MILITARY ROMANCE: The War Within Himself (Alpha Bad Boy Marine Army Seal) (Contemporary Military Suspense & Thriller Romance)

by Claire Branson

  “And he was intoxicated?” the other cop asked.

  “Very intoxicated,” Ahanti said. “I shut the door on him. Drunks like that scare me. You never know what they’re going to do.”

  The first cop nodded and wrote something on his notepad. “So you saw him in the hallway, spoke with him briefly and shut the door. Is that it?”

  Ahanti nodded.

  “Is there anyone else in the apartment?”

  “Just my boyfriend,” Ahanti said. Right at that moment, as if on cue, Anders emerged from her bedroom, wrapped in a blanket.

  “Babe, what’s going on?” he said, sleepily. His eyes widened when he saw the police. “Is something wrong? Has there been an accident?”

  Ahanti shook her head, but the younger cop spoke before he had a chance. “We’re investigating an incident in the building.”

  “That drunk guy, baby.”

  Anders rolled his eyes. “He had a cut on his forehead when I saw him,” he said to the cops. “I offered to call an ambulance for him, but he told me no way.” He shrugged. “So I went back to bed.” Anders reached out and took Ahanti by the hand. “We heard him stomping around out here for a while, but then I thought he left.”

  “Well, he tried. It looks like he misjudged the stairs. And wound up going for a ride in the ambulance anyway,” the older cop said. His gaze fell to Ahanti and Anders’ intertwined fingers, and the blanket only loosely wrapped around Anders’ stocky form. “Thanks for your time. You folks have a nice evening.”

  “Thank you, officer.” Anders squeezed Ahanti’s fingers. “We appreciate you keeping an eye on us.”

  The cops gave them a nod and moved down the hallway, where they knocked on Ahanti’s neighbor’s door. Anders shut the door without letting go of Ahanti’s fingers. “Now, where were we?”

  “Wait, wait, wait a minute,” Ahanti said. She took a step back and looked at Anders. “What was all that?”

  “What was what?” Anders asked.

  “Mr. Smooth had a perfect story for the police. Didn’t get rattled at all.” Ahanti cocked her head. “Is this some sort of white boy magic?”

  Anders laughed. “Beekeeper magic, if anything. I hate getting stung.” He tugged on Ahanti’s hand. “Let’s go back to bed.”

  “We weren’t even in bed to begin with.”

  Anders stepped close and kissed her again. This time, he was bolder, cupping one of her massive breasts in his hand and squeezing gently. It was a gesture that sent waves of desire coursing through Ahanti’s body; she could feel her pussy begin to throb. “So let’s start by fixing that.”

  “Yeah?” Ahanti kissed Anders back. “That’s what we’re going to do?”

  He let the blanket fall to the floor. Underneath, Anders was naked. Ahanti’s eyes widened at the sight of his long, thick pink cock. It was already swollen with need. She reached out and let her fingertips trace over its length, going slowly from the nest of blond curls at the base to the flared tip.

  “Let me get this right,” she sputtered. “All the time you’re talking with the cops, you were bare-ass naked under this blanket?”

  “I wanted our story to be believable.” Anders said. He kissed her again and said, “Did you do anything with that honey I gave you yet?”

  Ahanti shook her head. “Never got the chance.”

  “Go get it,” he said. “I’ll be in the bedroom.”

  Ahanti retrieved the small jar of honey. Her mind was racing, and she was consumed by a pair of warring emotions: curiosity and arousal. What did Anders want to do with the honey? She smiled to herself. She wouldn’t mind licking the sweet stuff off his cock.

  It was the fastest trip into her bedroom she’d ever made.

  Anders was sitting on the edge of her bed, facing her. “Come here, beautiful,” he said, with his arms wide. “Let’s get you out of this robe.”

  The pink and white terrycloth garment slid to the ground in an instant. Ahanti struck a pose, standing tall to give Anders the best view of all of her curves. “Do you like what you see?”

  “I do,” Anders said. He let his fingertips trace gently over her rolling curves, slowly stroking Ahanti’s chest, then her belly, and then the soft cushion of her thighs. “You’re a very beautiful woman.”

  Ahanti was trembling. Waves of need were coursing through her body, and this showed by the way her breasts were shaking gently, almost in time with her steadily speeding heartbeat. “And you’re a very handsome man,” she replied, bending down for another kiss. She pressed the jar of honey into his hand. “What are you planning to do with this sweet stuff.”

  Anders smiled. “Exactly what I was thinking about when we were in your shop this morning.” He popped the top off of the jar and dipped his finger in. It emerged coated with the golden sticky stuff. Anders let the first drop fall off of his finger onto the soft top curve of Ahanti’s breast, and then slowly began to trace a sweet spiral around it. It took a few delicious, electrifying, pussy tingling moments for him to complete the journey to Ahanti’s nipple.

  “Oh, god,” she moaned. “This feels so good.”

  “If you like that, you’re going to love this,” Anders said. He bent his head toward Ahanti’s breast and started licking off the honey he’d just applied.

  She groaned and slid her fingers into Ander’s blond hair. “Oh, god.” It took all of her willpower to resist the temptation to crush his head into her bosom. “Don’t you stop.”

  “I’m not planning to,” Anders murmured. He slid one hand between her thighs, and began slowly rubbing at her most tender bits. “Are you wet yet, pretty? Can you take me?”

  “Keep doing that, and I will be,” Ahanti groaned. Anders finally completed his trip down the honey trail, sending his tongue flickering over her fully erect nipple. “Oh, hell yes.” She put one hand on Anders’ shoulders and maneuvered him a little further back on her soft bed. “Let me get on top of you.”

  “With pleasure,” he said, leaning back a little. His cock was standing straight up and down. Ahanti sank onto it slowly, smiling as she felt herself being stretched by his length and breadth.

  “Oh,wow,” she said, gazing into his eyes. “Why didn’t we do this sooner?”

  “Beats me,” Anders said, before returning his attention to her nipples. He sucked and bit a little bit at them, creating little explosions of pleasure that pushed Ahanti closer to orgasm with every passing second. “You’re amazing.”

  His hands were on Ahanti’s waist, and he spent a moment squeezing the flesh there before letting them slide back to her ass. “My God,” he groaned. “You’ve got a magnificent ass.”

  “Spank it,” Ahanti hissed in his ear. She was squeezing her pussy muscles around Ander’s cock; it wouldn’t be long, she knew, before she completely blissed out on her cowboy.

  “Yeah?” he asked.

  “Yeah,” she said. “Spank that ass.”

  His hand was harder than Ahanti expected, but it fell with exactly the right amount of force, in just the right spot. Ahanti yelped with pleasure, and ground her pussy all the way down on Anders’ cock.

  “Oh, Jesus, baby,” Anders said. “If you keep doing that, I’m not going to be able to last long.” Immediately after saying that, he swatted Ahanti’s ass again.

  “White boys don’t get cause and effect, do they?” Ahanti laughed, trying to control her movements for just a moment, and failing utterly.

  “Nope,” Anders said. He swatted her other cheek, a little sharper and harder. “We don’t get that at all.”

  Ahanti pushed Anders flat on his back. “You’re going to make me ride you for real.”

  “That’s the plan.”

  Words failed them then, to be replaced only by the sounds of sweaty flesh slapping together, punctuated by the occasional spank and increasingly frequent moans.

  “I’m gonna go,” Ahanti panted. “Go all over you.”

  Anders smiled. “Give it to me, pretty.”

  Ahanti closed her eyes, bit her lip,
and came harder than she’d come in a long time. If Anders hadn’t of had a tight grip on her hips, she would have fallen right off of the bed. As it was, they wound up on their sides, tangled together as Anders kept pushing into her throbbing pussy.

  “You want this?” he asked. “You want this now?”

  “Yeah, I want your honey.” Ahanti thrust her hips backward, almost lifting Anders up off of the bed. “I want your honey now.”

  Anders groaned. His whole body went rigid, and then he collapsed, sweaty and breathing hard, against Ahanti’s back. He wrapped his arms around her, and kissed her cocoa colored shoulder. “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” he murmured.

  “Thank you,” she said, turning so she could kiss Anders on the lips. They were a hot sticky mess. Untangling was awkward, and Ahanti laughed. “This all got going when I was thinking about you in my shower,” she said, “and now it looks like we’re headed back there.”

  “That could be fun,” Anders said.

  “It could be, but it won’t,” Ahanti said, with a glance at the clock. “Three a.m. comes awfully early.”

  “My God,” Anders said. “I finally found a girl whose workday starts earlier than mine!”

  “So you’re really going to make those cupcakes?” Anders asked. It was very early Wednesday morning. It wasn’t fair to say he’d spent every waking moment with Ahanti over the course of the previous day and a half, but it wouldn’t be fair to say he hadn’t, either. When he wasn’t tending to his bees or working on honey blends, Anders was very much enjoying spending time with Ahanti. There was no question that there was an immediate physical attraction between the two of them, but the pair had more in common than that. Each conversation revealed another bond between them: a mutual love of fine food, a passion for entrepreneurism, a hatred of potted plants…it was uncanny how much they had in common.

  “I am,” Ahanti said. “He did order them, and I don’t want to have a situation where he comes in to pick them up and they’re not ready.” She was carefully putting expert swirls of white buttercream frosting on top of each cupcake. To her left sat a dish filled with balloon shaped sprinkles, in yellow, red and blue. “I’ve got these Happy Birthday picks I can put in at the last minute. And if he doesn’t show up?” She looked at her work critically. “These look good enough to eat.”

  “They’re not the only ones,” Anders said. He stepped in close enough to steal a kiss.

  “You’ve got to stop,” Ahanti said, swatting him away. “I’ve got work to do. Don’t your bees need a workout or something?”

  “Bees are smart,” Anders replied. “They don’t even try to start their day until the sun is up.”

  “I should have been a bee,” Ahanti replied.

  “No, I like you exactly the way you are,” Anders said. He headed for the kitchen door. “I’ll tell you what. I’ll go take care of some chores, but I want to be here when the birthday boy shows up for those cupcakes. Just in case he has an attitude.”

  “You’re sweet,” Ahanti said. “But you know I can take care of myself.”

  “Of course,” Anders said. “I just want to be here to watch the show.” He stopped in the doorway. “Seriously, you’ll call me if you need me?”

  “I did before, didn’t I?”

  Anders smiled. “And I’m so glad you did.”

  When Sweet Nothings opened its doors in the morning, Ahanti saw her usual morning regulars. There were no motorcycles in the parking lot, just local ranchers and business owners who kept her busy serving up coffee and dishing out pastries.

  After that first rush, there was a brief break in the action. That’s when Anders called. “Everything all right?” he asked.

  “Stop worrying,” Ahanti said. Through the window she could see Ella and Sofita walking toward the shop. The lime tarts had done their trick. Sofita had given up her reclusive ways; staying home meant her best friend was hearing all the juiciest gossip first and she couldn’t have that. “It’s going to be fine.”

  “All right,” Anders said. “I’ll see you later.”

  Sofita wanted to know everything there was to know about Anders. She was particularly intrigued by the idea he kept bees for a living. “I just don’t understand how this works,” she said. “You can’t tame bees. You can’t talk to them. They’re bugs.” She snapped her fingers. “That means no brains. And how do you get a thing with no brains to listen to you?”

  “I don’t know, Sofie,” Ella said, teasing her friend. “Maybe he uses the same tricks you use to keep Freddie in line.” Freddie was Sofita’s very patient husband, a man renowned in the community for his good nature.

  “I’ll have you know Freddie is very smart,” Sofita said. “He’s practically a genius. After all, he married me.”

  “And we’re to take this as proof of genius?” Ella said, laughing.

  “Am I going to have to separate you two?” Ahanti asked. “This is a nice place. I don’ t need any trouble.”

  As if on cue, a motorcycle rumbled to a stop in the parking lot outside. Sofita and Ella looked at each other. “I don’t think we’re the trouble you have to worry about.”

  Lav was moving slowly. His right arm was in a splint, and the side of his face was all bruised up. He looked around the shop carefully to see who was there before approaching the counter where Ahanti stood.

  “Good morning, Lav,” she said.

  “Well, it’s morning,” he said. He looked at Sofita and Ella. “Oh, my. Look at the time. I really must be going.”

  The older ladies stared back at him, confused.

  He waved his left hand impatiently. “That’s what the two of you are supposed to be saying right now. “Oh, my. Look at the time. I really must be going.”

  Sofita took a long sip of her coffee. “I’m not going anywhere. I still have over half a cup of coffee, and I’m not getting to Dr. Mitchell’s office any earlier than I have to. He has a fish tank in the waiting room and the noise of that bubbler thing? It drives me crazy.”

  Lav moved, and Ahanti thought she spied the grip of a handgun tucked into his waistband. “So, you’re here for your cupcakes,” she said brightly. “I’ve got them for you right here.” She walked into the kitchen and quickly texted Anders, before returning with a big white box in your hand. “Now, we’ve got two different kinds of birthday picks. And I figured you would want to personally pick which ones went on the cupcakes.” Her eyes went up to meet Lav’s. His gaze was shiny but steady. “Because you are trying to be a good Dad, and that’s what good Dads do.”

  The sentence seemed to throw Lav off balance. Ella noticed and gently gripped Sofita by the forearm.

  Ahanti put the birthday picks out on the counter. “These ones are blue, and say Happy Birthday in Gold,” she said, “and these ones have just the birthday candle.”

  “Which one,” Lav asked, “do kids like best?”

  “How old is your kid?” Sofita asked.

  Lav’s eyes went wide. “I am not having that conversation again.” He looked angry.

  “I mean, can he read or not?” Sofita said, blithely ignoring the discomfort of everyone else in the room. “If your baby is little, the candles are better. But if they’re in school, they like the words that say Happy Birthday.”

  Lav visibly relaxed. “All right. We’ll do the Happy Birthday ones.”

  Through the window, Ahanti could see Anders pulling into a parking spot. Lav followed her gaze. “Bee boy’s here again?”

  “I’ve got to tell you, Lav. I’ve got to tell you the truth,” Ahanti said. “Everything that happened the other night? It’s got me a little nervous about you.”

  Lav nodded. “I’m not feeling so great about it either.” He raised his arm as much as the sling would allow. “Especially this.”

  “But I want to help you make sure your kid has a good birthday.” She opened the box so Lav could see the beautiful cupcakes. “You’ve got 18 vanilla and 18 chocolate. Let me put these picks on, and you’re going to be good to go.�
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  “You remembered no peanuts, right?” Lav said. “I can’t have no peanuts going to the school.”

  Ahanti nodded. “I remembered. These are 100% peanut free.”

  Lav smiled. “Do you remember when you said you’d talk to me about going out when I was sober?”

  “You remember that?” Ahanti said, eyes wide. “I’m impressed.”

  “That was the most important thing that either of us said,” Lav said. He glanced toward the window and smiled sadly. “But with Bee Boy around, we’re not going to have that conversation, are we?”

  Ahanti shook her head. “No,” she said softly. “We’re not.”

  “After he buzzes off?” Lav said, with a little grin.

  “I’m hoping that doesn’t happen,” Ahanti said. “And don’t you be trying to chase him off. That’s not going to make me want you.”

  Lav sighed. “It’s a shame. You make some amazing food here.” For a split second, his playful leer emerged, and he let his eyes flash over Ahanti’s curvy form. “It would have been a good time.”

  Ahanti closed the cupcake box and taped it shut. “I hope the cupcakes are going to be a hit.”

  “I’m sure they will be.” Lav threw some money on the counter, and awkwardly picked up the cupcake box with his left arm. “I’ll be back when it’s the next one’s birthday.”

  He went to the door. Anders was there, holding it open for him. “Do you need a hand, man?” he asked.

  Lav shook his head. “You’re really something, aren’t you?” He grinned. “You can help me strap these to the back of the bike.”

  Ahanti watched through the window as her boyfriend helped his rival secure the box of cupcakes to the chrome rack on the back of his motorcycle. It only took a few minutes, and then Lav was zooming away.

  “That’s a good man you’ve got there,” Sofita said. “He’s no Freddie in the looks department, don’t get me wrong, but he seems like a really nice guy.”

  “He’ll do,” Ahanti said.

  “I’ll do what?” Anders said, as he walked into the shop.

  “Lav was right about you,” Ahanti said, pulling her cowboy close for a kiss. She tipped her head to avoid bumping her head into his khaki Steson. “You really are something.”