Code Name: Ghost (A Warrior's Challenge 1) (21 page)

She cocked her head. “How did you know?”

He flashed a charming smile. “Dance with me
and I’ll tell you.” He extended his hand for her to take. “I’m
Jason. I’m from Ontario,” he said, guiding her to the dance
floor.

Cobbs brushed a hand through the air and the
waitress was on top of them. “
Señorita
, we’re gonna need a
couple bottles. And the big guy here needs his own bottle. Get some
nachos and a pail of crabs or something, too.”

“
Sí, Señor
,” she said, then wove
through the crowd to fill their order.

“We’re gonna end up in a goddamned fight
again,” his Master Chief said, laughing and slamming his hand down
on the heavily carved table. “Ahh, I love a good bar fight.”

“Hey, it’s his own damn fault,” Cobbs
drawled.

“If you’re talking about me, you can shut
the fuck up,” he said, leaning forward snatching the tequila
bottle.

Mace shook his head at him. “You’re an
idiot, Commander.”

“See, I told ya,” Cobbs said, yanking the
bottle from his hand and splashing his shooter glass to
overflowing. “We can all see it.”

“What he can’t see is that guy is totally
putting the moves on Kayla.” Mace jerked his head toward the dance
floor.

“Listen up, men—it’s not going to happen.”
He kept his eyes on the team instead of her. She could dance with
anyone she wanted. She could go to bed with the guy… No, she
couldn’t. Would she? He didn’t know which emotion hit him harder,
the overwhelming lust he couldn’t seem to control when he was
around her or the explosion of jealousy rearing up inside him
thinking of her with someone else.

The team started to jeer, and Cobbs threw
his arm across his shoulders. “You’re about to cave, old
friend.”

“I’m not caving,” he said, shaking his head.
He’d caved this afternoon. As soon as he’d made the callous remark
to Law, he was sorry. In the lunchroom, he’d wanted Kayla to give
in with his kiss. He sensed if they had been anywhere else—alone,
she would have made him a very happy man. Fuck, he wished they’d
been somewhere else.

“You’re going down like a house of cards,
Commander,” Fox said, thrusting his bottle in the air. “You’ve been
hanging on to bachelorhood far too long. Every man falls sooner or
later, you’re going down just like the rest of us.” He laughed,
missing his mouth, and the tequila dribbled down his chin, and
splattered on the table.

“Oh, look at that.” Mace nodded. “Here it
goes, ah, there’s the tilt of the head saying I’m interested in
you. And now he’s pulling her a little closer, not taking his eyes
off her.
Uh-oh
.”

The music changed and a slow song came on.
“Not caving,” he said, picking up the bottle and downing it from
the neck. Fox might be three-quarter ways sheeted to the wind, but
he wasn’t going there tonight, not with Kayla along for the ride.
If he kept himself partly sober, he wouldn’t lose control like he
did in Arizona.

“Sir?” Clay prompted, pulling his attention
to the young man.

Twenty-five-years-old and a genius with
electronics, Clay was their main communications link with the world
when they were out on a mission. Although he had a man’s body, his
features made him appear like the nineteen-year-old boy next door,
one who could rewire a satellite if he wanted to.

“I would think Kayla would want what every
other healthy female wants.” Clay raised his brows. “Sir, it’s not
like you’ve stopped having…company. You shouldn’t be pissed she
wants some attention.”

Sometimes, however, he hated how the kid
thought.

Cobbs was about to say something then
stopped, staring at him. “Oh, shit.”

“Screw off, Pat,” he warned, darting his
eyes away.

“Uh-huh. You still haven’t warmed up to a
piece of tail, Thane?”

“I’ve been busy.”

“Yeah, busy with what?” Cobbs prodded,
diving into the nachos the waitress plunked in the middle of the
table.

So what if he hadn’t been with anyone in a
while? His eyes darted to the dance floor, and he sat up straight.
“What the fuck!” he spouted, watching Kayla and the asshole trying
to get cozy with her. Jason’s hands slid dangerously low on her
backside and… “Screw that,” slamming the bottle on the table.

“Atta boy, Commander,” Fox bellowed, lifting
a glass in the air at him.

Their necks all twisted. The guy had Kayla’s
body molded to him. He whispered something to her, and she returned
an enormous smile.

“You gonna let some Canadian yahoo take
her?” Cobbs threatened. “What the hell are you waiting for? Your
attraction has been hot and heavy from the get-go. Your resistance
is futile,” he said, laughing and grabbed his shoulder. “You know
damn well it’s not just a one night stand. Sooo—” He swayed a
bottle in the air for emphasis. “You’re trying to stop it from
happening, for all the wrong reasons. And when it happens, and
believe me it’s going to happen, Thane, you’re going to go off like
a fuckin’ powder keg, and there’s no way you’re setting her free
after that.”

Mace’s shoulders rose with laughter. “I
didn’t know you were such a romantic, Lieutenant.”

“Mace if you keep banging everything you run
into, you’ll eventually find Miss Right,” Cobbs said, landing the
bottle on the table with a thud. “But you’ve got to start seeing
with your eyes instead of your dick.”

“Already have, but she doesn’t look at me
like she looks at him,” he said, crossing his arms over his
chest.

Thane turned a droll expression on Mace.
“Got news for you, Wonderboy, you couldn’t handle her.”

Mace quirked his lips. “Thanks for the
reality check, Flash Gordon.”

The team busted a gut, but he didn’t. If
that guy’s hands got any lower on Kayla’s ass he was going to break
both his arms. Kayla was all smiles. She didn’t smile at him like
that. The song ended and the guy grabbed her hand, pulling her
toward the bar. She hesitated, but he wasn’t taking no for an
answer.

Every muscle flexed tight in his body. If
Jason
from Ontario
said one wrong word to him, he’d
lay him out flat. He wove his way through the crowd to catch them,
and placed a solid, tight hand on Jason’s wrist, but looked at her.
“Kayla, dinner’s on the table, and the team’s missing you.”

Her eyes banked left and then right,
offering Jason an uncomfortable smile. He’d already released her
and quickly.

“Are you her big brother or something? I
promise my intentions are honorable,” Jason said with a joking
tone.

He could tell the guy wasn’t half bad,
but…big brother?
Get fuckin’ real.

“Commander, I was—”

“No, you weren’t,” he said, grabbing her
hand and dragging her back through the crowd.

“Hey,” she yanked her hand from his. “Listen
up, SEAL.”

They were standing in the middle of the
dance floor with everyone’s elbows crashing into them, yelling over
the music. “New rule, no dancing with other men,” he blurted before
he reasoned it out in his head.

“You can’t tell me who I can dance with,”
pointing an angry finger at him, her other hand propped on her
hip.

“All right, no dancing with other men in
front of me. Is that better?” he growled, angry she was arguing
with him, and what she was arguing about. “You can’t tell me you’d
sleep with that guy. He’s a fuckin’ asshat.”

“I’m dancing with the man, it’s a bit of a
leap from that to between the sheets. And here’s a newsflash, I can
sleep with whomever I want to sleep with, Commander,” she said
sharply, and swiveled as if she were going to find Jason to prove a
point.

His hand shot out to stop her. “I don’t
think so.” He yanked her into his arms and glared at her. Where the
hell was the nearest hotel room, because right now he wanted to
spread her perfect, shapely thighs and make a permanent home
between them.

“Don’t look at me like that,” she barked and
slapped her hands on his chest trying to push him away.

“Calm down, Kayla.” If she didn’t, he was
going to spin out of control. The crowded dance floor and the
sultry night made his body heat spiral, but something else had
begun to spiral upwards as well.

“Your command ended when we left the base.
Stop telling me what to do.”

He curled her tight to his chest. “Kayla—”
his voice deepened with warning. “I’d be more than happy to fuck
the daylights out of you for the next week straight, probably for
the next year, but I know that’s not what you want.”

She stilled in his arms. “What happened in
Arizona was a mistake,” she said, bowing her head.

“No, it wasn’t, but I can’t give you what
you want.” He breathed out heavily. “Or what I want,” he admitted.
She strained against him. Instead of letting her go, he squeezed
tighter.

“I don’t want anything, you arrogant ass,”
she said, surprising him.

Weaving his fingers through her hair, he
gently prodded her to look at him. “Yes—you do, and…”

She fisted her hand and actually shoved it
in his face. “If you say you can’t to me again, I’m going to knock
you out cold, do you understand me?”

A hefty guy letting it loose on the dance
floor nearly crashed into her. Thane’s hand shot out and the guy
bounced off it. Watching her expression, he pressed his lips
together to burn the grin before it formed.

“I’m glad you find this amusing,
Commander.”

“I’m laughing at how pissed you get when
you’re backed into a corner.”

“You’re an asshole.”

“No, I’m a bastard,” he corrected. “Hey,
look at me. If I were an asshole, I’d be enticing you into bed with
all sorts of empty promises. No matter how much I want you, I won’t
do that, not with you.” Why did her eyes have to be so beautiful?
Every time he looked into them, he weakened a little more like
someone removing the bricks from a dam one by one.

“Why are we having this useless
conversation, sir?”

His brows popped thinking about a good
retort. “Probably because I’m trying to convince myself I’m doing
the right thing,” he said next to her ear.

“Right,” she drawled. “I made a fool out of
myself in Arizona. I think I learned my lesson. Now, are you done
embarrassing me, sir?”

Backing up, he pulled her with him until he
reached the thatched wall, the dark corner smelling like stale
beer, urine and wafting with some woman’s cheap perfume. “What did
I tell you about calling me sir?” he ground out.

“Sorry,
sir
, it’s just a sign of
respect.”

“Kayla, I don’t deserve your respect. I
don’t deserve you, but I’ve got enough tequila in me I’m starting
to not give a shit.”

“You don’t need tequila to not give a shit
about me, I assure you of that.”

She strained to hold herself away from him.
“I’d clear a table and make love to you in front of everyone I want
you so bad right now, if you want to know the truth.”

She choked on her words, staring up at him
with wide eyes.

“You think I’m kidding,” he warned, sliding
his arms around her waist, pinning her hips to his. Their bodies
were the perfect ebb and flow, fitting together without resistance.
“There’s nothing I want more than to make love to you.” The
erection in his pants busting his seams confirmed it. “In my mind
I’m already buried to the hilt inside you. I get hard just thinking
about making you cry out my name.” His lips brushed against her
neck, and he took a deep breath, the scent of her skin more
important than air. “I want to caress and kiss your body all night,
until you’re going out of your mind, and come apart in my arms.
That’s what I want because you drive me fucking nuts every time I
see you.”

“Comm—”

“Every time I open a door, I see you,
whether you’re there or not.” His hand slid down her curves and
rested next to the crease by her thigh. Only an inch away, he could
feel her heat, and it made him even harder. “I know that beautiful
silk is wetting your thighs right now, and I want to follow it up
to your sweetest place, and drown in it.” His entire body had grown
into a taut spring, driving himself to the point of orgasm
admitting what he’d wanted for months.

Her lips parted to say something, but he
came down on them with frustration and lust welling together inside
him. A moan of need escaped him and broke their connection. “Why
can’t
we make love?” The warm skin of her cheeks called his
lips to explore. Sliding down to her neck, he bit it gently as her
body softened in his arms. “Jesus, I want you,” and he kissed her
with every ounce of longing inside him. She let him in her mouth to
play with her tongue, and it shot his passion higher. Her
taste—enticing, and he wanted to savor it all night. The drum of
the loud music dulled against the heavy beat of need pulsing inside
him.

Common sense rallied with his lust. Maybe
they could enjoy each other without the trappings, without having
to put her through hell like all the other women who joined their
lives to a SEAL. If he just had her once, the yearning to see her
every day and the burning need to love her would go away. “Either
we’re going to do this and get it out of our systems or we’re
moving on,” he said harshly.

Her submissive eyes snapped, and she tensed
in his arms. “Then move on, I don’t need a pity fuck,” she spat at
him like an angry cat with her claws flexed.

Even in the darkness, he could see her
cheeks flush. Every time he opened his mouth around her, he shoved
his foot into it. “Kayla—that came out wrong. Listen, I meant it.
Next weekend we’ll come back together—alone. You can go searching
for treasures, and then we’ll…” He paused, remembering what Cobbs
said. Once he made love to Kayla, he knew letting her go would be
impossible.

“Thanks for the offer, Commander,” she said,
cutting him off. “I can drive in a straight line and find this
place myself, and if I need a roll in the hay, I’ll do it with
someone who actually likes me.”