Stark September (Stark Trilogy Book 1)

by C. D. Bradley

  “Hello, TMC Office, Clinic Four, Abbey Pistole speaking.”

  “This is Sergeant Stark, ma’am. I’m returning a call from Captain Riley.” He sounded calm and cool but Abbey sensed the quiet desperation in his voice. Although uncertain about what the future would hold for those two, she could see the spark between them. That kind of chemistry you only find once in your life.

  After a pause that seemed like an eternity to Stark, she spoke. “She went to the mountains, to Aspen, to get away from everything for a while. She’s confused and upset.”

  “She’s going over the mountains in that death trap of a car?” he asked in sudden panic “There is supposed to be a storm and that thing has the ground clearance of a hamster. Is she crazy?”

  Stark’s alarm shook Abbey; she hadn’t thought of the danger Kira was putting herself in. Quickly she gave Stark Kira’s itinerary and cell number, as well as her own. “Call me if you run into problems. And Stark, with all due respect, if you hurt her, I will make your life a living hell,” Abbey finished quietly.

  Abbey walked out the door silently praying for Stark and Kira. She was so lost in her thoughts that she almost ran into Captain Holt. “Where’s Captain Riley?” he demanded. His demeaning tone ruffled her as usual. But she smiled sweetly and replied, “Oh, Captain, you just missed her. She had to fly home to see her family. She’ll be back in town on Tuesday.”

  “Did she leave a number or anything?” he asked, looking annoyed and dejected.

  “The captain wouldn’t give me that kind of information.” Abbey smiled innocently, knowing his superiority complex would buy that. Her distaste for Holt was as strong as her growing affection for Stark. Abbey was a civilian. A damn good nurse, and the wife of Sergeant Major Joshua Pistole. She had been an army wife for well over twenty-three years. She saw a lot of her husband in Stark and could see how he felt about Kira. Holt, on the other hand, had come into the military as a captain. His arrogance oozed from every pore and sickened her. “See you Tuesday, Captain. Have a lovely weekend.” Abbey made her way to her car with a very satisfied smile on her lips.

  Kira stopped for gas at the base of Mt. Elbert. She had been on the road for a few hours. She shivered as she got out of the car. The air felt much colder, and the wind bit as she pumped gas. As she started back on the road the first snowflakes began to fall. How pretty, she thought, oblivious to the danger. In her haste Kira had failed to check the weather before leaving. When she had quickly made her reservations the hotel clerk had warned of a possible storm coming in. She silently cursed herself for not being more careful. What has gotten into me? I can’t be this idiotic over a man!

  As she continued up the mountain, the wispy flakes became more abundant. After a few miles, they looked like a blanket covering everything. The road was completely white. As darkness approached, Kira realized it was taking a lot longer to get to her destination than she had planned. The snowfall had increased to near whiteout conditions and she struggled to see past the front of the car. The wind had blown snow into drifts along the road and obscured the edges, making it difficult to tell what was road and what was not.

  Darkness surrounded her and headlights glared off the snow and ice. The road was icy in places, and her car began to slip this way and that. She struggled to maintain control. She thought of pulling over but couldn’t tell where the edge of the road actually was. She continued on at a snail’s pace, her knuckles white from gripping the steering wheel. A string of curse words escaped her lips as she realized the situation she had gotten herself into. As she crested the next hill, she was gripped with fear. At the bottom of the hill lay a sharp curve to the left. Shit, shit, shit! The car picked up speed as it began descending down the steep hill. Kira tried carefully tapping the brakes, attempting not to slide. Please don’t let me go over the edge, she prayed as her car began to slide and spin. Thoughts of her family flashed through her mind as the snowy edge raced toward her. Panic set in when Kira realized she no longer had control of the car. For a fleeting moment time stood still. The image of Stark slowly going by on his bike filled her mind. Kira held on tightly as her car slammed into a snow embankment.

  Stark had packed quickly and set out on the road. He knew she had at least an hour lead on him. He ran into the storm well before reaching the mountains. The roads were nearly impassable. He pressed on, knowing she was out there somewhere and he had to get to her. Mile after mile of worsening conditions filled him with dread. He pictured her driving that crap car in this weather. He wanted to find her, hold her, and then spank her damn stubborn ass for driving in this snowstorm.

  His heart almost stopped as he saw the crumpled rear bumper of her Honda sticking out of a snow bank. He reached the car and began frantically digging the car out, fear gripping him, images of what he might find flooding his mind. He stopped suddenly, looking in disbelief at the empty car. She was gone. He knew at once she had set out on foot. He jumped back in his truck and took off in a desperate search. After a painful fear-drenched mile he came to a diner. He stopped, hoping she would be there or that someone had heard from her. He parked next to a line of rigs that must have pulled off to weather the storm.

  He reached the door, his heart racing. As he opened it he heard a loud cheer. Entering the room, his eyes found the source of the truckers’ delight. There, at the other end of the bar, dressed in the sexiest jeans he had ever seen, was Kira. Surrounded by an adoring but defeated crowd of truckers, she was gleefully saying, “OK, best three out of five?” Her long chestnut hair whirled as she turned to get more darts for another game. She looked up and their eyes met. It was as if everyone else in the room disappeared. Her breath caught. He crossed the room in two long strides and pulled her to him.

  “Sergeant Stark, what are you doing here?” she asked quietly, looking up into his eyes.

  “I thought you were…I mean, I saw your car and I thought….” His voice broke. He couldn’t even say it out loud. Unable to control his emotions any longer, he picked her up, kissing her deeply, all the need and restraint exploding in this one kiss. Holding her up in his powerful arms, pulling her tightly against him, he continued kissing her passionately.

  Kira felt her entire body melt. His expert lips and tongue claiming her mouth, she reached up, holding onto his dark hair. He growled at her touch. Kira stepped back, stunned from the exquisite kiss. As her senses came back to her, she became aware of the room full of people once again. Kira looked around, then back at Stark, the blush creeping up her face, betraying the composite of emotions swirling within her. She was at once angry and eager for more. She had wanted this man desperately from the first time she had seen him. She had practically begged for this that morning on the mountain. But this was not on her terms. She had resolved to put Stark far out of her mind. She could see that she was heading down a dark and dangerous road.

  “Kira, let’s go. Let’s get you out of here,” Stark began, his voice tense with wanton need.

  “I can’t. What about my car? We can’t just leave it in the snow,” she protested.

  Stark started over to the counter to make arrangements about her car with the owner of the diner. The burly trucker who had been playing darts with Kira, stood from his ragged stool beside the bar.

  “It seems to me she said she don’t want to go with you. Maybe she wants to stay here with me,” he bellowed, looking down at Stark. The trucker’s semi-toothless grin and wild eyes startled Kira. Though slightly inebriated and a little grabby he had seemed harmless before Stark walked in. Now he stood ready to stake his claim. He was enormous, but Stark was unaffected. Despite standing nose-to-chin with the large fellow, Stark replied, completely in control, “I wouldn’t ever make her do anything she didn’t already want to do.”

  Kira couldn’t help but be stirred by the double meaning in his words. She was sure her need was palpable. Despite her eagerness for Stark, she panicked, remembering his fury at the course. The trucker was so much bigger than Stark and she feared his temper wou
ld get the better of him this time.

  Stark continued to the counter without further acknowledging the hefty trucker. The large man reached out to grab Stark. “I’m talking to you,” he sneered. Before the trucker could touch him, Stark grabbed his hand and bent it…hard. Quietly, he said, “I have no problem with you, friend, but let me be clear. This doesn’t concern you and if you insist on being involved, then that’s your right. But you have that right because I have fought to give it to you. As for Kira, I just drove a hundred miles through blinding snow to be with her. So if you’re still insistent in being a roadblock, then let’s take this outside…but I guarantee you won’t come back with the same conviction.” Stark’s voice was icily calm. A bead of sweat slid down the trucker’s forehead and dripped off his nose. The wrinkled expression on his face betrayed the pain he was trying to conceal.

  Kira didn’t give him time to answer. Instinctively, she placed a very gentle hand on Stark’s shoulder. To the trucker she said, “Thank you, but this is my friend Sergeant Stark. He’s here to pick me up. I was just worried about my car, that’s all.” Her calm demeanor hid the anxiety inside. She was awed by Stark. He had maintained complete control. Who is this man? Kira felt excited and so alive. The fear, the need, his incredible strength, that kiss all raced through her head. She felt dizzy.

  Stark made arrangements for her car. He grabbed her bags and repeated the command “Let’s go, Kira.” The primal need in his husky voice screamed sex. Kira obeyed without question. Her body ached for more of his embrace. “Buckle up,” he instructed as they climbed into the truck. “I know a place fairly close where we can stay tonight.”

  Coming to her senses as they drove into the darkness, Kira asked, “So what does your girlfriend think of you coming out in the wilderness to rescue me?” Her voice was hot with jealousy.

  With a throaty laugh, Stark replied, “She’s not my girlfriend.”

  “Wife then?” Kira asked, horrified.

  “No, she’s not my wife and not my girlfriend anymore. She was, a very long time ago,” he said, as if that would suffice.

  “Then why did she answer your phone? Does she live with you? She made it sound like you were more than friends.” Briefly, Kira recounted her conversation with the sultry phone-sex goddess.

  “Damn Paige!” Stark said. He sighed. “Her name is Paige. She was just playing with you. She doesn’t live with me. Kira, I travel a lot. Sometimes I’m gone for months at a time. She comes and stays with Maggie while I’m gone. They have gotten really close. She’s good to my Mags.”

  Oh God, he has a child! I am such a shit! “You have a child?” Kira asked hesitantly.

  “NO! No.” He was laughing harder now. “Mags is my dog. She’s an Australian Shepherd.”

  “I love those dogs,” Kira said, relieved. “How did you come up with Mags?”

  “Maggie,” he corrected. “I call her Mags for short just like I did my sister.”

  “Did?” Kira asked, contrite.

  “It was a long time ago. I don’t want to talk about it tonight.” He turned and looked at her his eyes burning deep into her core. Kira had never been this affected by a man in her life. She could feel her breath hitch. The heat radiating off him warmed her side of the truck, awakening a need in her she had never felt before. Kira bit her lower lip as she watched him drive like a man on a mission. She was torn by her desperate need for his touch and the consequences she knew would follow.

  “We’re here, Kira.” Starks voice pulled her out of her lusty daze.

  Holy fuck! Kira gasped as they pulled up to the house. When he said he knew a place close by where they could stay, she had envisioned a small cabin. Even in the darkness she could see the cedar and stone bastion rising out of the mountain. How does he know about this place? Are we even allowed to be here? Kira had never seen such a house up close. She looked at him hesitantly as he parked the car. “Are we allowed to be here?” she asked tentatively.

  “Yeah, I know the owner and he definitely won’t mind. He’s very much in favor of it. Come.” His husky voice sounded intent. Kira couldn’t wait to be kissed again. Her anticipation building, she grabbed her things and followed him in. Once inside, Stark turned up the heat and started turning on lights. “I’m sorry it’s cold. No one has been here in a while. We can sleep by the fire tonight.” He gathered thick blankets from a massive closet in the hall and led her to the great room.

  The room was bigger than her apartment, she noted in awe. Along a central wall stood an immense fireplace, the opening at least six feet across. The stone chimney stretched all the way to the dark wood ceiling. Stark began lighting the fire, and instructed her to make a pallet of blankets and the large pillows from the aged leather couches. The leather of the couches was incredibly soft. Kira wandered about the vast room, wondering if the rest of the house was like this. She brushed her fingers over a collection of photos on a bookshelf. She thought the man and woman looked vaguely familiar but couldn’t place them. There were several pictures of a boy and a girl.

  The reflection of the moonlight off the mountain caught her eye. Seeing her admiration, Stark smiled. Instead of being enthralled with the rich tapestries, she was focused on the beauty of the mountain. Once the fire was built, he turned the lights back out. Kira stood in amazement looking out the thirty-foot windows at the moonlight illuminating the mountains. “It looks like they’re glowing,” she noted in awe. The moonlight drifting into the room illuminated her as well. Stark could not resist. He came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her, holding her for a moment. The intoxicating aroma of her perfume mixed with the scent of her desire took control of him. He could wait no longer. Bending her head forward, he gently brushed the hair away from her neck. The touch of his powerful hands so delicately moving across her skin sent a cascade of shivers and electricity bolting down her body. Kira struggled to find her breath. She could feel him so close to her. Slowly he began kissing the back of her neck.

  She moaned softly, relishing the sensation. Oh God, those lips! Kira knew this was crazy but could not resist. She wanted him badly. How can I be so weak? All thoughts of resistance were fleeing from her with each delicate touch. The hot breath from his lips on her neck and in her hair was mesmerizing. She felt herself losing control to all her fantasies, the longing, the waiting. She struggled to fight the overwhelming desire.

  Sensing her resistance, Stark whispered, “I know this is wrong, Kira. Tell me to stop and I will. I would do anything you say. But I can’t stop on my own. I want you, need you.” He paused, inhaling. Breathing her in. “I want to feel you, taste you.” His hand tightened on her breast as he spoke. His other hand slid around her hip, holding tightly to her sex. The pressure and heat of his hands set her on fire. Her breath quickened. She could no longer resist. It had been so long without any contact at all other than her fantasies. Now here he was, wanting her, needing her. She burned for the sensation of his touch, the promise of his mouth. She felt the last of her self-control flee as he rubbed her long-ignored clit through her jeans. The friction driving her crazy, she could feel his hardness growing, pushing against her back He pulled her tightly against him, kissing her sensually on her neck and shoulders, grinding against her on either side with his strong hands and his cock. Kira reached back and held his thighs, pressing her hips against him. He groaned loudly.

  “Kira,” he breathed, his breath short and raspy. “I’ve wanted you since the first moment I saw you. I’ve tried to stay away. God knows I’ve tried but I can’t. I just can’t.” He spun her around, finding those luscious lips. He began kissing her, slowly and tenderly at first, then more fiercely as his need began to take over.

  Oh God, yes! His hands tightened over her ass and he pulled her head back by her hair as his lips and tongue take hers. She tasted the lingering whiskey on his lips and whimpered, feeling herself lose control of her body, wanting only to feel him inside her. Stark picked her up and she wrapped her legs around his waist tightly as he carried he
r across the room. His smell, the mix of smoke from the fire, his cologne were all intoxicating. He lay her down gently on the blankets by the fire. The light dancing on his face, he kissed Kira tenderly on her face, her lips, her neck. The tension in the room was rising, her body at high alert, every fiber of her being alive with need. I need him to touch me. At once he is pulling her shirt over her head. His eyes blaze wildly as he stares at the soft skin of her breasts.

  “You were going skiing in that?” he asked, amused and aroused at the sight of the black lace bra barely restraining her ample breasts.

  Kira nearly jumped out of her skin as he took her hands and pinned them high above her head. With the other hand he raked his nails gently over her breasts and down her abdomen to the top of her jeans. The sensation sent electrical currents coursing through her. She moaned, unable to contain her desire. He smiled wickedly and began kissing above the waistband. Then, with deft fingers, he undid her jeans, and she shivered, not from the cold on her bare skin, but from the anticipation of what was to come. A sudden panic set in as she realized he was moments away from revealing the mass of unkempt curls hiding just beneath her jeans. Damn it! Why didn’t I wax or shave or anything? FUCK! Being ravaged in an immaculate ski chalet by a sex god had not crossed her mind of things that would actually happen to her. She felt the jeans slipping away and struggled in resistance. Fear creeping in, she looked up suddenly shy and embarrassed.

  Stark looked at her with a puzzled expression. “I wasn’t exactly expecting this.” She stammered apologetically. “I mean, I’m not exactly prepared.”

  As if finally understanding, a smile crept across his face, and with a voice that could melt butter, he said, “In case you haven’t noticed, Captain, I’m not a timid man. I’m not afraid to brave the jungle. In fact I like things a little wild.” He traced his fingers over the lace of her now exposed panties as he spoke, “If it bothers you, I can take care of this later. You will have to trust me completely.”