21 Marine Salute: 21 Always a Marine Tales (113 page)

“Inadequacy?” The challenge to his masculinity couldn’t be ignored.

“You are too easy to tease.” Laughter rippled through her expression and she pinched his ass. “Way too easy and you said you loved me. Which means you don’t get to take it back.” She wrapped her legs around his hips, effectively trapping him.

He remembered saying it and he tested it out again. “I do love you. I’ve loved you for a really long time.”

Easing over onto his side, he pulled her next to him. He’d barely looked at the room and found he didn’t care that they were inside a club or that the rest of the world waited just down that hallway. All that mattered—Kara—was in his arms.

Finally.

“Say it again,” she murmured.

“I love you.” Yeah, saying it really didn’t suck.

Kara had no idea how much time passed while they lay there. Derek never let go of her. Their breathing returned to normal and the erratic, racing thump of his heart slowed. She savored the moment. He
loved
her. Drunk on his admission, she wanted to bask in it before he roused and changed his mind about what he said.

Exhaling a soft sigh, he rubbed her arm. “Kara….”

“Don’t.” She nuzzled his chest.

“Don’t what?” He trailed his hand along her shoulder.

“Don’t take it back yet. We have the rest of the night. I want to enjoy this for as long as it lasts.” she snuggled and kissed the spot over his heart.

“Kara, do you really think so little of me that I’d take back saying I love you?” His quiet tone darkened, and a thrill skated up her spine. Whether for the repeat of his declaration or the danger in his voice, she couldn’t be sure.

Apparently they were going to have the conversation whether she wanted it or not. Lifting her head, she studied him. “I can count on my hand the number of times I thought we were going somewhere and then you shut me down. Twice when you were in a towel.”

“I don’t have enough fingers or toes to count the number of times I’ve been stupid in my life.” He curled her hair around his finger. “I promised your brother I would look after you, and he wasn’t the biggest fan of me getting you into bed.”

“Yeah, but Keith—Keith had plans.”

“Yes, he did.” Derek chuckled. “You were going to marry a doctor or a lawyer. Some boring nine-to-five suit who’d come home every night, set you up in a big house, and make sure you were taken care of. A gentleman with a good education and the money to make sure you never lacked.”

God, that sounded like Keith. Their modest parents never let them go hungry, even if they had to keep the frills to a bare minimum. Most guys would have cared how it affected them, but not Keith. He went military to pay for his education and had their parents put his college fund into hers.

Resting her chin on his chest, Kara sighed. “Did you ever get around to interviewing potential candidates? I’m assuming he handpicked my husband.”

“Nah, though he did like that one boyfriend of yours—Arnold? Ackron?”

“Andrew?”

“Yeah.” Derek grimaced. “Him.”

“Andrew liked to spike sorority girls’ drinks with roofies and get into bed with them so they’d date him.” She busted him on it during her sophomore year and saved her roommate from a hell of a bad night.

“Son of a bitch.” His arms tightened around her. “Keith did not know that.”

She shook her head. “Of course he didn’t. He didn’t know a lot of things about me ’cause he would have pounded Andrew into mulch and gone to jail.”

“I’d have helped.” The flat agreement didn’t surprise her. Keith and Derek were two peas in a pod, brothers from another mother.

“So manly and tough, looking after me. What is it with you Marines? Even Logan wanted me to check in tonight if anything went hinky so he could rescue me.” She shook her head. “Ya’ll seem to think I can’t take care of myself.”

“It’s not about thinking you can’t—it’s about thinking you shouldn’t have to. And who’s Logan?” And that dark dangerous note threaded through his voice again.

It would be fun to tease him—later. “My very, very married co-worker. He helps out in the physiotherapy wing. His wife is one of my patients.”

The hard tension in Derek’s muscles eased. “Glad to hear it.”

Doubt ambushed her. “I won’t hold you to it…the confession. I know you said it could never work between us, and I know what my brother made you promise.”

His expression froze and he sighed. “Kara….”

“No. It’s okay. I get it. I get honor, and fidelity, and loyalty. Semper fi and all that—okay maybe I don’t get it completely, but I want to. I’ll respect it even if I don’t like it.”

“Are you done?” He raised his eyebrows in question.

“I just wanted you to know I understand, and I’ll do my best to keep my distance.” Though if it had been hard before, it’d be unbelievably impossible now. She’d touched him, felt him beneath her—in her. And everything about it was so right.

“Done
now
?” The line of his mouth thinned, whitening at the edges, and a muscle in his jaw twitched. Apparently she’d pissed him off again.

“Fine.” She let it go. “I’m done.”

“Good.” Sliding a hand behind her neck, he tugged her down and captured her mouth, blotting out all the whirring thoughts in her head with a fresh blanket of lust. Her heart ping-ponged against her ribs and excitement coiled in her belly.

Breaking the kiss, he kept his forehead pressed to hers. “There are three things you need to know about me. The first is Keith was my best friend in this world. I’d have cut off my arm for him, and I did. He asked me to leave you be, let you grow up, and when he knew he wouldn’t make it, he made me promise to look after you. Second, I’m a man of my word; I don’t break it. If I say something, I mean it. I promised him to look after you and make sure you were happy and I let you grow up. You’re a grown woman. How did you put it earlier? A grown, fine-assed woman.” His grin shackled her heart. She would do anything for this man. He was the missing piece of her puzzle. “And three, I love you more than I love my own life. Staying away from you has been the hardest damn thing I’ve ever done, but when you were eighteen and in my room that day—yeah—that made it even harder. I took a job at Mike’s Place to be near you. I’m out. I won’t have to go back again.”

Her heart skipped. “Discharged?”

“Fully. Keith didn’t want you with a Marine because he knew we aren’t nine-to-fivers, you’d be alone more than you’d be with me. But I’m out, and nine-to-five with you sounds like plenty of adventure for me. And I want it with you.”

It sounded like everything she’d ever wanted, except…. “Derek Green, you took a job to be
near
me and then planned a one-night stand with some stranger?”

Yeah, he’d hoped they’d gloss over that part. “In my defense, you planned a one-night stand of your own.” He kept his arms tight around her lest she try to slip away.

“I thought I didn’t stand a chance with you and I got tired of hanging around waiting for you to notice.” She pinched him—hard.

“Ow.” Capturing her wrist, he shook his head. “I always noticed you.”

“Uh huh.” She whacked him with her free hand, and he caught her wrist and rolled her onto her back, pinning her to the bed.

“Ow. Stop hitting me.” He laughed.

“You’re stupid.” She pursed her lips and scowled at him. “You make
plans
to be near me, but you don’t call, and you book a sex date before you see me? And then you tell me you love me? And then you tell me how it’s always been about me? How was tonight about me?”

“Who am I in bed with right now?” He couldn’t defend the choice. It seemed the right thing to do at the time and he had no idea how bad an idea it was until she walked into the club.

“That’s only because we were matched up.” The news didn’t seem to mollify her.

“Sweetheart, I think the fact that this Madame Eve lady matched us speaks for itself.” Trailing kisses across the frown wrinkling her brow, he teased the corners of her eyes and then pressed his lips to each of her cheeks. “I wanted to do everything right and keep my word to Keith, but looking after you means making sure you’re happy…and I can’t do that from a distance.”

“You just figured that out?”

Damn, she was amazingly beautiful, even when angry. The sparks in her eyes, the curl of her lip, and the open challenge in her expression were amazing facets of the perfect jewel. He’d seen so many horrible things in his life and done worse in the name of defending his country, but Kara cleansed him like fresh spring air after a stormy, turbulent winter.

“I’m a slow learner, but I never forget.” He nuzzled the corner of her mouth. He couldn’t get enough of her. “And I’m very determined to make sure you never forget, either.”

“So if I’d just jumped your bones a few years ago? Shown up in a towel or less than that…we could have avoided all of this?”

The mouthwatering image turned him on. He grinned. “Maybe, but now you can make me pay for my transgressions for the rest of my life. I promise to be a model Marine and take it like a man.” Laughter huffed against his ear and he lifted his head to gaze at her. Opportunities to fix the past didn’t come up often, and he wouldn’t waste this one for anything in the world. It didn’t matter how long it took or what he had to do, he’d come to Texas for Kara no matter what other stories he made up to excuse his choices.

“I’m going to hold you to that. And I haven’t forgiven you yet.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He trailed his fingers down her arms, and dipped his head lower to kiss a path to her breasts. “Please, tell me how I can make it up to you.”

Her only answer was a groan.

***

One week later
….

“Kara, your boyfriend is here,” Logan called across the gym, loud enough that everyone heard it. Silence cut through the room and she bit back a retort to watch Derek walk the gauntlet under the watchful gaze of more than two dozen servicemen and women working out on various pieces of equipment.

Damn, if he didn’t hold his head high. Apparently word of their dating made for swift traveling gossip at the facility. She hadn’t encouraged it, but she hadn’t denied it, either. But what a week it had been. He’d started his new job and picked her up every day for lunch and dinner and brought her to work after breakfast. The perfect week, and she kept waiting to see if the bubble would burst. To his credit, Derek focused on her and not the rumors.

“Ready?” Amusement gleamed in his eyes.

She never wanted it to end. “You really are the perfect Twinkie.”

He blinked. “I’m sorry, what?”

“Completely delicious, and impossible to say no to.” She wrapped her arms around him and gave the guys a show with a toe-curling kiss. The hoots and wolf whistles broke them apart and Derek laughed.

“Since you can’t say no,” he rubbed his nose to hers and then withdrew, dropping to one knee. Fear knotted along with the hope lodged in her throat. “Why don’t you marry me?”

Her heart donkey-kicked her ribs. “What?”

“Will you marry me?”

A dozen reasons to say no rioted in her brain. It had only been a week. They had so much history between them. They never talked about plans or the future, and they spent so much time being drunk on each other. She didn’t even know if he snored—she always fell asleep before he did and woke after. How well could they possibly know each other? So many reasons to say no, to say wait.

But she only needed one reason to say yes. It had always been Derek. She had not, and would never, love another the way she loved him.

“Yes,” she whispered and melted into his kiss as he lifted her up and spun her around. Shouts and whistles and applause surrounded them, but Kara barely heard any of it. Derek belonged to her—finally. They had the rest of their lives to answer everything else.

Always a Marine Book 17

By

Heather Long

The mission of the U. S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Program is to collect new, unwrapped toys during October, November, and December each year and distribute those toys as Christmas gifts to less fortunate children in the community in which the campaign is conducted. The primary goal of Toys for Tots is to deliver, through a new toy at Christmas, a message of hope to these youngsters that will assist them in becoming responsible, productive, patriotic citizens.

This holiday collection of the
Always a Marine
series is dedicated to Toys for Tots and the men and women of the United States Marine Corps Reserve who dedicate their time, their efforts, and their funds to delivering this message of hope. A portion of the proceeds from each of these books will be donated to Toys for Tots to continue that mission. Semper Fi.

http://www.toysfortots.org

~Dedication~