by Angel Payne
“Amazing,” he finally murmured into their long silence.
“What is?” she queried back.
“I can see the stars in your eyes.”
She let herself give in to a full laugh. “Oh, you’re good. That’s nice. How many times has that one worked for you, Sergeant?”
He dropped his jaw and spread his arms. “I’m not kidding! Hold still. It’s so cool. I want to see it again!”
She giggled and squeezed her eyes shut. He tossed his flashlight to free up his hands in an attempt to grab her shoulders. When she whacked on his in return, he relented and pulled back, also laughing. Lani opened her eyes, only to have her heartbeat seized again. The mirth had made him a different person. All the darkness of his face gave way to dancing eyes, naughty eyebrow wiggles, and a devilish smile that made her long for a serious taste of sin.
It was time to change the subject. Fast.
“So…how long have you been in Franz’s battalion?”
“Since the day I made Special Forces, six years ago. He’d taken a bullet to his leg in Afghanistan and led some team training during his rehab. I was one of the lucky fuckers he got really attached to.” His tone was bone dry, but a thread of fondness was woven into it, too. “There were days when I didn’t know whether to be grateful or pissed about that, but serving under the man has the best experience of my life.”
Lani nodded. Her response was filled with equal affection. “Yes. He’s awesome. I really love him.”
“Oh.” He straightened, seeming genuinely surprised. “Uh, I hadn’t realized…”
Understanding hit her. A new laugh followed. “Oh, gods! Not like that. Ew. He’s like my brother!”
“Oh.” He drew the word out a little. The smile in his voice tugged her gaze back over to his face. The moonlight played over his noble features and thick hair in mesmerizing ways. “Well, okay,” he murmured, seeming bashful beneath her scrutiny. “Umm, that’s good. Brothers are good.”
Lani pulled up her knees then rested her chin on them, keeping up the stare. She knew this was ruthless, considering how she’d been throwing the man off balance since the second they met, but she’d also witnessed him at the height of his game, a slick combination of ninja badass and focused soldier. The fluctuation in his composure was fascinating to witness. “How many do you have?” she finally asked.
“How many what?”
He seemed distracted. And once more, she loved that it seemed to be by…her. “Brothers,” she clarified.
“Only Tait,” he supplied.
“You’re brothers? But your last names—”
“Are different. And our parents. And our upbringings.” He returned her stare with steady conviction. “Doesn’t matter. He’s my brother. We’ve shed enough blood and tears together to make it true in the eyes of any god you throw in the mix.”
She absorbed that statement in silence, choosing to convey her acceptance of it by mirroring his quiet strength. A couple of minutes went by, filled with the velvety crashes of the waves and the soft song of the wind, before she spoke again. “Who’s Luna?” When he didn’t answer right away, she added, “Does she have anything to do with why Franz let you two stay at his place?”
He funneled all his focus on her before replying. “That’s not a typical thing for him, is it? Letting people stay there, let alone a couple of guys from his team?”
“Not typical,” she echoed. “Yeah, you could say that. As in never.”
“Never?”
“It’s not a vacation rental for him, Sergeant. It’s where he grew up, his heritage. Like all of this is for me.”
“So no wonder you thought T and I had rolled in with Benson.” There was a smile in his voice. It grew as he muttered, “Sorry. I didn’t mean to embarrass you.”
How had he seen her new flush? The moon was nearly full tonight, but both their flashlights were off. He’s also the guy in charge of shooting things from hundreds of yards away. He can probably spot a ladybug on the hibiscus from here.
She tried to laugh off her discomfort. “You didn’t exactly come calling in your Mess Dress, bearing apple pie and a meatloaf.”
“Would’ve made it much harder for you to get me naked.”
So much for the laugh. She groaned and ducked her head. “Gods. I am sorry.”
“Don’t be. I make shitty apple pie. My meat loaf, on the other hand, has been called ‘the mighty beast cake of Odin’ by its fans.” All too quickly, he sobered, as well. “Too bad I was busy trying to talk my friend out of turning his bloodstream into the Grey Goose river.”
“And that woman—Luna—has something to do with all of it?”
He didn’t reply before taking a deep breath and releasing it with slow care. “Luna Lawrence was a special agent on an FBI team that worked with us on a mission in Los Angeles last year. She and T-Bomb went full throttle on the bonding-in-the-face-of-danger ride.”
“So they were involved?”
He tick-tocked his head, once right, once left. “That’s the tactful way of putting it.”
“What’s the not-so-tactful way?”
His lips compressed. “Not everyone on the team approved of Luna working on the op. Her…situation…was a little complicated. She’d had some trouble with the law and was ‘on loan’ to us from the Washington state penal system.”
“Wow.”
“Wow is pretty accurate. Wasn’t exactly orthodox, but sometimes you do what it takes and hire who you must to get the job done. As you can guess, there was friction. But Tait’s always had a thing about sticking up for the little guy. In this case, it was the misunderstood little girl.”
Lani let her eyebrows drop as her confusion rose. His baritone kept the needle pinned right down the middle lane of neutrality. “Well, was she?” she asked.
“Was she what?”
“Misunderstood?”
His chin rose as he clearly gave his reply some thought. “Yeah. I think she was. Of course, that only fed into T’s Prince Charming complex. Anything to be the guy who saved the day.”
A memory flashed at her. The moment Bommer had trotted up to her in the garden in his briefs, panting like the happiest puppy on earth. I’ve beat aside the rose bush dragon…my lady. Though he’d been half obliterated, he’d also been pretty cute. Sensing Rush didn’t share her sympathy for Bommer’s gallant streak, at least not now, she kept her thoughts to herself and pushed on.
“You’re referring to her in the past tense.” She let her voice dip to a murmur. “Does that mean what I think it does?”
“Probably.” He raised his head and gazed out over the ocean. “The mission ended with President Nichols having to have his hand sewn back on and an explosion in Hollywood that rocked the Richter scale.”
Her mouth popped open. “Kahaha.”
“Huh?”
“Holy shit.”
“Oh.”
“That was you guys?”
“Franzen didn’t tell you?”
“He doesn’t like to talk work when he’s home.” She let out a huff. “He’s mostly out surfing with Leo and bugging me about why I haven’t found a nice guy to settle down with.”
He grunted, sounding eerily like Franz in the doing, though she couldn’t figure if he issued the expression in approval or discomfort. Confusion hit harder about why she even cared.
“So you know the public details,” he went on. “But the follow-up story is grim.”
Her heart squeezed. Her mind returned to the moment on the living room when Bommer clutched her in tight desperation. No. Not desperation. It had been…grief. “The blast killed Luna?”
“Not right away.” Kellan’s jaw turned the texture of the rocks beneath them. “She was thrown by the shock wave. It fucked her up enough to put her in a coma for six months.”
“Oh my God.”
“She finally woke up, but only long enough to—”
“To what?”
“To say good-bye to Tait.” The words left his lips as if
they’d come straight from his gut. They were full of deep pain for his friend, which led Lani to curl her hand around his shoulder. “Fuck. I never got it…until now.”
“Never got what?”
He pulled in a long breath. “Tait always told me…well, he said that Luna had been his ‘flare.’ You see, we use these sticks—flares—out in the field, if we need to alert exfil planes to where we’re at or we need light really quick. They burn like a ball that fell off the sun, but it’s fast and furious, then it’s over.” The corners of his mouth twinged. “I never faulted the guy for the comparison, though I came up with a hundred ways to call him out as an idiot for it. But T always answered by shaking his head, calling me the fool. He’d say borrowed minutes were some of the best we can have in life, a lesson Luna taught him. He also said that light is often at its most perfect before the darkness comes again, and that those moments are worth risking everything for…worth mourning for.” He shook his head as his face crunched into a beautiful contortion. “At which point, I usually called him a bigger fool. And at which point, we usually got into disgusting fights.”
“I know.” She infused it with the warmth of comprehension. When she’d first seen them on the beach, they’d been after each other like bears. Now, she recognized the brawl for what it was. Rush had been trying to beat some sense into his friend—literally.
“Yeah.” A bleak laugh tumbled from him. “You do, don’t you?” He shook his head. “He’s been an idiot, but I’ve been one, too. I just didn’t get it. I told him he was a fool to have sunk so much of himself into something that never could be, even if Luna had lived. She was on loan to the FBI from the Washington state penal system. Yeah, the ‘history’ I mentioned even landed her a prison term for a few years.
“I thought they’d have something fleeting at best, and that nothing like that was worth throwing himself off a goddamn emotional bridge. But T wouldn’t listen. He said he’d found something real. I was a prick to him about that, too. Told him there was no fucking way he could’ve found ‘something real’ after being with the woman for a total of a few hours, that connection didn’t simply happen that way.” He closed his eyes as if condemning himself for all of that. Clouds slipped across the moon, turning the night’s silver glow into shadows that matched his compunction—and made him even more beautiful. Lani’s throat constricted. As he even spoke the word “connection,” she longed for more of it with him, if only for tonight. She was seconds away from tugging him into a hug when he slid a hand up to cover hers, and raised his dark gaze to capture hers. “Hell. I was really wrong, wasn’t I?”
She surrendered to a tight gulp. His touch tightened on her. His stare enveloped her. His body was so close and powerful and strong…and his presence permeated her spirit in all the same ways. It had been so long since she’d allowed herself anything like this. With anyone like this. Feeling her heart stop…in all the right ways. Letting her control go…in all the best ways.
A flare in the darkness. Magic for just a moment.
It wouldn’t be forever. But that was the most perfect part. In a few days, Kellan would be gone, called to his duty across the world, and she’d be committed to nothing except some amazing memories to make the minutes with her vibrator much more interesting.
Stolen beats. Borrowed time. If only for now…
“Wrong…about what?” The words left her in tentative spurts, but somehow, he managed to hear. Kellan dipped closer. He delved a hand into her hair and spread his fingers across the back of her head. Damn, he felt good. Huge, commanding, a warm refuge in the gathering storm.
“About this,” he told her, mingling his breath with hers. “About exactly this.”
His lips fitted over hers, taking her hunger and turning it to fire. He kissed her deeper, parting her wide so he could invade her mouth with his tongue. And he took again, transforming her high sigh into pure, sensual surrender.
With a groan, Lani readily gave it to him. And prayed he’d take so much more.
Chapter Five
Kellan’s head spun. His senses careened. If the island’s tsunami sirens suddenly blared, he wouldn’t be surprised. Surely the earthquake that started the wave would have its epicenter here, in the strata of this cliff where a single kiss rocked the axis of his being.
He didn’t do shit like this. He didn’t feel shit like this. Miracles were for hipsters who believed in wheat grass for breakfast. Life-changing kisses were for saps who didn’t know better. That made him, here and now, the butt of the universe’s biggest joke. Enthralled with how readily she opened for him. Moved by how beautifully she moaned. And harder than the rocks beneath them as he lay back and pulled her with him, savoring how she curved her thigh around his waist.
When he wrested his lips away from hers, his breathing came in harsh bursts. His fingers trembled. Holy fuck. He hadn’t been a wobbling colt like this since Stacy Weebler pulled out a box of condoms after the ninth grade dance with a shy smile. But Stacy had been a girl. Lani was a woman, aware of what she wanted, alive with what she needed, and telling him both with every magical silver light in her gaze.
She smiled and teethed a piece of her bottom lip. At the same time, she arched her leg to run her toes beneath his shirt and up his spine. The contact sent bolts of heat through his body. He groaned deep, then raked a hand along the gorgeous, generous curve of her thigh. When she hitched out a sigh in response, the sound was a pure beguilement.
As the woman herself would say, dear gods. What the hell was she doing to him? He’d always been the guy rooted in reality. Ruthless with the facts, steadiest with the trigger finger. But as he breathed her in, filling his senses with her ocean and jasmine scent, he barely remembered that man. His skin burned. His muscles clenched. And his cock was well on its way to being a swollen rod of torture. He hadn’t lusted for a woman like this in a very long time.
Which was why his next words, as well as the conviction behind them, surprised him as much as they did her.
“I think we need to stop, sweetheart.”
She swallowed like he’d just killed her puppy. “You just not feeling it, huh?”
A laugh shot out of him. “Are you kidding?” Knowing he tempted fate with the move, he shifted so she was completely beneath him, his crotch lodged against hers. “This is me not feeling it.” Using the excuse of “clarification,” he thrust a little, pushing his length against the sweet warmth of her cleft.
“Oh—mmmm—okay.” Her high-pitched rasp was beyond adorable. “So…why are you stopping?” Suddenly, her muscles tensed. “Crap. You’re seeing someone, aren’t—”
“No.” He stopped her from surging up by grabbing both her thighs. “No. There’s nobody, I swear it. Nobody that’s done this to me.”
Her muscles went lax. The feeling of her acquiescence was…amazing. The woman’s physical strength matched the conviction of her character. To feel her giving that up for him, softening for him, sent a sluice of raw arousal to his cock.
Kell grimaced. Fuck. Years of fighting and training with T-Bomb had caused his friend’s kinky tendencies to start rubbing off on him. Not good. He didn’t get major wood on the domination thing like Tait and a lot of the other guys did. At least not until now. As he envisioned lashing Lani’s naked body down to these rocks then watching the ocean mist drench her spread limbs and pleading mouth, his cock went solid as a Sequoia.
Goddamn. The woman was turning him into someone he barely recognized. He should be horrified. Afraid. The trouble was, he liked that someone.
As if Lani had a window into his mind, she lifted a hand to his jaw and murmured, “I like it, Sergeant. I like feeling what I do to you…and how you look when I do it.”
He glided his hands from her hips to her waist. As he pushed them up under her jacket, a surge of energy, primal and powerful, slammed him. “Kellan,” he growled, stopping short of making it a full command.
“What?”
Screw it. Maybe a little of that domination shit could be
fun. “Kellan,” he repeated. “It’s my name, not ‘Sergeant’.” He leaned over her, matching the angle of his face to hers so he could see every curve and angle of her features. “Say it,” he ordered. “I want to hear it on your lips, your beautiful voice wrapped around it.”
Her lips opened. But for a long moment, nothing came out. She held the expression, mouth parted and eyes longing, giving him her veneration in this exquisite visual form first. Her beauty impacted him just like the storm that approached: bold, magnificent, cleansing.
As he blinked from the blast, she smiled and whispered, “Kellan.”
He gripped her tighter, and returned her smile with the stunned force of his own. “Thank you, Lani.”
“Hokulani.” Her hand, lifted to his face with sweet emphasis, relayed how she offered it as another symbol of her trust in him. He remembered how she’d stiffened when Benson used it, and realized it wasn’t a privilege she allowed from everyone. “It’s my real name. Dad used to tell me it was a sacred gift. Right before Mom went into labor, they were on the beach and watched a star fall over the ocean. They saw it as the gods sending me down to be with them. ‘Hokulani’ means ‘heavenly star.’” She let out an adorably awkward laugh. “Kind of corny, I know, but…”
Kellan didn’t want her to finish. With a rush of inexplicable feelings, he lowered his lips to hers again. He resolved to savor her slowly this time, trying to put important brakes on their passion, but as her mouth responded to him, her tongue tempting him in tender little sweeps, he abandoned the cause. After tasting her for a long, moist tangle, he pulled back for the privilege of uttering the single, meaningful word.
“Hokulani.”
Her grateful hum welcomed him back to her lips, gaining resonance as he demanded deeper entrance. The weight of her second leg settled against his back, coaxing his resistance toward a valley of no return.
“Hokulani.” He repeated it between heavy breaths as he finally dragged away, hoping it would invoke a spell of angel-strength composure. No such luck. “Damn…Hokulani.” It became an invocation of need, drawing him into a heated trance that began and ended with the curves of her body, the desire in her eyes, the wet bliss of her kiss.