by Dez Burke
Captivated by the Soldier
Copyright 2013 Dez Burke
Chapter One
Was that really a naked man sleeping in her bed?
Makayla’s first instinct was to scream. The last thing she’d expected when she’d pulled away the covers to climb into bed was to find a blonde-haired, squared jawed and broad shouldered hunk lying there.
But instead of screaming, she simply stared. Whoever the hell he was, he was damn fine! He was sleeping on his side, face turned in her direction and a hand tucked beneath his cheek. Dark blonde lashes fanned long and thick over the slope of his cheekbones. His nose was long and manly, and he had a cute little dimple in his angular chin. And his lips…only slightly parted as he slept, looked invitingly ripe at the bottom with just enough firmness evident in the curve.
If it was possible to ever wish to find a strange man in one’s bed, then this was the kind of guy any red-blooded girl would wish for.
Tanned, sexy – and sleepy eyed.
Oh hell, he’s awake!
Makayla sprang away from the bed as she saw him stir, his eyes fluttering open to half-slits. He stared straight at her for a few moments, and she could do nothing but stand there, her heart pumping rapidly beneath her palm pressed against it. Was he going to spring for her? There was certainly a certain narrowed, feral glint in that stare…
Makayla held his startling blue gaze, noticing the dark sapphire jewels of his eyes. He looked like he was about to say something, and she heard a definite mumble that sounded suspiciously like “angel” - but then he let out a few more incoherent murmurs before shutting his eyes again and rolling over on his back.
Makayla let out a harsh breath as she realized he’d fallen right back to sleep. Okay! Now what?
Well, now she could run her eyes once again over this shocking male specimen, his new position totally baring his broadly defined chest and leaving the sheet just inches above his waist.
Her dazed eyes ran over his well-built pecs and abs to rest on that impressively long, thickly raised bulge evident beneath the thin sheet. ‘Sleeping Hunk’ as she suddenly tagged him in her head, was obviously naked beneath the covers, the gold-tinted trail leading straight down his wash-board belly before her view was abruptly cut off by the sheet. Damn. If she simply reached out gently and lifted the light sheet she could…
Snapping out of her carnal imaginings, Makayla wondered why she was still there, ogling what was obviously a strange man sleeping in her bed.
Deciding there was only one source from which to glean an explanation for this, Makayla hastily backed out of the room and headed straight for the phone in the kitchen.
It took her moments to get her roommate Gina on the line.
Makayla had met Gina a year ago through mutual friends, and now they shared the roomy two-bedroom apartment. Gina was a goofy, though very pretty blonde nurse who was probably every man’s fantasy of what a nurse should look like with her full-figured body and curly blonde hair. Gina was also fun-loving and wild and if anyone would know why there was a hunk of a male sleeping in Makayla’s bed, then she should.
“Makayla, hi!” Gina cried happily, and in the background Makayla could hear the splash of waves and people laughing. Gina was currently on a three-month long vacation in the Bahamas with her adoring hunk of a fiancé Raymond, a successful fitness instructor. His voice could be heard calling a greeting to Makayla through the phone. Makayla figured it must still be daytime there.
“Hi. I’m happy to hear you and Ray sounding so breezy. Must be all that sun and sea, huh?” Makayla asked casually, fighting down her feeling of panic. Makayla prided herself in living a perfectly symmetrical way of life and really didn’t like anything rocking her boat. But she had to confess that finding a man in her bed was rocking more than her boat at the moment.
“You bet! You should see me now. I’ve worked up a fabulous tan and…”
“Gina,” Makayla broke in suddenly.
“What?” Gina exclaimed, cutting off. “You sound really panicked.”
“Well, because I am!” cried Makayla, before yelping out, “There’s a…there’s a huge naked guy in my bed!”
“Huh?”
Hearing Gina’s baffled tone, Makayla suddenly realized she needed to be far more coherent. Sighing deeply for calm, she explained. “I came home tonight from my New York trip – I took the red eye to make it for my business meeting tomorrow morning. Only to be about to slip into bed when I found a naked man underneath my covers! Would you know anything about it, because I’m seconds from calling the police!”
“Hey, don’t panic – I mean, you can stop panicking,” Gina said soothingly. “That must be Blade.”
“You know him?”
“I should,” Gina said wryly. “He’s my stepbrother.”
“That’s your stepbrother?” Makayla squeaked, only just managing to remember to keep her voice down. It was the middle of the night after all. “And what’s he doing in my bed right now?”
“Look, I can explain if you’ll just calm down. I’m sure there must be some mistake,” Gina was saying with a thoughtful tone. “I mean, we both knew he was coming into town soon and you did agree he could stay for a few days while he hunted for a new place.”
“Yes, I remember now,” Makayla said impatiently. When Gina had asked if it was okay for her stepbrother – whom Makayla had never met, to move in for a few days on his arrival into the city, Makayla had seen no reason to refuse.
Hearing that Gina had a stepbrother who was in the army had intrigued Makayla and she’d had no cause to say no, not even though she knew that Gina would be away during his stay. It was a big place and the two rooms were on either end of the apartment ensuring ample privacy. Obviously, Gina’s stepbrother had picked the wrong end.
Gina’s next words confirmed Makayla’s suspicions. “I guess Blade must have thought your room was mine. That has to be it. I apologize for the inconvenience, honey. You must have had a bit of a shock.”
“Well, yeah,” Makayla said somewhat defensively. She realized she may have overreacted a bit as she should have known there’d be a reasonable explanation for everything. True, it had slipped her mind about Gina’s stepbrother showing up but still, she should have known better than to panic. But then nothing could have prepared her for the prospect of seeing that hot-bodied sex god lying beneath her covers.
“It’s okay though; I’ll call and clear things up with him tomorrow. You can just stay in my room for tonight, right?” Gina asked lightly.
“Sure,” Makayla said, sighing ruefully. “And sorry for freaking out. It’s just that, well…it has been a while since I’ve found a hunky man waiting in my bed – so to speak.”
Which was sort of true, considering Makayla’s current single status. She was probably the only one of her friends who wasn’t in a serious relationship or even dating. She was pathetically buried in her work as a management consultant and couldn’t remember the last time she’d set eyes on a man so gorgeously sexy - even in his sleep – that he’d made her mouth go dry just looking at him.
Gina let out a laugh at Makayla’s teasing words. “So, did you really see him naked? I thought he was over that habit! I never got a glimpse while our parents were married, but I knew he couldn’t stand to sleep with clothes on because his mom was always on his case about it.”
Makayla could recall that Gina had told her how Gina’s father, a widower, had remarried when Gina was in her mid teens. Apparently, her stepmother had a son from her former marriage who’d been five years older than the teenage Gina. Which made Blade to be around twenty-nine or thirty. With a hard-packe
d, drool-worthy body to boot.
She really needed to stop thinking about his body, Makayla scolded herself as she chewed on her bottom lip.
Trying to act nonchalant, she replied, “No, I didn’t really get to see much. I mean, he was half-covered with the comforter, thank goodness.” Makayla hoped her voice sounded relieved rather than regretful. After all, she had no hidden wish – none at all, to have been afforded the full frontal package of the undeniably hunk named Blade.
She was jolted out of her daydream when she heard Gina shriek as her fiancé laughed uproariously. Gina said quickly into the phone, “Sorry I have to rush, sweetie. I almost got run over by Ray and his new beach pals who happen to be built like freaking linebackers. Looks like I’m messing up their game of volley ball. So, you’re positive you’ll be okay sleeping in my bedroom tonight? Like I said, everything can get straightened out with Blade tomorrow.”
“Sure,” Makayla said with a yawn, even as she tried not to think about how much she’d prefer to go back to her dimly lit bedroom and join the gorgeous sleeping hunk underneath her covers. “Everything’s cool, trust me. I mean, aside from the fact that he’s your stepbrother, there’s also the fact that he served as a soldier in the army which makes him a hero in my book. Hell, he can sleep in my bed anytime. I mean…”
God! Makayla wanted to smack her forehead at that dumb comment. Even with her now raging hormones, she hadn’t meant for it to come out like that. But Gina was chuckling.
“He’s a handsome devil, isn’t he? All my girlfriends had massive crushes on him and I used to have to peel them off the poor guy. He never used to mess around though – bless him. So you see, he’s harmless. Well, mostly harmless.”
“Yeah, okay, I’ll take your word for it,” Makayla said as another yawn, bigger this time, overtook her.
“You sound dead on your feet. Go on and get to bed, okay? We’ll talk tomorrow,” Gina said.
“Thanks. ‘Night,” Makayla murmured drowsily, letting the phone slip back into its holder and then virtually sleep-walking to Gina’s bedroom, where a nicely cool – though otherwise empty, well made bed was waiting.
Chapter Two
He hadn’t dreamed her.
Blade thought he had. He remembered seeing her exact image like something beyond a filmy veil…Dark brown eyes wide and bewitching; her oval face with the deliciously mocha skin. Her luscious lips and that gloriously dark black hair tumbling down around her, had all seemed like part of a fevered fantasy.
But the vision walking into the house dressed in what looked like a killer business suit was real - blissfully real.
Her luxurious locks were swept over one shoulder to rest in waves over her full bust which strained against her jacket. Her formal outfit was pinched in at the waist, showing off her slender midsection which suddenly flared into sinfully curvy hips. Her long shapely legs went on for endless days to her feminine feet encased in the sexiest black pumps his eyes had ever seen.
Blade swallowed, and lifted the cool can of beer he’d been holding to place against his forehead. Long months of celibacy must be catching up with him.
She strode into the open plan kitchen, looked up and saw him, and then started.
“Oh! You’re still here.”
He smiled, putting out his hand that wasn’t holding the beer. “I’m Blade Weber. You must be Makayla Stiles. Gina’s roommate.”
“Yeah,” she said, looking him over quickly. Blade wasn’t ready to believe he saw admiration glittering in her eyes for a moment. He was dressed in a pair of snug and worn blue jeans beneath a plain muscle tee. No way had she just given him the once-over. Or had she?
Women like her didn’t go for men like him, Blade told himself. She was all glossy perfection in that power suit of hers, her laptop in its case held in her arm while her designer folder bag was placed on the ground so she could have a hand free to accept his handshake.
Her skin felt as soft as petals. It disappeared into his huge paw and he felt her delicate bones within his fingers. Her deep brown eyes widened as they held his. He wondered what she could read there. Could she tell how badly he already wanted her? How strongly she’d invaded his dreams with just that one glimpse he’d had of her last night?
He remembered stirring awake from a troubling dream – similar to those he’d been having for months – only to open his eyes and see her standing there, staring at him like she’d seen a ghost.
He hadn’t slept so good in weeks – even months. Maybe even longer. And the nightmares that usually caught up with him in the early hours before dawn – he didn’t have them last night. Not after that one, halo-framed glimpse of his brown-eyed angel.
Oh, shit…Blade thought as he suddenly had a vague recollection of saying something out loud before he’d fallen asleep again. He sure as hell hoped he hadn’t called her something embarrassingly goofy.
“Pardon my opening statement, but when I woke up this morning and didn’t find you, I thought you’d left for some reason or other,” she said casually, placing down her pricey computer as well as her case on the side of the island. Blade found his eyes following her like a besotted twit. The way she moved – like a ballet dancer; all elegant sweeps of hand and turn of leg. And what legs. He roved his eyes quickly along their length in those black silky tights and felt a fist of lust grip him.
What the hell? Just within a minute of meeting her one on one and he was panting for her like a gawky teenager?
Ever since he’d found out his error that he’d crashed in the wrong bed, he’d felt like an idiot and had been waiting around all evening to apologize for any inconvenience. But once she arrived, all else was forgotten apart from the way she made him feel just by standing in the same airspace. The male in him was aware of every single thing about her; from her flirty expensive perfume, to the straight, graceful line of her shoulder. Her voice was cultured silk; intellectual and sexy. She looked and smelled like a high maintenance career woman.
Not that he had anything against career women. Hell, women like Makayla Stiles were just his type. Smart and sexy, driven, ambitious and unafraid to tackle challenging corporate roles that used to be the sole prerogative of men.
The only problem was, though such women suited his tastes just fine, most times they didn’t find that he suited theirs.
Right now, Makayla Stiles spelled ‘trouble’ in neon-colored lights. Mostly because of his instantaneous attraction to her, and also because he was here on a mission and couldn’t afford to be side-tracked. Sure, he was no longer an active soldier but for now, there was one particular tour of duty that he had to face and it had nothing to do with warfare.
Chapter Three
Makayla tried not to squirm as she turned away from Blade’s disturbingly intense dark blue eyes. The hairs on her neck stood out in reaction to his gaze which she could still feel like a laser beam even with her back turned.
What was it about the way he looked at her that made her heart race?
He was all solid muscle, all six feet plus of him. His dark blonde hair was cut low to his well-shaped head. Impressively wide shoulders and hard-packed biceps were complimented by a waist that would make any woman brown with envy. He had pecs that stood out in high definition beneath his shirt, and his jeans fit almost sinfully to his powerful looking thighs and legs.
Even with all his clothes on this time, he was still outrageously beddable. Too much for Makayla’s already frazzled peace of mind. His undeniably masculine magnetism filled up the space around them and made the large kitchen feel claustrophobic. Funny how she wasn’t even looking at him but had his whole image burned into memory.
His voice was deep and strangely comforting. If she wasn’t so physically attracted to him, he’d have been the kind of big brother an only child like Makayla would have wanted. Tough-looking, yet adorably easy-going and cool.
However, with the far from sisterly sensations he evoked within her, Makayla shivered internally and felt glad they were in no way related.
He was replying to her statement about him being gone when she woke up, informing her that he’d left for an early morning run.
“I’ve discovered that doing several miles helps relax me and clear my mind for the day ahead. I came back and found out you’d left for work.”
She glanced his way as she made for the fridge, hoping he wouldn’t notice the flush in her cheek. Prayed he wouldn’t suspect that it had anything to do with feminine excitement at having such a blatantly virile male within groping distance. She resisted the urge to reach out an arm and probe her fingers into those perfectly outlined ridges of his six-pack evident even beneath the shirt.
Swallowing on a dry throat, she unearthed some water from the fridge and poured out a glass. “Yes,” she replied in the calmest tone she could muster, “I had a very early meeting and that’s why I flew back so late last night to make it on time this morning.”
“About last night – I haven’t had the chance to apologize. I’d had a tiring few days and on arrival I crawled into the first room I found. I should have been more careful since Gina did tell me she had a roommate.”
“Really, there’s no need to apologize. Like I told Gina on the phone, it was a perfectly understandable situation.”
“Just to let you know though, I’ve moved my things over to the right room. And now that you’re home, allow me to make things up to you by cooking you dinner.”
“What? No, seriously, there’s absolutely no need,” she said with a laugh. “I normally just grab a sandwich and relax. You needn’t put yourself out…”
“I’m not. I actually love to cook,” he added.
“I don’t know if there’s anything stocked that could provide a decent meal…”
“Don’t worry about it; I was able to do some light shopping earlier when I went out on some errands. So tell me, any particular dietary restrictions? You vegan, or intolerant to certain foods?”
“No…I can actually eat almost anything,” she said, curiously watching as he turned to the kitchen cabinets, drawing out items methodically.
