He made his way over to her right breast, flicking her nipple with his tongue, watching her breath hitch as he did so.
He blazed a trail of kisses down to her navel, and he moved over to her hipbone. As he got closer to her core, he smelled her arousal, which only jacked him up even more. He bent her knee up and kissed her inner thigh, deciding a little more self-torture would do him good before he dived into his special treat.
“
Carajo
,” she said loudly when his tongue found its way to her swollen, wet center.
He groaned as he tasted her. She was simply delicious. He licked, swirled his tongue, and gently sucked on her. He slid one finger into her soft center, and a second. He found a slow rhythm with his tongue and fingers that had Maya breathing hard and fisting the comforter.
Her silken walls tightened around his fingers, and he swirled his tongue around her swollen nub one more time, taking it in his mouth.
“
Dios mio
!” she yelled as she orgasmed. He was relentless with his tongue and fingers, milking out every last tremor and shudder she had.
When she was finished, he stood and took off his pants. They dropped to the floor, and he looked at Maya for a moment. Her brown eyes glittered, and he was almost in shock that he was about to make love to her again. For the past nine months and some-odd days, he didn’t know if this day would ever come again.
He gently lay down on her, the anticipation of their joining causing constricted breathing. Kissing her, he urged her legs farther apart with his knee. Her arms wrapped around his neck as their mouths met, and he moved to enter her.
“No,” Maya said against his lips. He looked down at her, unsure if he had heard her correctly. Maybe she was speaking Spanish, some other word than what he thought she was saying. Well, he hoped so anyway.
“No,” she said again, her gaze meeting his.
Dammit all to hell and back. He had understood her right the first time.
Chapter Fourteen
As Landon rolled off Maya, tears stung her eyes and all her insecurities about him boiled to the surface.
She looked over at him. He lay on his back, his breathing labored with his arm over his eyes. She allowed her gaze to travel over his chest down to his lower stomach where his thick, long sex lay, ready to be used.
She supposed they should have had this talk before they ended up in bed, but apparently she hadn’t been thinking straight.
“Landon,” she whispered, lightly touching his ribs.
“What?”
She could hear the frustration in his voice.
“Landon, we need to talk about safe sex.”
He exhaled loudly and removed his arm from his eyes so he could see her.
“I know. I wasn’t thinking, Maya, and I’m sorry.”
“Neither of us were thinking, Landon. That’s what we do to each other. It is like our brains turn off when we’re together.”
He turned to his side and propped himself up on his elbow. Caressing the side of her face, he asked, “Should I go get condoms?”
Maya blushed. “Landon, I haven’t been with anyone. I tried to date while you were gone, but I ended up…how do you say…
vomitado
…throwing up in his car. I drank too much wine because I was so nervous.”
A huge smile made its way across Landon’s face, and then he burst out laughing. She grinned as he chuckled, and she didn’t know if she should be upset that he found her pathetic life so funny.
Finally, she smacked him in the arm. “It’s not funny, Landon." But she couldn’t help but giggle.
After a moment, he turned back to her. His eyes were glassy and sparkling with life. “I hate to say it, Maya, but that makes me really fucking happy.”
He gave her a quick kiss on the tip of her nose.
“What about you, Landon?” Maya hated that they needed to have this talk at all, but although she loved Landon, she needed to physically protect herself from diseases. She protected herself from pregnancy, but diseases were a whole different story.
As she waited for his answer, an answer she really didn’t want to hear, she was certain he would be truthful. Their time together had always been short and sporadic, but one thing they did always promise each other was honesty, and Landon was a man who honored his promises.
She steeled herself. The thought of him with another woman hurt almost as the thought of him dead.
“What about me what?” he asked, a small smile on his face.
“Landon,” she said in her best don’t-give-me-crap voice.
“No one, Maya. There hasn’t been anyone. I got drunk and tried once, but it didn’t work out so well.”
She nodded. “
Por qué
?”
He gazed at her face for a moment, and then looked down at his still very stiff sex. “My friend wouldn’t participate. He knows there’s no substitute for you.”
“Really?” She had never known Landon’s “friend” not willing to participate.
“Really,
chica bella
. Cross my heart, hope to die if I lie.”
It was her turn to laugh, and she did so out of pure joy. Landon was hers, and hers alone.
“It’s not funny, Maya.” There was a glint in his eyes. “It was a huge blow to my manhood.”
She continued to laugh.
“Maya!” He rolled on top of her.
“A big soldier like you doesn’t have problems with his manhood.” She cupped his sex in her hand. “You just need the right commander to tell you what to do with it.”
He closed his eyes for a moment and groaned, then opened them up again and kissed her nose. “I’m at your service, Commander. I’m very good at following orders.”
Her eyebrows arched as she studied him. “Well then.” Her voice was husky. She brought up her forefinger to his temple, and gently traced down the side of his face, to his collarbone. “I’ve got a list of missions that must be completed before morning. Are you up for it, soldier?”
He cleared his throat and smiled. “Yes, ma’am. I’m ready to fulfill all missions assigned to me. With pleasure.”
Chapter Fifteen
Landon woke the next morning, unsure of where he was, but expected to feel the crimps and kinks of being deployed and stuck in some barracks cot that didn’t meet his physical girth, or in a ditch he had dug the previous night.
He was surprised to find none of that.
Instead he registered the crisp morning ocean breeze, a soft bed beneath him, and a light sheet covering him. His feet were bare as they hung over the bed being caressed by air. And what was this next to him? She was soft and warm and smelled like vanilla….
Jolting upright, he was unable to accept his reality in his sleeping state. He took a look around and yes, the doors were open, and they invited in the cool ocean breeze. He did have a light cotton sheet at his waist, and the best thing was Maya lying next to him.
Sinking back down into the pillows, he wrapped himself around her. She sighed and curled into him.
After they had made love last night, he called room service and ordered two cheeseburgers and a bottle of wine, which they ate out on the deck while talking quietly. The ocean was a huge black mass in front of them, the tips of the waves looking like dancing diamonds as the moon reflected off them.
“How long will you stay?” she had asked in a quiet voice.
“I don’t know, Maya.” He had longed to tell her that he wanted out, but withheld the information, hoping that Marty would come through for him. “I know I at least have two weeks.”
“That’s it?”
“It could be longer. I just don’t know.”
At that point he had looked over at her and tears shimmered in her eyes under the moonlight.
“Aw, shit. Maya. Come here, honey.”
He pulled her over and sat her on his lap so that she straddled his legs and faced him. “We just have to make sure we don’t waste any time, okay?”
She gave him a sad smile, nodded and then whispered, “Each time you go away I’m so scared I won’t see you again.”
He hadn’t known what to say, because he simply couldn’t promise that she would see him again. If he did go back for one more mission, there could very well be a bullet out there with his name on it, ready to take his life. No, there were no promises to be made.
Instead he kissed her.
Snaking her arms around his neck, he let his hands travel up under his T-shirt she wore, feeling the gentle swell of her hips, her ribcage, and her breasts. His body responded with force.
After a moment, she had opened the bathrobe he wore and taken his sex in her hand, gently sliding herself down on top of it. She had been wet and smooth as silk.
As she rocked on him, she kissed him deeply, her hands going through the short strands of his hair, over his shoulders and back. Her hair tickled him as it cascaded down his chest. He did his own exploration under her shirt.
She looked at him, her hips moving faster, grinding against him. He had wanted to stand up and take her back inside, but he knew the sex was about control for her at that time. She had no control over his comings or goings, but she did have control at that very moment, and that was what she needed.
Crushing her lips to his, her nails dug into his shoulders as she came. He wasn’t far behind with an orgasm that had his hips bowing off the chair to get deeper into her. She fell against his chest, breathing heavily. He wrapped his arms around her and they sat in silence for a moment. Words weren’t needed for both of them to feel the love they had for each other.
“I’d like some more wine,” she had said sleepily, “and then I think I’m ready for bed.”
He carried her inside, and one more glass of wine later, both were sound asleep.
For the first night in months, he slept peacefully, without nightmares.
As he buried his face in her hair this morning, he let his hand travel over her shoulder and down her arm. He leaned back a little, and traced the bumps of her spine, and explored her hip. Pushing her hair aside, he gently kissed her spine, one vertebra at a time. She sighed and rolled to her stomach. He continued kissing her down the back of her legs to her toes, and back up again.
“I have to go to work, Landon,” she mumbled into the pillow.
“I know,” he whispered, letting his hand travel over her butt and down to her secret flesh. She groaned and spread her legs, giving him full access to her hot, slick center.
“I can’t be late,” she murmured.
“I know.”
He opened her legs farther apart with his own, and pushed himself into her. He closed his eyes for a moment. “Maya, I can’t get enough of you.”
She sighed, and he caught a small smile cross her sleepy face.
He began to move slowly, and she spread her legs more, allowing him deeper penetration.
“Landon,” she said as his weight settled on top of her and he kissed her neck. His hands moved down to the swell of her breast to her ribcage, his hips moving in a slow, languid rhythm. He shoved his hand in between the sheet and her body, and found where they were joined and gently rubbed her soft flesh.
“Landon.” She gasped, and then let out a groan of appreciation. “Landon, I need to go to work!”
“I know.” He kissed the side of her face. He took her earlobe between his teeth. “I just want to make sure you start your day off with a smile.”
Chapter Sixteen
And smile she did. She arrived at work after a quick run home to get her work clothes, and also pack a small bag so she could stay with Landon again.
Her mother had given her a knowing grin and asked when she and Landon would be coming for dinner. Maya thought about it a moment, and promised her mom it would be sometime soon. She needed Landon to herself for now.
At work, the spring break kids kept her busy, but she didn’t allow the stupid advances to sour her mood. Landon lay in a lounge chair across the pool from her, sometimes reading, sometimes watching her. She felt the heat of his gaze as she poured drinks. Every couple of hours he would make his way to the bar, ignoring the laughter of the college girls who watched him with wanton lust written all over their faces.
He was an impressive figure.
He strode up to her wearing a red bathing suit, his SEAL tattoo on his chest and the skull and cross bones on is shoulder making him look dangerous, yet very sexy. She bit her lip as he came toward her.
“Everything okay?” he asked quietly as he paid for his drink.
“
Si
.” She was unable to say much more as she watched his mouth and thought of all the wonderful things he could do with it.
“You know where I am if you need me,
chica bella
.”
She nodded.
When her shift was done and she had completed the turn over to the night crew, she looked up and saw him immediately. He wore a black tank top that hugged his strong body. He was still in his bathing suit, and also carried a small cooler. He flipped his glasses up to his head and his blue eyes seared her.
She walked toward him as if on a cloud, her footsteps as light as her mood.
She stood on her tip toes and he leaned down and met her lips for a kiss.
“Let’s go back to your room,” she whispered to his lips.
He smiled and shook his head. “Not yet. We’re taking another boat ride, if it’s okay with you.”
Disappointment surged, but then he grinned again, which let her know this wasn’t the same type of boat ride they had been on the night before.
“Okay,” she said. “I need to change.”
He shook his head. “You really don’t. You don’t need a pretty sundress where we’re going.”
He grasped her hand, and they walked down the stairs from the pool to the beach where the water taxis picked up the tourists and took them over to the harbor, where they had been the previous night, or over to Lover’s Island.
She had never been on one of these taxis, but had done her fair share of laughing at those trying to get on them. The boats were about twenty-five feet long. They bobbed up and down in the surf, and when the incoming waves crashed and the front of the boat dipped, it was a mad rush to get people onboard. The men usually made a run for it on their own, but the women were picked up and tossed in the boat before the next wave could come. As an observer, it was very funny to watch the whole debacle, but as someone participating in it, she wasn’t so sure she wanted to be thrown in a boat and she didn’t think the whole process was so funny now.