In moments, Khalid had closed the shower door, and the steam began to gather, moving in fine, thin ripples around them. Emma moved boldly into Khalid’s arms. She wanted him and wasn’t going to be coy about it. To her delight, his very male mouth curved over her brazen move. As soon as she slid her wet body up against his, his arms circled her. Leaning up, she claimed his smiling mouth. Emma unleashed all the hunger from the last months against Khalid. His mouth was strong, giving and taking against her own. As his tongue moved across her lower lip, she felt his hand slide teasingly down her spine. His fingers splayed and outlined each of her vertebrae, the water intensifying his burning touch. Khalid drew her powerfully against him and Emma gasped. She felt him smile and returned it. The water was like another set of her lover’s hands as it curved and curled around her face, wetting her hair, the strands thickening and lying in fine sheets across her shoulders.
Khalid’s mouth tore from hers and he trailed hot, hungry kisses from her jaw down the graceful line of her neck to her shoulders. With her left shoulder, he was tender and careful. Her skin sizzled with pleasure and danced with each slight brush of his exploring mouth. As Khalid eased her back, his hand splayed out against her spine to hold her steady, their hips melted into one another. His kisses sought and found each of her taut breasts. Emma sighed and gripped his tense arms that held her captive.
He tenderly mouthed each of her nipples, making her moan. The water sluicing across her face, down her shoulders and trickling in and around her breasts only increased her pleasure. Each kiss along the curve of each breast heightened Emma’s need of him. Khalid’s masculine power was nearly overwhelming. She felt him trembling and Emma intuitively understood he was holding back his fierce love for her. Because of her injured shoulder, she knew he was being gentle so that he wouldn’t create more injury for her.
As Khalid brought her back against him, the water spilled over them, the heat and steam curling around them like the fingers of a thousand other tantalizing hands. He slid his hands down, down, down until he cupped her hips. And then Khalid lifted her against him. Her arms slid around his shoulders as he gently settled her against him. Inch by inch, he slowly lowered her down upon himself.
A raw, guttural sound of pleasure rose in Emma’s throat. She threw her head back, her body melted hotly against Khalid’s as she brought him within her throbbing core. The moment was powerful, the water running around them, fusing them even more wonderfully to one another. Emma leaned her head downward, found his mouth and kissed him hard. She didn’t want him treating her like some fragile glass that might break. After all, it was only her shoulder. Emma felt him smiling beneath her mouth. In moments, Khalid was moving her, holding her and kissing her hungrily in return.
The steam swirled around them. The silken water fused and inspired them. Emma gripped Khalid’s broad, powerful shoulders, suddenly tensing as the heat of her body burst open and flowed in a tidal rhythm. A groan of complete pleasure tore from her wet lips. She felt Khalid tense, a growl from deep within him rolling upward. The sound was like thunder, shared and absorbed between them.
Closing her eyes, taut as a bow against Khalid, Emma surrendered all her love into this man who held her in his arms. For long, golden moments, only he existed—a part of her, a part of her pounding heart rhythm in tune with his. She thought she’d known love before, but she really hadn’t. The love that Khalid had shared with her, the respect, the joy was rare. And beautiful. And fulfilling.
As water coursed down her head, the strands of her red hair clinging to her wet face, she leaned over, framed Khalid’s face and kissed him. Nothing had ever been as wonderful as this moment for Emma. She understood now what Khalid had said earlier about living from the heart. It was effortless and joyful. As their mouths cherished one another, took and gave, Emma knew this man was greater than most. Her spirit had seen his. She truly saw Khalid’s heart and his love for her. And searching his soft blue eyes, Emma knew he looked into her soul with nothing but love. Together, they could do a lot in their own unique ways to help the world. What else was there but love? In her dizzied mind, her thoughts disjointed, Emma was ready to accept whatever life would hand her. After all, she had a man who loved her with a fierceness that took her breath away. All else would fall into some kind of order after that.
“I’m really sorry,” Nike told Emma as they stood outside the HQ of the BJS 60 squadron. “I know Rachel would be here to support you today, but she’s off on a mission.”
“Don’t be,” Emma told her best friend. She smiled a little. On her left hand was an emerald ring that Khalid had given her a month ago. Rachel, her cousin, had wanted to be with her when she found out the army’s decision, but a sudden fire fight along the border had broken out and all available women pilots were called to the Apache gunships to go help turn the tide.
Nike grimaced. The July sun was hot overhead, the nonstop sounds of helicopters landing and taking off nearby permeating the vibrating air. “You got feeling back in one finger, but not the other two. I don’t know why the army refuses to let you fly. This is so stupid.”
“Let it go,” Emma counseled gently. “The army says a pilot has to have feeling in all ten fingers. Not eight. I’ll be okay.”
“I won’t be,” Nike griped. Upset, she jammed her hands on her hips. “The army should give you more than four weeks to heal up! Who’s to say you won’t get feeling back in those fingers two or three months down the road?”
“What are they going to do with a pilot who can’t fly?” Emma asked. “Major Klein was very sorry she had to give me their decision. She said if it had been up to her, I’d still be with BJS 60.”
“I know. Everyone in HQ knew when the decision by the army higher-ups had come down. Major Klein was in a really ugly mood for a couple of hours after that. That’s how we all knew they’d decided against you staying. You seem to be at peace about this,” Nike said. “Khalid’s influence?”
“In part, yes.” Emma put on her aviator sunglasses and settled the black BJS baseball cap on her head. “My family is fine with what has happened. Khalid and I have a plan. I’ll now be a part of his family nonprofit charitable organization. I’ll be allowed to fly commercial helicopters that he and his family own. And really, it’s a good thing because I can fly into the safe villages with resupplies and the army won’t have to do it.” She grinned and began to walk with Nike toward the tent area. Emma would pick up the last of her clothes and other personal items from the tent she’d lived in for over a year, and then be escorted off base. For a new life. A new adventure. And with a man she loved and who loved her with a fierceness that made Emma feel as if she were floating on a cloud of nonstop joy.
“When it’s all said and done,” Nike told her, brightening a little, “you’ll be allowed back on base because Khalid is assigned here.”
“Yes, I will.” Emma gave her an evil grin. “Down, but not out, Nike. I’m going to move my stuff into his home in Kabul. A week from now Khalid gets thirty days of leave from the army and we’re going to fly home to San Francisco to be married. My entire family, uncles included, are coming. Even Rachel, my cousin, is being given leave to attend, thanks to Major Klein. She knows how much it means to my family to be there for our wedding.”
“That’s great. I wish I could be there, too.”
“So do I. I was surprised Major Klein let Rachel go. This is our heavy season for Apache demands and we’re now a pilot short because I had to resign my commission.”
“I think Major Klein is a good C.O. I know she didn’t want you to resign, but she can’t buck army regs as much as she might have wanted to. You and Rachel will be back a month from now,” Nike said, gloating. “And we’ll just pick up where we left off, girlfriend.” She threw her arm around Emma’s shoulders and gave her a quick squeeze.
“We will,” Emma promised her, voice thickening with tears. Nike was an incredible friend, someone she never wanted to lose touch with. Today, her life would change forever. It
was a bittersweet moment for Emma. She’d been the casualty of this war in one way. In another way, this war had brought her the man she would love forever. And, she would have her cousin Rachel here with her. If she had learned anything, Emma had learned a long time ago that the only thing she could count on was change.
Emma opened up her tent. Nike followed and in quick order they had her personal belongings in the duffel bag. Her shoulder had healed up completely in the past month and it was easy enough to carry it over her right shoulder. Nike walked with her in the hot sunlight. The smell of aviation fuel, dust and the noise of trucks coming and going was a constant.
Emma was glad to be going home. Her family was in high gear to give them a July wedding at Golden Gate State Park near San Francisco’s Golden Gate bridge. And San Francisco was one of Khalid’s favorite cities in the world. Yes, Emma thought, it would be a whirlwind month filled with overflowing happiness for her entire family. But especially for her and for Khalid who loved her tenderly every night before they slept in one another’s arms. She was excited to have the Cantrells and the Trayherns embrace Khalid and his family who would also be there for the wedding. They were a global family in so many ways already. Now, east was marrying west. She liked being a forerunner. And she loved Khalid, a man who had one foot in western civilization and the other firmly rooted in his beloved Afghanistan. She would love this fierce global warrior forever.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-8828-1
OPERATION: FORBIDDEN
Copyright © 2011 by Lindsay McKenna
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†Morgan’s Mercenaries
**Black Jaguar Squadron
*Warriors for the Light
Operation: Forbidden Page 18
