Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
The instant Ally wakes, she tenses.
“Careful, sweetheart.” I stroke my fingertips down her back, loving the feel of her under my palm. “One wrong move and this cot is going to dump us both.”
“Hi,” she whispers. “How are you?”
“I’m fine. Better now.”
She softens against me. Nestling close, making the cot creak below us. “Is your brother out of surgery?”
The worry in her voice makes me want to kiss the fuck out of her.
Ally is such a sweetheart. She defends me like a honey badger, but she genuinely cares about Axle, who has given her plenty of reasons to dislike him.
“He’s in recovery. Doing well. Gonna be fine.”
A relieved exhale follows. Along with more wiggles to get closer to me. “How did you get in bed without waking me?”
Her voice is rusty from sleep, and it’s the sexiest sound I’ve ever heard.
I’m the lucky bastard that’s going to hear that every morning. Forever.
This is already decided. Even if she doesn’t know it yet.
I grin at the ceiling like a lovesick fool, because I am. “I’ve got all kinds of covert skills.”
Among other skills, which we will have years to explore.
With a feminine little laugh, her arm bands across my chest, right over where my heart is thumping a happy beat. “How does the King of the Jungle feel?”
Her sense of humor still surprises me. “Itchy. All these little fucking bandages?—”
“Are perfect.”
I tug her closer, memorizing the way her warm soft curves lock to my shape like they were made to fit there. “No, baby, you ’re perfect.”
“I haven’t bathed in days, I’m wearing the same clothes, my hair probably has animals living in it, my fingernails are just gross, and you think I’m perfect?”
Yep. And I can’t stop smiling, so I press my grin into her hair.
The scent of the ocean clings to the long riot of strands.
“Perfect for me. I like wild things.”
Grumbles follow, but she buries her face against my chest.
“It’s true. I’ve never cared for makeup and up-dos or whatever the fuck those fancy hairstyles are. I love a woman that will camp, swim in the ocean, and run around in the woods.”
“And dig up archeology sites?”
“Sure. But you’ve never told me what you do exactly.”
“You’d really like to know?”
I brush some stray locks of hair back and study her pretty face, looking down at her cheek propped on my chest. “I want to know everything about you.”
“You’re a strange breed, McMillon Reese.”
Savoring the sound of my name on her tongue. I just hold still for a beat.
“I’m the wild variety.”
We breathe together in time for a few minutes, until I slide my fingers into her hair, brushing against her scalp. She purrs. “Yes… that’s so nice.”
Pleasant tingling starts in my hands and grows into a warm glow inside my ribs.
I’ve never fantasized about conditioning a woman’s hair, but I’m thinking a long hot shower together with my fingers massaging her scalp will be a major win for both of us.
She yawns as she chuckles. “That’s so yummy.”
That little yawn, her soft, throaty chuckle—cute as fuck.
And I wish we weren’t on a skinny-ass cot in the middle of a hospital because I need to feel her naked against me.
Her fingers trail a lazy path along the cord of my neck, and I almost purr too.
Damn. Whipped boy. I’m gonna be so damned whipped.
After a beat, she whispers, “What are you thinking?”
That my dick is getting bigger by the heartbeat. I withhold that fact.
“That you have too many clothes on.”
In a flurry, she’s pushing against me. “Don’t you even go getting horny, we’re in a public building.”
This makes me chuckle. The sound feels good, like it’s kicking away some of the awful of the past twenty-four hours. “You’re not into risqué sex?”
“Nooooo!”
When I wrap my fingers around her jaw and tilt her face up, those green-silk eyes soften, and all the rough edges inside of me sigh.
“I’m falling hard for you, Ally.”
Nipping at the corner of her lip, her gaze bounces between my eyes. “You make it hard not to fall for you.”
Definitely having a big moment here.
A really big one.
I kiss her forehead.
I don’t care where we are or how we got here. I don’t want to leave. But life is going to barge in. Maybe not in the room, thanks to Justice giving us the time we need, but the clock is ticking.
“I’m sorry you had to be caught up in the battle between me and my brother.”
Her hand moves to cover my heart, the heat from that caress spreads across my bare skin. “I’m sorry that you’ve been hurting.”
Some of the old pain slides out of me when I exhale.
The truth tastes bitter in my mouth. “I was drowning in it.”
Ally wiggles up and gives me the most tender kiss I’ve ever had in my life. Like a lightning strike, I get a flash of knowing.
The moment of clarity is so pure it sounds like a crystal glass being struck inside my head.
But I’m going to have to wait ‘til we run out of oxygen to tell her. Because she feels too right, tastes like the sweetest gift ever, and I need to feel the connection with her right fucking now.
“Mack Reese,” she whispers my real name against my lips.
Her arms slide around my neck, lifting herself higher along my body.
When her leg hitches over my hip, a groan rolls through me.
“God, Ally. I want to lose myself so deep in you this very minute. I need to feel you.”
“Could we be quiet enough?”
Oh, fuck.
Really?
A bolus of testosterone screeches through my vessels.
I kiss her forehead, a smile making it hard to get my lips to make full contact. “Don’t move.”
I extract myself from the cot and stride to the door. When I jerk it open, Justice is on guard duty with an M4 carbine slung at the ready.
He looks like a bad motherfucker, except for the grin that hits his face.
“Dude, that’s a lot of bandages.”
I would give him shit back, but I’m in a hurry.
“Don’t let anyone in this room. We clear ?”
He chuckles and shifts between his feet before he tips up his chin. “Roger that.”
Now that’s a teammate for you.
I shut the door, latch it, and stride back to the cot as I rip the fly of my pants open. “We’re clear.”
Allison sits up on the cot, her hands going to her mouth as her eyes latch on my hands where I have my thumbs hooked in the band of my briefs.
“What do you mean, clear?”
“That means no one will be coming in that door.”
A sly, cute grin brightens her eyes and makes my heart stutter. “Who’s outside keeping them out?”
“Justice.”
A little of the tension leaves her shoulders, and she gives my body an appreciative once over. “So, I get you all to myself for a little while?’
“As long as we want.”
“I like Justice better and better all the time.”
“Careful.”
When I growl and push her back on the cot, she laughs.
“Are you jealous?”
“I don’t share what’s mine.”
There’s a beat where she just looks at me as if she’s searching for something behind my eyes. “Am I yours?”
“Yeah, you are. You’re not getting away from me.”