by Amanda Kay
“Now you pick your sorry ass up off that floor. You’re about to get your ass kicked by a girl, and you better stand up and take it like a man,” Tempest snarled at him with a feral look on her face.
She watched as he slowly stood up off the floor. He was lucky that his usual smug expression was not on his face in that moment because Tempest had a strong urge to claw it off. She could tell he was having some serious reservations about a confrontation with her, but she wasn’t about to allow him to back off like a fucking pussy. He held up his hands in a sign of surrender, but Tempest wasn’t fooled at all. Guys had a tendency to underestimate her in a fight. They kept forgetting that she weighed almost as much or more than some of them. She was a big woman. She had as much power behind one of her punches as most men. Plus she had the added advantage of having hand-to-hand combat training.
She saw it when Devin lunged and tried to grab her. She neatly avoided his maneuver. She couldn’t help but let out a sad little chuckle. He wasn’t a trained fighter. He thought he was a badass, but fighting him was like fighting someone else who wasn’t properly trained…easy. She blocked a few more of his moves and noticed that he wasn’t trying to hit her at all. Nope, he was just trying to restrain her, but it wasn’t working. She finally got tired of him and a little bored if she was honest with herself.
He was coming at her again, and Tempest put him down with a move she had practiced for hours with some of the other girls in basic. They had seen it on an episode of Walker, Texas Ranger. She did a reverse roundhouse kick, but instead of hitting him with her heel, she trapped his neck between her calf and the back of her thigh. She kept spinning around and lowering her leg. She landed on a kind of half-sitting squat. He was lying flat on his back with his neck still caught between two of her strongest muscles. Once she had him flat on the floor, she used his stunned compliance to her advantage and pinned his body to the floor by resting her left shin across the top of his thighs. She ended up basically kneeling on his body with his neck trapped in the crook of her right leg.
When he finally got his wits back, he naturally started struggling. Tempest wasn’t having it. She flexed the muscles in the back of her thigh and her calf muscle, which cause his air to be restricted. She controlled his air flow with a simple flex of her muscles. It was such a cool feeling. He kept struggling but not as much as before, but Tempest wanted him completely still. She took her left fist and pressed if firmly into his groin, just reminding him that she had unrestricted access to his most prized body parts. She watched with great satisfaction as his eyes widened and he went completely still.
“Now that I have your complete attention, let me tell you, if you ever fuck with my career or sabotage my deployments again, I won’t stop with just embarrassing you in the private space of your office. I will hospitalize you and be grateful that is all I’ll do. I’m not one of these little tarts and bubble heads you are used to dealing with, Devin. I’m a soldier! I’ve killed men before, and I’ll probably kill more in the future. Don’t treat me like a child and stop trying to dominate me like it’s something I want because it isn’t. I want to be a soldier. Now I’m about to let you up, but if you try anything, I will black both your eyes and bloody your nose. Do you understand me?” Tempest said in a slow, clear voice as if she were speaking to a naughty child.
Devin gritted his teeth in anger but nodded his head.
Tempest gave a little chuckle. “I’m sorry, Devin, but I can’t hear your head rattle,” she said with a devious grin.
“I heard you!” Devin snapped angrily.
She tsked him. “Now, Devin, that was just rude. You should remember your manners.” She watched as he glared daggers at her. “Devin, I know you like to be in control. I am aware of your kink and I don’t hold that against you, but you need to realize that you won’t always be in control. Like now for example, I am in control and I need you to answer me properly. I’m sure you’ve made your little woman friends say things to you and in a certain manner. This shouldn’t be that hard for you, Devin. You know how to answer me. So come on, let me hear it,” Tempest finished and cupped her hand around her ear. She could practically hear him grinding his teeth.
“Yes, ma’am, I understand,” he snarled at her.
To add insult to injury, Tempest patted him on the head. “That’s a good boy. You see that wasn’t so hard now, was it?” Tempest cooed. She carefully released his head and just as carefully stood up from his body. Once she was far enough away, she picked her jacket up, snapped out the wrinkles, and put it back on. She watched him cautiously as he got up off the floor. The man looked livid, but she didn’t give a shit. He deserved everything he got and more. He was fucking around with her career and her future. Men like Devin needed to learn they can’t just fuck around with people’s lives, and unfortunately most of them had to learn the hard way.
When Devin was standing upright once again, Tempest eyed him with cool aloofness. “General Westin wants us both in his office in two days at 1000 hours sharp. I trust that you’ll be available for the meeting. I mean, this was all you’re doing, so I hope you would have the common courtesy to attend,” she said but didn’t wait for him to answer. She turned to open the door but found it slammed closed.
She found both of Devin’s arms caging her. She turned in the circle of his arms and looked up into his face. The man looked pissed, but Tempest wasn’t terribly worried. He had a lot of nerve, too. He was the one who was going around sticking his nose in people’s lives when it wasn’t wanted. He had no right to be pissed off.
“I was only thinking of keeping you safe, Tempest,” Devin said with an angry scowl.
“Here’s a news flash for you, Devin. I had an entire brigade of soldiers that were dedicated to keeping me safe while we were deployed,” Tempest snapped.
“You need someone to take care of you, and I was only thinking about you,” he said, his voice low and soothing.
“Devin, I’ve been taking care of myself since I was a teenager. Hell, I even took care of my sister. Not all women need someone there to hold their hand through life. I’m one of those. I don’t need anyone to take care of me. I’ve been doing that for a few years now, and I was doing a damn fine job,” she said, her temper flaring again at his rude implication.
Devin’s features softened. “I just want you safe. I need you to stay safe,” he whispered and lowered his head, pressing his lips softly against hers.
Tempest itched to respond, but she couldn’t allow him to manipulate her again. She stood stiff and unresponsive in the cage of his arms. He sucked her plump bottom lip in his mouth and ran his tongue over the expanse of flesh. He nipped and sucked her lips and the corner of her mouth. His tongue probed looking for a way into her warm mouth.
She turned her head away from the sensual assault of his mouth, but Devin wasn’t deterred. He simply let his mouth drag along the side of her face, and he continued his assault but in a different location. He licked and nibbled along her jaw, following the sensual line to her neck. He placed wet sucking kisses on the entire expanse of her sensitive neck. He licked and laved his tongue over her pulse point and smiled against her flesh when he felt her pulse pick up.
Tempest held to her resolve to stand still, but she had to swallow several gasps and moans. He had an amazing mouth, and she couldn’t stop her mind from wondering what other amazing things he could do with that tempting mouth. Her heart beat a rapid tattoo in her chest. Her muscles twitched and strained to move and give him more flesh to tease and taunt. Her pussy was pulsing and leaking her slick juices like a sieve. Her hands itched to run through his silky hair and pull or push his head where she needed it most. The man could drive a nun to forget her vows of chastity.
She finally decided to put an end to the sensual assault. She placed both hands on his chest and pushed him away with a firm, strong touch. Devin looked at her and his eyes sparked with pure lust and something softer, but Tempest wasn’t even going to try and identify it.
�
�There is something wrong with you. You can’t just go around and try to control someone’s life. I don’t even know you, and you don’t know a damn thing about me if you think I would tolerate you messing around with my life,” she said and her lips compressed together into a thin line of irritation.
“There might be something wrong with me. I’ve never been like this with a woman before. There’s something about you that just makes me want to keep you safe,” Devin said softly as he ran his nose along the smooth flesh of her jaw and then licked along the bottom edge of her lower lip. “There’s just something about you that calls to me.”
“Well, you need to tap down that urge because you’re pissing me off and messing with my career. I won’t tolerate it, Devin. The army is the only thing I have in my life now. I don’t have my parents or my grandmother anymore. I’m not sure I ever had my sister. The army and Mark are the only things I’ve got, and I won’t lose either one of them. So I’m going to ask you nicely just this one time. Leave me alone,” she told him bluntly. She then turned and forced the door open and walked out of his office.
Chapter 3
“You did that on purpose, Clark,” Devin accused his longtime friend and Tempest’s commanding general. “You knew I didn’t want her to know until later,”
“I sure did, and I’d do it again. You’re lucky that I’m the commander on this post and not someone else. You could’ve done some serious damage to that young woman’s career if you’d have called up and started demanding that she be put on a non-deployable status. You deserved everything she gave to you and probably more. You need to back off. She’s a grown woman and knows her own mind. She doesn’t need you trying to dictate orders to her. Hell, man, that’s my job for God’s sake!” he said waving his arms in the air for dramatic effect.
“I know, I know! There’s just something about her that makes me want to take her away and hide her from the world for safekeeping. I don’t know what is wrong with me,” Devin said with a little bit of desperation hanging on the edges of his words.
“Really? It’s plain for anyone to see that you care for the girl. I’m not real sure about how much you care for her, but depending on whether or not you actually want her to stick around, you better straighten your act up,” Clark said firmly.
“What do you mean?” Devin said defensively.
“Well, son, if we did our job right in training her, she isn’t going to just roll over and let you tell her what to do. We train our soldiers to be strong and resilient. Plus she is an NCO and I figure she will go even higher up the NCO ranks. She is a leader for our enlisted soldiers. She isn’t going to let you take over and pull all that macho shit that some women find so endearing,” Clark said with a chuckle and a roll of his eyes.
“She’s too young to be going to war!” Devin said forcefully.
“She’s twenty-one! I’ve got soldiers younger than her going off to war! She’s already been twice, and she did an amazing job from what I understand!” Clark said, yelling. “She’s a good solider and you need to back off,”
“I can’t,” Devin said pitifully.
Clark rolled his eyes and thanked God that someone chose that exact moment to save him from the stupid currently occupying his office. “Enter!” he barked and suppressed a bark of laughter when Tempest entered his office. Her expression was stormy and angry. She spared Devin a fierce glare and then focused her attention on the general.
Tempest snapped to attention and saluted. “Sergeant Westfield reporting as ordered, sir!” she said and waited.
“At ease, soldier, and take a seat,” Clark said and indicated the seat next to Devin. He noticed that she studied the chair and could only imagine what she was thinking. She finally walked across the room and sat down. “I want to thank both of you for coming. I hope that the army can help Maddox Inc. with its current agenda,” “I’m sure it will be no problem, Clark. With the help of Tempest here, I will have all of the help we need,” Devin said with a smile that was entirely too smug for Tempest.
She fought the urge to roll her eyes and swallowed her snarl when she saw his hand reaching out to her. She instinctively grabbed his hand to prevent him from touching her. She couldn’t help but notice that the general was trying not to laugh and Devin was glaring at her in warning. She gave him an icy look that said, “If you touch me, you’ll lose fingers.” She finished off the look with a cold smile and barely resisted the urge to fling his hand back in his lap.
“I’ll do everything I can to make the army proud, sir,” Tempest said as she turned her attention back to the general.
Clark cleared his throat as he swallowed his laugh and tried to keep a straight face. “I am sure you will do nothing but your best, Sergeant. Do you have any questions?” he asked.
“I do, sir. What exactly am I supposed to be doing for Maddox Inc.?” she asked skeptically.
“I think I’ll let Devin explain that to you,” Clark said with a devilish smile. He knew that Devin had no explanation and was about to flounder around like a fish out of water.
Devin had a moment of panic, but then a pleasant smile stretched his sensual lips. His smile deepened when Tempest turned expectantly toward him and gave him a pointed scowl.
“Well, it seems that my company had a security breach the other day”—he paused and waited to see if Tempest would respond. He got not so much as a flinch—“and I want to make sure that our electronic security is more secure than our physical security,” he finished with an arch of his brow.
“I see. I have to say that a company’s physical security is a reflection of its electronic security, so you just might need a little bit of help there. Especially if you had a breach in physical security, I’m sorry to hear you’ve had trouble. I’ll be happy to take a look at your electronic security protocols, Mr. Maddox,” she finished with a sweet and professional smile.
Devin turned a glare on his friend Clark when he snorted a laugh. It seemed that if he wanted to shake up his Tempest, he was going to have to try a little harder.
“I appreciate you taking time out of your work to help us out with this little problem,” Devin said with a smile. “If it’s okay with Clark here, I’d like for you to be at my offices by 8:00 tomorrow morning. Will that be a problem, Clark?” Devin asked and turned to look at his friend.
Clark took a moment and studied the young couple. “I don’t see that it will be a problem. I’ll arrange for you to be able to perform PT on your own, Sergeant. I’ll speak to your commander before close of business today.”
“Thank you, sir. I appreciate it,” Tempest said as she stood and prepared to leave. “Will that be all, sir?” she asked.
“That will be all, Sergeant. Dismissed!” he said and snapped her an answering salute.
Tempest stood to leave but was stopped short.
“Well, Tempest, if you’ll follow me, I’ll take you to the office to start your orientation.”
Her head jerked up, and she glared at him. “I’m afraid today won’t work. I’ve got actual work I need to finish before I can leave the company today. I’m sorry, Mr. Maddox,” she said, her voice cold and laced with anger.
“Please call me Devin, Tempest. I’m afraid that today is the only day that is available for you to do orientation.”
Clark was watching the interaction between the two young people, and he couldn’t help but roll his eyes at Devin. He was working his way to getting his ass kicked. Poor Tempest was trying to keep her cool, but she was quickly losing the battle.
“Sergeant, you go ahead and go with him and get the orientation over with, and I’ll let your commander know what is going on,” Clark said and wondered if the young woman’s head was going to explode.
“Of course, sir,” Tempest said and couldn’t stop her teeth from grinding in frustration. “I’ll just follow you in my car, Mr. Maddox,”
“Oh that won’t be necessary. I’ve got a car and a driver that will take us both to the offices. I wouldn’t want for you to waste your
gas,” Devin said and smiled when her pretty cheeks flushed with anger.
“That won’t be necessary, Mr. Maddox,” Tempest said and turned to leave.
She was stopped short when a strong hand encircled her arm. She glared down at the hand and wondered if the blood would ruin the general’s carpet when she ripped the fingers off. She looked at Devin and began plotting his murder.
“I insist,” Devin said simply with a sexy half smile.
Tempest was about to rip his head off when the general stepped in.
“For heaven’s sake, just go with the man so I can get my work done. He might not have any real work to do, but the rest of us do,” Clark said almost desperately.
“Yes, sir!” Tempest said through gritted teeth and saluted. She was able to walk out without stomping her feet and cursing.
Clark and Devin watched the fuming woman leave the office.
“You do like to play with fire, don’t you, Devin. You might want to be careful. She might just kill you when you get to the offices,” he said with a chuckle and shook Devin’s hand.
* * * *
She was going to kill him plain and simple. The army had plenty of contractors. They wouldn’t miss one, especially one who was so annoying and a pain in the ass. She stood outside General Westin’s building and waited for the bane of her existence. She felt her blood start to boil when he sauntered out of the building.
He walked up to her, and his hot gaze raked over her body. She had the sudden urge to gouge his eyes out. Her lips thinned in irritation and anger.