Military Men

by Shelley Munro

  “I thought I told you not to do that,” she said, sounding cross. “I want you inside me.”

  “Ah, but now I’ve taken off the edge, I get to make you hot all over again. Let me tell you what I’m going to do to you.”

  “What?” she whispered, sounding enthralled. “Tell me.”

  Nikolai let her hips fall to the bed. “First, I’m going to tie your hands to the bed head so you can’t distract me.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah. And because I know you’d cheat and open your eyes, you’re going to lie facedown.”

  “You’ll see my butt.”

  “Yeah.”

  “It’s daylight.”

  “You didn’t seem too worried before when you pranced into the house ahead of me.”

  “I was angry. I forgot. You know, it’s not my best feature.” She cupped her breasts in her hands. “Wouldn’t you rather feast your eyes on these beauties?”

  He felt the corners of his eyes crinkle. “Next time. Turn over.”

  She resisted, a faint pucker between her brows. “Do you have to tie me up?”

  Nikolai slid up the bed and pulled her into his arms. “We’re not going to do anything you’re unhappy with. Making love is about giving and receiving pleasure.” He kissed her with an open-mouthed kiss, feasting on the curves of her lips and the minty moistness of her breath. When they parted, they were both breathing heavily. “It’s about trust.”

  “It’s not that I’m frightened you’ll hurt me—”

  “You like to stay in control.” That made two of them. But she was so damn reckless at times, stubbornly trying to gain independence. Nikolai shook his head, knowing she was still in danger because of swapping that book. This marriage would be interesting. They might fight, but they’d have a hell of a time making up afterward.

  “I don’t like being told what to do. When I’m asked, that’s different.”

  “So if I asked you to please turn over, would you do it?”

  Her blue eyes were wide and dark with a trace of uncertainty as she studied him. Nikolai held his breath—waiting. She shifted, her belly rubbing the tip of his shaft. A pained gasp squeezed between his lips, and he prayed she made up her mind fast.

  “I’ll do it on the condition you let me tie you up in return.”

  “God, I’ve created a monster,” he said with a grin to soften the words. “We’ll save the tying up for an hour or so. Where’s this toy I’ve been hearing about?”

  Summer’s curious gaze passed over his condom-encased cock and turned distinctly hungry. Her brows rose and fell in a comical manner, but yep, that look was predatory.

  “Maybe a little later for that too?”

  “Good idea.” Nikolai grasped her hips, positioned his cock at the mouth of her pussy and surged inside her tight, silken sheath with one hard thrust. Hot pleasure spilled through him as he pumped his cock with slow, deliberate strokes. He bent to feast on her mouth, their tongues twirling together in an imitation of their lovemaking. Nikolai broke off their kiss, his hands tugging her brown-and-blue hair from the loose knot thing she’d contrived. “That’s better,” he murmured, as damp locks tumbled around her face. “Now you look like a fallen woman.”

  A gurgle escaped her right before she bit him on a biceps. Her sharp teeth sent a signal straight to his dick. He quickened his strokes, relishing the leap of pleasure and the powerful kick of sensation. It spilled through him in a steady stream, like nothing else he’d ever experienced before. Shit, he hoped she was close because he was going to come. He tried to slow his impending release, but his senses seemed heightened as he explored her curvy body. He savored the scent on her skin, the flowery smell of damp hair, the slide of their sweat-slicked bodies against each other, the salty taste when he scraped his teeth across the underside of her breast. He failed the quest for slow. F for failure. The taste of coconut exploded on his senses as he drew hard on her flesh. The gnawing ache in his dick intensified.

  “Nikolai,” she gasped.

  Thank you! Nikolai chanted silently. Thank you. His hands dropped to cup her buttocks and he lifted her to deepen the angle of his strokes. Flesh slapped. Quicker. Harder. Summer dug her nails into his back. He felt the tightening clasp of her womb and molten fire erupted from his cock. A dark sound squeezed past his clenched teeth seconds before his seed poured from him in a long, never-ending stream. He kept thrusting, short, hard jabs, until the last ounce of pleasure was wrung from him.

  Nikolai came to himself again when she started to squirm beneath him. “Am I squashing you?”

  “S’okay.” Summer gasped. “Too many curves anyway.”

  He chuckled and rolled so she lay on top of him. “Sweetheart, I like your curves just the way they are. A good, big handful.”

  “Yeah, anywhere you choose to grab,” she said, her tone rueful.

  “I like it.” Nikolai smoothed one hand down her back and squeezed her rounded butt gently. “A lot.”

  “You’re good for a woman’s ego.” She looked up at him, a renewed flare of desire in her blue eyes.

  He drew a breath, deep and unsteady. “I hate to say it, but I don’t think I can manage another go-around. Not yet. The mind is willing. The flesh needs to recuperate.”

  “No problem,” Summer said in a breezy voice that made the hairs at the back of his neck stand to cautious attention.

  She climbed off him, their joined bodies separating. Once again, she bent over her bag to rummage through the contents, giving him a great view of her pussy and butt. He raked his gaze across her ample arse, his hands literally itching to touch. Shit, even better. He could sink his teeth in—he could bite. A surge of possessiveness flooded him without warning. Damn, he wanted to mark her fine-looking butt. He wanted his brand on her so no other man would make the mistake of thinking she was free.

  A mischievous giggle drew his attention. She was busy watching him watch her.

  “Minx. Come here.” Nikolai yanked the spent condom off his cock and put it aside. He held his cock in his hand and slowly pumped. His semi-erect dick reacted predictably to the stimulation.

  “Ah-ha! There you are,” she crooned, and she glanced at him with a blaze of sexual heat in her face. As he watched, the soft tones of arousal crawled down her neck to her chest. “My toy.”

  She yanked the wrapping off with all the enthusiasm of a child at Christmastime. Then she crawled across the bed to him on her hands and knees. Summer lay down across his chest, holding her toy up her him to see. “Feel how soft that is.” Her hand caressed the red flexible skin, and Nikolai felt an answering surge in his cock as though she massaged him. “And look—it’s got different speeds.” A soft whine sounded. “But it doesn’t grunt like you.”

  “You are in need of a good, hard spanking, Summer Williams.”

  “Okay,” she said. “After we try the toy, and I tie you up.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  “Summer!” a masculine voice hollered. The angry sound echoed and bounced off the walls in a too-familiar manner.

  “Oh, no,” Summer muttered. Somehow, she didn’t think closing her eyes and pretending she was asleep would solve this one.

  Nikolai slithered from the bed and pulled an ugly-looking gun from under the bed.

  “Don’t go. Did you lock the bedroom door?”

  “No.”

  “Summer!” The second voice sounded a shade deeper but just as angry.

  “Shit, there’s two of them,” Nikolai said, and he grabbed his jeans and yanked them on.

  “Unfortunately.”

  Nikolai cast her a strange look, but the thump of heavy boots outside the bedroom forestalled his questions.

  “Don’t come in!” Summer shrieked. “I don’t have any clothes—”

  The door burst open and crashed against the bedroom wall. Two huge men paused at the threshold, and the four of them stared at each other with varying reactions.

  “Fuck,” Nikolai said in a fierce undertone.

 
Summer nodded.

  Yep, this was a situation that called for a stronger word than “shit”.

  She tugged the covers up to her chin and considered crawling right underneath to hide. She thought about it for all of two seconds and cast away the cowardly idea. Someone needed to referee. She was the lone candidate.

  “What the hell are you doing?” Dillon, her oldest brother, roared. He balanced lightly on his toes, his biceps bulging beneath his T-shirt. His dark hair stuck up, appearing as ruffled as his temper.

  Josh, her other brother, folded his arms across his broad chest. He didn’t smirk but the glint in his baby-blue eyes said he wanted to. “Oh, it’s obvious what they’ve been doing,” he drawled, confirming her supposition. The louse thought this was funny.

  “Tarei.” A pulse throbbed at Dillon’s temple, and he looked as if he wanted to haul Nikolai from the room and beat him to a pulp. “Jake said Summer was here. Didn’t expect you too.”

  “Sex,” Josh added helpfully.

  Summer swallowed despite her best efforts to keep her anxiety contained. Her week just kept getting better. Murder, a little sex and a fistfight chucked in for good measure. She had it all. Who needed to read the Sunday tabloids?

  “I don’t want to think about my sister and sex in the same sentence,” Dillon snapped.

  “Especially with him.” Josh shifted his weight, and clenched and unclenched his fists. The ever-present humor in his baby-looking face riled Summer. Time to take control.

  “Out,” she snapped, trying to ignore the fine tremor of nerves that shook her limbs.

  “Fine.” Dillon glared at Nikolai. “He can come with us.”

  “I don’t think so,” she returned sweetly. If they laid one hand on Nikolai, so help her… She would Tae Kwon Do her two soldier brothers. “Nikolai stays with me.”

  Dillon and Josh exchanged a glance.

  Summer narrowed her eyes. “He stays with me. He’s seen me dress before.”

  “I don’t think they want to hear that, sweetheart.”

  “Fuck, no.” Dillon jerked his head toward the door. “Out, Tarei. You’re coming with us.”

  “You do know Nikolai?” Summer glanced from brother to brother. Their hard faces gave away little, but she guessed they weren’t telling her something big. Fine. She’d worm the information from Nikolai the minute she got rid of her brothers.

  Summer sat and made a show of grabbing the covers. The sheet slipped dangerously close to flashing her nipples.

  “Aw, Summer!” Josh said, starting to back away. He grabbed his brother’s arm and yanked.

  Dillon resisted until Summer made another move. “The kitchen in five minutes,” he ordered. “A second longer and we’ll come back and drag you out.”

  Her brothers exited the room, their remarks to each other peppered with enough swear words it was a wonder her mother didn’t make an appearance with her bar of soap.

  Summer scrambled from the bed and searched for clothes. “I don’t care what they said, I’m having a shower before I face them. And you are coming with me to explain what my brothers are talking about and why they don’t like you. The bathroom has a lock.”

  Twenty minutes later, Summer sailed into the kitchen with Nikolai trailing her.

  “Coffee?” she asked Nikolai.

  “Thanks.”

  “Don’t think you can waltz in here and act like nothing has happened.” Dillon paced the length of the kitchen like a big cat confined to a cage. “Mum’s not going to be happy when she hears.”

  Fury made her jaw clench. “What? You gonna tell tales? It’s about time you all realized I’m an adult. I’m not a sickly kid anymore. And I’ll sleep with whomever I damn well want. If I want to sleep with an entire rugby team, then I will.”

  “Over my dead body,” Nikolai snapped, curling a possessive arm around her waist and hauling her against his side.

  “For that, we might let you live,” Josh conceded.

  “But you can keep your hands off our sister.”

  Nikolai didn’t appear perturbed by her brother’s posturing, so Summer allowed herself to relax a fraction. She was old enough to make her own decisions, and if some of them were wrong, they were her consequences to fix. By herself. She silently acknowledged her reckless streak, but she was working on that and trying to temper her reactions to new situations with thought first. Sometimes it worked.

  Nikolai ignored her brothers and brushed a lock of hair from her face. He pressed a kiss to the spot of skin he’d uncovered and captured one of her hands to trace the fine skin at the inside of her wrist. “We’re engaged. We’re getting married.”

  Summer was so busy concentrating on the fiery sensation racing from her wrist and down her body, she didn’t register his words at first.

  “Married?” Josh glanced at Dillon.

  Summer’s mouth dropped open. Had he said married? She thought they’d discussed that earlier and come to an agreement. About to argue, she decided silence might be the wiser course. A glance at her brothers and their silent communication confirmed this course of action. She’d take issue with Nikolai and his high-handedness later.

  “That’s okay then.” Dillon’s grudging tone didn’t fit his words. “We’d better ring Mum and let her know the news.”

  Okay, that did it. “I’m not marrying Nikolai.”

  Silence fell, broken by the roar of the next-door neighbor’s lawnmower. Nikolai stiffened beside her, his hand gripping hers tightly. Dammit, enough. Time to pack a bag, call a cab and see if she could stay with Angel.

  She wrenched her hand from Nikolai’s and stomped to the door. She flinched inwardly at the burst of angry heat caused by three big, bad SAS men glaring at her back.

  Too bad.

  They could settle their fight by themselves, and if they wanted to pound each other into the ground let them.

  “Summer!” Nikolai roared.

  “I’m fed up with you all shouting orders at me. I won’t marry you. You haven’t asked me.” Was it too much to ask for a little romance? When had proposing on bended knee gone out of fashion? Dammit, she wanted roses and sweet talk.

  Summer kept walking and threw open the bedroom door. The rumpled bed reminded her of how good it felt when Nikolai was holding her, his cock tightly wedged in her pussy. Too bad memories would have to sustain her because she wasn’t putting up with commands. They might belong to the army, but she didn’t, and it was about time they remembered this fact.

  Boots thundered on the wooden floor behind her. Great. The entire herd had come to watch her pack. Fine.

  “Care to offer suggestions as to the best place to pack these, boys?” Summer held up the box of glow-in-the-dark condoms, with the label facing outward and clearly visible. Mrs. Ferguson would have been proud. She’d listened carefully during their marketing seminar.

  Josh sniggered. “I wouldn’t wear those if you paid me.”

  “He better have worn them,” Dillon growled.

  Nikolai tensed noticeably and shot an irritable look at Summer. “I didn’t, which is why we’re getting married.”

  “Bastard.”

  Dillon and Josh rounded on Nikolai. A fist flew. She wasn’t sure which brother the punch came from but it connected with Nikolai’s jaw. Before she knew it, fists were going in all directions along with realistic crunches and spurts of blood.

  “Stop it!” She threw the box of condoms at Dillon’s head. Green foil packets rained down, landing all over the floor. Something else to throw. She grabbed the nearest thing to hand. The fly-fishing book. She heaved at Josh. Bull’s eye! The book hit the back of his head, bounced off and thumped to the floor while she searched for another missile.

  At a loss, she glanced back in time to see Nikolai clip Dillon’s jaw with a well-directed punch. Dillon’s head snapped back. He dodged to avoid a second punch, and his foot landed on the book. It skidded from under him, but Dillon balanced like the panther he resembled and kicked the fly-fishing book aside. It crashed
against the wall.

  The book.

  Something to heave at her brothers again. When she scooped it up, a tightly wadded piece of paper fell from the damaged spine. Sudden excitement pounded through her. A reason Dare wanted the book. “Nikolai!” she shrieked.

  The three men ignored her cry. Nikolai took a blow in the stomach, roared and came up swinging his fists. Dillon ducked, stepped back and bumped Josh. Josh dodged but collided with her. She squeaked in alarm as they fell to the floor in a tangle of limbs and a loud thump.

  “Get off me, you great big oaf!” She pushed at her brother, but he was slow to move and felt like a giant sack of potatoes draped across her chest. “Can’t breathe.”

  “Get off her, dammit.” Nikolai came to the rescue.

  Seconds later, the weight lifted from her chest, and Josh thumped onto the mat beside the bed.

  “You okay, sweetheart?” He helped her sit up and brushed her hair from her eyes. “Do you need your inhaler?”

  “Inhaler? God, Summer. You haven’t used your inhaler for over a year,” Dillon said.

  “No, I’m fine. Josh knocked the wind out of me. Is he okay?” She peered past Dillon’s worried face to study Josh who was rubbing the side of his head in a groggy manner.

  “Nah, he’s got a hard head. He’ll be fine,” Dillon said. “I’m more worried about you. I thought you’d grown out of the asthma attacks.”

  “Dillon, for the last time, I’m fine. If or when I’m not feeling well, I’ll take myself off to the doctor. I don’t need my family treating me like a baby. Nikolai, look what fell out of the book when the spine broke. I didn’t think of breaking the binding.”

  “We’ve got more important things to worry about than a damn book,” Dillon said.

  “Summer is in—”

  Summer placed a hand on Nikolai’s shoulder and squeezed hard. “I’ll tell them since it was my fault. I’ve got myself in a spot of trouble—”