“He’s your army buddy, right?” Risa asked.
“Yes, and I should warn you women. Ace is a bit of a ladies’ man.”
“This lady’s got her man already.” Sienna pulled Legian’s head down for a sultry kiss.
“And this lady’s man will kick any other man’s ass who thinks to make her his,” he added after coming up for air.
A deep chuckle came from the front seat. “I’ll enjoy watching that, my man.”
Sienna glanced in Nalea’s direction, expecting her to retort with a smart-ass comment. Instead, the woman remained quiet while she looked out the window. Her thoughts seemed to be far away, and Sienna mentally kicked herself for not tracking her down back at the base. The woman needed to get out of her slump. Ever since the base attack, she’d been moping. What had happened to set her friend off?
“So, Lea,” Sienna said. “If I remember right, we’re due for a girls’ night involving some wine you’ve been hiding in your room.”
Nalea smiled in response, snapping back to reality. “The wine’s still there, safe and sound.”
“Then it’s a date.”
“Are there pillow fights involved in this girls’ night?” Jax asked with a shit-ass grin.
Risa smacked his arm with a grin.
Sienna smiled sweetly. “Maybe. It depends how long it takes to clean up after the baby oil wrestling. That reminds me, I need to grab my red string bikini while we’re here.”
“Can I watch?” Jax asked.
“Not on your life,” Legian cut in. “Only
tahren
are allowed to watch.” His lips traced her ear as he whispered, “And I would like to watch that very much.”
The whisper sent a shudder through her body, and she lovingly pushed against him. “Men. Doesn’t matter what world you’re from. You’re all so easy to play.”
“We’re here,” Jax called out from the front, his voice turning soldier-serious in a split second.
The conversation over, she looked out the window, and her heart gave a little jump. Home. Only it wasn’t home. Not anymore. Sienna never thought she’d see the place again. She hadn’t realized how much she missed normalcy until Jax pulled up to the rustic cabin. The place looked exactly how she left it. God, she couldn’t even begin to fathom how homesick the Sephians must be, knowing they never would see their home again.
Sienna stepped out of the SUV and inhaled the forest air. It was cool, laden with woodsy scent of evergreen. Spring was beginning to show its blooms with winter still hanging on for all it was worth. She walked around the matching SUVs already parked nearby. One of the perks of being a top dog was having resources at her beckoned call to get to the cabin early to cook, clean, and most importantly, prepare security. A girl could get used to that kind of special treatment.
The general and others weren’t scheduled to arrive until twilight, when the Sephians could cope without dark glasses. She wanted to come early to have some time at the cabin before the party started. But as she stepped through the door, a bustle of activity filled the small space. There hadn’t been this many people here since the construction crew who built the cabin.
With her mother off touring the world, she’d never found the time to see the house her daughter built for herself. Not that Sienna didn’t expect that. Kat had always made it clear that work was more important. Sienna loved her mother. That was never a question. But her mother wasn’t of the warm and fuzzy variety. She believed good parenting involved exposing children to the ugliness in the world by the time they could walk.
Once she hit eighteen, her parents were more than ready to ship her off to college. She wanted to stay with them and join their humanitarian crew. They had different ideas. They seemed to think college was a necessity. Considering her an adult, they put Sienna on the first flight back to the States. It was their signature don’t-let-the-door-hit-you-on-the-way-out move. Tough love.
She may not have had a loving childhood, but for the first time in her life she was thankful for her parents. They taught her life was tough. They pounded it through her head that there was life beyond the stars. What would have happened to Legian if he crashed in a skeptic’s back yard? And she’d learned one critical thing while raising herself out of a suitcase: no matter what happened, she could deal with it. It was a lesson she would use over and over again with the Sephians.
She felt Legian behind her before his touch. That was one of the most amazing things about
tahren
. She could feel him. And right now, the only feeling she was getting from his was pure, all-embracing love. Exactly what she needed.
“You are my rock,” she murmured and he wrapped his arms around her.
“I don’t understand the statement. I don’t consider myself like a stone, although parts of me become hard as one.”
She twirled in his arms to find his naughty smile and rubbed against him. “I think said body part is proving that point as we speak.”
“Let’s go for a walk.” He gruffly took her hand and dragged her cave-man style outdoors.
They walked past at least a dozen guards on their way through the woods, not stopping until they were sure they were alone. Then, suddenly impatient, they pulled and tugged off each other’s clothes. As they kissed, his thumb traced up her thigh. He flicked her clit, toying with her for a moment before plunging a finger inside her. She let out a gasp, which his kiss swallowed. A second finger joined the first, and he thrust inside her. She found herself moving against him, opening up to take more.
She reached out and gripped him. He groaned, his cock twitching at her touch, and she smiled. He was hers. She stroked him once. Then another. He pulled out of her, and she whimpered. With stares locked, he lifted her just enough to bring her back down to take him completely inside her. She moaned, his hands tightened on her hips. “Legian …”
“Yes.” His sandpaper voice only amped up her need.
“Fuck me. Now.”
Then, oh God, did he ever. He never took his eyes off her. His cock stretched her, but the tightness felt glorious. Sienna grabbed his shoulders and held on tight as he thrust into her. Her legs wrapped around him, he drove deep, over and over until she could no longer focus. Somehow he managed to keep the rhythm as she tossed her head back and free-falled into a climax that brought forth a throbbing burst from Legian’s shaft as he came with her.
She collapsed onto him. He shuddered, holding her against him as she came back down from the rush. She held onto him for minutes, dropping light kisses on his shoulder until he finally lowered her gently to the ground.
Sienna pressed a hand against a tree and sighed. “I supposed we have to head back.”
Legian nodded. “Soon.”
She smiled as she pulled out her Swiss Army knife and went about carving their initials into the tree. When finished, she closed the blade. “There. I never want to forget this spot.”
“I assure you that I’ll never forget,” he replied as he pulled on his pants.
She was so busy admiring his physique, it took her three attempts to pull on her cargos right. Nearly an hour later, they sauntered back into the cabin hand in hand.
Nalea winked at her. “You still have a branch in your hair.”
Sienna shrugged. “I guess I better take a shower.”
“I’ll join you,” Legian said.
“As long as you behave,” she replied, nudging her nose against his neck.
“Nice to see you two lovebirds could make it,” Jax asked, walking from the kitchen, eating a real, honest-to-goodness cheeseburger.
Her stomach growled, and she grabbed the half eaten burger from his hand.
“I was eating that.”
She took a big bite of the juicy burger. “Perks of leadership,” she said with a very full mouth.
He shrugged, walked back into the kitchen, returning seconds later with another burger. “The security perimeter has been set up. We have full video. Had it three hours now.”
She stopped chewing and swallowed with a loud gulp. “Uh, how far out does the perimeter go?”
He smirked. “Far enough to see which tree you carved your names into.”
Her cheeks heated into a full blush. They had been bare-ass naked when they carved their names into that old pine. Legian wrapped his arm around her. She could tell he wasn’t the least bit bothered. In fact, he had the balls to smile. A full out yeah-I-nailed-that grin. She let out a drawn out sigh and started to walk down the hallway. Sephians had no problem whatsoever with PDA. “As I said before, men are hopeless.”
• • •
Another hour later — because Legian definitely did not behave in the shower — Sienna reached for the doorknob, poised for the meeting. She paused. Looked around.
Nothing had changed. Everything looked exactly as she’d left it. Surprising, since Jax’s unit — and no doubt the police — had rifled through every square inch of the cabin. Sienna opened the small wood box on the dresser and pulled out the silver charm bracelet. A charm for every trip she and Bobby had taken, a charm for every special occasion. Only a couple of the links had charms. Their time had been cut far too short. When he died, she thought she had, too. Maybe that was the real reason why she built a cabin so far out in the woods. To die alone, hollow.
And then everything changed. Life went on. She found out her heart was capable of love again. She found out she hadn’t died with Bobby. She had plenty of life left. It had just been buried until grit and grime.
“Ready for this?” Legian asked as he came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her.
She placed the bracelet back in the box and closed it. Closed it on her past. She wrapped her arms around her future. “Yeah, I’m ready.” She turned around and kissed him. “You make one hell of a stress reliever.”
He chuckled a deep, sensual purr near her ear. “Good. Then I’m doing my job.”
“And you get a gold star for a job well done.” She smoothed her hands down her loose linen sweater and khaki cargos before reaching for the doorknob again. “Let’s do this.” She took a deep breath and stepped into the hallway.
A fire was lit in the airy living room, giving the cabin a comfortable, homey feel. Apolo had been right. Her cabin was a perfect location for this meeting. You couldn’t get more human than a cabin.
“Hey, Sienna.”
She turned to see Nalea standing near her. “Didn’t see you.”
“The humans will be any minute, but there’s still no sign of Apolo. Have you heard from him?”
Sienna grabbed her phone, even though Apolo had never called her on it before. No missed calls. “No one’s heard from him?”
“I’m afraid not. He’s usually early to all functions.”
At that moment, Apolo’s SUV pulled into the drive, and Sienna rushed out to meet them.
The back door of the SUV swung open, and she grabbed it. Apolo and his new trinity looked pissed off but otherwise unharmed. “Where have you been?”
Apolo motioned toward the front of the vehicle. “Bente got us lost.”
“Fucking address isn’t on the nav system,” Bente spewed out as he stalked past her.
She smiled and caught up with Ben. “You could fly light years through space and find a wee little planet in the middle of the universe, but you couldn’t find a cabin in the woods less than fifty miles from the base?”
“Kiss off,” was the Sephian’s reply, and he opened the screen door, letting it snap back shut in front of her. Bente wasn’t exactly a gentleman. He could make bad guys in the movies look warm and cuddly. Then again, she guessed that trait would’ve been pretty useless growing up during a war. No wonder he was so popular with Sephian women. If he wasn’t there to kill you, a girl could feel pretty safe with him around.
She caught the door before it smacked her in the face. “Mature, Ben. Real mature.”
“What the hell kind of food is this?” Bente grumbled from the kitchen, and she walked toward his voice.
He was holding a cheeseburger in one hand, examining it like it had wiggled.
“It’s called food. And trust me, our guests are going to like these a whole lot better than the moldy hinds you like so much,” she said with a visible shudder.
“
Mulhean,
” Legian corrected irritably.
“Blah, blah, blah,” she replied, shooing him away as she walked back into the living room. Legian sat on the couch, and she grabbed her new favorite seat — his lap.
“Is Apolo okay?” he asked just as the Sephian leader, well, co-leader, stepped through the door.
“Fine,” she murmured and leaned back against Legian’s chest.
Nalea looked up from her chair by the window, and came to her feet. “You made it.”
Apolo grimaced. “Yes, just some minor delays. Any word from our guests?”
“Ace says they’re a mile out,” Jax replied.
“Your father coming?” she asked.
Jax nodded tightly.
“How’s that going?”
“It’s going.”
She knew he’d spoken with his father and CO to get approval to serve on her trinity. She thought a position like that would help melt the ice around his father’s heart.
Guess not.
She opened her mouth to say something, but Jax lifted his hand, cutting her off.
“They’re driving in now.” Then Jax stepped outside without another word.
“Game on.” She hopped off Legian’s lap, turned and gave him a quick kiss, and followed Apolo outside.
Several black Hummers pulled in a semi-circle around the front of the cabin. Men poured out of the SUVs.
She recognized General Jerrick and Major Sommers right away. A couple of suits walked with them, and they were all protected on all sides by soldiers in two different types of uniforms. American and British.
Jax stepped up to them first. His father gave him a hard look, and in return he gave his father a sharp salute. The older man returned it with a haphazard salute before walking away from his son. The crowd moved toward them, with the general at the helm. He stopped feet away.
Sienna nodded to each in turn. “Good to see you again, General. Major.”
The general held out his hand, which she accepted. “Congratulations on your promotion, Commander Wolfe.”
“Thank you.”
He turned to Apolo. “Commander Apolo. I can only hope that tonight’s meeting is less exciting.”