Page 14 of Rush

Caroline couldn’t believe how patient and compassionate Rush was in bed. He was a generous, sweet lover, always concerned for her comfort. They made love, got up and ate, then made love again and ate again.

After midnight, they realized that neither had checked in with their family or Rush with the Army.

“My phone is in a sewer drain in Ankara,” she smirked.

“Sorry about that,” he grinned. “I’ll text them.”

He shot a quick text, then rolled over, holding Caroline tightly to his body. This is what he’d been waiting for all these years. This moment where she was his. She knew it. He knew it. And soon, the whole world would know it.

He just never expected that almost their whole world would sneak into their room in the middle of the night.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Rush heard the creak of the door opening and tried to remove his arm from beneath Caroline’s body. She moaned, kissing his chest, and he smiled, pulling harder as she rolled over.

Listening, he thought he heard footsteps. Grabbing the pistol beside the bed, he cracked open the door and saw two familiar bodies digging into what was left of the room service trays.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” he whispered.

“Oh, hey, Rush,” smiled Nathan. “Thanks for the text and your room number. We’re exhausted.”

Rush looked around the room, seeing his father, Trak, Red, Moose, Joseph, and Sniff. The dogs were lying on the cold marble floors, grateful for the cold touch. The heat of Turkey was probably miserable for the poor animals.

“Rush, who is it?” asked the sweet voice. They all looked at him strangely, then stared with their mouths open as Caroline stood in the doorway, wrapped in a hotel robe. “Oh. Dad? What are you doing here?”

Sniff stared at his daughter, then at Rush. He started to move toward him, but Rush stood in front of Caroline.

“I love your daughter, sir. I have for years but didn’t think I was the right man for her. I didn’t mean to disrespect you, or her. But she is the love of my life, and I will not let you stand in the way of that. I hope, with your permission, to marry her when we return to Belle Fleur.”

Noah smirked at his son, shaking his head. The kid had balls. That was for sure. In fact, you couldn’t help but know that since they were swinging between his legs, staring at them all.

“Could you put a robe on?” growled Sniff.

Caroline went into the bedroom and brought out the other robe. It wouldn’t even go over his shoulders. Noah tossed a bag toward him, grinning. He picked it up, realizing it was extra clothing. Ducking back into the room, he pulled on the shorts with Caroline standing over him.

“Well, this is going well,” she whispered, giggling as she kissed him.

“Caroline! Your father is out there and wants to kill me. I need to make this right, and I can’t do that if you’re kissing me. My dick is already getting hard again.” She smiled at him, nodding.

“I like your dick when it’s hard.”

“God help me,” he muttered, shoving her toward the door.

“Sorry about breaking in,” smiled Joseph. “We thought we could help out. When we didn’t hear from you and didn’t hear from Caroline, we got worried. We heard chatter that insurgents had an American soldier.”

“They did, although I wouldn’t classify them as insurgents. They were more like kids playing with guns,” said Rush, still staring at Sniff and his snarling face. “I escaped. They shot me in the shoulder, and I was able to make it to Ankara and the zoo. I was only trying to hide out when Caroline suddenly appeared.”

“Wait, you didn’t know she was here?” asked Sniff.

“No, sir. I had no idea. She was trying to get monkeys in cages to be transported here. I was hiding in the cave, bleeding to death.” Moose pointed to the chair.

“Let me take a look. I’m a medic, and we have some extra supplies.” Rush sat down, and he removed the dressing, looking at Caroline. “Nice job on the sewing.”

“Thank you,” she smiled. “Dad, please don’t be angry. I should have said something years ago, but I’ve loved Rush since I was in high school. He never once made a move toward me. Never. In fact, I thought he didn’t like me at all.”

“This is the guy you’ve been mooning over for fifteen years?” he said.

“You knew?” she asked. “I mean, I wasn’t mooning, but you knew I liked someone?”

---