Page 20 of Snowed in with My Protector

What I intend to be a soft and sweet kiss, she comes alive when our lips meet. I pull her to straddle my lap. The gasp she lets out when she feels how hard I am for her, I growl against her lips.

“I’m always hard around you, Beautiful,” I groan as she grinds down against me.

When she arches her back, her hard nipples dig into my chest. Just as I’m about to pull her shirt off and bury my face in the valley of her breasts, her stomach growls. The way she jerks back, her eyes wide and her cheeks pinking in embarrassment, makes me grin.

She presses her hands against her belly and looks down with a scowl. “Way to embarrass me stomach,” she scolds her body.

I throw my head back and laugh, my heart feeling lighter than it has in years. Being around this woman is good for me. I’ve never been around someone whose presence is healing.

The yelp she lets out and her arms wrap around my neck when I stand up with her still in my arms. I don’t let go of her until I sit her down on the kitchen counter.

“Let me feed you,” there’s a teasing lilt to my voice as I wiggle my eyebrows at her. She groans and buries her face in her hands. I pull them away and shoot her a look as I shake my head. “Don’t hide from me, Fallon. It’s my pleasure to take care of you.”

Her voice is small and curious, “Is it wrong that I like it as much as I do?”

“Nope.” I grin and wink before kissing her again, this time keeping it short.

When she slides off the counter, I make a sound of displeasure in the back of my throat. She sasses me, “What? I want to take care of you too.”

Fuck.

“When you put it like that…,” I let my words trail off and kiss her forehead.

Working with her to make dinner should feel strange, but it doesn’t. We move around each other with easy and it feels like we’ve been doing this for far longer than a matter of days. It feels like we’ve stood side by side forever.

It’s nice.

It’s terrifying.

While it’s not easy, I push away the feeling of not being good enough even as it tries to well up inside of me. I know I need to share more with her, she hasn’t been afraid to be vulnerable with me.

Losing her mother shaped her into the woman she is, and she opened up to me honestly. She deserves the same thing from me.

Even though it’s difficult.

Even though I don’t want her to be able to see my weaknesses.

“I wasn’t planning on leaving the military,” I admit softly. Her movements pause for a moment before she just makes a humming sound to let me know that she’s listening. “It was my intention be a career soldier.”

“What changed?” Her question is a gentle prod, but there’s no judgement in her voice, only curiosity.

“My contract was coming up and I knew it and was planning to stay in,” I start. “Then we were sent out on a mission. It went sideways fast. I don’t know if it was the intel we had or what went wrong, but it was too much.”

“You lost people?”

I swallow hard and nod. When I glance at her, she’s pale, and my mind immediately goes to her brother. I want to kick my own ass. “Fuck,” I groan, “I don’t want to worry you.”

She shakes her head. “This isn’t about me, Hutch. You are allowed to have your own reasons for choosing discharge. I want you to be able to share that with me, in whatever way you’re comfortable.”

I wrap an arm around her waist and pull her against my chest. “I don’t want to make you more afraid for your brother. It can’t be easy being the loved one at home.”

“It isn’t, but that doesn’t mean I’m not proud of my brother.” She pauses, her eyes wide and filled with vulnerability. “And you.”

“Beautiful,” I growl.

I kiss her hard, wanting her to feel just how much her words mean to me. Joining the military was a hard sell for both my parents, but I wasn’t going to be dissuaded. Because neither one of my parents wanted me to join up or understood my decision, they’ve never told me they were proud of me.

“You’re so damn good for me,” I whisper against her lips and feel hers curve into an answering smile.

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