Authors: Lynn Raye Harris
Hot Mess (14 page)
“I missed you,” she said simply, her eyes welling with tears.
“I missed you too.” He cocked his head to the side. “You still naked down there?”
“I’m wearing panties.”
His teeth flashed white in the darkness. “I meant something else. Thought about that a lot out in the field this time. Damned embarrassing a couple of times, if you know what I mean.”
“The fellas don’t appreciate a good hard-on?” she teased, her heart racing a mile a minute.
“Oh, I think we all appreciate them. When they belong to us and there’s a hot woman to appreciate it with us in private.”
“I see.”
He came the rest of the way up the steps, until he loomed over her. He was wearing desert camouflage BDUs and he looked utterly delicious.
“Gonna invite me in?”
“That depends.”
He looked suddenly wary. “On what?”
Georgeanne held the door tightly, like she needed it to stand. Or maybe to keep from flinging herself in his arms before she had an answer. “On why you’re here. Is it for a hot fuck? Or something else?”
* * *
Sam looked at her standing there in his T-shirt, her pretty green eyes fixed on his face, all the hurt and confusion she felt showing in them, and he wanted to drag her in his arms and just hold her tight.
Why was he here? Because he couldn’t stop thinking about her. Because he’d left that cottage determined to make a clean break with her, and then he’d been haunted by memories of her out in the field. Oh, not when it counted. When it counted, he was able to blank his mind of everything but the job.
But when he wasn’t humping through the desert or bursting into a compound to rescue frightened tourists who’d been taken hostage by yet another group with an axe to grind against Americans, he’d thought of Georgie and the way she’d made him feel.
Like he belonged. Like he was special. Like he’d come home.
But the words lodged in his throat. He was still too uncertain of himself, of what he felt, to try to give it a voice. Finally, he managed to speak. He hoped it was good enough.
“Because I need you. Because I missed you. Because, when I thought of everything I wanted to do when I got back, none of it meant a damn thing if you weren’t a part of it.”
She wrapped a hand in his shirt then and tugged him toward her. He entered the house, waited for her to shut the door and lock it. And then he pushed her back against the door and buried his face in her hair.
“Georgeanne. God, I missed you.” She smelled so sweet, like flowers and cake, and he wanted to devour her.
Her arms looped around his neck. She splayed a hand over the back of his head. “Sam. Oh, Sam. Don’t you leave me like that again.”
There was a lump in his throat. “I already told you—”
“I know. You have to go when you have to go. But you don’t have to go without telling me you want me again. You don’t have to let me think you’re finished with me. With us. Maybe I can handle you leaving if I know you still need me.”
He nuzzled the side of her neck. “I’m not sure I’ll ever be finished.”
She squeezed him tight then. “I love you, Sam. I don’t care if that makes you uncomfortable. I love you and I won’t keep it a secret any longer. From anyone.”
His heart had stopped beating in his chest. And then it lurched forward again, beating harder and faster than before. He straightened so he could see her eyes.
She bit her lip, that sweet plump lip that he wanted to nibble and suck. “I’m sorry if that bothers you,” she said. “But I can’t help it and I won’t hide it. And if that makes you want to run away, then I guess I’ll have to fight to keep you from doing it.”
His throat ached. “Run away? Yeah, it kinda does. But it also makes me want to strip you naked and worship every inch of your body until I can’t move anymore.”
She feathered her fingers over his cheek. They were trembling. “You’ll have to be a little plainer with me, Sam. Tell me what it means that you aren’t running. Tell me what this is to you. What
I
am to you.”
His heart hammered. “I can’t forget you, Georgie. I can’t quit you either. I’ve thought of you for twelve years, and once I had you—really had you—I knew I was in trouble. Because I don’t care how pissed off Rick gets at me, or how disappointed your parents are because I’m not what they envisioned for their princess. I want you. I need you.” He swallowed hard. Jesus, was he going to frigging pass out here? Why were the words so damn difficult to say? “You’re everything to me,” he finished, disappointed in himself for not being able to say the three words he should say.
He’d been thinking about them a lot over the past few weeks and he knew they were true. He didn’t know when it had happened, or why he couldn’t dig her out of his heart the way he wanted, but he’d given up trying. She was the one obstacle he couldn’t defeat.
And maybe she wasn’t an obstacle. Maybe she was the best damn thing to come into his life and he just had to figure out how to make it work. In any event, he wanted her in his life and he would fight to keep her there.
She smiled in spite of his lack of finesse with words. “You love me. I knew it.” She gave him a smug look. “Bet you fell for me when I was following you around the house all those years ago. God knows I was pretty irresistible.”
He laughed and ached all at once. “About as irresistible as a rash.”
She pinched his arm and he laughed again. “You’re a hot mess, Sam.”
“You make me crazy, G.” He ran his hands up her sides, under the T-shirt, and cupped her warm breasts in his palms.
“You make me crazy too, Sam. And I don’t know how this is going to work out, and I can’t guarantee I won’t freak out when you’re gone, but I love you and I want to try. I’m tired of playing it safe. If it doesn’t work, then at least we’ll know. But I want that chance. I need that chance.”
He ran his thumbs over her nipples, thrilled to the catch of her breath in her throat. “I know. I need that chance too. I need you.” He dipped his head and kissed her lightly, though she tried to deepen the kiss. He pulled back while she whimpered and squeezed her breasts lightly in his palms. “I’ve thought of little else but this for the last three weeks.”
“You know what I thought about?”
He shook his head. She unbuckled his belt, unbuttoned his pants—and then her hands wrapped around his swollen cock. He didn’t know what to expect—but she dropped to her knees and tilted her head back to look up at him.
“This,” she said. “I thought about this.”
And then she took him in her mouth and his knees nearly buckled.
“God. Georgie.” He braced a hand against the wall and swallowed. Her tongue rolled over him, her fingers pumped him, and it would just be so frigging easy to let her get him off this way.
But it wasn’t what he’d envisioned during the long, lonely stretches on watch. He reached for her, pulled her up and ripped the shirt she wore over her head at the same time. Then he filled his hands and mouth with her breasts. She clutched his shoulders, gasping, and he knew what an utterly perfect night he was in for.
But he suddenly didn’t want it here, like this, in her hallway. Up against a wall. There was plenty of time for that kind of thing, but right now he wanted her beneath him in a bed. Wanted her legs around him and her mouth on his.
He swept an arm behind her legs and scooped her into his arms. And then he took the stairs two at a time. When he reached her room, the television was on and the cat was parked in the middle of the bed.
The cat took one look at the two of them and bolted. Sam laid Georgie on the bed and stripped her panties off. Then he was between her legs, his pants shoved down his hips, rolling on a condom with shaking hands.
And then finally, finally, he was inside her. Loving her. Feeling the utter rightness of what she did to him. He loved her cries, loved her breathy moans. She shattered quickly, her body tightening around his, her inner muscles squeezing him hard, his name on her lips.
He followed her over the edge, a groan ripping from his throat. And then he held her, his heart beating hard, and knew he’d only ever felt this way with her. This exhilarating rush of emotions and sensations.
Sam propped himself up on an elbow, pushed the hair off Georgie’s face, and smiled down at her. “I love you,” he whispered, finally finding his voice for what he wanted to say. “I love you so much.”
Her eyes glistened and she smiled that beautiful smile that he felt belonged to him alone.
“I know,” she said. “And you have no idea how happy that makes me.”
Warmth blossomed inside him. This felt so right. Here, with Georgie. His tormenter. His love. “I’ll do the best I can to make you happy. Always.”
“I know you will. I believe in you.”
Her faith in him was a gift beyond measure. “You have no idea what it does to me to hear you say that.”
She traced her fingers over his lips, softly, lightly. “You’re mine now, Sam. I’m not letting you go.”
“There’s no one else I’d rather belong to.” He tucked his head into her shoulder and breathed her in as belonging filled his soul. “
You
are my home, Georgie. Only you. Always you.”
She punched him lightly on the arm. “Damn you,” she whispered and he looked up to see tears sliding down her cheeks. “I didn’t want to cry.”
He grinned at her. “Who’s the hot mess now, huh?”
“I blame you.” She swiped the tears away and pushed at him until he rolled over. He was still half in and half out of his cammies. Her fingers went to the buttons of his shirt, flicking them free.
“You’ll have to pay for making me cry,” she said as she opened his shirt and pushed up the T-shirt beneath. Then she sat up and just stared at him before slowly shaking her head. “Wow, who knew a uniform, tattoos, and muscles could be so appealing?”
She picked up his dog tags where they lay against his skin, fingering the edges. Then she dropped them again and stretched out on top of him.
“What happened to making me pay?” he asked when she just lay there and hugged him.
“I’ll get to that,” she murmured against his skin. “Right now, I want this. Just you and me and our hearts beating together.”
He slid his arms around her and squeezed. “That’s what I want too. Forever.”
THE END
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