Maximum Force: A Career Soldier Military Romance

by Tawdra Kandle

  “I want to make this last, but you’re driving me fucking insane.” His voice was muffled along my ear. “And I can’t deny that the idea of hearing you scream my name while I pound into you is just too tempting.”

  I was going to answer as soon as my brain remembered how to put together sounds into words, but before I could figure that out, Max straightened, letting my torso drop onto the sofa back once again as his hands took hold of my hips. He lifted my ass a little higher and picked up speed, his cock plunging into me, the angle changing so that I soared high fast, hitting my pinnacle and coming so hard that my vision went black. I heard myself calling out his name, but he still didn’t stop.

  When I could breathe again, Max grunted. “Not finished yet, baby. I want you . . . like this now.” He withdrew and scooped up my boneless body, dumping me onto the wide, soft cushions of his oversized sofa. “Spread your legs wide. And bend your knees. I want to look into your gorgeous eyes when I come. I want you to feel every inch of me and know who’s fucking you senseless.”

  I raised my bent knees until they were alongside my ears. Max leaned over me, bracing his arms on either side of my head, kissing my neck, my cheek and my eyes before he returned to my mouth, where he teased the corner with small touches of his tongue. When he finally sealed his lips across mine, I was almost dying to feel his kiss.

  “Samantha.” My eyes fluttered open to gaze up into his. “What you said before about the dance being worth the pain? I’m not sure I’m totally on board with that, but right now . . . whatever this is between us . . . I wouldn’t miss it for anything in the world. I’d stay here . . . inside your body . . . forever if I could.”

  Unexpected tears burned my eyes. I knew this wasn’t a declaration of commitment or a proposal, but I had a hunch that it also went beyond the bounds of normal hook-up talk. Framing his face between my hands, I lifted my mouth to kiss him, exploring the inside of his lips with my tongue and sucking gently on his bottom lip before I released him.

  “This is the kind of dance that makes everything else . . . more beautiful. It helps us make sense of the insanity in the world.” I reached between my legs to close my fingers around his cock, its hard length slick with my own essence mingled with his. Max groaned, his eyes falling shut.

  “God, your fingers on me . . . I’d ask for your mouth, too, but I don’t think I can handle that this time.” A smile ghosted across his face. “We’ll save that for round two.”

  Gladness welled up in me that he was already thinking beyond this moment. I rubbed my thumb over the head of his erection and then guided it to my swollen sex.

  “I need you inside me again, Max. I’m empty without you.”

  My words ignited a fire in him. He thrust hard, shifting so that one hand gripped my knee, pushing it even further back. The slight strain of that muscle, combined with his endless thrusting, drove me absolutely wild, and I matched his fervor, reveling in every sensation as my body went impossibly tight when the orgasm hit. I shattered into a million shining pieces.

  My inner channels squeezed Max’s cock in the aftershocks, and he roared out in a wordless pleasure as his body emptied everything it had into me.

  I braced myself for his weight, waiting for him to collapse against me, but instead he rolled to the side, landing on his back on the sofa cushion and taking me with him. He was still inside me, and as he held me tight, his arms circled around my waist, I felt . . . cherished and protected.

  Lifting his head, he kissed me, his touch gentler now. “What have you done to me, flower child?” The murmur sent a shiver through me.

  “I thought it was you who basically destroyed me.” I turned to rest my cheek on his chest. “Not that I’m complaining, mind you.”

  “I don’t have enough energy left to complain, even if I wanted to. Which I don’t,” Max hastened to add. “God, that was . . . wild.”

  “It was.” I shifted my head slightly and circled one flat nipple with the tip of my tongue. “I think, though, that the biggest question here is . . . how long is it going to take you to recover? I might be mistaken, but I’m pretty sure you promised me a round two.”

  He huffed out a laugh. “Are you afraid I’m going to renege on you, baby?”

  I snuggled closer and moved one shoulder in an approximation of a shrug. “I’m just checking. There’re still a few things I’d like to do to you.” My lips curved into a smile as I thought about some of the items still on my list.

  “Yeah, I’m not quite finished with you, either.” His fingers traced paths on my back. “But you know what they say. Good things come to those who wait.”

  “Hmmm.” I flicked his nipple with my fingernail, humming in pleasure when I felt him growing hard again within me. “You know, I’m not a girl who appreciates delayed gratification. I’m more of a grab life by the balls and take my pleasure how I want it, when I want it.”

  “Oh, really? How do you plan to do that, flower child?” He sounded lazy and sated, but his interest was definitely . . . growing.

  I flattened my hands on his chest and pushed myself up, settling myself more firmly on his cock, moving until he was hitting my sweet spot.

  “I think we’ll start right here.”

  Chapter Five

  Max

  For as long as I’d been in the Army, I’d awakened each day to the insistent beeping of my watch at four-forty-five AM. I’d never gotten into the habit of using my phone as an alarm, since I couldn’t be certain of being able to charge it all the time, and alarm clocks never woke me up.

  So, when the high-pitched tone began sounding, my reflex was to reach for the nightstand to grab the watch and click it off. I jolted into full waking when my hand hit a warm body instead of empty bed.

  Everything from the night before came flooding back to me. Samantha, her face rapt with intense pleasure as my mouth moved between her legs. Begging me not to stop touching her. The tightness of her body as I sunk into her. Her hands on my dick, stroking me. Her mouth sucking me hard, her clever tongue swirling around the head of my cock as her fingers played over my balls.

  And there I was, already hard again. This was more than morning wood, too; this was pure lust for the soft curves that were tucked up against me.

  I propped myself up to see her better. The light brown strands of her hair had fallen across her face, but I could see that her eyes were still shut, the lashes brushing over her cheekbones. Her lips were slightly parted, the full lower one jutting out a little bit. I had the sudden urge to lean over and sink my teeth gently into it.

  The sheet was draped across her shoulders, but it sagged over her breasts so that I could just see the rosy tips each time her chest expanded as she breathed. I remembered with new vividness how those puckered nipples had felt in my mouth . . .

  God. I wanted to roll her over and sink into her welcoming warmth once again, to wake her up slowly with murmurs and kisses and have her come into awareness on the crest of her first orgasm of the day. But I had to get up, get dressed and drive to post in time for PT, and—

  Shit. I didn’t have a car to drive to PT, and I hadn’t set up with Shaw or Kade to give me a ride. A grin spread across my face as I thought about how well I’d been distracted the night before. But that didn’t help me right now. I only had one choice, as much as I hated to do it.

  “Samantha.” I bent my head and brushed my lips over her cheek, using the tip of one finger to move her hair out of the way. “Hey, babe. I’m sorry to do this, but I need you to wake up a minute.”

  “Hmmmm?” She hummed a little and then moaned in her sleep. “Not yet. So sleepy.”

  “I know, flower child. And I wouldn’t make you open your eyes if it wasn’t kind of urgent.”

  Her eyelids fluttered open as she focused on me. “Max?”

  “Yeah, baby. It’s me.” Against my better judgement, I nuzzled her neck.

  “Time is it?” She still sounded slurred and slumberous.

  “Early. But I need to get in
for PT, and I don’t have my vehicle, remember?”

  She blinked, her forehead furrowing. “Oh, crap. I thought you were going to ride in with one of your friends.”

  “I was, but I didn’t end up calling them last night. If you remember, my mouth was busy elsewhere.”

  A tint of pink rose on her cheeks. “Yes, I seem to recall something like that. Ah . . . so what do you need me to do? Should I get up and drive you in?”

  I trailed my finger down her arm. “You can if you want, or if you don’t mind, I could drive your car in and you could just stay here, snuggled up in bed. I’ll be back here by seven.”

  She burrowed further down, pulling the sheet up to her chin. “Is that okay? Would it be easier if I drove you?”

  I considered my options. If Samantha drove me onto post, I could stick to my routine, shower in the BOQ as I usually did and get a jumpstart on the day. She could go off on her own way, and whatever was between us would be over, at least for now. Of course, if she dropped me off, chances were good that we’d be spotted by some of the other company commanders or even Specialist Evans. If it were Kade or Evans who saw us, they’d know immediately what had happened, and I’d never hear the end of it.

  On the other hand, if I drove her car in, I could park it in my normal spot and no one would be any the wiser. Yeah, I’d have to drive back home to shower and return her car, but . . . leaving her sleeping in my bed gave me an unfamiliar feeling of rightness. I wasn’t sure how to deal with that, so I decided to ignore it for the time being.

  “Nah, why don’t you just stay put? I’ll be back before you know it. Keep the bed warm.”

  A smile curved her tempting lips. “I think I can manage that.”

  “Okay.” I slid out of bed and gave an all-over, full body stretch. Samantha’s eyes went wide and filled with enough heat that I almost jumped back into bed.

  I gave myself a little shake. This wasn’t cool. Nothing had ever kept me from getting to PT on time, and that wasn’t going to change today, no matter how tempting the alternative was.

  * * *

  “Remington, where’re you going?” Shaw jogged up next to me after we’d finished our workout. “I wanted to see if you want to do another fast mile before you hit the showers. Braggs already took off, or I’d have asked him, too.”

  I laughed. The other commanders grumpily referred to Shaw Kincaid as our battalion overachiever. He worked damn hard to stay in top physical condition. Well, we all did that, but Shaw just did it with a little more intensity than the rest of us. He liked to add more challenges to our daily exercises or sometimes an extra couple of miles to the run.

  “Sorry, bro. I have to run home and take care of something before work today, so I’m showering there. I’ll take a raincheck on the extra mile.”

  “Wuss.” He shoved at my shoulder in friendly antagonism. “What’re you doing at home? Everything okay?”

  “Oh, yeah. I just had to leave my car over at Evans’ house, so I borrowed a buddy’s car to drive in this morning. I need to drop it off.”

  “Uh huh.” Shaw squinted at me. “Why didn’t you call me? I’d have given you a lift.”

  “Ah . . .” My mind drew a blank, and all I could think of replying was because I was too busy boning the sexiest chick I’ve met in maybe my whole lifetime, and calling you or any other guy was the furthest thing from my mind. “It was kind of last minute. I didn’t realize Evans was going to end up keeping the car until late last night. I worked it out. Thanks for the offer, though.”

  “Yeah.” Shaw still sounded a little suspicious. “So who’s the buddy? The one who lent you his car?”

  “Jesus, dude. What’s with the third degree?” I was impatient to get moving, and he was holding me up.

  “Nothing. You just seem a little squirrely about it. You sure you’re okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine. But I gotta go. I don’t want to be late getting back in.” I started toward the parking lot, mentally willing Shaw to turn around and walk the other way before he saw me get into Samantha’s ancient Ford. Sometimes the guys in the battalion were worse than a bunch of old ladies: they gossiped more, that was for sure. I could just imagine Shaw asking Kade if he knew whose car I was borrowing and then describing it to our friend, who would doubtless recognize it as Samantha’s.

  “Okay. See you at the meeting this afternoon.”

  Fuck. In my preoccupation with Samantha and our night together—and keeping it a secret—I’d blanked out on Reardon’s situation. The colonel had called us to yet another meeting this afternoon to discuss what was happening there.

  “Yeah, see you there.” I echoed his words as Shaw headed in the opposite direction, just like I’d hoped. Well, that was one thing that had gone right; now I just needed to get home, shower and have Samantha drop me back here, preferably somewhere no one would catch us. And of course, I needed to figure out what the hell was going on between the two of us. Was last night just a casual hook-up, or was it the start of something more? And what exactly did I want it to be?

  I didn’t have the answers to those questions yet, and I didn’t get any further on solving the problems by the time I’d pulled into my driveway and opened the door to my townhouse.

  “It’s me,” I called, feeling a little ridiculous about calling out the greeting in my own house. I wondered if Samantha was still curled up in my bed. A quick glance let me know that she wasn’t in the kitchen or the living room, although spotting the sofa there, with one cushion on the floor, made me smile as I remembered the sight of her body bent over it, her sweet little ass in the air, just waiting for me . . .

  Taking the steps two at a time, I went upstairs. My bed was empty, which disappointed me for the span of about ten seconds before I realized that the shower was running. Yeah, I’d hoped that Samantha would be waiting for me between the sheets, but finding her wet and willing under the shower spray was even better.

  I opened the door cautiously, knocking at the same time, not wanting to startle her or interrupt anything personal.

  “Samantha? It’s me. I’m home.” The words sounded even more intimate than I’d expected.

  She was standing naked under the showerhead, and she gave a quick gasp, pressing her hand to her heart. “God, Max, you scared the hell out of me.”

  “Sorry.” I toed off my shoes and kicked them toward the closet that was attached to the bathroom and then stripped off my shirt. “I called out when I came in the front door, but I guess you were in here already.”

  Her hair was wet and plastered against her head. My eyes traveled down her body, to where the drops of water clung to her puckered nipples and ran in intriguing drivels down her flat stomach to the tops of her legs and to her mound. She reached out one hand to wipe a circle clear of the steam on the glass.

  “What’re you doing?” She sounded as suspicious as Shaw had.

  I peeled off my socks and untied the drawstring to my shorts. “What does it look like I’m doing?” Hooking my thumbs into the waistband, I dropped the shorts and underwear, kicking them away in the general direction of my hamper. “I just got back from PT. Now I need to shower. And that’s what I’m going to do.”

  Samantha leaned against the glass, her breasts pressed into it. She passed one hand over her eyes, taking in my naked body, including the erection that I’d been sporting at some level since I’d opened my eyes and found her in my bed.

  “Is a shower all you need?” She quirked one eyebrow at me challengingly.

  “Hey, I’m an easy guy.” I opened the door and stepped inside, leaning into the spray. “I’m happy to share my shower . . . and if the opportunity for something else happens to pop up, I’m flexible.”

  “You look sweaty.” She reached for the shower gel, pumping it into one hand. “You probably need some help washing up.”

  “Well, time is of the essence. Of course, anything you can do to speed things along would be appreciated.”

  “Oh, are we looking for speed this mornin
g?” Samantha rubbed the gel between her palms, building up a lather. “I should get the job done quickly? Expediently?”

  My dick got harder. “Well . . . not that fast. I mean . . . don’t feel pressured or anything.”

  “Pressure, huh?” She took a step closer to me and wrapped her fingers around my cock. I couldn’t hold back the groan of pleasure at her touch. “How’s this pressure working for you?”

  “It’s, ah . . . just about perfect.” I dropped my head, closing my eyes as the water sluiced over my hair. “God, flower child. You just . . . you touch me and I’m gone.”

  Samantha laughed softly. “Why do you call me that? Not complaining, just curious.” Her thumb brushed over the head of my dick, and I had to swallow hard to keep from dropping to my knees.

  “Uh.” I tried to remember what she’d asked me. “Oh, yeah. Well, you make me think of those pictures I remember seeing of the hippies in the sixties. You know, the protesters and all the women with the flowers in their hair. When I saw you the other day, and you got all fired up about injustice, that was all I could think about—you with flowers in your hair, wearing a long skirt and a T-shirt with no bra underneath.”

  She pumped me a little faster, the water streaming down to rinse the soap from my shaft. “That’s oddly specific. I did have on a long skirt last night. Is that what pushed you over the edge?”

  “The edge?” I was having trouble focusing just now on anything but her wickedly talented fingers.

  “Yeah. Was my skirt what finally convinced you to make your move?”

  I huffed out a laugh. “Maybe. It didn’t hurt.” I braced one hand on the slippery tile of the shower wall. “If you’d gone without the bra, I might have thrown you down in Evans’ driveway.”

  “I’ll have to keep that in mind.” Without warning and without releasing her hand, Samantha dropped to her knees and gracefully took me into her mouth. And this time, it was more a moan than a groan wrenched from my throat.