Page 15 of Hazard

She was trying to forget all about the way she had felt when he’d touched her to take a bite out of her hard-won cupcake. Those straight, beautiful teeth of his, flashing white, the hard, so sexy line of his jaw, and the way those eyes had told her he wished he was setting those teeth against her skin. She closed her eyes for a moment, trying to dispel that weakness. She didn’t have time to dally with any man, and certainly not one who kept challenging her every step of the way. A man in uniform to boot. Not on her life would she want to go through what she had gone through with Jamie. Private First-Class James Summerfield, USMC. Deceased and buried in Cambridge, his hometown. With his death went all her hopes and dreams and she would never let a man do that to her again.

The pain had dulled with time but surfaced now for the second time in less than two days, her regret poignant, and she learned the hard way never to put all her eggs in one basket. Better to struggle alone than to open herself to heartache.

And being alone was by design. She hadn’t pursued a real relationship with anyone, just casual sex to satisfy that ache, but after all the work she was doing at her job, even that had been a long time ago.

None of that—the fear of pain or the lack of time—prevented her from thinking about it. Or looking. Or fantasizing. No red-blooded woman could look at Hazard and ignore just how devastatingly gorgeous the man was. And sexy. And so incredibly hot. Archer Booth was all male, from his thick tousled dark blond hair to those wide shoulders of his, to his lean hips and powerful thighs… and certainly everything in between. But he was always so tough or distant with her. She expected after the Great Cupcake Debacle that distance was nothing but a smokescreen. She wasn’t deterred from thinking about him as a man instead of a SEAL, her bodyguard and she suspected he had some delicious thoughts of his own.

She wasn’t thinking straight. She knew she wasn’t. She was so damned tired, and not just her body and mind, but her heart as well. Her mother had dredged up so much with her manipulations and her harsh words. She never curbed them, and Leigh had never felt so unloved in her life. Why would she repeat that disaster with Rodney? When she compared him in his thousand-dollar shoes and perfectly creased pants sitting politely on her mother’s dainty chair to rough-and-tough Hazard, she couldn’t help grinning. He was just the male counterpart of her mother...if you could call him that. He certainly wasn’t the man for her.

She felt so disoriented, heartsick, her doubts and anxieties in full force. Too many nights of work and not enough sleep. But she had read David’s email over so many times, trying to decipher if he still had confidence in her ability to bring in Angel Alzate. That’s what had prompted her to demand to be sent here to Colombia where she would be in charge of the mission on her terms. She had the best win rate in her district office. Certainly, that stood for something.

The past and present twined in her mind like vines, twisting, clinging vines tightening so hard around her mind that she couldn’t think straight. “Put me down!” she demanded again, but he remained stoic. A door opened and closed, and she found herself chucked unceremoniously on her bed with him pulling off her right boot.

She kicked out at him and scrambled across the mattress.

“Leigh, stop being so difficult. Your health is not something to fuck around with.”

“Oh, that’s rich coming from a man who’s trained to go beyond his limits with his combat breathing and sleeping. Don’t judge me.”

“I’m not judging you. Why the fuck would you say that?”

She wasn’t in charge right now and she couldn’t stand it. She hated to be managed. That’s what her parents had done to her all during her formative years, and even when she complied, it was never enough. He might say that, but how could she be sure he wasn’t judging her. She wanted to lash back. She couldn’t help herself. She just went off on him. “You’re being high-handed, and pushy.”

“That doesn’t answer the question, but I don’t care. Go to bed.”

He was right, but she was irrational, angry, experiencing strange longings, memories that all of a sudden haunted her with the kind of pain that seemed so fresh. Why couldn’t she have what she wanted? What she really wanted, as all that got muddled in her attempt to argue with only two active brain cells. She just reverted to petulance. “No.”

“When was the last time you had a full night’s sleep?”

She reached for the answer to throw it in his face, but then stood there blinking like an idiot. She had no idea. Her life had been nothing but work, so much work.

Years of work.

She bit her lip until she tasted blood, fighting furiously to hold back the tears that gathered in her eyes and clogged her throat. For most people that would be such an easy question.

Weakness surged into her like a tide, and she fought the urge to sink against the wall and sob. The tears choked her. The weakness sapped the stability from her knees. But before she could even fathom if she was going to just crumple, Hazard was there.

He wrapped his arms around her, supporting her. He was solid, the kind of foundation that was like bedrock. His strength startled her, not only the kind of body that could be called an immovable object, but one that was honed to take on any enemy—in this case, her stupidity in not getting the kind of rest she needed to effectively handle this investigation and subsequent takedown of Alzate.

Unable to drag her eyes away from his determined face, a swell of unexpected longing clogged her chest, overshadowing everything in her mind. Her heart stalled, and she saw past that arresting face to the kind of man who fought for strangers, who ran into bullets, who put his life on the line for his team and his country. The kind of man who would shield her from all harm, protecting her with his own life if need be. Unadulterated masculinity with an aura of courage, confidence, and selflessness. All of those revelations magnified his physical power, his riveting sexual intensity, his quiet air of assurance, a strength of character that made him who he was.

Something deep and needy washed through her, a sensual recognition of the man he was. With a feeling that seemed as bedrock-hard as his demeanor, she realized that she could trust him, and with that simple truth, he knocked through the barriers she’d spent years building as if they were made of nothing but glass. That recognition made her chest ache even worse, the ache blinding her, trying with all her might to put things into perspective, but whether it was the fatigue or the sheer, overwhelming quality of his capacity to give, she just didn’t know.

That forbidden door in her mind slammed open, and his warmth wrapped around her, making her feel more protected than she had ever felt in her life. Every encounter she’d ever had with him had been laced with their chemistry, but just sex wouldn’t have cut it with her. There was more here, so much more, and she wasn’t sure she had the courage to pursue it.

A sob slipped out.

Tightening his hold, he pressed her gently against the wall, giving her two solid bulwarks, one against her back, such a metaphor for him having her back, and clinging to him, her whole body now vibrating with need.

His breath was warm against her neck as he pressed his face against hers. “Hey, it’s okay. You can be pissed, and you can cry all you want,” he whispered, his voice husky. “But you’re not going to chase me away or make me change this assignment. Just give in, Leigh. It’s easy.”

Give in…it’s easy… Nothing was easy with him, not the feelings that had manifested for him, ones she’d denied over and over, or his hard, beautiful body, or his exacting sense of duty.

He was so big and tall, she felt incredibly delicate and feminine as he held her. For the first time in her life, she had to admit that he was as honest and real as it got. He made her realize everything that was missing from her other relationships—she didn’t intimidate him…at all. Whether she would admit it or not, she loved that about him.

She looked up into those compelling blue eyes, silvery and intense, and she just reacted without thought or consequence. She skimmed the pad of her thumb over his full bottom lip, aching to kiss him. Realizing she’d been aching to kiss him for a long time. His body tensed as she leaned into all that hard muscle and hot man, encouraged by the way he sucked in a sharp breath.

Her mouth found his exquisitely soft mouth, such a contrast to his hard body, and she pressed her lips against his, seduced by not only that raw, powerful masculinity but simply by him.

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