Mirroring the path he’d taken earlier on his foray down her body, she nibbled, nipped, and stroked her way down his chest and abdomen. His skin rippled beneath her mouth; his muscles bunched.
He felt so good beneath her lips and hands. All hot, hard muscles… steel sheathed in satin. His skin tasted salty beneath her tongue… delicious… like prime-grade male… like spiced masculinity.
When she reached the base of his penis, she ran her tongue along the twin, tightly drawn mounds. He jolted beneath her, his back arching, his breath coming hard and fast.
Oh yeah, he was enjoying her revenge. So was she, too much to stop.
She got one lingering swipe of her tongue across the bulbous head of his penis before he broke and reached for her.
“How’s the shoulder?” he asked, heat in his eyes and a flush riding his cheeks.
Even now, driven by lust he still thought of her. Her comfort. Her feelings. Her needs.
The realization melted her heart, even as the question tickled her sense of humor.
“Why?” Her lips twitched. “Are you going to stop if I say it hurts?”
“Hell, no. I’ll let you do the driving.” He drew her head down for a deep, long kiss.
When they came up for air again, they were both out of breath.
His hands slid down to her hips, and he lifted her, shifting her over his pelvis. She guided his penis into place and settled back down, taking him inside her.
This time she was in control of the pace and depth. She managed two slow, erotic lifts and falls, taking the entire length of him inch by excruciating inch, as his hands tightened on her waist and his hips rose off the bed, and deep, raspy groans erupted from his arched throat. But then her own need swamped her, and her body seized control from her mind.
What had started as a tease turned famished and urgent.
Her hips rose and fell faster and faster. The tension coiled tighter and tighter, contracting into an agonizing knot of pure animalistic need until it shattered.
“I suppose I should feed you now that we’ve had our fun,” Rio’s thick voice murmured in her ear sometime later.
“I’m good.” Better than good, more like lethargically satisfied with no interest in moving.
Becca sighed, basking in the lazy glide of Rio’s palms up and down her cooling spine and the hard thump of his heart beneath her cheek. She could swear her own heart was beating in time to his—perfect synchronicity.
A content silence fell between them.
Eventually Rio stirred beneath her. “I’ve been thinking…”
“Yeah?” Becca thought about offering a smartass response, but it was too much work and she was too satiated. “About?”
“Work.” His hands stilled against her back. “It would be easier for me to relocate than for you to build a new practice from the ground up. There are plenty of LE opportunities in the Olympia or Seattle area.”
It took a few seconds for the implications in his comment to hit home. She jolted up and stared down at his strangely vulnerable face. “You’d do that? Move to Olympia to be with me?”
The vulnerability on his face gave way to tenderness. “Sweetheart. I’d move anywhere to be with you.”
She digested that, her heart beating faster. That sounded an awful lot like a declaration of love. “What about being a detective? What about your life here? All your friends.”
“None of which are as important as you,” he told her in a quiet voice before drawing her down for a slow, sweet kiss.
She didn’t realize until he spoke how much she needed to hear those words. How vital they were to her happiness. Her chest went liquid and hot.
“I love you.” Her voice turned raw and slightly weepy. She paused to steady it. “I never stopped.”
A realization she’d only arrived at recently. She’d buried her feelings for him, just as she’d buried her feelings for her mother—but the emotions had never disappeared. They’d simply gone into hibernation.
“Good to know.” His voice was gruffer than she’d ever heard it, but his eyes were full of relief. “I love you too. And this time—I’ll never walk away.”
She suspected her smile, which she’d strived to make teasing, was wobbly instead. “Fair warning, I’m going to hold you to that promise.”
His face was solemn as he tucked her hair behind her ears. “You do that.”
With his promise still ringing in her ears and filling her heart, she cuddled back down on top of him, listening to the strong, steady beat of his heart. The gift he’d given her was that much sweeter because of its unexpectedness.
His promise echoed in her ears; it was more than enough to build their life together on.
Dear Reader,
I hope you enjoyed Loyalty Under Fire.
Are you ready for Future Under Fire, Tag and Sarah’s story?
Check out the blurb:
Sarah Gillespie is in Hell.
Two years of living under the thumb of a sociopathic killer will do that to a woman. But her sacrifices are worth it, if they save the lives of the two people she loves most in the world—her brother Sean and Navy SEAL Brett Taggart. But when her world explodes, exposing all her lies and hard choices, the consequences are horrific. And the resulting fallout sweeps up the two men she’s sacrificed everything to protect.
Brett (Tag) Taggart’s last two years have been hell.
The woman he’d expected to spend his life with ditches him to return to her hinky ex—a fellow special operator who raises one red flag after another. The teammates he depends on to watch his six turn on him in their rush to take sides in Sarah’s Navy SEAL love triangle. And the wedding of the woman he loves—to a f@cking psychopath—is marching closer every day. But when Sarah is kidnapped minutes before walking down the aisle, it’s all hands on deck to rescue her.
The resulting disclosure of her secrets and lies leaves Tag reeling, unable to forgive or forget her choices. But when their positions are suddenly reversed, and Sarah is taken, he’ll do anything…sacrifice everything to get her back.
And suddenly the world isn’t so black and white anymore.
To read Future Under Fire, click here!
You can find the entire series lineup here:
Author’s Note
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As always, thank you for reading!
Your support is appreciated!
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About Trish
Trish McCallan was born in Eugene, Oregon, and grew up in Washington State, where she began crafting stories at an early age. Her first books were illustrated in crayon, bound with red yarn, and sold for a nickel at her lemonade stand. Trish grew up to earn a bachelor’s degree in English literature with a concentration in creative writing from Western Washington University, taking jobs as a bookkeeper and human- resource specialist before finally quitting her day job to write full time.
Forged in Fire, the first book in her Red Hot SEALs series, came about after a marathon reading session, and a bottle of Nyquil that sparked a vivid dream. She lives today in eastern Washington. An avid animal lover, she currently shares her home with four golden retrievers, a black lab mix and two cats.
r Fire (Operation: Hot Spot Book 3)
Loyalty Under Fire (Operation: Hot Spot Book 3) Page 19
