KissedByASEAL (14 page)

Color crept into her cheeks. Her expression said everything her words didn’t. If he wasn’t completely off base, he’d say she wanted him, but didn’t want to say it.

When she didn’t continue, he decided to help her out. “Horny?”

“Uck. I hate that word.” She cringed but he couldn’t help notice she didn’t deny that’s exactly what she was.

He smiled at her reaction. Her silent admission was good enough for Chris to move in closer. He leaned lower, running his lips up her neck.

Against her ear, he said, “Then that word will never pass my lips again.” His mouth was going to be too busy for talking soon anyway.

A visible shudder ran through her and he realized the many nuances his imagination hadn’t even come close to conjuring. The reality of touching Darci was far better than all his fantasies.

A reality this good deserved the proper setting. He lifted her against him.

She squealed when her feet left the ground. “What are you doing?”

“Taking you to that big bed over there. That okay?”

“Yes.” Her answer came out shaky. That brought a smile to Chris’s lips.

“Good.” He carried her to the heavy wooden bed draped in ethereal fabric that hung from the ceiling.

The sun had begun to sink behind the palms, casting the room in shadows. The scene was like a dream, but it was real. The warmth of her body beneath his as he lay over her on the sprawling mattress was proof of that.

He pressed one thigh between hers. At the same time, he slid his palm over the fabric of her dress covering her stomach, all the way until he reached the bare skin of her legs. He started the return journey up her leg, under her dress, until he hit her underwear.

Slipping beneath the lacey fabric, he sought the warmth between her legs. His fingertip connected with a spot that had her drawing in a sharp breath, before he covered her mouth with his.

He kissed her deep and long, like he’d wanted to for what seemed like forever.

They had all night. He intended to take every bit of that time to make this unforgettable for both of them. And part of making it unforgettable was making Darci writhe from his touch.

“Chris?”

As he silently prayed she wasn’t about to tell him to stop, he managed to ask, “Yeah?”
 

“Something’s cutting into my shin. It’s hurting me.”
 

“Sorry. It’s my leg holster.” He’d forgotten all about that, and the other piece at his back.

“Can you take it off?”

Overwhelmed with relief that his gun hurting her leg was her only complaint, he laughed. “Yeah, I can take it off.”

Gladly. It was well past time to strip off the vestiges of his job and get down to the bare necessities. Just him and her and this big bed waiting to be used to its full potential.

He’d happily take his time stripping Darci later. That would be his extreme pleasure, but his clothes had to go, and the faster the better. They were keeping him from being closer to the one object of his desire. Darci.

Chris hoisted himself off her and managed to get off the bed and stand on the floor without doing her further damage.

He toed off his shoes while slipping out of his jacket. He was usually pretty neat. Twenty years in the Navy did that to him. Today, he tossed the jacket onto the back of a chair and didn’t worry too much about if it landed where he’d intended or not.

There was a time for being tidy, and then there was a time for getting down to business.

One look at Darci as she watched him undress made the decision of which this was easy. Reaching behind him, he grabbed the Glock from where he’d stashed it in the waist holster attached to the belt. He pulled it out and laid it on the desk before he unbuckled the belt and unzipped the fly on his khaki trousers. He slid them down and off before bracing one foot on the chair and unbuckling the leg holster.

His Kimber and the leg holster went onto the desk too, as Darci watched wide-eyed. “That’s a lot of hardware you’re wearing.”

He didn’t tell her that she didn’t know the half of it, or that the room safe was currently packed nearly full with the contents of his weapons bag.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s off now.” He pulled off his shirt and socks and moved to the bed in nothing but his underwear.

There he ignored that his briefs didn’t hide how excited he was to be there and instead, he reached for her.
 

Kneeling on the mattress between her feet, he leaned low and kissed one shin, then the other. “No more bruising this perfect skin.”

He didn’t stop at her shins, but moved up to kiss first one thigh and then the other, raising the hem of her dress as he moved upward toward his goal.

When he got to her underwear, he took a moment to admire the way the white lace looked against her creamy skin, before he hooked his fingertips in the waist and slid them down.

She waited, watching, anticipating his next move. He didn’t make either of them wait any longer. He spread her legs wide, lowered his head and reveled with pure male pride as his first touch wrenched a cry of pleasure from her.

He’d imagined this moment more times than he could count. Now, he realized he’d done himself a great injustice because his mind had skimped on all the best details.

The way the color rose to her cheeks. How she watched him from beneath lids heavy with desire. How she bit her bottom lip as she lifted her hips, seeking more.

How he was aware of every shaky breath she took as her body tightened before finally letting loose in a release that shook her. Hell, that shook them both, to the core.

Darci was still gasping for breath when he slid her dress up the rest of the way, all the way over her head before tossing it to the far end of the sprawling bed.

Her bra clasp was conveniently located in the front, making it easy for him to pop it open and expose each pink peak, before he slipped first one and then the other into his mouth.

He tried not to crush her with his weight but she didn’t seem to worry about that as she grasped his hips and pulled him tighter against her.

The only thing that separated them—the prevented him from doing something foolish like plunge into this woman unprotected—was his underwear. Even with that barrier, he felt the warmth between her legs beckoning.

“Let me go grab something out of my bag. Okay?”

She nodded, looking eager, feeling that way too as she didn’t release her tight hold on him so he could move.

He grasped her head in both hands and delivered one more kiss, which became more intense than he’d intended. He finally got himself to move, to leave her long enough to run to the bathroom, get the condoms and ditch his underwear.

It was like an obstacle course as he navigated the room, dodging discarded shoes—both hers and his—as well as the other clothing on the floor from when he’d dropped trough.

Finally, he was back to her. She’d pulled down the outer bedcovers and lay on pristine white sheets, waiting for him.

He didn’t waste any time. This was a need too long denied on his part. That combined with her encouragement as she pulled him down to her made waiting any longer not only foolish, but impossible.

When Darci palmed his ass, Chris went with it. He let her guide him to where he wanted to be. Her eyes, as blue and warm as the summer sky, locked on his as he sunk deep inside her, and he was lost.

Time passed at a surreal pace, but like all good things, eventually it had to come to an end, but not before leaving them both breathless and sweaty.

His chest still heaved as he lay next to her beneath the covers. Running and weight lifting kept him in good shape physically, but he’d just had one hell of a workout.

Making love to Darci was enough to take any man’s breath away. But that he felt he had something to prove made it even worse. He wanted to prove to Darci just what she’d gotten herself into by finally offering herself to the man who’d wanted her for years.

He only hoped she had been as affected as he was by them being together.

Even though he’d just had her, he wanted her again. Wrapping his arms around her, he rolled them both over and moved in to kiss her.

She smiled before he reached her mouth. “Again? Already?”

“What?” he asked, playing innocent when he knew damn well what she felt between them.

“I can feel you against my leg.”

“Oh, that.” He tried to hide the twitch of a smile on his lips and shrugged. “I figure we don’t have to be anywhere until tomorrow. There’s a lot I want to accomplish between now and then.”

“You are going to need to sleep at some point.”

“Nope.” He braced his head on one hand so he could see her better. “The military was real good about training the need to sleep out of me.”

“Well, I’ll need to sleep sometime.”

He smiled down at her. “Do that Sunday when we get home. Maybe if you’re real lucky I’ll let you rest in between rounds. I might even feed you, so you don’t get weak.”
 

“Chris?”

“What’s on your mind, darlin’?” Slipping his hand beneath the covers, he trailed one finger down the warm skin of her belly, heading for the spot that would make her stop talking once he reached it.
 

She lifted up on one elbow so they were eye level. When the sheet fell away from her breast, he couldn’t resist and leaned low to kiss one creamy swell.

“I want you to know that I understand this doesn’t mean anything.” Darci’s words were like nails on a chalkboard.

His smile of satisfaction disappeared and the motion of his hand stopped as she dropped that verbal bomb. He pulled back to look at her. “Excuse me?”

“I want you to know I understand what this is. It’s just one weekend, and then we’ll go back and never speak of it again. Not to Rick. Not to Brody. Not to Ali. Nobody needs to know.”

“So this is just a fling?” The words tasted bitter on his tongue.

“Exactly. Nothing will change between us. We’ll go back to the way we were before. Just acquaintances.”

Acquaintances
. Not even friends.

The real kicker, the thing that twisted his gut like a kick in the balls, was how excited she seemed about the whole thing.

She was laying down ground rules as if he hadn’t just moments ago been inside her, something he was apparently supposed to forget after the weekend was over.

The problem was, he didn’t want to forget.

Her plan. Hell, her
decree
, was surprisingly hurtful. Other men might be thrilled with her idea.

Another time, another place, another woman, he might be happy about it himself. But not here, not now and definitely
not
with her. He’d wanted her for too long. Cared about her too much, while all he’d gotten in return was what amounted to polite indifference.

It was hard to wrap his head around what Darci was asking. It seemed the polar opposite of what he assumed a woman would want. She wanted to give him everything she had, but just for the weekend. Then they’d be nothing to each other again.

Just acquaintances
.

The meaning behind the words ate a hole in his gut. As crazy as he was about her, he might have been able to live with just being friends. He wouldn’t be happy about it, but he’d have accepted it. But she didn’t even think of him like that, and that was like a knife to the heart.

If the choice was to have her for the weekend and never again, or to not have her at all, he knew what he had to do.

Only an insane man would say no to the offer she was making. In spite of her efforts to drive him crazy, he wasn’t there quite yet. He’d take her deal, but he fully intended to show Darci exactly what she would be missing by dismissing him when they got back.

A meaningless fling with the sister of his one of his closest friends.

The only thing saving him from feeling worse about the whole thing was that this hadn’t been his intention or his plan. Not one bit. He wanted to date her. To be her best friend and confidant. He wanted a real relationship with her.

Didn’t Darci know she could wrap him around her little finger if she wanted to? He would have willingly been anything she asked him to be. As serious as she wanted.

Unfortunately, what she wanted from him was meaningless sex.

Apparently, he wasn’t dating material, in her opinion. He wasn’t good enough for the long term. Just for a few tumbles in bed.

Fine. He’d give her all the sex she could handle and then deal with how that was going to screw with his head and his heart later, because he knew even though Darci might be able to pretend it meant nothing to her, he wouldn’t be able to.

There was no way this wasn’t going to mean something to him. Every time he let himself touch her, love her, sink into her, he fell deeper into his feelings. He’d be drowning in them soon.

He couldn’t let himself fall for her. This was all over Sunday. She’d said so herself.

Maybe if he treated her like a casual hook-up—which was apparently what she wanted to be—he’d stop thinking of her as a girlfriend.