Redeeming Her SEAL (ASSIGNMENT: Caribbean Nights Book 9) (17 page)

Once again, they were without condoms, unless he’d had the foresight, and frankly, she didn’t want to know at this point.

“Charlie?”

“Yeah, sweetheart.”

He’d called her that like ten times tonight. Had he even registered that he’d shifted the way he subconsciously thought about her? The glow it put inside rivaled everything physical he’d ever done to her. “If you think you have to do something else for my own good that might work out like last time, can you just tell me? Whatever it is, I can take it. I—”

She cut herself off because maybe she couldn’t. She’d caved into the loneliness and the grief and jumped on the first warm body that had presented itself to her, thinking that Jared would be exactly what she’d needed to get her through. When in reality, if she was as strong as she pretended, she could have found her own peace. By herself. And not hurt this amazing man who’d been on his way home with his own internal wounds.

His arms tightened around her with the silent strength that she’d craved. She’d needed an anchor after losing Isaac, and he could have taken on that role easily. Or at least that’s how she’d always envisioned it. But the present had new challenges, and he had his own crap to deal with.

So maybe she could be his anchor instead. She could keep him from drifting away, as long as he didn’t let go—and he didn’t have a great track record in that department.

That’s why being with Jared had been so easy. She had no danger of being emotionally invested. No danger of being hurt. What the hell was she doing here with Charlie, then? He had the power to rip her heart to pieces, if she let him. It was insanity to get this close. But she couldn’t stop.

“I told you,” he murmured. “I’m here. That’s not going to change. I wish I could explain how big of a concession that is. But I can’t make any other promises that I may not be able to keep.”

She nodded against his shoulder because that was exactly the issue and always had been. “So we’ll take it slow. We know how to do that.”

“I know
how
,” he grumbled good-naturedly into her hair. “I just don’t like it.”

“Oh, I wasn’t talking about sex,” she correctly hastily. “I meant everything else. No sex was just a way to get to where we are now. It worked. I’m over it. I’d strip you right now if only I’d run by the store for condoms instead of wandering around Freeport. That’s what I get for taking a walk without my phone.”

She couldn’t handle the silent screen that never lit up with Charlie’s name. Ironic the one time it had, she’d left it behind.

He groaned. “You’d think we’d learn by now. Besides, it doesn’t matter. You’ve got a nasty bruise that doesn’t need additional trauma. You’ll heal better if I keep my hands off of you. Trust me when I say that I need you one hundred percent when I get you naked.”

Actually, she’d probably heal much faster if they stripped down and reacquainted themselves with the pleasure of each other. Sex was one of the things he gave freely and easily, and she’d missed that part maybe the most.

But she
was
exhausted. Her whole body hurt and the only thing keeping her stable right now was him. Maybe that was the key—together they could find the sanity in the insane.

“Go to sleep. Anticipation is good for the soul,” she told him and snuggled deeper in his arms with a smile. “You can take me on a romantic date tomorrow night. If it’s good enough, I might let you sleep over again.”

“You anticipate your way, and I’ll anticipate mine.”

She could practically feel his return smile, and unless she missed her guess, it bordered on diabolical.

C
harlie had to take the boat back to Duchess Island early in the morning, but he kissed Audra goodbye with enough heat that she almost pulled him back into bed with her. He was still delicious and rumpled, and she missed his body against hers instantly.

“Sure you don’t want me to call in sick to work so we can spend the day playing hooky?” she murmured as he disentangled her fist from his T-shirt with a laugh.

“I absolutely want you to do that. But we’ve got adult things to do today and you just took time off.” His smile softened the blow. A little. “I’m picking you up at six o’clock sharp. Wear something pretty.”

She scowled. “I liked it better when we were both on vacation.”

But she let him go because he was right and then suffered through a very long day of work where she accomplished almost nothing because the anticipation of what Charlie would come up with that could be defined as romantic kept her edgy. Her hip still hurt, but she had no plans to let that get in her way.

All day, she played the anticipation game.
Seven hours until I get to see Charlie. Six hours until I can kiss him.
Five hours until his gorgeous eyes are on me again.
The countdown was killing her.

By 5:45, she’d fixed her hair three different ways, brushed it all out, and left it down, applied and then wiped off at least seven different shades of lipstick, and changed clothes nine times. God, why was she so
nervous
? It was just a date with a man she’d slept with, eaten with, swam with. She’d brought him to a climax with her mouth, her hands, her body, her voice.

But this was something different than a two-week fling or Skype sex. It was
more
.

At the same time, she worried about the big railroad spike through her heart at some point in the future. History wasn’t on their side, and he’d practically promised that there would be more hurt in her future, but God, the way he made her feel… he was worth it.

Still. All of that swirled together to make her hands clammy.

Good thing she’d ducked out of work early or she’d never have been ready when Charlie knocked on the door at ten till six. Looked like they were both anticipating their date.

She swung open the door, and his smile almost knocked her knees out from under her. God in heaven, was a finer man ever built? His shoulders alone should get a national holiday. When you added ice-blue eyes, a body that turned simple slacks and a shirt mouthwatering, and a fistful of long-stemmed roses, he was a walking advertisement for perfection.

His gaze heated instantly as he did a slow inventory of her from toes to head, and she let him look because the effort to be pretty for him had been monumental. Men had no idea how hard it was to pencil on eyeliner when your hands shook.

“For you.” He nodded to the flowers and then swept into her apartment to drop them onto the credenza behind the couch instead of handing them to her. The door clicked shut in his wake.

All at once, he whirled her into his arms, and his mouth came down on hers, hot and needy, and she soared into the vortex. The press of his hard body pinned her to the door as he lit her up. Everything inside took flight as his hands raced to find the hem of her dress, and within moments, the indecision that had led to nine outfit changes became irrelevant when he whipped the fabric up and over her head.

All righty then.

“Sorry,” he said but didn’t sound all that sorry and then nuzzled her ear, his breath shooting little licks of fire across her neck. “That dress looked amazing on you.”

“Uh-huh. What color was it?”

He stalled by mouthing his way down her throat, sucking and licking every millimeter of skin he could get under his lips, and then slid two fingers under her bra straps, one on each side. “Red?”

The straps slid from her shoulders, and he followed the left one with little nibbles across her clavicle until his mouth hit the soft flesh of her shoulder. Which he branded with his hot lips.

She moaned. “Close. Blue.”

“I really meant to let you wear it to dinner,” he mouthed against her skin. “But I need you too much to wait.”

And then he yanked the bra down to her waist without unhooking it and took one nipple hostage, capturing it so thoroughly with his teeth that she gasped as her back bowed involuntarily. Desperately seeking more of his hot mouth, she leaned into it, eyes shut as she let the swell of lust wash through her.

He gave her what she sought with clairvoyant precision, suckling on her breast with a groan that vibrated deep in her core. On fire with need, she groped for his shoulders and went on an exploration of the wonders of Charlie’s back as he switched sides to lave at her other nipple with increased urgency.

Yes, yes, yes.
What was
wrong
with her that she’d thought taking sex out of the equation was a good plan?

All of her uncertainty and nervousness melted under this oral onslaught. His mouth on her skin made sense, and she’d needed so badly for something to.

Her head lolled back against the door as he took her under in a sensual haze with his hands as they feathered across her stomach. All at once, he dropped to his knees. His palms drifted to her hips, then paused, fingers hovering near where she’d been hurt.

And then her heart fell out of rhythm as he gently kissed her bruise.

“I’ll feed you,” he promised as he kept going down her leg to cover every inch of it. “I swear. Later.”

“It’s okay,” she murmured. She needed him too, just like this, blind with pleasure and lost in each other. Besides, sex against the door counted as romantic in her book. “Please tell me—”

He held up three condoms fanned out between his thumb and fingers, and she smiled. The man was definitely a keeper. She had a whole box in the bedroom, but silly her… she’d thought they’d actually get to the bed, and there was no way she’d make it that far now.

Eager now that she knew the agenda, she pulled him to his feet, stripped him of his nice clothes and wiggled out of the rest of hers, then yanked him back into place against her. Exactly where she wanted him.

He sucked her tongue into the heat of his mouth, rolling his own around hers until the little pulls in her abdomen became big ones, all long and liquid and so delicious. She threaded her fingers in his hair and held on as he shoved his thigh between hers, a move she’d always thought of as his specialty because
oh, my God
did he know how to hit the right spot.

His thick erection ground into her stomach, and she wanted it more than she wanted to breathe. “Don’t make me wait then. Hurry.”

In seconds he had her boosted up, the door flat against her back as he pinned her with his heated blue eyes and pushed inside. Slowly. Inch by inch, he slid home, watching her with something so miraculous in his gaze that she couldn’t look away. Didn’t want to look away. She wanted to be affected by him, surrounded by him. Loved by him.

At last he was sheathed, but instead of setting a record pace on the way to a furious orgasm, he held still for an eternity until she thought she’d break apart from the bliss of his length locked inside her.

“Charlie,” she croaked but his lips claimed the last half of it as he kissed her with the sweetest fire, as if he couldn’t get enough of her.

But the reverse was true—she couldn’t get enough of him. The thrill filled her to the brim.

Then he eased out and back in, setting up a rhythm that was new, different. Not what she’d fantasized about over and over again. They’d always been hot and heavy, unable to keep their hands off of each other. But that had been before.

History blew away as he drew out her pleasure with long, slow thrusts, changing the angle until she gasped out his name, nonsense, a hallelujah. Nothing registered anymore but the things beating through her chest and the pressure building at her core that was so much bigger than a swelling need to come.

“Missed you,” he murmured in her ear with a sigh.

Her eyes blinked open, and she stared at him as he pushed her higher against the door, piercing her soul just as easily as he was piercing her body. Oh, God. He’d said the same thing last night but not with such raw, achy need laced through it, and there was no way to misinterpret what was happening here.

This was the reunion she’d dreamed about for so long, but it was spiked with so much more meaning than just a physical joining. Months and months of angst and regret and longing vanished, and she threw open the walls of her heart to let the flood of this man wash through her.

Nothing mattered but this. Not the ambiguous possibility of more heartache in the future. Not his tendency to be closemouthed about things she desperately needed to know. He was here, in this moment, communicating with her the way he did best, and it was powerful.

She tightened her legs around his waist, drawing him deep until she could hardly feel where she ended and he began. As it should be. They rocked together until the friction built and built on itself again.

Scrabbling at the threads of her release, she tried to hold on because she wanted this to last forever, but he sensed her rising tension like she’d plastered the news across her face. His pace picked up, and he drove his hips faster until her body betrayed her with a spectacular climax that instantly yanked a groan from him as he came in tandem.

“Gorgeous,” he mumbled as his legs tensed and he pulsed inside her. “So gorgeous.”

His head thunked down on her shoulder, and she tilted hers against his cheek, speechless, boneless. After a minute or two, he let her slide down until her feet touched the floor, but he didn’t let her go and she didn’t ask him to.