Her Next Breath (Uncharted SEALs Book 2) (6 page)

They must have been using hand signals because one by one, men peeled away, running toward the house and taking cover. When they’d been moving through the trees, they’d used their microphones, and each time, she’d listened hard to see if she could distinguish Jackson’s voice. A couple of times he gave terse orders, and she’d smiled, because he’d used that tone a time or two with her. The rasp made her shiver, pricked her nipples.

Only now wasn’t the time to think about the silent promise she’d made as he’d departed. Where she’d garnered the nerve, she didn’t know, but after everything she’d seen and heard about him, she knew he was the guy she wanted to trust to show her what physical love was all about.

That didn’t mean she loved him. That would be stupid on her part. She was destined to return to Austin, and he was going back to wherever he’d come from.

The feed they watched rose then bounced as the man wearing it ran to the side of one of the trucks. Her stomach lurched, partly due to the jerky photography, but mostly because they were close to the house, and now she could see the dark outlines of guards as they circled the porch.

The man wearing the camera rushed up to one guard whose back was turned. She couldn’t tell exactly what the man was doing, until the camera lowered and she saw a body on the ground. The camera moved too quickly to reveal just how he’d been killed, but her stomach wouldn’t settle. She looked away from the screen—at the windowless walls, at the rack of weapons, half-empty, at Teague, who looked like he must have been a drill sergeant in his former life because his rugged face when he scowled was awe-inspiring.

Shots sounded, and she swung her gaze back at the monitor, her heart racing. Who was shooting? Was Jackson okay? The lights in the house were doused, the windows dark.

A battering ram held between two of the team members cracked open the front door. A raised boot entered the picture as the camera man kicked away the remaining fragments of shattered wood.

Three of the team entered while their guy with the camera remained outside, his gaze on the surrounding area.

Teague clicked the keyboard, and another view appeared. This one from inside the house. The camera jerked, a weapon rising at the bottom of the screen at every doorway the man passed.

The team member rounded a corner and gunfire rang out. He darted back. “Taking fire. Kitchen at the back.”

“On my way. Coming from the porch.”

Jackson’s voice. She wished she hadn’t recognized it because he was the one who would crash into the kitchen and straight into a hail of bullets. She stuck her fingertips in her mouth and held her breath.

“On one, two, three!”

The camera whirled around the corner, and bursts of gunfire lit the screen. A crash sounded then more explosions. “Kitchen’s clear,” from Jackson, his voice clipped but strong.

She let out the breath she’d been holding and continued to watch as lights turned on and the house was searched, but other than the dead guys in the kitchen and surrounding the house, no one living remained.

His goggles off, Jackson walked to the man with the camera and his face filled the screen. “I’m beginning to think this is deliberate. That Guzman’s playing us. Somehow, he’s getting word before we strike. Or he’s planting false clues, knowing we’ll bite.”

“Helo will be there in ten,” Teague said into the microphone on the desk.

He sounded disgusted, but she couldn’t figure out why. “No loss of men,” Suri said, trying to remind him of the bright side.

He gave her a sharp glare. “Don’t even try to make me happy.”

Suri pressed her lips together to prevent another unwise comment. She looked at the clock and noted the time. If it took the same amount of time for the team to return as it had for them to go, Jackson would be back in an hour.

She wished she could go to the hut to shower, but she’d promised to stick like glue to Teague.

Teague scooted back from the desk although he continued to watch the team hustle back to the pasture. “We should probably designate different drop-off and pick-up sites,” he muttered.

“In case someone’s watching, and Guzman’s people meet them when they come back?”

Teague’s head turned slowly. His stare held her frozen. “Exactly.”

Did he think she was privy to Guzman’s strategy? “It was just a guess. I don’t know his plans.”

Teague shook his head and grinned. “I wonder if Jackson has a clue.”

She didn’t get his meaning, but it didn’t matter, because he was rising. She stood, too.

“Jave can monitor their return. I’ll take you back to your cabin.”

“It’s a shack. Don’t paint it with a pretty brush.”

He chuckled and swept a hand toward the door. “After you, lady.”

Suri grinned. His tone had sounded almost admiring.

Jackson forced himself
to go through the motions of stowing his gear, washing the dirt and paint from his body, and giving his after-action report at his usual pace. The last thing he wanted was for the guys to pick up on the fact he was excited.

Of course, maybe he’d read more into her words and that kiss than she’d meant. If that was the case, he wasn’t sure he could stay in the hut with her that night and not go crazy.

On the flight back, he’d imagined her as she’d looked last night with that dark pink tease of a nightgown. How he’d wanted to smooth his hands over her curves and slowly draw it over head. He would have had her lush nipples in his mouth before the nightie cleared her head.

Ratchet it down a notch.
Suri wasn’t the kind of girl you got wild with. At least not at first fuck. Maybe the third or fourth, but would their mission be done by then? He’d have to make sure he kept her busy every night they had left here.

A light shone in the window of the hut as he approached it. One of the security detail stepped out of the trees, gave him a wave, and faded back. He’d have to remember to muffle her cries, or the whole camp would know how many orgasms she had.

He opened the door and scanned the room. The living area and kitchenette were empty. The bedroom beyond was dark. His shoulders sank. She was already asleep.

“Jackson?”

“Yeah, it’s me,” he said quietly.

“It’s okay. Turn on the light.”

He reached to the side and flipped the switch. His heart thudded heavy in his chest.

Nude, she was lying on top of the sheets.

“You’re on my side of the bed.”

One corner of her mouth curved. “I know.”

He glared. “You trying to get a rise out of me?”

Her gaze dropped to his groin. “I hope so. Still interested?”

Jackson drew a deep, calming breath and slowly smiled. He went to the bathroom and turned on the light, leaving the door open a crack, then turned off the bedroom light, worried Suri might be a little shy in the bright glare.

His gaze went from her gleaming eyes to her mouth, which was parted. Her breaths were coming fast, her chest rising and falling, her pretty nipples tight.

One hand covered her sex, and he wondered if she’d touched herself before he arrived. If she’d been so eager she couldn’t wait. He nodded, his gaze on her cunt. “Did you get ahead of me?”

“I was…” She bit her lip, and her gaze flitted to the side. “I ached, but I couldn’t make myself come.”

Honest and blunt. Lord, he loved that about her. “I’m going to undress. Stay where you are.”

She came up on an elbow. “You wouldn’t like a little help?”

“No, baby.” He didn’t think he could take much of her hands on his body before he blew. And he wanted to be inside her when that happened. “Get busy. There’s a condom in my shaving kit.”

Her glance went the small duffle next to the larger duffel beside the door. She slid off the bed and walked over to it, then bent at the waist to pick it up.

She did it on purpose, he knew, because before she straightened, she glanced behind herself, at him. Her ass was lovely, no other word could describe it. Round and full, so lush he couldn’t wait to grasp handfuls as he loved her.

Suri walked back to the bed and lay down again. A hint of anxiety was there in the set of her brow. But she watched him, barely breathing as he stripped. When he was nude, he straightened. He wished he wasn’t quite so aroused. He didn’t want her intimidated. He’d asked her if she was virgin because he’d sensed she didn’t have a lot of experience. The way she used him as a shield from unwanted attention from other men told him something else. She’d been roughly used at some point. Hurt. And the last thing he wanted was for her to fear him.

He watched as she swallowed, and her gaze tracked down his body to his cock where it stayed.

“It’s just a cock, Suri,” he said, giving himself a stroke.

“I wasn’t expecting that.”

“If it helps, you can touch me. I won’t go wild. I’ll hold still.”

She sat up and patted the mattress beside her. “Then come here.”

He almost smiled he was so relieved that she’d decided to take control of her anxiety. He joined her, lying beside her as she knelt and looked her fill of his body.

Placing both of his hands behind his head to remind himself not to touch, he waited, his cock pulsing with his heartbeats. She reached out to wrap her fingers around his shaft, and he was surprised it wasn’t a gentle caress. She gripped him firmly then slowly lowered her head.

His breath caught at the first swipe of her tongue over the cap. His toes curled when she turned her face and licked his shaft up and down. When he was wet, she gripped him again and stroked him with her fist.

“I’ll come if you keep that up,” he said, keeping his voice soft.

“I didn’t date much in school,” she said. “I wore clothes that hid my curves because I didn’t want to be noticed. I was a foster kid, and sometimes the dads, they’d look at me a certain way, and that made me afraid.”

She continued stroking up and down as she spoke, but Jackson no longer feared he’d erupt. His body cooled a little as he listened, imagining how frightening it had to have been for Suri, beautiful curvy Suri, with grown men taking interest in her.

“Anyway, one of the most popular boys in school started paying attention to me. I was flattered. When he asked me out, I said yes. He took me to a place beside the river and talked about how much he liked me, how pretty I was. I was so lonely, so needy, I let him fuck me. I’m guessing he wasn’t very good at it. He hurt me. The next day, all the kids in school were giving me looks. I found out he’d done it because he had this list. He had to hit a hundred girls before he graduated. I was just one of the many.” She stopped moving her hand and let her fingers slip away.

Hiding his fury at the stupid ass who’d used her was hard. But he tamped it down, kept his face neutral as he went to an elbow and reached to cup the side of her face. Tucking his thumb beneath her jaw, he turned her toward him. “Suri, I’m not a boy, and I’m not looking to add you as another name to a list of conquests. I can show you what he cheated you of. I can bring you pleasure. If you’ll let me.”

Her eyes shimmered, but she blinked away the moisture. “I know you’re not him. And I’m not afraid of what’s going to happen, so you don’t have to treat me like porcelain. I’m more than ready for this. Have been since I first saw you.”

“Give me that condom while I can still think to use it,” he murmured.

She passed him the packet and waited, kneeling with her hands on her thighs while he cloaked himself. As he rolled it down, he couldn’t help darting glances at her round breasts with their pink nipples. The tips were already spiked. His tongue tickled. He couldn’t wait to get them in his mouth.

Because he didn’t want her fixated on his cock, however flattering, he cupped her chin again and rubbed her bottom lip with his thumb. “Lie down beside me, Suri.”

Her next ragged breath made her breasts quiver, but she lay beside him, her gaze locking with his. Her hair fanned over the pillow. Both hands rested beside her head.

He tucked her hair behind her ears, just for something to do to slow down this thing. She deserved better than this rough hut, better than him. But he wasn’t going to stop. She was in his blood. In his mind. Since the moment he’d spied her on the bed, her chin lifting in defiance, he’d been lost.

He leaned toward her and captured her mouth, rubbing as gently as he knew how, waiting for her to open. And when she did, he plunged his tongue inside, dabbing at her, until she began to suction softly, drawing him deeper. Naturally sexy, she was perfect. So sweet, so damn hot he ached. He drew back and kissed her nose, her chin, making her smile, then trailed his mouth and tongue down to her collar bone then to the tops of her breasts.

He scooted down the bed and climbed over her, making a space between her legs with nudges from his knees.

Without hesitation, she opened, plumping her pillow so she could watch.

Hunched over her, he cupped both breasts from the bottom of the generous globes and pushed them up, before bending and taking the first inside his mouth. There, he lavished it with licks and nibbles, at last drawing on it with increasing fervor until her eyelids dropped halfway and her lush mouth formed an O.

He showed the same attention to her other breast, pleased when she reached down to comb her fingers through his hair. When he drew harder, he felt her nails sink into his scalp.

Jackson scooted lower, kissing and nibbling at her soft abdomen, until he was there, hovering over her mound.

Her eyes opened wider; her breath held.

“Raise your knees.”

Slowly, she slid her feet upward. Then without his even asking, she let them fall open, making more space for his shoulders.

Her mound was covered with a light smattering of blonde hair. Her outer lips were pink and swelling. Her inner lips were a pretty pink, a shade darker than her nipples. He thumbed the top of her folds, found her clit, and pressed gently on it, earning her gasp. So she was sensitive. He retreated and glanced up to see her let go of the lip she’d been worrying with her teeth. “Watch me, Suri. Don’t close your eyes.”

She swallowed, but didn’t respond.

He bent again, thumbing open her folds and traced a path with his tongue from the bottom of her slip to the top, making sure his tongue dragged on her clit.