His mouth twitched, and light danced in his eyes.
“No, thanks, but I’ll tell you what. You ask that question a month from now, okay? And I’ll say yes.”
Oh! Sky turned, unable to do much of anything except feel embarrassed. Gray chuckled as he sauntered casually down the hall toward the bathroom. The man could make a rock feel sexual. Gray was awakening her on that level, and Sky wasn’t sure if that was good news or not. She had enough to handle.
Sky heard the bathroom door quietly shut. Drawing in a deep breath, she became nervous and cleared the rest of the table. How was she going to handle herself and her awakening sexual desire and still remain close to Gray? Suddenly, Sky felt shaky as never before. But it wasn’t a bad feeling. She felt excited, felt desire for him on every level of herself. He’d done so much for her. And yet just the thought of running her hands across his naked flesh sent her into a spasm of longing that nearly upended her. The man affected her far more deeply and widely than Sky had ever thought possible. What was she going to do?
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
GRAY PADDED BAREFOOT down the hall. His hair was damp. His upper body was naked. Sky felt her mouth go dry. He wore a set of clean Levi’s. There was something touching about such a strong man not all put together yet, barefoot. Her heart took off as she sat at one end of the couch, the medical supplies next to her.
She’d never seen Gray naked before, and Sky was nearly overwhelmed. His chest was broad and deep, his shoulders strong, as if he could carry the loads of the world upon them. His arms were ropy with muscles, large veins standing out on the backs of his long, calloused hands and lower arms.
Sky knew she was powerfully drawn to him. Her body’s response was purely sexual. Sky had never felt such burning desire now coursing hotly through her lower body. Automatically, she pressed her thighs together in response as he rounded the end of the couch. His eyes never left hers, and she could feel that heavy, turgid desire grow in her womb.
The light was low, and as Gray sat down, the medical items between them, Sky’s yearning ebbed as she saw the livid, red-and-purple welt across his rib cage. Making a sound of distress, she looked up and noticed a huge swelling bruise across his left shoulder.
“My God,” she whispered, automatically reaching out, her fingertips grazing his ribs, “this isn’t good, Gray.” His flesh was warm and moist from the hot shower. Instinctively, her nostrils flared; the pine of the soap he’d used mingled with moisture that clung to his skin, creating his own unique scent as man.
“It looks bad, but it’s not,” he growled defensively. Gray’s breath stuck in his throat as he felt her soft, cool fingers barely graze his swollen flesh. As crazy as it sounded, wherever Sky examined him with her fingertips, the pain momentarily ceased. She had leaned close, her eyes focused on his ribs.
Automatically, Gray remained very still, absorbing her touch like the starving wolf he really was. Did Sky know how badly he wanted her? His erection instantly came to life as she gently reached out to lightly press the bruised flesh across his ribs here and there. Groaning inwardly, Gray tried to force himself not to respond to her tender ministrations. She was in nurse mode right now.
“I’ll be the judge of that,” she said. Sky saw Gray had on his game face. She’d seen this so often before with black-ops men who were brought into the Bagram hospital E.R. His eyes were narrowed and never left her face. His mouth, that beautifully shaped male mouth of his she’d kissed earlier, was thinned with pain. If she hadn’t had years of experience with these operators, she’d have missed the fact he was in serious pain.
The red, angry bruising across his three ribs was vivid and told her of the power of the pipe smashed against his body. She moved her hands across his moist flesh, feeling the muscles beneath suddenly tighten wherever she examined him. Sky wanted to touch Gray. This was an excuse, Sky realized, feeling dampness starting to collect between her thighs. Her body had a mind of its own, she discovered, shocked by it.
“Well?” Gray growled.
Sky sat up, resting her hands on her thighs. “Take in as deep a breath as you can, Gray.”
He scowled but did as she asked.
Frowning, Sky tried not to be swayed by his chest expanding, that dark dusting of hair across it. She tried to ignore the thin, dark hair down the middle of his torso and rock-hard abs, the dark, teasing line disappearing beneath the waistline of his Levi’s. Her mouth grew dry as she saw the bulge pressing against his jeans. Oh, God, she felt a sudden scalding sensation gripping her, feeling more hot juices gathering within her. Forcing her gaze up, Sky concentrated on his chest.
“Okay,” she managed, “that’s enough.”
“They aren’t broke.” Gray had seen her gaze drift down. Now Sky was aware he was turned on so damned badly by her examination, he felt trapped in a special hell. Her cheeks went suddenly pink as she lingered for a moment on his obvious erection. Damn. Gray wanted to get up, escape and go to his bedroom to suffer in the pain and agony he knew he would feel.
“Most likely severely bruised. They could be wrapped,” she murmured, her voice slightly off-key.
Gray shook his head. “Maybe if I have to do heavy lifting like hay bales, but no, I don’t want that kind of constriction stopping my movement.”
Sky forced herself to meet his eyes, saw the blunt desire in them. Her throat dried up. “Then the very least, tomorrow, get to the E.R. and get them x-rayed?”
“I have to anyway. Cade wants an official hospital report on my injuries for the assault charges he’s writing up on those two assholes.” Gray watched her face, her eyes. When Sky licked her lip, fire surged through his lower body. Gritting his teeth, he saw how flushed Sky’s cheeks had become. She seemed rattled. This was a special torture, and Gray forced himself to sit still, his hands tense on his thighs.
Standing, Sky swallowed convulsively and walked around behind Gray to examine the other bruise that lay across his left shoulder. The light brought out the swelling violet-red bruising where he’d been struck by the pipe. Her stomach tightened as she studied the thick welt.
“This has got to be painful, Gray,” she breathed, leaning over. Reaching out, her fingers hovering over his moist flesh, Sky wanted to touch him. She wanted to feel those thick, long muscles across his shoulder tense beneath her fingertips. Chastising herself for her lack of professionalism, she examined the six-inch bruise that curved over his shoulder. Her heart started skipping beats, and she felt suddenly shaky and hungry for Gray.
“Well?” he growled, closing his eyes. If Sky kept touching him like that, he was going to haul her into his arms and kiss her into oblivion.
Sky suddenly pulled her hand away, as if her fingers were on fire. It would be so easy to skim his flesh, explore his powerful back, feel each set of muscles leap and respond to her. She straightened and walked around him. Picking up a small jar of ointment, she opened the lid with shaky fingers.
“This is...um... It’s not really traditional medical ointment. But it works well on bruised flesh that isn’t open. This is Arnica,” she whispered unsteadily. “It’s designed to create circulation in the area of the bruise, Gray. I—I can put some on if you want?”
Any excuse to touch him again. Her whole lower body was awake as never before. No man had made her feel like this, that scalding hunger gnawing at her, wanting him inside her, wanting to feel the power of him as a man touching her, evoking all those wonderful, sexual responses from her body. Sky thought her body had died after the torture. She wanted Gray. And as Sky tore her gaze from his erection, there was no question he wanted her. The air between them was charged. Taut. Urgent.
“Yeah, go ahead,” Gray muttered, looking away from Sky. Shakily, she quickly put the ointment on and spread it across Gray’s shoulder. She felt him draw in a sharp breath as her fingers glided across his swollen flesh.
“
I’m sorry,” she whispered unsteadily. “I didn’t mean to hurt you....”
Grimacing, Gray muttered, “It’s all right.” His erection was throbbing, hot, turgid and heavy. The woman’s fingers skimming across his tight flesh made him grit his teeth even more. For a moment, he had a reprieve when she finished. Could he bear Sky’s touch on his ribs? God, he wasn’t sure.
Sky sat opposite Gray, their thighs brushing as she gently spread the ointment across his torso. The flash of fire in his eyes, the tension palpable, her mind began to disintegrate. Never had she wanted to explore a man more than she did Gray. He had a beautiful, lean, hard, honed body. There was no fat anywhere on him. Just pure male bone and muscles. As she eased her fingers from his ribs and looked up at him, she knew she was lost. Setting the ointment aside, Sky held his slivered eyes, felt his raw, sexual masculinity fully, absorbing it like the thirsty, starved woman she was.
“Gray...” She barely kept her hands off him. Drowning in his eyes, seeing that spark of awareness of what she wanted, Sky owed him her honesty. Even if Gray turned her down, she had to bare her soul to him. “I—I want...” Her throat closed off. She gave a little moan of frustration because of the fear of rejection.
With a low growl, Gray slid his hand behind her nape, drawing her against him, his moist breath hot against her cheek, his lips hovering an inch from hers. “I want you, too, Sky. All of you. But you have to tell me you want the same thing....”
It felt as if time had halted and intensified as they stared at one another, so much unspoken passing between them. Sky felt Gray’s calloused fingers eliciting tiny electrical shocks across her nape.
Swallowing, she forced out, “Y-yes, I want you, Gray.” Tears burned in the backs of her eyes. His mouth flexed into a tender smile.
“And I want you, Sky,” he rasped as he leaned down, brushing her mouth, feeling the softness of her lips beneath his demanding ones. Her moan fired through him like a bolt of lightning. Sky leaned forward, placing her hand on his neck, feeling his moist breath as she wantonly deepened their kiss. The moment her tongue boldly moved against his, he thought he’d come right there. Groaning, Gray pulled away from her wet, glistening lips, his eyes shards of heat and desire.
Without a word, he got to his feet and then lifted Sky easily into his arms. He felt her gasp, her arms sliding around his shoulders. His ribs ached but he couldn’t care less. She felt so damn good against him as he carried her silently down the hall to his bedroom. Her breasts pressed sweetly against his bare chest. She felt so damn good to him, and they hadn’t done a thing. Yet. That was going to change.
Gray nudged the door open with his toe. A stained-glass lamp on the dresser provided enough light. He set Sky on the bed and felt her relax and utterly trust him. As rock hard as he was, as much agony as he was in, Gray wasn’t going to go ballistic like a teenager with roaring hormones.
“Listen to me,” he said, laying her down, his hip near hers as he tunneled his fingers through her silky hair. “You need to tell me what you want, Sky. This has to be mutual.” Gray hated himself for saying it, but the haunted and hungry look in her eyes made him go on alert. “How long has it been for you?”
Moistening her lips, she whispered, “Over a year...” She brought her hands to rest on his arms that pinioned her to the bed as he leaned over her. The shadows brought out the harsh angles of his face. She drowned in the fire she saw in his eyes for her only.
It felt good to be desired once more. Sky enjoyed sex, enjoyed her body and the pleasures that a man and woman could share with one another. “I—I thought,” she admitted in a strained voice, “...that the torture had killed me in so many ways.... Sexually, too. I mean—” she rushed on in an embarrassed whisper “—I felt dead inside, Gray...until...now...with you...”
It took everything Sky had to admit it. The words, however, unlocked his harsh face. She saw his eyes suddenly go tender. And as he slid his fingers through her hair, her scalp delighting in his ministrations, Sky was glad she’d been honest with Gray.
“Our body has a mind of its own,” he agreed wryly, cupping her cheek, seeing her blue, shadowed eyes grow wide, seeing them flare with hunger for him. “It’s natural and normal, Sky. I told you earlier, you’re healing and this is proof of it.” He leaned over, sliding his mouth against her parted lips, feeling her return the heat boiling in his lower body. Her hips moved against him, a silent request, the best kind of invitation. But he needed to confirm they were on the same page with one another.
Easing his mouth from hers, their noses nearly touching, he looked deep into her eyes. There was no fear in them, no hesitation. He knew when a woman wanted him, and Sky wanted him. “Are you protected?” he rasped, sliding his hand up her arm.
She shook her head. “N-no. I saw no need...” Sky gave him a shrug.
Yeah, Gray got it in spades. “Okay, it’s all right, Sky.” He sat up and went over to the dresser and pulled out several condoms. Placing them on the bed stand, he sat back down, watching her carefully. Gray knew PTSD was a fickle bitch at best. He had no idea if her torturers had sexually assaulted her. Sky said she hadn’t been raped that she could remember, but that didn’t mean they hadn’t touched or hurt her. In a way, Gray felt as if he were in a minefield, not knowing if one of his contacts would trigger a full-blown flashback or not. “Look,” he began quietly, grazing her hair, stroking it, seeing how much she enjoyed it, “we need to take this slow for all the right reasons. You need to guide me, tell me what feels good to you. Or what doesn’t.”
She nodded. “I’m scared, too, Gray. I—I don’t know how I’ll respond.” And Sky gave him a pleading look of apology. “I want you to touch me, love me. I want to do the same for you...”
“Baby, this time around is for you. We’ll find out what works for you and what doesn’t. Let me pleasure you. Some other time, we’ll take this next step. Right now, let me love you....”
Her lashes swept downward as Gray leaned over, his lips moving from her temple, lightly down her jaw and across to her neck. He felt her vital pulse beneath his lips. Felt her hands rest upon his shoulders, light and heated. She was moaning softly, pressing her hips against his thigh, her breasts grazing his chest. He wasn’t going to last long. Gray lifted his head.
“Let’s get undressed,” he said. Because he felt like tearing the clothes off Sky’s body. His hands ached to cup her naked breasts, to look at her nipples and taste them in his mouth. Was she damp? Ready for him or not? His heart was thudding powerfully in his chest.
Nodding, Sky sat up. She watched as Gray moved lithely to his bare feet. Her mouth went dry as he pulled off his Levi’s, his erection hard and large. Her entire lower body felt a rush of fluid, heat and anticipation. In moments, he was out of his boxer shorts. She wasn’t far behind, her hands shaking, but it wasn’t from fear. It was from anticipation. As she dropped the clothes to the floor and moved to the center of the bed, she saw a feral look of a man appreciating his woman. It made Sky feel soaring hope as her body automatically responded to his heated male gaze.
Gray could barely breathe. Sky was supple, slender, her breasts small, the nipples already erect, wanting his touch. He saw no marks across her body to indicate other torture, just around her wrists and ankles. Anger warred with a need to love her, give her pleasure, not pain. Her legs were so long, her thighs curved and firm, making his fingers itchy to slide across them and find that secret spot that lay between them. If he was concerned about her being afraid of him, Gray didn’t see it in her eyes or face. Instead, he found arousal in her expression, matching his own. Still, he placed control over himself, knowing he was entering the unknown with Sky. And Gray knew she might not even be aware, her memories blocked by her brain, and until he touched her or did something a certain way with her, she wouldn’t know, either. Until it was too late for both of them.
As Gray lay down beside her, slipping his arm
beneath her neck, he laughed at himself. With any other woman, he was never concerned with anything except lust. Lust and pleasure and satisfaction for him and his partner. With Sky, her welfare was hovering before his eyes, his heart in the mix, something new for Gray.
He gazed down across her face, whispering, “You are so beautiful, Sky....” And she was. He could see the quiver of her heart between her breasts, slightly off to the left side. Tiny ripples telling him her heart rate was high, expectant and locked into their mutual heat and desire. Sliding his hand down her long torso, following the flare of her hip, Gray was struck by her soft, rounded belly. She was a woman built to carry a baby, no question. He splayed his large hand outward, easing her against the mattress, exposing that soft flesh to his lips and tongue.
He felt Sky tense, her breath a sharp inhalation. But it wasn’t a fear reaction, because she tried to twist forward, wanting more of his mouth and lips upon her. Smiling to himself, Gray lingered, moving his tongue around her belly button, hearing Sky moan, her fingers digging into his right shoulder. Her breath became shallow as he moved his lips slowly, teasingly, up the center of her body. Lost in her sweet scent as a woman, feeling the dampness grow on her warm flesh, he kissed the area between her breasts. Releasing her hip, he slid his fingers around her right breast, feeling how taut, how alive it was resting in his calloused palm. Her eyes shuttered closed, her lips parted, and he tasted the hard, pink nipple with his tongue. She went wild beneath him as he drew it into his mouth, suckling her gently, testing her response, wanting to know she felt the pleasure.
His erection pressed deeply against her firm thigh. Sky’s hands moved restlessly across his chest, her body becoming sensuous and fluid beneath his hands and mouth. The firm warmth of her against him made him groan with need. He wasn’t going to last long, as much as he wished he could. When her fingers wrapped around his hard flesh, he tensed. Lifting his head, Gray took her mouth hard, thrusting his tongue into hers. If he was worried she was a wilting violet, Gray set it all aside. Sky was a bold lover and met him fearlessly on the battleground of desire. As her fingers wrapped around his erection, his mind burned up and dissolved. Grunting, he pushed into her palm, wanting more.
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