Walker (In the Company of Snipers #21) - Irish Winters Page 0,130
into something intensely erotic. Excited shivers danced up the insides of her thighs. What if they were caught?
Lifting one knee, she wrapped it around his thigh. Which didn’t get her precisely where she wanted to go. Walker solved the problem. Still squeezing her breast, he hooked his free hand under her knee, pulling her in close and tight, grinding the most incredible hard-on against her.
“Not here,” she tried to tell him, but her words and willpower were lost in his passionate kisses. Each stroke of his warm, wet tongue over hers was an internal branding, as if he needed to control something. Or someone.
The instant she realized that, Persia calmed. She trusted this man more than she’d ever trusted anyone else in her entire career. Whatever internal battle he was fighting, it was her battle, too. That’s what this was about. She was his anchor in the storm. So be it. Her inner goddess stepped up to the challenge of standing with and for this warrior. She was proud to carry his mark.
At last, the sweet mauling slowed. Then ceased. Heaving hard, breathy pants like a draft horse that had just run a race, Walker lowered his forehead to her shoulder. “You have no idea what you mean to me. You just don’t know.”
“Try me,” she whispered as she came back to earth, then ran her fingers through his hair, holding him to her like she’d never let him go. “Maybe I’m smarter than you give me credit for.”
“It’s not that. I already know you’re smarter and braver than most people. And I know the guys here are all trying to help, and I appreciate it, I do.” A gust of heated breath landed inside her shirt. “But you have to understand, all this time, I’ve been running. I’ve been alone. I didn’t dare trust anyone. I couldn’t. Only Brim. Only you. Then suddenly I’m surrounded by an army that’s ready to go to war with me. But it was like a gauntlet in there. I felt like I was taking a beating. I had no idea… Hell, I don’t even know anyone on your team. But shit.” He ran a hand over his sweaty head. “They’re all crazier than I am.”
“Why?”
His brows went up. “Do you think I’d let them go through with whatever they’re planning? They can’t come to Portugal with me. Neither can you. It’s not safe. I’m not safe. It’s just a matter of time before—”
She pressed her finger over his flapping lips. “Try and stop me.”
Walker cocked his head, his eyes pleading. “No. You have to stay here where it’s safe. I can’t hurt anyone else, especially not you. Whoever’s behind these accusations against me is one powerful man. He’s willing to kill, and I won’t let him get to you. Not any of your guys, either.”
Rolling her shoulder like a bantam-weight prize fighter might before she delivered a knock-out punch, Persia shifted out of Walker’s embrace. She needed space to fix her bra and straighten her clothes. “I’m not asking, Hotrod, and neither are my friends in there. I’m going with you and Alex, and you can be damned sure Izza doesn’t care what you think, either. She’s going, too. So are every last one of those guys. They’re your guys now, too. So, get over yourself. We’re on your side. Deal with it.”
Damned if he didn’t slip a hand around her neck, and double damned if his eyes didn’t tear up. Instantly, Persia felt bad for picking on an injured man who obviously needed a good long nap instead of more confrontation. Walker wasn’t thinking right.
“You really believe in me, don’t you?”
She hadn’t expected that question. “Why shouldn’t I?” she asked as she smoothed the wrinkles out of her pleasantly man-handled clothes. “The Navy’s way out of line, Hotrod. And we’re going to prove it.”
His shoulders shuddered with a drawn-out sigh. “You just don’t know—”
“What? Tell me.”
“What it’s been like all these months. Even alone, I still had to watch my back. I couldn’t let my guard down, and I couldn’t trust anyone. The few times I did, I put them at risk. That’s why I left Julio and Trevor on the sandbar that night. They’d already done more than enough, and how did I pay them back? By putting their reputations and their lives in danger. By making them targets. That’s why I never reached out to Ryder or my team. How could I do that to them? To anyone?”