48. Chapter 48
Chapter forty-eight
Day 23 Denali, Alaska
Her mouth was so close he could smell the strawberry balm glossing her lips and the scent of roses drifting up from her hair.
Roses.
The scent had saturated every erotic dream he’d had for years—long before he’d finally hooked up with her. From the day he’d met her, way back when she’d been married and off-limits, the smell of roses had haunted him. His cock had locked onto that sweet scent like Pavlov’s dog on the bell. It had taken him years to figure out why roses had become an aphrodisiac. Nine years, to be exact, which was how long it had been between their first meeting and their first lovemaking. That was when he’d realized Demi smelled like roses. Hell, every product she used, from shampoo to body lotion, was rose-scented.
His gut clenched beneath the sensual punch of roses and strawberries. Memories strobed through his mind like a string of flash grenades. The arch of her body beneath his thrusts…smooth, strong legs cinched around his waist…her fingernails digging into his back…the quake of her muscles and tremble of her skin beneath his mouth…and the scent of roses cocooning them.
Christ, he wanted to close the distance between their mouths and sip that strawberry sweetness from her lips, steep himself in the heady fragrance of roses.
But one taste would unravel him. He was balanced on the edge of need and hope, his control hanging by a thread. The feel of her lips, the taste of her mouth would set fire to that thread. If she wasn’t looking to get back together, kissing her would make it a thousand times harder to walk away.
He forced himself to pull back, even though every fiber in his body wanted to drag her into his arms, and from there to his bed. But he couldn’t. Not yet.
While he was almost certain now she’d come to his quarters to resume their relationship, she hadn’t brought that possibility up. And considering the serious complications she’d outlined earlier when she’d called it quits on them, problems that hadn’t been resolved, it was best not to make assumptions. Nor did he want to sexually manipulate her into a situation she hadn’t intended.
“Before things go further, I need to know whether you’ve changed your mind about us.” Aiden studied her face. His cock twitched, recognizing the flush to her cheeks and the haze in her eyes. Signs of arousal. Beneath her shirt and bra, her nipples would be peaked and pebbled, begging for his mouth. “Is this visit about rekindling things between us?”
Fuck. Please say yes.
The haze cleared from her eyes. A frown pleated her forehead.
Ah, hell.
He swallowed a groan as she drew back. She didn’t go far though, less than a foot, which was a consolation.
“I did a lot of thinking while I sat by your bed, waiting for you to wake up.” Her eyes darkened to mahogany. “And I realized something.” She searched his face, her gaze narrow and intense. “I don’t want to give up on what we have, on what we could have. There’s a connection between us, one I’ve never felt with anyone before, not even Donnie. I want to find a way to make this relationship work—but on a level that accommodates both of us.”
Aiden released a shaky breath. “I want that too.”
Relief touched her face, but instantly vanished. “The thing is—” she drew a deep breath. “Are you going back to the SEALs, Aiden? Those long, constant deployments—” She broke off with a dismayed shake of her head.
“No.” The answer came easily. Apparently, his subconscious had already reached a decision.
“You’re sure?” She looked conflicted; half hopeful, half worried. “I don’t want you making that choice because of me. That would just lead to resentment, which would eventually tear us apart.”
“I’m sure.” And he was. The decision sat comfortably inside him. Sure, there was some sadness, a tinge of loss and grief. But deployments wouldn’t be the same without Squirrel and the rest of his teammates beside him. He’d be assigned to a new team, but it wouldn’t be the same. Maybe if he’d lost his brothers through less suspicious circumstances, he’d feel differently.
But there were so many questions about what had happened in Karaveht, like who was behind the testing on his team. Truth was, he didn’t trust the boots on the WARCOM ladder. Someone had set them up. Somebody had betrayed them. And that someone could be in SEAL command. If you didn’t trust those who were supposed to have your back, it was time to get out.
“My contract is almost up, and I’m not going back. I don’t know what’s going to happen, whether they’ll release me from my contract a couple of weeks early, or if I’ll be AWOL. Hell, I might already be AWOL. But we don’t know who was behind what happened in Karaveht, and I’m not ruling out WARCOM. Either way, with a bounty on my helmet, I’d be a danger to any new crew, anyway.”
He was at peace with the choice. It felt right.
“Are you joining Shadow Mountain, then?”
He glanced up, hearing the relief in her voice. It softened the lines of her face and blunted the stubborn edge to her chin. He wished he could give her reassurance on this subject, too, but he’d never lied to her, and he wasn’t about to start now.
“I haven’t decided what I’m going to do after we lock down this new weapon and track down the bastard behind it.” From the lack of surprise on her face, and the slight bob of her head, she’d expected that response. He paused, giving her a chance to protest or question him. When neither was forthcoming, he continued. “This battle hasn’t even started, Demi.” He hesitated; she’d been honest about her difficulty with the dangers inherent in his job. The possibility of his death wouldn’t lessen anytime soon. Not with the creator of this doomsday device in the wind. He softened his voice, hoping his next words wouldn’t detonate the possibilities stretching between them. “I’m neck-deep in this situation, babe. When we get a name and a location, I’ll be the first man on the chopper. I can step away from the SEALs program, but I can’t step away from this mission. This new weapon is too dangerous. It needs to be locked down. The bastard who created it needs to be secured. I owe Squirrel and Lurch and the rest of my crew that much.”
She sighed but held his eyes. A smile trembled on her lips. “I know.”
“Is that a deal breaker?” He reached out to tuck a strand of aqua hair behind her ear.
“No.” She drew the word out on a long, wobbly breath.
The quiver in her voice drew a frown from him. “You don’t sound sure.”
“I’m sure.” Her breathing steadied. “I’m not saying I won’t be worried from the moment you leave until you come back, but I’ll figure out how to deal with that. I’ll have Kait and Olivia and the rest of the book club brigade to help me process the anxiety.” Her shoulders squared. “If they’re able to deal with their men being in danger—” Her chin rose. “So can I.”
“So, where does that leave us?” He forced his hands to remain at his sides.
“Back together?” Her voice lifted into a question. “If you’re up for that.”
A slow, teasing grin painted her lips. From the fire gleaming in her eyes, that last question had been deliberate. Warmth flooded his chest, swept down his arms and legs, and exploded in his crotch. His cock hardened.
“Fuck, am I ever up for it,” he rasped. One step closed the distance between them. He caught her hand and drug it down to his achingly hard cock. “As you can see.”
“But I can’t see.” Her lips formed an exaggerated pout as her fingers closed around the tented material of his tactical pants. Her fingers slid up to the zipper and tugged the tab down until there was a large enough gap to slip her hand inside. She wound her free arm around his neck and tugged it downward until she could nibble at his bottom lip. Cool fingers slipped beneath his boxers and curled around his achingly hard shaft. “But I can feel, and it feels…very…upright.”
He leaned down and slid his tongue between her strawberry-sweet lips. “Christ, you taste good.”
She huffed out a laugh. “It’s the lip balm. It’s guaranteed to please my man—at least that’s what the packaging says.”
“Fuck, no. It’s your lips…your mouth…your tongue,” he growled against her lips. “They never disappoint.”
“Well,” her voice became a sultry tease. “Don’t you think we should test the accuracy of the claim on the packaging?”
He grunted in disappointment as she pulled back, only to catch his breath as she slid down his torso and onto her knees. She dragged his pants and boxers down, leaving them pooled around his legs. And then her hot, wet tongue started licking up and down his cock, from base to head, where it paused to swirl around the sensitive slit and the even more sensitive ridge beneath the head. When his cock started twitching, her mouth replaced her tongue, closing around his aching shaft. A deep, guttural groan broke from him as she sucked and slid. She knew exactly what he liked, how much pressure to use, the perfect pace to extend his pleasure. Each time she slid her mouth up to the sensitive head, she gently sucked and swiped her tongue around the slit or that sensitive ridge beneath. And the whole time, the fingers of her free hand fondled his balls—caressing, gently squeezing until they were tighter than hell and pulled up against his body.
Christ, behind his closed eyelids, his eyes crossed. He groaned again, leaning his head back, basking in the feel of her hot, creative mouth, and even hotter and more creative tongue.
After a couple of minutes of bliss, the base of his spine started tingling.
His eyes snapped open. He reached down and hauled her to her feet.
“Hey.” There was indignant laughter in the protest. “I wasn’t done.”
He tossed her over his shoulder, holding her in place with one arm. With his free hand, he yanked his jeans up, anchored them against his hip and headed for the bedroom. The tingling was dispersing. Thank Christ. At least he’d have some self-control during the next five—maybe ten minutes. Fifteen if he was lucky. “Much more of that and I’d be done for the night.”
“I don’t see a problem with that.” Her voice was breathless. Maybe from trying to hold the laughter in. Maybe from his shoulder pressing into her diaphragm.
“I do. A big one. I want to come inside you. Not in your mouth.”
“My mouth is inside me.”
Her voice was even more breathless, but he could hear the laughter. Even feel it. It bubbled out of her and sank into him—an effervescent joy he hadn’t felt in what seemed like forever.
“That’s not the inside I’m talking about,” he growled, practically running to the bedroom. He was that desperate to reclaim her tight, hot pussy. Anchoring his jeans in place with his elbow, he flipped the bedroom light on as he passed the switch.
When he reached the bed, he swung her down from his shoulder and dropped her onto the middle of the mattress. Even as she bounced, he tore his shirt over his head. As much as he wanted to get totally naked, skin to skin with her, it would take too long. He’d have to unlace and remove his boots first. Instead, he let go of his jeans and shoved them back down, where they pooled around his knees again.
“Really?” Laughter erupted from her. “You can’t even wait to take off your boots?”
“You’re lucky I have the patience to take off my shirt,” he growled as he yanked her sneakers off and tossed them over his shoulder. “But I know how much you love digging those talons of yours into my chest and back.”
“You do have a superb chest,” she agreed, her laughter turning into a purr. Her hands skimmed from his shoulders down to his abs, and from there to his crotch. Cool fingers wrapped around his throbbing cock. “But other parts are even more…superb.”
He unbuttoned her jeans, ripped the zipper down, and tugged them off. “You could at least make an effort to get your clothes off,” he complained as he shoved her blouse up and slid his fingers beneath her silky bra to tweak her nipples.
“Sorry!” she offered the apology in a sing-song voice. “But my hands have more important things to do.” She reached lower and tickled his sack. “Much more important things.”
He groaned, his hands stilling, before grabbing each side of her blouse and jerking it apart. Buttons popped and flew everywhere. Impatience gripping him, he slid his hands beneath her upper back and grappled with the delicate clasp of her bra. The clasp didn’t survive the assault. He whisked her lacy bra aside, freeing her tits for his mouth and hands. Fuck—what a perfect sight—the high, firm globes beckoned to him, the rosy nipples peaked and waiting for his mouth.
She stretched languorously beneath him, her eyes twinkling. “I don’t know, baby. Are you sure you’re up for this? It’s barely been an hour since you were released from the hospital.”
He thrust his cock into her caressing hand. “Absolutely. I’ve never felt better.”
Which was true. He felt fantastic. Strong. Steady. Healthy. Something about that niggled at him, but he was too focused on the feel and sight of her to track the thought down.
Her hair was fanned out across his blanket—a brilliant burst of blue-green. A new memory in the making, as her hair had been pink during his last trip stateside. But the rest of her…fuck…she looked and felt even better than he remembered, her skin glowing, her eyes burning. He traced an unsteady line up her ribcage, her skin like silk against his fingertips, and circled her nipple. Her breath caught, and her muscles twitched with each caress. Mesmerized, he eased down and took the pebbled nub between his lips.
She tasted like roses; floral, sweet, perfect.
When her legs opened in welcome, his fingers slid down to trace circles around the inside of her thigh. Her breath huffed with each stroke.
“Wait!” she stuttered. “There’s something I want to try.”
His hand froze. Her voice vibrated, but it wasn’t with arousal. Or at least not only arousal. There was laughter there, too. Joy. That’s what it was like with Demi. That was the difference with her. It’s what he’d craved over the past weeks of deployment. It’s what he’d mourned when he lost her.
The joy. The laughter. The love. He hadn’t understood the difference between fucking and lovemaking until her, how sex could be more than physical, that there could be a mental and emotional component too.
“I want to try an experiment,” she announced, her voice breathless with suppressed laughter and arousal.
This could not be good. His forehead beetled. “If you think we’re going to postpone this until you don your fuck-me-now ensemble—”
“Of course not.” Her righteous tone dissolved into giggles. “I never had time to pack—remember? My fuck-me-now clothes are down in Coronado. I’ve got another experiment in mind.”
“No shit?” His hand started moving again, circling closer and closer to her soaked core.
“See, I watched this documentary that hypothesized that men can smell the scent of female arousal, and that the smell makes men more possessive and aroused themselves.” Her breathless explanation tightened as he slipped a finger into her wet heat. “I want too…want to…test—” she gasped as his finger scraped against the inside of her pussy. “—that hypothesis.”
He chuckled. “Hate to break it to you, babe, but you signal your arousal with more than scent. It’s in your eyes, which turn the color of cinnamon. And your nipples, which pebble and turn rosy.” He reached up and tweaked her nipple, then returned his hand to between her shaking legs and his finger to her dripping core. “And then there’s this—” He pumped his finger in and out of her pussy. It tightened around his finger. “Look how wet you get for me.” He chuckled again. “I know when you’re aroused.”
“Well, of course, you do.” She squirmed beneath the thrust of his finger. “We’d have to test the hypothesis on other men, like at the cafeteria, and see if they can smell my arousal.”
Aiden froze. What the fuck? His head shot up.
A peal of laughter broke from her. “Oh, my God, you should see your face.”
“Fuck that.” Aiden reared back and grabbed her calves, lifting them over his shoulders.
He was ninety-nine-point nine percent certain she was joking, but no sense in taking chances. Time to pull out the big gun and distract her. With one hard thrust, he buried his cock inside her. She shifted to align them better and wrapped her legs around his waist. Her arms wound around his sides, all the better to dig her talons into his back as she approached her climax.
He couldn’t wait.
After giving her a few seconds to adjust to him, he started a slow, steady thrusting. She hummed and shivered beneath him. He sucked back a groan and kept pumping, his tempo increasing until he was hammering into her like his life depended on it.
In no time, the tingle at the base of his spine started back up. Her body tightened beneath him. Her pussy convulsed and she flew. He followed, chasing her toward the sunrise, and the unicorn, and the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
He was home again, Demi in his arms, her magic back in his life.