He brushed his tongue against hers, slowly stroking it and teasing her to join him. She was timid and unsure, but she hadn’t pushed him away. He spread his hands against the back of her head and gently brought them both just a bit closer.
His blood was rushing through his body, straight down to his cock. It started throbbing intensely and becoming harder with every second he kissed her.
She must have noticed it, too, because she tensed her body, and her timid kiss turned into a frozen one. She lay in his arms still, almost unsure of what to do.
“AJ, please kiss me back.” He was begging, and he didn’t care. He wanted her kiss so bad right then he would have done anything to get it.
Covering her mouth with his again he slipped his tongue past her lips and did everything to entice her. Sliding a hand up her back and massaging the back of her neck were actions more for him than they were for her. Suddenly, in that moment the need to feel her body against his was so strong. Bullet hole or no bullet hole, no one could’ve pulled him off of this floor. The pain, the snipers, none of it mattered. He just desperately needed her kiss.
His prayers were answered as her head tilted to one side. Her tongue met his, danced with it and explored his mouth as he explored hers.
The timidness he sensed in her moments ago was gone. She wasn’t holding back this time. They were kissing each other. He couldn’t help himself. His hands started stroking her back, rubbing up and down, trying to soak up all of her that he could.
He was in agony he was so hard, wanting so desperately to rid her of her clothes and slide in between her thighs. The thought made it unbearable for him.
He pulled away from her kiss and firmly tugged her head back with his hand. Trailing his tongue from her mouth down her neck he could taste the saltiness on her. It was hot outside, and obviously the heat had made her perspire. The exotic flavor to her skin just heightened his awareness of how great her body felt lying on top of him.
He made his way to her earlobe. First he flicked the end of it with his tongue, but it looked too inviting for him to not do more. He closed his mouth around it and gently nibbled. She tilted her head to grant him better access, and he wanted to applaud her for her ingenuity. It gave him a teasing glance at the small dip between her neck and shoulder. It was the sexiest damn thing he’d seen in a very long time.
Refocusing his attention he brought his mouth down the side of her neck, alternating between featherlight kisses, nibbles, and licks. She moaned in appreciation of his work. His eyes opened, and he saw her hovering over him. Her cleavage was a teasing view in front of him.
“Jesus,” he muttered.
With both hands he grabbed onto the side of her face and brought their mouths back together as he laid his head back down against the floor. She went willingly with him. Her mouth met him just as her kiss did. Their tongues were no longer strangers to one another. Each of them had found a rhythm with each other in a very short time.
The ache was too strong. He thrusted his hips against her just a little. Desperately he needed to feel the warmth of her body against his hardness as he ground against her. She moaned again. Damn she sounded sexy when she did that. He wanted her.
“You are so…” He didn’t have a chance to finish his sentence.
A voice from the other room interrupted them. “AJ? Sweetie, are you here?”
Quickly she pulled away from the kiss. Bracing herself on the floor she got up and hurried to the other room while adjusting her clothes.
Nick closed his eyes and tried to rein in the lust that was coursing through his veins. Seconds ago he was holding her in his arms and wanted to bury himself inside her heat, and now, just as quickly as it had begun it was over.
“Fuck!”
Struggling, he somehow managed to push himself off of the floor and back into a standing position. He looked down and shook his head. His dick was sticking clear out and was an obvious sign. No way in hell could he go in there like that. Cancer or no cancer, that former marine would get out of bed and kick his ass.
He reached into the refrigerator and got a bottle of cold water and all but tiptoed to her bedroom. He could hear the two of them talking. Obviously he was okay after resting. The two of them needed their alone time anyway, so he decided he would check his new e-mail account to see if he had heard back from Adam.
Chapter 15
Jack walked back into the motel room, locked the door behind him, and tossed the keys on the small round table flanking the window.
“Did anyone see you?” Adam asked.
“Negative. I took the tourist route. Drove around so many side streets and back roads and then went in a couple of circles. If anyone was following me they took no shot, and I lost them anyway. We’re now the proud rental customers of a dated station wagon.”
Rex took a peek out the window and grinned. “Nice.” He laughed. “You sure you didn’t just get that to test it out for JJ?”
“Positive, smart-ass,” Jack replied before turning his attention to Adam. “So are you going to tell us what the hell is going on now?”
He waited while Adam took his phone from his pocket and turned it on. Tossing it at Rex he said, “Read the e-mail from Allison. But be quick about it. I want the phone turned off within a minute. If they are tracking us, I don’t want to take the chance they’ll have enough time to lock in a location.”
“Allison?” Chelsea looked at him confused.
Jack read the message immediately after Rex and quickly shut the phone off. He listened intently as Adam explained to all of them in detail all he had deduced from the e-mail. He might have told him he was crazy. That his theory was convoluted at best, but he couldn’t ignore the fact that they were shot at.
When the glass shattered, Tamara and JJ were the first things that flashed through his mind. If anything happened to them…well he didn’t want to think about that. A couple of years back he had come dangerously close to losing her so quickly after he’d found her. Nothing and no one would jeopardize his family, not as long as he drew breath.
“Wait, I don’t understand. Why use this guy Reginald from your BUD/S class as a clue? I’m not seeing the importance in that,” Rex asked.
Adam, who was lying on the bed, his back against the headboard with Chelsea resting against him, rolled his eyes in annoyance. “Don’t you get it? I told you. That dude was the strongest swimmer I’ve ever seen. He could swim in freezing cold water without tiring or cramping up. Nick was on a boat when they were ambushed. I think it was his way of trying to tell me that he was able to swim away to safety.”
Jack granted him that path of logic, but still it all seemed just a bit too unbelievable to…well, to believe. “Okay, so Nick swims away to safety. But didn’t we already suspect that from him being found on the other side of the island? I mean they found his body, Adam. How are you going to dismiss that?”
“Wrong!”
Rex and Jack eyed each other curiously. “Come again?” he asked.
“They found a body. When I showed up with proof that Nick wanted to be cremated and I was to be granted his ashes, I asked to see him before they went ahead with it.”
“Oh, honey. I didn’t know that. Is that why you didn’t want me to go with you?” Chelsea kissed her husband on the cheek.
He nodded at her before continuing. “The CO at Coronado told me that his face was blown apart. Apparently he’d been at close range.”
Jack sat next to his wife and put a comforting arm around her when he saw her shift uncomfortably on the edge of the bed. “So, who exactly identified him?”
Adam shrugged. “They said his military ID and wallet were on him.”
Rex stood up in apparent outrage. “That’s it? A piece of cowhide and plastic and they wrote him off as being dead without any positive ID?”
“Dude, what the fuck do you want from me? I wasn’t there. I’m only telling you what I was told. And what I know to be true now,” Adam snapped back.
Jack held
up his hands to cool the two hotheads. “All right, let’s all settle down here. Rex, I know you’re stressed about us getting shot at while the women were with us, but stop jumping all over Adam. And you”—he pointed to Adam—“I agree your theory has some merit, but it’s not a fact. Let’s just slow down and think about this. We need to decide what the hell we’re going to do, because one thing is a fact. Someone was perched up on one of the cliffs with a rifle and scope. That was no gangbanger. That was a damn sniper. I don’t need to tell you what that means.”
Clearly distraught, Shelby spoke up. “Well you need to tell me. I’m betting Chelsea and Tam are a little curious, too. Need I remind you, Jack, that we were not SEALs?”
She was right, and he knew it. The three of them who served on the teams together knew things that their wives never could. He forgot that sometimes.
“Sorry, Shelby. We’re not active duty anymore. Meaning we’re not on assignment somewhere where the chance of getting taken out by a sniper is plausible. It means that it was a professional hit.”
“Oh God.” Tamara’s chilling response cut through the air. “Jack? What about JJ? We always said if anything ever happened to us that we wanted Rex and Shelby to take care of him, but they’re here, too.”
Jack went to hold her when she covered her face and started to cry. Wrapping his arms tightly around her, he smoothed her hair down and kissed the top of her head.
“Nothing’s going to happen to any of us, sweetheart. You have my word.”
“He’s right, Tamara,” Rex added. “Haven’t you ladies learned anything by now? Do we let anything bad happen to you, ever?” He winked at Shelby and gave her a kiss.
“Let’s get down to business,” Adam interrupted as he took a laptop out of its case. “I’m going to set up a dummy e-mail account. I’m going to use my name but Reginald’s last name. Leave a couple clues in the message and see if he bites. Concur?”
Jack looked to Rex, and they both nodded. Rex took the keys to the rental and left for the convenience store they spotted down the street to pick up some water, whatever food he could find, and hopefully a couple of those prepaid cell phones.
He periodically peeked from behind the curtain, keeping a close eye on the parking lot outside their room while Adam continued typing away. He looked at Tamara a couple of times and hated the worry he saw on her face. Years ago when her deranged ex-boyfriend Brent had kidnapped her, he had come close to killing her. That didn’t count that the time he had beat Shelby within an inch of her life. He could only imagine the thoughts and fear that were going through their minds.
“All done.”
Adam interrupted him from his worrying thoughts, and he walked over to the screen to read the message. The account was set up as he said it would be. He used his name but Franklin for the last.
A moment of recollection hit him. He had heard of someone named Franklin who swam circles around the other tadpoles in BUD/S school and years after.
Allison,
I don’t know what your game is, and quite frankly I don’t fucking care. I gave you money for the kid, so don’t even think about threatening me with contacting the wife. Remember what happened when we were in New York and you pissed me off? Yeah, well I’ll make it worse this time. That fat lip will seem like a damn picnic. So take the money I already gave you and get the fuck out of my life!
Adam
Jack read the message and looked at Adam. He was surprised he had taken it to that level, but if there was one thing he knew about Adam it was that he had good instincts.
“Are you sure about this? You’re sure it’s Slater?” Jack asked him.
“As sure as I can be.”
“And you really think this is going to work?”
“I sure the hell hope so, because someone took a shot at us and we damn sure need to find out who the fuck it was and why they were aiming at us.”
Jack looked to the ladies, who were talking amongst themselves. He knew Adam was right. Whatever was going on it wasn’t good, and they needed to answers. No one was going to hurt his wife or any of his friends. No way in hell.
Chapter 16
AJ spent close to an hour talking with her father. He refused to eat, saying that his stomach didn’t feel up to it. She forced the issue though and managed to convince him to at least eat some toast with a light coating of peanut butter on it.
When she’d gone to the kitchen to prepare it she was thankful that Nick wasn’t still in there. She wasn’t sure what had come over her when he kissed her. Her reaction was probably a bigger surprise to her than it was to him. While she had gone on dates in the past, she had never dated much. Sure she had an occasional date here or there when she needed someone for a work function or such, but no one that she really ever liked or was incredibly attracted to, not like she was with Nick.
Her biggest problem with most of those men was that after a date they always came on way too strong. She was no prude, but she liked to date someone for more than four hours before sleeping with them. After a while she found most men who asked her out on dates just annoyed her so she kept her distance. Just once she wished she was asked out on a date at a time when she’d run to the store with no makeup on, her hair in a ponytail and looking a mess.
It dawned on her then that Nick hadn’t seen her in makeup, nor had he seen her hair in anything other than the style that that day’s brushing had decided. She would like to blame her reaction to his kiss on that knowledge, but the truth was he was an attractive and sexy man. He definitely knew how to kiss a woman. The moment she had even tried to resist him had quickly passed with the way his tongue worked against hers so expertly.
She forced a deep sigh and tried to recollect her thoughts as she washed off the plate that held the single piece of bread she’d managed to convince her father to eat. Now that he was sleeping again she had no excuse to avoid Nick. She had to check on him whether she wanted to or not.
After drying the dish she headed back to her bedroom. She knew he was there. She had heard his attempt at quiet footsteps pass behind her while she spoke with her Dad. Running a hand through her hair she made an attempt to soften her tousled appearance.
When she walked into the room she had prepared for a confrontation, of which kind she wasn’t sure. She wasn’t sure if she should apologize for her behavior or be embarrassed for it. The truth was she wasn’t sure what his demeanor would be like, and that made her more nervous than anything. To her surprise, though, she was met with the sight of him lying on his back, both of his hands folded on his stomach and his chest gently rising up and down with each breath he took.
She didn’t want to wake him and knew rest was essential to his recovery, so she thought she’d tiptoe out of the room and let him be. Sure she knew it was a cop-out and just another excuse to avoid talking to him, but if it put off any potential embarrassment she was okay with being a coward for a bit longer.
Just as she was leaving the room she heard a beep come from her laptop. She knew he’d asked to use it, but he didn’t say what he needed it for. Hitting the space bar to awaken it from the screen saver’s sleep mode, she saw a new e-mail message alert.
Despite the yellow streak of cowardice running down her back she knew she had to wake him. Whatever was going on with him could not be ignored, not even for her foolish womanly insecurities.
“Nick?”
She spoke softly so she wouldn’t startle him. It must have been too soft though, because he didn’t budge. Slowly she sat on the edge of the bed next to him. The T-shirt she’d given him to wear was too tight already, but with him lying down, his breaths causing his chest to rise and fall under the constrained fabric, it only accentuated the muscles that she had seen for days when he had lain in the bed completely naked. Bathing him had been a test on her libido. She tried to not feel anything while she cleaned his body off with a warm soapy wash cloth, but he was a magnificent-looking man.
Placing a hand on his chest, she said his name again. “Nic
k?”
Abruptly and without warning he had grabbed onto her wrist. She moved to get up off the bed, but his grip on her was too strong. Her eyes flashed to his and saw that any signs of him resting peacefully were now replaced with a wide-eyed alertness.
“Nick…I…” She stuttered her words but had no idea what she was going to say anyway.
“You shouldn’t sneak up on me like that, AJ.”
A lump of fear built up from somewhere deep inside her, choking her. She wanted to say something, apologize. Anything so he would get that look off of his face.
His grip loosened, and he gently brushed his thumb across her wrist. “I’m sorry. You startled me. Did I hurt you?”
She shook her head, telling him no. He hadn’t hurt her. Scared her, shook her to her core, maybe, but not hurt her. As much as her heart began racing when he’d grabbed onto her, she knew it was more from his touch than his swift actions.
“Why do you always look at me like that? Do I scare you that much?”
Oh, if he only knew. She wasn’t fearful of him in the sense that he would hurt her, quite the opposite, in fact. Her reaction to his kiss earlier just confirmed the attraction she’d felt for days. The fear she felt was of herself. She couldn’t trust herself around him. Even when she had bathed him it took all of her energy to not think about how sexy he was. The man was pure muscle from head to toe. She didn’t remember seeing one flaw on his body. Even the scars he bore looked like they belonged there. As if God himself had placed each scar strategically in the perfect spot to make him look even more desirable than he already was.
“You don’t scare me. I scare me.”
He looked at her confused. “What scares you?”
She wished he wasn’t stroking her wrist with his thumb. It was making it way too hard to concentrate on what she needed to say.
“What happened in the kitchen earlier, that shouldn’t have happened. I should have…”
Any chance she had of speaking was quickly put to an end by Nick pulling her down to him and crushing his mouth against hers. He didn’t wait to coax her as he did earlier. Instead he held her body close to his and slid his tongue inside her mouth, instantly stroking it against hers and making her whole body scream yes in agreement.
Sweet Affliction [Sweet Awakenings 4] (Siren Publishing Classic) Page 10