Before the Mission Begins (When The Mission Ends)

by Christi Snow

  She nodded, but her body was stiff against his as he pushed the ‘talk’ button.

  “Hey, sis.”

  “Chris, is everything okay? I was in a meeting and just got a strange feeling about you.”

  Chris closed his eyes with a grimace and rubbed his hand up and down on Julie’s back trying to relax her. At the same time, he tried to even out his own fluctuating feelings. Cassie was his twin and as such, she often got readings off whatever was happening in his life. It went both ways, but she was definitely better at it than he was. He assumed, as a female, she recognized his emotional state better than he did hers. Right now, she had to be keyed in to how much Julie’s request had overwhelmed and confused him.

  “Everything’s fine. You said you were in a meeting. Where are you?”

  “Dallas, the gaming thing. Are you sure you’re okay? Something feels off with you.”

  “Yeah, everything’s fine. Will you be home tomorrow night? We can talk then. Something has come up, but I’d rather not chat on a cell phone about it. It can wait until you get home.” Using Operations Security was a flimsy excuse, but Cassie dealt with that fact of his life enough that it would put her off for a little while. Maybe it would be enough for her to give him twenty-four hours before demanding an answer from him.

  “Okay.” She didn’t sound convinced. “I love you, Chris, and will want a full report when I get home.”

  “I love you, too, sis. Don’t worry. We’ll chat tomorrow night. Just call me when you get home.”

  As he pushed the off button on his phone, he realized that Julie had relaxed more into him. So tiny, she fit against him perfectly. He closed his eyes, taking in the scent of jasmine and pear that was completely her and pressed another kiss to her forehead. He wanted this. He wanted her and he couldn’t deny himself that.

  She looked at him cautiously. “What did Cassie want?”

  He gave a gentle laugh. “The twin thing. She could sense something was off with my emotions.”

  She groaned and pulled back, putting a foot of space between them. He didn’t like that. He wanted to reach over and drag her back into his hold.

  “I’m sorry. I never should have asked you something like this. It was totally inappropriate and irresponsible of me to take advantage of our friendship that way.” Shaking her head, she hugged her arms in tight against her waist, and began to turn away from him. He grasped hold of her arm to stop her.

  He said quietly, “Don’t you even want to hear my answer?”

  Hope flared in her eyes as her gaze flew to his, but she shook her head. “It’s okay. There’s no reason to put either of us through that humiliation. Just pretend I never said anything.”

  He caressed the smooth skin of her cheek, dashing aside a tear with his thumb. He hated those tears. “That’s going to be hard to do since my answer is yes. Unless you’ve changed your mind and don’t want to do this anymore.”

  Shaking her head, her voice was quiet and timid as she said, “No, I haven’t changed my mind. I want you, Chris.” She closed the step in between them and pressed up against him. “I want this.”

  His arousal, which had been simmering ever since this conversation began, pulsed. “Me too, but I need a concession from you. For this to work, we need to take it slow. Let’s just relax today. Have fun. Get to know each other better and let things happen naturally. We obviously have chemistry.” He pressed his erection more firmly against her, grateful to see her expressive eyes darken as she took a ragged breath. Yeah, this would work. He gave her a flirty smile. “Now what do you think? Can we do that?”

  She nodded.

  “Good.” He ran the back of his hand against the satin of her cheek. “I think that we need to seal the deal with a kiss. What do you think?”

  She nervously licked her lips and that was all it took. He moaned and dipped his head toward hers, needing to taste her. At the first touch of his lips, she tensed slightly. He wrapped his hands around her and was gratified to feel her pull herself more snuggly up against his front and relax. Why did that simple touch feel so damn good?

  Obviously agreeing with him, she wrapped her hands behind his head and threaded them through his hair. Her nails scraped at his scalp, sending erotic chills down his spine. She moaned into his mouth and he took advantage to slip his tongue between her lips. She tasted just like she smelled, pear and jasmine, an incredible elixir that made him want so much more, but it was too early for that. He didn’t want to overwhelm her right away.

  He regretfully drew back. They both panted as he gently pressed his forehead into hers. “Oh yeah, there’s definitely nothing wrong with our chemistry.” He pushed her back toward the sink. “But we’re going to take it slow. We have all day. Let’s finish those dishes. You wash and I’ll dry.”

  He started to pick up the dish towel, but she halted him with a touch. “Thank you, Chris. You’re a good guy.”

  He gave her a cocky raise of his eyebrow. “Baby, you haven’t seen anything yet. Good doesn’t touch me. I have skills.” He nodded his head and raised both eyebrows, putting as much attitude into it as he could.

  Her eyes filled with laughter and her body relaxed completely as she giggled. Laughing was good. The tension broke and that boded well for the rest of the day. Anticipation built within his gut. This was going to be one amazing twenty-four hours.

  Chapter 3

  Julie looked around Cassie’s bedroom. After cleaning up the kitchen, Chris decided they needed to work off some of those calories and tension from breakfast and go for a walk in the snow. She’d brought her black wool pea coat, but she didn’t have any of the other basics she needed for the frigid temperatures outside, like a hat, gloves, and scarf so she hit up Cassie’s closet.

  She paused at Cassie’s dresser, letting her finger trail over the edge of the picture. Everywhere she looked, there were photos of the three Robertson siblings growing up. Of course, she’d seen them before, but now she was drawn to the ones of Chris.

  He’d always been a good-looking guy. Even when he was going through those awkward junior high/teenage years, she could still see his easy humor in his cocky smile. There were tons of photos of him with Cassie, but there were lots of him with his friends and even a few dates. She didn’t remember ever hearing about him dating the same girl for more than a few weeks or months at a time. The Chris she knew was definitely a confirmed bachelor. She had the fleeting thought about what it would take to change that for him. She didn’t even know if that was something that he wanted for his life. Did any of his future plans involve a wife and kids?

  She was realistic enough to know that even if he had those dreams, that person wouldn’t be her. While she had lusted over him for years, he’d never even noticed her. Yes, she’d made some changes in her life lately, but she doubted he would have noticed the difference if he hadn’t woken up with her naked beside him.

  She shrugged despite the pain of reality that she’d never be his. The facts wouldn’t change so she simply needed to enjoy what she could for the next twenty-four hours.

  She fervently hoped she could enjoy it. It hadn’t been an exaggeration about what she’d told him. So far, her sexual experiences had been humiliating, bordering on painful, and extremely unsatisfactory. Surely, she had the ability to enjoy sex.

  Chris could help her, she had faith in that. It would never be anything more, but the memories would be there for her to fantasize with for the rest of her life. She just had to keep herself from tensing up so that she could have those good memories. She was not going to screw this up. New Julie could do this.

  She quickly located Cassie’s winter gear in the closet and donned it before joining Chris at the front door.

  Cassie lived just a couple of blocks from Texas Tech University campus and they headed that direction automatically. It was mid-day, but snow was such a rare occurrence in West Texas, most people stayed indoors while it was still falling.

  The snowflakes falling right now were huge fluffy ones t
hat stuck to everything. It created a magical sense that she and Chris were the only two people in the world.

  Chris must have felt it, too, because without breaking the silence, he reached over and grabbed her hand. They walked that way onto the campus until they reached the middle of the main quad and Memorial Circle. Here the buildings had bricked arches covering the walkways. Of one accord, they headed toward the chemistry building where they could stand under the arches and be protected from the falling snow to watch it.

  As Julie leaned up against one of the columns, Chris stepped in behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. “It’s so beautiful like this,” she murmured.

  “It is,” he agreed. He leaned down, pushed aside her scarf, and nibbled on her neck, right behind her ear. The warmth of his breath contrasted with the frigid air and gave her chills.

  “So are you,” he whispered. “Beautiful.”

  Her breath caught and she was suddenly overwhelmed with the possibilities of what they were going to do. Tingles travelled down her spine and lower. It was torture to stand still. He had said he wanted to take today slow. In that case, she needed a distraction from touching his delectable body. She snagged his hand and pulled him toward the engineering side of the campus. He laughed as he said, “Where are you taking me?”

  She stopped and looked him over. “I need your muscles. How’s your back? Any issues there?”

  “Hey, I’m only twenty-eight years old and I’ll have you know, I’m in prime physical condition. I promise I can meet any needs you may have.” He waggled his eyebrows at her and flexed his muscles in a typical body builder pose.

  She giggled. “It’s good to know that your ego is in good working order, too. Come on.”

  They trudged across the frozen tundra that made up the campus. When she found a side courtyard that suited her needs, she started balling up the snow and rolling it. Once she got it started, she gestured toward the growing ball of snow. “That right there is your mission. Roll that ball until it gets too big to roll anymore.”

  He saluted her. “Yes, ma’am.” He bent over and began pushing the ball.

  She tilted her head to watch the flex of his tight ass in his worn jeans as he bent over. She sighed internally and her stomach tingled. This exercise had an unexpected benefit that she hadn’t foreseen. That was one fine view and soon she’d get to see more of it.

  “Ahem.”

  She looked up guiltily to his smirking face peering over his shoulder. Busted. She tried to act innocent. “What?”

  “So you’re just going to stand there and ogle my ass while I do all the work?”

  “I think that sounds like a plan I can live with. Why? Do you have a problem with it?” She smiled at him cheekily.

  He shook his head as he started stalking toward her. “No, I don’t have a problem with it.”

  There was a glint in his eye that she didn’t trust. “What are you doing?” She began to back away from him. When he reached down and began to scoop up snow, she took off in a run, shrieking as a snowball whizzed by the side of her head.

  She ducked behind a column and scooped up some snow to make her own snowball, but once she had it good and compacted, she couldn’t spot him. She gingerly glanced to the left, with no sign of him. Looking around the right side didn’t reveal him either. The fluttering in her stomach increased. Where was he? She tried to calm her breathing and listened, but all she could hear was the ping, ping, ping of the snow lightly falling on the ice encrusted trees.

  She tip-toed out from behind her column, trying to keep the crunch of her combat boots on the snow muted. She didn’t see any movement anywhere. How was he able to move so quietly? She knew he was still out here somewhere.

  As she cleared the building, strong arms grabbed her from behind, pinning her arms at her sides under his. She reacted instinctively to the zing of panic and adrenaline. She crouched, and then when he moved with her, she twisted and flung a leg behind him. Simultaneously she reached down and grabbed his legs and pushed him straight toward the ground. Oh, crap. She hadn’t meant to do that. Thank goodness, the ground was covered with snow to cushion his fall.

  He stared up at her with a stunned expression from his prone position. When he’d fallen, little bits of snow were kicked up and flung onto his body. His blue eyes were so wide with shock, she couldn’t hide her smirk. Most guys underestimated her capabilities based upon her size. They didn’t do that twice.

  In a split second, his eyes darkened, his look turning to one of sheer lust. “Damn, that was hot. Where did you learn how to do that?” He levered himself onto one elbow.

  “I’ve had a few self-defense classes.”

  “A few?” He looked at her with disbelief.

  “Okay, maybe more than a few. I actually teach self-defense classes at the hospital. I honestly didn’t mean to use it on you. It’s just a natural reaction for me at this point.” She knelt down in the snow beside him, brushing the snow off his shoulders. “Are you okay? I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

  He looked chagrined and let her help pull him up. “Just my pride, but the snow protected my ass that you just so roundly kicked. So I’m fine.” His eyes hardened as he thought for a moment. “Do your skills have something to do with the attack when you were young?”

  She nodded. “Yeah, my sister knew about it and insisted that I learn how to protect myself to make sure it never happened again.”

  “Good.” He nodded. “That’s really good. I like that you’re tough under this soft, feminine exterior.” He took off his glove and skimmed his hand across her cheek. “You’re just full of surprises, aren’t you?”

  The admiration in his eyes sent flutters through her stomach. She cleared her throat and shoved her hands into the pockets of her jacket. “Tell you what….to make up for dumping you on your ass, how about I treat you to One Guy’s pizza?”

  “What about our snowman?”

  She glanced back at the half-formed ball and then to Chris’s extremely wet clothes. She had a goal for today and that couldn’t be accomplished if they spent the evening in the ER while he was treated for frostbite or hypothermia.

  “Don’t you think pizza sounds better? That is, if you’re not going to freeze to death because you’re too wet.”

  “I’m definitely wet, but not enough that I’ll turn down a trip to One Guy’s. It’s worth a little discomfort. We don’t have anything comparable in New Mexico.”

  * * *

  Julie felt bad when Chris grimaced as he sat in the booth, his jeans wet. “I’m sorry. We could get it to go.”

  He was already shaking his head. “No way. We walked over here. If we took it to go, the pizza would be cold by the time we got it home. I can deal with the dampness.” His teeth chattered a bit. “You’ll just owe me a hot shower.” His voice lowered and his eyes smoldered with promise. It was enough to curl her toes. “Together. When we get back to Cassie’s house, I’ll need your help so I can warm up.”

  A shiver snaked down her spine directly to her core. Oh my. Time for a bit of deflecting before she spontaneously combusted. She shifted in her seat and fiddled with the straw in her drink. “I know from Cassie that you can’t usually talk about where you’re deploying to. Is that the same this time?”

  He nodded and frowned. “Unfortunately, yes. Cassie hates that when we go somewhere.”

  Concern ate at her gut. “Do you know how long you’ll be gone?”

  “Right now, it’s a six month deployment, but depending on the situation we find, it could be extended. That’s why I wanted to see Cassie in person to say goodbye to her. I’m sure I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know when I say that she doesn’t handle it well when I’m out of the country.” As twins, Chris and Cassie were much closer than most siblings. Cassie hated it when he was out of the country and talked about it feeling like she was missing one of her limbs. Saying she didn’t handle it well was putting it mildly.

  “Do you ever think about getting out of
the Air Force?”

  “No, I love flying too much. I can’t imagine not getting to experience that adrenaline rush when my jet takes off. There’s nothing like it in this world and even if I go to work for an airline, I won’t get the speed and natural high I get from my F-22. There’s just nothing else that can compare.”

  His sapphire eyes literally sparkled with the passion he had for his job and she understood why Cassie didn’t push him into the cockpit of a safe airline job.

  Chris cocked his head. “What about you? I know you work at the hospital, but I don’t even know what you do.”

  “I’m a physical therapist.”

  “Is that something you’ve always wanted to do?” He leaned forward and Julie was surprised that he actually seemed interested.

  She nodded. “My younger brother was in a car wreck when he was seventeen. He was in a coma for a couple of weeks and then spent months more in different forms of physical therapy trying to get his life back. I saw what the PT’s were able to do for him and decided I wanted to do that.”

  “How is he now?”

  She laughed indulgently. “He’s hell on wheels…literally. He’s part of a motorcycle gang and causing problems wherever he can.”

  “Does he realize that he’s the reason you do what you do?” He smiled as he said it, his eyes sparking with admiration.

  Warmth spread through her.

  “Oh yeah, there’s no denying that. Everything about what I do in my life can be directly traced back to my brother and sister. We may not be twins like you and Cassie, but I have a really close relationship with both of them. They’ve held me together over the years.”

  “It seems to me that you’ve done a pretty good job of that for yourself.”

  He looked at her searchingly, but he didn’t need to know all of her secrets. He knew too many already and she needed to keep today sexy and fun. Luckily their pizza arrived to distract him.

  * * *