Page 33 of Bullets and Dandelions

“What’s taking so long?” Stone bellowed through the door.

I gave him the one-fingered salute, grabbed a bra out of the sack and tried to fasten my bra. “Dammit!” My ribs were screaming in protest, and I couldn’t get the hooks to fasten. “Shit!”

“What’s the problem, Tinkerbell?”

“I’m a little stiff and I can’t fasten my bra.” The next thing I knew, Sergeant Stone was standing behind me and his callused fingers were hooking my bra. My skin was hypersensitive to his touch, and I could feel my cheeks heating. “Had a lot of practice with bras, have you?”

“Removing them, yeah. Putting them back on, not so much.” Stone trailed a finger down my spine.

“Hey!” I jumped about a foot and winced as my left leg spasmed. “Knock it off. I’m not interested in joining your fan club.”

Stone studied me intently for a moment, then nodded. “Not until you learn to trust men again.”

“Maybe when I’m old and gray, but I probably won’t live that long,” I said matter-of-factly.

“Don’t say that. The only one dying is Roberts and your father.” He twirled a finger. “Turn around. You’re moving like a granny, and I need you in fighting form.” He pulled a tube of ointment out of his pocket.

The last thing I needed was Stone touching me, but he was right. I couldn’t fight like this. I turned around. I hoped I didn’t do something stupid, like kissing him.

“You took a bad fall. You’re damn lucky you didn’t break a leg.”

I snorted. “That would have really messed up my father’s plans.”

“Your father needs killing.” Stone massaged ointment into my neck and back.

My knees almost buckled. That felt so damn good. “He was a great father until my mother was killed. Now all he lives for is vengeance.” Shit! My voice came out all breathy.

“What happened?” Stone’s hands slid down my left thigh as he worked the ointment into my colorful bruises.

My pussy pulsed and I fought back a moan. God, I loved the feel on his hands on my body. “She worked for Doctors Without Borders and was killed in a roadside bombing.” I balled my hands. Don’t touch him. Don’t touch him.

“That’s tough.” He switched to my other leg.

Oh, God. My panties were soaked, my nipples had hardened, and pure arousal thrummed in my veins. I wanted that bastard inside me.

“How does that feel?” He gave me a lewd wink.

“You know damn well how that feels.”

He grinned. “You’ve got the color back in your cheeks.”

“Gee, thanks.”

Stone took my new pants out of the bag. “Step in.”

Damn, the command note was back in his voice. With a hand on his shoulder, I did as he asked.

The sergeant pulled my pants up, zipped them and handed me a belt. “There you go.”

“Thank you, sir.” I quickly donned my shirt and boots.

Stone frowned. “You need to do something with your hair.”

One look in the mirror and I agreed. There were pieces of God knows what in my hair and it badly needed combing. I reached back to remove the hair tie and winced.

“You need to let the ointment work. Hold still. I’ll fix your braid,” Stone said. He quickly removed my hair tie, brushed all the crap out of my hair and braided it.

“Where did you learn to braid hair?” Call me curious.

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