by Haven, Leila
He wasn’t my normal type, but if he could do that with his cock, he had changed my mind forever. I couldn’t go back to the men I had been dating before. I need all this rugged manliness; otherwise I was going to be disappointed.
Derrick rolled to the side and pulled me against him, his cock still inside me. Our heavy breaths were still making our lungs heave as we fought to gather ourselves together. It didn’t matter how long it took, we still had all night. As long as nobody came looking for us here, we might just make it to see another sunrise.
My leg hooked around him, holding us together still. Our bodies molded together easily, warm and sweat-kissed in the still night air.
Under any other circumstances it would have been beautiful in our desert oasis. But lingering in the back of my mind was still the reason why we were here. I couldn’t stop listening out for any sounds that could mean imminent danger, and I was certain Derrick’s senses were more acutely attuned than mine.
I snuggled into the crook of his shoulder as his arms wrapped around me. Even with all the threats of war lingering just outside the crumbled walls I felt safe there within his grasp.
Derrick wouldn’t let anything hurt me. I trusted him to care for me; I placed my life in the palm of his hands. He wouldn’t do anything to put me at risk. How I could be so certain of that when I had only met him a few days earlier was beyond my comprehension. Maybe I was just being foolish in my postcoital glow.
He started stroking my hair absentmindedly, and my eyelids started to get droopy with a need for sleep. It had been a long day. As much as I wanted to savor it for as long as possible, sleep beckoned.
My eyes closed involuntarily as I fell asleep in my beautiful lover’s arms.
Chapter 8
Derrick
҉ ҉ ҉ ҉ ҉ ҉
The only light to illuminate her face came from the moon. It was perched so high in the inky-black sky that it was like it was trying to run away.
I knew how it felt.
If I could have created a door that could transport us back to civilization I would have done it. But I didn’t believe in fucking magic. Reality was hard enough to slap you in the face and that was the only thing I believed in.
Ariana looked like a fucking angel even in that faraway moonlight. Her eyelids fluttered as she dreamed about something. I hoped it was something good and none of the shit that was going on at the moment. She didn’t deserve to be caught up in the war. What had she been thinking coming to Afghanistan in the first place? She should never have stepped on board that plane, never have left her comfortable life back home.
Still, it was that part of her that made my dick hard when I thought about it. Ariana was a fighter. She wasn’t like the women I’d picked up in bars at closing time. She was feisty, she wasn’t afraid of things, she took on challenges that most people – both men and women – would have run from.
My cock approved.
Even when she was asleep, she turned me on. I wanted to wake her up and fuck her hard. My cock was never going to tire of being inside her. Even when it got soft and slipped out of her tight cunt, given a few minutes and one glance at that shadowed face, I was ready to roll again.
She was going to be the death of me. I’d never fallen this hard or fast for a chick before, and I didn’t know what I was supposed to do. I couldn’t get attached to her. Not when we were in the middle of a war zone and it was my responsibility to get her out of there alive.
Fucking her was stupid. You didn’t fuck the target; you didn’t get involved with the one you were supposed to be protecting. The target of a mission was sacred, and getting involved made things complicated and messy, which led to mistakes.
I knew better. I’d made the mistake before, and I’d seen better men than me fall because of lesser errors. I was on a course for failure and now it was up to me to make sure it didn’t happen again.
We would have tonight together but that was all. Tomorrow it would be back to business. She would have to understand. If not, she could hate me for it. She would thank me later when I returned her home alive and in one piece.
I closed my eyes and tried to get some sleep, one ear open the entire night. The enemy were everywhere at all times.
* * *
The heat of the desert woke me up. It was only five a.m. but already late in terms of getting moving. The locals would already be up, rising with the sun to get their work done before it grew too hot.
We needed to get moving. The plan was to steal a car if I could find one. The boys in my troop would be thinking the same thing. Our best chance now was to make our way back to the nearest base independently. If we managed to find each other along the way then it would be an added bonus.
If we couldn’t find a car, then we would be walking and trying to stay out of sight. Ariana was going to hate me today and it wasn’t something I was going to enjoy. I wanted her to wake up and get it over with.
She was still naked as she lay on the couch, scrunched up into a tight ball despite the heat. Her ass was a work of art, screaming out to be spanked until it was pink. It was definitely going to be difficult keeping my hands off her from here on out.
I dressed and she continued to sleep, nothing at all seeming to make her stir awake. There was nothing more I could do, I was going to have to wake her up. I slapped her on the bottom, making her jump.
She shot up into a sitting position, automatically covering her tits with her arm. “What the hell?”
“It’s time to go. Get dressed.”
“You couldn’t have just shaken me?” Even with messy hair and with sleep in the corner of her eyes, she was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. My dick was ready to fuck her at a moment’s notice.
“Where would the fun be in that?” I asked with a grin. “You need to hurry. It’s late and we’re already behind. We need to go.”
She started to gather all her clothes and put them on. It was a shame, really. Ariana looked a lot better naked than she did clothed. “Are you always this delightful in the morning?”
“Do I need to remind you where we are and what’s at stake?” I felt like a dick talking to her like I was, but it had to be done. I wasn’t her Romeo and this wasn’t a fairy tale. We were in fucking Afghanistan and we had to remember that. Everyone here wanted to kill us and they wouldn’t hesitate to go through with it. We couldn’t afford to have stars in our eyes.
Not even for a moment. Because it was that moment that got you killed.
Ariana shot me the look that I had been expecting, the one that had an equal mix of loathing, hurt, and confusion in it. She finished getting dressed in silence and stood when ready. “Let’s go, then.”
We crept out of the house as I surveyed the area. It seemed clear, but I knew better than to take things at their face value.
Carefully, we continued on along the road, staying just off the main track and hiding whenever a car came along.
An empty house provided some food and a change of clothes. The outfit we pilfered was traditional garb so we could fit in. My linen pants were loose and too short while Arian’s long dress was tight enough that I could still see her curves. The scarf around her head framed her gorgeous face but couldn’t cover the sexy glint in her eyes. As long as nobody looked too closely, we could fit in as locals from a distance. Unfortunately, there was nothing we could do to disguise our Western faces. I didn’t like leaving my uniform behind, but there was nothing I could do about it. My superiors would understand.
Being in better clothes helped our journey go smoother. We didn’t have to hide so much when we entered villages, so we could often buy food instead of having to steal it, and we could freely walk around and search for US soldiers. As long as nobody looked too closely at our faces we could get away with it.
All the small villages we passed through had no military presence. The discreet questions I’d asked had come up empty, with nobody able to tell me anything about any soldiers in the area. We had no choice except to keep
going.
Ariana tried to talk about our passionate night together only a few times over the following week. Every time she did I told her it was a onetime deal, just a way to pass the time in the desert where there was no television reception.
She hated my guts.
It killed me every time I had to hurt her that way, but it was best all around. When I finally got us back to base and placed her on a plane headed back to the US, it would make things easier. She would have no hesitation about saying goodbye to me and wouldn’t think twice about me again.
She could tell all her friends about the bastard soldier who’d fucked her in the desert and then ignored her for a week. They could cluck their tongues and agree with her about the way all men are the same and deserve to die a slow death.
It was much better this way.
Better to be angry with me than dead.
Even my dick had to agree with that logic. Despite the fact that every time I caught a glimpse of the way her tits strained against the linen fabric of her dress or the way she chewed on her bottom lip when she was angry, my cock throbbed with hunger. There were so many dirty thoughts going through my head, it would take a full bar of soap just to make them clean again.
Finally, after walking seemingly hundreds of miles and taking a bus crowded with people for endless hours, we entered the town of Jorm. I knew we would be able to find US soldiers there.
Unfortunately, the city was also overrun with rebels. We had to avoid them and get to a safe area or we would be toast. And I hadn’t brought Ariana all this way just to get her killed at the finish line.
We climbed off the bus at the station, all exiting the vehicle in a mass wave. There had to be a hundred people riding on a bus built to move only fifty at a time. I held on tight to Ariana’s hand, determined not to lose her in the crush.
The town of Jorm was full of buildings no more than a couple of stories high. The streets were covered with the same dusty red sand of the desert, blown in with the roaring winds that picked up every afternoon and blew throughout the night.
Women in the traditional burqas and brightly colored dresses bustled through the streets while men lingered for longer in groups, watching everyone and everything. They were as eagle-eyed as the soldiers, always wary and curious about what was going on in their territory.
There were no allies anywhere to be seen. If there was a military presence here, it wasn’t in this area. I couldn’t see any of the Taliban either, which didn’t mean they weren’t around. It may have looked like an ordinary Afghan town, but I knew better than to let my guard down.
“We should find a place to stay for the night,” I said quietly in Ariana’s ear. My grip had moved to her arm as I held her close. “We have to pretend to be married. Think you can do that?” she nodded as I pushed her along.
It may have looked like I was manhandling her if I was on US soil, but here it was normal. I wasn’t hurting her, I would never do that, but I was making sure it was known that she was my property.
We’d been roughing it for the last week, sleeping wherever we could in back alleys and quiet corners of the towns. We both looked like we had slept in dirt and that was going to start bringing us more attention than we needed. A shower and a proper night’s sleep was overdue.
We walked until I found a small hotel I could afford. As a general rule I didn’t carry much cash on me when I was on duty. It wasn’t really needed. Credit cards weren’t exactly in abundance over here so it didn’t leave many options in the luxury department. If I didn’t get back to base soon we were going to have to beg for our supper.
“A room for you and your wife?” the man at the desk asked. He had beady eyes, and he kept looking at Ariana with a grin I didn’t like. Another few minutes and I was going to knock him out.
“Yes, for me and my wife,” I replied through gritted teeth. At least he spoke English; that was about his only redeeming quality.
“She is very pretty.”
“Yes, she is. The room, please.”
He eyed me, pursing his lips and raising his chin in the air. I got the feeling the dislike was mutual. He took back the door key, twisting it between his fingers.
Ariana shifted between us. “We’re kind of in a hurry. You see, we came a long way and I’m very tired. My husband here is trying to make sure I have plenty of rest. I’m expecting our first child,” she said, not missing a beat. She even managed to bat her eyelids at both me and the hotel guy. “May we have the key so I can rest?”
The guy smiled at her, an actual, genuine smile. “Of course, madam. Here it is. The room is just down the hall. Get some sleep.”
“Thank you so much.” She took the key and started walking. All I could do was follow.
We didn’t speak again until we were inside the room, then I could breathe a sigh of relief – even if the room was no bigger than the double bed inside. “I’m not sure if I should be impressed or scared with the way you can lie so easily.”
“Be both,” she replied. “At least I saved the room that you were about to lose.”
“I wasn’t going to lose it.”
“Yes, you were.”
“No, I wasn’t.”
She stood with her hands on her hips, looking sexy as hell. The bed was next to her, so close I could have thrown her on it and had her naked in seconds. It was way too tempting not to notice.
My dick noticed too.
“What’s your problem?” she asked.
I sat on the edge of the bed and took off my boots so I didn’t have to look at her. “I don’t have a problem. What’s yours?”
“You’re my problem.”
“I’m the one trying to save your life,” I pointed out.
“You really think that, don’t you? Has anyone told you you’ve got a God complex before?”
“I don’t have a God complex. It’s my job to get you home.”
“Was sleeping with me part of that mission?”
I reluctantly dragged my gaze up to meet hers and instantly wished I hadn’t. Her eyes were full of hurt and accusations. She was mad, but disappointed too.
It was better this way. I just had to keep reminding myself of that.
“I didn’t hear you complaining,” I replied. “In fact, I only heard you encouraging me, so I don’t know what you’re whining about now.”
“Are you serious?”
“What? Are you expecting an apology or something? You want me to say sorry for fucking you? It takes two to tango, babe. You could have said no at any time.”
She threw up her hands and stormed into the bathroom, making sure to slam the door after her. It was done with such force that it made all the walls shake. The guy at the reception desk probably felt it.
Ariana was definitely mad at me. Her goodbye was definitely going to be an easy one. On her part, anyway. I got the feeling I was going to miss her more than I would admit to anyone.
She was sexy when she was mad, which made it all that much more torturous trying to keep up the ruse. We had to pretend to be a couple to get around the city; otherwise people were going to question our propriety in being together. But it was going to be difficult. My dick was already finding it hard, and it had only been less than half an hour.
When Ariana finished up in the bathroom, she returned wearing nothing but a towel. A fog of steam followed her out, making it look as though she was emerging from a daydream.
“You’re an asshole, you know that?” she said as she plunked on the bed.
“Fully aware,” I replied, purposefully keeping my gaze out the window. If I took one more look at her in nothing but a towel, knowing what luscious curves were underneath, I was going to lose my self-control.
I had to keep my hands off her. Fucking her once was a mistake. If it happened again, I deserved all the punishment that would surely head my way.
My dick was starting to come alive knowing she was so close and naked. It needed a lot more action than just one night for it to be satisfied.
>
I hurried to the bathroom and closed the door. Leaning against it, I took a few deep breaths to calm my raging boner.
Getting back to base and handing Ariana over couldn’t come soon enough.
Chapter 9
Ariana
҉ ҉ ҉ ҉ ҉ ҉
I hated him.
He had no right to use me for his pleasure and then decide it meant nothing. When we were lying together after having sex, I’d thought there was something more between us.
