Back From Hell (Marine For You Book 2) (Contemporary Military Veteran Romance) (9 page)

“Mrs. Pence.” Even as she turned toward the door, Kyle stayed where he was. “You have an amazing daughter, and since we’ve been here I’ve realized that she must take after her father because unlike you, there’s not an evil bone in her body. She’s compassionate, thoughtful, strong, and she’ll fight for what she wants and believes in. Even though she’s doing just fine without your approval, there’s no doubt in my mind she’d like it. Yet every chance she gives you, you push her further away. You lie to others, using her as your scapegoat, and yet she puts up with it because she loves you. Don’t take that love for granted.”

“What do you know about it?” she snapped.

“I know that one day you might wake up and your whole world would have turned upside down. There might be a day when she’s not willing to stand by and let this continue. She’s got more backbone than any woman I’ve ever known.” He glanced at Staci before turning back to the bed. “Don’t waste your chance.”

“Maybe you should take your own advice because I think my daughter deserves better than you. She deserves not to have some broken down Marine with more scars than just those on the surface. I’ve lived through what your kind comes back with. I know the fear that boils within your loved ones at the possibility you might hurt them in a flashback rage.” She glared at him a moment longer before turning her attention to Staci. “I’d have thought after the hell your father put us through you’d stay away from them. I knew you were volunteering at that military hospital, but I never believed you’d stoop so low as to be engaged to one.”

“I love him and I don’t have any fear when it comes to him. He’d never hurt me.” She laced her fingers through his.

“I thought that same thing about your father once…” Her words trailed off. “Don’t be so sure.”

“He’s not Dad.” She tipped her head to the door. “Goodbye,
Mother
.”

As they made their way out of the hospital, she couldn’t help but feel that things between her and her mother would never be the same again. Sadness filled her as that door closed but she hoped it would lead to a better relationship with her mother in the future. Though somehow, she doubted it.

R
ather than going
out for a quiet dinner to celebrate, they opted for takeaway Chinese and a movie back at the hotel. This had been Kyle’s idea because after leaving the hospital, he knew she wasn’t in the mood for what they had planned. They could reschedule the date until after the papers were final and the ranch was theirs. While Mrs. Pence had said some rude things, it was the look of sadness in Staci’s eyes that hurt him the most. Tonight, he had plans to take that look out of her eyes. Tonight was about them and her mother’s attitude wouldn’t spoil it.

Staci curled against his body so he could wrap his good arm around her and he wondered how he could have gotten so lucky. Everything he’d said at the hospital was the truth, but what she meant to him was so much more than that. She was amazing and her level of caring was unmatched. She had given him a reason to live again and showed him he was still a man. The love he had for her couldn’t be expressed in words.

“Kyle…” Her fingers teased over each of the buttons on his shirt as she made her way up his chest.

“Don’t, sugar. It’s okay.”

“No, it’s not.” She tipped her head up toward him. “The things she said—”

“Are her opinions and everyone’s entitled to one. It doesn’t change anything between us and she hasn’t been the first one who has said those things to me. When military men and women return home injured or scared, so many want to push them back into a deep dark corner and forget about them. Some won’t let that happen, while others become recluses and let the opinions of others force them into hiding.” He squeezed her tighter to him. “Every once in a while, someone like you comes along to show a lonely Marine like me there’s something worth living for. I love you, Staci, and nothing she says is going to change that. There’s no need to apologize for her.”

“I just feel bad. You know I don’t feel that way, right? I love you for who you are not because I’ve taken pity on you. Pity has no place in our relationship. Your injuries brought us together since I was volunteering at the hospital, but they don’t define us. You know that, right?”

“I do.” He closed the distance between them and claimed her lips. The spiciness from the Chinese they’d had earlier still clung to her mouth, adding to the heat he felt raging within him. He tugged her bottom lip between his teeth and sucked it, before reclaiming her lips. When the kiss finally ended, she was breathless and her body pressed tightly against his. “Damn it, Staci. I want you.”

“I thought you’d never say that.” She smirked and let her fingers go to work on the buttons of his shirt.

“What?” He wasn’t sure how he was supposed to take that or maybe it was the desire pouring through him that confused him.

“I’ve wanted you for weeks now. Being here in the same hotel room as you, so close to you…it’s taken everything I’ve had not to push. I tried to give you the time I figured you needed but now your time’s up.”

“Communication.” He nuzzled the curve of her neck and placed soft kisses along her collarbone.

“Huh?”

“I’ve been doing the same but for a different reason.” He leaned back so he could look at her. “Your mother is right about one thing…”

“Let’s not do that again.” She slipped on top of him, straddling his waist. “You’re the man I want. Now you’ve tied yourself to me as business partners, but I’m such a demanding woman I want more than just that. I want all of you.”

“Sugar, you’re shortchanging yourself. Look at me, I’m only half the man I was before.”

“That’s where you’re wrong. Your injuries and scars don’t make you less of a person. They show that you have strength and courage. Where others might have given up, you fought. When I stepped into that hospital room, I wasn’t sure what I was going to find. I only knew Brenda thought you needed someone and I was supposed to be that person. When I left, I was worried I had done more damage than good. It wasn’t until I showed up at your hotel room after you called and hung up that I realized how much you wanted to make a life for yourself. Before then, I don’t think you had even decided if you wanted to live or die yet.”

“Leaving the hospital, I thought I had. If you remember, I had the sidearm and whiskey in my bedside table. But I couldn’t get this woman out of my thoughts.” He grinned at her.

“Hmmm.” She ran her hands up his sides. “She must have been something special.”

“Oh, sugar, she is. Those whiskey brown eyes are so much better than real whiskey, and her attitude is not something to trifle with. But that’s what I love about her.” He reached up and tangled his hand in her hair, drawing her closer to him.

“Well then, I think it’s time we show each other.” She set to work on the last button of his shirt.

“Or scare you off,” he tried to tease but wasn’t able to keep the uncertain edge out of his voice. He stopped the dread from welling inside him at the thought of her seeing him naked. He kept in shape, working out more now than he did before his injures in order to keep the strength in his remaining limbs, but that wasn’t his issue. The problem was the scars hiding under his clothes. She had accepted his lack of limbs and the scars she could see—those were the flaws he couldn’t deny—but these were nothing like what he had hidden under the shirt.

“I’m not going anywhere.”

“You might change your mind when you see the horrors under my shirt.” Even he didn’t like to look. He’d dash past the mirrors after a shower just so he wouldn’t have to look at them. He’d throw on a shirt, hiding them from view, and then he’d continue to get dressed.

“Words won’t convince you, so let me show you.” She slipped the last button through the opening and took hold of his shirt. “Nothing can change what I feel for you. Not superficial scars, not my mother’s attitude, nothing.”

She kept her gaze locked on his as she slid the shirt open. His breath caught in his throat as if the simple movement of taking a breath would break the moment and send her running away from him in horror. He knew this moment would come eventually but had wanted to push it off as long as he could. The scars from the flames were something he didn’t want or have to face, and pretend they weren’t there.

She glanced down at his chest and slid her hands over his unmarred flesh before slowly moving toward the burns. The worst of them sat on his chest and he remembered the flames licking his body just before he’d lost consciousness. His last thought had been that he was going up like a barbeque and there had been nothing he could do about it.

“Stay with me.” She wiggled her hips, grinding herself gently against the front of him.

He shoved those memories away and focused on the woman before him.

The woman he was afraid he was about to lose.

He wanted to curse the day he signed up for the Marines, but he didn’t because that would mean he would never have met her. Better to have her for a brief period than to have never known her kindness and her touch.

She slid her fingers over the first of the scars—just a soft pucker of the skin, but as she moved her fingers farther along, she’d find the deformed, hard, textured ones that crawled half way across his chest. Even as she found the worst of the burns, her fingers explored the contours of each terrible wound.

“See, nothing has changed.” She scooted lower, positioning her hips near his mid-thigh, and lowered her head toward his chest. She started at his bellybutton, kissing her way up his chest, her hands on his sides while her nails dragged lightly across the skin. She worked her way over where the worst of the burns began and ran her tongue along them.

The intimacy of her touches, the way she worked so hard to show him the scars didn’t matter, moved him deeply, slammed home into his chest—his heart. Maybe it didn’t matter what the shell looked like but what resided inside a person’s heart. He wasn’t sure he completely believed that before, but if she could love him even with his scars and missing body parts, then maybe it was possible for others to find a love like he had.

Need and desire tore at him. He grabbed hold of her sweater and slid it along her torso. “I need you…now.” The words came out more of a growl than he had planned.

“But I’m not done.” She tipped her head up just enough to look at him as she kissed a rather nasty scar that puckered up and off his chest.

“Another time.” He wanted her naked and his shaft buried deep inside her. Knowing that she could accept the scars he had been trying to hide from her and everyone else, he couldn’t restrain himself any longer. The wait was over.

“Seems like I’m on top so I control the speed.” She leaned up and tugged her shirt off the rest of the way before reaching behind her and unclasping her bra. “Maybe I should draw this out longer.” She rubbed a hand along the crotch of his jeans, meeting his hard shaft straining to be released.

“Don’t think I won’t roll you over and have my way with you.”

“Just try it and see how far that gets you.” Through his jeans, she grasped his shaft. “Women hold all the power in sex. A few simple words can stop all the fun:
Not now, honey, I have a headache
.”

“Sugar.” He reached up and took one of her nipples between his fingers, gently squeezing. “You want this as much as I do.”

“It would seem as if your need is worse.” She unbuttoned his jeans and tugged down the zipper. “It’s like opening a present on Christmas morning; the excitement is just the same.”

“I’ve never been good at waiting. I want you naked now.”

“You have more clothes on than I do.” She pulled his shaft from the thin material of his boxers. “I’d say we should rectify that but I just found the best part.”

“It will be there but I can’t access your sweet spot with these pants on. So up and take them off.”

With a huff, she lifted herself off him and took them off. As she did, he tugged off his jeans and boxers, completely revealing his prosthetic leg, but she had seen that part of him before. Sharing a hotel room meant he couldn’t hide that as he put it on and took it off. He went to take off his shirt when her hands reached over and slipped it down his shoulders, letting it pool behind him.

With both of them naked, he couldn’t keep his desire in check any longer. He wrapped his good arm around her and pulled her against his body, then, his mouth claimed her as the desire exploded within. He never thought he’d have a chance with a woman again and now that he had her with him like this, he wasn’t going to waste a second of it. He pushed his tongue into her mouth, exploring, and gently gliding over her teeth. She nipped at his bottom lip as he pulled back.

“I want you on top of me.”

“Maybe I wanted to do it doggie style,” she teased as she slipped back on top of him. “It’s been years since I’ve been on a stallion; let’s see if I remember this.”

“I have no doubt it will all come back to you.” He reached between her legs, slipping his finger between her folds to make sure she was ready for him. He was met with warmth and wetness. A soft moan escaped from her as his finger caressed over her clit.

“If you do that too long, I’m not going to make it. It’s been a while…”

He sped his pace and she arched her back, tipping her head back. “Please, Kyle, I want you inside me…now.” The last part came out on the tip of a moan.

He wanted to watch her squirm above him until she found the release her body so badly needed, but she was right—he wanted to be inside of her. He wanted to feel her muscles constrict around his shaft as she orgasmed. “Lift up.”

She did as he asked and he adjusted so his shaft was just below her entry. “Slowly.” He guided himself into her as she lowered herself down. He had barely slid past her entrance when she let out a moan and her pace changed. She nearly slammed herself down onto him. The need had her propelling herself up and down while he met her with a thrust of his own.

He kept his hand on her hip as they matched thrust for thrust. With each stroke, the fire within him burned brighter and hotter. His climax loomed in the distance but he wanted to see her release before he would allow himself the pleasure. He wanted to see her eyes gloss over and the utter joy as she climaxed around his shaft.

For a brief moment, he wished he still had both of his arms so he could wrap them around her, but when she grabbed hold of his biceps, he forgot about it. She had been the only one, besides the medical staff, who had touched his injured arm. The intimacy of her touch nearly busted his control. He arched his hips into her a little harder than the last time.

“Kyle!” she cried, her voice tight and full of need.

“Come on, sugar…” His fingers tightened onto her hip, speeding her pace up and down.

“Don’t stop.” She held onto him for all it was worth, riding his thrusts like a bull rider. She leaned forward, her breast jiggling with each movement, just out of reach of his mouth, taunting him. She closed her eyes as her body tightened around him. She was nearly there.

“Look at me,” he demanded.

She opened her eyes but it wasn’t like she was truly seeing him. A glaze within their depths suggested she wasn’t completely there, but feeling the effects of her oncoming climax. “Fast, Kyle…please…”

She slammed down into him as he arched up to meet her, driving the force of each pump. He thrust deeper and faster into a perfect rhythm.

“Oh, Kyle!” she moaned as she slammed down onto him again.

Her muscles squeezed tight around him, the final act he needed to find his own release. Breathless, she leaned forward, her body pressed again his chest, while he stayed buried deep within her. Needing to see her, he brushed her hair from her face. As if understanding what he wanted, she tipped her head to look up at him, her eyes glossy and dreamy—the aftermath of amazing sex.

“That was worth the wait.” She slid off him and curled against his body.

“Wait until round two, sugar.” Contentment filled him as he pulled the blanket over them. He cradled her, caressing her spine with long, lazy strokes. Everything had come together and brought him the woman he could have only dreamed about. He nuzzled the top of her head. “You make me whole, Staci Pence. I love you.”