Tangled Pursuit (19 page)

Her mouth was soft, giving, receiving, but also bold and hungry. Their breaths quickly grew ragged as he plundered her lips, opening her, ravenous to delve into her warmth, her depths. Hearing her low moans drove him right over that invisible ledge, and he crushed his pelvis against hers, letting her know how much she turned him on. When she moved her hands down his chest, wrapping them around his hips, sliding sensually against him, Wyatt growled like the jungle cat she brought out in him. This woman was taking no prisoners!

He felt her moist breath against his cheek, felt her urgency as her lips opened, her tongue boldly engaging his. There was nothing subtle or coy about Tal Culver right now. She knew what she wanted and was taking it.

His tongue slid commandingly against hers. Jesus, if he kept this up, he was going to come right here!
Right now.
He could barely think as her hands, now strong and guiding, urged him against her belly and her curved thighs, teasing him.

How badly Wyatt wanted to dip down into her to see if she was wet or not. But he knew she was. He dragged in her aphrodisiac scent, and he nearly came on the spot.

Wyatt held her captive against the wall, feeling her breasts press into his chest, her fingers digging frantically into his hips as she rocked herself against him, moaning softly, a hungry, impatient moan of wanting more.

Damn, he wanted more, too. Without thinking, his hands moved down, sliding over her shoulders, cupping her breasts. A cry tore from her and he absorbed the sound between their clinging, hungry mouths devouring one another. The damned canvas material of her blouse was thick and heavy. Wyatt wanted to tear it off and slide his hands around those beautiful breasts of hers. He wanted to see them in the half-light, lick those budding nipples and watch them harden under his teasing.

And then, he heard the noise.

Instantly, Wyatt tore his mouth from hers. They were both trembling, their breaths raspy and shallow. He cocked his head, catching the noise again.
Sonofabitch!
It was the MPs! Close, too!

“MPs. Follow me,” he rasped quietly near her ear. Easing away, he gripped Tal’s arm because she was shaky as hell, her walk unsteady. The MPs were on the south side, coming their way. He quickly led Tal in the opposite direction. She stumbled and he placed his arm around her shoulder, dragging her against him, steadying her. God, they were both about ready to have an orgasm after the white-hot fire they’d shared.

Wyatt moved away from the B-hut area, heading for another building two hundred feet away. He spotted the MP vehicle parked near the B-hut. Had someone seen them and reported them? It was possible.
Sonofabitch!

Could one of Tal’s officer friends have called and turned her in?

He eased his arm away from her shoulder, leading her by the hand around to the other side of the second building. He placed her gently in a corner where the darkness was total. Even if the snooping MPs came around this second building, they wouldn’t spot them. Wyatt was sure they were using NVGs, night-vision goggles. Here, in this narrow area, they were safe and unseen.

Without thinking, in a protective gesture, he gathered Tal tight against him so his back faced outward and she was sandwiched between him and the wall. Wyatt knew he’d hear those turkeys coming a mile away, and he could still outsmart them if he needed to for Tal’s sake.

“Why are they here?” she breathed raggedly near his ear.

“Someone from your B-hut must have seen us, Tal.” His voice lowered to a snarl. “One of those women in there isn’t your friend, sugar. She called the MPs on us.”

He caught the pained look in Tal’s narrowing eyes, saw the anger there and the shock. He leaned down, kissing her cheek. “It’s going to be okay. We’re safe. I heard them coming. I don’t think they’ll walk this far over. We just need to sit tight and wait them out like good snipers.”

Barely nodding, Tal relaxed within his hard, pressing grip. She shuddered, but it wasn’t from fear. It was from the raw arousal coursing savagely through her. Her breasts had grown so firm when he’d cupped them. Her nipples were pleading to be touched, suckled. She was shaking, needing an orgasm so badly she could barely stand. Her knees were wonky, and she was wildly aware of the male heat and strength of Wyatt as he protected her with his large, solid body.

Tal was still breathing hard and so was he. She’d seen and felt his arousal, that glinting, predatory look in his eyes. They were both starving for one another. She felt so much fluid in between her legs that she wondered if she’d orgasmed anyway. No, but she was so close. Tal ached so much she wanted to cry out and ask Wyatt to give her relief. She knew he would. The man knew how to love a woman, no question.

She drank in Wyatt’s nearness, that heavy sense of protection he always accorded her. He rested his chin lightly upon her shoulder and leaned his head against hers. Luxuriating in every movement of his chest, feeling his arm strong and steadying around her waist, holding her firmly against him, she felt his warrior side, but she also felt something else. At first, Tal couldn’t define it. There was a primal quality that had risen in Wyatt. She’d seen it in his eyes, heard it in his low tone, felt it like armor coming out and surrounding both of them. The sensation was so real to Tal, but her tumbling, melted mind couldn’t explain any of what she felt and sensed right now.

She knew she should be worried about their being found out and all that could entail. But right now, all she cared about was that Wyatt wanted her and she wanted him. His kiss had torn away any shreds of doubt or fear left in her. Her heart wanted it all, everything this man could give her, body, mind, soul. He was like a dark magician when he came near her, and his kiss had blown through her defenses once again, triggering an emotional and physical response she had never felt before.

Tal gloried in his male scent, the roughness of his beard against her cheek, the rise and fall of his chest against hers. He smelled so good to her, an aphrodisiac, the fragrance only making more fluid run down the insides of her thighs. She felt embarrassed by this, because it had never happened before.
Ever.
Was it because she’d gone years without a man? Was she simply walking around with orgasms waiting to explode within her? Or was it Wyatt, who more and more reminded her of that Anatolian leopard she’d seen: sleek, powerful, silent, and dominating?

There was no doubt in her mind that she was his and he was hers, and that the two of them were in a primal mating dance.

“Do you hear them?” she whispered, her lips against his ear.

He listened for a moment. “No,” he said quietly. “But let’s wait them out just a little bit longer . . .”

She smiled, nuzzling her nose into his hair. Tal felt him freeze as she placed one lingering kiss on his cheek and then one little lower, on his smooth, strong neck.

“God, Tal,” he rasped tightly. “Don’t . . . I’m barely hanging on . . .”

She laughed softly, brow against his cheek. “Me, too.” And then, taking a deep breath, she jumped in with both feet. “Wyatt?”

“What?”

“When the MPs have left?”

“Yeah?”

“I want you to take me to that room.” Tal felt him freeze, as if he didn’t believe that he’d heard correctly. “You know, the one with the bed?”

Wyatt expelled a long, ragged breath and slowly lifted his head, looking at her disbelievingly. “Tal? You’re serious?”

She felt his heavy, hard erection pressing deeply against her belly. Of course she was serious! She wanted him, all of him, inside her. They needed this. She needed him.

She whispered, “As serious as I’ve ever been.”

She felt Wyatt become very still as he studied her. Then his arm tightened briefly around her waist. “Be sure about this, Tal. Please . . . for both our sakes.”

At that moment, she felt her past fall away. She was free, and this man had released her from her self-imposed prison. Tal tenderly touched his face and then moved her fingers around the nape of his neck beneath his dark, slightly curled hair.

“I’m very sure, Wyatt. There’s no retreating now. Not for either of us . . .”

CHAPTER 11

T
AL TURNED, STANDING
near the bed, as Wyatt closed and locked the door. The MPs hadn’t come to the second building, and as soon as Wyatt saw them heading back toward the B-huts, he’d led her to the supply building.

Her heart was doing a slow pound as she sat down on the edge of the bed and took off one of her boots. He’d put on the overhead fan, dispelling the stuffiness of the room, and tossed the key on the nightstand. Her fingers shook as she pulled off the second boot.

Wyatt came and crouched, his hands on her knees, looking deep into her eyes. “What changed your mind, Tal?”

She met his shadowed, serious-looking gaze. “I could be killed out on that op, and I’d never know what it would be like to love you . . .”

Wyatt reached out and ran his hand down the length of the black braid falling over her shoulder. He released a ragged breath and nodded, understanding in his expression. “Okay, but this is your call, Tal. All the way.”

“I know, and I’m not changing my mind, Wyatt. This is right—for both of us.” Tal trembled as his hand moved slowly down her shoulder. Even through the heavy canvas material, her skin tightened with his stroking touch. “I want you . . . I’m so shaky inside, needing . . . God, just needing you . . .”

“You have me,” Wyatt promised thickly. “All of me. Now, let’s get the unpleasant stuff out of the way. I’m clean, I have no diseases. What about you?”

She laughed, sliding her fingers through his hair, feeling the strength of it, watching his eyes shutter half-closed, arousal burning in them. “Me? I haven’t had sex in years, Wyatt. I’m clean . . .”

“Good to know. I have condoms. Are you okay with that?”

Tal wrinkled her nose. “I hate condoms. We’re both clean. I’m just four days past my last period, so this is a safe time for me to have sex.”

She saw him frown. “You’re
sure
about that?”

“Very sure. You okay with it?”

“Hell, yes. I just don’t want to get you accidentally pregnant, is all.”

“I won’t get pregnant. I rarely have a period, if you want the truth. It’s my job, the physical demands and stresses on my body. I get one every three or four months.” She saw an emotion in his gray eyes that she couldn’t translate, but she felt his care and concern wrap around her. His hand came to rest on her thigh, and he gave her a wicked look.

“One other thing?”

“Yes?”

“When the first SEAL platoon built this place, they made sure it was soundproofed.”

She laughed a little. “I see. Then I can scream my head off when I’m coming. Is that it?”

His smile grew feral again. “Exactly. You don’t need to hold back for fear of being heard outside this place,” Wyatt said. “Oh, and don’t you dare undo that braid of yours. It’s mine to play with.”

She grinned and stood up after removing her socks. “You got it.”

Wyatt wasn’t shy about undressing in front of her. He let his clothes drop at his feet after removing his boots and pushing them aside.

Tal’s own fingers were trembling as she shed her uniform and draped her clothes over a nearby chair. She saw Wyatt’s erection pressing against his olive-green boxer shorts and she swallowed convulsively, now down to her bra and panties.

Wyatt quickly shed his boxers and stood naked in front of her. Every nerve ending in her body burned for him in every possible way. The man was hard, lean, well endowed, and tightly muscled. As Tal removed the bra and slipped out of her soaked panties, she thought Wyatt looked like a Greek sculpture. But then, he was a SEAL, and these men were some of fittest warriors on the planet.

He moved, all that masculine power radiating around him, taut, controlled, and dangerous. And all for her.

Wyatt smiled a little as he approached her. “You are beautiful,” he rasped, echoing her appraisal of him. He moved his hands lightly down her shoulders to her arms and then squeezed her hands. “More than I ever dreamed of, and I dream pretty good.”

“I think,” she whispered unsteadily, “we’re a mutual admiration society. I think
you’re
beautiful.”

He stood a foot away from her and released her hands, assessing her tall, straight, proud body. “It hurts me to see these old bruises on you,” he said, leaning over and caressing her thigh where her flesh was dark and purple.

Tal groaned, placing her hand on his shoulders to steady herself. Fire burned wherever he touched her. She felt even more dampness between her thighs. “Wyatt . . . ,” she breathed thickly. “Please . . .”

“I know, sugar,” he murmured, guiding her to the bed, urging her down while he began to undo her braid, releasing those black, shining strands quickly and efficiently. “I’m in just as bad a shape as you are,” he admitted. “I just want this to last . . . and I’ve been waiting for this ever since I first saw you.”

She felt as if her nipples were calling out to him,
Touch me!
How long was he going to make her wait? “Hurry . . . I-I’m so ready, Wyatt.”

“Yeah, I know you are, darlin’.” He released the last of her hair, and his eyes held a gleam of satisfaction. “Damn shame you can’t wear your hair down. You’re gorgeous with it around your face,” he said, and combed his fingers through the strands, arranging it so it lay like a soft, dark cloud below her shoulders.

Tal absorbed his nearness, his scent, and those fingers sliding through her hair. Her scalp tingled wildly, making her inhale and hold her breath as she soaked up the pleasure he was giving her with his mere touch.

“We’re taking this slow, Tal,” he said thickly, cupping her chin so their eyes met. “Three years practically makes you a virgin again. As much as I want to be a bull elk during rutting season, I’m not going to do that to you.” He assessed her, waited for her reaction.

Licking her lower lip, she gave a jerky nod. “Wyatt, I’m so wet—”

“I know, sugar, but I’m not going to hurt you. It’s going to take time, and you know it. So do I. You smell and taste so good,” he grated, gently turning her around, her back to him. He eased her thick black hair away from her neck and rasped his teeth across her exposed nape just enough to walk that line between pain and pleasure within her. He then licked her, adding a kiss to that sensitive erogenous zone. Maybe he was more cat than he realized. A male jaguar would grip his mate’s neck, mount her, and control her with his jaws around the back of her neck. Now he was nipping at Tal’s sensitive skin, hearing her moan and feeling her quiver over his primal instinct to give her pleasure. And she was his mate.