Page 42 of Under His Command

Chapter 11

Cassie’s predictioncame true in the five interminable days and six excruciating nights that followed. The week dragged on as though it were a month. With Flynn covering someone else’s rotation, she didn’t know if it made it better or worse that she didn’t see him. By the time Saturday arrived, she was wired, and annoyed, he’d put them through this needless torture when he could have had her in his arms, and his bed, every night since Monday.

He wanted to give her time to make a lucid decision. Ha!

The only thing she could think about was his hands on her bare bottom, the taste of his kisses, and the very hard, very long length of him pressed against her belly. And his no-getting-herself-off rule hadn’t promoted clear, lucid thinking. On the contrary! She couldn’t focus on anything except seeing him, and how, if it didn’t happen soon, she would explode like a firecracker with a short fuse.

At the end of the utterly frustrating week, she once again found herself squirmingin the backseat of Colt’s Dodge Chargerand fussing with her indecently short skirt as they made their way north to LA.

“Shouldn’t we be there by now? How much longer?” she barked abruptly, as though her friend was her chauffeur.

“Since I said thirty minutes ten minutes ago, and twenty-five, five minutes after that, you finish the countdown, math whiz.”

Her head snapped up. Seeing her friend staring at her wide-eyed from the front seat while Colt frowned at her in the rearview mirror with waning tolerance, she realized how much she sounded like an ungracious, demanding brat.

“Sorry,” she murmured.

“You’re as wound up as a kid going on vacation,” Jules said with an understanding smile. “But you don’t need to apologize for being excited. I am, too, for you.”

“As am I, squirt,” Colt conceded. “I’m going ten over already to get you there in plenty of time.”

Her eyes homed in on the clock on the dash then flicked to the speedometer. “Good grief, don’t get a ticket and make us late. Flynn will think I’m not coming. Slow down!”

Colt growled as he eased off the gas, shooting a laser-sharp glare at her in the mirror, equal parts impatience and amusement. He glanced at his wife. “If the commander doesn’t paddle her ass tonight, I swear I’m going to because she’s driving me nuts.”

Julesstroked his arm gently. “She’s in love, babe. Remember how crazy we were when we first met?”

His hand covered hers, and with their fingers intertwined, he raised it to his lips. As he brushed her knuckles with a kiss, the look he sent her friend was so warm, it melted Cassie’s heart. That’s what she wanted with Flynn, and she was twenty minutes away from making it happen.

***

He checked his watchfor the tenth time in as many minutes, glaring at the damn thing as if it were responsible for time creeping by. It had been this way all week. He couldn’t count the times he’d grabbed his keys and was halfway to the door, on his way to her, before stopping himself. Distance brought clarity, he reminded himself, and he wanted her to be damn sure that he was what she wanted. They had too much riding on this to rush in, and because once he claimed her, he wasn’t letting her go.

On edge, he’d been extra tough on his men, joining them for many of the endurance drills not only to burn off frustrated energy but to end their bitching. He’d proven even at his age, which was almost twice some of theirs, he could cut it and wasn’t asking more out of them than he could do himself. Still, he’d had three candidates ring the bell, unable to take another day in the grinder. It wasn’t unexpected and probably for the best. If they couldn’t hack it now, they’d never survive hell week and its twenty-hour training days.

To Flynn, the past six days, while constantly wondering how Cassie would decide, had been an emotional hell week. He’d questioned the punishment he’d given her innumerable times, but it had served many purposes. He wanted to give her a sample of the dom she could expect. The caning, mild though it was, revealed his disciplinarian side and illustrated how her risky behavior over the past weekend would not fly with him—ever.

The kisses and the gentle touches they’d shared were intended to counteract the discomfort and show being with him wouldn’t be entirely about disapproval and discipline. That she seemed truly disappointed when he didn’t carry the scene out to its natural conclusion gave him hope she’d say yes with her attendance tonight.

If she belonged to him already, he would have taken her there on the window seat while her bottom still sizzled with heat. Then on the couch, over his desk, and against the wall, with her hands pinned above her head in one of his own. He would have loved to have her trembling and at his mercy as he teased and tormented her luscious body until she was begging him to fuck her. Those images had caused him many sleepless nights—not only during the past week.

Shutting it down when she wanted him had been one of the toughest things he’d ever done, and for a SEAL that was saying something. He’d suffered for it because his hard-on had gone unabated, not entirely, despite the brutal pace he’d set for his men. He’d fallen into bed each night exhausted, but even in sleep, his dick stayed hard, like it was now,waiting at the bar, consumed withthoughts ofher.

Choosing a spot with a clear view of the entrance, with each passing sweep of the second hand, he got increasingly tense. He knew it showed on his face when most of the other club members gave him a wide berth. Those unobservant few who got too close picked up on the waves of his mounting impatience and made a hasty retreat.

“Quit scowling, man. You’re scaring the members and costing me bar business.” Flynn didn’t so much as blink at Eric’s comment, his eyes remaining glued to the door. “You don’t honestly think she’ll refuse you and not show, do you?”

“No,” he said shortly, confident Cassie would make the right decision for them both. Nonetheless, in the back of his mind, the tiniest fraction of nagging doubt remained.

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