Walker (In the Company of Snipers #21) - Irish Winters Page 0,10
a hot-turkey sandwich? I’ve got gravy and leftovers from the breast I roasted yesterday. Or breakfast. I’ve got wine and whiskey, too. Name your poison.”
“Breast?” he asked. Of course, that was the only word he’d heard. He let his gaze shift from her pretty face to those succulent pillows mashed against his chest. And suddenly, he was hungry again. Starved. But not for turkey. “Later, princess. I’m working here,” he whispered as he tipped his face between those breasts and breathed. Just breathed in her feminine bouquet.
A hard man had to take whatever comfort he found along the way. Only this wasn’t just comfort. This woman’s plush, warm body truly was heaven.
Chapter Four
Persia didn’t want to feel anything for this man. This was a one-night stand. Nothing more. Her life was too busy for dating, too unpredictable to get tied down, even with some military guy who obviously knew what working for Uncle Sam entailed. As in no life of your own, possibly no future with anyone but your handler. Definitely no cutesy four-bedroom house with two and a half kids, a poodle, and a family van, in quaint little Somewhere Suburbia.
She couldn’t deny that this tough guy had awakened something in the softer side of her, though. He seemed so—lost. Or hurt or damaged or… something. There were shadows lurking in those brooding blue eyes. Exhaustion bracketed them. She recognized the lingering ghosts of one too many operations gone wrong. Or just one too many operations.
Uncle Sam seemed to forget that his best-in-the-world armed-forces consisted of flesh-and-blood men and women. He just kept ordering deployments, undercover operations, all while expecting more, more, more. Too often, he expected more done with a helluva lot less to do it with. Which explained the current suicide epidemic among the military, emergency responders, police… hell, anyone who had to deal with man’s inhumanity to man. Nurses and doctors, too. Ambulance drivers. Dispatch operators. They’d all seen and done too much. They suffered in ways most US citizens would never understand, not until they needed a first-on the-scene hero.
But that didn’t mean she and Hotrod couldn’t explore a few moments of private normalcy. That was all this chance encounter was about. A break. Downtime. An interlude of quiet relaxation in each other’s arms.
Gently, she eased his head up from between her breasts. “Hey, did you fall asleep on me?”
He blinked down at her. No smile. No pithy comeback. Just a glazed stare. He’d fallen asleep all right. This guy was running on empty, but those eyes. Even in the dim glow of her outdoor security light coming through her window, Persia could see enough. Hotrod was like her. He kept his guard up. He didn’t let anyone in.
“I knew it. You were asleep, weren’t you?”
“No. Just…” He sucked in a deep breath. “Okay, yeah. I might’ve dozed off, but I’m ready for more. Are you?”
“Shower?” she asked coyly, wishing he’d let her inside the force field that surrounded him. “I mean, after swimming through all that salt water, I know you need a shower with real soap and…” And tender loving care… In case he might decline, she tempted him with, “I might even join you.”
He lifted up on his hands and knees. “Let’s get this party started.”
And it was a party. She’d no more than bolted off the bed and ran for the bathroom, when he was on his feet, running after her. She’d made it to her ivory-tiled shower stall when he snapped her ass with the hand towel from the counter.
“Ouch!” she squealed, rubbing her backside, but secretly loving Hotrod’s playful side. “If you keep that up, I’m going to have to—”
Ooomph. He had her back against the cold tile wall, her hair fisted in his hand, and making love to her mouth while he palmed the faucet on and—
“Br-r-r-r! That’s c-c-cold!” she giggled around his prehensile lips. The beginnings of his beard brushed whisker burns over her mouth and chin. Persia took this amazing man’s head between her palms. Breathing his breaths. Sharing his space. Loving the way his harder body scrubbed over her breasts and belly.
His knee shifted between her legs. He ducked, and instantly, the ice water steaming over her taut nipples didn’t seem so cold anymore. He had her now, and it was divine, his mouth opened wide, swallowing her breast, the tip of his tongue flicking her nipple. Driving her crazy. Urgent messages jolted like shocks between her breasts and her core.