“Don’t tell him anything about Afghanistan,” she said, hearing the plea in her own voice.
“Why not?”
“Because the moment he gets what he wants out of you, you’re expendable.”
He made a sound that could have been a harsh laugh. “That’s just great.”
“Don’t forget that. He’ll act like he’s your friend, but you can’t trust him.”
He raised up, his face inches from hers. “Did you really come here just to talk?”
Before she could figure out how to answer, he rolled toward her again and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her tight against his body.
Apparently, he didn’t want to deal with the disturbing conversation. And he’d thought of a more pleasurable activity.
She should push away from him. But she craved the contact as much as he did. And when he tipped her chin up, she was helpless to do anything besides let him bring his mouth back to hers for another searing kiss.
There was only one man who had kissed her like that, and it was Cash Baker. And then he had walked away.
Of course, he hadn’t wanted to. She had comforted herself with that undeniable truth. He’d been scheduled to report to boot camp. And there was nothing he could do about it because he’d be AWOL if he didn’t show up. Still, he could have tried to contact her after basic training, and he hadn’t done it.
She’d waited weeks to hear from him, and she’d been devastated that he hadn’t called. Later she’d thought maybe she should have been the one to reach out. But she’d been too proud and too hurt to ask why he’d walked away from what they’d found together. And too immature and unsure of herself to go after what she so desperately wanted.
But none of that had stopped her from volunteering for this assignment—even when they had laid out all the details so she would know how much danger she was in.
Maybe she secretly thought this was her second chance. And she wasn’t going to blow it this time.
She didn’t want to think about her motives too deeply. Not now. Instead, she focused on the kiss. Letting it consume her. Which wasn’t difficult. Not at all.
He had been the aggressor a few minutes ago. This time she gave as good as she got, feasting from his lips, then deepening the kiss, her tongue exploring his mouth the way he’d explored hers and sliding tantalizingly against his tongue.
She couldn’t see him with the light off, but she reached to touch his face, stroking her fingers over the familiar contours of his brows, his cheeks, his nose.
She felt him smile against her mouth, then turn his head so he could nibble at her earlobe, then her jaw and finally her throat. So, he remembered how much she liked that!
She arched her neck, his lips on her there making her as hot as the mouth to mouth contact.
He used his teeth on her sensitive skin, then soothed her with his tongue. At the same time, she felt his fingers on the top button of her shirt. Once again, he slipped it open, then the next one so that he could bury his face between her breasts. This time he turned his head to kiss first one inner curve and then the other.
At the same time, he shifted his position so that his erection was pressed to the cleft at the juncture of her legs.
Lord, that felt so good.
She stifled a cry, loving what he was doing, loving the heat blazing up between them—and inside her, yet knowing that if she gave herself over to the man and the pleasure, she could be steering them both to disaster.
She had to be the one in control. The one whose sound judgment would get them out of this trap.
With the last shreds of her resolve, she slipped from his grasp and rolled away from him, then sprang off the bed, standing on legs that barely held her weight. When she backed up and stepped on something soft, she jumped, then realized it was her cap. Sweeping her hair into a quick twist, she shoved it under the protective covering. Still shaky, she buttoned her shirt, then moved back so that her shoulder was leaning against the wall.
“Sophia?” His voice sounded so raw that she almost came back to the bed.
But she stayed where she was. “We can’t. You know it’s too dangerous. Neither one of us can afford to stop thinking straight.”
“But you wanted me?”
“Do you really have to ask?”
“I want to hear you say it.”