The Colonel's Man (6 page)

She rolled her neck and something clicked. She’d taken a hit to the shoulder years ago and the damn thing still tightened up at times. She flicked a glance over him. He was in good shape, better than she expected.

“Since I broke your toy, come on… I’ll let you try and rough me up.”

“Cool. I guess this means today’s my lucky day. Ladies first.” He gestured towards the sparring mat at the middle of the large room.

She arched an eyebrow, shooting him a glance over her shoulder as she passed. “Lucky day? You think you’re that good, do you?”

“Well I think I have some skills but at least it’s a chance to get my hands on you.” His quip was followed with a wink as he followed her.

She’d barely reached the mats when she dropped, one hand on the floor for balance as she spun and swept his legs out from under him. He went down with a curse, rolling to try and pin her but she was already up and moving.

“What was that? Something about hands?” she taunted, dancing out of reach and ignoring the pull in her injured side. Adrenaline and something else coursed through her as she danced lightly on her feet. She’d seen Scott in action and he was fast. She could beat him, but it would be a close-call. When she’d trained him he’d be amazing, and she’d probably have to play dirty to keep beating him.

“Oh-ho-ho…you fight dirty.” He quickly recovered his feet. “I like that.”

“Yeah? You’re gonna have a ball then.”

She watched him closely as he crouched to lower his center of gravity and mirrored her movements as they went around the middle, circling each other. Finally he lunged and threw a quick jab followed by another up towards her from below, intending to gauge her responses.

She blocked and twisted, giving him a false tell to cover the real twinge on her left knee. He was good, and fast. All excellent traits for their line of work. Too busy concentrating on his tells, she forgot that her side hadn’t healed and moved for a slick combination move that should have him landing on his ass.

Instead, halfway through the move pain tore through her side, the agony enough to make her bite her lip and roll, blocking his punch just in time. Backpedalling frantically, she tried to get away.

He lunged and tackled her. She went down flat on her back but didn’t give up. Instead, she landed an elbow on his shoulder which converted his smug smile into a grimace of pain as she fired off a knee to his side to throw him off balance. Maybe enough to get him off her and allow her to recover.

She made the mistake of raising the knee on her injured side, and the blow didn’t quite make it to its target. A gasp of pain was torn from her lips as something tore and fire erupted in her side. Taking advantage, he wedged his legs between hers to keep them apart and deny her leverage to give him a solid kick. His upper arms managed to block her weaker follow-up blows and before long he had her hands, hauling them above her head to trap them there. The smile on his face was gone now, and replaced with a feral expression like that of a predator that had caught its prey.

“Fuck.” She bucked and tried to get him off of her, but the movement sent another ripple of pain through her.

“Scott…” She warned as he dropped his head, gaze riveted on her lips. He was going to kiss her. Heat washed through her at the thought but she struggled, fighting against him until his hold tightened on her wrists warningly.

Fuck!
It was like medbay again, except this time she was herself and in pain. The second he tackled her he realized that she was hurting. He didn’t realize just how bad until he felt that weak attempt to knee him in the side and saw the pain contort her face.

Anger rolled through him. Already injured, she was pushing herself too much. Despite the damage she was doing to him, he did his best to pin her down, which wasn’t easy. Considering she was weak, it proved just how dangerous she would be at a hundred percent.

As he looked down into her face he didn’t think about that anymore, nor did her words penetrate his daze. Her breasts were mashed against his chest and he could feel her nipples, hard and impudent, teasing him as they pressed into his skin. His hard cock pressed against her pussy, only the thin fabric of their workout clothes between them. She bucked her hips, and he groaned as her groin ground against him.

His eyes took in her face. He’d never been attracted to a woman with ridges before, but they really were quite delicate and pretty, lending her features an exoticness he found breath-taking. His gaze settled on her trembling, moist, slightly parted mouth and everything in him was screaming at him to kiss her.

But he couldn’t as much as he wanted to, he was very well aware of her pain and he made sure that he held her down as securely as he could if only to make sure she didn’t squirm and hurt herself again. “God! You’re hurt and you’re grappling with me? What’s wrong with you?”

“Who died and made you a Spirit?” She threw back, gritting her teeth and squirming under him in ways that made him want to forget he had principles. She was pissed, he would guess as much at her weakness as at the fact he’d been able to pin her down.

Would she ask him nicely to let her up, or would she carry on fighting? The first and he’d let her up, if only to escort her right back to the medbay. The second…she’d probably pick up right where she’d left off trying to pound his face into the mat.

She shifted her hips again.

“Fuck! Will you stop doing that?” He bit back his groan and the impulse to slam his own head into the mat just so he wouldn’t think about how he wanted to rip off her pants, pull down his and bury himself into her.

“What? This?”

She wriggled again and managed to get one hand free. Swearing, he recaptured it, looping his forearm under the back of her neck and holding her arms down. The new position gave him more control but brought his lips temptingly closer to hers.

He could feel her soft breath against his face. She was so close all he had to do was lower his lips a few more inches and then he would finally know what her mouth tasted like. Instead he growled at her as a predatory smile crept across his face.

“You know, naughty girls who don’t listen get punished.”

Her eyes widened, whether in shock or outrage, he wasn’t sure. But the swift darkness that filled them took his breath away. Fuck. He’d said it as a joke, and maybe to push his luck a little. He hadn’t expected her to respond.

“Jason…”

There was only so much temptation a man could take. Hearing his name on her lips in that breathy voice was the final straw. He leaned in and claimed her lips.

A groan escaped his throat. She tasted better than he’d dreamed and he couldn’t get his fill. Angling his head, he teased the seam of her lips, slowly and deliberately as if he had all the time in the world. Tempting her to play the game.

She shifted, relaxing under him. He nipped her lower lip, taking advantage of her gasp to breach her defenses and slide into her mouth. Her whimper of need was lost in his mouth as he stroked his tongue around hers.

His hold on her arms slipped, forearm twisting to cradle her neck as he deepened the kiss and explored the soft recess of her mouth with brutal thoroughness. He couldn’t believe he was doing this; kissing Colonel Rhade while she writhed under him on a gym mat. Lust, white hot and primitive, surged through him as she pressed against him with a passion that matched his own.

His hand slid down and made a lazy, deliberate exploration of her body from her neck down to her back, his fingers conforming to her every curve and hollow that they encountered. Slipping to her side, he lightly grazed the side of her breast then reached the flare of her hips.

*

The slight moan of pain alerted him first before he felt something warm and wet. He pulled back and lifted himself up to see the dark purple blood on his fingers. Concern immediately took over and lust was relegated to the back seat. “Shit, we have to get you patched up again. You’re bleeding.”

She dropped her head back against the floor. “Scott, you’re obsessed with blood. You got some kind of weird fetish I need to know about?”

“Well I don’t know about you but I’m not in the habit of making out with really hot women if they’re hurt and bleeding on the floor.”

He untangled their limbs and rolled away. Lifting the tank top, he took a closer look at the wound. It was still an angry purple color and one of her cuts had reopened. “Dammit, you’re a stubborn cow. Has anyone ever told you that?”

“Ouch! Fuck you, Scott.” She arched her back as he tested the edges of the wound.

“I’d love to gorgeous but maybe later when you’re not wincing in pain.” Jason said as he lowered her shirt, pretending to pout in disappointed at her comment. “Come on, if you don’t want to go all the way to the medbay and get your ass chewed out by the doc, at least let me patch you up.”

She lay on the floor, her gaze assessing as she looked at him. Finally, she nodded. “Okay, but make it quick. Hurst’ll chew me out for sure this time if he catches us.”

Jason shook his head as he stood up to get the medkit. It was a good thing that this time of day the gym was literally deserted or he’d have to deal with curious looks at the least and outright scuttlebutt at the most. As he returned to her he realized he didn’t like the idea of anyone else looking at her like he did, like a man looking at a woman, or talking crap about her.

Great. And now he was being overprotective.

She struggled to sit up, but his hand on her shoulder took care of that. With a warning look he pressed her back down to the mat and flipped open the medkit. She swore as he cleaned the wound. Concentrating on his task, he still didn’t miss the new presence in the room. A familiar presence. Already feeling disapproval in the air.

“I hope I’m not interrupting.” Drew walked up to them, wearing desert tan boots, tactical trousers, a black shirt and a neutral expression on his face.

“The new boss and I were just getting acquainted with grappling techniques.” Jason laid a fresh dressing over her wound and started packing up the medkit. “Aggravated her boo boo is all.”

WHACK! Ouch!

Jason rubbed the back of his head and turned to find Arita glowering at him. He had to admit that if he didn’t know she could kick his ass to next week, he’d think she was a little cute when mad.

Drew flicked a glance between them, his face still blank. Jason sighed to himself. He knew that look. There were going to be questions later and Drew could be worse than a damn terrier when he wanted to know something. His gaze dropped to the data-pad in Drew’s hand.

“You bringing me love letters now, buddy?” He smirked, trying to deflect the conversation onto a safer subject.

“This is for the boss.” Drew handed the datapad over to Arita then turned to flip him off. “That one’s for you.”

“Well I love you too buddy.” Jason chuckled as he inched closer to Arita who had started reading through the device with a focused expression. He tried to take a peek but Arita was quick to press her palm over his cheek and push him away. Good naturedly, he laughed as he rolled to his feet and dusted off his pants. “What’s that about?” Jason nodded towards Arita.

“We’re being recalled boys.” Arita smiled as she got to her feet. “Data retrieval mission, undercover.”

Dusting the ass of her pants off, she handed the pad back to Drew. “Okay, Scott, thanks for the patch up. Get that medkit packed and away. I’ll meet you guys in the shuttlebay in ten. Grab field kit only; we’ll send back for your personal gear after this mission.”

She looked at them both, all traces of amusement gone from her expression now. The woman he’d held in his arms a moment ago was buried under the cool and calm facade of a special operations operative. “The drop-shuttle Templar. Ten minutes or I leave without you. Are we clear?”

“We’ll be there with bells on boss.” Jason called after Arita’s retreating back as he picked up the medkit. He started for the lockers to prep when Drew caught his arm and stopped him midstride.

“What do you think you’re doing man?” Drew’s expression was rife with censure.

“I’m just being my usual charming self. We grappled, things got out of hand.”

“I saw what happened and ‘out of hand’ is putting it lightly.” Drew folded his arms over his chest. “You’re being reckless mate. She’s not some bimbo you pick up at the bar to nail. She’s the boss.”

Anger flared and Jason yanked his arm from Drew’s grip.

“Yeah, thanks for the hint. I know she’s the boss and despite what you think, I know where the lines are drawn. I’m not gonna fuck up your career buddy, so thanks for the reminder but go shove it up somewhere else.”

Drew’s words caught up with him as he reached the doorway.

“We both know why you’re angry and we both know that you’re making a big mistake. Don’t fuck her up too, Jason.”

“Okay, we’re going in as James Bridges, background in long haul logistics and his bodyguard, former marine, Kurt Greens. Those are your cover ID bios. Read them, love them. Know them inside out.”

Arita handed pads to both men as they stepped into the sleek diplomatic drop-shuttle. Both wore tailored tuxedos and actually scrubbed up rather well. She tried to avoid noticing just how well Scott filled out the shoulders of his jacket, instead shooting them both a tight smile.