by Dawn Ryder
“I’m waiting for the confident woman who told me exactly what she wanted last night to invite me in.”
She turned away, wrestling with the weakness. Trying to shove it back down, beneath the foundation of her confident, modern-life persona. The supportive daughter and sister who was proud of her family members in the service, up to the challenge of holding down the fort while they were away. Mercer reached out and cupped her shoulder, turning her back to face him and punching right through her good intentions.
“Every relationship begins with raw magnetism. Anyone who says otherwise is just trying to slip into your bed while you’re busy believing in fairy tales. Call me what you will, Zoe, but I’m more honest than you’re being. We made each other hot, that’s what happened, and I’m standing here because I think we have something worth taking to the next level.”
So tempting …
Her resolve was starting to crumble. “Good point.”
He considered her for a long moment. “But you don’t know just what you think about me being right.”
She ended up snorting. “Didn’t your mother teach you not to trust girls who don’t behave?”
He lifted a shoulder and shrugged. “Want me to be a good boy?”
Absolutely not …
The thought was instantaneous and it made her arguments invalid.
“Please come in.” She tossed out the invitation in a tone rich with the frustration that had eaten at her since she’d woken up alone. “Don’t think this means I’m allowing you into my bed again.”
Good luck with that one …
Mercer followed her into the kitchen. “It’s not very sporting of you to be pissy when you were just as hot as I was last night.”
Zoe filled a glass with water and took a long drink from it before answering. “You’re the one who encouraged me to be a bitch.”
She regretted the barbed comment almost instantly. Mercer didn’t take offense. Instead his features became a mask of sensual enjoyment.
“I don’t regret it,” he said firmly with hunger glittering in his eyes. “That’s a woman I’m interested in getting to know better.”
Heat snaked through her belly and her gaze dropped to his package. The moment she realized she was staring at the bulge his cock made behind his fly, she jerked her attention back to his face. But it was much too late.
He was smirking with victory. “Now who’s at fault for turning the conversation back to sex?” He reached out and stroked the surface of her cheek. “Not that I’m complaining. I think I could become used to you deciding what we’re doing on our dates.”
“Christ!” She slammed the glass down on the counter, not sure if she was madder at herself or him. “This isn’t the way healthy relationships form.”
One of his eyebrows rose, warning her he was preparing to shoot a massive hole through her argument. “According to statistics, lack of satisfying sex is the number one reason couples cheat.”
His voice was edged with razor-sharp confidence once more. It was as if the heat transferred between them and magnified. Zoe stepped back when her mouth went dry and she witnessed the recognition of his victory in his eyes.
She ended up laughing.
And it felt good. Like he was best-friend material as well as smoking hot. His lips curled up and they stood there, locked in a moment of shared amusement. It was uncharted territory, both of them freezing when they realized how much in common they had.
“I need a shower,” she announced.
“But you want something else.”
Zoe stopped on her way out of the kitchen, heat licking at her as she felt Mercer watching her. She felt grimy and unkempt but that didn’t stop her from noticing that he was watching the sway of her hips as she moved. It was an unrealistic way of thinking, a self-absorbed way of looking at the situation, but she looked over her shoulder to find Mercer staring at her, his eyes glittering with hunger.
“I want dinner, too.”
She was lying, flat-out. But it felt good to see surprise register on his face before she rounded the corner and went up the stairs to clean up.
* * *
Duty and temptation were complete opposites.
But Mercer found himself trying to combine them.
It wasn’t working. Duty was slipping out of his grasp, leaving him noticing just how enticing Zoe was. Her skin was creamy and looked good with sweat on it. A woman had to be damn sexy to look good fresh from a run.
Zoe had.
His cock was rock-hard and making him focus on getting another taste of the supreme satisfaction he’d sampled in her bed last night. It had just been a sample. They’d both been too hot to linger over the finer details of toying with each other.
But he recalled exactly what her skin felt like pressed against his.
He chuckled, trying to stay in the kitchen as he heard the shower turn on. She was nude and one set of stairs away. His leg muscles twitched with the urge to close the distance between them so he could get another chance to taste her cream.
He was a beast.
Maybe jerk was a better word, but he wanted back into her bed with a need that was beginning to worry him. It was too intense, too sharp to be healthy. Obsessing over a woman had never been his way, and when it came to one who was a team target, he should not change.
Shit.
He wanted to. The desire was just there, fueled by the way Zoe laughed with him, her eyes full of merriment.
He pulled his cell phone open. Saxon answered on the first buzz.
“She has another cell phone.”
“Shit.”
Harley squawked from the front room, drawing Mercer to the doorway of the kitchen. A practice stage was set up next to the cage the parrot lived in. The colorful logo of Zoe’s parrot party caught his attention.
“Shit.”
“Yeah, I just said that,” Saxon remarked.
“She said Harley was a one-man bird.”
“Who’s Harley?” his CO demanded.
“The parrot and there’s a different cell number on the company logo. Find out who owns the bird company and we might have our link.”
“So why do you sound pissed?” Saxon inquired. “She’s a target, you knew the details going in.”
“Never mind how I sound. I’m doing the job, that’s all that matters.”
Mercer snapped the phone shut while Harley eyed him. He moved closer to the stage, inspecting it with a critical eye.
He was being damn defensive with his CO.
Insubordinate even.
He needed to focus before he let someone get the jump on him because his head was spinning.
The shower shut off and he cussed. Why did she have to be the one woman in the state of California who didn’t take long showers? He needed to find the phone but it would have to wait.
* * *
Coward.
Zoe fluffed her bangs but couldn’t escape the fact that she was looking for excuses to avoid returning to face Mercer. Her insides felt like a bowl of Jell-O, souring her mood.
Why was she letting the guy make her jumpy?
Her attention landed on the bed and she swallowed roughly. Okay, the guy was a pistol and that was what was making her hesitate. There was no getting a grip on her feelings when he touched her. He reduced her to pure response.
Some women dream of connecting with a guy so strongly …
Yeah, and she was one of them, but that didn’t make it any easier to trust in something so sudden. She dropped her hairbrush, determination settling her insides. There was no way she was going to waste her opportunity on jitters.
She went down the stairs and turned the corner to find Mercer leaning against the counter and watching the doorway.
“I guess my apron was a little too girlie for you.”
He grinned, and the expression made him too attractive by far. “I don’t cook.”
“Every Special Forces course includes basic cooking.”
He laughed. “Only
if you like flame-blackened squirrel.”
His lips curved to offer her an expression that wasn’t so serious, but it didn’t dispel the suspicion brewing inside her.
“You’re not being on the level with me.” It wasn’t the wisest thing for her to say while the guy was in her house. Her father’s voice instantly rose inside her head, reprimanding her for being so stupid. She should have made an excuse to get him out of her house before calling his bluff.
“We haven’t had any time to level with each other, Zoe.” His eyes narrowed and lowered to where her nipples showed through the fabric of her top. “We keep getting distracted.”
He pushed away from her counter, and her belly tightened. It was frustrating the way she responded so quickly. “That doesn’t explain why you looked like you were mad that I noticed.”
He didn’t stop until he was leaning over her, his hands planted on either side of her. Desire slowly heated inside her, moving along her skin and chasing the chill from her shower away.
“You’re right.”
He leaned in and placed a kiss against the side of her neck, the two words his only concession.
“Right about what?” she demanded, attempting to push him away before he added any more kisses.
“Both points. I just got home and the last thing I want to talk about is where I’ve been stationed. So I’d rather you didn’t notice.” He lifted his head and locked stares with her. “Your brother ever show up looking like he forgot what life was for?”
“Yeah…”
He framed her face. “Good. You understand more about me than you realize.”
Whether or not she agreed slipped right out of her head. His lips pressed down on top of hers, driving the topic of conversation too far away to be recalled. Pleasure awoke in a hundred different points along her body. Need nipped at her, sending her seeking what she’d craved from the moment she’d opened her eyes alone.
Zoe reached for him, slipping her hands beneath the hem of his T-shirt.
“That’s it, baby.”
She didn’t much care what he said; it was his husky tone that sent anticipation zipping along her nerve endings. There was dark promise edging his words, and her memory offered up solid evidence to support the fact that he was a man who kept his word.
She stroked upward first, teasing the iron-hard muscles of his six-pack before dragging her hands back down to his waistband.
“God.” He arched backward, his jaw clenched hard enough to cord his muscles down the length of his throat. “Claw me.”
She stroked all the way to his nipples before curling her hands into talons and raking them down the satin-smooth skin covering his abs. He sucked in a harsh breath, raising her confidence. It was a crazy rush of self-esteem, like a pure shot of fire. She suddenly felt on par with him, a lover equal to the task of driving him as insane with need as he did her.
She didn’t stop at his waistband, but sent her hands gliding over the worn denim to tease the bulge of his erection.
“That’s it … take what you want.”
* * *
It shouldn’t feel so good …
Mercer gritted his teeth, his balls tightening. Zoe’s touch was barely noticeable but his cock twitched, every nerve ending more aware than he could ever recall. His fly felt too tight. Savage enjoyment surged through him when she hooked her hands into the waistband and popped the button open. Relief speared into his cock when the front of his pants opened.
“No underwear. Should I accuse you of being presumptuous?”
“Call me whatever the hell you like, so long as you keep touching me.”
She didn’t disappoint him. But she did threaten to drive him insane. She teased his dick with just a glancing stroke from her fingertips, up and down and back up again. He wanted more, needed more. His cock was painfully hard and her toying only brought more blood flowing into the already swollen flesh.
“Bitch,” he growled.
“Be careful what you ask for,” Zoe leaned forward and pressed a kiss against his rock-hard abs. “I might be a demanding one.”
“Don’t worry baby, I can handle your fire.”
* * *
He looked too damn arrogant and she liked it too much. Her heart was racing but she felt in control, so firmly in command of the moment that it was exciting her beyond anything she’d ever felt. Her clit was throbbing, the folds of delicate flesh surrounding it growing moist from the fluid escaping her pussy. But she was in no hurry to ease the hunger. Instead, she wanted to feel it grow, tighten, until the need for release became so powerful, it overrode her desire to push Mercer to the same limit.
She wanted to challenge him, see who broke first.
Her next kiss was lower and then she passed his belly button. She parted the sides of his open fly, allowing his cock to straighten. He drew in a harsh breath as she bent her knees and sank lower, until she knelt on the floor. Wrapping her fingers around his length, she looked up.
His expression shocked and thrilled her at the same time. Savage enjoyment shone from his eyes; it was so powerful, a little zip of fear went across her mind because he was too strong for her to defend herself against. She knew she wanted him, which required a leap of faith.
Or a stab at taking control of the moment.
“Holy Christ!”
Mercer planted his hands on the edge of the tile counter. Zoe ran her tongue around the crown and through the slit.
“Suck it, baby.”
His voice was low and rough, proof that she was doing exactly what she wanted. Pushing him. Zoe licked the head of his cock again, closing her hand around the staff and working it all the way to the base.
“Bitch,” he growled.
“You already called me that.”
But she enjoyed hearing it again. She really wasn’t interested in what he said, only the way his words sounded, forced out between clenched teeth. She knew that desperation, could feel it nipping at her pussy now. She wanted the hard length of flesh deep inside her, but she opened her lips and let her mouth sheathe it instead.
“Oh … hell yeah.”
His hips jerked, driving more of his cock between her lips. She took it, moving her head and toying with the sensitive spot on the underside of the head with her tongue. She maintained her grip on the length outside her mouth, working her hand along it. His breathing became rough as his hips drove back and forth. She reached the base of his dick and rotated her wrist to cup his balls.
“Shit!”
He grabbed a handful of her hair and pulled out of her mouth. Frustration speared through her.
“Let go of my hair, Mercer. I’m calling the shots right now.” She glared up at him, unimpressed with the savage glow in his eyes. But it sent a ripple of need through her clit, so acute she gasped.
“I never promised you fair play, baby,” he warned her.
Her hair was free in a second, but Mercer didn’t give her the chance to renew her position. He hooked his hands beneath her arms and lifted her off her knees.
“I only promised I could handle you.”
He cupped the sides of her face again, tilting his head so their mouths would fit together perfectly. His kiss was hard, almost vicious, but it fed the need boiling inside her. He kissed her for a long moment, numbing her brain and leaving her thoughts nothing but a vapor. She was twisting against him, clawing at his shirt as she tried to pull him closer. She was desperate for him, exactly the thing she’d feared, and yet now she purred, enjoying the raging sensation. He lifted his mouth away and grasped her hips. The hold sent a jolt of need through her pelvis.
He lifted her off her feet and deposited her on the countertop.
“Damned if I didn’t want to handle you the moment I stepped up to you outside that bar.” He grabbed the waistband of her lightweight jersey pants and tugged them over the curve of her hips. She tightened her grasp on his shoulder while he stripped the garment off her. “When you turned me down, I thought about pushing you back into that co
rner outside the bar and kissing you until you melted. Spreading your thighs and shoving my hand into your pants to rub your clit until you begged me to satisfy you.”
“I should throw you out for a comment like that,” she said, but she so didn’t mean it.
He cupped each knee, watching her with glittering eyes. “Why? Because it isn’t candy-coated?” A dry laugh followed as he massaged each of her thighs. “What’s between us isn’t soft, baby. It’s hot and combustible, and you don’t want me to beg you for a ride between your thighs.”
He drew his fingers down her thighs, setting off a hunger that made her heart accelerate. But he took a moment to dig into one pocket and pull out a condom. Normally, the delay of dealing with safe sex was a turn-off. Not with Mercer. The action promising her the satisfaction she craved.
“Part of you loves the fact that I push you.” He cupped her knees again and spread her legs while holding her gaze. “Just as I love every second of you trying to reduce me to a quivering idiot.”
She felt her lips lifting into a smile of satisfaction. Reaching out, she cupped his balls once more while he sheathed his cock. “I’ll get you next time, Mercer, that’s a promise.”
“I guess now’s a good time to tell you how controlling I can be when it comes to making sure my lover is as satisfied as I am.” He leaned closer but instead of using the hard head of his cock, he teased her with the tips of his fingers, gliding them between the slick folds of her sex until he settled them over her clit. Pleasure spiked through her as hard as a spear.
“Stop toying with me, Mercer,” she warned.
One eyebrow rose and his fingers remained exactly where they were, gently circling her clit. It sent her to the edge of climax but denied her enough pressure to actually tumble into the vortex.
“Weren’t you just telling me how much it bugged you, not knowing anything about me?”
She slapped his shoulders. “That doesn’t mean I want to talk now.”
He pressed a little harder on her clit, sending a bolt of need up her passage so hard, she arched backward with it. She would have smacked her head on the cabinet if he hadn’t caught her nape with one sure hand.