All for You (12 page)

He set her on the counter and reached into the shower, turning it on. Steam filled the small bathroom.

Then, his dark gaze penetrating hers, he finished what he’d started and began peeling off the rest of his clothes.

Emily Lindberg was a mystery. He’d never have guessed she’d have had a fiancé in a previous life or that he’d been dumb enough to cheat on her. This was a woman who was finding her own place in the world, experimenting with her own power.

Her gaze on him made him slow down. Untie his boots slowly. He felt her inspecting his tattoos and his scars and knew there was more she wanted to know.

She said she admired him. Only because she didn’t know how hard he worked to stay sober. How much it was costing him to be there at that moment and not reach for a drink.

But for once, he wanted to untangle the mess of alcohol and sex. He wanted to feel, really feel, Emily’s skin against his instead of using fast, fleeting contact to chase away more memories.

Maybe someday he would tell her just enough to appease her curiosity. Just a little. Because he wasn’t ready to start unpacking all the shit in his rucksack. There was a lot of baggage there and the war was far from over. He needed to keep it stuffed down until the day came when he hung up his boots. Maybe then he’d start to examine the life he’d led.

Until then, he’d bury the memories like he’d been doing. He’d just keep it under control this time. He could do it.

He straightened and nudged his boots to one side. Steam made her hair curl around her face, dark ringlets clinging to her cheeks. Her breath came in short, quick huffs and he watched the gentle swell of her breasts as she breathed.

Her chest froze as he flicked open his belt. “It’s not really fair that I’m getting naked and you’re not,” he murmured, opening another button on his pants. His erection was painful and tight. Her eyes darkened as she watched him drop his pants and toed them to one side. When he straightened, her gaze took in all of him.

A bolt of pure desire shot through him as her gaze landed on his erection. He was a big man and while he’d never had any complaints before, the way her eyes widened suggested she’d never seen someone his, ah, size before.

Her lips parted and he could see the uncertainty in her eyes. He crossed the small space and nudged her thighs apart, capturing her face in his hands and kissing her until she forgot her own name, forgot her fears and her insecurities. Until her fingers tightened against his back and she rocked gently against him.

The friction of her touch drove him wild and he pulled her closer. “You really need to lose the boots,” he murmured, then knelt in front of her to tug on her laces. He pulled them off then peeled the olive green socks down her calves.

He framed her hips with his palms, careful about the bruise on her hip, then reached for her belt. “You’re still wearing your clothes,” he murmured against her lips.

“Well, we can certainly fix that.” She scooted off the counter and opened her pants, pushing them down. She sucked in a breath as she bumped the bruise.

“You’re still not naked enough,” he said. He turned her gently and pulled her against him, tracing his hands down her sides, stroking her skin gently. He hooked his thumbs in her panties as he nibbled on her shoulder and pushed them down her thighs. Watching her in the fogging mirror, she rested her head against his chest as he stripped her bare.

Focusing on her pleasure allowed him to ignore his own uncertainty. He watched her lips part, felt the tension in her body, and forgot all about his need for a drink. Forgot anything but his need for this woman.

Reza was a solid wall behind her. His big body surrounded hers; his hands were dark against her skin. He spread his hands against her belly, then slid one down her body. She couldn’t take her eyes off his hand as he traced one finger down the seam of her sex, a gentle, soft touch. A gasp escaped her as he stroked her, her moisture glistening on his finger.

“You’re so fucking wet.” His voice was a growl near her ear as he continued to stroke her. Nothing more than gentle strokes, not parting her, just coaxing her body to swell with her own slick pleasure. His erection was persistent against her lower back.

She had managed to keep her thoughts to herself. She hadn’t wanted to admit she’d never seen a man of his stature. She closed her eyes and absorbed the pleasure of his touch. Trusted him.

“I really hope you’ll keep your promise,” he murmured near her ear as he pressed gently on her most swollen place. She cried out as a burst of pleasure popped inside her but the orgasm she craved was still distant and far off, begging to be released.

“What promise?”

“About washing my back.” He released her then and stepped backward into the shower stall. Water sluiced over his big body, running rivulets over his dark skin. Dark hair covered his chest, curling down his stomach to the thick hair around his erection.

He held out his hand to her. It took her a moment to realize this was her last chance to back away from the power of the man. His body called to her but there was something more. The letters on those tattoos flexed as he moved to turn the water temperature up. More steam filled the bathroom, coating the glass of the shower door.

Emily held her breath.

And took that step.

Reza had never showered with a lover. There was something deeply arousing about having Emily’s slick naked female body wriggling against his in the confined space. He poured some sweet-smelling stuff that echoed faintly of apples into his palm and rubbed his hands together.

He moved her hair out of the way and rubbed his hands over her shoulders before he massaged the tight muscles there. “You’re going to be sore tomorrow,” he said when she gasped after he found a particularly tight knot.

“You won’t be?”

“Probably not. I’m used to it. You’re not.” He swept his soapy hands down her body, foam swelling beneath his fingers and trailing over her skin.

He turned her until he could cradle her against his body again, cleaning away the sweat and grime of the day as he aroused them both with his wandering hands. His cock ached every time she wriggled against it.

She was content to let him touch her, let his hands explore. He cupped her breasts and she moaned low in her throat as his fingers circled her nipples. And when he pinched one gently, her cry of pleasure made his blood tighten against his veins.

Hunger burned in him. He turned to rinse them both and she winced as his hand bumped her bruised hip. He kissed her, stroking his hands over her body to soothe the pain away. She relaxed against him, her body molding against his. His cock pressed against her belly and he rocked his hips gently against her.

Reaching behind her, he turned the water off, wanting—no needing—her on her back when they did this. He wanted to watch her face as he filled her, wanted to watch her eyes as he moved inside her.

She was in a daze, he realized, in part from the adrenaline rapidly leaving her body and in part from the dark arousal in her eyes. He tugged the towel from her body and lifted her into his arms, drowning in the taste and pleasure that was Emily.

She was overwhelmed. She’d never felt the intensity of the passion she felt as Reza’s hands roamed her body, like he knew her better than she knew herself. She’d never known how good a man’s touch between her legs could feel but she’d never admit that to him.

He wrapped her legs around his hips as he walked and she could feel the insistence of his arousal at the juncture of her thighs. He crawled up her bed and her body until he lay between her thighs.

She braced her hands on his chest. “Condoms?”

“I’ve got some,” he said.

She tipped her head and studied him. “Were you planning on this?” she asked.

“No.” A deep flush crawled up his neck and she wondered at the source. He crawled off her body and searched his pants. There was a tear of foil and she watched in fascination as he rolled it over the head of his erection and down the thick length of it. He looked up to find her watching him. He settled against her again. “You can still change your mind, Emily.”

She frowned. “Why on earth would I do that?”

“You look like you’re not sure about this.” He nibbled on the side of her neck, scraping his teeth over that pulse point he’d seen earlier.

“I’m not sure about certain aspects of this but I’m sure about it overall.”

Reza laughed and she felt it in his entire body where he rested against hers. “Which aspects are you not sure of?”

Heat flamed across her cheeks and she closed her eyes. He licked her neck, flicking his tongue over her ear again until she gasped. “Tell me,” he urged.

He slipped his cock against her heat, stroking her where she was swollen. Her hips twisted against the sensual assault and she jerked and cried out

He shifted and cradled her face in his hands. “Emily.” His voice was a whisper. She met his gaze, her eyes glittering with uncertainty. “Emily, I’ve got you,” he whispered.

He needed her mindless. He needed her not thinking about the size of him and instead drowning in pleasure. He kissed her gently, sucked on her lips. Traced his tongue down her body, distracting her with his hands until he’d reached the center of her. He pressed his lips to that fist-sized bruise on her hip, then kissed her right where she was swollen.

Emily cried out as he suckled her, her hips bucking off the bed at the pleasure. He held her in place, draping one thigh over his shoulder as he continued the assault on her most sensitive flesh. She fisted her hands in his hair, needing something to anchor her before she shattered into a thousand pieces. And then he slid one finger inside her and she exploded.

She was shattered and limp from the most powerful pleasure she’d ever experienced when Reza crawled up her body and kissed her. She could taste herself on his lips, something warm and sweet against his tongue. There was a gentle pressure as he started to fill her.

Her body, still throbbing from his touch, stretched around him. She gasped against his mouth and shifted until he could slide deeper. He was a big man and he filled her, consumed her as his body inched deeper and deeper into hers.

She was so fucking tight, so good. So his. He reached between their bodies to stroke her sex again and she relaxed with a gasp, her body taking him deep, so deep.

He kept stroking her intimate flesh as he moved, sliding deep and slow inside her, giving her time to adjust. And then there was no more need as her body shuddered around him, gripping him tightly as she came again.

He kissed her deeply as his pleasure took over his control and he pushed into her body a final time. He came apart in her arms and it was only later as she lay curled against him that he marveled at the contentment that had followed his own release.

H
e’d been right when he’d told her she was going to be sore. Sore didn’t even begin to explain all the pain in places she hadn’t even known existed. Her hip ached every time she moved. Her shoulders felt like they were still carrying the heavy body armor, and between her thighs felt richly abused and sensitive.

She wanted him again. She’d awakened that morning, alone, his scent heavy on her skin, in her bed, and she’d wanted.

He hadn’t asked to spend the night. She hadn’t pushed. She refused to let the tiny fear that snuck into bed and cuddled up next to her chip away at her trust in this man. Instead she’d kissed him gently and closed the door behind him. Exhausted.

Satisfied.

And as she’d fallen into a dreamless sleep, she’d been amazed at the tenderness this rough man had shown her.

Now, at the office, she was struggling to concentrate. Her brain was in a haze and the only thing she could see clearly was the memories from last night.

Her inbox chimed, yanking her out of her daydream. Captain Marshall, Reza’s commander. “Hmm.”

She opened the message.

Emily smothered her irritation that Marshall was being so demanding. Apparently, he and Reza hadn’t talked, because Reza had the latest information about those packets—except for Sloban’s.

She tried to remember the compassion she’d felt when Reza had spoken about Marshall’s past, but instead all she felt now was irritation that Marshall was so hard and unforgiving. She flexed her fingers and started typing a response.

“Whoever pissed you off, it’s not really the keyboard’s fault.” Olivia stood in the doorway of her office. Her friend’s hands were bereft of her favorite mug.

She sucked in a deep breath. “Can I just complain for one hot second about how rude some of these guys are? And I quote: ‘your incompetence is impeding my ability to accomplish my mission.’”

“Someone needs some therapy chocolate,” Olivia said,
tsk
ing. “Who’s got you so pissed?”

Emily pointed at the computer. “Irritating captain of the day.”

“Obviously,” Olivia said dryly.

“What are you working on today?”

“About twenty-five legal reviews from the 3rd Cavalry Regiment. I’ve got a stack on my desk six inches high that’s only getting higher.”

“Can you see if you’ve got a packet on a kid named Sloban?”

Olivia nodded. “Sure, but shouldn’t that be with final review board?”

“It should be, but no one can seem to find this packet and it’s running up against the timelines from higher up.” Emily fired off a terse response to Captain Marshall.

She glanced at her watch, wanting very much to call Reza. A slow smile spread across her lips.

“You look like you have a juicy secret,” Olivia said, narrowing her eyes.

Emily burst out laughing, thinking about last night with Reza. “Maybe.”

“Wait a sec…You went to the range yesterday and never came back. You didn’t…” Olivia glanced over her shoulder then slipped into the office. “Spill in thirty seconds or less.”

“Yeah.”

“With Sarn’t Iaconelli?”

Emily bit her lips together and nodded. There weren’t enough words to express how knotted up everything was inside her. It was a good knot.

“And?”

“And what?” Emily asked.

“Okay, seriously? You have got to tell me more than that silly smile.”

“There’s not a lot to tell. He followed me home after the range and…yeah.”

“Wow,” Olivia said. “He made you speechless.”

Emily grinned. “Pretty much.”

“Oh, we’re going to have to talk later.” Olivia glanced at her watch once more. “Ah well, back to work. Want to get lunch later?”

“Maybe. I’ve got to tackle the triage now that it’s blowing up.”

“All right. Well, let me know.”

Olivia disappeared into the hallway, leaving Emily alone with her thoughts and her aching body. It hurt if she shifted wrong. A good hurt, a reminder that last night had actually happened instead of just being a really great dream.

Her phone vibrated on her desk and she answered it automatically. “Captain Lindberg, may I help you.”

“Captain Lindberg. It’s Sarn’t Iaconelli.”

Her blood warmed at the sound of his voice. “Hello, Sarn’t Iaconelli. What can I do for you today?”

“I wish I was calling for something other than business but sadly, duty calls. I wanted to give you a heads-up that Wisniak is on his way to your office. He’s been put on the duty roster and he’s freaking out about it.”

She heard a thousand unsaid things as she jotted down notes. “Why would he be upset about being put on duty?”

“You don’t really want my opinion on that,” he cleared his throat. “Just listen to what he says and keep in mind that he was assigned duty.”

She frowned, surprised and grateful that he wasn’t trying to argue with her again about Wisniak being weak or spineless.

“Okay. Thanks for the heads-up.”

“Sure.”

He hung up and left her feeling vaguely disappointed that he hadn’t called for pleasure. Her phone vibrated on her desk again and she looked down.

When can I see you again?

She smiled.

Reza finished reviewing the latest evaluation report, wishing that some of the sergeants in his platoon spent more time learning to read than shooting things on the range. Some of them could barely put together a coherent sentence and while Reza was a long way from being a Rhodes Scholar, he could at least figure out the difference between a noun and a verb. Most of the time, anyway.

He glanced at his watch, needing an update from Foster on Wisniak for the last ten minutes. Rage churned in Reza’s belly at the malingering sergeant. While Captain Marshall was doing everything he could to throw Wisniak out of the army, it grated on Reza’s last nerve that he had to send someone—again—to hunt Wisniak down.

He tried to consider Emily’s opinion on the kid, he really did. But now Wisniak had turned up missing again and the irritation was back in full force. Foster walked in and plopped into the chair on the other side of Reza’s desk.

“I am so sick of chasing this motherfucker down.” Foster took out a pack of dip and stuffed a wad in his mouth. “You using this?” he said as he grabbed the water bottle off Reza’s desk and promptly spit into it.

“Not anymore,” Reza said dryly. He kicked his feet up on his desk, knowing Captain Marshall would immediately go into labor with kittens if he saw him with his boots on the desk. Reza was beyond giving a shit. They sat in silence for a long moment.

“Do you ever think Wisniak wakes up in the morning and goes ‘man, I am a fucking sissy’?” Foster asked, fidgeting.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Reza asked when Foster couldn’t sit still.

“I was up all night drinking Red Bulls and playing
Call of Duty
.”

“Oh. Lay off the energy drinks, man. You look like a meth addict.” He sighed heavily, scrubbing his hands over his face, wishing he wasn’t familiar with what meth could do to someone’s life. “Anyway, I’m sure something like that goes through Wisniak’s head every time he falls out of a squad level run.” Reza wondered, though. What if he was wrong? An uncomfortable feeling settled around his shoulders, pressing down like a soaked wool blanket. “Man, why can’t we get him out sooner?”

“Beats the shit out of me,” Foster said. “Personally, I wish he would just go AWOL.”

“Bite your tongue. Do you know how much paperwork that is?” He didn’t want the damn kid to go AWOL. He just wanted him out of the army.

“Yeah, but then he’s gone and we don’t have to chase him down every time he doesn’t get his own way.” Foster leaned forward. “Do you realize this is the fifth time he’s been to the R&R Center this month? And he’s never pulled staff duty as long as I’ve been here.”

“He pulled it once when we first got back. Then he started having all these appointments.” Reza thought about all the times he’d had to change the duty roster to accommodate the Wisniaks while guys like Foster were left holding the bag. All the guys who couldn’t keep their shit together and pull twenty-four hour duty.

It burned that so many couldn’t pull their own weight. That they depended on others to do the basic things that kept the army running.

“You ever think about some of the shit we did downrange, Sarn’t Ike?” Foster’s question came out of a long lull of silence that had hung between them.

“Sure. Who doesn’t.”

Foster rubbed the bottle against his temple. “Sometimes I think being downrange is better than being home.”

“Don’t say that. At least at home, you’re not getting shot at.”

Foster coughed and the sound that came out of him sounded suspiciously like “bullshit.” “Whatever. I know you think about it.”

“’Course I think about it. I think about all of them.” Far too often. Sometimes he could still hear their voices in his head.

Foster spit into the bottle, his gaze distant and unfocused. “Yeah, well, the war sucks. I want to go back and blow something up.” He looked up at Reza. “I know that like half of them are your cousins and all but I really fucking hate Iraq.”

Reza flipped him off. “My mom was Iranian, shithead. Not every brown guy from the Middle East is an Arab.”

Foster grinned and things settled back to the normal they both knew. “Yeah, well, Iraq still sucks. Anyway. What’s on the honey-do list for today?”

“Head down to the clinic and see if you can’t find out who the review board person is in charge of Sloban and Wisniak.” He handed Foster the last known location of the missing packets and hoped that Foster could smooth talk one of the civilians down there into helping him out. “And they need to finish their processing over at the Copeland Center before their board files are complete.” Reza closed down his computer and stood up.

His cell phone vibrated in his pocket. Emily.

“Sarn’t Ike.”

“Reza?” Emily sighed and he heard the distress in her voice.

“What’s wrong?”

“I need someone from the chain of command down here immediately.”

He turned away from Foster, lowering his voice. “What’s wrong?”

“Can you come to my office?”

“Emily, am I the right person for this? If there’s something that needs to be reported, you need to go through the right channels.”

“I don’t know what the right channels are, Reza.” She sighed hard. “I need your help.” A whispered plea.

One he couldn’t turn down.

Emily stood the moment Reza walked into her office and closed the door behind him.

She didn’t expect him to cross that small space. Or to put his hands on her shoulders.

Or to see the worry in the dark lines beneath his eyes. “What’s wrong?” His voice was flat, calm, but laced with unspoken worry.

“I’m fine.” A single palm on his chest, her fingers pressing over his heart. “I have a situation that I don’t know how to handle.”

He took a step back and her skin protested the lack of warmth from his closeness.

“Why didn’t you ask your supervisor?”

“Because this involves an officer.” She lifted her gaze to his. “Your commander.”

She thrust a sheet of plain white paper at him. “Read it. Then tell me what to do.”

He scanned the handwritten notes quickly, then read it again. His jaw tightened as he read more slowly the second time and heat crawled up his neck. By the time he looked up at her, he radiated pure fury. “Are you kidding me?”

“I wish I was. It explains why Wisniak won’t pull duty and why he’s having such a hard time any time he’s around Captain Marshall and some of his minions.”

“Emily, he’s alleging he was hazed at the duty desk by Song and Peters, and Marshall knows?”

“It happens,” she said quietly. “The army isn’t immune to hazing.”

“I know that,” he snapped. “Marshall might be an asshole but he wouldn’t ignore something like this.”

“So you think Wisniak made all this up?”

Reza read the paper again. “Damn it,” he whispered. “You need to call the cops.”

“I don’t have to alert the chain of command?”

He shook his head and handed her back the paper. “Not in this case. They’ll find out soon enough. Call the cops. Make the investigation official.” He swallowed hard. “It’ll keep it from getting buried that way.”

Emily’s hands shook as she picked up the phone and dialed the MPs. Her voice wavered as she reported the information she had to the special investigator. The entire time, Reza stood big and steady in her office. He was furious. That much was obvious but she couldn’t figure out why.

She wanted to know. Wanted badly to ask. But she didn’t. Instead, she finished the report and hung up the phone. “The special agent will be by as soon as he can. Sadly, this is the fourth hazing incident reported on post this week.”

Reza released a sharp breath and some of the tension eased out of his shoulders. He crossed the small space, resting his hands on her shoulders. She needed the comfort of his touch.

“What happens now?” she whispered.

“Now I go brief the sergeant major and get Wisniak moved someplace where he’ll be safe.”

She frowned and he caught her. “What?”

“I didn’t think he mattered to you,” she whispered.

He lowered his hands and looked away for a long moment. “Maybe I’ve been going about this all wrong.” He met her gaze. “Maybe you’re right.”

“Reza.” He stopped near the door, his head bowed, his hand on the knob. “Do you believe him?”

“What I believe isn’t important.”

He closed the door behind him, leaving Emily alone with the feeling that she’d done something horribly, horribly wrong.

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

“Sarn’t Major, I would normally love to screw with you but not about something like this.”