After dinner he’d packed away all his things and tried to get a little shuteye, but it just wasn’t happening. The longer she was out, the tenser he grew thinking about her and that David prick.
Giving up, he’d decided to go on a run. Big damn mistake. When he’d come back and saw her making out in the car, he’d nearly lost his shit.
She stared at him now. The first time they were close and face to face in three years, and she was right there looking back at him. The air around them crackled as if electrified.
He stepped forward, and she backed herself against the vine that clung to the side of the garage.
Johnny followed her, not really sure what the hell he was doing. He wasn’t so sure it was anger propelling him now.
“I’m not a little girl anymore,” she said defiantly.
He was more than aware that she was no longer the teen he’d left behind. The past few years she’d grown into a woman with all the curves that came along with that. He’d always known that she was going to be beautiful, and he wasn’t wrong.
Caught up in the moment, he let his eyes linger on her breasts in the low V-neck black dress. Through the fabric he could see her nipples tighten under his gaze. His once-loose sweats now felt entirely too tight.
Johnny brought his eyes back to her mouth. Her pink tongue darted out to lick her lips, and he felt himself take a step forward, as if he wasn’t in control of his own body.
“No,” he said, his voice a low rumble. “Any damn fool could see that you are not a little girl.”
His mouth closed on hers, and he pressed her hard against the wall. Her hot body pressed against him.
Her hands came up to his chest, and he only leaned in for more.
It’d been so long since he’d even seriously thought about a woman, other than a one-night stand. Sure, it wasn’t like he didn’t have his options, but he’d pushed the thought of women out of his life and concentrated only on his career and the mission.
It’d even been longer since he allowed himself the thought of being with her. But tonight he didn’t want to think about that. All he wanted was to be the man who returned home to his woman.
It was wrong. Johnny knew it deep inside, but the ache for her had never faded All these years of being an honorary member of the family had only set him up for pain.
He had been there the whole time, wanting for more with her, but never being able to take that step to happiness.
The risk was too great. He couldn’t lose the only family he really had. The thought of being pushed away by them was a million times worse than the pain of having to watch her be with other people.
Or at least he’d thought that was the case.
Having it lain out right in front of him was totally different than when he’d been an ocean away.
Johnny turned his head to the side and slipped his tongue into her mouth. She gasped. She tasted like oranges and alcohol. Another reminder that she’d been out without him. His lust bowled over the residual anger.
Unable to slow down, his hands moved over her body. She shuddered in his arms as his hand skimmed the side of her breast. Her tight nipples moved against his chest through her thin dress.
Slowly he moved his hands down her side and then around to squeeze her tight little ass.
She kissed him back now. Her hands moved along the back of his neck and into his hair. He groaned a little when her nails scraped against his scalp.
His dick throbbed with need. There had to be some relief, or he was going to lose his fucking mind.
Johnny inched her dress up in the back until he was holding her bare flesh in his palms. With a small amount of effort, he lifted her and pressed his hard cock against her wet center.
She pulled her mouth from his and moaned softly. The sound was the most erotic thing he’d ever heard.
He shifted his hips and smiled when she moaned again.
It wasn’t just him, not just his lust, his needs. She wanted him.
This time he brought his mouth to her neck. Sucking the soft, sweet skin there, he moved along her neck, loving all the little sound she made as he did so. When he reached her ear, he placed several soft kisses there.
“I missed you,” he whispered. “Every day I missed you.”
She froze in his arms, and for a moment, he thought they had been caught.
“Put me down,” she said. Her body shook as she spoke.
Johnny quickly placed her back on the ground, ready to face a very angry Rich. As soon as she was down, Maddy pushed him back, startling him with the sudden movement.
She pointed a finger at him, tears in her eyes.
“You don’t get to say that to me,” she said in a low voice. “You don’t get to ever say that to me, you son of a bitch.”
“Mads—”
He tried to move toward her but stopped when she held out a hand. Her words shredded him. The pain they summoned was more than he ever expected.
Johnny watched, helpless as she raced up the stairs and stepped inside.
The light overhead flipped off, and he was left there in the dark with his guilt.
With a heavy heart, all he could do was take himself inside and try to think of a way to make this right tomorrow.
He gave one last look to the window near the door and thought he saw the curtains move in the darkness above.
It gave him some small fraction of hope that he might be able to make this right with her.
He had to.
Chapter Five
Maddy slept liked crap, and she certainly looked like it in the bathroom mirror. Makeup took care of the dark rings, but her eyes were still bloodshot and lips a little swollen from the kiss last night.
Her cheeks heated at the thought of the kiss. She’d never kissed someone like that: as if her very life depended on it. Even the few times she’d had sex hadn’t started with a kiss like that. Hell, she might have had more sex over the years if the guys she dated kissed like that.
Not wanting to revisit the feelings, she shook herself a little. The whole encounter was a heat of the moment sort of thing.
She needed to keep that in mind. It didn’t mean a damn thing to either one of them. She had been drunk and dealing with a shitty night. Not the best frame of mind to be seeing Johnny.
And Johnny, well, she’d just go with surprised and angry since she really couldn’t figure out what the hell had possessed him to kiss her like that.
She’d assumed women were throwing themselves at him, but he’d spent most of his time on deployment overseas getting shot at, not exactly the best place to pick up chicks. Maybe all those months in the desert had left him sex starved and desperate for a woman, any woman.
At least that explanation made a bit of sense. He couldn’t really want her. That much was obvious. He’d made that crystal clear.
Her phone buzzed on the bathroom counter. She looked down at the text and grimaced.
David.
Who was that prick?
She sighed and picked up the phone. Eight in the morning was entirely too early to be dealing with this shit. And it’s not exactly like David had given her a great night.
Family friend.
Better to keep it simple sometimes.
Figures.
She frowned. Clearly he and Johnny had gotten off on the wrong foot, but that didn’t mean she was going to sit by and let David talk crap about him. The men in her life might all be pains in the ass, but they were her pains in the ass.
Maddy snorted. They certainly were all pains in the asses. Every one of them.
Her mind flashed to when Johnny had lifted her against him and his hands against her bare skin. Maybe he was a bit more than a pain in the ass.
She shook her head again and inspected herself.
Today was cleaning day. She’d pulled her shoulder-length blond hair into a short pony tail and gone minimum on makeup, just enough to cover the dark circles so she wouldn’t look like a zombie and worry her dad. And maybe because sh
e wanted a certain someone to feel the burn a little.
Irritating that certain someone might also have been why she went for the shortest shorts she had and the lowest tank. However, she justified it in her mind by assuming it was going to be another hot day, and she needed to keep cool. Or something like that.
She smirked in the mirror. No harm in letting Johnny see what he’d been missing.
Last night his words hurt her because she hadn’t been expecting him to say something like that. Today she was guarded, a woman ready for battle. There was no way in hell she was going back to being the love-sick girl she was before. She was older, wiser and not to be pushed around by every random man in her life.
Confident and ready to take on the world, or at least a certain SEAL, Maddy made her way out of her little apartment and over to the main house.
She was surprised to find the coffee already made. Although she knew her father could make a cup of coffee, he usually just waited for her to make it. His reasoning was that she made it better than him, but she suspected he just liked to wake up to the smell of coffee.
She reached into the cabinet and pulled out her favorite mug. It had been her mother’s. Floral and frilly designs decorated the mug, but Maddy loved that it was a piece of her mother there in the morning with her.
She poured the cup and fixed it with cream and sugar. She sipped the hot brew and smiled. Perfect.
“Hope it’s not too strong for you,” said Johnny from behind her.
The mug nearly slipped from her hand, and she winced as the hot liquid sloshed against the sensitive skin there. A red welt formed.
She was surprised when he lifted the mug from her fingers and pulled her hand under cool water.
“Keep it there,” Johnny said, his mouth close to her ear, his hot breath tickling it.
Maddy stood and let the cool water run over the skin. Johnny came back with a bowl and a tray of ice from the fridge. He filled the bowl with ice and let the water run from her hand into the bowl. When it was filled, he shut off the faucet and guided her hand into the icy water.
“It’s going to hurt like hell for a bit, but this will help keep down the swelling.”
Maddy nodded and glanced over to him. He was wearing flannel pants and smelled like soap. She figured he must have taken a shower last night after he went inside. After all, he’d been on a run before.
Though now that she thought about it, she wondered why he was running so late at night. Maybe he was still not quite adjusted time-zone wise.
Johnny brought his hazel eyes to her, and a hint of the heat from last night passed through her.
“I’m sorry about last night,” he said quietly. “I had no right to do that. It was a shitty thing to do.”
She nodded. All her confidence from before was now gone as she was once again caught off guard by just being near him.
He pulled her hand out of the water and ran his calloused thumb over the red skin.
“Looks like it won’t bubble,” he said.
Her heart thumped at the gesture. She pulled her hand from his.
“I think I better get breakfast going,” she said quietly.
Distance. She needed distance. Or at least not to touch him.
Johnny moved over to the table and sat down.
Trying to ignore the way her heart kept doing little flips, Maddy gathered all the ingredients to make pancakes, her dad’s favorite.
She pulled her phone out and set it on the table as she searched for a bowl and heated the griddle on the stove.
Something buzzed from behind her, but she ignored it as she dug through the dishes in the back of the cabinet.
“So according to your boyfriend I’m a prick?”
Maddy stood so fast she knocked her head against the lip of the cabinet.
“Shit,” she grumbled. She rubbed the spot she just bumped and turned to find Johnny scrolling through her phone.
She narrowed her eyes and held out her hand.
“Give it,” she said.
He looked up at her from his seat and grinned. “Your boyfriend really doesn’t like me, does he?”
She snorted. “Is that a surprise?”
His grin only grew at her words. “Nope.”
Maddy lunged forward for the phone but wasn’t fast enough. His long arms stretched up over his head and out of her reach.
Again she surged forward but to no avail. She was half-tempted to climb over him to get it but worried she’d flip them both in the process.
She folded her arms and glared at him. Johnny winked and laughed as she huffed loudly.
This time she lunged forward, but it wasn’t for the phone. He was going to taunt her. Well, she could return the favor.
She pinched his nipple, or at least as close as she could guess.
Maddy gasped and gave a little squeal as he twirled her and pulled her onto his lap.
By this point she was laughing so hard tears streamed down her face.
She struggled to get out of his hold, but he had his arms wrapped around her middle with her back to his chest, holding her firmly in place.
“You should know better than to fight dirty,” he said. His mouth was very close to her ear. The shift between casual play and something more sensual hung in the air.
Maddy struggled a bit and blushed when she heard him groan a little at the movement. She stilled.
“Why are you with this guy?” he asked.
His fingers moved across the skin on her side where her shirt had ridden up.
Maddy shook her head. She didn’t really have an answer. David was just a guy.
Maybe that wasn’t good enough though. Last night it certainly hadn’t been. Still, she didn’t have to justify herself to anyone, least of all Johnny.
“He’s not my boyfriend,” she said, blinking. Her words came out in a small puff, and after they were out, she wondered why she had to tell him that.
His arms loosened slightly. “Is that right?”
Those words struck something inside her. She had to see his face, to know just what it was that was running through his mind.
Maddy turned to find him staring at her, much like he had last night.
Timidly she reached out to touch his beard. It was so strange seeing him with one.
“You’re a lot hairier than I remembered.”
Johnny chuckled. “Part of the job this time.” He waggled his eyebrows at her. “You don’t like it?”
Maddy wrinkled her nose. “It’s scratchy.”
His gaze flicked down to her mouth, and the heat of a blush grew. It had come out without her even thinking. This whole thing was confusing as hell, and if she didn’t watch herself, she was going to be right where she was three years ago.
“I love the sound of laughter in the morning,” her father called as he walked down the stairs.
She leapt to her feet and snatched her phone from Johnny just as her father stepped inside.
“I’m so glad to hear you two getting along,” he said and smiled.
She turned to avoid both of their gazes. Right now she had breakfast to make. She only hoped it was enough time for her to get her racing heart under control.
“We were just talking about how much her boyfriend loves me,” Johnny said.
Maddy turned to glare at Johnny.
Her father raised a brow at her. “Is that right?”
Johnny stepped over next to her to grab the plates as she started the pancakes on the griddle.
“That’s right. Even has a nickname for me.”
She tried not to laugh and just shook her head.
Her father snorted loudly, likely catching on to the joke.
“He’s not my boyfriend,” she said again.
“So you said.”
Maddy ignored him now, too busy making sure not to burn the pancakes. She placed four on each plate, and by the time she’d turned around with her own, the men had finished.
She nodded to the stacked plate next to her.
“There’s more if you want,” she said.
Her dad beamed at her.
“You should have more,” he said to Johnny. “There won’t be any left.”
Johnny stood and stretched. His shirt rode up a little, exposing the trail of hair leading to the waist on his pajama pants.
She blushed when he caught her staring.
“I think I better shave off the beard,” he said. “There have been complaints.”
The heat on her face only spread as she sat across from her dad.
Her dad looked between the two of them and nodded.
“I see,” he said as if he got the connection. “I’ve got extra razors in the cabinet and shaving cream. Help yourself.”
Johnny nodded to her father, and she could have sworn he winked at her before leaving.
“So what are your plans today?” she asked her father, trying to find any reason to change the subject.
Her father smiled widely at her from across the table. “I think I’ll do a little grocery shopping.”
She nearly dropped her fork. The last person in the world that should be doing any shopping was her father. He’d come back with sugary cereal and TV dinners.
“Oh, you don’t have to do that,” she started.
He shook his head. “You’ve got school later right? Let me be of some use in my own home.”
Maddy sighed. Toaster pastries and TV dinners it was. It was fine. She had a long list of things to get done on her late day to school. If he wanted to shop, it wouldn’t hurt.
Chapter Six
Johnny ran his hand over his now smooth face in the shower and smiled. It had been a total pain in the ass to shave it all off, but it felt damn good not to have all that hair there in the heat and humidity.
Maddy liking him without the beard was icing on the cake. Although if he were being honest, he sort of liked the idea of her lips pink and puffy from him.
His cock twitched at the thought of his mouth on hers. She’d been so fucking hot last night. Even the mere memory of the little sounds she’d made as he moved his dick against her wet center made him twitch.
Fuck, he’d never wanted someone as much as he wanted her. There was just something about Maddy that made him crazy. He had to be honest. She’d always made him crazy.
Johnny: #2 (Special Forces) Page 3
