Trusting a Warrior (Loving a Warrior #3) - Melanie Hansen Page 0,84
her head back and came with a long, low moan.
Digging her nails hard into his chest, Lani rode out the pleasure, and the sweet pain, the thought of her marks on his skin, kicked him over the edge. He arched clear off the bed with the force of it, his jaw clenched to keep from shouting something he had no right to shout:
Mine!
* * *
“Did you always want to be a SEAL?”
Lani’s voice was drowsy, her head heavy on his chest.
“Nah.” He sifted her hair through his fingers, his other hand drifting up and down her back. “I’d never even heard of them until one of my buddies decided he wanted to enlist in the Navy. For shits and giggles I went with him to the recruiter, and on the wall was this rah-rah poster of buff dudes doing what looked like some really awesome shit. I couldn’t stop staring at it.”
“Ah. The recruiter smelled blood in the water.”
He shook his head in disgust. “He really did, and I fell for it hook, line and sinker. These days guys who pass the initial assessment go to a separate bootcamp that feeds directly into the SEAL pipeline, but back then, you went to regular bootcamp and applied for Naval Special Warfare. Took me two years to get in.”
“So you did your time on a big old gray ship.” Lani splayed her palm over his abs. “And the recruiter met his quota.”
“Exactly. I made my share of dumb-kid mistakes along the way, too, which didn’t help.”
“But yet here you are.”
“Here I am.”
She propped herself on her elbow to gaze down at him, hair tangled, eyes heavy-lidded. The sheet slipped down to pool at her waist, leaving her full breasts gloriously bare. Reveling in the freedom to touch her at last, Geo cupped one gently, his thumb caressing the lush curve.
“So what’s it like?” she whispered. “Over there?”
“Afghanistan?”
When she nodded, he let his hand drop away and fall to the bed. “Certain parts of it are absolutely majestic, with some of the most beautiful scenery I’ve ever seen.”
“What are the people like?”
“Stoic. Weary. Hard-working. Proud. Most of them have never known peace in their lifetimes.”
Before he knew it, Geo was telling her about the remote villages high in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan, some of them completely cut off from the rest of the country during the winter months.
“And all we did was bring the war to their doorstep,” he said quietly. “Sometimes when I think about it, I—”
He fell silent, aware of her hand rubbing in soothing circles over his chest and stomach. Fuck, how could he explain his complicated feelings about what he’d seen and done? He wanted to, though. He wanted to tell her everything.
Forcing a smile, he reached up to tuck a lock of her hair behind her ear. “Why are you so easy to talk to?”
“Well, I’m a bartender. Listening is part of the job description.”
“Uh-uh. I don’t think it’s the job. I think it’s all you.” And I’m this close to falling for you. His throat closed. But I know you don’t want me.
How could he blame her? He himself had seen the fallout from the marriages, the relationships, that’d broken apart under the strain of so many long absences. Of course she wouldn’t want to bring her child into that.
He suppressed a wistful sigh. Her child. A part of her, a tiny human who’d hopefully inherit her beautiful eyes, her loving heart, her intelligence and wisdom...
“What’re you thinking about?” Her voice was soft.
Shoving his ridiculous feelings down deep, Geo summoned up a more genuine smile. “About what an incredible mama you’re going to be.”
Her eyes crinkled. “I actually felt the baby move the other day. It was this tiny popping and fluttering sensation, almost like gas bubbles.”
“Wow.”
“I may have cried a little, you know? It hit me like a ton of bricks—this is real.”
“Were they happy tears?”
“Mostly.” Her palm came to rest between his pecs. “I’m still scared to do this alone, but I’m in a much better place than I was the night I met you.”
Geo listened as she told him about meeting Rhys’s plane after his deployment. “We’d been broken up for about six months by then. I’d just found out I was pregnant, which sent me into a total panic. Instead of a Welcome Home sign, I made one that said Let’s Try Again and totally put him on the spot in front of his entire platoon.” She let out a groan, dropping