Rescuing Kassie: Delta Force Heroes, Book 5

by Stoker, Susan

  “How’d you choose the Army over any of the other branches?”

  Hollywood smirked. “They offered me the best deal,” he told her honestly.

  “Oh my God, seriously?” she asked, eyes wide.

  “Yup. I might have been patriotic, but I was also eighteen. I was shallow, what can I say?”

  “Do you regret it?” Kassie asked with a tilt of her head.

  “Not for one second,” he said with feeling.

  “Are your parents still there?”

  “Yeah. They love it. I think I told you, but my sister, Jade, is married and lives in Chapel Hill. She went to school at UNC and loved it so much, she stayed.”

  “Does she have kids?”

  Hollywood couldn’t read Kassie’s tone. “Yeah, two. A boy and a girl.”

  “Uncle Graham,” she said teasingly. “Do you get to see them often?”

  “Not as much as I should, but we Skype all the time. I love those little rugrats.”

  “That’s great.”

  Hollywood pulled into the fast food restaurant’s parking lot. “Want to eat here, or get it to go?” He didn’t like the sad tone that had crept into her voice and wanted to do what he could to make her smile again.

  “Depends on where you’re taking me after we eat.”

  “If we eat here, you’re coming back to my place until it’s time to go back to Fletch’s. If you want to get it to go, we’re still going back to my place.”

  “To go then.”

  Hollywood steered until he was in line at the drive-in and gave her a stern look. “Want to tell me what your weird tone was about when I told you about my niece and nephew?”

  Kassie shrugged. “It’s just…we don’t really know that much about each other.”

  “We know each other,” Hollywood said.

  “Hollywood, I didn’t even know where you grew up, or that your sister had kids,” Kassie protested.

  “We might not know the superficial things, but we know the important ones.”

  “We do?”

  “Yeah, Kassie. We do. For instance, I know that you love it just as much when I kiss you hard as you do when I brush my lips across your forehead. I know you’ve got a protective streak a mile long, and you’ve got the kind of strength that knocks me on my ass when I think about it. I know that you’re honest, giving, and have a wicked sense of humor. I know that you’re unsure about your attractiveness, which is utter bullshit and I can’t believe no guy has ever made you feel beautiful just as you are. I know that you have a temper, but it’s quick to burn out. I know just from what Emily told me about your interactions with Annie this morning that you’d make a wonderful mother. I know that you have so much passion built up within you waiting to get out that when I take you to bed, I’m going to want to stay there a week until I take the edge off. And finally, I know that I’m a lucky son of a bitch and if you let me, I’ll spend the rest of my life making sure you know that you made the right decision trusting me and letting me into your world.”

  A horn honking behind him made Hollywood jerk his eyes from Kassie’s wide ones to the drive-through lane. He inched forward, stopping behind the car in front of him once again, and looked back to Kassie.

  “Do you have any other arguments about how we don’t know each other?”

  “If I do, will you say some of that stuff again?” Kassie asked. She was blushing, but she met his eyes and didn’t look away.

  “I’ll tell you every day for the rest of our lives if you need to hear it, Kass.”

  At that, she did finally close her eyes. “That was the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me. Okay, maybe not that I have a bad temper. I know I do, but you didn’t have to point it out.”

  “I said you have a quick temper, sweetheart, but that it burns out fast. Which means you don’t hold a grudge and that bodes well for when I piss you off in the future.”

  Her eyes popped open. “You planning on doing that a lot?”

  “No. But with as much passion as you have in you, I can’t see any way around it.”

  “Hollywood,” Kassie complained.

  “Kassie,” he mimicked. But he did it smiling. “It’s almost our turn. You know what you want?”

  “Veggie burger with everything and the Whataburger Hulk.”

  Hollywood looked over the menu and examined it for a long moment before turning back to Kassie. “Hon, those aren’t on the menu.”

  Kassie looked at him with her mouth open. Then finally said, “If I didn’t know you weren’t a true Texan before now, I would’ve by those six words.” She shook her head in mock disappointment. “You getting a burger?”

  Hollywood merely shook his head. “Yeah.”

  She unclicked her seat belt and pointed forward. “Our turn.”

  “What are you doing? Put your belt back on, sweetheart.” He slowly pulled forward to the speaker to order.

  Kassie shocked the shit out of him by kneeling up on her seat and leaning over him. She rested her hands on his left thigh and turned to him and whispered, “I’m ordering for both of us. You’ll screw up a perfectly good Whataburger experience.”

  He couldn’t keep his hands to himself if his life depended on it. Having Kassie kneeling over him made him imagine what she’d look like straddling his waist as she rode his cock. Hollywood felt his dick stiffen but didn’t give a shit.

  “Welcome to Whataburger. What can I get for you today?” a tinny voice said from the speaker.

  “Hi,” Kassie said brightly. “We’d like a veggie burger with everything and—”

  “We no longer have the potato patties, ma’am,” the underpaid employee said with regret. “But we do have hash brown sticks that we can use to make your burger.”

  “That sounds perfect,” Kassie told whoever was behind the speaker. “My hungry friend would like a double-double, but with the sauce, please.”

  “Of course. Would you like fries with that?”

  “Yes, please. A large order.”

  “Anything to drink?”

  Kassie turned her head and whispered, “Do you trust me?”

  “With my life,” Hollywood told her without hesitation. And he did. The woman who was kneeling over him, smiling because she was ordering off some secret menu, and enjoying the hell out of doing so, was the woman he’d lay down his life for. He hoped in time, she’d come to feel the same about him.

  She beamed and turned back to the speaker. “Two Whataburger Hulks to drink, please.”

  “That’ll be seventeen forty-three at the first window,” the boy on the other end of the speaker told them without missing a beat.

  Hollywood took his foot off the brake and moved forward just enough to let the car behind him pull up to the speaker, but he wrapped his arm under Kassie’s waist, preventing her from sitting back in her seat.

  “Hollywood, let me go. You have to pay,” she giggled.

  He tightened his hold, bringing his other hand to her cheek and turning her face toward him. Without asking, he kissed her. A full-on, tongue-memorizing-her-mouth, I-want-you-in-my-bed French kiss. And she responded in kind.

  Hollywood pulled back way before he was ready and licked his lips, tasting a hint of the lip gloss she’d put on earlier that day and her own essence. “Do I want to know what’s in a Hulk drink?” he asked with a smile.

  She grinned back and licked her own lips. “I’m not telling until you taste it and tell me if you like it.”

  Moving his hand around her so it rested on the back of one of her thighs, Hollywood squeezed, loving how Kassie squirmed at the feel of his hand on her. “Sit back, sweetheart. I need to go pay,” he ordered.

  He kept his hand on her, guiding until she once again had her ass on the seat next to him. Then before she could fasten her seat belt, he leaned over and palmed the back of her head. “Thank you.”

  “For what?” she asked, tilting her head.

  “For being you. For making me laugh when all I’ve wanted to do today is find Dean and b
eat the shit out of him. For making ordering fast food an event to be remembered rather than a boring, everyday task.”

  “Oh. Then you’re welcome.”

  “Put on your seat belt,” he ordered as he pulled forward to the first window.

  “I was,” she singsonged. “And not because you ordered me to either.”

  Hollywood knew the boy at the window probably wondered what the hell he was grinning at so sappily, but he didn’t care. He loved Kassie’s sass and, if he was honest, purposely tried to bring it forth. He tried not to think about his hard-as-nails cock as he took the change from the boy and pulled forward to the next window.

  He didn’t even care that he was going to have blue balls until he finally made Kassie his. Every second he had to wait to have her in his bed would make it that much better when he was finally balls deep inside her. Taking her would change his life. He couldn’t wait.

  * * *

  An hour later, Kassie smiled at Hollywood. She was sitting next to him at the bar in his kitchen. They’d finished eating about fifteen minutes ago and were polishing off their drinks while they chatted.

  “So? Did you like it?” Kassie asked, motioning toward his now empty cup.

  “Surprisingly, yes. Even though it looked like an alien was murdered in my cup…not that I know what aliens look like, but the bright green color just matches what I think the little green men might if they were melted down…yes. Now will you tell me what was in it?”

  Instead of answering, Kassie stuck her tongue out at him, laughing anew at the look of horror on his face.

  “Your tongue is green, Kass.”

  “I know. So is yours,” she told him smugly. “The Hulk is a fourth Powerade and the rest Vault soda. Isn’t it awesome?”

  “Is that why my heart is racing so much?” Hollywood asked. “Because you’ve pumped me full of energy drink and caffeine?”

  She giggled. “Yup.”

  “Didn’t Coca-Cola discontinue Vault a while ago because it had an insane amount of caffeine in it?” Hollywood asked.

  Kassie looked around as if someone might overhear her before saying in a whisper, “I heard that too, but Whataburger must have a secret deal with them to keep supplying it. Don’t jinx it.”

  He stuck his tongue out at her, and she giggled even harder. “And your,”—he brought up his hands to make air quotes—“‘veggie burger’ was good?”

  “Of course.”

  “I don’t think exchanging the meat patty with four hash brown sticks makes it any healthier.”

  “I know, but it sure is yummy.”

  “Yummy? I don’t remember the last time I heard anyone use that word,” Hollywood told her, loving how carefree she seemed with him.

  “I don’t care. It was yummy, and I’ll say yummy if I want. Yummy, yummy, yummy. Have you ever noticed if you say a word fast and long enough it starts to sound really weird? Like toe. Try it. Toetoetoetoetoetoe.” She said the words quickly so they’d all run together. “See? It’s weird.”

  That was it. Not caring about his green tongue, or hers, Hollywood stood and swooped down. He caught Kassie’s lips with his own and pulled her against him as he devoured her. He put both hands at her waist and held her tightly.

  Her arms immediately wrapped around his neck. Hollywood pulled back just enough to order, “Legs up,” before claiming her mouth again.

  She hitched one leg up, and he immediately caught her knee with his hand. She brought the other up and Hollywood took hold of that as well. Then he turned and headed for his couch. He wanted to bring her to his room, but had decided before she’d even arrived the day before that he wasn’t going to fuck her that weekend. It was too soon.

  His dick didn’t think it was, but Hollywood ignored the demands of his body and instead held Kassie to him as he walked. His hand moved to her ass and he ground her down on him, loving the moan that escaped her mouth as she wiggled against him.

  His first thought was to take her to her back and settle on top of her, but at the last minute, his sanity kicked in and he turned, dropping to his ass and using both hands to keep her glued against him.

  Her weight landing on him as he sat made him huff out a breath, and she took the opportunity to pull back a fraction and look at him. She balanced on her knees on either side of his thighs, and their crotches were pressed together so tightly he swore he could feel her heat against him.

  “What are we doing?” Kassie asked with dilated eyes and a look of wanting so clear on her face, Hollywood wanted to rip her clothes off right then and there.

  Instead he grinned lazily and said, “Making out a bit. We have some time to kill before we need to head over to Fletch’s.”

  She shifted, rubbing against his hard cock. “You call this making out?” she asked breathlessly.

  “Yeah. Rules. Clothes stay on. We can touch anywhere and everywhere, but only on top of our clothes. No fingers sneaking under elastic or touching skin.”

  She grinned at him. “Is this a high school game you played?”

  He immediately shook his head. “Nope. Never played sexual games. Took what I wanted and was offered, and never looked back.”

  The playful look in her eyes dimmed. “Oh.”

  “Everything with you is new, sweetheart. Believe me, you’re one hundred percent sexier to me, just like this, than I’ve ever had before.”

  She rallied and gamely smiled at him. “Okay. No skin-on-skin contact. We can still kiss though, right?”

  “Face only. No kissing below the neck,” Hollywood said immediately.

  “So we’re in high school on a date. But my parents are upstairs and have an annoying habit of peeking down to the basement where we’re watching a movie. We want each other. But we know we can’t make love with my mom and dad checking in on us.”

  “Fuck,” Hollywood groaned, loving that she was as into this as he was. “Yeah. You’ve been teasing me a lot lately. Dropping your books in the hall and leaning over to flash your cleavage at me. I’m horny as hell and want you bad.”

  Kassie shifted her body away from his until there was around six inches between her pussy and his dick. “We shouldn’t. My mom’ll be checking on us in a few minutes.” Her voice was high pitched and she whined the words.

  Getting into the game, Hollywood cajoled, “Just a little bit, baby. Let me make you feel good.”

  “Okay, but only on top of my clothes. I want to save myself for marriage.”

  He knew her words were a part of the role playing, but somehow they still went straight to his cock. It jerked and he felt his boxers dampen with the precome that escaped the head of his dick. Fuckin’ A. Hollywood moved his hands from her waist upward, over her shirt, and up her sides. “Only on top of your clothes, sweetheart. Promise. I love that you’re so pure and innocent.”

  He could tell his words threw her, but to her credit, she stayed in her role. Her own hands roamed down his chest, then back up, caressing as she went. It felt good, but he knew without a doubt when they finally were skin to skin, he’d never feel anything as wonderful ever again.

  Deciding now was as good a time as ever to start to make her see herself as the beautiful woman she was, Hollywood praised her. “You feel so good. Soft under my hands. It’s such a turn on. I don’t know why women want to be all hard angles and skin and bones. I love your curves.” He moved his hands to her chest. Laying them flat and running them down her torso. Kassie arched into his touch, pressing her tits into his hands as they passed over the full globes.

  He didn’t stop to caress them though, Hollywood kept moving downward until he reached her legs. He rubbed up and down her thighs, letting his fingertips brush against her core with every pass. Then he slowly ran his palms back up her sides, and started from the top again. He did this slowly, over and over, all the while watching as a flush of arousal bloomed on her skin.

  “You’re so responsive. One day when your parents trust us enough to leave us alone for the night, I’m going to fuck you righ
t here on this couch.” Hollywood struggled to stay in the role. It got harder when Kassie leaned backwards, resting her hands on his knees. She arched her back and her hips moved closer to him, once again pressing against his cock.

  “You like this,” he stated.

  “Mmmm.”

  “I can see your nipples poking through your bra,” he told her, not able to take his eyes away from the evidence of her arousal. “I can’t wait to touch them. To feel them in my hands. You’ve teased me for so long now; you know you want my hands on you.”

  “Graham,” Kassie moaned.

  Hollywood closed his eyes at the sound of his real name crossing her lips. He had no idea if she knew she’d done it, but it didn’t matter. He’d hear his name said in that half moan, half plea for the rest of his life.

  “Touch me,” she pleaded.

  “I am touching you,” he told her. “But your parents are going to be checking on us any moment now. I can’t do anything more.”

  “Fuck,” she swore. And it was cute. More because Hollywood knew exactly how frustrated she felt. But he’d started this game, and was determined to stick to the rules. He took her tits in his hands, weighing them, molding them to his palms. He alternated between squeezing them tightly, and pressing them flat against her chest as he rubbed his palms up and down the front of her body.

  Kassie sat up straight then and grabbed both his wrists, trying to halt his actions.

  “I hear your mom coming, Kass. Stay really still. She can’t see you, only the back of my head. But if you make any noise, she’ll know what we’re doing. Don’t move and don’t make a sound.”

  Kassie was breathing hard now, her lips parted as she panted with arousal on top of him. Keeping one hand at her chest, Hollywood moved the other down her belly, between her legs. She shifted her knees out, giving him room, but more importantly, giving him permission to continue.

  “Don’t move,” Hollywood whispered, as if there really was someone spying on them from behind. “Stay still, sweetheart.” He used the heel of his hand to press hard against her clit. He hadn’t really planned this when he’d started the game. He’d honestly just wanted to make out a bit and relax her. But now that he had, he couldn’t stop. He wanted Kassie to come. Right here. Right now.