Captivated by the Soldier (BWWM Interracial Romance) (6 page)

“Jamie’s mother and I used to date,” he began. “It was before Jamie was born four years ago. I was immersed in my life in the army and when Jessica and I got together, I let her know right up front that I wasn’t in for anything long-term. We dated for a few months and then I had to leave again on my next deployment. For almost a year I was gone and then I received a letter from Jessica saying she had a baby and it’s mine.”

Blade shoved his fingers back into his hair, looking away for a second as he relived that moment when he found out he might be a father.

“I wasn’t able to leave base until three months later, and then I was on the first plane out.”

He grew quiet, remembering the first moment he’d laid eyes on Jamie. For all his talk about not wanting commitment or getting tied down, he’d taken one look at Jamie and his heart had melted. They had the same dark blonde hair, and the little boy, barely six months old, had captured a part in Blade he’d never known existed. Then and there, he knew he’d do anything to keep Jamie safe, to give his son a home. Even if it meant being with Jessica though he knew they weren’t in love – or at least, he wasn’t. But whatever sacrifices it took to give Jamie a good home, then he’d do it.

“Three months after I returned home Jamie fell seriously ill. The doctors couldn’t understand it at first and ran multitudes of tests. Soon they were able to pinpoint his rare condition and told us he needed a partial organ transplant from a living related donor. Of course I immediately offered since I was willing to do anything necessary to make sure that Jamie would be okay. But the transplant couldn’t happen for one simple fact: we didn’t share the same blood type. We weren’t even biologically matched. Bottom line, I wasn’t his father.”

Blade took a long sip of his beer and let out a long sigh. Finding out Jamie wasn’t his had been devastating. Even now, years later, it hurt to talk about it.

Makayla reached over and squeezed his hand across the table. “So what did Jessica say when you confronted her?”

“I don’t think she was ever planning on telling me the truth but since Jamie’s life was at stake she had to come clean. She said she’d acted on the rebound when I broke up with her and left on my next tour. She’d picked up the first guy who showed an interest in her welfare, someone coincidentally who was also close to me. In fact, we were actually on the same team. The father was Thomas, my best friend and fellow soldier.”

Blade leaned his head back against the booth and closed his eyes. Talking about Thomas brought all the raw bad memories back to the surface.

“So where’s Thomas now?” Makayla asked. “Does he know he’s Jamie’s Dad?”

Blade shook his head. “No, he’s dead.”

Makayla gasped, slowly realizing where this was heading.

“He went down in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan. No one survived. He never even knew he had a son. Since I was his best friend, I was the one to go through his things. He left me a letter saying that he had always considered me to be like his own brother and hoped I wouldn’t hold his mistakes against him. At the time, I didn’t know what he meant. I was touched but also confused by the letter. When I found out later that he’d had a one night stand with Jessica right after we broke up it all made sense.”

“What about Jamie?” Makayla asked. Were you able to find a match for his transplant?”

“Yes, thank God. Since the transplant required only a partial donation, we were able to use one of Jessica’s sisters instead. Since then, Jamie has been in and out of hospital several times but as long as he’s monitored carefully, he’ll hopefully never be in critical condition again,” Blade told Makayla quietly. “With Thomas gone and considering Jamie never had a father, I never really stopped thinking of Jamie as my own son. And then of course, Thomas and I were as close as brothers. I could never turn my back on Thomas’s flesh and blood or anyone connected to him. He’d have done the same for me.”

A long, ragged sigh escaped Blade before he added, “I let Jessica know I’d always be there if she needed me and as soon as I got out of the army, I moved out here so that I’d be closer to them. Once I wrap up the deal with the real estate agent, I can move on to figuring out what I want to do in terms of work. I have to help look out for Jamie because apart from his mother, I’m really all the family the kid’s got left. Soon after the transplant, Jessica had a falling out with her sister and is now estranged from the rest of her family.”

Once he was done talking, he sat back, suddenly tired. Explaining everything had taken a lot of strength out of him. He felt bared, like he had a gaping wound.

Makayla squeezed his hand again and smiled. The gesture of support had him whipping his head back and looking at her. Not finding pity, distaste or scorn on her face made him suddenly glad that he’d opened up to her.

“I just didn’t want you to think I was some kind of…cad,” he murmured, linking his fingers within hers in response. “And I know my life looks messed up right now, but I’m getting it together. I’m considering the possibility of starting up a security business with a couple of friends. I’ll soon have a place of my own. I think I’m ready to give this thing we have a chance. Maybe it’s too soon – or maybe you really don’t want anything more to do with me. But I’d like to think we shared more than just chemistry that one night. And yet if you say no right now, I’ll respect that.”

Blade had never meant to burden Makayla with his issues. For god’s sake they’d practically only just met. He’d always shouldered his problems on his own and hated messing another person up in them.

Part of what he felt regarding Jessica was guilt, making him believe that if he hadn’t left her the way he had, she wouldn’t have been driven to seek solace with Thomas. A main part of him though, was involved with Jessica and Jamie because he really loved the little boy and wanted to do all he could to be there for either of them.

He hoped Makayla would understand that. He hoped she wouldn’t think it was too much baggage for him to drag into a relationship. But he’d meant what he’d said about wanting to give romance a chance this time. For once, he’d felt something with a woman that opened his eyes to what could be. He only hoped she’d felt it too.

“Makayla?” he asked softly, the silence stretching on. His eyes held hers and he felt his heart do that familiar flip that warned him he was in big trouble where Makayla Stiles was concerned.

“I’m ready to take it slow,” he added, a sudden impulse making him lift her hand to his lips. Her knuckles were delicate looking, beautiful. He kissed each one and heard her sharp intake of breath. This time, when he looked into her face he saw a look fit to scorch.

“Slow be damned,” Makayla said thickly, and in the same instant made Blade go hard as a rock beneath his pants.

“I think it’s time to go home now,” she added plainly, the look in her eyes speaking volumes. It had Blade paying the check in under fifteen seconds as he whisked her out the door as if to move quickly before she changed her mind.

Chapter Thirteen

There was no right or wrong about what Makayla felt around Blade. It was enough that his touch, his smile, did things to her that no other man ever could. In such a short time, he made her realize the essence of when a man and woman fit together like two perfect pieces of a jigsaw.

She couldn’t remember how they got back to the house. It must have been one heck of a race against time because one second he was kissing her knuckles in a bar, and the next they were shutting the front door of her apartment, sealing their lips together and doing the tongue tango right there against the wall.

Makayla’s fingers raked through his hair, and over his shirt, before pulling at the fastenings on his pants. He groaned against her mouth as her hips pressed enticingly against his burgeoning erection right before she cupped him with a seeking palm. He grabbed the back of her head and held her in place for a ravishing kiss that tore the breath out of both of them.

“Too fast,” Blade growled, staring down at her bodice and realizing that he’d ripped it down in half without realizing it. Her tits peeked out of the lacy red cups of her bra, and he positively throbbed in aching arousal.

“I don’t mind,” purred Makayla, fingers working quickly on his zipper. She needed him. So bad.  Every night since she’d left she’d craved his touch, the sensation of his bare skin against hers. She wanted him with all her fiber; wanted parts of him in her mouth and then wanted him to fill her to bursting with his powerful maleness. She wanted – and needed.

“No, angel,” he said huskily but firmly, seizing her wrists in one grip and pinning them over her head against the wall. He ground into her, bringing her in contact with the pulsating steel of his passion. Her breasts heaved and tingled against his chest.

His head slanted and he plucked lingeringly at her bottom lip, just as she arched her spine off the wall and hummed with pleasure. There was a loud beat of drums and it took Blade a few moments to realize that was his heart, pounding to the tempo of his desire for this red-hot woman who packed all the heat he would ever need to warm the ice wall he’d built within.

“I meant it about taking it slow,” he breathed, before trailing his free hand over the outline of her curvy frame. “This time, we have no reason to rush. I want to put my mouth here…and here.” He skimmed his fingers lightly over her thrust out breasts, before palming the swollen V evident beneath her clinging skirt. Makayla gasped, staring straight up into his face.

“I intend to use my tongue to write the whole freaking alphabet all over this sweet little pussy of yours,” he stated in her ear with a raspy edge to his voice.

Makayla’s eyes closed helplessly and felt that part of her anatomy give instant feedback when it started to twitch lustily even as her knees turned to Jell-O.

“Tasting you down there was one thing I missed the first time we made love. It’s the one thing I’ve thought about endlessly since the time I got back and found you gone. Makayla, nothing about tonight is going to be hurried. There’s a time and place for everything but right now, right here, you and I are going to have a slow dance of passion.”

His words flowed like sweet poetry into her system and Makayla couldn’t help but whimper when he nibbled sensuously on her ear lobe. Just imagining Blade taking his sweet time to make love to her was igniting her senses to dangerous levels of arousal already. Her only hope was that she could make it to the bed before imploding with her long-restricted release.

Blade suddenly swept her up into his arms and spared her the questionable effort of having to use her shaky legs. As ever he was in control and Makayla was quite happy to succumb and let him take the lead. She loved to give in totally to his dominant sensuality and while she intended to submit herself to every lash of pleasure he had in store for her, she hoped she’d get the opportunity to show him that she was good at giving as well as taking.

Chapter Fourteen

Just because he said he’d take it slow didn’t mean he couldn’t be rough. Blade could tell she liked it when he showed his strength in different ways. For instance when he swung her into his arms as if she weighed nothing but a feather and carried her to the bedroom.

Blade all but tossed her unto the bed and he could see the gleeful light of passion in her eyes even as she bounced on the mattress. He wrenched out of his shirt before leaning over her as she lay back waiting with lustful eyes roaming his half-naked body.

He then began to unwrap her sexy body from her clothes as slowly as he promised, but when he kissed her, his lips were fierce. She liked that too.

He went stiffer than he’d ever thought possible with his lips sliding over hers. Everything he had; everything he felt for her he threw it into that kiss. His excitement grew when she kissed him back just as passionately, arching off the bed as her exposed nipples hardened against his chest.

She was his woman.

His.

It didn’t matter whether they’d known each other five days or even five hours.
This felt right
. He touched her and she moaned and melted. Her body responded so powerfully to his that it made his heart swell even as his cock thickened harder than ever.

And then he felt between her legs.

Her pussy was soft, puffy, and so wet his fingers were soon slippery as they slid all over her vulva. He looked up into her face and saw it flush with embarrassment. But why, Blade wondered? He liked his women wet – very wet. And right then Makayla was moister than any woman he’d ever been with. Damn. The very knowledge almost had him ejaculating in his pants.

“You’re so fucking sexy it’s a crime,” Blade growled, holding her gaze and watching her grimace of pleasure when he slipped two fingers inside her sodden pussy. “Knowing I make you drip this much is such a fucking turn on. You have no idea what it does to a man like me.”

“Oh God, Blade,” Makayla sighed, bucking her pelvis against his probing hand.

Fucking unbelievable
how good she felt around his fingers thought Blade. Swollen yet snug…her pussy lips parting in welcome as he shoved in and out of her tight and clinging entrance. The sounds and aromas of sex and sin reached his senses and made them reel.

He watched his fingers disappear and then emerge from her walls, glistening from her juices. A deep animal groan tore from his throat and he suddenly wondered if he could hold on to his control long enough to make tonight last as long as he’d planned. Feeling her contract and release around his fingers was giving him a reminder how it had felt to bury his cock deep inside her warm, slippery and silken garden.