“Got a friend in town. He wants to meet tonight.”
“He’s here?” Elena asked.
“You know Chet? Remember, you met him at the wedding?”
“Wedding?” JT asked.
Elena smiled. “Madison and Dante.”
“Holy shit. They got married?”
She nodded, and it was easy to see her happiness for her friend and twin. “Just a couple of weeks ago. They just returned from their honeymoon. I forget how much you miss while you’re gone like that.”
He shook his head. “Damn, Little Dante Santini is married.”
“This Chet guy is going to go out with you?” Elena asked her brother.
“Don’t you remember him? You danced with him.”
Elena shook her head and all of a sudden, JT wanted to tear off Chet’s arms and beat him over the head with them.
“He’s picking you up?” she asked.
Brando nodded.
“Your plan is to get dinner from me, then go party with your friend?” Elena asked.
JT couldn’t figure out if she was mad or not about it. Brando just laughed.
“You’re sick of me anyway. And this way, Chet and I can drive in his rental to the airport.” He looked at JT. “You can come with, if you want to.”
He shook his head. “I need to get some sleep before I party. I haven’t had much in the last week.”
Brando clapped him on the shoulder. “You and Anthony are getting to be old men.”
“Dinner’s ready,” Elena said.
He was ready for this, ready to get Brando out of the apartment, so he and Elena could be alone.
Then, maybe, they could figure out where the hell they went from here.
CHAPTER SEVEN
As soon as the door shut, JT made his way to the kitchen. His fingers were itching to touch her. Hell, his body was humming with the need to feel. Elena was bent over, as she stored the leftovers in the fridge. She straightened just as he came around the corner. JT didn’t stop his forward progress until her reached her. He slipped his arm around her waist and yanked her against him. Without hesitation, JT slammed his mouth down on hers. She responded immediately, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him back. He ran the tip of his tongue along the seam of her mouth. She opened her mouth, allowing him to slip his tongue inside.
The craving that had been shimmering in his blood from the moment he saw her exploded. It twisted through him, leaving him slightly lightheaded. He could no longer hold back the emotions. He backed her against the counter and lifted her up on it. He needed to touch, to taste.
With hurried movements, he grabbed the bottom of her t-shirt. He pulled back and tugged it over her head, tossing it on the floor behind him. Damn, she wasn’t wearing a bra.
He thanked the lord and bent his head to taste. Usually, he would use more finesse, but he couldn’t. It had been months since he had seen her, and he needed her. He knew he would never be able to explain it to anyone, even himself. Something had been missing from his life while he had been away, and it was Elena.
She tugged at his shirt, and he pulled back to let her take it off him. She tossed it behind him and cupped his face in both hands. She kissed him, keeping her eyes opened as she nipped at his lips. He watched as her eyes closed, and she slipped her tongue into his mouth. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the sleek taste of her, and the way her tongue tangled with his.
He was shaking he needed her so badly. He pulled back long enough to help her discard her jeans and panties. She was already clawing at the button and zipper on his jeans, as he tried to get his wallet out of his back pocket. He almost dropped it when she wrapped her hand around his erection. Bending his head back, he closed his eyes and enjoyed the feel of her fingers as they danced over his sensitive flesh. Soon, though, he was close to losing it.
He batted her hands away and she giggled, the sound danced through him. He paused for the merest of moments and looked at her. He had said he loved her laugh before, but he didn’t know just what that meant until this last assignment. He had thought of it during those long, cold, lonely nights. He had dreamed of her laugh for months. Hearing it in person loosened something in his chest and made his soul happy.
But he would enjoy it more later. Right now, he needed to be inside of her. He slipped the condom on. Entering her in one fast, hard thrust. They both groaned. He pulled her to the edge of the counter, thrusting over and over into her. He changed his position, deepening his strokes. He wanted to come right there and then, but he wanted her with him. He slipped his hand between the two of them and pressed her clit. That was all it took. Her inner muscles rippled over his cock, then her entire body convulsed against him. She screamed his name as she came. He thrust into her once more and gave in to his own release.
* * * *
Somehow they made it to her bedroom. Now, long moments later, with the sound of rain tapping against the windows, they cuddled on the bed, and Elena couldn’t seem to stop touching him to assure herself JT really was back. She settled her head against JT’s chest and sighed. Just having him there, safe and sound did the trick for her.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
She lifted her head and looked at him. Even in the dim light, she could still see the dark circles beneath his eyes. That, along with the weight loss, worried her. But now that he was back, she really didn’t care about anything else.
“Nothing, just tired. And now I don’t feel like going into work tomorrow.”
“You could call in sick.”
She smiled. “You know better. I get to fly tomorrow.”
He rolled his eyes. Pilots in the military were well known for their single-mindedness when it came to the job. A day in the air was always better than a day on the ground. She definitely believed that. Of course, now that JT was back, it was hard to decide which would be better. A day in bed with him sounded divine.
“Besides, I’m taking Tuesday through Thursday off.”
“Any reason?”
“Nope. I always have use-or-lose leave at the end of the year, so I learned to take a few days off here and there. Maybe it was just intuition.”
“Maybe you wanted a few days to yourself when Brando left.”
It was her turn to roll her eyes. “That was getting annoying.”
“How long was he here?”
“Just a little over a week, but man, I was sick of him. Sick of all of them.”
He frowned. “What’s that mean?”
“Mom was worried about me. Seems I lost a little weight and have been preoccupied.”
“I was going to mention that.”
She groaned and fell back on the pillows. “Not you too. I am getting sick of people mentioning it.” It was true she had lost weight, but it wasn’t as if she was wasting away. “And you can’t talk. I’ve dropped five pounds. You look like you’ve lost twenty.”
He didn’t say anything and she looked at him. Something passed over his expression that told her the mission had been bad. “Yeah, well, if I keep eating like tonight, I won’t have a problem putting the weight back on.”
“You can’t talk about it?”
He shook his head. “Not yet.”
“I have top secret clearance.”
“And it’s different because you’re active duty. Truth is, I am not sure I will ever be able to talk about it much. Just being debriefed made me sick.”
The weary tone of his voice hurt her. JT had always loved his job, so she hated that tone. “It was that bad?”
“Yeah. Worse than we’d thought. But, we got the guy in charge, so everything should be taken care of. It’s just I can’t understand why people have to go that way. Why sell out your fellow Marine to make a buck?”
JT was questioning more than what he had been though on the mission. He was thinking about his father.
An alcoholic and an abuser, his father was the epitome of horrible. They all knew the story and knew that until JT had stood up to his father, no one
ever knew what was going on in his household. Harold Thomas had a chest full of medals, numerous high profile jobs, and he was the scum of the Earth. She knew that was one of the reasons JT had decided to get out of the military and work for NCIS.
“Why does anyone? Some people have no morals. It’s like they’re missing the quotient to have empathy. They are in every walk of life.”
But, JT was not one of them. She knew he worried about his background. He never really drank to excess, and he always kept his temper at a good level.
She set her head on his chest again, and he held her tighter. “Let’s talk about normal things.”
“Okay.”
“Tell me what went on while I was gone?”
Elena smiled. She settled her head against his chest again. With the darkness of the night settled around them, she told him of the events from the last few months. She covered the romance between her best friend and her twin brother, the events that almost led to both of them being killed and their wedding.
“Lord, I feel like I’ve been gone for years.”
She sighed. She was so happy to have him back; she couldn’t hide how she felt. “It felt like you were gone for years.”
He chuckled. The sound of it vibrated against her ear. “I can’t believe Dante is married.”
“I know. It’s hard to deal with sometimes. But then, he’s so damned happy, and he makes Madison happy. You should see them together. I don’t think I have ever seen Madison smile so much. And Dante, forget about it. That man is head over heels in love with her. They are so freaking cute together.”
He cleared his throat. “About this weight loss of yours…”
“Yeah?” she asked, but she rolled her eyes since he couldn’t see her.
“I want you to be healthy.”
She lifted her head and narrowed her eyes. “Right back at you mister.”
He wasn’t what most people would term skinny. He’d lost weight but had gained muscle mass. He was now leaner, which accentuated his abs and his arms. But, she didn’t like what his job did to him sometimes. She had seen it in her brother Anthony. He would lose weight, but he also had other outlets. Women and cussing were her oldest brother’s outlets. JT was wound very tight.
“Don’t worry. I said if you keep feeding me, I’ll be fine.”
Elena snorted. “Dream on. I am not going to cook for you all the time.”
He pulled her over on top of him. “I could pay you for it.”
“Is that a fact?” she asked, as little bursts of electric current slid through her blood.
He pursed his lips as if in deep thought. She had to bite her lip to keep from smiling. The man was adorable when he teased. She would have never in her life thought he was flirting. No man had ever made her forget the entire world by just looking at her. But he did. When he gave her that smile, an atomic bomb could go off outside of her apartment, and she probably wouldn’t notice. “I have the impression that I’m pretty good in bed.”
“Hmm.” She said nothing else.
He frowned at her and she laughed.
His frown dissolved, and he stared at her much like he had when he’d shown up at her apartment.
“What?”
He shook his head. “I love hearing you laugh.”
He had said it before in the same tone. Then he said nothing else. It was unnerving what he could do to her by just looking at her. Right now, her body was flushed with excitement and her pulse was hammering in her neck. It had nothing to do with laying naked in bed with him. She knew if they were across the room from each other and JT looked at her like that, she would feel it to the tips of her toes.
“Okay, stop that.”
“Stop what?”
“Stop staring at me like that. I can’t take it.”
He raised one hand and cupped her jaw with it.
“I can’t help it. For months now I’ve been remembering every curve, every edge to your body. There were times when I thought I could smell you in bed next to me. And every now and then, I was convinced I could hear your laugh. It kept me going, Elena. Just the thought of you here, safe, knowing that someday I would see you again. There were moments I was ready to lose it, and you are the one who brought me back from the edge.”
She blinked as her vision wavered.
“Don’t do that,” he said.
She made a sound that could only be termed as rude. “Well, don’t say things like that to me.”
“No, I meant don’t try to hide your emotions from me. I know that you think of yourself as one of the boys, but you don’t have to be strong all the time with me. I don’t think less of you when you show you’re vulnerable.”
She leaned down to kiss him. “Thank you.”
“What for?”
“For wanting me just the way I am.”
He chuckled as he rolled them over and reversed their positions. He was already hard against her sex.
“I would never try and tell you to change.”
Then he started kissing his way down her body. He settled between her legs, placing a hand on each thigh and spread her legs further apart. She felt his breath the moment before his mouth touched her. He slipped his tongue inside of her. She could barely remember her name when he started to kiss his way back up her body.
He rested his weight on his hands then leaned down and kissed her. She could taste herself there; he pulled away to grab a condom. With quick movements, he had it on and was easing his way into her. She lifted her legs and wrapped them around his hips as he continued to thrust inside her. Soon, she was right there with him again, her body ready for another orgasm. He thrust into her so hard, the headboard slammed against the wall. Suddenly, in one blinding second she was falling, splintering apart into a milling pieces as her release crashed over her. Just a moment later, JT shouted her name as he joined her in pleasure.
CHAPTER EIGHT
The next morning, Elena woke before her alarm went off. Carefully, she reached over and shut the alarm off before it could go off and wake JT. He needed his sleep, and they hadn’t gotten much during the night, she thought with a smile.
It was hard to force herself away from JT. It was so toasty and warm laying beside him. For just a second or two, she thought about calling in sick. Of course, the thought didn’t last that long. She had a duty and well, it was a flying day.
She slipped out of bed and headed to the shower. She had a few extra minutes this morning, but she still needed to be at work. Before she stepped into the bathroom, she looked back over her shoulder. She couldn’t fight the smile that curved her lips. Seeing him there in her bed made her so damned happy. She wanted to say to hell with work and stay home, but she had to go. They had a training mission her new commander insisted on and besides, a Santini never shirked their duty.
After she shut the door as quietly as possible, she started the shower. The bathroom water took forever to heat up. It was one of the few things she hated about her apartment. It wasn’t far from some good beaches, and it was close enough to work that she didn’t have to worry about a long commute.
As she waited for the water to heat up, she thought about what JT had said the night before. It sounded as if he was planning on sticking around. She had hoped for that, but she really didn’t know how he would act when he returned. Guys often said things they regretted later. Hell, not just guys. Both sexes did things like that. It was easy enough to see every day in the military. She didn’t think that every person who did it, did it on purpose. The kind of jobs they had, life was always precious. Knowing you had someone waiting on you when you returned made it easier to get through the mission. It wasn’t the right thing to do, but when faced with a dangerous assignment, people didn’t always make the best decisions.
For Elena, she might not always have a man at home, but she had an overbearing family she adored. She knew there were a lot of people like JT. Of course, her family was his family, and they would have to deal with that entanglement later. Right now, she just
wanted him to herself. Elena knew it was important that they had this time alone to get to know each other.
She smiled. They knew each other in different ways, but now they needed to explore what was going on between them. She looked forward to getting to know every one of his irritating qualities.
The room started to fill up with steam, and she knew she needed to stop daydreaming about things. She stepped into the shower with a new mission. The sooner she got her work done, the sooner she had three days to spend alone with JT.
* * * *
JT rolled over and reached for Elena. Instead, he found her pillow and an empty bed. He frowned and slowly opened his eyes. He blinked. It was still pitch black in the room. He looked at the clock she had on the bedside table and noticed it was near four in the morning.
Damn, it was too early for him. Where was Elena?
He heard the shower going. He wanted to join her. The memories of that Saturday morning shower together had haunted his dreams and left him yearning for another experience like that for months. He couldn’t join her. He’d make her late. He knew she had work, and he hated that she was going to be gone today. It was selfish, but he wanted her all to himself at least for a few days. Or weeks.
He rolled over onto his back and stared at the ceiling. He knew she had a job. He also had to check in with his boss. They had a few things to discuss. He also had to call Anthony. For the last few years, Anthony had been the one person he always called once he was cleared. Now, he hadn’t thought about it until that precise moment. JT didn’t even have to think about it. He knew it was because someone else was more important now.
He grabbed another pillow, stacking them so he could be more comfortable. He knew his life had changed that Friday night when Elena had asked for a ride home. He had known it the moment he’d kissed her. It was as if something had clicked in his soul. Even he hadn’t felt that with his ex-fiancé.
Bethany had been a wonderful woman and, for a brief moment, he had thought she was the one for him. He sighed. That was a lie. He wanted her to be the one for him. She was stable and easy. And now, he realized how sad those were the two things he remembered most. She didn’t fight, not really, at least toward the end. He’d thought he could make it work, but both of them decided that it wasn’t going to. He heard she married a lawyer last year and was already expecting her first child.
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