Rescuing Kassie: Delta Force Heroes, Book 5

by Stoker, Susan

  Knowing she’d need a hard caress, especially since he was working her with both her jeans and panties between them, Hollywood squeezed a breast at the same time he pressed against the damp seam between her legs.

  “So fucking beautiful, Kassie. That’s it. Let go. Let me have this. Let yourself have this.”

  She was squirming in his lap now, and Hollywood had to move his hand from her breast to the small of her back to make sure she didn’t fall off and hurt herself. No longer playing the game, he ordered, “Let me hear you, Kass. You like this?”

  “Oh my God, Graham…yesssssss,” she hissed.

  “You’re so hot. I can feel how wet you are through your jeans, sweetheart. You want more?”

  “Don’t stop. I’m close.”

  “Good.” Hollywood used his whole hand. His fingers touched her belly button as he continued to grind against her with the heel of his palm. He wasn’t afraid he was being too rough, as a constant stream of “yes, yes, yes” was coming from Kassie’s mouth now.

  “Come for me, Kass. Show me how beautiful you are when you come under my hand.”

  At his words she arched her back, and ground herself down on him. And came. She shook in his lap as it washed over her. Hollywood kept the pressure on her clit until she stilled and her hips moved away from him a fraction of an inch, letting him know his touch was becoming more painful than pleasurable, even through her clothes.

  Flattening his hand against her wet jeans, Hollywood used his other at her ass to jerk her into him. Her hands dropped to his waist, where they gripped his T-shirt as if her life depended on it. Her torso flattened against his and he felt her quick breaths against his chest. Her head dropped to the space between his shoulder and neck and goosebumps rose on his arm when warm puffs from her nose landed on his skin.

  After several moments, she murmured, “Good Lord. It’s a good thing my parents weren’t checking on us. We totally would’ve been busted.”

  He chuckled. “But my hands never went under your clothes. How could they get mad at that?”

  “You’re lethal no matter where your hands are, Hollywood,” she told him with a small smile.

  Strangely mourning the loss of her saying his real name, but conversely loving the fact that it came out only when she was in the throes of a sexual release, Hollywood grinned and took the compliment.

  “You want me to return the favor?” she asked, pulling back to put a bit of room between them. Her shift allowed his fingers more freedom of movement, and he rubbed her crotch gently.

  “You already did,” he informed her.

  She shook her head. “No, I mean, it’s not fair that you gave that to me but didn’t get it in return.”

  Hollywood stared at her. She honestly had no idea. Reaching around to grab one of her hands which still gripped his shirt, Hollywood brought it between them and held it to the front of his jeans.

  He rubbed her fingers up and down the fly to make sure his point was made as he said, “I got it in return, sweetheart.”

  She stared down at her hand, which was now damp, then brought her eyes up to his. “You came?”

  “Yeah.”

  “But I didn’t even touch you.”

  “I realize this. I have a feeling that doesn’t bode well for me in the future,” Hollywood joked, only half kidding.

  “You came,” she repeated, except this time it wasn’t a question.

  “Yeah, sweetheart. I couldn’t help it. You were so fucking sexy. Writhing against my hand, begging me to move faster. You’re what wet dreams are made of, Kass. My wet dreams.”

  She blushed then. A bright red sheen that moved from her neck up her cheeks. She threw herself back down on his lap and buried her face into his neck again.

  “You cannot be embarrassed about this,” Hollywood told her, wrapping his arms around her and holding her close.

  “I am.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Well, don’t be. Own it. You’re a sexy woman who turns me on so much I can’t control myself around you. We’re gonna be explosive together, Kass. I can’t fucking wait.”

  “Aren’t you embarrassed?”

  “Nope.”

  “Why?” she asked again, still hiding.

  “Because I feel great. Mellow. Relaxed. I’ve got my woman satisfied and heavy in my arms and I get to hang out with my favorite people on the planet tonight. The fact that you’re so sexy you can get me off without a touch is just icing on the cake.”

  They sat like that for several minutes before Hollywood asked, “You asleep?”

  “Mmmm,” she mumbled.

  “Come on,” Hollywood said, easily standing with her in his arms.

  “I don’t want to go anywhere,” Kassie complained.

  “You aren’t going far,” he told her. Hollywood carried Kassie into his bedroom where he placed her on his mattress. She immediately rolled onto her side. He pulled the sheet up and over her.

  Her drowsy eyes watched him as he leaned into her and kissed her temple. “Take a nap, sweetheart.”

  “You aren’t going to lie down with me?”

  “If I get into that bed, we’ll both end up naked and neither of us will get to the barbeque later.”

  “And?”

  Hollywood clenched his teeth together, but managed a smile for her. “You’ll be naked in my bed, Kass, but for now…sleep. I’ll wake you up in about an hour. Yeah?”

  “Okay.”

  “Okay.”

  “Hollywood?”

  “Yeah, Kass?” He stood at the doorway of his bedroom looking down at the woman who had somehow managed to change his entire life in a short two weeks.

  “Thanks for making me feel safe from Dean.”

  Hollywood’s fists clenched at the reminder of the threat that still loomed over her. Keeping his voice calm, he merely said, “You’re welcome. It’s my pleasure, sweetheart.”

  Her eyes closed and he watched for several more moments as her breaths eased and she fell asleep in his bed.

  Hollywood stepped back into the room and grabbed a clean pair of jeans and boxers before leaving and closing the door almost all the way. He wanted to hear if Kassie woke up and for some reason needed him.

  After he’d washed up and changed, Hollywood spent the next three-quarters of an hour strategizing and plotting. The plan the team had thought up today was good, but as they’d learned, Plan A didn’t always go as expected. So a Plan B, C and probably D was always necessary.

  Jacks was done fucking with the Deltas. And he and his fucking friend were done screwing with Kassie and her sister. In two weeks, one way or another, this would end.

  And once it did, Kassie would be his. From the tips of her toes to the top of her head, she’d belong to him, body and soul.

  Chapter 14

  “Can I ask you something?” Kassie asked as they drove toward Fletch’s house later that afternoon.

  “Think I told you before you can always ask me whatever you want,” Hollywood said, still feeling extremely mellow.

  “I don’t understand why you don’t want to be at the refuge when Dean and whoever else he’s roped into this stupid scheme shows up. You should be there.”

  It wasn’t exactly a question, but Hollywood knew what she was asking. “You’re my number one priority, Kass. I have no doubt whatsoever that the others can take care of Dean.”

  “But if you don’t think I’ll be in danger, what’s the point of you staying with me?”

  Hollywood risked a look over at Kassie before concentrating on the road again as he answered her. “For the record, I mostly don’t think you’re in danger, but because I’m not one hundred percent convinced Dean won’t send others to the refuge to do Jacks’s dirty work and stay behind to do something stupid, I refuse to leave you vulnerable.”

  He felt Kassie’s eyes on him, but didn’t interrupt whatever was going on in her head. But when he heard her sniff, his eyes immediately swung to her.

&
nbsp; She’d shifted in her seat until she was facing him, as much as her seat belt would allow. Her eyes were filled with tears and she was biting her lip, obviously trying to control her emotions.

  “Shit, Kass. I didn’t mean to make you cry,” Hollywood said, his brow crinkled in concern.

  “I know. But, Hollywood, how can you feel that way about me so fast? I could be an awful person. I might kick puppies in my spare time. Laugh at grannies who come into my store and buy godawful clothes simply because they’re on sale. Shortchange customers.”

  “Kass,” Hollywood told her, gently smiling at her ridiculousness, “I’m thirty-two years old. I’ve seen a lot in my life. Things no human should ever have to. I’ve also witnessed three of the best men I know fall in love, and they have never been happier. They’re nicer to be around, and work harder and smarter than they used to as a result. I’ve never felt about another woman the way I feel about you. I’m not willing to chance, even if it’s only a one percent possibility, that Dean will decide when all of us are supposedly at that training exercise it’s one more opportunity to fuck with you.”

  “I like you, but I’m not sure we’re on the same page as far as our relationship goes,” Kassie said softly. “You’re talking forever, at least that’s what it seems like to me, but you have no idea what will happen next week, month, or year. I don’t understand how you can be so sure that you want me in your life for the foreseeable future.”

  “I know you’re not in the same place I am yet. That’s why I’m not pushing to have you in my bed so soon. It would kill me to have you, get a glimpse of paradise, then you decide you don’t want the same thing I do. But I’m patient, and I know to the depths of my soul that there’s no way I can feel as if you were put on this earth for me to love and not have you feel the same…eventually.”

  “I’m not used to this,” Kassie told him. “Being protected. Being someone else’s soul mate.”

  “I know. But you need to get used to it. As you’ve told me often enough, I’m bossy and pigheaded, so I’m going to do whatever it takes to keep you safe, even if that means keeping watch over you myself. And when I can’t do it in person, you better believe I’ll make other arrangements for someone I trust to do it for me. But in two weeks, I can be with you when the shit goes down with Dean. So I will.”

  She didn’t respond, so Hollywood asked softly, “You okay with that?”

  “I’m definitely okay with that,” Kassie said, wiping the tears off of her face. “But I sorta feel like you’re babysitting me. And I’m not okay with that.”

  Hollywood turned down Fletch’s driveway and thought about how he wanted to answer Kassie. He didn’t want to give her a flippant response. He wanted her to truly understand that she was it for him. He wasn’t a fortune teller, had no idea what would happen in the future, but he knew he was going to give a relationship between the two of them the best shot he had of continuing forever.

  He pulled his car up near the stairs to the guest apartment and stopped the engine. He undid his seat belt, pushed his seat back as far as it would go, then reached over and clicked open hers. “Come ’ere, Kass,” he said softly, encouraging her to climb over the emergency brake and straddle his thighs.

  She came without a word, settling on top of him in the small space, much as she had earlier that day. Her hands rested at his sides and she tilted her head, waiting for him to speak.

  “First, I am absolutely not babysitting you. Believe me, I know the difference. My team has had to babysit dignitaries and political figures who didn’t think twice about their own safety, never mind the men guarding them. They didn’t care about anyone around them, only about their own selfish needs.

  “You, sweetheart, put everyone else first. I don’t think you’ve really thought about yourself in a long time. I know you’re scared, but instead of focusing on that, you’ve told me how worried you are for Karina and your parents. I know what you went through with Jacks was bad. I got that from your reactions at the ball and the bullshit he tried to make you believe about the Army. I love your compassion for others and hope that never changes. But while you’ll be looking out for those around you, I’ll have your back. I’ll make sure no one comes up behind you and tries to figuratively stab you in the back. I’ll stand by your side and keep people from sneaking in sideways to try to throw you off.

  “I haven’t been blowing smoke up your ass, Kassie. I’m not eliminating Jacks and Dean from your life to get into your bed. I’m doing it because you’re you. Because you couldn’t help but come clean about the circumstances behind us meeting after only a few hours together. You don’t have a devious bone in your body, and I’m going to protect that with everything I have.”

  Hollywood brought his hands up to both sides of her face, looked into her eyes and held her still as he said softly, “Besides, I’d much rather spend my time with you in a nice climate-controlled apartment than out in some hot-as-hell refuge scratching bug bites. You’ll be doing me a favor if you let me hang with you the weekend after next.”

  She grinned at him then, and grasped his wrists with her cold fingers. “Nobody’s ever wanted to protect me like that before.”

  “That’s their loss, and my gain. It’s truly no hardship,” Hollywood told her immediately. “Kiss me?”

  Without a word, Kassie leaned forward. Neither let go of the other and their lips met in a long, lazy kiss.

  After a few moments, movement out of the corner of his eye distracted him and Hollywood reluctantly released Kassie’s lips and turned his head—and burst out laughing.

  Annie’s face and hands were plastered against the window of the car inches away from where they’d been making out. Her nose and lips were scrunched up against the glass and she looked like something out of a horror movie. She was grinning like a lunatic and watching them with avid eyes. As soon as she saw Hollywood looking at her, she backed away and waved frantically.

  “Hi!” she called out in a loud voice, easily heard from inside the car. “Are you done kissin’? ’Cause Daddy sent me out here to tell you to hurry up. I’m hungry and we can’t start the hot dogs until everyone’s here. And you’re the last ones.”

  “Busted,” Hollywood told Kassie with a grin.

  She smiled back at him. “Emily told me she and Fletch are trying to conceive and that he sends Annie away as much as he can in order to get some alone time with her. What’s the chance they’re inside making out right now?”

  Hollywood guffawed and pulled her against him.

  “Come on, guys. I’m hungry!” Annie complained from outside the car. She banged on the glass with her little fist to make her point.

  “I’ll give you five bucks if you give us another five minutes,” Hollywood yelled to the little girl.

  “Make it ten and you’ve got a deal!” she yelled back.

  “Jesus, that’s highway robbery,” Hollywood complained. But when Kassie shifted her hands down from where they were resting between them to the waistband of his jeans and shoved her fingers down his ass as far as they could go, he immediately called out, “Twelve minutes. Ten bucks.”

  “Okay,” Annie yelled back happily. “I’ll just go play over here by the garage with my racetrack. I’ll be back in twelve minutes on the dot.”

  “Can she tell time?” Kassie asked.

  “Unfortunately, yes,” Hollywood said.

  “Then we better not waste another second.” And with that, Kassie leaned in again and kissed him.

  Exactly twelve minutes later, Hollywood opened his car door and helped Kassie climb off him and stand. He got out and pulled her into his arms once more and looked down at her. “I’ll keep you safe, Kass,” he said seriously.

  “I know you will.”

  “Good. You ready to relax for a few hours?”

  “Yeah. I’m looking forward to getting to know everyone.”

  “They’ll love you.”

  Annie came up to them then and held out her hand. “Ten bucks, Hollywood. You
promised.”

  “So I did, pipsqueak,” he told her with a smile, reaching behind him for his wallet. He peeled a ten-dollar bill out and held it down to her. When she grabbed it, Hollywood held on for a moment and said, “This is between us, yeah?”

  “It’s in the vault,” Annie said, pantomiming zipping her lips together. She pulled on the money and smiled when Hollywood let go. She stuffed the bill into her pocket and grabbed Kassie’s hand. “Let’s go.”

  As the trio began walking toward the house, Kassie asked Annie, “You going to do anything special with all that money?”

  She nodded, but didn’t slow her pace. “I’m saving for a tank.”

  “A tank?” Kassie asked, taken aback.

  “Yup. I saw one in a magazine and I’m gonna get it.”

  Hollywood leaned into Kassie and whispered, “It’s a miniature motorized version. Costs over five grand. Fletch doesn’t think she’ll ever get there, but me and the guys give her money every chance we get. I can’t wait to see the little speed demon mowing over everything in her path.”

  Kassie choked back a laugh and nodded.

  They circled the house and arrived at the backyard. Kassie tried not to be jealous of the beautiful landscaped lawn. There was a covered back patio with three tables to accommodate everyone, a huge built-in grill and what looked like acres of green Texas sweet grass. Off to the side was a firepit with benches strategically placed around a hole in the ground. It was a cozy place where the inhabitants, and their friends, could leave their worries behind. She loved it.

  “It’s beautiful,” she breathed.

  Hollywood squeezed the hand he’d latched onto as soon as they’d stopped. “You should’ve seen it when Fletch first moved in. It was all weeds back here. But he didn’t want to lose Annie in the grass, so he finally hired a lawn service.”

  She smiled up at him.

  Annie raced toward Fletch. “Daddy! I went and gotted them. They were kissin’ in Hollywood’s car. But here they are. Can you start the dogs now? Please?”

  The adults all laughed, and Hollywood smirked at the blush that crawled up Kassie’s neck.