Harrier's Healer (7 page)

“And you,” Isaac replied, looking between Scott and Alexis

knowingly. Nodding his head slightly in deference, Isaac smiled at Lex.

“I have to go, but I will see you later on.”

“You’ll be there tonight, right?” her smooth voice asked.

“Of course.” He smiled at her again, “A pleasure, Mr. Leighton.”

Then he and his cart disappeared from sight.

Alexis still had a grin on her face as she turned her attention

back to the list. “What are you smiling about?” he asked.

“Just thinking about tonight. Why?”

36

Aliyah Burke

They had reached the end of the aisle and Scott backed her

against the end cap, oblivious to the eyes that were upon them. “How

many more men am I going to have to watch put their arms around you

and kiss you?”

How am I supposed to think straight when you are this close to me?

Her eyes slowly rose to meet his. “You could always leave and you

wouldn’t have to see me at all.” Her hands moved up to rest on his

solid chest.

Another step brought their bodies in contact. Desire burned in

his eyes as he stared upon her flawless face. “Oh, no. I am taking you

away from here tomorrow and then, my sweet little healer, you will be

all mine.”

“I shouldn’t be going anywhere with you, Commander, you are

a sup—”

His mouth slanted across hers, stopping the protest before it

could be completed. The cart was forgotten as his arms drew her in

closer yet, her breasts mashed against him. Scott ran his tongue around

her mouth, as if learning everything he could about her taste.

Alexis felt her hands moving up to latch around his neck with a

mind of their own. Her tongue matched the almost frenzied stroking of

his. The small of her back arched, pressing herself closer to him.
More,

more, I want more of him.
Her hands, strengthened by years of setting

bones and moving large bodies, grabbed the back of his head, trying to

intensify the kiss.

Scott had cupped her firm ass in his hands, his fingers kneading

both the denim material and the flesh underneath. The clearing of a

throat caused him to slant his gaze sideways. There were quite a few

people standing around watching them. Reluctantly, so very reluctant-

ly, he ended the kiss. His hands let go of her butt and moved up slowly

to capture her wrists and bring them back down to rest on his chest.

“We seem to have an audience,” he murmured before she could

voice her displeasure. Alexis blushed and ducked her head. His arms

settled around her, making her feel safe. He tugged her closer as she

tried to move away. “I don’t think that would be wise.” He brushed

against her, giving her an up-close feel of his raging erection.

She began to laugh. Burying her head deep into his broad chest,

she chortled over the absurdity of the whole situation. “I can’t believe

this.”

“What?”

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37

She looked at him. “This. I follow the rules to the letter, but you,

you
come into my life and suddenly I am…” her voice trailed off, not

knowing how to finish that sentence.

“Suddenly you are doing what your body wants, instead of

what our society stupidly deems correct.” His lips met hers again and

he was rewarded with both a groan from her and thunderous applause

from those witnessing his actions.

C h a p t e r S i x

Another hour and a few hundred dollars later found Scott and

Alexis loading the last few bags into the back of her vehicle. Scott took

the cart back as she shut the hatch and climbed into the driver’s seat,

waiting for him to return. When he returned, she revved the engine and

pulled out the lot.

“I’m already tired, and now I have to go get the yard set up,”

she moaned in distress.

“Well, I’m all yours, so use me as you will,” he said.

Erotic images flashed before her eyes. “I will take you up on

that.”

“I hope so,” he purred in that velvety voice.

“Oh, I plan on it,” came her seductive response. “How is your

wound doing? I want to check it again when we get home.”

“Home? Works for me. It is doing fine, a bit tender, but I’ve had

worse.”

Changing lanes, she looked across the interior at him. “Tell me

what being a SEAL is like.”

“For me?”

“Yes, I know about the training you have to make it through and

all that. But tell me about your team.” She paused. “If you can.”

“I am part of SEAL Team Seventeen. Our nickname is Melago-

don, after the prehistoric shark, the fiercest predator in the ocean.” She

nodded with understanding. “I went for the SEALs immediately after I

graduated from Officer Candidate School…hell you know all about

OCS. I have never wanted to be anything but one of the most elite the

military has to offer. Something my family’s money couldn’t buy for

me—a badge of honor, pride, and accomplishment.”

Harrier's Healer

39

“Well, it is obvious that you got that much done,” she inter-

jected.

“You noticed?” he teased her.

“You are a hard man not to notice, Commander,” she revealed.

“And here I have been working hard just to get you to talk to

me. Why did you always avoid me when we met in the past?”

Alexis sighed; she had just lost control of the conversation. “Ho-

nestly?”

“That’s the only kind of response I would ever want from you.”

She pulled past her driveway and backed into it expertly and

swiftly. Alexis stayed silent until they both had bags in their hands and

were walking up the steps and heading for the kitchen. “I tried to keep

minimum contact with you because I was nervous.”

He set down his bags beside hers and walked with her back to

the open vehicle. “Nervous of what?”

“You. I don’t like to be out of control and around you that is

what I feel. I mean reaching my hand into someone’s chest to massage a

heart doesn’t bother me, but talking to you…I sweat just thinking about

it.”

He shuddered at that image, surprising Alexis a bit. While blood

was an unfortunate but very real part of his life, too, the whole heart-

massaging thing seemed a bit much for him. Scott took the last bags

inside as she locked the car and then followed him. When she entered

the kitchen, he gathered her into his arms. “If it is any consolation, you

make me get butterflies in my stomach.”

“Stop lying.” She slapped him on the arm and moved out of his

embrace to begin putting things away.

“I’m not.” He held up things and she would point to where he

should put them. “That first day, in Norfolk, I was running to catch

you so I could find out who you were. And then I almost knocked you

down. I was so tongue-tied I could hardly apologize to you.”

Scott moved towards her and grabbed the hem of her shirt, tow-

ing her in close. “Then I touched you as I tried to ask you if you were

okay. From that moment on,” he murmured as his hand caressed the

side of her face. “From that moment on, you gave me butterflies. No

one, and I mean
no one,
has ever given me butterflies.”

Catlike eyes grew sultry. “I was so ready to cuss you out. But I

bit my tongue when I saw your rank. I wasn’t a chief yet back then.

After you moved away I watched you walk until I couldn’t see you

anymore.”

40

Aliyah Burke

His nose flared as his eyes began to burn. “So you were lusting

after me.” The way Scott drawled it there was no question, it was fact.

“Enough that the other times I saw you I had to leave quickly so

I wouldn’t give myself away. Are you saying it was obvious that I was

avoiding you?”

He kissed the end of her nose. “Only to me since I wanted to talk

to you. But I wouldn’t think that anyone else would pick up on it.”

Another few kisses. “But on the carrier it was harder. I wanted to cart

you away to my room and…” Scott stopped talking and swept her up

into his arms to carry her to the sideboard where he sat her on the

platform.

“I really need to check that wound of yours, Commander,” she

whispered against the warm cotton of his shirt.

“It’s fine.” His hands moved to slide under her shirt.

“No.” She pushed him away and jumped off the sideboard. “I

need to see it.”

He shrugged and with one smooth motion whipped off his shirt,

baring that marbled chest to her. “Look away.”

Scarcely keeping her eyes from rolling back in desire, Alexis

moved towards him. He stood there in nothing but his jeans and shoes,

smelling clean and so masculine. “Lift your arm for me,” she ordered,

wanting to see the movement and range he had on him.

He did. Those blue eyes never left her, just issued her a silent

challenge. “Well?”

“Well, what?” Alexis asked, swallowing and trying to get some

moisture into her mouth.

“Don’t you need to touch me?”

“Not really,” she protested. “I mean you did say it was fine.”
If I

touch him, I will not want to stop.

“Well, I would feel better if you touched me.”

“I bet.” Her eyes grew wide at her slip.

“I will be a perfect gentleman. I know we have a party to get

ready for, besides…I get you for a whole week.” He pinned a glare on

her that froze her next sentence. “If you want to argue, I will take you to

your bedroom and ravish you until the only word out of your mouth is

‘yes’.”

“Is that a promise?” she teased.

Those bedroom eyes darkened with lust. “Two years, Alexis, is a

very long time,” he ground out.

“I wouldn’t know about that.”
Dear Lord, what let me say that?

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41

His eyes narrowed. “You’ll forget all others before me,” he

promised. “And there won’t be any after me!”

The devil in her woke. “And what is that supposed to mean?

Are you claiming you will ruin me for all others after you?”

Scott was back in her face in a half second. “The day there will

be another man for you, is the first time the days of the week don’t end

in ‘y’.” He pressed a hard kiss to her full lips. “There is no other man

out there for you.”

Alexis spoke in a low voice. “
Yo hablo Español. Por lo tanto, para

mí, los días no necesitan una ‘y’.
”

“What?”

“I said, ‘I speak Spanish, so for me, the days don’t need a “y”.’ In

fact none of the days end in that letter.”

He arched an eyebrow. “Meaning?”

“Meaning, Commander, while I agreed to spend time with you,

that doesn’t give you any rights over me.”

His eyes softened. “I know that. This does.” Before she could

blink, he lifted her body, spread her legs to encompass his hips, and

covered her mouth with his. One hand settled under ass, keeping her

pressed tight against him, while his other hand massaged the back of

her head as he devoured her.

Alexis responded immediately, giving everything she had to the

kiss and more. Her legs locked themselves around his waist as her

hands held his head. Thick black hair fell around them, cloaking them

in the gentle smell of heather, as their tongues dueled for supremacy.

For five minutes they stayed like that until Alexis dropped her

hands and moved them all over his torso, inadvertently coming in

contact with his fresh wound. He drew away from her mouth with a

hiss. “Damn!”

Struggling to get free of his grip, Alexis demanded, “Let me

look.” Trying not to wince, he held his arm away from his body as she

inspected the damage. “I’m so sorry about this,” she apologized.

“Don’t worry about it.”

Getting to her feet, Alexis had to swallow to control the fire this

man set to her blood. “I really have to start getting things ready for

tonight.”

“What can I do?” he asked as he covered up that gorgeous chest.

Make my fantasies come true. Every single last one of them.
“Come

with me.”

42

Aliyah Burke

Silently he followed her out to the backyard and whistled. This

is much larger than I expected.”

“It’s ’cause I have a corner lot.” She waved towards the tables.

“Can you wipe them down and put on the tablecloths?”

“Consider it done.”

They set up for the party, working well side by side. Scott

seemed to touch her body at every opportunity he could, keeping her at

a fevered pitch.

“I’ll be back, I’m gonna go change,” Alexis announced with a

slight shiver after he’d walked by and run his hand lovingly across her

ass.

“Okay, I’ll keep an eye on the grill.”

“Thanks. People should be arriving soon so I won’t be long.”

Alexis disappeared into the house.

Scott sat down at one of the tables and was lost in thought when

he heard a voice say, “Hey, Casper.”

The comfortably lounging man turned his head to see Jay and

his friends walk in through the open gate. “Jay, guys,” he responded as

he stretched out muscular legs and placed well-defined arms on the

tabletop behind him.

“Thought you’d be gone by now,” Jay hinted with more than a