Cocky Soldier: A Military Romance (Cocker Brothers of Atlanta Book 6)

by Faleena Hopkins

  As wet paws slap by us into the house I say, “Look at his smile.”

  “Yeah, he needed that. Come inside, beautiful.” Jeremy guides me in and shuts the door. He adjusts the thermostat and soon we can hear the heater switch on, a quiet whir from the vents. “I’m going to change into some dry pants and shoes.”

  I sit down on the couch I’d woken up on. Haven’t been back here since that day. So much has changed since then. Except this house.

  Everything is the same as it was. I rise up and quietly walk to the kitchen to see if there’s evidence of a life there. But the counters are bare save for a clean spatula on a black towel. I so want to check the refrigerator. It’s starting to make sense why he lives this way.

  I was so wrong about him.

  Crossing through the living room I knock on his bedroom door. Aslan barks from inside and Jeremy quiets him before opening the door and pointing at me. “Can’t you see it’s still her? What, are you that not used to having someone else here that you forgot already?”

  He’s in Devin’s sweater, blue jeans, and dry socks, looking exactly like the person who would have been my brother’s friend. He sees my reaction and his smile vanishes.

  “You want me to take this off? If it’s too hard to see me in it—”

  “No, it’s just that...Jeremy, do you live like this because of your time in the Marines?”

  A quick frown pierces his distinct brow line and he walks to the bed and starts making it, the way people busy their hands when they’re uncomfortable. “I don’t know. Hadn’t thought about it. What’s wrong with my place?”

  Suddenly the zipper on my coat has become very interesting as I play with it and mutter, “Nothing. It’s a nice home.”

  Aslan ambles over to me and nudges my fingers. I give him a tentative pet. He might weigh the same as me, he’s that huge. But then he turns his body in a right U-turn and presses his weight into me. It’s extremely adorable so I bend to pet him with more enthusiasm. “Good boy,” I whisper. He lobs his head up, tongue hanging out as I scratch behind his ears. “You like that?” I smile, growing more comfortable.

  “The breed is good with women and kids. Protective.”

  From under my eyelashes I glance to Jeremy. “Oh?”

  “Because they’re powerful and scary-looking some people breed only the most aggressive ones or the largest. But they’re usually like what you see here. My brother’s daughter, they love each other. Aslan helped her through a hard time.” Jeremy walks to me, takes my hand and pulls me to him, softly kissing my lips before he admits, “I haven’t decorated much.”

  “Your place is great!”

  A grin flashes. God, I want to kiss him all the time. “Liar. But it’s my place, Boss Lady, and I get to live how I want.”

  “I know. Of course you do. What if I told you to get a throw blanket and some pillows for the couch?”

  “I’d tell you to mind your own business,” he huskily replies.

  Smiling and growing more attracted by the second, I ask, “How about if I said that you need some art. At least one picture.”

  He kisses my nose and cocks an eyebrow. “I’d say, Meagan, you better like me the way I am or don’t like me at all.”

  “You’re so fucking sexy,” I murmur against his lips before I rise up on my toes to kiss him like I mean it.

  Our tongues taste each other and he groans into me as I press my body against him.

  “You have eggs at your place?”

  I have eggs in my body that wake up around you.

  Smiling at my hormones I nod, “I do have eggs. Cage free.”

  “Ooooh, special eggs.”

  “You have no idea,” I murmur. “But I’m not cooking them for you.”

  “Thought you want to be a chef.”

  “If I have the eggs, you cook the eggs. I’m not supplying the food and cooking it, too. Sorry, buddy. I’m not your mommy.”

  Jeremy laughs, “No shit. My mother is far nicer than you are. Fair enough.” He glances to Aslan. “Hey buddy, you want to sleep over at a beautiful woman’s house? She won’t make you breakfast but she will pet you.” Jeremy kisses my fingertips. “Let me get my boots on.”

  Crossing to the bed I sit down and notice his practically empty closet. The man has no clothes to speak of, just the bare minimum of everything, and I don’t care what he says, I now know why. When they were out there, his platoon had to be ready to move at a moment’s notice. I remember Devin writing and telling me that.

  Suddenly I gasp, “Oh my God!”

  He glances over. “What’d you just remember?”

  “The show behind the bar! That’s inspired by the drills, isn’t it? I can’t believe I’ve watched you all those times and didn’t realize you were a Marine.”

  A sneaky smile tugs at him. “The bottles are my rifle. And now the girls don’t know it, but they’ve been through their own sort of infantry training.” He chuckles and slams his boots on the floor like he’s kicking them into shape. “Only theirs was a lot more fun.”

  “I can’t believe I didn’t see it before.”

  “If you’d gone through boot camp, you wouldn’t have missed it. Come here.” Jeremy extends his hand and I walk to him, sliding my fingers over his. Both of us watch, feeling the warmth of our skin touching and the pulse of life that runs through us.

  I slip my arms around his neck, caressing it. His body is made of marble with a thin layer of smooth, soft skin over it. His kiss is filled with emotion and I instinctively know that he’s thinking of my brother, and how strange it is that I’m in his arms.

  “Before we go any further, Meagan…” he trails off, searching my eyes.

  “Further than having sex three times?” I tease him. “Further than my being in your bedroom at five in the morning? Further than you wearing…this?”

  “I’m serious, Meagan. No joking right now.”

  My smile fades. “Okay.”

  “Before we get anymore involved, I have to tell you something so it doesn’t come up later.”

  Frowning I gaze up at him. “What?”

  “I was the one who found him. It was me.”

  Agony clouds my vision as hot tears jump up.

  Jeremy swallows hard. “It was two days after Aslan died. The platoon got called to check something out after rumors of…anyway, he needed his rifle. I told him he should sit this one out. That he wasn’t ready. The look in his eyes was so determined. He told me, ‘I have to do it.’ I thought he meant he had to fight with us. He had to take the men down who’d set those bombs where Aslan found them. I was all for it. Thought it was healthy. Would help him grieve to find justice. But then he went back into his tent alone. Nothing abnormal in that, so I didn’t stop him. Then I heard the shot.” Jeremy clears his throat. “I ran in. I started shouting, praying, yelling at God, begging for time to go backwards. The guys in our platoon came running. They pulled me away. I fought them. Punched a couple. Devin was my best friend out there. I didn’t want to leave him. So I stayed.”

  “Oh my God,” I whisper.

  “I just, I needed to tell you, since you’d shared with me that one night I drove you home that he killed himself. When I realized tonight that you were talking about Devin, I had to tell you it was me who found him. I didn’t want that secret between us.”

  “I understand. Oh my God, that must have been so awful.”

  His face twists in agony as he pulls away from me and shakes his head. “Still haunts me. See him all the time.”

  “You don’t blame yourself.”

  “No, course not. Come on, boy. Time to go.” Aslan runs into the living room. Jeremy waits for me to walk out first.

  But I stop in front of him and lay my hands firmly on his chest. “Of course you do. I do! I blame myself. Cecily blames herself. Mom and Dad, they both think they weren’t good enough parents!” Jeremy’s frown deepens as he takes in what I’m saying. “Of course you blame yourself, just like we do. You can’t help it when someon
e you love decides to go, and leaves you here all alone. But we’re wrong. Because we can’t control what other people do, ever. If you had stopped him, he would’ve found another way.”

  “You don’t know that.”

  “I know Devin. And when he set his mind on something, nobody could stop him! He was so stubborn!”

  Jeremy breaks into low laugh of recognition, a pain-filled chuckle that begs to be relieved of the ghost he’s been carrying. “He was a stubborn bastard.”

  Smiling and ripped wide open, I nod and whisper while resting my hand on Jeremy’s heart. “It’s not your fault. I don’t blame you. Look at me. I don’t blame you for what my brother did. I will never blame you for that.”

  Jeremy clears his throat and covers my hand with his. He brings my fingers to his lips and presses them there, closing his eyes. “I loved him.”

  I burrow into Devin’s sweater and whisper, “Me too.”

  Meagan

  It’s a handful of quiet minutes before we’re back in my home and I’m filling a glass bowl with water while Jeremy hangs the leash on my coat hooks.

  “Jeremy?”

  “Yeah?” He leans against the doorframe in my kitchen, hands shoved in his pockets.

  “Can I tell Cecily the stories you shared with me tonight?”

  He pushes off the doorframe and walks to me. “Of course. Your parents, too.”

  “Okay, I’m going to tell you something.”

  He gives me a lopsided smile while scratching Aslan’s ears. “You’re nervous, so it’s probably about how much you like me.”

  “Maybe I like you,” I whisper before he gives me a soft kiss.

  “Maybe?”

  “Yes, that’s all you’re getting out of me.”

  Jeremy laughs and lifts me up, carrying me into my bedroom and setting me down. As he starts to undress me, his voice is low. “I’m tired and feel a little beat up. I’m going to hold you and just sleep. But I want you naked.”

  “I’d love that. My face is swollen from the crying. I’d love to cuddle.”

  “I’m a fantastic cuddler.”

  “Oh?” I ask with a cocked eyebrow.

  “I think. I can’t remember, it’s been so long.”

  The best part about that is he wasn’t teasing or joking that time. He means it, and I wish it were the same for me. I wish I had never slept with Bryan. Being with Jeremy makes it seem ridiculous. That man, in every way, gave me crumbs. So embarrassing.

  I slip under the covers to stay warm and watch Jeremy undress. “Your chest is gorgeous,” I whisper.

  “Not as hot as yours.”

  “Not one woman. All those phone numbers I’ve seen them give you.” His eyebrows shoot up. “Yes! I’ve been watching. I saw! I’m the first woman you’ve been with since opening night?”

  “You’re the first in two years.” Jeremy slides his pants down.

  My lips part on sight of him. “You’re hard.”

  “This? This is half-mast.” He palms it and closes his eyes. My stomach clenches as I watch him. He meets my look, his darkened with need now. “Okay, might have to do something about this.”

  “We can’t let it go to waste,” I smile.

  A grin flashes as he climbs onto the bed, naked on all fours. “Maybe we just do it nice and slow.”

  Jeremy pulls back the covers and runs his fingers down my sides, kissing me. He flips us over so that I’m on top of him and I hover above his erection, the crimson shaft pulsing, veiny and gorgeous. Just looking at it, I want him more by the second. I slide down onto his length, breathing sharply inward as it penetrates me. Jeremy’s watching, his hands on my hips then traveling down legs. He reaches up and rubs the pad of his thumb over one of my hard nipples.

  We both moan as my pussy yields and become wetter. As he nestles up against my cervix, our backs arch and we lock eyes, eyelids heavy. Our bodies start to move of their own volition and we let them lead the way. I bend to kiss him as we fuck, and our tongues taste each other in between panting breaths and deep, long moans.

  Jeremy sits up and slides his arms around me, flipping me over and holding up one of my legs as he grinds into me with a steady thrusting rhythm. “So wet, baby,” he groans, his head falling back as he closes his eyes.

  “Oh God,” I moan, digging my fingers into his muscles, sliding my short nails down his sexy V. He dives into me, stretching and filling me, sometimes leaning down to take my mouth in his. It’s long and slow and sensual. His kisses never hurry. They draw out the pleasure from my core. Heat drifts from my center and tingles spread into my limbs. I begin to lose control. Jeremy’s breath blending with mine, the deep-throated grunts he’s making, I love it all. I love to hear how much this turns him on. I love to hear the sounds. I love the way he smells. I moan loudly and crane my hips up. His cock is perfect, hard and smooth and slippery. He shivers, bends down and bites my chin, kissing down my neck and taking my earlobe between his teeth. I moan and press my breasts into his muscles as the contractions start.

  “Boss, I can feel you clenching. God, you’re so fucking wet.” We crash together in a kiss, our hips pounding and grinding, our thighs tangled and everything on fire. Jeremy roars, “Fuck yeah!” and fills me with his hot, sticky semen while I bury my face in his neck, whimpering.

  When we’re wrapped around each other and I finally begin to drift off, I hear Jeremy groggily mumble, “I probably could use a nice blanket like this.”

  My heart melts a little with that admission. He was so defensive when I suggested that his living in such a barren home might be because of what he’d been through. Maybe from survivor’s guilt he thought he didn’t deserve comfort.

  I trace his shoulder and kiss it. “Aslan’s sleeping. He seems to like it here.”

  With his eyes closed, Jeremy’s mouth turns up a little. “He’s not alone.”

  I snuggle into him, whisper, “Neither are you,” and fall asleep smiling.

  Jeremy

  Her phone ringing wakes me up around ten o’clock. Meagan’s arm is wrapped over my chest, and she doesn’t budge at first. The second ring rouses her and she blinks awake, lifting her head to mumble, “Is that mine?”

  “Yeah.”

  She groans and rolls off of me, petting Aslan’s head as he groggily stands up for the attention. I watch her naked ass tick back and forth. “You’re beautiful!” I call after her.

  She laughs to herself, but then I hear her sigh. That impatient little sound alerts me to who’s calling. I hadn’t thought about the fact that it might be him.

  My mind was busy. Last night was the first time I didn’t have the dream about finding Devin. I don’t remember any of my dreams from last night, and that hasn’t happened in years.

  “Hello?” I hear her answer from the living room. “What time is it?” After a pause, she says, “Well, I’m sorry. I slept in!” Another pause. “I know what day it is. It’s Mother’s Day, which means you weren’t going to let me cook tonight, were you?”

  Naked, too, I walk out there feeling protective of her and lean against the doorway, frowning and crossing my arms. She glances to me and holds up her hand for me to be quiet.

  As if I need to be told. No shit.

  Affair with Lana or no, Marchand would flip if he found out I was here. But now I really want to tell him. And all I’d have to do is start talking, ask Meagan if she wants those eggs, say it loud enough and this will all be over.

  Meagan’s shoulders slump and she mutters, “No, I don’t think you planned it or lied. I’m sorry, I’m just frustrated, Bryan.” She listens and since I can’t hear his voice, he’s not yelling.

  What the fuck is he telling her?

  He knew it was a holiday.

  No way he forgot.

  I’ve wondered probably more than she has, if he keeps her as his floor manager simply because she does a great job and he’d be hard-pressed to find someone better. But my instincts have shot that idea to the ground every time. I know it’s more than that. H
e loves the game. The power trip. Why do guys like him do any of the shit they do? Because someone lets them, that’s why. I’m so close to blowing this thing wide open. I’m about to say something when she hangs up.

  Her hand is shaking as it combs through her hair. I exhale, realizing she needs me to make her feel better, not tip the boat over with us in it.

  I walk to her and slip my arms around her naked body from behind, pulling her in close and kissing her shoulder. “You have to go in?”

  “Yes. The computer system is acting up.”

  “You have time for eggs?”

  She sighs, “He can wait while I have breakfast.”

  Nibbling on her, I murmur, “That’s right. Because I’m a terrible cook and I need to show you how bad.”

  This makes her laugh a little which I take advantage of by tickling her, and then some more, making her beg me to stop, a huge, beautiful grin returning to her face. “That’s better. No frowning when you’re around me, Boss.” Pinching her ass, she yelps and bounds away from me. “Did that on purpose to watch your cute little tits jiggle.”

  She cries out, “I thought you said they weren’t too small!”

  “Said they were perfect. Didn’t say they weren’t small.”

  She cracks up. “You’re fucking rude!!”

  I chase her, both of us naked, around the kitchen. I freeze on one side, and she freezes, too. “Look at what I’ve got,” I devilishly smile while wiggling my fingers.

  She backs into a corner. “Please, don’t! I’m very ticklish!”

  “Which only makes me want to do it more.”

  “No!” She ducks and weaves and while I could have easily trapped her, I’m into the chase so I let her dash to the other side of the kitchen. “Meagan, if you really wanted to leave, door’s right there. You just passed it. So I think you’re enjoying this no matter what you say.” Her eyelashes flutter, and she glances to her exit, shakes her head, biting her lip. “Oh, so you want me to tickle you?”