The Hot Sergeant (Second Chance Military Romance) (Hargrave Brothers - Book #2)

by Alexa Davis

“What?”

  “It’s not our first time out here, George. You look as cagey as a wild hare in a trap.” I laughed and put down the empty beer can. She sidled over to me, and I ran my fingers through the soft curls of her auburn hair. “So, are you going to kiss me, George Hargrave, or are you just going to look at me?”

  I closed the distance between us to kiss her gently, and her lips parted under mine. She tasted of sweet fruit and berries, and I pulled away, knowing I tasted like Michelob. She made a sound of irritation and grabbed me by the neck. She kissed me like she wanted to crawl inside my mouth and eat me from the inside. I pulled her to me and rolled over on my back so she was on top of me, straddling me while her tongue slid over my lips and into my mouth.

  “Cal. Take your shirt off. Let me see you.” She lifted the t-shirt over her head, and I helped her slide it off. The sun shining through the greenery dappled her skin in light and shadow that played over my hands as I cupped her breasts and squeezed them in my palms.

  “I love the feel of your rough hands. It feels so good when you put your hands on me.” She panted and pushed hard against me, rocking her hips and biting her lip.

  I lifted her up and rolled so she was under me. I jerked her hips toward me and she giggled as I undid her jeans and tugged them down. She helped me pull them down her legs and off after I tossed her boots back behind us one at a time. She started to tug at my clothes, but I backed up and kissed her gently over her thighs.

  Her back arched and she spread her legs apart so I could easily stroke and kiss her soft folds through the silk of her panties. Her fingers were in my hair as she pressed herself against my mouth, rocking her hips. Her breathing became ragged as I slid the panties to one side. She shuddered as I slid my finger over her soft skin and inside her, tight enough to hold one finger, but so wet it was like stroking dewy flower petals.

  I jerked the button on my jeans and pulled them down as I looked up the length of her body. I was hard and ready, and she stared at me while she wriggled out of her panties. I bent over her and let her take me in her hand. She stroked down the shaft and guided me into her in one smooth motion, lifting her hips to meet me.

  We turned over so the rough saddle blankets were under me, and she bent forward so her breasts were pressed against my chest and her lips brushed mine while she steadily thrust herself onto me as I held her by the hips. Her back arched and she moaned louder and louder as the speed of her rocking increased. She threw her head back and cried out as she spasmed and tightened around me, clutching me inside as she clenched hard enough to bring me with her. I held her hips down, digging my fingers into her sweat-slicked thighs to hold her in place when I swept over the edge to release inside her.

  She collapsed on top of me and lay panting as the breeze blew cool over our damp bodies, drying the sweat and raising goosebumps on her. I turned us to the side, protecting her from the chill and wrapping my body around her to warm her. She kissed me and rolled over, tucking her back against my stomach and curling up against me like a sleepy kitten. I closed my eyes, the lake breeze lulling me to sleep with the smell of the cypress trees and water grasses filling my nose.

  20. Callie

  I napped for a bit, using George’s arm as a pillow, but my growling stomach woke me up, and gently, I extricated myself from the tangle of warm limbs that held me in place. George didn’t wake, so I snuck over to the picnic that was still mostly packed away and nibbled on some cheese and bread, naked as the day I was born, sitting cross-legged on the corner of a woven saddle blanket.

  While he slept, George looked much younger. It was so tempting to comb my fingers through his thick, wavy hair and run my fingers over his face, but I didn’t want to wake him. We had time to talk and fight and work later. I had no idea how long it had been since he had relaxed that much.

  After I’d sat quietly under the canopy watching the lake ripple in the breeze, I got up to check on the horses. The sun had moved past the pinnacle and was starting its descent, and I decided it was time to wake George.

  I drank some of the now warm beer from my can and lifted his arm over me, lying down with my back against him again. I slid my leg between his for leverage and reached behind me with one hand, gently stroking him. Even in his sleep, his breathing changed, and he started to pulse and harden in my hand. I got wet just touching him and feeling his body respond, and I pressed my ass against his abdomen and rubbed up against him.

  I knew he was awake when his hand snaked around my breast and gripped it almost too tight, drawing a gasp from my throat and an answering growl from his. He moved my hand off him and slid between my legs. The angle wouldn’t allow him inside, so he thrust over my folds, spreading them around his shaft with the motion.

  His hand moved from my breast to my hip and pulled me against him, so at the end of each thrust, my ass slapped against his hips. With a moan, I leaned forward, trying to change the angle of his thrust and slide him inside my aching, wet heat. His hands slid down my back, pushing my head farther from him as he jerked my hips hard against him, shoving himself into me hard enough that it almost hurt and made me cry out from the combination of pleasure and pain.

  I begged him to put me on my knees, and we knelt together without him missing a beat as he pounded me like a wild creature.

  My back arched and I gripped the fringed edge of the saddle blanket to hold myself in place while he drove himself over the most sensitive part of me, over and over. He was so big that, at this angle, he hit the very end of me. I knew it could hurt, but I was ready for him and prepared by our earlier love making, so that with every thrust that topped out, the waves of pleasure grew until they washed over me and I screamed his name into the blanket under me. He didn’t stop, but slowed his pace and slammed himself into me harder until the pain chased away the afterglow.

  I glanced over my shoulder at him and he turned his head, refusing to meet my eyes. I could feel his need with every thrust and dropped my back further, focusing on the ground ahead of me and letting him take what he needed without thought of anything else. His breathing grew ragged as he got close and I pushed my ass up into the air and spread my knees further to help him along, and as he came into me, I gushed over him from the pleasure of giving him what no one else could, the ability to take his needs from me without question.

  He collapsed over my back, panting and shaking, and slid to one side as the screaming pain in his knee finally refused to be ignored any longer. Laughing, he pulled me to him and stared into my eyes.

  “I love you.” He spoke so quietly and kissed me so tenderly that tears sprang to my eyes. My throat closed off and refused to let me answer him, but he didn’t seem to notice or care.

  He held me in his arms for a moment, then released me so he could rub the pins and needles out of his leg. I sat up to massage his leg, gently moving my fingers over the smooth pink skin of his scars. Gradually, I massaged deeper, until he was making involuntary grunts of pain. I persisted until his head fell back and his entire leg relaxed and sank into the ground under him.

  “You can do that every day for the rest of my life,” he groaned as I massaged his leg into submission.

  “That better not have been a proposal.” He stiffened, and I pinched him lightly to remind him I was teasing.

  “When I propose, you’ll know.” He rolled away from me and sat up, then stood, testing his weight on his weak leg. “Damn, girl, maybe it was a proposal because I have almost no pain in my leg.” I flexed my arms and mimed kissing my biceps.

  “These guns aren’t just for looks, son.” He snorted and reached for his boxers.

  “I hate to leave, but they may actually send out a search party, even if it’s just to embarrass me.”

  I gathered up my clothes and turned my back to get dressed, as though the act of dressing was more intimate, an act that proved we’d been together exactly the way I kept promising myself I would stop.

  I pulled my shirt down over my breasts and smoothed it down to my jeans,
and George touched my shoulder, making me jump. He had a beer in each hand, and I took the one he offered me, puling the tab forward with a snick. I drank it quick, the warm carbonation tickling my throat on the way down.

  George packed up as I saddled up the horses. When he walked over to hitch up the saddle-bags, I would have sworn his left leg dragged a little less and his gait was more sure. But, my opinions were as colored by my need to be useful, as his were by his need to be a hero.

  It was almost dinner by the time we returned. We hadn’t done any digging into my father’s company. From the looks on the faces of the men we passed getting the horses rubbed down and stabled and getting back to the house, no excuse would prevent the mocking and bantering we’d get at the table that night.

  “George, I think maybe we should get to work, saving my dad from embarrassment or worse.”

  “You saw old Jake staring at you and me, and you and you got scared.” He made it a statement, not a question.

  “If I was some new girl, they’d snigger and exchange looks and that would be it. But, I’m practically family, even without you. Hell no, I’m not sitting at the table while they jockey for the best innuendo, while your mother looks on and tries to figure out what they’re saying. Oh, no, no, no.”

  He laughed and offered his arm to me, and I looped my arm around the crook of his elbow. As he moved in close to let me take some of his weight, I could smell his cologne, shampoo, and the underlying sweat and the scent of me on his skin. I colored at the smell of sex, and silently prayed to God that we weren’t heading straight for the family.

  “Why don’t we share a shower? I’ll tell my family we need to get to work in the office, and Patty can bring us food.”

  “You have a beautiful mind, George Hargrave. But, I’ll just take my shower while you talk to your parents. No need to have someone wonder where we both got off to at the same time.”

  “Good God, Cal. We’re consenting adults.”

  “Sleeping at your mom’s house.”

  “Point taken. Go shower, I’ll round up some grub, we can meet in the office.” I reached up and kissed him on the cheek, earning us some cheers from the direction of the ranch hands’ quarters, and left him on the veranda. I took the stairs two at a time, and started stripping out of my clothes before I heard the latch on the door click shut.

  I soaped up and rinsed off, then let the water pour over my back and shoulders. My head shot up at a noise, and there was George, hands up in a gesture of surrender, his back to me.

  “Patty’s bringing dinner in about twenty minutes, and I’m all clean and shiny, so I’ll meet you downstairs whenever you’re ready, okay?” I shut off the water and wrapped myself in a towel.

  “I’m all done, George. I’ll be downstairs in a few minutes.” He left the room in a cloud of escaping steam, and I toweled off and dressed, then headed for the stairs.

  It had been years since I’d been in the big ranch house, and I got turned around for a moment, until I heard happy barks and a masculine laugh that made my stomach tighten and my knees weak, just as it had for the past ten years.

  The door to the library was ajar, and I slipped in without George or the puppies noticing me for a moment. He was sitting on the floor, letting Xavi and Slinky climb over him and play while he did his best not to be laid flat by their antics.

  Patty was hot on my heels, and as soon as the dogs smelled the food on the trays she was bringing, they rushed the door, and I was directly in their way. I grabbed Slinky’s collar and Patty deftly lifted the two trays out of range of Xavi’s curious nose. George gave a single command, and Xavi instantly trotted to his side and sat still as stone. I tossed George a bit of bread from the tray so he could give it to Xavi with some well-deserved praise. Patty served us up and left us to eat and work without interruption, taking the dogs with her so George’s youngest brother, Jackson, could take them for an evening walk.

  While we ate, we split up the paperwork and I got on the computer to back-trace inventory to orders. It was only a matter of time before names started to fall off the list.

  One architect was simply too self-important to take part in any of the mundane tasks of day to day work. One foreman had made a few errors, but they looked like simple reversed numbers, so we set them aside for visual inspections, but George and I agreed that the mistakes were likely just that, having only been a few over almost a decade of good work.

  By the time the sunlight had disappeared completely and the moon was rising over the front gates into the frame of the library window, my eyes were burning and my back was sore from sitting at the computer, an ache I had thought I was done with forever when I opened the pet store. George stretched his muscles and yawned, and I agreed heartily.

  “Hey, Cal, what are the chances we can just mosey on upstairs, climb into my bed, and cuddle all night?”

  “I’m not sharing your bed in your mother’s house. How can you even ask that?”

  “Actually, I’m deeply confused as to why you worry about it so much.” He shuffled his feet as he leaned against the desk in front of me, and I felt the heat of embarrassment climb my neck to my face.

  “Your mom never told you?” He shook his head and I continued, still blushing furiously. “She made me promise when we first started going out, that I would never let you talk me into ‘anything that should wait until marriage’ under her roof.” I made quotation marks in the air with my fingers as I spoke. George rubbed his face and sighed.

  “You promised ten years ago.”

  “The operative word there was ‘promised.’” I laughed shakily and hugged myself tight across my chest. I could never have faced her again, if I’d looked into her eyes and seen disappointment. I didn’t know how to tell him that without sounding ridiculous.

  “No. You’re right. You are the one person I know would always keep her promise, no matter what.” I smiled at him.

  “Maybe we could cuddle for a little while. In my bed. So I can kick you out later.” He pushed away from the desk and slid a hand down my arm.

  “Let’s go snuggle up and pretend we’re horny teenagers with no outlet, so I can toss and turn all night thinking about you.”

  “Ha. No guilt trips, pal. I know you’re good for the night. I just have to worry about being attacked by you in the morning.”

  We walked up the wide, sweeping staircase side by side, arm in arm. Slinky was in her kennel when we got upstairs, thanks to Jackson. George went to his room and retrieved Xavi, and when he came back to my room, he was in flannel pajama bottoms and a white wife beater.

  He slid under the covers next to me and stroked my hair while I fell asleep, dreaming of the lake and strong arms pocked with battle scars and gentle as the breeze holding me tight afloat on the endless water.

  21. George

  I woke up before Callie and texted Tom Drake the short hand from our findings the night before, even before I showered. I also texted Nell, just to check in and make sure she was doing better. By the time I was showered and dressed, the pups were stirring, so we went out for their morning jaunt to scent mark everything within smelling range while I stretched my legs with the aid of the hand-carved cane old Jake had made me.

  I grinned to the moon as it set on the horizon. The cane was fitted to wrap around my wrist while I leaned against it, and was long enough that it gave the same support as a crutch, without slowing me down as much. I kicked an old tennis ball that was lying in an overgrown patch of grass and tossed it a few times for Slinky. Xavi watched with his head to one side, but was content to sit by my side while Slinky-dog ran around like a fool, tail up and tongue out.

  I tied both dogs to the line out back so they could be near the fire and get their good morning scratches and belly-rubs from the men as they gathered for their morning meal. I sauntered into the kitchen, planning to steal a plate of food and take it up to Cal, but she was there with Patty when I walked in the door.

  “Hey, you. Thanks for taking Slinky out this morning
. The extra minutes in my warm bed felt so good.” She winked at me and strutted out the door with a big bowl of grits, letting the door bang shut behind her. Patty arched and eyebrow at me.

  “If you’re going to be in here, you’re going to help.”

  I laughed and took the stack of plates she held out to me and gave a few to each of the early birds who had already made it to the breakfast table. They set them in front of chairs all around the table and I snuck a slice of bacon and went back inside for another task from Patty. Arms loaded with food, I made it just out the door and two more arrivals liberated me from my burden and sent me right back inside for more. It was like I’d never been away, just another cog in the well-oiled Hargrave machine.

  Breakfast was demolished, chores were handed down by Dad, and as quickly and efficiently as they’d filed up to the veranda, the men were off to muck stables, feed livestock, and mend whatever fences the cattle and sheep had busted up. It was time for Cal and me to decide if the ranch was the best place for us to get our work done.

  I told Cal I needed to talk to my dad, and she let me off the hook for a morning ride so I could put my leg up for a bit. I watched her, smiling and talking to Danny’s pretty bride as they walked off toward the stables. I joined the guys who’d been stuck with kitchen duty, and we put the kitchen to rights in short order.

  Dad and Danny were waiting for me in the office when I arrived, and Danny offered to give us the room to ourselves, but I realized that as the new business head of the Hargrave ranch and brand, I needed to talk to him, too.

  “You guys know that I’m back working for Tom Drake’s company, and that’s who we’re doing this, uh, this detective work.” I rubbed my throbbing, burning left leg. “I want to make things right with Callie, but I can’t work for her old man any more than I could work for my own.” I stopped talking when I saw my dad flinch.

  “Is there a reason I need to be here for this?” Danny sounded worried, and even without thinking about it, he moved between me and our father, like he’d done for long as I could remember.