Still, she wasn’t going to feed his ego. It was quite large enough, thank you very much.
“Not bad,” she managed to croak, the restless movement of her body easily giving her away.
“Hmm.” Lucas brushed his lips over her cheek, her brow, and down the length of her nose. “I see I’m going to have to work at this.”
He claimed her mouth in a searing kiss, then brushed his lips along the line of her jaw. Mia released a soft sigh of pleasure, relishing the slow, sinfully delicious seduction.
He nipped the lobe of her ear, taking time to trace the delicate shell with the tip of his tongue before he was moving his lips down the curve of her throat.
Her hands instinctively lifted so she could thread her fingers through the soft silk of his hair. She desperately wanted to prolong the moment. To make it last the entire night.
But her body was already trembling with a need that was becoming downright painful.
As if sensing her fierce desire, Lucas abruptly grabbed her delicate undies to rip them off. Her lips parted to protest, but she forgot what she was going to say when his lips closed over the tip of one nipple.
Oh . . . yes. Her eyes slid shut as she arched her back in silent encouragement.
Using his teeth and tongue, he tormented her, at last moving to pleasure her other nipple before he was headed downward.
Her stomach clenched as he kissed a path of destruction ever lower. Allowing his hands to slip under her legs, he tugged them farther apart as he sank to his knees next to the bed.
She moaned, her nerves so sensitized to his touch that the scrape of his whiskers against her inner thigh nearly made her come.
“Sweet summer honey,” he murmured, his hands holding her still as he licked his tongue through the center of her pleasure.
Her breath was released on a soft hiss as her fingers tightened in his hair. He was pure magic as he stroked over her tender clit, swiftly driving her toward an explosive climax that made her entire body shake with the shocking force.
Easing her through the cataclysmic orgasm with short, teasing licks, Lucas at last lifted his head to study her with a smug smile.
“Good?” he asked.
Mia rolled her eyes. Good? It had been stunning, and gloriously decadent. As if she’d been shattered with a bliss that she didn’t even know existed.
“I think my scream was enough to prove how good it was,” she said in dry tones.
Placing a last, lingering kiss on her inner thigh, Lucas reached for his wallet and extracted a condom. Then, crawling onto the mattress, he stretched out beside her.
“It’s only going to get better,” he assured her.
“Yes.” She leaned forward to brush a light kiss over his mouth as she wrapped her fingers around his cock. “It is.”
He sucked in a startled breath. “Mia.”
“You never let me do this before,” she murmured, marveling at the texture of soft skin that was pulled tight over his rock-hard cock.
With a low groan, he buried his face in her hair. “I was barely capable of getting your clothes off before I came.”
She pressed her fingers down the length of his cock, feeling him swell beneath her touch.
“And now?”
He lifted his head to reveal his eyes, which smoldered with a dark, aching need.
Mia shuddered. In this moment she couldn’t deny that he wanted her. Desperately.
“You still have the power to make me embarrass myself,” he said in a gruff voice.
Unnerved by the emotions that sizzled between them, Mia busied herself with planting tiny kisses along the strong line of his jaw before moving down the length of his body.
Lucas made a strangled sound, his hands fisting in her hair as she wrapped her lips around his cock. Using the tip of her tongue, she explored the blunt tip, allowing her fingers to stroke up and down.
A shudder shook through Lucas, the musky scent of his arousal filling the air.
“Shit, Mia. That feels amazing,” he breathed.
The knowledge that she could make this man tremble sent a thrill of excitement tingling down Mia’s spine. Widening her lips, she took him deep inside her mouth, allowing her teeth to lightly graze his tender flesh.
She was just finding a steady rhythm when he was grabbing her shoulders and ruthlessly pulling her upward.
“No more,” he growled.
“Unfair,” she pouted.
“You can play next time,” he muttered, reaching for the condom and hurriedly rolling it on. Then, moving on top of her, he released a small groan as they were pressed skin to skin. “Tonight I need to be inside you.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck, their gazes locked as he allowed the head of his cock to slip into the entrance of her body.
“Now,” she urged, lifting her hips upward even as he thrust home with a low groan of satisfaction.
* * *
Glad they’d left the lights on, Lucas studied Mia’s delicate profile as she nestled against his side, her head tucked on his chest.
It was a familiar position. As was the peace that filled him.
Usually after sex he was already thinking of how soon he could leave. It was no reflection on the lovely women who’d welcomed him into their beds. He simply hadn’t been able to connect with them when his heart belonged to Mia.
Now he simply took the time to appreciate the sensation of just how . . . right this felt.
Unfortunately, he could already sense Mia beginning to stiffen. No doubt she was trying to remind herself of all the reasons she was supposed to hate him.
Which meant that he had to find a distraction. Quickly.
“Do you know how many nights I dreamed about you?” he murmured softly.
She made a sound of disbelief. “Yeah, right.”
His lips twisted. She truly had no idea of how often she haunted his thoughts over the years.
“When I was in Afghanistan I used to imagine wrapping you in my arms,” he said, tightening his hold on her slender body. “I think that was the only thing that kept me sane.”
Her tension eased as she tilted back her head to study him with a sudden curiosity. “How were you captured?”
Lucas kept his expression unreadable. He detested talking about the war. And even more about his time spent in the Taliban prison.
But if it kept her warm and willing in his arms, then hell, he’d talk about whatever she wanted.
“I was negotiating the release of an Afghan leader who was friendly to our government,” he said, grimacing at the memory of how often loyalties changed among the enemy. One day a leader would be offering help to allied forces and the next they would be shooting them in the back. “It turned out to be a trap. The soldiers with me were killed outright and I was taken hostage.”
Sympathy flared through her dark eyes. She knew him well enough to be certain that he tortured himself with guilt over the deaths of the young men who’d traveled deep into enemy territory with him.
“That’s where you met the friends you work with at ARES?”
“Yep.” His fingers absently stroked through her hair, breathing deep of her floral scent. It helped to keep him grounded. Something that was important when he allowed the painful memories to surface. “We formed a bond plotting our escape.”
Almost as if sensing how much it cost him to discuss the war, she smoothed her hand across his chest, lingering over the steady thud of his heart.
“How did you get away?”
“Rafe did the planning,” he said. It’d been an easy choice. Rafe Vargas had not only been trained in special ops, but he was a natural leader. “I befriended a guard who was willing to trade the keys to our cells for my watch, which I’d managed to hide during my capture,” he continued.
Mia gave a short laugh. “Why am I not surprised it was your charm that helped you escape?”
He shrugged. He couldn’t deny the fact that he readily used his skills in interpersonal relationships to convince
the susceptible young guard to help them.
His parents had been masters in manipulation.
That particular skill was the one thing he’d been happy to inherit.
“Hauk took out the guards at the entrance to the prison,” he continued, not mentioning the fact that Hauk was one of the top snipers in the world and that both guards had been neatly shot in the head before they realized they were in danger. He had enough nightmares for both of them, thank you very much. “And Teagan managed to send our coordinates after he hacked into the DMS—”
“The what?” she demanded in confusion.
“Sorry.” He shook his head. Sometimes he forgot he was using soldier-speak. “The Defense Message System.”
“How’d he manage to do that?”
“With a laptop we found in a nearby village.” His lips twitched. “No one but Teagan could have done it.”
She continued to rub her hand over his chest, no doubt hoping to soothe him. Instead, her light touch was sending erotic sparks of pleasure through him.
His cock hardened, ready and eager to enjoy round two.
How the hell had he ever thought he might be losing his sex drive?
Right now he was certain he could spend the next few months in this bed doing nothing but making love to Mia.
“You make it sound so easy,” she said.
“No.” He grimaced. “It wasn’t easy.”
“Does it still bother you?” she asked.
He pressed his lips to the top of her curls. He didn’t resent her questions. Not like he usually did.
She was asking because she was genuinely concerned, not out of some morbid curiosity.
“I have nightmares,” he readily admitted. She needed to know since she was going to be sharing his bed. “And there are times when a small space can make me panic. But I’m far luckier than many others who served.”
With a low sound of distress, Mia lowered her head to press a kiss against his shoulder. “Thank God it’s over.”
“Let’s hope,” he muttered, growingly distracted.
How was a man supposed to think when his skin felt branded by her soft kiss and her fingers continued to create chaos as they trailed a path of fire down to the tense muscles of his stomach?
“Why do you say that?” she demanded.
“I’m afraid there’s something from Hauk’s past that’s haunting him,” he said, his lips brushing over her forehead to linger against the soft skin of her temple.
“I know the feeling,” she muttered.
Lucas rolled onto his back, using the arm he had wrapped around her waist to tug her on top of him. Instinctively her legs draped on each side of his hips, arranging her pelvis to rest with sheer perfection against the hard ridge of his erection.
“We’re going to figure this out, Mia,” he murmured in low tones.
Her hands pressed against his chest as she gazed down at him with darkened eyes.
“How?” she demanded.
One hand lifted to push the thick curls over her shoulder, allowing him an uninterrupted view of her face. His heart clenched as he took in the wide, velvet eyes that were so heavily fringed she never needed to paste on fake lashes. The slender nose. The full, utterly kissable lips.
He’d lost this woman once.
There was no way in hell he was going to lose her again.
“My friends are very good at what they do,” he assured her, his palm cupping her cheek. “It doesn’t matter how deeply Tony tried to bury his secrets, they’ll find them.”
Something eased deep inside him as she gave a hesitant nod. She might not be ready to forgive and forget his betrayal, but she was learning to trust him.
That meant as much as her eager response to his kisses.
He didn’t just want her in his bed.
He wanted her at his side, planning a future together.
Clearly incapable of reading his mind, she cleared her throat, futilely attempting to look nonchalant.
“You said it’d been a while.”
His lips twitched. He was getting to her. Slowly but surely.
“A while?”
“Since you’d . . .” A charming blush touched her cheeks as she struggled for the words.
“Made love?” he helpfully offered.
Abruptly realizing she was giving away just how vulnerable she was, Mia gave a sharp shake of her head.
“Forget it.”
“I’m sorry, Mia,” he said, grabbing her hips when she would have pulled away. “The truth is that when I left Shreveport I thought I could make myself forget about you. And I tried.” He held her gaze, allowing her to see his regret. “But since I returned from the Middle East I haven’t been interested in sharing my bed. To be honest, there were times when I worried that my libido had been destroyed in that Afghan hellhole.” Slowly he skimmed his hands up her rib cage until he could cup the lush softness of her breasts. He swallowed a moan as the pink nipples instantly hardened into tiny buds of invitation. “Thankfully I have been utterly reassured there is nothing at all wrong with me.” He strummed his thumbs over her nipples, smiling at her throaty groan. “It wasn’t that I didn’t want a woman. I simply was waiting for the right woman.”
An emotion that might have been fear rippled over her face before she was deliberately forcing a smile to her lips.
“It’s no wonder you were supposed to become a diplomat,” she teased. “You always know the perfect thing to say.”
Lucas narrowed his gaze. Oh, hell no. He wasn’t going to let her dismiss his words as if they were empty platitudes.
“I mean what I say, Mia,” he warned. “This isn’t just sex.”
Her brows drew together. “Lucas.”
“It’s messy and complicated and—”
His words were cut short when she suddenly leaned forward to kiss him with a fierce need.
“Shut up, Lucas,” she muttered against his lips.
Heat blasted through him, making it impossible to think. Later he would convince her that this was only the beginning of a very long life together.
For now, he was much more interested in getting his aching cock buried deep inside her.
“And you call me bossy?” he teased.
She nipped his bottom lip. “You have better things to do with that mouth.”
With a low chuckle he flipped her flat on her back, kissing his way down her shivering body.
“I do indeed.”
Chapter Twelve
Taylor stood just outside the diner, staring through the large window.
She didn’t need the flutters in the pit of her stomach to tell her that this was a very bad idea. Or the realization that she’d been standing on the street staring at the man with dark blond hair and the clean-cut features that had haunted her dreams.
But when she’d awakened early that morning, she’d suddenly recalled the last time that she’d seen Tony. Still groggy from sleep, she’d reached for the card that Detective Cooper had left on her desk and dialed his number.
Now she had to wonder if the urgency to see him had more to do with helping to discover who murdered Tony, or a personal desire to spend time in his company.
Shivering as the early morning wind tugged at her coat, she forced herself to pull open the door and step into the welcomed warmth. It would no doubt be wiser to turn around and walk away. But she’d been the one to set up the meeting. It would be rude to drag the man out of bed at the crack of dawn and then not even bother to show up.
Right?
Crossing the linoleum floor, she weaved her way past the surprising crowd that already filled the diner. The place might look like a dive, but it obviously had the sort of food that attracted a large number of repeat customers.
Or maybe it was just its proximity to the sheriff station house, she wryly acknowledged, belatedly noticing the large number of people in uniforms.
Reaching the table in back, she watched as Detective Cooper rose to his feet and circled the table. He was dres
sed in a pair of black pants and a white shirt that Taylor itched to properly starch and iron.
Not that the wrinkles distracted from his quiet good looks.
“Good morning, Taylor,” he murmured, politely pulling out a chair and waiting for her to take a seat.
“Detective,” she murmured.
Holding on to the back of her chair, the lawman leaned down to speak softly in her ear. “Brian.”
A shiver of pleasure raced through her. “Excuse me?”
“My name is Brian,” he insisted in low tones.
“Okay,” she breathed, another delicious shiver making her back arch with an excitement she’d almost forgotten existed.
His fingers brushed over her shoulders, tugging off the leather jacket she’d pulled over her favorite jade sweater and faded jeans that her mother said were too tight to be worn in public.
“Thank you.”
She felt a blush touch her cheeks as he carefully folded her jacket and set it on an empty chair before he returned to take his seat. She’d pulled her clothes on without really thinking about what she was doing. Now she realized that she’d dressed as if this was a date.
And it wasn’t. It absolutely, positively wasn’t.
Studying her with an unreadable expression, Brian leaned his arms on the table. “Where’s your son this morning?”
She licked her lips. Why were they so dry?
“He has a part-time job stocking shelves at the local grocery store. He usually works all day on Saturday when he doesn’t have practice or homework.”
Brian slowly smiled. “Good.”
She blinked in confusion. “I think so, but why do you?”
“It means we don’t have to rush through breakfast,” he said with unhidden satisfaction.
Her blush deepened. Dammit. This was ridiculous.
“I just want coffee.”
“Have you already eaten?”
“No, but—”
She forgot how to speak as he reached across the table to touch her hand.
“You have to try the grillades and grits. They make them with slices of pork in tomato sauce. It’s the best in town.”
So that’s what smelled so good. Taylor’s mouth watered. Still, she tried to pretend that she was only there out of a sense of civic duty.