Page 72 of Warrior's Walk

I smile knowingly. “Yeah, we’ll see about that.” He doesn’t move his arm from my shoulders, and I’m in no rush to get up. “I’m sorry about today. I was sick with worry and slightly jealous.”

Riggs hums. “Just slightly?”

“I don’t like seein’ you get handsy and smiley with the other guys.”

“It’s kind of my job, so you’re going to have to work on it.”

I slide my leg over his thigh, turn into his side, and cup his cock. “Maybe that’s the problem. Maybe I’m not workin’ onitenough.”

“It?”he asks, smiling like he finds me funny.

“Mmmhmm. Definitely needs more work. Morepractice. So I have reasons not to worry so much.”

“Do you really worry that I’m interested in other men?” Riggs sounds skeptical.

“I don’t wanna lose the only thing that’s mattered to me for the last six months. Sometimes it feels like you’re the only thing keepin’ me going.”

“Rhett, that’s?—”

“Shhh.” I cut off his protestation with a kiss. I don’t wanna hear him spout nonsense about how I have to find a balance, how I have to rely on my peers and start therapy. I only wanna hear more of me and him. “I like it when you call mesoldier.”

I breathe the words over his lips, like a secret, and he swallows them and slides his tongue back into my mouth, wanting more.

His ambition doesn’t comeas a surprise, not with the way he’s been flirting with me. Rhett has made his interest in me known since the beginning. My concern is with how long it will last. Will he still want me after his leg heals? Will he still want me when his confidence returns? What about when he moves on from the Black Mountain Tavern to wherever it is he’s going next in life? Will he still want me then?

Would Rhett fight for me?

Could we weather a storm through thick and thin?

I guess we’ll find out because I’ve already decided to take a gamble on him. Onus.

I love the way he’s looking at me right now, with that heat in his eyes that almost turns them emerald. His wet hair appears even darker, almost black, and those dimples. Fuck me, those dimples. “Why don’t you sit on my lap, soldier, and practice on me?”

I can see his hand beneath the water, wrapping around his cock as he teases my lips. He’s going to leave marks on my neck. Rhett straddles my lap, facing me. He brushes his lips over mine, as soft as a whisper, teasing me with his kissable smile. A dark curl falls over his forehead. God, I could just buck my hips andpush right up inside him, grab onto his shoulders and fuck him hard and fast. I want to tear his neck up with my teeth and lips so that when he drops by Randall Mallory’s flight school, that fucker doesn’t get any ideas.

Rhett slides his thumbs over my nipples, teasing the hard peaks. The playful grin on his face tells me how pleasurable he finds it. He traces over the tat on my shoulder—two snakes intertwined over an M4 assault rifle capped with a white rose, my take on the caduceus, combining the combat medic and Army nursing symbols.

“I love this,” he murmurs, dropping his lips to my skin. He sucks hard, leaving a purple bruise over the black ink.

“Embrace the past, engage the present, envision the future,” I repeat from memory.

“The Army Nursing Corp motto,” he smirks. “I guess you could apply that to anythin’. Is that what we’re doin’? Engaging the present?”

“It doesn’t take a genius to envision the future,” I tease, playing along. “In about ten minutes, we’re going to end up in my bedroom.”

“You’re gonna make me wait ten more minutes?” He suckles the hollow of my throat, making my cock pulse like it has a heartbeat.

He has a point. Why wait? We both want this. With Rhett straddled across my hips, I stand, sliding my hands beneath his ass to support his weight. It’s an awkward struggle to climb out of the tub like this, but I want him in my arms. We trail through the open glass door, leaving a dripping mess in our wake as I head to my bedroom.

I drop Rhett on the bed, taking in his wet, sprawled, naked body. His skin is covered in tattoos and scars that tell the story of his life.

He’s beautiful. Gorgeous. Tempting as sin.

His shoulder sports the silhouette of a paratrooper with the double-A Airborne logo and motto, ‘All the way.’ It describes Rhett to a T. He’s all in with everything in life, all the way. No fear, no reservations, just balls to the wall.

Was I like that at twenty-three? Invincible? Before life kicked me in the ass and taught me to slow the fuck down.

“You gonna draw me, or fuck me?” His smart mouth begs to get stuffed.

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