Harrier's Healer (6 page)

have much hair on it, but it was chiseled as if out of granite. In fact, his

whole body was. It amazed her how nice it’d felt to be up against all

that hardness. As many muscles as Scott had, she would have thought it

wouldn’t be comfortable to be pressed against him. How wrong she

was.

As if he could read her thoughts, Scott found and held her gaze

as he took a drink of the tea she had poured for him. Those damn eyes

toured her body as if he owned the property rights to her.

30

Aliyah Burke

Richie drained his tea and took the glass over to the sink, break-

ing the hold Scott’s eyes had on Alexis. “So, Lex, it’s a go?”

“Sure is, Richie. Party starts before we eat and we are eating at

six-thirty. Like Shirl said, it would turn into one anyway so if we put

out the word, others will bring food.”

“Gotcha covered. Drinks are on me.” He winked at her.

“They better be. I’ll see you tonight?” Her hand touched his arm

gently.

“I have never missed one of your parties and I will be damned if

I start now.” He nodded at the man who stood watching his every

movement with a calculating look. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Leighton.”

“I’m sure I’ll see you tonight,” Scott stated calmly.

“You’re staying for the party?” Richie asked, flicking his eyes

back to Alexis. “Lex? He’s staying?”

Those blue jewels fixed themselves on her face as Scott waited to

hear her answer. Alexis nodded. “Yes, Richie. He will be here. And so,

while you are spreading the word, you can also tell them about the

commander here. I don’t want anyone to disrespect him.”

“Commander?”

“Yes, Scott is a commander in the Navy. I call him Commander

more often than not. I mean it, Richie, no disrespect. Tell them I mean

business.”

“Yes, ma’am. I will see you about five-thirty. I will come over

and help out with whatever is left.”

A brilliant grin crossed her face. “What would I do without you,

Richie?” She hugged him swiftly. “Thank you.”

Richie leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. “No sweat. See you

this evening, Leighton.” Then Richie was gone, leaving Scott and Alexis

alone in the kitchen for the second time that day.

Alexis looked up and saw the mixed emotions on Scott’s face.

Those arms were crossed over his chest as he sipped the tea. His gaze

fixed firmly on her body, marking her. Claiming her. Setting her on fire.

C h a p t e r F i v e

Beginning to feel self-conscious, she shrugged her shoulders at

him. “What?”

Those blue eyes stayed glued to her darker ones. With a smooth

turn of his wrist, he drained the rest of the tea and set the glass down on

her marbled counter top. Still silent, his large, muscular body pushed

away from the counter he was leaning on and prowled towards her, not

stopping until their bodies were less than two inches apart.

“What?” she asked again.

“What is that man to you?” The words were quiet, but the tone

was deceptively calm and Alexis wasn’t fooled for a second.

“Nothing more than a friend. I have to go to the store. Can I

drop you off somewhere?” She took a step back.

“I’m not leaving you, Alexis,” his smooth voice said clearly as he

reclaimed the step she’d surrendered.

She would love it if he
really
meant that, but she knew that

couldn’t be true.
“Where are you staying?”

His arms reached around her, settling her against his chest and

allowing her to hear the beating of his heart. “My bag is at a motel. I

want to stay with you.”

There have got to be so many rules against what I am doing.
“You are

free to stay in the guest room tonight. Come with me and we will get

your bag, then you can help me with the shopping.” She inhaled

deeply, utterly affected by the smell of this man.

“Shopping?”

A smile played quirkily on her face as she imagined the horri-

fied look on his. “Surely a big strong man like yourself, a SEAL none-

theless, can handle shopping with a woman,” she teased.

32

Aliyah Burke

“Of course I shop. I do eat.”

“I can tell.” Alexis pushed back so she could view his magnifi-

cent physique. “
Jesú
, Scott what do you weigh, two-twenty?” Her hands

moved over his chest and down the side not marred with the bullet

wound.

“I thought women didn’t like to talk about weight,” he said as

he looked down at her lissome dark hands moving over his lighter-

hued body.

“We don’t like talking about
our
weight. You, however, you are

a work of art,” she breathed. “You must have only three percent body

fat, it’s amazing.” Her hands weren’t touching him as a lover would but

as a doctor, inspecting and impressed. The light touch moved to one of

his arms and trailed up his well-cut arms.

“I weighed about two–thirty-five at my last physical.” He

grabbed her hands, stopping their movement. “Lex,” he groaned. “I

haven’t quite recovered from the living room earlier, and if you keep

touching me like this I promise I will be buried deep inside you in less

than five minutes.”

“Sorry.” Her hands dropped to her side.
He called me Lex. Oh, my

God!

Scott cupped her face. “I love it that you want to touch me; at

least we are past you pretending that you don’t feel anything for me.

But if we are going to get anything done before the party…” He arched

an eyebrow, his point made.

“Got it.” She smiled and stepped away from his touch. “Let’s go.

I guess we should get your bag first and then shop.” Her feline gaze

found his and she narrowed her eyes.

He frowned. “What?”

“How’s your wound?”

The smile was masculine and arrogant. “I’ll be fine. I have the

best doctor in the world.”

“That doesn’t change the fact I should have taken you in to the

hospital,” she muttered as she led the way towards the door, grateful he

couldn’t see the goofy smile she wore on her face as a result of his

compliment.

“I’m glad you didn’t.” He followed her outside and down the

steps to her gold Expedition, climbing into the passenger side.

She hopped in as well and followed his directions to where he

was staying. Parking at the motel, Alexis turned off the motor. “Well, I

will wait here.”

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33

“No, come inside. I want to show you something.”

I know where that will lead.
“I think I have seen everything you

have to offer me, Commander,” she stated.

He groaned. “Back to that name, are we? And for your informa-

tion, there is something that you haven’t seen of mine. Not yet anyway.

Don’t worry, you’ll like him. And I know he’s dying to get to know

you.” He leaned over and kissed her quickly on the mouth before

jumping out and jogging up the stairs to grab his stuff.

Fanning herself, Alexis kept her gaze fixed firmly on the tight

ass as it moved out of her sight. Blinking hard, she grabbed pen and

paper and began to make a shopping list for tonight’s party.

Movement on the stairs caught her attention about ten minutes

later.
Dear Lord, that man is fine!
“
Jesú
,” she panted to the interior of her

car. Down the last few steps walked a vision. He just oozed sexual

virility.

Scott had changed. He now wore a white tee shirt and another

pair of body-hugging faded blue jeans. Slung casually over his back, as

if it barely weighed an ounce, was a sea bag packed full.

Every woman in the vicinity stopped and looked at him in

amazement and lust. It filled Alexis with a bit of pride to know that the

object of their affection was striding towards her.
Not them, her.
He

tossed his bag in the back mere seconds before his immense size filled

her vehicle.

“Sorry about that,” he said as he shut the door behind him. “I

took a quick shower and shaved.”

Just what I needed to know. Like my brain doesn’t give me enough

erotic images of you. Now you tell me you were showering to add to my mental

pictures!
Her body squirmed on the seat as she tried to sound unaf-

fected. “That’s fine. I was just working on the list of things to buy.”

He took the list from the floor where it lay and looked over it.

“This is a lot of stuff.”

“Yep,” came her fast response. She steered them onto the road

leading them to the supermarket.

Scott sat in silence for about two minutes. “Question.”

“Yes, Commander?” Alexis responded as she pulled into the lot

at the superstore.

“Lex,” he growled, showing his displeasure at what she called

him.

“What, Commander?” she growled back.

“Don’t call me that.”

34

Aliyah Burke

Turning off the engine, she maneuvered her head so she could

stare at him directly. “When you say ‘question’ like you did, it’s an

instinctive response for me. My whole life has been following rules and

regulations. I can’t stop overnight.” Alexis climbed out and waited for

him to do the same before she locked and walked away from her

vehicle.

He fell into step beside her. “Just try, please. I want to hear you

call me Scott, and not as an introduction.” That blond head bent close to

hers as he whispered. “I want you to scream my name as I pound deep

into you.”

How can he just say things like this?
Alexis stumbled and imme-

diately found herself surrounded by arms that would rival Atlas’s for

strength. “Thanks,” she mumbled.

He released her but didn’t move back, positioning himself right

next to her, close, as if they were a couple.

They entered the air-conditioned store and Alexis grabbed a cart

and headed off. “I can do this part, you just put things in,” Scott offered

as his hands covered hers and his body trapped her between him and

the cart. “Unless,” he whispered into her ear, “you are ready to let
me

do the ‘putting in’.”

She shivered and shook her head. “Stop that.” Ducking beneath

his corded arms, Alexis picked a direction and walked away, willing

her legs to stop being so shaky.

Scott behaved for the most part. The cart became extremely full

as Scott dutifully followed Alexis up and down each aisle. Her head

turned and caught his bemused expression. “What’s the matter?” she

asked, placing another object in the cart. “Trying to imagine your SEAL

team seeing you do this?”

A brilliant smile crossed his face. “I know they wouldn’t believe

this for a second.”

Her topaz eyes narrowed. “Believe what?”

Scott delved one hand into her loose, thick hair, bringing her

closer to him with pressure on the back of her head. His firm lips were a

hair’s breadth away from hers as he purred, “That their stuffy com-

mander was pushing a grocery cart and doing so quite happily. Don’t

let your mind even begin to go down that other road, Alexis. Not even

for a moment.”

She knew what he meant and didn’t want to deal with that right

now. “What do you mean, stuffy?” This time she walked beside him so

they could talk.

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35

He chuckled. “I don’t know how to have fun, according to my

team. I sit at the hotel after a mission instead of going out and getting a

woman…or two.” His blue eyes cut down to the beautiful brown face of

the woman beside him.

She looked at him skeptically. “Right, so you never went out

with women?”

“I didn’t say that. It’s just that my attitude changed.” He

stopped the cart and loaded the case of bottled water she pointed to.

“Oh, so you went from being fun to being stuffy?”

“According to them, I did.” One long finger grabbed hold of her

belt loop when she started to walk on, drawing her back to his chest.

“Know when that happened?”

Trying to control the shivers racing through her body, all Alexis

could do was shake her head. But he didn’t say anything, just waited.

After she regained some control she asked. “When?”

“Two years ago.”

“Doctor Lex,” a voice interrupted them. Alexis turned from the

blond man in front of her and looked towards the voice. “Girl, I didn’t

know you were back home. Why didn’t you call me? I would have gone

out with you last night so you didn’t have to go with Ted.”

“Isaac,” her cheerful voice responded, stepping away from Scott

to hug the man who lived on her street.

“Damn, Lex, you just get hotter and hotter every time I see you.

How’s the doctor and Navy life treating you?”

“Wonderful. I’m very happy.” Alexis turned and her eyes fell on

the man standing by her cart. His face was once again unreadable.

“Isaac, I would like you to meet a friend of mine, Scott Leighton. Scott!”

She waved him closer. “This is Isaac. He lives up the street from me.”

“Nice to meet you,” came Scott’s practiced tone as he shook

Isaac’s hand. When he dropped it, he physically stayed right next to

Alexis instead of backing off.