One Night of Pleasure: Military Romance Featuring a Sexy Navy Hero (Take a Chance Book 5) (6 page)

The ghost of a smile lifted one corner of his mouth.  “You never stop amazing me.  Like I said before, you’re brave and strong.  Now I can add compassionate and honorable to the mix.”

Heat spread across her face at his praise. Leaning forward, she brushed a kiss across his lips and said, “You can also add tired.  Do you think we can get some shuteye before we have to get up for tomorrow’s festivities?”

Mark had organized a beach volleyball tournament for the military men, women, and families in the area and she had agreed to play since she’d be down for the entire weekend.

“Sure,” he said, but the gleam in his eyes said sleep was not going to be the only thing going on in his bed in the next few hours.

They left the couch and walked to the bed hand-in-hand, but separated to go to opposite sides, disrobe, and then meet in the center of the king-sized bed.

Mark lay against the pillows, one hand tucked behind his head and the other one around Bridget.  She was tucked against him, her head resting on his chest and her thigh tossed over his, creating pleasant heat all along that side of his body.

As she rested there, she stroked her hand across his chest in a soothing motion and asked, “How did you get started in the security business?”

“By accident, really.  When I got out and came home, I didn’t really know what to do with myself.”

“I know the feeling.  If it wasn’t for you guys . . .” She didn’t finish, not that she had to since he understood completely.  It was a common feeling for many who had spent a large part of their lives in the service.

“While I was kind of aimless, I ran into an old Navy Seal friend, Adam Garcia.  Adam was setting up the business and asked me to be his partner.  Logistics was my thing so it was easy to get things running smoothly.  Adam was a restless spirit and hated the office work, so he handled the security and protection details.”

She leaned up on one elbow and looked at him.  “Was he there tonight?  I don’t remember meeting your partner.”

He shook his head.  “He never learned to handle being back on the block.  After a couple of years Adam sold me his share of the business and went off to be All-Action guy.  I tried to keep in touch, but he fell off the face of the earth.  Last I heard he was killed on some kind of assignment in Mexico.”

He had never forgiven himself for not being there for his friend.

She cupped his jaw and urged him to look at her.  “So that’s why you pay it forward.  Because he helped you, but you couldn’t help him.”

He nodded, grateful that she understood why he spent so much of his spare time helping his fellow vets.

She leaned close and whispered a kiss across his lips.  “You’re an amazing man, Captain.”

He smiled, cradled the back of her head and kept her close for a deeper kiss. One filled with gratitude and love.  When they broke apart, she tucked herself back against him and he said, “I’m glad I could help you feel more at home.”

Bridget definitely felt more at home with her new friends and with him.  In the first few weeks when she had been back, it had been a rough adjustment.  Life had seemed to be throwing everything at her, from finding a job and an apartment to getting back into school for the last few classes she needed for her engineering degree.

Becoming a part of Maggie’s circle of friends had brought some stability to her life, especially since they understood a great many of the emotions she was battling.

Meeting Mark had added another whole element to the mix.  She hadn’t really planned on being involved with anyone, but he was too hard to resist.  And now, lying beside him, it was easy to picture herself here with him every night.  Waking up beside him.  Maybe one day having a family to fill the home he had built with such care.

“I’m definitely more at home and in control.  I really need to be in control,” she said, maybe a little too vehemently.

He stroked his hand up and down her back, the motion soothing.  “I get it, Bridget.”

She murmured her agreement and closed her eyes, calm filling her thanks to his peaceful embrace.  As his breath slowed and sleep came to him, she let herself fall off into slumber and dreams of being with him again.

In her fantasies, her back was spooned against his front and his arms surrounded her and held her tight to his hard erection.

He plucked her nipples with his fingers and one hand drifted lower to part her center and caress her clit.

She moaned out loud and roused, only to realize that what she was feeling was far from a nighttime fantasy.

Chapter 8

“Mark?” she asked, her voice husky with sleep.

“Sssh, it’s just a dream,” Mark said as he stroked his fingers across the swelling nub of her clit and all along her center.  She was already wet and hot and all he could think about was slipping inside her.

He parted her nether lips and drove his fingers in, thrusting while he tweaked and tugged the sweet tips of her breasts.

She ground her hips against his cock and sucked in a hesitant breath, almost as if she was fighting the release he felt building inside her.  But then he remembered her last words just before they had drifted off to sleep.  How she had said she needed to be in control.

Applying gentle pressure on her shoulders, he urged her to face him.

“This is
your
dream, Bridget.  What do you want?”

Her body visibly shook and her half-lidded gaze dropped to his cock.  She licked her lips nervously and in soft tones said, “I want you to touch yourself.  And I want you to talk dirty to me.”

He didn’t know how he was going to manage to hold back with her watching, much less manage a word, but hell, if that’s what she wanted . . .

Reaching down, he fisted his hand around his cock and stroked himself.  Leaning close, he whispered, “I’m imagining it’s your hand around me, Bridget.  So smooth, but powerful.  Working me.”

He stroked up and down and as he did so, she hiked her thigh up over his and the smell of her arousal, the heat of her, was so strong that his cock swelled harder.  He jerked rougher and faster.  Moaned when she reached up and tweaked the taut nubs of her breasts.

“God, your tits are beautiful.  So perfect.”

“Do you want a taste?” she said, but even before he replied, she was moving closer and offering them up to him.

“Fuck, yes,” he said and worked himself more insistently.

“Not yet,” Bridget said, kind of liking being in charge.

She shivered at the sight of him touching himself, his big hand wrapped around his thick long cock.  His erection gloriously flushed and engorged.

She cupped his balls.  They were tight and hard and he groaned and stroked even faster as she massaged them in her hand.

“Talk to me, Mark,” she said, her voice shaky and her insides vibrating with so much need that she had to caress her clit to satisfy the urge.

“Fuck, Bridget.  I can’t think when I see you playing with yourself like that.  I can’t hold back much more,” he said as the first hint of pre-cum glistened on the head of his dick.

“I want you inside me, Mark.”  She brushed away his hand and wrapped hers around his erection, guiding it to her center.

“I need to get – ”

“You said you were safe.  I’m safe, too.  I want to feel all of you inside me.”

He shuddered and in a strangled whisper said, “Are you sure, Bridget?”

“I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life, Mark.”

With a husky moan, he rolled her beneath him and entered her with one sharp move, skin slick against skin.

“Ah, God, Bridget. That’s – ”

“Incredible,” she said on a long breath and arched her back to increase his penetration.

“No, don’t, babe.  I’m going to lose it.”

She looked up at him.  His arms were braced on either side of head, holding his weight off her.  The strain showed in the chiseled muscles of his arms and chest.  She ran her hands along his chest and fingered the tight nubs.

He huffed out a pleased sigh and she leaned up on one arm and suckled him, earning another satisfied sound.

“Come with me, Mark.  Please,” she said and bit his chest gently.

His groan this time was low, long and so intense, the vibration ran through her and into him.  He shifted his hips, pulling out before driving back in, so forcefully he moved her up on the bed and wrenched a gasp from her.

He stilled.  “Sorry.  I don’t want to hurt you.”

She smoothed her hands across his shoulders and locked her gaze on his.  “I’m strong, remember?” she teased and grinned.

“Damn straight,” he said with a chuckle and let loose his restraint.

He retreated and then entered her again, each thrust building the heat between them until her body shook from the release growing inside her.  She raised her knees and cradled his hips, pushing off with her feet and increasing the depth of each plunge of his hips.

He murmured her name, the tones of his voice low and urgent, as he built the passion between them, the movement of his hips faster and more determined.  Untamed and unrelenting until her climax smashed into her.

She arched her back, called out his name, and bit her fingers into his shoulders, holding on as wave after wave of pleasure washed over her body.  As the slick slide of his cock fought against the friction of her contracting around him, caressing him.

Mark closed his eyes against the sight of her, lost in her passion.  She was so beautiful and he wanted to bring her even more pleasure.  He gritted his teeth and moved in her again, almost lost in the amazing feel of her pussy against his bare cock.  Slick and sizzling.  So snug and accepting of him as he pumped into her again and again, extending her climax.

He experienced intense pleasure of his own at the feel of her and the sounds she made, calling his name.  A rough sigh and sharp cry as another orgasmic blast exploded through her.

Against his dick her body constricted around him, the tension so powerful that he couldn’t stop his own release.  He ground into her deeply, spilling his seed inside her.  His empty dead seed.

The pleasure that swamped him was a turbulent mix of passion, regret, and hopefulness.

As he dropped onto her, spent, she wrapped her arms and legs around him, trying to calm him, as if sensing the turmoil within him.

Long moments passed as they lay there, entwined.  Their bodies slowly returning to normal, although he knew his life would never be normal again.  She had touched his heart and opened up the corners of it he had closed off.  The hidden spaces filled with thoughts of what he had wanted in life, but could no longer have.

He locked away those thoughts again and slipped from her and to his side, but she didn’t leave him.  She tucked herself tight to his side again and stroked her hand along his chest, trying to comfort him.

“Don’t shut me out, Mark,” she said and leaned up on her elbow to gaze down at him.

As much as he wanted to let her in, he knew doing so would only bring them both a world of hurt.

“It’s almost time to get up.  I’m going to make us some breakfast,” he said and bolted from the bed.

Chapter 9

Mark snagged a pair of jeans from a recliner a few feet from the bed and hopped from one foot to the other as he escaped the room.

And me
, Bridget thought.

She’d sensed his withdrawal, physically and emotionally.  As much as she had wanted this to be only one night of pleasure when the evening had started, sometime during the night it had become about more for her.  She wanted to get to know him better.  Wanted to think it could become something permanent.

Something where they could share many more nights of pleasure.

But judging from Mark’s rush from the room, he might not be feeling the same.

Unexpected pain filled her chest, but she told herself to suck it up and be the strong and in control woman she claimed to be.

Because she sensed he needed a little time to himself, she took her time washing up and took the liberty of peeking into his chest of drawers to borrow a t-shirt.  It swam on her and reached to mid-thigh.

Enough coverage for now, although she’d have to put on something else for the trip back to the hotel.

The smell of bacon wafted up the stairwell as she reached the second floor and she heard him puttering around and then speaking to someone in a soft crooning voice.

As she reached the kitchen, she realized he was kneeling down by the French doors that were open and led to the garden.  She walked closer as he said, “Hey, Slate. Good to see you, buddy.”

She walked to stand next to him where he was busy stroking the belly of a runt of a grey cat.

“Is he yours?” she asked and bent down beside him.  The cat was in obvious ecstasy judging from the loud purrs and she understood.

Mark’s hands were dangerously sexy weapons.

Down girl.

“Slate doesn’t really belong to anyone.  He just comes and goes as he wants,” he said.

Like the people in his life.  Like his ex-fiancée and the parade of women she’d heard about.

The cat seemed to have had enough of his loving.  With a shake of its head and genial swipe of its paw, Slate ambled out the open French door and scampered away.

They rose together and she tugged on the fabric of his t-shirt.  “I hope you don’t mind.  I didn’t want to do the walk of shame this morning when I go back to the hotel.  Besides, if Maggie finds out, I’ll never have a moment of peace.”

He offered a wry grin and took hold of her hands.  “Why’s that?”

“Because all I’ll hear from her is ‘I told you so.’”

His grin broadened and he gave her hands a playful shake.  “Maggie thought you and I should get together?”

“Yep.  She thought we’d be a good match,” she said, but the light in his eyes dimmed a bit and he looked away.

“I’m not sure I’m a good match for anyone.”

She cradled his jaw and urged him to face her.  “Maggie would say ‘I’m calling bullshit on that.’  Look at this house. 
Your
cat. You want so much, but you’re afraid because of your ex.”

“And you’re not afraid?” he challenged with an arch of one brow.