Red Hot & Blue 08 - Model Soldier

by Cat Johnson

  “Damn, you’re beautiful.” To Hawk’s surprise that was no bullshit. He meant every word.

  “You’re not so bad yourself,” she whispered while her hands explored his now-bare chest.

  From the top of her blonde head to the tips of her pale-pink polished toes, and everything in between, this woman was a man’s wet dream. Better than Hawk’s latest dream actually, because she was real, in more ways than one. All of her. Every last inch—right down to the patch of pale curls between her legs proving her a natural blonde—was God-given temptation.

  He’d always been a boob man, usually the bigger the better. But after a run of chicks with plastic parts, everything from breast implants to surgically plumped lips, Emily’s natural perfection was a huge turn-on.

  Hawk ran his tongue over one tightly pebbled nipple and watched her shiver. He liked that reaction, a lot, so he took the bite-sized tidbit into his mouth and suckled hard. She groaned and lifted her spine off the bed to press farther into his mouth.

  Damn. If the rest of her was equally as sensitive, they were both in for one hell of a wild ride. He could hardly wait. When Emily spread her legs to give him room to lie between them, he didn’t hesitate. Heart pounding, Hawk nestled his throbbing erection against her folds.

  Hard enough to drive nails with the thing, he nudged a bit and found her slick and ready. “You’re so wet.”

  “I’ve been that way for two days now.” Her voice came out sounding raspy.

  They’d first met two days ago. She was finally admitting she’d wanted him from the very beginning. That knowledge was nearly his undoing.

  Hawk held himself very still as he tried to resist plunging unprotected into her. The way he felt, he didn’t trust himself to not lose it the minute he was inside this woman. The dead-last thing he needed was a little David Hawkins Junior running around back in the States while he was in Afghanistan chasing baddies through the mountains.

  At the speed of light, Hawk grabbed the foil packet from the pocket of his jeans and covered himself.

  He slid deep inside Emily with one sure stroke. Throwing her head back against the pillow, she groaned as he pushed inside. He’d never expected her to react so readily to his each and every touch. He was thrilled. And surprised. He should have known it was the ones you least expected it from who were the hottest in bed.

  As he pulled out then slid back inside, Emily grabbed his hips and raised her own. Her eyes opened and he became caught in her blue gaze. It took him a second to realize he’d stopped all movement as he got lost in the depths of her heavily lidded eyes.

  Shaking himself out of it, he reached down to raise her ass higher off the bed, then set a fast, hard pace. She was gasping in moments, her body clenching at his. He moved faster as her cries grew louder, until he felt her shatter around him. He couldn’t help but watch her face as she came. So beautiful.

  The woman always in control had lost control, and it was his doing. Both his ego and his cock swelled at the thought until a feeling touched his heart. Regret maybe. He wanted more of her than just this night.

  Wanting what you couldn’t have, especially on the eve of leaving for war, was a bad thing.

  While she still gasped for breath and the aftershocks of her climax still gripped him, he pulled out. He flipped a boneless Emily over so she lay face down on the bed and he couldn’t see that face that would surely haunt his dreams for the next year.

  While her cries were muffled by the pillow, he plunged inside her. Hard and fast, over and over, he tried to lose himself in the act, rather than the woman. As her body met his thrust for thrust, he pounded himself to completion.

  Hawk collapsed over Emily’s heaving back. His head landed on the pillow next to hers and she angled her face toward his. The sounds of her breath filled his ear, the softness of her hair pillowed his cheek, her scent engulfed him and he knew he’d never forget any of it.

  The man slept like the dead.

  No sooner had he shuddered inside her, left to flush the condom and then slipped back between the covers he was out like a light. Not a word. Just silence, then unconsciousness. She’d felt him literally fall into sleep as the rock-like muscle-bound arm he’d thrown over her had gotten heavier and heavier, pinning her in place at his side.

  Not that she blamed him for being physically worn out. He had expended quite a bit of energy. It wasn’t like he’d left her unsatisfied and wanting or anything. No, she’d done quite a bit of shuddering herself. But still, how could he fall asleep so fast and so soundly?

  His even breathing told her he certainly wasn’t spending any time on second thoughts about what had happened between them. Emily glanced at the clock. She’d been second guessing herself and what had happened for an hour and a half now.

  On top of not being able to sleep, she had to pee. Back in New York, counting the days until she met her supposed Prince Charming, Emily had imagined a similar scenario. Snuggling in bed after making love, bodies intertwined, falling asleep in his arms feeling warm, safe and loved. Nowhere in her visions had it been a one-night stand, and in her dreams she hadn’t had to desperately relieve herself.

  Waiting any longer was not an option. It would just be too bad if she woke Sleeping Beauty. Emily wiggled her way free of the vise that was Hawk’s arm and slipped from the bed.

  When she returned from the bathroom, she found he hadn’t moved a muscle. Some war-hardened, trained fighter he was. She could probably set off a bomb under the bed and he wouldn’t wake up.

  “Sure hope the Taliban doesn’t sneak up on you at night or you’re a goner,” she whispered and crawled back under the warm covers with a shiver.

  “I heard that.”

  She could hear the smile in his voice.

  “Well, it’s true. You sleep like a rock.”

  “Yes. When I know it’s safe to do so. Otherwise the slightest sound—a boot crunching, a breath taken too deeply—will wake me up. Believe me.”

  Hawk readjusted his position to accommodate her reentry to the bed. With her back against his front, he flung his arm over her waist.

  “Oh.”

  What else could she say about that? She knew nothing about what this man went through on a daily basis and she probably never would. Another reason her decision to jump him, literally, and hop right into bed was probably ill advised. Mistake or not, as long as she’d done it once, she might as well do it again. If he was up for it.

  Emily wiggled back against him. “Speaking of sleeping, what was all that talk in the bar about how there’d be no sleeping tonight? Hmm?”

  “I have an excuse. You wore me out. I didn’t know Goldilocks would turn into the Big Bad Wolf in bed.” Two big arms gathered her up and pulled her closer to his chest. As he started to kiss up and down her neck and shoulder she felt him grow hard against her naked butt.

  “You’re mixing your fairytales.” Emily sighed as the physical sensations sweeping through her from his touch battled with her emotions.

  She’d been more forward with Hawk than she’d ever been with any other man in her past, as few of them as there’d been. What he must think of her after that. She hated to even think about it.

  “What’s bothering you, doll? I can feel you frowning from here.”

  “I’m wondering how stupid sleeping with you was. I don’t usually do this, you know.” It wasn’t exactly easy to think with his naked body pressed against her, making her warm inside and out, but she managed to answer the question.

  “Do what? Have incredible sex with irresistible soldiers you’ve only known for two days?”

  “Yes. The two-day part, at least. The irresistible part is pushing it, don’t you think?” Sparring with Hawk brought Emily back into her comfort zone.

  He chuckled against her back. “You still don’t like the idea that you wanted me from the minute you walked into that office, do you?”

  Actually, it was from the minute his eyes had stared back at her from the computer printout back in New York, bu
t she wasn’t telling him that. And because of that instant attraction, she should have run from the Ratskeller the moment she realized Hawk was inside.

  She’d fallen half in love with Hawk before ever meeting him, imagining a fairytale happy ever after with her Army prince. Even the reality of two days of fighting with him over every detail of this campaign hadn’t squelched that attraction. So what had she gone and done? She jumped into bed with him, willing to settle for one night over nothing at all.

  Stupid, stupid, stupid.

  “You’re doing it again.” His voice was low and deep.

  “Doing what?”

  “Thinking.”

  He was right. She was thinking, because having sex with Hawk brought up a good dozen or so questions. Would she ever hear from him again? If she did have to contact him again for work, how weird would it be? What if he got injured or killed? Worse, what if he was just fine but she still never heard from him again?

  “I can’t help it.” Emily sighed.

  “Well, I can.” He skimmed his hand from her waist to her hip, and then down to her thigh. There, he paused and made small circles against her skin.

  “You can what? Not think? Yeah, I figured that.”

  “No, my witty little thinker. I meant I can stop you from thinking.”

  His large, rough hand pulled her leg up and over his hip. With her spread wide, he found her clit and began stroking. Her eyes closed involuntarily as he worked her increasingly sensitive spot. The tension began to build and she breathlessly shuddered out a moan.

  “Still thinking?” He nipped at her neck after delivering that question against her ear.

  “Shut up, Hawk.” With her body coiling, tensing for release, her rapid breathing should have given him his answer.

  Hawk chuckled just as the hip-bucking orgasm broke over her.

  She was still quivering when he covered himself and slid inside her. Then Hawk wasn’t laughing any longer. There was no joking, no more talking at all, as he set a fast pace. After a few incredibly wonderful minutes of him thrusting into her, his grip tightened on her hips. With a deep groan that reverberated straight through her body, he came. She felt him throb inside her.

  He laid his head against hers, breathing heavily behind her. “Damn. I could happily do that again right now, but we both need a shower first. I’ve got some tasty plans for more fun and I want us both extra clean for it.”

  Emily groaned in protest, not at the idea of more sex, but that it meant getting out of the warm bed again. Germans needed to turn up the thermostats in their hotels. Keeping a room this cold was barbaric. “Now? It’s cold out there.”

  “Yes, now. And don’t you worry about being cold. I’ll warm you up. Believe me.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her up and out of the blessed warmth of the sheets.

  Emily glanced down and took in his spectacularly naked, beautifully muscular form. The thick thighs, small waist and indescribably large forearms. She imagined him bracing her against the wall of the shower stall as he plunged inside her. Oh boy.

  Just the mere thought of sex with Hawk again had her heart racing, and they’d just finished. It couldn’t be good to want a man this much, especially when she’d probably never see him again.

  “Are you sure you don’t want to go back to sleep? You seemed pretty tired before.” Nerves had Emily resorting to teasing him.

  Well on the way to being hard again, Hawk took a step closer until their bodies touched. “I think we’re done sleeping for the night. What about you?”

  Not having even closed her eyes yet, forget about getting any sleep, Emily still nodded in agreement.

  She had only one night with this man. She would make the most of it and deal with the consequences later.

  Chapter Eleven

  Afghanistan—the most heavily mined place in the world—and for better or worse, Hawk’s home for the next year. He got his first glimpse of the desolate region in the dim light of dusk.

  The plane carrying him, his squad and their loaded pallet of gear landed without incident at the old Kandahar International Airport, now being used as the base airfield. Having secured a seat in the front row of the C14 aircraft, Hawk’s boots hit the ground ahead of his men as he took his first step onto Afghan soil. The blast of frigid air in his face served as the local welcoming committee.

  Kandahar was only the initial stop on their tour of Afghanistan. Next up, Bagram Air Base, then a quick hop on a helicopter to their final destination, the mountainous outskirts of Kabul, where the insurgents waited for them. He had no doubt the baddies would be very sorry to see them arrive.

  Hawk and his men had gotten their official Afghan primer back at Hohenfels, but during their quick welcome tour of the base at Kandahar, he realized that actually being here, seeing the sights, listening to the stories and first-hand experiences of the Army guys who’d already been here, was quite an eye opener.

  The base at Kandahar was riddled with crashed Russian helicopters from the war in the eighties. Even the rafters for the roof of one of the buildings was made from old Russian helicopter blades. The base was at a high altitude and there were mountains off in the distance everywhere he looked.

  Hawk discovered there were some very cool things about Kandahar—an opinion he was beginning to reevaluate as he sat in the dining hall during chow and got an earful from one of the guys stationed here.

  “When they talk about landmines, they ain’t shitting you. There are old landmines everywhere outside the fence.” The soldier from the 10th Mountain Division dropped that information before casually scooping up some potatoes.

  Landmines. That was enough to make Hawk lose his appetite for the boiled carrots, mashed potatoes and ketchup-covered meatloaf littering his plate. But since he had no intention of venturing outside the fence during his brief stopover, it shouldn’t be an issue—for here and for today at least. Who knew what surprises the region he was heading to held?

  “So there are a bunch of Canadian troops here, huh?” Wally talked right through a mouthful of macerated meat.

  Across the table, their welcoming party of one nodded. “Yup. But there are a lot of US Army units too. The main ground force is from the 10th Mountain like me. The Army aviation units attached to us are from all over. There’s a lot of reserve units on base as well.”

  “I was told to expect a lot of snow where we’re heading.” Unlike Wally, Pettit asked his question before he shoved another forkful of food into his mouth.

  The soldier let out a snort. “Snow? Yeah, there’s snow, and cold, but that’s nothing compared to what it’s like here in the summer.”

  Wally took one glance at the expression of concern on Pettit’s face and laughed. “I’m from Alabama. I can handle the heat.”

  The soldier shook his head. “The heat’s not the issue. Don’t get me wrong, it’s hot, but the humidity’s not like in the south. It’s more of a dry heat. The problem’s the sand. It’s baby-powder fine and boy, does it blow. There are sandstorms all the time in summer. Damn stuff gets into everything. Feels like I’m always cleaning it out of my damn weapon.”

  Four-foot snowstorms that hit overnight in winter and sandstorms every day in summer. Lovely. Hawk never thought he’d find a place that made Iraq look appealing, but he may have done just that. Thank you, Uncle Sam for the all-expenses-paid year-long vacation in Hell.

  “Don’t worry too much about the weather though. It’s the locals you really need to watch out for. We pay off the warlords to allow our convoys to drive back and forth to our forward operating base.”

  As the soldier kept talking, what he said had Hawk laying down his fork and knife so he could give the unbelievable tale his full attention.

  Wally’s eyes opened wide. “I’ve heard rumors about the locals doing some sick shit, like hiding IEDs in corpses so when the soldiers go to investigate the body they get blown to kingdom come.”

  “That’s no rumor. It’s fact. These guys are crazy bastards. A few years back a local
warlord who was on our side, probably because we paid him enough to be, skinned a local alive for attacking American soldiers and hung his body on a post for everyone to see as an example.”

  Hawk shook his head in horrified disbelief. “Shit.”

  “Jesus.” Pettit hissed under his breath.

  “I know. It’s the stuff of movies, but it’s real. Hey, you can see the house and compound belonging to one of the warlords from the fences at the airfield. Ask someone to point it out to you when you leave.”

  All just part of the Kandahar sightseeing tour Hawk supposed. He let out a sigh as he wondered exactly what the chances were he and all his guys would get out of Afghanistan alive. A year from now, how many would be coming back through Kandahar on the journey home with all their parts in working order?

  He’d thought more than a few times about what he’d like to do with sweet little Emily when he finally got home next year, and then he’d thought better of it. Now, hearing the horror stories, he was even more certain. His decision to avoid anything more was the correct choice.

  Hawk didn’t need the image of Emily crying for him back home distracting him downrange. She was probably pissed as hell at him. He’d only emailed her that once, and even then he’d kept it short. But that was for the best.

  In the end, she would thank him...if he was around to be thanked. Having a relationship while deployed was too hard for both parties involved. Hawk needed one hundred and ten percent of his attention on the job. Not on her.

  If she was still available, and if he was still alive, he’d deal with her anger when he got back Stateside. The vision of tempering an angry Emily put a smile on his face. Hawk tucked that little scenario away to enjoy later when he was in the semi-privacy of their temporary lodging for the night. But right now, he needed to arm himself with as much info as he could to make sure he got both himself and his men home.

  Hawk turned his attention back to the soldier across from him. “What else have you heard about what’s waiting for us in those mountains in the Kabul Province? Whatever you can tell me, I wanna hear. All of it.”