Wrapping her arms around his body and intertwining her legs with his, he answered, “No reason. You’re just really tight. Just seemed like it was your first time.” He offered her a small smile, but knew she saw right through it.
“Have you been with many virgins?”
Her question caught him off guard as he struggled to come up with a good answer. He could lie and say no, but the truth was, he had. A few times in fact, but the idea of admitting that to her just left an acidic taste on his tongue. Virgin or not, Raeve was all he needed, wanted.
“Yes.” Guilt washed over him, but her eyes offered nothing except billowy kindness.
“I figured as much. So how many women have you been with?”
Her question was reasonable enough, but the answer he had to offer would feel like an insult to say. It wasn’t in him to lie, but he wished it was.
“More than I wish I had.” It was true enough. If he had only been with her since he first met her, then that list would be shorter. Much shorter. “You?”
Raeve’s eyes searched his, her hand cupped his cheek.
“You would be my second.”
Another round of guilt and jealousy washed over him in a gravel shower kind of way. He was the second; wished he had been the first. He had heard rumors of her dating others over the past couple of years, so either she was lying, or no one really knew her, his Raeve, the way he did.
“But you’ve dated since you lost your virginity…So you’re telling me there has been no one else?” He was skeptical, but he saw the way she reacted when people even friends walked up to her and touched her, even innocently. She pulled back quickly, and a flash of guilt shot through him. . Maybe there was more to her than even he realized. He’d sensed she had a past that haunted her. He could see it in her eyes everytime he looked at her, but he didn’t know for sure. However, her reaction to his question made him question his reasons for asking her in the first place. Was he trying to pick her apart, and expose the flaws that didn’t belong? Had he created a version of Raeve in his head over the years that she quickly shattered in those quiet moments when the world outside no longer existed?
Shaking her head, she answered without hesitation. “No. I haven’t dated much since Peter. I didn’t want to be like those other girls, screwing any guy that gives them any sort of attention. My body is my temple. And if you’re wondering, I do regret being with my first. So yes, you are the second man who I’ve shared myself with.” The furrow of her brows deepened as she looked at him. “Why? Does it bother you that I’m not a virgin?”
“No! No its fine…I guess…well you know Red’s and all the rumors.”
“Yes, I do,” Her words cut him like a razor. “I’m not well liked there, at least not by the girls. I always end up catching wind of something scandalous that I’ve supposedly done. I just laugh it off. They don’t know me.” The hurt that hid in her eyes, roared out, and he wished he could fly back there just to smack the holy Hades out of every single person that bad mouthed her behind her back.
She nuzzled into his touch as he cupped her cheek. He sincerely hoped he never ran into the lucky bastard who had tasted her first. “No they don’t.” he murmured. “I’m honored then.”
Raeve’s smile grew softer when she looked into his eyes. “Why?”
“I’m honored that you’ve allowed me to be with you, like this. Why did you wait so long to be with anyone else?” Simple enough question, he vowed to learn everything about his angel. There was no other way to describe how he felt about her. She was purely an angel. He’d seen her kindness with others, learned that she felt the sting of others and their cruel words, and still held her head high. She was gentle and kind, and she was fierce like a fighter as well. He’d seen her handle her own when confrontation broke out, and turn into a diplomat to break up fights.
Propping her chin up, her eyes barely met his and his heart pounded stronger every second she didn’t answer. The hesitation that lingered in the air between them ate away his patience but forcing her to talk was useless. Forcing her would only cause her to shut down harder. He wanted to know, needed to know why. But how could he push her when every second he spent with her, felt like a dream?
“Raeve…..why did you wait so long?” he pushed.
“Because I didn’t want to get hurt again,” she confessed, turning from his gaze. “I don’t know, maybe because secretly I was hoping for so long that I stood a snowball’s chance in Hell to be with you.” Shit how could he have been so blind? Her haunted eyes held pain that he hadn’t known before. Admitting to him her secret on blind faith, trusting him not to hurt her like her previous boyfriend. Letting out a sigh, he pulled Raeve into his arms, rolling her on top of him.
“Raeve, I won’t hurt you like he did. That’s a promise.” Aidan prayed the resolve in his voice was enough to convince her to trust him, when in reality only time would show her. Kissing her softly, he promised her he wouldn’t allow another human being to ever hurt her again. Silently vowing to be her protector, whether she wanted him to be or not.
“Never.”
Chapter 9
“Babe, food’s getting cold.”
Raeve’s playful tone carried down the hallway, and all Aidan could do was smirk. Climbing to his feet, dog tags and necklace in hand, Aidan made his way down to the kitchen where she was plating their food. He held back for a few moments, watching her twirl around like a ballerina to her music. He saw the light in her eyes spark as she rolled her body to the music like a belly dancer. Biting his lip, he wished he could watch her forever.
“Sweetheart.” He spoke softly, and stepped into the kitchen. “I have something for you.”
Stopping her mid twirl, plate of bacon and eggs in hand, he nudged her to the counter. “Here.” He handed her the small black pouch, and her eyes shot up to his, concern and confusion seared across her features.
“What is it?” she asked shyly.
“I want you to hold on to this for me until I return. It’s my favorite.” Aidan pulled out a small black pouch and spilled free the silver necklace. The scorpion pedant landed in the palm of her small hand.
“It’s beautiful, babe, but why? Why not leave it in your safe?”
“Let’s just say it’s a ‘just in case thing’.”
He watched her expression twist into fury as she shook her head at him. He knew it was the last thing she’d want to hear, but he had to say it whether she wanted to hear it or not.
“No! None of this ‘just in case’ bullshit, you are coming back to me! That’s final.”
“Sweetheart, I might not, and I want you to keep this in the event that I don’t return.”
Her hands cupped his cheeks, for the first time the searing heat of her touch burned him. “You will come back to me. Understand? Because if you don’t, I will track you down in the land of death and beat the holy hell out of you.”
Biting back a laugh, he knew she was serious, and the idea of her in red leather and brass knuckles set fire to his body in a completely different way. Raeve meant what she said, and his body yearned to see just that. “Sure, sweetheart.”
Watching her clutch the silver necklace to her heart, he almost wished he could keep a piece of her tucked away in his footlocker, just as his reminder. “And there’s this.” He slipped his dog tag into her other hand, Raeve knew what he was handing her before she even looked at it. Biting her lip, her eyes refused to look down at the small piece of metal.
“I thought you gave this to Jake,” she said curtly.
“Won’t you need your tags?”
“No. Nothing that can be linked to who we are, that means no jewelry, no mementos, nothing.” His voice was eerily calm, even to himself, but he needed her to grasp the severity of this mission. He considered his next tour as his possible last, given the fact he had only a fifty-fifty chance of survival. Her beautiful natural blush disappeared. Realizing that the odds were stacked against him coming back alive, the sickening twist in his gut grew. W
atching her with a careful eye as Raeve slumped back, , he could feel she was off. Within moments a clammy sheen covered her paled out skin, as his words sank in. Regret smothered him like a wet blanket as he cursed himself for ever agreeing to take this mission.
“I want to you hold on to this. Keep it safe.” Curling his hand over hers, it took every ounce of his will to stop himself from going AWOL.
***
Raeve felt another wave of tears stinging the back of her eyes as she thumbed the punched sheet metal. Clutching it to her heart, words failed to come to her. She wanted to scream, to beg him not to go. The cold hard reality slapped her in the face when she finally gazed upon his tags. “I―I can’t…take these. They mean too much, you should give them to your sister.”
“I did, she has the other. This one is for you to hold on to.”
“I thought you gave these to Jake, that’s what you told me.” Her eyes stared at his with an accusation that had to sting, as her heart raced and her hands shook. He closed the gap between them, pulling her into his arms. Softly he brushed his knuckles over her trembling cheek, as he pressed a kiss into her hair
“Jake and I exchanged our first set of tags when we came back from Kuwait. I had these made up before I went back. They’ve been with me for a long time, Raeve. Now they’re yours. I’ll always be with you. Always, just remember that.” Aidan smoothed a kiss over her lips.
Raeve longed to kiss him back, but the sadness crept back in and nestled deep in her heart.
With some effort she shook her head clear. This wasn’t what she wanted to hear. “I don’t need tokens like this, dammit! What I need is you, by my side, every freaking day until we die!” She felt the hysteria welling up, trying to tamp it down would end up being a losing battle, and she knew it. She closed her eyes against the truth Looking at him, so calm and deadly serious, was just too much to handle. She wasn’t prepared for him to say his goodbyes, not when there was so much more life to live…together.
He tried to sooth her and calm her worried mind, but there was no changing the reality of the situation. Thumbing her tears away angrily, Raeve pushed herself off the counter and stalked off to her bedroom.
“Sweetheart, please. Don’t walk away.” He begged, reaching for her as she went past.
“Aidan, I need to be alone right now. Please, just let me be,” she cried. “I just can’t do this right now.” Closing the door behind her and shutting him out was the hardest thing she had ever done. She refused to let him watch as she broke into a withering mess. There was no eloquence in her fall to the bed. Burying her head in her arms, the ripples of sadness shuddered throughout her body.
She didn’t hear the door open, or anything he may have said, but the needed warmth of his body as he lay down beside her eased her. Welcoming the unwanted intrusion, his arms wrapped around her curled body.
“I’m sorry.” she murmured through tear thickened voice. “I’m so sorry, Aidan. I’m fine.” Lie. She knew it, as she wiped away the wet traitors streaking down her face.
“Shh, it’s all right. I don’t expect you to be okay with this. Believe me, if I had any other choice, I wouldn’t go. The idea of leaving this bed itself is maddening.”
Rolling over to face him, she watched his eyes trace over every curve of her features. Thumbing over his lip, Raeve pecked a small kiss on the curve of his jaw as she held his tag close to her heart.
“I love you.” the words were so effortless to say, yet filled with years of meaning. She just needed those years to stretch out for many more. The very first time she’d spoken those three little words, she never expected that the meaning behind them would grow as it had.
“I remember the first time you told me you were in love with me.” Aidan spoke with utter sincerity as he stroked her cheek. “That was the second happiest moment of my life, well at that point.”
“What was the first?” There was no smile in her voice, only a detached sense of wonder.
“The first time we made love. You remember? At the hotel in Texas?”
Her returning smile barely lifted as she recalled those moments before she boarded her flight home.
“Yeah, I remember.”
Chapter Ten
Texas 1999
They had spent the afternoon visiting his base, meeting the wary stares of his friends in his platoon. As day carried on into night, and music littered the air at the Rusty Saloon, Raeve felt the heat of Aidan’s stare on her while she danced. Swaying her hips to the rhythm as she silently coaxed him to join her on the dance floor. Words were pointless, the speakers bellowed out music set on a ‘blow your eardrums out’ level. The shiny slinky material of her dress hugged every curve of her body as she twisted and writhed to the electronic beats. Her heated gaze burned into his as her glossy red lips coyly begged him to join her.
Reluctantly he rose to his feet. Raeve knew all too well the things he was good at, dancing wasn’t one of them. Skilled martial arts fighter and trained protector sure, but Fred Astaire, he wasn’t. Sidling up close to his rigid body, she wasn’t about to let the night get away from her, even if it meant dancing for his eyes only. Her eyes locked onto his like heat seeking missiles as she watched in delight as heat flared off him in droves the moment her body rolled sinuously up to his. Slipping her arms around his neck, her body arched into his, demanding attention. Her fiery gaze glinted from the pulsing lights, as one hand slid shamelessly down to his chest.
She moved her body effortlessly, slinking around him like she was stalking her prey in a seductive version of The Huntsman. Rolling her hips across his, she felt his hard-on through the thick layer of denim which she was tempted to strip off his body. Her flesh felt alive and tight sensing the heat rolling off him in droves. Capturing his mouth, her wanting tongue sliced savagely between his lips. It had been hours since Aidan had rolled her body beneath his, filling her to the brink of sanity. But she needed more. She needed to feel him deep inside her again, consuming her with greedy need. Curling her slender fingers around his neck, Raeve pulled him to her lips while she explored every crevasse of his decadent mouth with her tongue.
The fire that pooled between her thighs burned hotter than before. She had known how Aidan could rule her body with one simple touch, but the way his ocean-blue eyes burned her with intensity had her heart pounding out of her chest. Like an addict seeking their next fix, Raeve felt utterly helpless against the way he made her feel. She craved him, and the hunger grew with every touch of his electric fingers on her sensitive skin. Every time he crushed his lips over hers, or embraced her protectively against his body, screamed of his longing for her. But it was the long hard stalk of his cock pinned between them that caused her essence to swell. He wanted her, and he wasn’t hiding that fact. Couldn’t hide it as the rigid length pressed against her abdomen.
Staring into his eyes, as the din of voices and music disappeared around them, she silently begged him to take her right then and there. Her breath caught the moment his fingers swept over her cheek.
“Do you want to go?” he asked.
By the tick in his jaw and the possessiveness of his hold, Raeve knew what he was really saying. ‘I need you spread wide before me, I need to feel you scream as I delve deeply into your wanting body.’ His thoughts spoke volumes through the windows of his brilliant eyes.
Nodding her head in agreement, she brushed her lips over his once more, nipping his lower lip. She didn’t need words to say it; the intensity of her eyes penetrating him said all that needed to be said. Slowly she twisted from his arms. The heat from him scorched her like a wildfire had erupted. Her head buzzed, with visions of his body covering hers, filling her up and showering her with every pleasure possible. Smiling, Raeve delighted in seeing Aidan settle in his resolve the moment she took his hand in hers and led him from the building.
The humid air prickled her heated skin with the first rush of the night air. Her heart thundered in her ears as she begged time to stop, so she could relish the live-wir
e feeling. As he pulled her closer, Raeve felt the strong protectiveness he harbored for her. Aidan’s hand was clamped tightly around hers, making her insides jump. With gentle urgency, he pulled the door open for her, but she couldn’t bear the idea of waiting in anticipation of his next kiss.
Wrapping her arms around his neck, Raeve pulled him down to her, crashing her lips to his. Aidan had lit the fuse, and she wasn’t ready to tamp it out. Crushing her body to his, Aidan wrapped his thick muscled arms around her back, gingerly running his fingers up the length of her spine. The delightful way she arched her back as small moans spilled from her lips splintered any waning control they tried to hold on to.
“Get in the truck,” he panted. “Not here, not like this.” In a swift movement, Aidan settled Raeve into her seat, pressing one more kiss to her sultry lips.
Though it had only been hours since Raeve had felt the mind splintering effects of his touch, it felt more like weeks had passed, and her body ached to feel that delicious explosion that rocked her body.
Climbing into the truck, Aidan’s eyes stayed transfixed on her as slammed his key into the ignition without thought. She felt the heat roll off him as he radiated sexual desire. He stared at her with an unrelenting gaze that promised a night of carnal worship to the likes she had never known. Under the neon lights, his cheeks seemed to glow with his blush. Raeve sensed his need as plainly as she saw his arousal buck beneath his zipper. Smiling as she watched him with the same intent stare as he licked over the spot she had bitten. Her breath stammered from her chest as he slid the truck into drive and jolted forward.
She had no concept of time as they drove past the town’s center. She could have sworn hours had passed, though the drone of music hadn’t changed. The midnight air that drifted through the truck sent a shiver down her back, though Raeve wasn’t entirely convinced it was just the wind causing it. She couldn’t remember the moment they pulled into the hotel’s parking lot. Drinking up the sight of him, Raeve could barely take her eyes off his impish smile.
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