Course of Action: Out of Harm's WayAny Time, Any Place

by Lindsay McKenna

  Travis forced himself to focus on just her hair. God knew, he wanted to do so much more. And all too soon, her hair lay wet and gleaming, slightly curled, halfway down her back. In a selfish move, he slid his hands beneath the heavy curls and lifted them to his face, inhaling their fragrance. The fire within him expanded exponentially, making him clench his teeth for a moment until he wrestled himself back under control. Gently allowing her hair to lie against her back, he struggled and took in a deep, ragged breath.

  “Could you braid it?”

  Travis froze for a moment, caught up in the blaze within his body. “Braid?” he managed, his voice gruff sounding.

  “I always plait my hair into one long braid. That way it’s out of my way.” Madison twisted a look over her shoulder. The expression in his eyes was raw, hungry. And just as swiftly, that burning look was gone. Her lips parted and Madison felt suddenly shaky, understanding more was going on than she realized.

  “Yeah, I can braid it. Sort of like braiding a horse’s tail,” he said.

  Oh, hell. He’d blown it! Madison’s expression told him everything. Travis wrestled inwardly with himself. His desire clashed with his sense of what was right and wrong. And he was acting more like a teenager than a grown, mature man. Worse, she’d caught him at it. So much for SEAL stealth, right? Furious with himself, Travis softened his voice. “Well, maybe not a horse’s tail, but you know what I mean?”

  Madison wisely turned around. “I know what you mean,” she whispered. Unsure, she sat primly, shoulders thrown back, spine straight, hands in her lap. Her heart yearned for him even more now. Madison felt him divide her hair into three thick plaits, confidently weaving her hair into that braid she’d asked for.

  “Do you have sisters?”

  Travis frowned. “No. Can you tell?” he asked wryly, looking up and seeing her profile and her lips curving.

  “No, not really.”

  “How about you? Sisters? Brothers?” His fingers felt on fire, wanting desperately to maintain contact with her. Travis frowned, knowing he wasn’t controlling himself as much as he wished he could. Somehow, Madison had crawled into his heart, his body and innocently staked a claim on him.

  “No, only child.”

  “What will you do once we get you out of here?”

  “Go back to the ranch. Tell my parents how sorry I am I screwed this up for them.”

  Travis always carried string in one of his pockets. He let the braid sit against her back, dug out the string, cut off a piece of it with his KA-BAR and then tied it around the end of her braid to hold it in place. “I think they’re going to be far happier to see you home than be angry about it,” he told her. “There. Your braid is done.”

  Madison turned around between his long legs and sat back on her heels. She pushed her damp palms against the cammies she wore. “Thank you. You have no idea how good it makes me feel.”

  He wanted to feel, all right. Her. Every square inch of her flesh. Explore her. Feel her react to him. Listen to happy sounds caught in her throat as he pleasured her. Travis met and held her sincere and grateful blue gaze.

  Madison looked like the girl next door, some shorter curls soft and dried at her temples, giving her a mussed appearance. She needed no makeup. Nothing. Her cheeks were flushed pink and that mouth of hers damn near did him in. Forcing himself to get up, Travis said, “Glad to be of help.”

  Just then, his sat phone beeped, and he leaned over his ruck and picked it up. “I’ll be back,” he told her, hurrying out of the cave. The rocks prevented a solid link between him and his master chief. There was a tunnel that led outside the nearby cave and he took it. Moving outside, he clicked it on as he saw the sun setting in the west.

  “We’ve got Night Stalkers scheduled to pick you two up at 2000,” his master chief told him. He gave Travis the coordinates of where it was going to land.

  “Taliban activity must have reduced?” Travis demanded, looking up toward the snow-covered peak far above where he stood.

  “Yes. What’s her latest medical condition? Is she ambulatory?”

  Travis gave him the info. There was no way to hoist her into a helo hovering above the ground. It was going to have to land, which made it even more dangerous for everyone. Taliban could lurk around, and not even a drone could find them unless it had thermal imaging capability.

  “We’ve got drone eyes on the landing zone. Just get her there and we’ll get you two to Bagram.”

  “We’ll be there. Out.” Travis was tangled with relief and sadness. It was good Madison would be airlifted out, flown to Bagram where she’d get a C-5 flight out to Germany. From there, she could book a commercial flight home. And she’d be gone. Out of his life. Forever.

  Turning, Travis sat down on an outcropping watching the sun setting behind the Hindu Kush. The sky was a darker blue, a few clouds turning a bright gold color near the peaks. The same color as Madison’s rich, thick hair. Even now, he could remember the sleekness of the strands, the beauty and strength he’d held between his fingers. Rubbing his face savagely, he couldn’t figure out what was the matter with him. Six months of enforced abstinence could make anyone a little nuts. So what was different? He sat there chewing through the possibilities like a dog with a bone.

  Finally, Travis stared flatly at the rock in front of him, his mouth thinning. It was her. It was Madison. Damned if there wasn’t some kind of living, breathing, heated connection between them. Was it about sex? Hell, yes. Was it more? Muttering a curse under his breath, Travis stood up, pacing. He was losing his mind over this woman and he hadn’t even kissed her!

  What to do about it? He stared darkly at the tunnel that led back to the cave. Do the right thing. Find out if she felt the same. Or not. Travis realized he was about to make an utter fool out of himself. To make it worse, Madison was reeling with shock. She could be drawn to him for all the wrong reasons. Wiping his mouth, Travis gripped the sat phone a little harder and walked back into that tunnel. He had to know one way or another.

  * * *

  Madison was sitting on the sleeping bag, wrestling with one of her rolled-up pants legs, her brow scrunched as she tried to bend the thick material. She lifted her head when she sensed rather than heard Travis come back into the cave. Her heart took a little bounce of fear. He looked disturbed about something. His black brows were down, his eyes narrowed.

  “Is everything okay?” she asked, sitting up, leaning against the wall.

  Travis placed the sat phone in his ruck. “I don’t know, Madison.” And he saw her pale. Dammit! “No, everything’s fine. We’re going to hitch a helo ride tonight at nine o’clock. We’ll be taking you back to Bagram air base.” He forced his face to relax because he saw the terror banked deep in her eyes. He came and sat down, facing her. He placed his arm across her legs and studied her in the building silence.

  “That’s good, isn’t it?” she asked, feeling the intensity around him. Was it worry? Sadness? Her fingers curled into her palms because it affected her deeply. She had strong intuition, had developed it around raising horses and training them. There was torment in his narrowed green eyes. Something was wrong.

  “Yes,” he said, trying to relax. “You’re almost home.”

  She twisted her fingers in her lap. “Thanks to you.” And she reached out because she needed to make a physical connection with Travis, her fingers touching his arm. His flesh was sunburned, hairy and the muscles leaped beneath her fingertips. “I wouldn’t be here right now if it wasn’t for you, Travis. I owe you so much. I can’t even begin to think of how to thank you.”

  He picked up her hand, wrapping his fingers around hers. “Listen,” he told her, his voice deep and firm. “You owe me nothing, Madison. I was just doing my job. If another SEAL sniper had been closer to the action, he would have been handed the assignment, instead. And you would have been in equally good hands.”

  She savored the dry strength of his fingers, the roughness of them as he gently held her hand. Her heart began skip
ping beats, her throat growing dry because the look in his eyes was hungry—for her. “You’ll always be my hero,” she whispered. “No matter what you say.”

  Travis took her hand and placed it on her thigh. Lifting his hand away, he forced out the words that had to be spoken. “Madison, I need to know if there’s something going on between us. I feel it. Sometimes I think I see it in your eyes, your expression, but I’m not sure.”

  He took a deep breath, feeling as though he had just jumped off a cliff and was headed straight down to his death. “I like you. A helluva lot. I didn’t mean to feel like this...it just happened.” His mouth flattened and he avoided her gaze. What a coward he was. Travis forced himself to meet her eyes, see the warmth in them. It was enough of a positive sign to get the rest of this out of his craw.

  “I know we haven’t known each other long. But...what I was thinking...hoping...was once I get rotated back to the States in two months. I’d like to come and see you.” His heart was thudding in his chest. His mouth felt dry. Travis had never wanted anything as badly as he wanted Madison and he was afraid of her answer.

  “I feel it, too,” Madison admitted haltingly. Opening her hands, she whispered, “It was just there, Travis. Between you and me. At first, I didn’t know what to think. You said I’d feel rocky emotionally because of the shock.” She shook her head and gave him a rueful look. “I don’t think what I feel is shock, but what do I know? I’ve never almost been killed and then rescued at the last minute.”

  Travis sat very still, his heart wide open, hope sizzling through him. “I wasn’t in shock,” he said, “and what I was feeling for you had nothing to do with the rescue.” It still could from her end and Travis knew it. Searching her face, he could see Madison’s sincerity and honesty. He could feel her wrestling, maybe grappling with his admission. Madison had a lot of internal strength. He’d seen it.

  Tears burned in her eyes and she gave him a self-conscious look. Her lower lip trembled. “Ever since you rescued me, Travis, all I’ve wanted is to ask you to hold me, but I was too afraid to do it.”

  Ah, hell, he was screwed. Without a word, Travis moved next to her, slid his arm gently around her injured shoulders and brought Madison against him. The moment she pressed herself against his chest, her brow resting against his jaw, her hand sliding around his rib cage, a seismic quake rolled through his body. She smelled so damn good to him, sweet with a little spiciness in her damp hair. Her breasts pressed against his chest, her hips nestled next to his. And he surrendered.

  “It’s going to be all right, darlin’,” he rasped against her ear, blond tendrils tickling his nose. Closing his eyes, Travis inhaled her scent as if it was food for his soul. She felt so damn good in his arms, soft, curved, warm and alive. Always aware of her shoulder injuries, Travis held her loosely as she snuggled deeper into his arms, her cheek coming to rest on his shoulder.

  He pressed his lips to her drying hair, felt the strength of it beneath his mouth. Felt the warmth of her tears on his T-shirt. Skimming her long, curved back, he whispered sweet, soft words to her, wanting to take care of her. Travis slid his hand across her head, the gesture nonsexual, of one human cherishing another.

  He chastised himself silently because he hadn’t noticed her need to be held. Blame it on being mission focused, not human focused. SEALs weren’t exactly trained to be social workers. Madison made him very aware of being human in every possible way. It was their blazing chemistry that fed the flames of his desire to love her, take her and fuse them into oneness. More than anything, a fierce protectiveness rose in him for her.

  Madison’s tears finally ceased. She wiped her eyes shakily with her fingers and pulled out of his loose embrace. Feeling sheepish, she gazed up at Travis. His eyes were so green, so filled with life that her breath caught in her throat. She fought for breath.

  “Unless you tell me otherwise,” Travis told her in a guttural tone, “I’m going to kiss you, Madison.”

  Her breath released softly and she nodded, taking the lead, leaning forward, lifting her mouth toward his. Nothing, nothing in her life had ever seemed so right as in that moment when his mouth tentatively touched hers. Her hand came to rest against his chest. She could feel the solid thud of his heart beneath her palm. The moment halted and swam heatedly between them at the first brush of his mouth against hers. It was light, almost grazing, eliciting fire within her. And the second time his mouth met hers, it was a little more solid, less tentative, inviting her to respond. As his roughened fingers slid up her jawline, her flesh turned to fire. He angled her mouth just so, and the third time his lips met hers, they curved hotly against them. There was nothing tentative about his kiss this time.

  A soft moan caught in her throat as he took her deep, his lips cajoling, asking her to participate fully, not to be shy, but to be bold. Madison lost her mind in the best of ways, melting into the inferno of his kiss that told her so much more than his words ever would. As his tongue lavished one corner of her mouth and then the other, a quiver arced through her.

  Madison wanted more, so much more, straining against Travis, wanting to be a part of him, no longer separate from him. He slid his hands upward, trapping her face, moving his tongue slowly into her mouth, sliding against her tongue. Her moan became stronger, and if it hadn’t been for the burning pain beginning in her shoulders, Madison would never have wanted the kiss to end. His hands elicited tiny sparks of pleasure along her jaw, his mouth wreaking havoc through her womb and breasts. This man knew how to kiss, knew how to take a woman to her knees and then melt her into him.

  “God,” he uttered against her lips. “I don’t want this to ever end....” Travis’s lower body turned to steel, hot steel. He wanted Madison in every possible way but it was the wrong time and place. Afraid that shock was driving her, he didn’t want to take her. Instead, he had to have faith that whatever had sprung to life between them was about a helluva lot more than life-and-death sex.

  Easing away, Travis opened his eyes, drowning in her turbulent blue gaze. The hunger for him was there. Fierce. Demanding. Her fingers dug into his shoulders, silently pleading with him to finish what he’d started. Travis couldn’t. He just couldn’t.

  “This is going to have to do,” he said regretfully, kissing her lightly, wanting more, not daring to go there. “Do you understand, Madison? If I take you now...”

  “You’re afraid it’s about me almost dying? A knee-jerk reaction?”

  Travis closed his eyes, rested his brow against hers, holding her face between his hands. “I am. I want more than that, Madison. I want you. And I want you when you’ve settled down, when this kidnapping is past.” Travis pulled away, searching her moist eyes, looking down at her wet, glistening lips. “I want to come to you when you’re no longer in shock. When you’re whole again, Madison. I want you to see me.”

  Gulping, she pulled out of his hands, feeling the heat of his body, tasting him on her lips. “I...I understand.” At least, she was trying to. The pressure, the ache deep in her body was nearly overwhelming to her. Madison studied him in the growing, scalding silence. Yes, whatever they had was still there. Alive. Vibrant. Filled with promise. “Okay,” she choked out. “I get it. I really do.”

  “I’ll find you,” Travis promised huskily, holding her gaze, probing deep into her eyes, wanting her so damn badly he could turn the world upside down. “When I get back to Coronado, I’ve got sixty days of leave. I’ll come find you.” He frowned, his voice dropping, becoming gritty. “That’s the only way this is fair to both of us, Madison. A clean start. No high stakes. No life-and-death stuff to mess with our heads or skew our feelings.” He slid his thumb across her cheek, pushing away the tear. “You deserve that and so do I.”

  Compressing her lips, wanting to kiss him again, Madison managed a soft, “Yes.” And then she wondered if she’d ever see Travis again. The sincere look in his intense green eyes said she would. “I—I just don’t want to lose you....”

  Chapter 5


  Madison wasn’t prepared for the dog and pony show she walked into at Bagram air base. A female Navy lieutenant, a public relations specialist, met her as soon as she stepped into the helicopter operations building. Lieutenant Amanda Carter, in her late twenties, gave Madison a quick smile that didn’t reach her eyes. Madison was quickly shuttled into a small side room and she was glad Travis was still at her side. He didn’t have a happy look on his face as he stood back and let the officer talk with her.

  “We’ve got reporters from around the world wanting to speak with you,” the officer told her. “And it’s important that you do not discuss who rescued you, or give any names or any details about your rescue.”

  Madison nodded, casting a swift glance at Travis, who stood by the door, his M-4 across his body, his arm resting casually on it. “I don’t want to speak to anyone,” she whispered. “I just want to go home.” Her heart was pounding in her chest and she felt vulnerable, wanting to escape. She needed Travis for so many reasons, and now Madison felt him being torn away from her.

  “I’m sorry, but you’re going to have to give a statement. That’s why I’m here to help you, Madison. We need to sit down and put something together that you can read from. And you can’t take any of their questions even though they’ll want more feedback from you.”

  Madison felt confused. “I’m tired,” she told the woman. “I’m really not feeling up to this.”

  “Ma’am?” Travis said, getting the Navy officer’s attention.

  “Yes, Petty Officer?”

  “She needs to go to the hospital to be examined first.” He enunciated it clearly so Carter understood that she couldn’t throw Madison to the news wolves who wanted to shred her soul. His eyes hardened and he held the officer’s growing scowl. “Do what’s best for the survivor here,” he told her in a growl, his protectiveness coming to the forefront. “She can talk to the news people later. If she wants to.”