she asked, her hands on his cheeks even as she lay half naked beneath him.
“Nothing,” he whispered hoarsely. “I’m just loving you.”
She wrapped her arms around his head, and he felt her kiss on the top of his head. Her sigh told him everything.
She was happy, too.
“Toast?” Kelsey asked as she poured him a cup of coffee to go.
“No, ma’am. Just coffee. Black.”
“I already know how you like your coffee.” Kelsey’s eyes twinkled. “I know a lot about you, Mr. Stewart.”
“And I know a lot about you.” Alex came up behind her at the kitchen counter, gathered her hair into a ponytail, and nuzzled the nape of her bare neck just above her robe’s collar. She leaned back into his chest. “If you keep this up, I’ll never get to work.”
Accepting the challenge, she set the coffee pot down, turned and wrapped her arms around him. Her eyes were melted chocolate drops he couldn’t resist. Here he was trying to make a living, but she was so wonderful to love and too difficult to resist. Kelsey was contagious. Everything about her took his breath away. With all the willpower he could muster – and it wasn’t much—Alex kissed her one last time before he lifted her onto the countertop and out of his reach. He shook his head to clear his thinking.
“I really do have to go to work. I’ve been gone two months and a couple days.”
“But they were good days,” she smiled shyly.
“Oh, yes.”
Still, he couldn’t take his eyes off her. She was a different woman this morning, a very beautiful woman in love and love made her glow. He smirked. All the sex wasn’t so bad for her either. She never looked so gorgeous sitting there in her bathrobe without a shadow of makeup on. Alex recalled the day when he had first seen her glow, the day he was shot. Now he was sure it wasn’t delirium. There was a definite light within this woman.
She smiled sweetly from her perch. “How about T-bones and baked potatoes for dinner?”
“Works for me. I’ll let you know when I’ll be home.” He picked up his suit jacket from the back of the kitchen chair, grabbed his cup and headed toward the door. Like a fool in love, he glanced back. Big mistake.
She still sat on the counter, her feet crossed at the ankles, her hands braced beside her while the morning sun poured though the window behind her. Once again the rest of the world fell away. Somehow his kitchen had turned into a shrine with this lovely woman he adored. His heart lurched. Other body parts noticed her, too. He wanted her. Again. Still.
“Bye.” She smiled and gave him a small good-bye wave. “Love you.”
There was no leaving now. With a rush he was back, his face buried against her chest. “What are you doing to me, woman? I have to get to work.”
“Then go.” She clutched his head and giggled delightedly. “I’m not stopping you.”
“But I can’t. I’m under some kind of spell or something.” With his blood on fire, he parted her bathrobe to taste her neck and her shoulders and—
“Then poof.” She pushed him away. “I release you. Go forth and get thyself to work.”
He grabbed her hands and met her eyes, every fiber of his being on fire from the sparks he saw there. Her beautiful smile was an overflowing pitcher this morning, and all that love poured over him, bathing him in sweetness and healing the likes he had never known. It was as if a dam had broken, the door at last unlocked, and the magical power of this woman released. Somehow the damn in him was broken, too, and he had become the lucky recipient of her love. He shuddered to think what she had made before, but knew it was never love.
“What the hell.” He pulled her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. She giggled all the way back to their bedroom as he walked with one hand patting her backside. “I can always go to work.
Seventeen
Alex
“G’morning, Boss.” Mother beamed with that tell-me-all-about-it glitter in her eye. “My, my, don’t you look chipper?”
As usual, Alex ignored his nosey technician. Murphy and Roy looked up from Murphy’s office as he passed by.
“Well, well, well. Look who decided to show up for work,” Murphy exclaimed.
Alex kept on walking. “You two got work to do?”
Roy rolled his eyes. “Heck, we were beginning to wonder if you remembered you worked here. It’s been nice and quiet the last couple of months. We were getting used to that.”
“I need to know where we stand on the latest Army contract as well as the new Department of Justice offer.” Alex looked around at the empty desks. “Where is everyone?”
“If you’d come to work once in awhile, son, you’d know weapon proficiency is this morning. Everyone’s at the range. Ember’s with them.” Murphy was still smiling. “You’ll like these new kids. They’re sharp.”
“Good. Tell me when they’re back.”
Zack nodded to Alex from his desk, his phone to his ear and already engrossed in the business of the day. Alex didn’t slow down until he reached his office. After closing his door, he contacted a local furniture store. It was time. Tonight when he bedded his beautiful lady, it wouldn’t be on an old, out of style, scroungy mattress and old linens. The thought of her in his bed made him smile. She belonged there.
He followed that phone order with a call to a high-end lingerie store. It had been a long time since he had shopped for nightgowns, but Kelsey would look beautiful in gift-wrap. That’s all lingerie was in his mind, gift-wrap to be undone and tossed to the floor. Even that picture made him smile. Playtime. Making love with Kelsey was fun.
Her innocence enamored him. Out of respect to her, he had removed his family picture from his dresser bedroom, but Kelsey had caught him in the act. She never missed a beat, but asked if he had any other pictures she could frame. Even Abby’s childish artwork now had a place of honor on his mantle, alongside a picture of Jackie and Tommy. He saw the truth in her eyes. She wasn’t replacing Sara. No. In her way, Kelsey was joining Sara in loving him.
He kept whistling as he settled into a busy morning of briefings and contract negotiations with Murphy and Roy. It was noon when Mother rapped on his door. “Hey, Boss. You have a visitor.”
Alex cocked an eyebrow at Mother’s interruption. By the gleam in her blue eyes and the way she enunciated visitor, she looked more like the cat that ate the canary than his admin assistant. Without waiting for his answer, she opened the door wider and ushered Kelsey in. Automatically, Alex jumped to his feet, along with Murphy and Roy. He was at her side before Mother could wipe the smirky smile off her face.
Kelsey looked intimidated as she peeked around the room. She was dressed in nothing fancy, just her old faded jeans and a simple pale blue sweater. “I brought your cell phone,” she said timidly.
Alex checked his suit pocket in surprise. He grinned. That p
roved he was head over heels in love. He had never even missed it. “How’d you get here?”
“I walked. It’s not too far.”
He pulled her against him. For a minute he deliberated taking the rest of the day off, but then common sense kicked in. He turned to his senior agents, well aware they had just witnessed a side of him they hadn’t seen before.
“Kelsey Durrant. These gentlemen are my Senior Agents Murphy Finnegan and Roy Hudson. They run the show when I’m gone. Gentlemen, this is Kelsey Durrant, my houseguest.” Alex smirked at his understated description of the woman he loved. So what was she, he wondered, girlfriend, lover, all of the above? Wife came to mind.
“Well, hello. I’ve been waiting a long time to meet you, little girl.” Murphy took her hand in both of his. “The last time we talked, you kids were in a pretty bad way.”
She nodded. “Oh, you’re Mr. Finnegan. Thank you for answering the phone that day. We really needed your help.”
“Well, you call us anytime.” He leaned in toward her with a conspiratorial whisper. “We might not answer the phone for him, but we’ll definitely answer when you call. So how do you like the east coast?”
“It’s beautiful,” Kelsey replied. “The trees are gorgeous.”
“You’re right. Fall is extra pretty this year. Moira and I will have to invite you and Alex over for dinner while you’re in town.”
“I’d love that.” She shot a shy smile to Alex.
At that comment, Roy took over, his teeth bright against his dark skin. He bowed and kissed the back of her hand like a true southern gentleman. “It is very nice to meet you, Miss Kelsey. My goodness, you’re as pretty as a Georgia peach. Where’s this young man been hiding you?”
“Lift your feet.” Murphy chuckled. “He’s pouring it on thick.”
“Like maple syrup on my Mama’s homemade biscuits.” Roy beamed with another flirtatious grin. “I’m just trying to make our lady friend here feel welcome. Besides, if you remember, this woman knows how to bake.”
Alex (In the Company of Snipers) Page 19