Operation K-9 Brothers

by Sandra Owens

  As if he understood—or maybe he needed what she did—he scooped her up. “Your arm,” she said.

  “Is fine.” He carried her to his bedroom, laid her on the mattress, and then stared down at her. “Tell me I’m not dreaming, Nichole.”

  “It’s not a dream.” She smiled at him. “I’m here, right where I want to be.”

  “And my bed never looked so good.” He sat on the edge of the mattress. “I thought I’d lost you.”

  She reached for his hand, linking their fingers. “You haven’t, and we do need to talk, but later.”

  “Yeah, later.” He brought her hand to his lips and kissed her fingers. “Fair warning, babe. I’m going to lick you from head to toe. I’m going to ruin you for any man but me.”

  “You already have,” she whispered. His eyes darkened as they roamed over her, sending heat straight to her center. “But maybe you should ruin me again.”

  “I think I will.” He glanced at her and winked. “Just for insurance purposes. Change of plans, though. I think I’ll start with your toes and work my way up.” He slid his hand down her leg, leaving goose bumps in his wake. When he reached her feet, he slid one sandal off, and then the other one. They got tossed to the floor.

  He toed off his shoes, and then kneeled on the bed between her ankles. His gaze was smoldering as he coasted his hands up her legs. When he reached the hem of her sundress, he pushed it up to her waist.

  “Heaven help me.” He blew out a breath at seeing she wasn’t wearing panties.

  “Surprise,” she said, giggling.

  “Feel free to surprise me like this anytime the urge strikes you.”

  “Are you going to just sit there and stare at me, or are you going to do something that will put a smile on my face?”

  His gaze met hers, and he gave her a sexy smirk. “Forget a smile. I’m going for hearing you scream my name.”

  “Hmm, we’ll see. Take off your shirt.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” He tugged it up and over his head, tossing it behind him. “Now hush and pay attention.”

  She saluted him, making him laugh. She’d noticed before that not only was he an amazing lover, but that he also made sex fun. That was new and different, and she liked it. A lot. In her experience, most men thought sex was serious business. It certainly was, but Jack also made it fun.

  When he stretched out, and his mouth landed on her, and he flicked his tongue over her clit, she moaned her approval. Over and over, he brought her to the edge, then backed off.

  “Jack,” she said, begging.

  “What, Nichole? This?”

  “Oh, God. Yes, that,” she said when his tongue teased just the right spot. “Jack!” She fisted the sheet as she shattered.

  He crawled up her body as she tried to catch her breath. “Told you I’d have you screaming my name.”

  “Pretty sure of yourself, aren’t you?” She laughed. “That’s a smug smile if I’ve ever seen one.”

  His smile dropped as he stared down at her. “Have I told you how much I love watching your face when you come for me?”

  “No.”

  “Well, I do, and I want to see it again.” He moved to the edge of the bed, stood, and then dropped his jeans to the floor. With his gaze locked on hers, he pushed his briefs down.

  The man stole her breath. She knew he ran every day for something like ten miles, and that he also worked out. She supposed that as a SEAL he was required to stay in top shape. It showed. Oh, boy, did it ever.

  As her gaze traveled over him, he gave her that sexy smirk again. “Like what you see?”

  Since she was staring at his impressive erection, she felt herself blush at getting caught. “Huh?” At hearing him chuckle, she jerked her gaze to his. “What?”

  He wrapped his hand around his shaft and gave it a stroke. “I asked if you liked what you see?”

  How was she supposed to think when he did that? It was the most erotic thing she’d ever witnessed and watching him do it made her feel like the blood traveling through her veins was on fire.

  “Yes,” she finally answered. “I so do.”

  “Only fair,” he said, sliding his gaze over her. “Because I love what I see.” He reached into his nightstand, and then dropped a couple of condoms on top of it. “Any more surprises for me under your dress?”

  “I thought you were smart enough to figure out by now that I have nothing on under my dress.” When she’d dressed to come see him, she had put on a bra and panties, but then she’d considered it, and then she’d removed all her undergarments.

  See how he liked that, she’d thought. By the way his eyes darkened, it appeared that he did like it.

  “Take off your dress and show me.”

  “Say please.”

  “No.”

  Why his refusal excited her, she didn’t know. There was just something about the command in his voice and the way he was looking at her—his blue eyes darker than she’d ever seen them—that brought out the vixen in her. Seduction had never been a game before him, and she liked it. She lowered her gaze to his erection, and then slowly licked her tongue across her bottom lip.

  “Nichole,” he growled.

  “Hmm?” She lifted her gaze to his, and just wow. The heat in his eyes was blazing.

  “Take. Off. The. Fucking. Dress.”

  “If you want it off so bad, you take it off.”

  “You’re playing with fire, babe.”

  “I don’t know. Seems like a mere flicker since you’re just standing there. Where’s the fire?”

  Lesson learned... Never dare a man on a mission. Well, unless you were okay with your dress ripped down the middle. And, dear God, was she ever! She’d unleashed a beast, and the beast was all hers.

  Jack had never lost control like that with a woman before, to the point that he’d torn off her dress. “I’ll buy you another one,” he said, the closest he could come to an apology, because he really wasn’t sorry. Besides, she’d as much as pushed him to do it. By the excitement and anticipation gleaming in her eyes, he didn’t think she was sorry either.

  “This old thing? Don’t worry about it.”

  “What should I worry about then?”

  She tapped a finger against her lips. “Let’s see. Didn’t you say something about making me scream your name?”

  “Did that already, but apparently you need a reminder, and I’ll be happy to oblige.” This woman was perfect. He had a tendency to see the fun side of things, even with sex. Nichole was giving as good she got, and he loved that about her.

  “Oh, that wasn’t a scream, just a little whimper.”

  He laughed as he grabbed a condom. “Game on then.” After sheathing himself, he stacked pillows against the headboard, then he dropped onto the bed next to her. Sitting up with his back against the pillows, he took her hand.

  “Come here.” After she was straddled over his lap, he said, “Ride me, Nichole.”

  The hell but he loved that naughty gleam he could put in her eyes. He groaned when she sank down around him. “Yeah, like that,” he said when she lifted up and then back down.

  Her breasts were in front of his face and bouncing with her moves. Before he embarrassed himself by drooling, he leaned forward and sucked a nipple into his mouth. She tasted like the vanilla-scented body wash she used. Her eyes slid closed as he played with first one breast and then the other. He leaned away so he could see her face, slid his hands down to her hips, and pressed his fingers into her skin, urging her to go faster. He’d been without her too long, had missed her too much, and he wasn’t going to last.

  “Come with me, baby.” He lifted as she came down on him, needing to impale himself deep inside her.

  She bit down on her bottom lip, arched her back, and cried out his name. She hadn’t shouted it, but he took it as a win. He kept his eyes on her
as he followed her over the edge.

  “Jack,” she said again, her voice quieter this time.

  He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against him. “I love you so damn much.” She was the half that made him whole, the balm that soothed his soul.

  It still scared him that he’d almost lost her. Maybe they were meant to be, though. They’d only met because of a twist of fate, because she’d drunk dialed a wrong number. Yeah, meant to be. He liked that.

  * * *

  “Pardon?” he said, his gaze on Nichole.

  She was on the floor, playing with the puppy, wearing nothing but one of his T-shirts, and he was having trouble paying attention. The hem of his shirt was bunched up around her thighs, leaving her long legs on display, and all he could think about was those legs wrapped around him while he was deep inside her.

  “Where’s your mind, Jack?”

  “Huh?” He jerked his gaze up to hers.

  She rolled her eyes as she laughed. “I asked if you think we can find a good home for Maggie May?”

  Maggie May had the end of one of Dakota’s tug ropes in her mouth, growling as she tried to steal it away from Nichole. Dakota sat close by, her attention focused on the puppy, reminding him of a mother keeping an eye on her rambunctious child.

  “We already have,” he said, coming to a decision. At Nichole’s raised brows, he shrugged. “I’m keeping her, at least for now. She might make a good therapy dog, and if that doesn’t prove true, Dakota can have her.”

  “Oh, Jack. That’s great.” She let go of the tug rope, and Maggie May tumbled backward, landing on her butt. Nichole laughed as she leaned over and kissed the puppy’s nose. “Silly girl.”

  “I’m not sure Dakota would let me give her away even if I wanted to.”

  Nichole pushed up, and then moved to sit on the sofa next to him. She shifted to face him, tucking her legs under her. “So you’re going to train therapy dogs? That’s just awesome.”

  “I am.” He rested his hand on her knee. “I acted like a jerk when I got the news from the doctor, and I’ll say it again, I’m sorry for that. From the time I woke up in the hospital, my one and only goal was to get back to my team. When the doctor told me my arm and shoulder would never get back to normal, I couldn’t see my future, and I felt useless. What did I have to offer you? Nothing.”

  “That’s not true.”

  He smiled. “I know that now. At the time, though, I was feeling pretty sorry for myself, and I got it in my head that you deserved better. I thought I was doing you a favor by driving you away.”

  “Don’t ever do that again.” She straddled him, wrapped her arms around his neck, and stared hard at him. “Don’t ever shut me out again. If you do, I don’t know if I’ll be able to forgive you a second time. You get something stupid in your head like that again, you talk to me.”

  “I promise.” It was a promise he would never break since he never wanted to go through life without her by his side. Also, was it too soon to ask her to marry him? “So, what happens now?”

  “With what?”

  He pointed at her, and then at himself. “You and me. I want to wake up with you every morning.”

  “I’d like that, too. The problem is that my house is too small for you, me, Rambo, Dakota, and Maggie May, but that’s where my studio is, and I work late at night sometimes.”

  “Did you know SEALs are masters at solving problems?” And this was one he was going to solve fast.

  “Are they now?”

  He nodded, liking the way she was looking at him, as if she was about to get naughty.

  “So, if I told you I had a problem with a little itch I needed scratched, you could—”

  “On it!” He carried his laughing girl to his bedroom, the one that would soon be theirs.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  “When’s the baby due?”

  Nichole blinked at Jack’s grandmother. “What baby?”

  “The one you’re going to give me before I die.”

  Jack sighed as he poured syrup over his pancakes. “Grammie, you’re not going to die. At least, not soon. Besides, she hasn’t asked me to marry her yet, so first things first.”

  Nichole choked on the coffee she was swallowing, getting an amused glance from Jack. Only three days had passed since he’d brought up living together, and they so weren’t ready for marriage or babies.

  “Well, what are you waiting for, dear? Ask him.”

  Over pancakes with his Grammie watching? So not happening. “Ah...”

  “Next you’re going to want to watch us make a baby,” Jack said, narrowing his eyes at his grandmother.

  “Don’t be silly, Jackie. You can just tell me when the deed is done.”

  Grammie—what she’d ordered Nichole to call her—looked at Nichole and winked. The woman loved messing with her grandson, and it was amusing to see. Nichole grinned. Grammie and her cohorts in crime, especially Mary, were a hoot as long as their attention wasn’t on her.

  This morning Grammie and Mary had given her and Jack each a copy of the Kama Sutra. Nichole had heard of the book detailing sex techniques, and when she’d flipped through it with the two ladies watching, she’d slammed it closed, hoping her cheeks weren’t as red as they felt.

  “You didn’t look inside yours,” she’d said to Jack.

  He snorted. “Word of advice, never ever open anything those two give you until you’re alone.”

  She’d definitely remember that for all future presents from Grammie and Mary. Embarrassing or not, though, they sure made life interesting. She’d have to learn to take them in stride, or at least pretend to and not turn beet red like she had with the Kama Sutra book.

  * * *

  “I can’t believe you did this,” Nichole said, glancing at Jack, who was wearing a pleased-with-himself-smile. Three weeks had passed since he’d brought up living together, and he hadn’t mentioned it since. She’d begun to think he’d changed his mind.

  “I want you to live with me, and to do that, you need a studio, so I built you one.”

  She snapped her fingers. “Just like that?”

  “For you, baby, I’ll move mountains.”

  His words made her feel all warm and gooey inside. “Don’t mind me. I’m just going to melt in a puddle at your feet.”

  “I’d rather you stayed a person. Hard to do this to a puddle.”

  He cupped her face, lowered his mouth to hers, and kissed her with such loving tenderness that she was sure she was going to melt anyway. No man in her life had treated her with so much respect and care before, and she loved him for it.

  “I can’t believe you built this so fast.” The room had been added to the back of his garage and was bigger than her studio. She loved the windows that let in light, which she’d always missed in her garage studio.

  “Had some help. Deke and a few of his cop buddies pitched in. He also knew someone that fast-tracked getting a permit.” He moved behind her, wrapped his arms around her, and rested his head on hers. “I thought you’d want to decide on where you wanted shelves and stuff, so we didn’t do anything to the inside other than the sink and counter.”

  “Oh, boy.” Excited, she clapped her hands. “I’m going to have so much fun doing that. When I set up my garage for a studio, it was when I was first starting, and I really didn’t know what I was doing. Now I do.”

  He chuckled. “I guess I know what we’re going to be doing this weekend.”

  “Hell, yeah!”

  “Right after you move in with me,” he added.

  “I don’t remember agreeing to that.”

  “Then let me remind you.” He backed her to the wall, and did he ever remind her.

  * * *

  “I have some news you two are going to like,” Deke said.

  “Yeah? What’s that?” Jack handed hi
s friend a beer.

  “Is Nichole around? She needs to hear this, too.”

  “She’s in her studio. She’ll want to thank you anyway for helping me get it built.”

  “Likes it then?” Deke asked as they headed to the studio.

  Jack chuckled. “You would’ve thought I’d given her the moon and stars.”

  Four days had passed since Nichole had moved in with him. Her studio was set up to her liking, and he was learning the fine art of living with a woman. She accused him of being a neat freak, and he privately thought she was messy, but he knew better than to share his opinion on the shoes left by the door, the pottery magazines piling up in various places in the house, and the ponytail holders all over the place that seemed to multiply by the day.

  He wouldn’t change a thing.

  “We have a visitor, babe.” He grinned at seeing the slash of mud on her cheek.

  “Oh, hi, Deke,” she said.

  “Hey.” He looked around. “So, this is where the magic happens.”

  “Yep.” She went to the sink and washed her hands. “Thanks for helping Jack get it built. Thank your friends who pitched in, too.”

  “Will do.”

  Jack wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “Deke said he has some news for us.”

  “You’ll both be happy to hear that Lane Gregory decided it was in his best interest to leave town. Apparently, he got on the bad side of some dudes you don’t want to cross, who are gunning for him.”

  “The same ones who put him in the hospital?” Jack asked.

  “Yes. We’d really like to arrest them, but he refuses to name them or testify against them.”

  “They must be really scary then. Lane prides himself on not being afraid of anyone,” Nichole said.

  Deke nodded. “I have my suspicions on who they are, and, if I’m right, Gregory’s smart to worry about living another day if he sticks around.”

  “So we don’t have to watch our backs anymore. That is good news.” The day Gregory had been released from the hospital, Jack had stuck close to Nichole, taking her to work and picking her up. On her days at the artisan mall, he’d left Dakota with her. Like Jack, his dog would protect Nichole with her life.