Walker (In the Company of Snipers #21) - Irish Winters Page 0,156
bravado. The disguise that had worked until now.
“Yes, ma’am,” Walker went on smoothly, his palms moving warm and sure over her body. Stroking calmness back into her. Smoothing over her jagged edges. Filling in all those damned cracks.
Anxiously, she fingered the hem of the oversized t-shirt someone had dressed her in, so glad she was covered and safe and… She mashed her face against Walker’s chest, breathing him in. Of course she was safe. Walker was here.
He kept soothing. She kept trying not to fall apart. Why was she always doing that? She wasn’t weak or cowardly or all that feminine. She could hold her weight against any man. She could, and she had, damn it.
“Rodrigo injected you with an insecticide, but you’re okay now,” he murmured, his voice caressing all her ruffled feathers. “Did you know that boss of yours carries a freakin’ emergency room with him when he travels? Once Izza persuaded Rodrigo to confess, Alex administered the antidote, and here you are, safe and sound. Ready to fight another day.” Walker’s hands smoothed down her bare back again, both landing on her butt. He spread his fingers wide and cupped her cheeks, massaging a fraction more of her paranoia away. “How are you feeling?”
“Everything aches. My head the most.” But I’m scared, damn it. I hate being scared.
Now she knew exactly what the women and children that Zapata imprisoned had felt like…
Their utter helplessness…
The defiling loss of personal power…
The shame and humiliation…
The degradation!
Like Domingo Zapata, Peckering had left his mark. Panic swelled again. He’d overpowered her. Would’ve killed her—or worse. He would’ve sold her into the worst kind of slavery imaginable—forced prostitution, enhanced with mind-numbing addiction. She’d been smug when she’d left her pistol behind on the yacht, so sure of herself, that she was smart enough to take all comers. That she was only going to be gone a couple minutes. What a fool!
“I’ve got just the thing for those body aches,” Walker said as he rolled over and reached for something on his nightstand.
Persia couldn’t help but take advantage of the view of his deliciously tanned, naked male body stretched like a feast before her. The way his ropey muscles rippled along his abdomen and chest, over his ribs. The way his coiled bicep flexed when he grabbed whatever he was after.
This perfect view of the man in her life always seemed to pull her back into the here and now. Tipping forward, she kissed a path up the taut column of his neck. Nuzzling into that neck, she closed her eyes and breathed deeply. This was all she needed. The scent of this man’s skin in her nose. The salty taste of her very own SEAL on her tongue. His strength and every last bit of his kindness surrounding her.
With a playful growl, Walker caged her inside his legs and arms. He rattled a small green bottle in her face. “No sex for you. Not yet, sugar. You’ve been through hell, and you need a couple of these pain pills and nothing but rest and more rest today. All day. Maybe tomorrow, too.” His lips brushed warm and soft over her mouth. “Trust me, Persia. I almost lost you. I’m not taking any chances.”
“I don’t want sex,” she breathed into his chin. Yet even as she told him that, she cast her gaze between them and down the length of his magnificent chest past his belly. Walker was a gorgeous, handsome beast with his ass in the air like it was and his manhood just inches from her fingertips. “B-b-but… I’d sleep much better if we did. I mean, if you want to.”
Her sexy beast smiled.
“Oh, come on. Are you sure you don’t want to make love with m-m-me?” she whined like a spoiled brat, nipping his chin. Needing quality time with him to replace the apprehension churning in her gut. “An orgasm will help me forget everything that happened better than lying around resting and thinking.” And worrying. And wondering…
He blinked those sexy blues like he was having second thoughts. But then, “No,” he murmured. But he sounded less sure of himself, like a little more coaxing might push him over the edge.
But Persia honestly didn’t have the strength to argue her case. Walker was right. She had been through hell. She blew out a small sigh through pursed lips, not up for sex like she wished she were. She wanted it. Knew his mouth all over her body would help her forget.