by Tessa Bailey
The cool night air felt like perfection against her flushed skin as they entered the dark parking lot, but her relief was short-lived. Beck strode toward her car and since he had a bear grip on her hand, she had no choice but to stumble after him. “I tasted bourbon when I kissed you. Were you planning on drinking and driving?”
“No,” she drew out. “Darla was my ride and she doesn’t drink.”
“Tonight, neither did I. Cough up your keys.”
She ground to a halt. “No one drives that car but me.”
Beck spun her around, wedging her backside against the driver’s side door. The second his body touched hers, she went totally pliant, the air whooshing from her lungs. Grab me, touch me, take me. Instead of doing any of those things, Beck tilted his head as if perplexed by Kenna’s reaction. “You’re either spitting fire or turning sweet on me.” She felt his half smile down to her toes. “I’m starting to think you’re fighting the same battle I am.”
Aw, hell. That definitely wasn’t his belt buckle pressing against her stomach. No sudden movements. “What battle would that be?”
He braced his hands on the car’s roof, stretching the T-shirt across his mountain range of muscle. When her diminished willpower gave her no choice but to memorize the sight, he made a sound like, huh. Perfect. The ex-virgin had become self-aware. “The battle not to pick you up and drop you down on my hard-on. That battle.”
Heavy heat spread between her legs, assaulting her senses. “Oh, that one,” she whispered.
He dragged his body against her, side to side. “Yeah.”
“I, um…” Her neck lost power, sending her head falling back. “I thought you wanted to talk.”
“Oh, we’re getting there.” Beck trailed his open mouth over her ear, breathing into her hair. “Today hasn’t been my best, Kenna. Put your hands on me and make me forget.”
His husky plea plucked a string inside of her and it went against her nature to deny him comfort. She couldn’t withstand the draw. Not after the expression of defeat she’d seen on his face inside the bar. Her fingers moved on their own, tracing the waistband of his jeans, across the tight planes of his stomach that hollowed beneath her touch. Hungry with the need to please him, she smoothed her palms up his ridged torso, dragging her nails down over his nipples once she reached the top.
“God,” he groaned, his callused hands fisting in the hem of her skirt. “I know how to make you come now. Know you like it rough. Just let me.” He wedged his thigh between her legs. Using the hem of her skirt for leverage, Beck rocked her forward, making her moan. “This is what I see now when you walk around in these short pieces of nothing that hug your ass. I see something I can twist my hands in. Something I can lift just an inch or two and see the too-tight pussy I’m already an addict for. You’ve done this to me in two days, and I can’t go back to seeing this as just a skirt. Or think of you as a one-night stand. I can’t go back to not fucking you.”
“Yes. Okay. Yes.” She clutched his broad shoulders and bucked her hips, riding the hard length of his thigh. Her inhibitions and any semblance of rational thought pulled a Houdini, and she couldn’t care less as long as he kept touching her. Kept talking. Warning bells were pealing somewhere in the distance telling her this was the point of no return, but she didn’t heed them. Couldn’t. “Please, Beck. Let’s go somewhere.”
“Thank Christ.” He dropped his forehead onto her shoulder. “I thought you were done with me.”
Kenna’s equilibrium pitched. Apparently not done yet. Apprehension twined with the desire that still ran rampant. This undeniable need was new and terrifying, but she didn’t have the ability to deny him. He made her feel too…right. Like she was supposed to be here all along and hadn’t known.
“Keys,” he prompted, brushing the hair away from her face. “I’m driving.”
“Just this once,” she said, wondering if her words had a double meaning. Could she open herself up, just this once? He was leaving in a matter of days. Maybe that was her excuse to abandon caution. No matter what happened tonight, the inevitable would happen and he’d go away. Jesus, if he left tonight, she didn’t think getting over their time together would be so simple. Why not add one more memory before she was forced to recover?
Beck felt Kenna’s smirk as he crouched down to fit inside the car, the steering wheel digging into his chest until he moved the seat back to its farthest setting. Trying not to be obvious, he released a pent-up breath, nice and slow. He’d taken a gamble bossing her around. Truth be told, he’d half expected her to slap him across the face. Everything he’d said had been true, however. Starting with the fact that he needed her. Tonight. And after tonight.
He felt raw and ripped open after hurting Cullen, knowing it would be a long time coming before he could move forward. If words existed that would ease what Cullen was feeling, he’d go after him. But he knew from experience, Cullen had already shut the world—including him—out. Huntley would shift the focus. Tomorrow, once they’d gotten their heads together, he’d find a way to set healing in motion for Cullen.
Right now, though? Right now, he needed Kenna to suture his wounds. Seeing her in the dim, dusty bar had been enough to put him back on solid ground, but more was needed. All of her. Accomplishing that required him to play the long game, which meant making this impromptu date last longer than it would take them to have sex. Long enough to talk. Ah, Christ. If he wanted to do this right, he couldn’t even think the word sex with her in the vicinity.
Starting now.
Beside him, she crossed her legs, treating Beck to a glimpse of her smooth, inner thigh.
Okay…starting now.
Kenna arched her back on the seat, sighing as he started the car. His dick felt strangled inside his pants. If he asked, would she stroke it while he drove?
Dammit. Starting now? Right.
“Where are you going to take me?”
The way she purred the double-meaning question meant she knew all about his agony—and enjoyed it. “Somewhere public where you can’t tempt me.”
“Aw, that’s no fun.”
He threw his arm over the passenger seat, backing her car out of its spot. “We’re having a conversation, Kenna.”
“Yes, I got that.” She rubbed her cheek against his bicep. “How about this? I’ll take you somewhere private—” Her hand came up when he attempted to interrupt. “Now hear me out. I promise not to touch you until the conversation portion of the evening has been completed to your satisfaction.”
“I know when I’m being patronized.” She grinned and the distraction almost made Beck hit a parked car, but he slammed on the brakes at the last second. “How am I supposed to tell you no with a smile like that aimed at me?”
Ironically, his words made her smile waver. “Take a right turn out of the parking lot.”
Beck ignored the pang in his middle and followed her directions. If he let her reticence bother him, they’d have another scene like that morning, which would only damage his cause. Fortunately, when they reached the checkpoint leading onto base and the soldiers on patrol reacted with shock to see Kenna with him, his irritation vanished. According to Cullen, she didn’t date on base, yet here they were. One victory at a time.
They’d only been on base two minutes when she pointed through the windshield. “See the brick building up ahead? Turn in there.”
“The physical therapy center?” He slowed the car down. “It’s not open at night.”
“I know.” She sent him a sly look. “I have keys.”
Of course she did. “How’s that?”
Her voice turned solemn. “After my father’s heart attack, I brought him here for therapy sessions. He thought it made him look weak, so I brought him during off hours. Sometimes he’d just swim, which didn’t require the doctor.” She shrugged. “They forgot to take the keys back.”
Beck’s mind was busy cataloguing what she’d revealed, not just about her relationship with the lieutenant general, but simply by t
he sad way she spoke about him. So busy, a slightly more pressing detail occurred to him only after they’d parked the car in the deserted lot. “And what are we doing here?”
Kenna pushed open the passenger side door. “Don’t be a surprise ruiner, Major.”
With a fortifying breath for what he was about to face, Beck climbed out. “I hate surprises.”
She stopped short at the bumper. “Me too. Maybe we have something in common after all.” Before he could address her implication that they only had one thing in common, she sailed toward the building. “Anyway, turnabout is fair play, since you surprised me the day we met.” With a jingle of her keys, the center’s door swung open. “I’m merely returning the favor.”
“You were surprised?” Beck asked, following her into the darkened lobby. “I expected a wet-behind-the-ears new recruit to pick me up. Instead, I get you.” He couldn’t resist skimming her body with a heated look, noticing the way her nipples beaded under his regard. Stop staring or you’ll fail. “In terms of surprises, I won the day.”
“You might have me there.” She gazed up at him from beneath her eyelashes. “Considering the way it ended and all.”
The memory of Kenna on her knees, taking his cock to the back of her throat, burned him from the inside. He tightened his fists in order to avoid grabbing her. God, she knew he was struggling. Her confident stride moved her ass in a way that dried his mouth. Left to right, over and back, beneath that utterly liftable skirt. Sweet hell. He’d set himself up for disaster, hadn’t he? Their footsteps echoed on the linoleum floor of the hallway, breaking off when she paused in front of a fogged glass door. Beck didn’t allow their bodies to touch, but couldn’t resist bracing his hands on the doorframe as she worked the lock, leaning down to smell her hair.
He smiled when she nearly dropped the keys. “You got a thing for my shampoo, True Blue?”
“I’ve got a thing for just about every part of you.”
“Well, then.” She nudged open the door and flipped on the overhead light. “That bodes well for tonight’s plan.”
Beck’s gaze scanned the massive room, narrowing on the in-ground hot tub Kenna was heading toward in the corner. With a sense of impending doom, Beck kicked the door shut, flipped the lock and followed, noting the lap pool to the left, adjacent to the hot tub. Off to the right was a tiled area where doctors performed therapy sessions. Oversized leather tables where he himself had been stretched after a hamstring injury during basic training, sat in a neat row, although the facility had certainly been upgraded since he’d been there.
Nice try, thinking about the new showers and sturdier tables. Anything to distract him from Kenna toeing off her boots by the edge of the water. Or the look she was sending him over her shoulder that said help me get these pesky clothes off, big guy.
“I reckon you think this is funny,” he said, voice gone gruff. There was no choice but to close the short distance between them, his body magnetized by hers. Kenna stripped her shirt off in response, but didn’t turn, so all he could see was her bare back. Although, he would go to the grave swearing a sexier back had never existed. Not on this earth. “You enjoy testing me, is that it?”
“Yes.” She hooked her fingers in the sides of her skirt and turned, giving him a mind-blowing view of her partially naked body. “I love testing you. I love it even more when you give in.”
The skirt hit the floor and Beck heaved a breath, reeling at the speed of which his body reacted. He’d seen her without clothes, but she’d been up close. From a distance, he could take her all in at once. Words hadn’t been invented yet to describe her curves, the angles of her hips and tits. In a word, she was devastation. And she’d just declared war.
“Get in,” he croaked, crossing to the control panel on the wall.
Watching him curiously, she stepped into the warm tub and sank beneath the surface. When Beck turned on the bubbles a second later, obscuring her luscious body from his view, she nodded. “Well played.”
Darlin’, you haven’t seen anything yet. Back in the bar parking lot, she’d tipped her hand and now he knew the rampant attraction wasn’t one-sided. The girl had dropped her guard and given him a weapon. He might have been shocked to realize that weapon was him, but he wouldn’t hesitate to use it. Hyperaware of her lingering attention, Beck took hold of his T-shirt and whipped it over his head, tossing it toward her pile of clothes where they lay in a heap on the tile. He unbuckled his belt, sliding it through the loops, before going to work on his zipper. Their eyes locked, and he noted hers had turned a darker shade of green, a perfect complement to the pink traveling over her cheeks.
The hot tub’s hum failed to mask her sharp intake of breath when Beck’s jeans landed at his feet, allowing his dick to bob against his stomach.
“Okay.” Kenna fell back against the submerged wall. “Not so funny now.”
CHAPTER NINE
Kenna whispered a heartfelt goodbye as Beck’s impressive erection disappeared beneath the water’s surface. Even though Beck had made it clear he wanted them to talk, she still couldn’t believe it when he sat on the underwater bench, which happened to be a good five feet away. She was frustrated, yes. There was no denying her libido had blasted off like the space shuttle when his pants came off, but damn was she turned on by more than his physique. A man who knew how to use the head downstairs while still thinking with the one on his shoulders? Yeah. Those were limited edition. Throw in the way he looked at her, like he couldn’t wait to see what she said next? Hey. He’d sunk Kenna’s battleship.
She’d known he was capable of it, so why had she brought him here? Agreed to spend time with him? Because he’d looked so lost at Bombs Away. As if the world had shaken under his feet and he couldn’t find balance. Remembering the expression that had rooted her in place when she should have been running for the back exit, Kenna felt selfish for attempting to seduce him. Obviously he needed someone to talk to, and she couldn’t see past her own insecurities. You suck.
“What happened back at Bombs Away?” His head came up, but he stayed silent. Kenna hugged her elbows, completely out of her comfort zone in this hot tub heart-to-heart. “Something to do with that man and your sister, maybe? You looked unhappy.”
“How did you know she was my sister?”
Kenna decided not to impart the sharp sting of jealousy she’d experienced before noticing the resemblance. “You said she worked on base, she has the same shade of dirty blond hair…and you both dip your chin when someone else is talking.”
When she demonstrated the move, his lips twitched. “You’ve been watching me almost as closely as I’ve been watching you, Kenna.” His eyebrows drew together. “The three of us came to Black Rock at the same time, but there was a fourth until two months ago. Xander Gibbons. He didn’t make it home.” He stared down into the fizzing water. “They tell me there’s nothing I could have done, but I know. I could have saved a good man. Besides Huntley, he was the best of us.”
“I’m sorry.” The steam rose around them, partially obscuring him from sight. “I won’t try and convince you it wasn’t your fault, even though it wasn’t. You’re the type to shoulder the world, no matter the cause, but I’m so sorry you lost your friend.”
She could see he wanted to believe her—wanted to let her absolve him—but wasn’t quite ready. “Is this why you left with me tonight? Were you feeling bad for me?”
Why would that upset him? “That was part of it.”
Beck looked away. “The first time you came to me, you felt bad because I had no one to welcome me home. After dinner at your father’s…” His laughter was strained. “I was ready to beg for you that night, Kenna. We both knew how much pain I was in to be inside your body.”
“I don’t understand where this is going.”
He moved. Before she could blink, Beck was right in front of her, water lapping against his shoulders. Kenna’s pulse skittered in her veins as heat exploded between them. “Are you here with me because you want to
nurture me? Or because you feel better when I’m close?” He dipped his head, granting her mouth the barest of contact. “And because you want this dick.”
Kenna bit back a whimper. “I’m not a nurturer. You have the wrong girl if you think that.”
He shook his head, dragging his lips across hers. “I call it like I see it. You might have done a damn fine job hiding it, but I see right through you.”
“I’m here because I feel better when you’re close,” she blurted in a furious whisper, scared that if he continued his thought, she’d have to acknowledge the truth behind his words.
Her rushed admission drew different reactions from each of them. Beck looked relieved while Kenna knew shock coated her expression. Had she actually admitted that out loud?
“Let’s hear the rest, Kenna.”
Mist from the hot water bathed her lips and she licked it off, giving herself time to calm her out-of-control heartbeat. It didn’t work. She pressed her forehead to his shoulder. “I’m here because I want your dick.”
Beck growled, his tongue traced a path over her ear. “You’re going to get it soon enough.”
She had no time to brace herself before he sank back into the water, putting space between them once again. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
The obvious misery on Beck’s face made her feel only marginally better. “Why did I get the feeling you weren’t welcome in your father’s house?” A muscle in his cheek ticked. “I didn’t like it.”
The change of topic had her head spinning. “Wait. What?” Hadn’t they been talking about his dick seconds ago? “This is what you wanted to talk about?”
