Running Fire

by Lindsay McKenna

  “You’re not crazy,” he reassured her, quietly. Just scared. Maybe not of him in particular, but rather men in general? Her ex-husband? Kell leaned his back against the wall, feeling Leah slowly relax against him. He had to make damn sure she never became aware of his erection. There had been veiled anxiety in her voice, and he sensed her trepidation. “That’s it,” he crooned, “just relax. I’ll hold you safe tonight, Leah.”

  She hesitantly allowed her left arm to move across his slab-hard belly, angling her hips against his to get comfortable. The slow rise and fall of his chest and the lazy thud of his heart against her ear conspired to calm her. With every breath he took, she relaxed a little more. “You can’t hold me all night like this, Kell,” she protested softly, worried. “You’ll get so cramped up from it—”

  “You’d be surprised to learn I can stay in one spot for twelve hours straight and never move a muscle.” Because that’s what a sniper did when he had to do it. They had infinite persistence and he had that same patience with Leah.

  She closed her eyes, feeling his warmth stealing into her. Leah felt him bring up a blanket over her shoulders and tuck it around her. “Thank you…” His scent was perfume to her, lulling her toward sleep.

  “Close those beautiful green eyes of yours and let the wings of sleep take you,” Kell told her in a gruff tone. Leah’s tension dissolved beneath his voice and he was grateful.

  Kell’s senses honed in on her. The hesitation of even touching him as she laid her left arm across his belly told him a helluva lot. She had a distrust of men. Due to her ex-husband? She’d screamed out Hayden’s name the first night.

  On the second night, Leah was fighting and struggling, terror in her expression as he’d awakened her. And she nailed him with a right hook to his chest. What had that bastard done to her to make her react like that?

  Oh, he could understand some hesitation because of her being a warrant officer and him an enlisted man. But that wasn’t what had driven her to be so damned tentative with him just now. Something bad, very bad, had happened between Leah and her ex-husband. That much Kell knew. He just didn’t know what. And anger burned in him as he thought of anyone touching this woman in a way that hurt her. She was brave, caring and intelligent.

  His fingers moved more firmly against her upper arm and he wanted to pull her deeper into his embrace, to give her protection she hadn’t asked for but that he wanted to provide, anyway.

  Leah’s hair, soft and silky, tickled his jaw and chin. Her breasts were pressed against the left side of his chest and he could feel their fullness. Kell ached to slide his hand beneath that T-shirt and move his fingers up her long rib cage and gently hold one of those breasts in his palm. Frowning, Kell allowed himself to feel her lush, curved body against his.

  Very soon, Leah was asleep. He could feel her body sag against his, her breath softening and becoming slow and shallow. Yeah, she trusted him. It sent a giddy joy through Kell but he tried not to celebrate it.

  With the Taliban practically next door, Kell set his body cycle up to catnap. It was important Leah got some seriously healing sleep. Judging by her slow breath, her breasts barely rising and falling against his chest, she was doing exactly that. His mind revolved forward to their present danger. This was close-quarters contact with the enemy. He didn’t tell Leah, but for all intents and purposes, they were trapped. There wasn’t anywhere to go if they were discovered except out that exfil point, then making their way carefully down a two-thousand-foot cliff on the backside of this mountain. And he didn’t have rappelling gear with him to do it, either. Worse, he was sure Leah had no climbing experience whatsoever.

  *

  THE NEXT TIME Kell awoke was because he felt Leah shift in his arms. She had almost crawled across him, her head near his right shoulder now, her left arm stretched limply across his waist, her breasts fully pressed against his chest. Taking a slow, deep breath, Kell savored the full contact. She must have shifted but he’d not felt it until now.

  What would it be like to feel her naked against him? Just like this. The fullness of her breasts against his chest. Her long, tapered fingers touching him, sensing him, sending hot, scalding signals down into his lower body. He could feel the silk of her hair across his chest. Breathe, he ordered himself. Just breathe.

  Ballard wanted to absorb this moment, understanding it would never happen again. Her cheek was warm against his T-shirt. He could feel the moisture of Leah’s breath lightly across it, tightening his skin beneath the fabric. Her left hand had curved over his left shoulder, her fingers wrapped around the nape of his neck. She trusted him. At least, in her sleep she did. She might not in her waking hours, however.

  Kell lowered his left hand, smoothing the wrinkled T-shirt gently down along her long spine. Leah moaned. Nothing loud, just a soft moan of pleasure, maybe? Yeah, Kell knew he could give Leah pleasure, make her wild with need. He knew how to please a woman, make her first in his life, make her happy to be with him, sharing the same bed. Becoming one.

  He had it bad for her, disgusted where his mind and body were going. Leah didn’t deserve this from him. She’d given her trust. And it was sacred to Kell.

  His memory turned to the past, looking at his fated marriage to Addy. They’d had a great sex life, but the marriage fell apart because he was gone so often and for so long. She was a high-maintenance woman who wanted to be courted, pleasured and have everything life offered her. She loved his body, told him how beautiful he was, appreciated his strength and power. But in the end, sex could never hold a marriage, indeed, a relationship, together for the long haul. That was what Kell had learned from the experience.

  He and Addy were still friends. She had remarried and was happy. And he was happy for her because she was a bright light in the world, wanting to make a positive difference. It was just that her passionate light required full-time attention. Sadly, Kell couldn’t give that to her. He couldn’t give that kind of attention to any woman right now.

  Sometimes, especially with Leah lying across him, Kell missed the warmth of a good woman in his arms, beside him in his bed. He missed talking with a woman because they saw life so differently than he did. Kell didn’t see that as a minus. He’d always found it a plus. He’d always wanted a woman in his life, but somehow, it hadn’t happened since his divorce.

  Without thinking, Kell moved his hand gently across Leah’s shoulders. It wasn’t sexual. It was simply an act of care, of happiness on his part, that she was sharing life with him in this crazy place called Afghanistan.

  Could he have ever imagined a woman dropping in like Leah? Here? Out in the middle of some of the worst fighting in this country? No way. Not in a million years. And yet, here she was, sprawled like a sated cat across his body, fully trusting him, sleeping soundly in his arms. He felt his erection and released a ragged sigh, looking at his watch. It was 0300. In another hour, he’d have to awaken Leah and they’d have to quietly make their way out of this place and go to work.

  *

  LEAH FELT THE calloused warmth of roughened fingers against her cheek. Her sleep was so deep that all she did was sigh and absorb the tender touch. It felt so good, so safe. The hand left her cheek and she felt his fingers moving slowly down the strands of her hair, her scalp tingling, the pleasure increasing beneath his strokes.

  “Sugar?”

  It was Kell’s low accent near her ear. Leah felt his hands slide beneath her arms as he lifted her upward. The movement forced her lashes to slowly rise. Moaning, she pressed her face into Kell’s strong, thick neck, not wanting to wake up, wanting to continue to enjoy his grazing touches. She felt him laugh. There wasn’t a sound, but she could feel the reverberation through his massive chest. Dragging her hand up, she groaned and drowsily rubbed her eyes.

  “Time to get up, sleepy head,” he told her, amused. Kell had lifted her off his body and eased Leah up beneath his left arm, her face pressed against his neck and shoulder. She was sleeping so damned hard he felt bad about rousing h
er. But they had to get going.

  “Mmph.”

  His mouth curved as he slid his fingers into her hair. “Come on, darlin’, we have to get moving.”

  Half-awake, all Leah wanted to do was luxuriate in the intimacy strung hotly between them. It felt so natural. So real. So good. Turning she struggled into a sitting position. Her hair was mussed, falling across her face, and she slowly moved the strands aside with her fingers. Kell’s arm was loose around her waist. She could feel her body coming alive. Wanting him. Wanting something, but she had no idea what.

  “Okay?” Kell asked, turning on the penlight. The blackness fled to grayness and he saw her groggy features as she struggled to wake up.

  “Yeah…okay…”

  Her voice was thick with sleep, a little husky, and it only made him harder, wanting her even more. Kell forced himself to his feet. If he didn’t move away from Leah, he was going to do something really selfish and stupid. He was going to curve her back into his arms and kiss her until she gave him that sweet, husky moan of hers she’d shared with him last night when he’d stroked her back.

  Focus, Ballard.

  It was the last thing Kell wanted to do. As he grabbed his boots and pulled them on, he saw Leah reach for hers.

  “Drink plenty of water before we leave,” he warned her. He walked over to the pool, kneeling down and splashing the icy water across his face. That sure as hell woke him up in a heartbeat. But it hadn’t eased the pain of his erection in the least. The danger they faced would force his mind onto other, far more important priorities. He just didn’t want Leah to realize how much he wanted her. That would throw a hell of an issue into their relationship. She didn’t trust men. Okay, he got that. And if she saw him hard, that would destroy the tentative, fragile trust she had given him, probably thinking he was like the rest of the men who lusted after that sweet, curvy body of hers.

  Grimacing, Ballard stood up and turned, walking over to her. Leah had her flight boots on, was taming her hair into a ponytail and had the floppy boonie hat nearby. Somehow, Leah didn’t look like a SEAL, but she was damned appealing to him, nonetheless.

  “Come on,” he urged, holding his hand down toward her. Without hesitation, Leah’s fingers curved around his and he eased her to her feet. He smiled a little. “I think I’m going to call you a SEAL-ette.” He tugged playfully at the brim of the hat she had picked.

  He saw her lips draw into a wry smile, her gaze warm and open. That’s how he wanted to see Leah every morning, that trust between them, that heat he felt radiating from her toward him. SEALs had intense intuition because their lives relied on it. And there was no mistaking her wanting him sexually. Kell could read it easily in her eyes and in her innocent smile as she gazed up at him.

  A zigzag of scalding heat dove from Leah’s breasts down into her core as Kell gave her that lazy, heated smile of his. Did the man know that sensuality dripped off him twenty-four hours a day? Was she the only one to sense and see it? Leah drowned in his aura, that protective energy embracing her along with the arousal she saw banked in his dark, narrowed gaze. “I didn’t scream, did I?” she asked, remaining where she was. There were mere inches separating them, and it would be so easy to take one step forward and be in Kell’s arms…

  “Not a peep,” he assured her. He reached out, moving some errant strands near her left eye. Tucking them behind her ear, he added, “You slept without waking once.”

  “And you would know this how?” She frowned, her hands on her hips.

  Caught. Kell grinned. “I slept,” he assured her. “SEAL naps.” He saw Leah didn’t believe one word he’d said, that lower lip of hers going petulant, almost into a pout.

  Damn, he’d like to kiss that lower lip of hers, run his tongue across it and feel her respond. And he knew she would. Kell realized Leah had no self-awareness of herself as a woman when in the company of a man. She was completely oblivious to how she affected him, her natural beauty and the way that T-shirt outlined her breasts, those taut, puckered nipples straining against the material.

  Leah was no tease. Kell knew a tease when he saw one, and she was simply being open and natural with him. When he’d touched her ear as he slid the strands behind it, he’d seen her eyes widen. It wasn’t a reaction to a threat. Instead, his touch had stirred her fire, and he understood how sensitive she really was. And how much she desired contact with him. Leah could have dodged his hand. Could have told him no. But she hadn’t. She’d allowed him the gift of touching her, if but for a few seconds.

  Taking a deep breath, Leah stepped away. Kell was far too close, too sensual for her. She was way too vulnerable to him. Her lower body constricted and she felt urges she couldn’t interpret and had no experience with. When he’d touched her ear, a strange, twisting, hungry sensation enveloped her. It felt good. It made her starving for more intimacy with Kell. Right now? Leah knew it would be a terrible mistake on her part. Rallying, getting her mind off her awakening body, she asked, “A SEAL-ette?”

  Kell chuckled and leaned down, handing her the blouse. “You’re not a SEAL, but you’re working with one, so I’m giving you a new career title. You’re now officially a SEAL-ette. It’s a compliment,” he assured her, helping her with the blouse. He watched her fingers quickly close the buttons on it, thinking of what it would be like if she slowly unbuttoned his blouse.

  Damn. He had to use his powerful focus and just stop this hormonal stuff. If he didn’t, Kell knew he could put both of them in damn quick jeopardy if he continued to be distracted.

  Leah laughed softly, shrugged into her Kevlar vest and then picked up a bottle of water. “At least you’re not calling me any names. I can live with that nickname. Makes me sound like a Radio City Rockette from New York City.” She chuckled.

  Kell gave her his second radio headset. He placed the thick elastic band around her head, moved the mic toward her lips. He clipped the radio to her collar and then tested it. He’d put new batteries in it the night before. He too would wear one and they could speak quietly to one another and never be overheard. He picked up her ruck after she’d finished drinking water.

  “The only names I want to call you are very nice ones,” he assured her. “Let’s get this ruck on you and get the harness system adjusted for your body height and size.”

  Leah allowed him to tighten the harnesses over her shoulders, his fingers touching her here and there. Every time Kell did, her flesh responded hotly to his brief, grazing fingertips. He leaned over her, his head close to hers as he shortened the belt around the bottom of the ruck to fit her waist.

  Closing her eyes for a moment, Leah allowed herself the pleasure of inhaling his male scent that drove her body crazy. She tried to ignore her heart that seemed like flower petals opening to sunlight. Only, Kell was her sunlight.

  Ballard straightened. “How’s that ruck feel now? Walk around, move a little, see how it sits on you.” Leah did as he asked and he enjoyed the sway of her hips. Damn, she had the sweetest butt he’d seen in a long time. He couldn’t help imagining his hands on each cheek… He was in such deep trouble here. Kell saw her frown as she turned, her fingers beneath the shoulder straps.

  “Awkward,” she murmured.

  “Too heavy?” That was fifty pounds of weight. A lot for her frame and size.

  “It’s okay.” Leah hoped he couldn’t tell she was fibbing. Kell looked like he probably didn’t believe her. But he was carrying far more weight than she was, and she wasn’t about to have him carry more.

  Unsure, Kell dug into her dark green eyes. “Well,” he muttered, “if it gets to be too much, speak up.” He turned and shrugged into his ruck. The Win-Mag was protected in a nylon sheath and held by Velcro straps on the outside of it, the rifle barrel pointed downward. Turning, Kell saw that same stubborn look on Leah’s face as the night before. He was getting the first taste of the warrior in the woman, not the woman with male issues. Two very different people, and he was fascinated with her either way. Kell knew she’d never u
tter a peep about the load she was carrying in that ruck. He’d have to spot-check her from time to time if they ever had to hoof it over the rocky, demanding mountain in the future.

  Leah took her .45 pistol and buckled it around her waist so it hung a little low on her right hip in case she needed it in a hurry. She saw Kell pick up the M-4 rifle and snap it into a sling across his chest where it hung, but was still handy if he needed it in a hurry.

  “Ready?” Kell checked her out one more time. The smallest SEAL he knew was five feet seven inches, her height. The ruck looked like a huge turtle shell on Leah’s back, dwarfing her. She was medium-boned and Kell knew she was strong because he’d felt her muscling. Wimp was not a word he’d use with this woman, who had her jaw set and her game face on. Still, she was used to sitting in a seat on a helo, not humping the Hindu Kush daily like he was.

  “Rock it out,” she told him with a grin.

  That was a SEAL term, and he appreciated her humor. “Follow me,” he urged, turning the penlight so that they could both see where they were walking.

  Leah looked up at the stars still hanging in the early-morning sky as they moved outside the cave. The wind was gusting and cold. She was glad for the Kevlar vest now, even though it was very heavy to wear. It kept her entire torso, front and back, warm.

  She stopped when Kell stopped. There was a thin quarter moon on the western horizon. She couldn’t see any light yet. She watched him pull down his NVG goggles. Having none for herself, she was at a severe disadvantage.

  Kell turned, catching her right hand. “Hold on to my web belt and follow me. If I’m going too fast, tug on it. Never say a word, we’re close to the Taliban. Okay?”