Jameson (In the Company of Snipers Book 22)

by Irish Winters

  Made Jameson wonder where her mother was, and if she’d ever known her. His mom had always been his anchor, through girlfriends who’d turned into Dear John letters, through dozens of deployments, and ultimately, through convalescence and acceptance. His mom had been his sounding board and his best advocate. Dad, too, though his ways were more philosophical than hands-on. But that was their magic. Where Karen Tenney went to bat at the slightest hint that someone dared cheat her son out of the care he deserved, Jules tended to stay out of Jameson’s way and let him figure things out.

  “Can you tip your head down so I can reach your neck better?” Maddie asked.

  “Yes, ma’am. That far enough?” He would’ve stood on his head if she’d asked.

  “Perfect,” she answered, her breath cool on that burned flesh. Coo,l but warm at the same time. He shivered. This injury wasn’t severe, more like a bad sunburn. But the woman nursing him was fast becoming his favorite addiction.

  Spreading his knees, Jameson took possession of her hips. He angled her between his legs, which meant she had to lean over his shoulder to smooth what felt like cool Aloe Vera gel with lidocaine on the back of his neck. Ahh, instant relief. Also meant her slender body bumped every nerve between them. His already hard cock. His taut belly. His throbbing chest.

  Closing his eyes, he breathed deeply, enjoying the scintillating scents that came with Maddie, as he tucked his thumbs into the creases between her abdomen and thighs. She was a soft handful, and his nose craved the scent of her. She thought she was dirty. Not yet. He intended to scrub this luscious body clean, then get her dirty again and again. Rinse. Repeat. Devour.

  But she needed to hurry it up and stop teasing. Because every touch of her fingertips on his neck, and every soft sound coming out of her throat was turning him on. It was getting harder to hold back. He needed to imprint her and fill her in every sense of the word. He needed her to know she was his, if she’d have him. With his body, his manhood, his friggin' soul—the rest of his life.

  It’d been so long since he'd had a woman beneath him, much less one as unique and delightful as Maddie. Once he started, would he be able to stop kissing, tasting, eating her?

  Jameson wasn’t sure.

  “There,” she breathed. Her breast brushed over his shoulder as she eased back, lighting him up yet more than he already was. Did she have any idea what she was doing to him?

  Probably not.

  “Shower?” he asked, his voice gone dangerously low and hoarse, every nerve strung tight. His body hard.

  Maddie had leaned away and was looking down at him now. Holding back. Not breaking free from his hold, but not yet confident enough to admit to her feelings.

  Jameson faced her, not seeing, but believing. If it took forever, he meant to hold this position until she took over and took what she wanted from him.

  Use me, he pleaded mentally with the nervous woman between his hands. Be brave. Be fierce. I can take it. So can you.

  “I, ahh…”

  “You what, Maddie?” he asked quietly, not wanting to scare her. Men could be such pigs, but that was the last thing he wanted to be with her. She’d been used enough. Tonight was all about her.

  Her body softened then. Relaxed enough that she bowed and wrapped her arms around his head. That put his nose between her breasts. Jameson started to shake. The harder he got, the harder it was to just sit there and wait.

  “Join me?” she asked tentatively.

  “Absolutely,” he growled, lifting to his feet with her circled inside his arms.

  With two long strides, he was inside the shower stall and set her on the marble bench that ran the length of the wall opposite the generous shower head. Adeptly, he turned both spigots to get the perfect temperature. The spray ended at her bare feet. Turning toward her, he bent over and pulled his pants off. Her breath hitched, and he was afraid he’d gone too far, too fast—or something. Until she murmured, “You’re gorgeous. Are you sure you want to do this with someone like—?”

  That did it. He pulled her up off the bench and into his arms. “Take your clothes off,” he ordered with mock fierceness. “I want to do everything with you, not just with someone like you. Just you and me, babe.” His own words made him laugh. “Did I just sound like a song from the seventies?”

  “Yes,” she breathed, her voice gone sultry and needy. “Undress me. I want you to do it this f-first time.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” he growled as he made quick work of her pants zipper and her shirt. The lusty new perfume mingling with the steamy shower spray sent a riot of need up his spine. He peeled her out of her pants and shirt, but saved the panties for later, when he hoped he’d have more control.

  By then, her hands were carefully exploring the muscles on his shoulders and back. But the soft, pert globes in his hands were gifts from heaven. They deserved exquisite care, to be tasted and tempted into diamond hard peaks, until she arched her sex into him and offered her all.

  Kneeling at the feet of his goddess, Jameson took his time, breathing in the pheromone laden steam as he thumbed her nipples into hard tips. She writhed at his touch, rubbing one knee into the other. He knew what she needed. Breathing hard, he covered one lush breast with his mouth, then suckled, drawing her nipple in deep, making her tremble.

  “Jameson,” she hissed, her spine stiffened now. Beginning to bow. He didn’t need to see to know she was close to exploding. And how sweet was that? With just his mouth, he’d brought her to the edge.

  But not yet. Still nursing at her breast, he slid one hand down her belly and beneath her panties to the warm, slick heart of her. One finger. Then two. And he’d found paradise. Her panties fell to her feet.

  She hissed, “Jameson… m-more.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” he mumbled around her breast, going all out and all in. The fierce urgency in her tone nearly did him in, but he knew what to do. Curling his fingers, he pleasured that secret spot she probably didn’t know she had.

  Her fingernails dug into his shoulders. “I’m… I’m…”

  “Then come,” he breathed into the sweet, soft valley between her breasts. “Come for me, babe. I won’t let you fall. Trust me. I’ll never let you go. I’m here with you all the way.”

  With one last gasp, she flew, her head flung back and her body wound as tight as a spring. Up on her toes, she arched backward as her most intimate muscles squeezed the fuck out of his fingers.

  Sweet Baby Jesus, he nearly came with her, and he wasn’t even inside of her body yet. Not like he wanted to be, not if he would’ve found even one damned condom in this allegedly, totally equipped safehouse. Guess that was part of what made it safe, damn that conniving bastard Alex Stewart.

  “Good grief,” Maddie purred breathlessly as both of her feet settled back to earth.

  Jameson detached his lips from her breast then, and turned his face up to her, blinking into the shower spray. “You okay?”

  “You… you didn’t,” she breathed down on him.

  He shook his head. “Tonight is about you, Maddie, not me.” If only he could get his cock to stand down. The damned rowdy thing was making him a liar the way it jutted straight out, poking her for attention. There was no way to hide what his body wanted. She had eyes. She could see.

  He lifted to his feet, blocking the view, but making everything worse. Now his randy cock was doing its usual happy dance all over her belly, ready to hump her like the horn dog that it—he—was. Err, that he could be. Like now, with this lush, ripe woman in his hands, pressed against his naked body.

  “I’m safe,” she whispered. “We can, you know. Do it again if you still want to.”

  “Still want to? Oh, hell yes, I want to do it with you all night.” His head, his other head, canted nearly onto his shoulder. He should’ve asked before. “Does that mean you’re on birth control?” Please say yes.

  “There was no way I was going to have a baby with my ex. He’s a pig.”

  And
I’m a pig, too, but thank God! “Of course, I still want to, but are you positive this is what you want?” Jameson asked, needing her to be sure.

  Her nose touched the tip of his as her breath whispered into his lips. “I want to do everything with you. Please don’t stop now.”

  No way could he stop the Tenney train roaring up the tracks of his spine. But he had to slow it down, because tonight truly was all about Maddie. She deserved a faithful, loyal lover. He wanted that gentle man to be him, tonight and every night hereafter.

  The fire dancing between them created a magic bubble where time slowed. Maybe even stopped. He had his hands all over her luscious ass and down the backs of her thighs as he lifted her off her feet and backed her into the corner of the stall, under the warm spray.

  She seemed just as eager to get at him, and he let her. With her mouth, her fingers. Her body… God. It was happening... Her body clamped around him as she chased another release. The slow burn at the base of his spine turned into a raging bull at the sensation of her orgasm. A volcano that curled into… her.

  He breached her soft, warm folds just as his hellbent body erupted. Into her. Into the whole damned universe. He was Adam, and she was Eve, and this was the beginning of a new kind of life without end. With Maddie. Only Maddie. He knew it then. This wasn’t the last time. It was just the first of many more comings to come. He’d just met her, but he loved her.

  Jameson bowed his forehead into her neck, panting as hard as the steam from a freight train, his legs shaking, but damned if he was ready to let her go. Not now. Never.

  His dad had always told him that he’d know when he met the right woman. That all the others were just question marks in his book of life. That the real woman would be an exclamation point. And here she was, the exclamation point that felt more like a match that had been lit, bringing him life and light and love. Yet he didn’t dare say the profound L word. There’d be plenty of time for that later. Because there would be hundreds and hundreds of laters. She was his, and, judging by the way she had just taken him into her body, he was hers.

  Unmanly tears filled his eyes, and Jameson needed, wanted her to see the real him. Easing away from her neck, he faced her and told her, “I don’t usually do this, but I’m crying, babe. I’m crying like a little kid in the best candy store ever.”

  Her breath hitched like he knew it would. “Oh, no. Did I hurt you?”

  He had to smile at how she always assumed fault. “No, but you get me, and this is the first time any woman has ever seen me for who I am. I’m sightless, yet here you are, loving me.” He hadn’t meant for that word to pop out like it had.

  But Maddie didn’t deny it. Instead, she cupped his jaw and ran a thumb under his eyes. “I’m crying too. You’ve made me happy. It’s almost like you really care about me.”

  “I do.” He tilted his neck and his face down to where they were still connected. “I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t care one helluva lot about you.”

  “I think I…” She stalled.

  “Say it, babe. It’s me, remember? You can tell me anything.”

  Like the warrior she truly was beneath that timid shell, she squeezed him with all those wonderful feminine muscles, sending the last of his brainpower into the netherworld below his waist.

  “I think I love you, Jameson Tenney,” she said with sultry, sexy conviction. “I know it’s too early, and we just met and, you probably have lots of girlfriends, but I—”

  “Only one. You. Shut up and kiss me,” he ordered around her silly, flapping lips. With every last beat of his heart, he delved into her warm, wet mouth, licking her into a silence that turned to moaning and groaning, until he took hold of the situation. They came together that time, both soaring with a hiss and a growl, then falling back to earth like the brightest, best Fourth of July fireworks ever.

  Utterly spent and completely boneless, he took her down to the tiled shower floor with him while the water rained down over them. There was nothing more to hide, but there was something to say.

  “I wish I were brave like you,” he told her honestly.

  That earned him an unladylike snort. “Me? I’m not brave.”

  “Yeah, you are. You had the balls to tell me you loved me. I wanted to, but I didn’t want to scare you, so I didn’t say it. But I’m telling you now. I love you, Maddie Bannister. Think I fell for you the second you charged through Mark’s door and straight into my arms.”

  “That was just yesterday morning,” she breathed, sitting on his lap, their legs spread straight in front of them, her toes pointing North, his pointing East.

  He pulled her naked self against him, content to sit there and hold her until the warm water ran out. It was his turn to be brave, and maybe a little foolish. “Marry me.”

  She twisted on his lap. “Really?” Surprise and a hint of shock ruled her voice. “You want…? Are you sure you want…?”

  “You,” he breathed. “Yes, I’m sure. Never been more sure. I’m a SEAL, Maddie. I know what I want, and I go after what I want, and I want you. Not just for tonight or next week or the rest of the year. I want all of you. For the rest of my life.”

  He could tell she was shaking her head and looking down at herself, maybe wringing her hands. “Too soon?” he asked.

  “No, just…” And now she was rubbing her face and slicking back her hair. The direction of her body had changed. She’d curled her long legs to the side. She was that scared little girl again, going back into her shell.

  He backed off. “No worries. How about we date for as long as you want, then? We could actually take time to get to know each other. You could ask me questions. I’ll tell you about Mom and Dad. You tell me whatever you want.”

  “It’s just that… I’ve only been divorced seven months, two days, and thirteen hours.”

  “Wow, that long.”

  “Stop laughing at me.”

  “I’m not laughing at you, babe.” Yet he was. Laughing inside. Enjoying the easy comradery he’d found with this woman. Today had to be the best day of his life.

  She leaned into him with a sigh. “We just washed that burn gel off. Guess we’ll have to do that again.”

  There, see? She did it again. Made him smile. Turned him down, yet still made him the happiest guy on earth.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Alex stopped short, not believing what he’d just seen. Kelsey was home, on her feet, and waiting on Mel when she should’ve been in bed, resting. What the hell was Mel doing here, at his kitchen table? Had that bastard just slapped Kelsey’s ass?

  “I’m home,” Alex declared, shutting the garage door behind him more forcefully than he’d intended. “Why aren’t you still in the hospital?” he asked his wife.

  “I hate hospitals, you know that. Besides, Libby will be right back. She’s spending the night, but her girls wanted to help too, so she ran to get them. I’ll be fine. You’ll see.”

  “Daddy!” Lexie squealed, her feet pounding a path straight into his open arms. “I got a grandpa, and he’s right here!”

  Well, isn’t that just dandy…

  Biting his tongue, Alex dropped to one knee and caught his fairy princess up in his arms. The scent of her baby shampoo was like crack. He took a deep breath of the luscious life and love and laughter that always surrounded his baby girl. There truly was nothing better for a tired old man to come home to than his family.

  It was mid-morning. He’d stopped by the hospital to visit Kelsey, which was why he’d hurried home when he’d discovered she’d checked herself out. Kelsey shouldn’t be on her feet so soon after a C-section, and she sure as hell shouldn’t be waiting on Mel. Damn it. Alex had also missed another milestone in Lexie’s life, the moment she’d met her new baby brother. No doubt Mel had the privilege of seeing what only Alex should’ve been privy to. He was dying to know how Lexie had reacted, and what she’d said, but he wasn’t about to ask Kelsey. Not now. Not in front of—him.

 
But he’d also stopped to speak with Agent Morozov prior to his emergency surgery, about his dealings with Shade, damn it. Because of that urgent side trip, he now knew Shade had orchestrated Pops Delany’s death.

  Kelsey looked over her shoulder from the coffee maker, her exhaustion written loud and clear all over her pretty face. “Your father was waiting at the security gate when Libby drove up. Isn’t that nice? He’s tired, Alex.”

  Like I give a shit… There wasn’t much Alex could say out loud that wouldn’t frighten his daughter or discourage his wife, so he reined in the thunder rankling in his gut that seeing Mel sitting with his wife and child caused.

  Crossing into the kitchen, he put one arm around his weary wife’s shoulders and pressed a kiss to her temple. “Where’s Bradley?” he asked. Then winced at how curt he sounded despite his best intentions.

  Kelsey’s brown eyes were wide with concern. “He’s in our room. Don’t worry, sweetheart. I’ve got the baby monitor right there on the table. I’ll hear him if he makes a peep.”

  “That’s not what I’m worried about. You know that.”

  “Um, your father and I were just sitting down for a cup of coffee. Would you like to join us?”

  She already knew the answer, yet there was pleading in her tone, as if he’d interrupted something. Or maybe she just wanted him to sit down and be civil to the bastard who’d walked out on Abigail so long ago and who would do it again, this time to Kelsey and the little girl who thought he was her grandpa. Like hell. Alex wasn’t about to let Mel hurt this family, too.

  “No thanks,” was the best he could offer. Mel had no business being here, acting like he belonged inside the Stewart family that Alex had built. He didn’t. Never would. End of that fucked-up story.