Dangerous Attraction Romantic Suspense Boxed Set (9 Novels from Bestselling Authors, plus Bonus Christmas Novella from NY Times Bestselling Author Rebecca York)

by Kaylea Cross

  She assumed the position on all fours on his bed, looking at him over the smooth mounds of flesh at her rear. With her tight little ass in the air, he sheathed himself in a ribbed condom, and then positioned his member between her supple lips, edging them aside as he penetrated just his crown. Then he plunged in all the way to the hilt.

  Libby gasped, forcing herself against Cooper’s upper thighs. He leaned over her, pressing his chest against her back, nibbling on the soft skin under her right ear. She grabbed the back of his neck as she pushed her butt into his groin, pulling him deeper inside.

  The gentle rhythm became more urgent as he pumped her. He’d been dreaming about this ever since yesterday, when they’d been interrupted in the garden shed. He watched sweat glisten on her back and shoulders, and the sweet, fleshy cheeks of her ass that drove his thighs crazy.

  Her orgasm surprised him. She stopped touching him so that the only point of contact was his cock inside her. Deep inside her. Her muscles clamped as she squeezed her own breasts and threw her head back, sending her auburn hair onto her back. He entangled his fingers in her locks, pulling back her head gently. He grabbed her shoulder with the other hand, bracing himself against her and exploded. He released every drop he had.

  They collapsed on the bed together. She was trying to keep him inside. They lay spooned and breathing heavily. She brought his hands to her breasts. She rubbed his fingers, his forearms, and the top of his thigh. He snuggled into her rear, burying his nose in the mass of hair at the nape of her neck, and kissed her there.

  He raised his head up and whispered in her ear, “Libby, you’re incredible.”

  She wanted him to say something else, he could tell. But she said, “Thank you,” and rubbed her sinfully smooth little butt against his groin. He’d be hard in another hour. He knew it. He liked the way the golden late afternoon sunlight played on the red and blonde strands of her auburn hair.

  His family had gone Heaven ten days ago. Cooper knew he was there, too.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Libby woke up in Coop’s motor home hearing the gentle roll of the waves in the distance. She could feel the SEAL was in a deep sleep. She remained nestled in his warm embrace; her body spooned in front of him, her back resting against his chest. Air whistled through his teeth. She turned to look at him over her shoulder. His deep rose-colored lips were smooth and just waiting to be kissed. She squirmed to roll over and face him and his arms tightened around her waist at first, then his hands lowered to the cheeks of her ass as he allowed her to turn in the bed. The sheets were musty, pulling up from Cooper’s corner, exposing the mattress underneath.

  He pressed her to him, his large hands on the back side of her waist, pulling her toward him. She felt his hardness as she played with the hair around his ears and kissed him. Several kisses later, he adroitly encased himself in a condom, moved on top of her, on his hands and knees, making entry into her swollen sex. The pain of his thrust inside her was delicious. She needed his hard strength, the feel of his need. She loved how urgent he was. He dove deeper. Her insides began to explode.

  “Need this,” she said.

  “Yes,” he whispered as he bit the lobe of her right ear. His tongue followed up the tiny tug as if he he’d caused pain. It wasn’t pain. She wanted to be consumed by him. Powerful hips pressed into her as she accepted him deeper, as she clamped down on him in a long, rolling orgasm.

  She’d been moaning, her head thrashing from side to side as he slid out, then rammed in again pushing her higher, bringing her along the long ragged trail of her need. Her body reacted in quivering jolts as she dug her fingers into his buttocks and pulled him inside deeper still. She felt him lurch and then relax in rhythmic spasms as he filled her.

  Their lovemaking was always intense, but each time she was on the brink of something else. She was changing. Her world was changing as her body felt more alive. She was filled with possibility and hope. He was becoming one glorious addiction.

  Afterwards, his forehead rested on top of hers as they gazed silently into each other’s eyes. Their breathing began to slow. She assessed the lines of his face, noticing a tiny thin scar on his chin. She touched it with her forefinger and followed it up with a long, healing kiss, luxuriating in a soft moan coming from deep inside his chest.

  A door had opened to her soul. Wide and gaping, it longed for this tall muscular SEAL to step inside. She couldn’t get enough of him, and hoped to God he felt the same way.

  Can you love me back, Cooper?

  She knew it was love. More than hunger for the sexual liaison, it was a required element deeply implanted in her body. Removing it could be fatal.

  I am not afraid when I am with you.

  Except she was afraid to ever have to live without him. That was the only fear that remained. Would she have to endure that?

  Please love me back, Cooper.

  He smiled as if he’d heard her inner thoughts, gently massaged her lips with his own. “Libby, Libby, Libby. What am I going to do with you, hum?”

  He arched back and looked at her face again, and gave her the crooked smile that snagged her heart every time. She could see he’d been a shy boy growing up. He was shy with her now. Big, powerful Cooper, was shy at heart.

  “Anything you like, sir,” she said in a whisper. Her smile was returned and then punctuated by another gentle nuzzling kiss.

  He laid his head against her chest and she splayed her fingers through his hair.

  She could spend the rest of the afternoon and evening here, in his bed, in his arms.

  They heard Bay scratch at the door and whine.

  “Bay wants his breakfast,” Coop said, watching her face.

  She nodded, but wasn’t going to let the SEAL go. The dog’s timing was pretty good. He’d waited for their lovemaking to subside before telling his master he was hungry. But Libby wasn’t ready to give Cooper up just yet.

  Coop kissed the insides of her forearms as he peeled himself from their embrace.

  He rose up, after giving her a respectful, quick kiss on the lips. He slipped on his shorts. “I’ve got to get him his food. What about you? You hungry?”

  “Always,” she said while she put her hands under her head and let the sheet expose her full torso. Libby watched as her SEAL perused her body. Now, that just made her want him all over again, just the way he looked at her that way.

  When he turned, she watched his lanky frame amble to the kitchen. Cooper scooped out some kibbles and added some heated meat from the microwave, stirring it up. He passed the silver bowl out to Bay and sat down on the stoop. Libby saw just the curve of his muscled back and a few pillow-fluffed wisps of sandy hair as the SEAL murmured a few words to Bay she couldn’t make out. She knew she was witnessing part of his daily routine.

  She looked at the light-patterned ceiling of the home and dreamt what it would feel like to live here with Cooper. Perhaps this was the safest place for her. She was more concerned about her parents and where they should go. But she knew she’d be the safest here with her SEAL.

  If he’d allow it.

  She pulled the top sheet from the bed and wrapped her body in it. Walking down the hallway to his seated frame, she decided to broach the subject.

  “Cooper, my parents are probably going to move out of the house.”

  Cooper nodded. He leaned over and patted Bay’s head. The dog was getting his second meal: Cooper’s affection and praise. He raised his paw onto the SEAL’s knee and Cooper began to delicately unwrap the bandage, examining the red wound inside. His nimble fingers pressed and prodded the wound. Libby could see several thick stitches and a shaved area from Bay’s paw halfway up his foreleg. Coop looked like he was checking for signs of swelling or heightened temperature.

  “He going to be okay?” she asked.

  “He’s healing great, aren’t you, old boy?” Cooper said as he scratched the dog’s head. He had removed the bandage. He stood up, moving past Libby, to remove a roll of white gauze material and
a small pair of silver surgical scissors from one of the upper cabinets. After he sat back down in the doorway, he re-wrapped the wound carefully and gave Bay another pat on the head.

  As Cooper stood up and arched his back, Bay jumped into the motor home.

  “Okay. You can come in for a bit,” Coop said as Bay came over to Libby and sniffed the sheet she was wearing. “No, Bay. Be nice,” he said.

  Libby rubbed her fingers through the thick hair atop the dog’s head. She received a grateful brown gaze and lick in return. “You’re a good boy, Bay. So glad you’re getting well,” she said.

  But Cooper hadn’t answered her. He was washing his hands in the sink.

  “So, about my parents. They want me to go with them.”

  “Um hum,” was all Cooper said as he deposited the hand towel on the towel holder and leaned against the countertop, one tanned long leg crossed over the other. “You want to do that?”

  “They don’t think it’s safe in the house. Detective Riverton thinks we need to move temporarily.”

  “Um hum.”

  “I don’t want to stay with them. I want to stay with you.” There. She’d said it.

  His reaction wasn’t what she’d hoped.

  “Here?” he said with a shrug.

  “Yes.”

  “Heck, I’m not here all the time. You wouldn’t be safe here. No way I could make you safe.”

  “Then I could go with you.” Libby knew it was a ridiculous request as soon as she’d uttered the words, and instantly wished she hadn’t.

  “Libby, this is all real nice,” he said as he looked at the bed, pointing to it with an outstretched hand, “but…”

  Her heart stopped beating. She’d gone too far.

  He redirected himself and sat next to her. “Honey, I’m not in the position to have someone here 24/7. I do things, go to meetings. We do stuff to get ready for our next deployment. You can’t go everywhere I go. You know that.” He gently put his arm around her, but didn’t squeeze her to his chest. “It would be easier if you let the police handle this.”

  “But I feel safer with you.”

  She felt him stiffen. He withdrew his arm and stood up. A couple of petals from the bouquet of flowers mounted to the side of the kitchen wall dropped to the countertop. It made her sad.

  “I think we need to get on the same page here. Unless I’m mistaken, the police consider me sort of a suspect. Hell, someone might have followed us here, could be following me around. Maybe following you.”

  Libby was getting a sinking feeling she was going to get a talk about doing the right thing. Her stomach rumbled and she swallowed hard. She was thirsty.

  “Could I have a drink of water?” she asked.

  “Sure.” Cooper poured two short glasses with cold water from a jug in the refrigerator. He handed her one just before he gulped his down with one snap of his head.

  “I just don’t have any confidence in the police. And my father is in some kind of LaLa Land or something. He’s distracted. He’s never lied to me before like he has been doing lately.”

  “He’s not lying to you, Libby.”

  “Yes he is. He’s deliberately downplaying this whole thing. He’s not facing the reality of the situation.”

  “Well, what is the reality of the situation?” Cooper squinted, worry lines transcending his forehead.

  Libby didn’t have an answer for him.

  “Exactly, honey,” he whispered. “Who knows what’s going on? You’ve got to stay together to make it easier on the police to do their job. Besides—” she could see he was being careful how he spoke, choosing his words slowly, “I’m not really supposed to interfere with civilian things. I’m strictly military. I probably have gotten too involved as it is.”

  He was looking down at the floor and Libby felt the chasm of her empty stomach. She waited for the awkward pause to get his attention, and it did. When he looked up at her, he wasn’t smiling.

  She didn’t want to ask, but she had to. “Translate that for me, please, Cooper.” Her heart felt thick. Surely he could hear its beating from across the space between them.

  “It’s getting complicated, Libby. I’m not into this all-inclusive thing. Surely that can’t be a surprise to you.”

  He’d have looked hard if he wasn’t so damned good-looking. She could tell he was more practiced at saying goodbye than she was. But then his training helped with that. Of course he would learn how not to let his feelings show if it compromised a mission. Man of steel.

  No friendly chink in that armor for me?

  She knew the answer to that was a resounding “No.”

  * * *

  This was the part of relationships Cooper couldn’t handle. He’d gotten involved sexually, and was now looking at the woman he was going to have to hurt, and he hated himself. Part of him looked for a way out, any way to allow him to spend more time in her company. But, as much as he wanted it, signals were coming to him loud and clear like those damned red extraction flares. Part of him wanted to be rescued. The other part wanted to fall down a hole and take Libby with him.

  That was no way to live. No way to treat an innocent. And he knew better, had told himself to watch out for this very thing.

  You dumb son-of-a-bitch.

  He needed to think. While Libby was anywhere close to him, when he could see her hot with arousal, hear her moaning—even the sound of her breath as she lay sleeping or the taste of a quick kiss—he was distracted. That part of him, the part that always figured everything out, was grossly disabled.

  This had never happened before. He’d rescued a mother and child in Fallujah just before their hovel of a home was blown to bits. He got them to triage, helped the woman cover up again so he wouldn’t be accused of being disrespectful. And the little boy, probably a fatherless boy, looked up at him with wide brown eyes filled with fear. He didn’t want to walk away, but he was able to do it and pray to God they’d survive the hell they were living in. He’d had his family waiting for him at home in Nebraska.

  But now they were gone. He hadn’t time to feel the pain of their passing. Or he wasn’t letting himself. And Libby’s family could never be a substitute for his. Was this God’s way of issuing payback? Telling him no matter how much good he was doing, he was still one sorry SOB?

  Be honest, you frog asshole. You’re thinking with your little brain.

  Logically he knew this to be true, but there was something else going on, too. Cooper decided he just couldn’t go there.

  He sighed and placed an errant lock of Libby’s auburn hair behind her left ear. “Libby, honey. I wanted to spend the day with you, but I think we should slow things down a bit.”

  He felt the instant vibration as she swung her head up to look at him and try to focus on his eyes. “What?” she asked.

  He could tell she wanted the truth. He hoped he gave her enough reassurance that he meant what he said. Maybe he was telling her this to convince himself.

  “I want to. I really want to honey. I didn’t expect for all this to happen.”

  “You fucked me and didn’t expect that you’d have to be nice afterwards? You don’t like the strings, is that right?”

  He winced, but couldn’t deny it.

  Her face was becoming hard. Her left eye twitched. “You’re good at the screwing, Cooper, I’ll grant you that. It’s the being a decent guy afterwards that you are a little short on.”

  It hurt more because he knew it was true. All of it. And because Cooper had never in his life been called short.

  Chapter Sixteen

  “So, just take me home.” The words didn’t seem to come from her. Libby was as shocked as Coop appeared to be. He stiffened and then turned back to the bedroom. She chose not to dwell too much there in that no-man’s land, wondering if he really felt so dismissive, or if a part of him was tempted to stay with her, like he’d said. Either way, there were no winners in that mental tug-of-war.

  She remained on the couch, shoulders slumped, distan
cing herself from the agony that waited at the edge of her consciousness. She fixated on how ridiculous her pink toes looked against Coop’s indoor-outdoor green carpet. She wished she was on the fairway at one of her father’s favorite courses instead of staring down at the plastic lawn, which looked like someone’s cheap idea of paradise.

  She rose slowly as he put on his jeans, and then slipped a white T-shirt over those pecs and shoulders she’d been admiring earlier this morning, when her world was purring like a kitten. When that feeling of his arms around her, his body merging with hers, made her feel glorious and absolutely immortal.

  Again, she cut those thoughts off. Not helpful. Coop studied her. She could detect an inkling of emotion behind his eyes just before they glazed over, maintaining control over—what? Over a breakup? Was that what this was?

  “So I guess we’re done, then,” she said, pushing the limits. She hated herself afterwards. Why did she say such stupid things? Why couldn’t she just zip it?

  “If that’s what you want,” he said. His half-whisper and melodic man-voice-vibration made her tingle in spite of the dull ache in her heart and the lurch in her stomach.

  She stood up with the sheet still draped around her body and pulled herself together. With a deep breath, she stepped towards Cooper, felt him inhale sharply as she put her palms on his thinly covered chest.

  “What I want, I can’t have.” She pressed her fingers against his white shirt and looked into his face. She let him see her emotions and near lack of control. Her naked soul. Her need for him. Best to show him her truth if it was to be the end of their relationship.

  He didn’t bend to suckle her lips, as he would have just a half hour ago. He seemed to soak in her discomfort, all of it. Was this what he was used to? Her tears spilled over and dripped silently down her cheeks, onto the white cotton sheet, but she wouldn’t let go of the gaze. It took every ounce of strength she had left to will the weeping to stop.

  But it did.

  Her eyes fluttered down to his lips that parted, came closer, and engulfed her and for just a second all was right with the world. One glorious second. A gallows’ kiss.