SEAL's Embrace (3 page)

A
s a SEAL,
downtime was overrated. Sitting around, polishing his weapons gave Caesar far too much time to get bored, think and stew over his conversation earlier that day with Lt. Erin McGee. As the day lengthened into the afternoon, he’d worked out twice, ran once and showered, changed into clean shorts and a T-shirt and lay down on his cot. Some of the guys had gone off to play a game of volleyball. Caesar hadn’t been motivated. The heat of the afternoon waned as the sun eased out of the sky sliding slowly behind the hills surrounding the airbase. Too wound up to eat, he pushed to his feet and headed out for another jog. Instead of aiming for the perimeter, he found himself wandering through the buildings, headed for the stack of RLBs Erin had been assigned to.

His heartbeat kicked up a notch when a woman emerged from a door, dressed in PT shorts and a T-shirt, her dark red hair pulled up in a ponytail.

She walked quickly to the edge of the encampment and set off at in an easy jog around the perimeter, inside the wire.

Glad he had on his tennis shoes, Caesar hurried after her, happy for the gift of a chance to be alone with the woman. Slowly closing the distance, he didn’t want to scare her. “Erin!” he called out.

Instead of slowing to wait for him, she ran faster, kicking up the pace.

With a chuckle, Caesar sped ahead, catching her easily, falling in step beside her.

“If I’d wanted to run with you…” she panted, “I’d have slowed down.” She stopped abruptly and faced him. “What will it take for you to leave me alone?”

“An act of God.” He nodded toward the sunset, the beautiful reds and oranges cloaking the hills. “Can we talk?”

“I have to go now.” She drew in several deep breaths before she turned and walked.

He ran ahead of her, turned and jogged backward. “I just want to have coffee with you.”

She stopped again, planted both hands on her hips and spoke in a dangerously patient tone, “Why can’t you take no for an answer?”

He brandished his killer smile. “You intrigue me.”

“Well, you don’t intrigue me,” she said, her brow furrowing. “The word that describes how I feel about you is annoyed.”

“I know.” He laughed, unperturbed. “I aim to change that opinion.”

“You can’t.” She turned and set off at the pace of a speed walker.

For a few minutes, he walked alongside her in silence, without breathing hard, his long strides making her look like she was running. “Aren’t you amazed that no matter how violent the world can be, a sunset can be so beautiful, each as unique and different from the one before?”

Hmm, pretty deep for a SEAL
. She could feel herself soften. Not good. “I never thought about it,” she lied. She had thought about it. A lot. Especially when trying to get images of the wounded and dying out of her head.

He gripped her hand in his big one and pulled her to a stop, facing the setting sun as it slipped below the hills. When she tried to pull her hand free, she felt his grasp tighten.

God, he was hot. And the longer he held her hand, the harder he made it for her to resist. Already she was leaning toward him. A little more persuasion and she’d be a goner.

“Tell me. The kiss we shared earlier today. Tell me that it did nothing for you, and I’ll go away.”

He faced her,
lifting her hand in both of his, staring into her gorgeous green eyes in the fading light. “Tell me you don’t feel anything when I hold your hand in mine and stare down into your eyes.”

She opened her mouth to say something, then closed it again, her gaze locked with his, her fingers curling in his palms.

His pulse leaped. When she didn’t say anything, Caesar went on. “What I experienced was as magical, beautiful and as warm as the sunset. I can’t walk away. Not when I feel the way I do.”

She continued to stare into his eyes, chewing on her bottom lip. “I…”

Before she could form another word, he lowered his head and pressed a kiss to her lips.

At first, her mouth remained still, firming into a tight line.

At least she wasn’t moving away. Encouraged, Caesar deepened the light kiss, skimming his tongue across the seam between her lips, his hands moving from hers to her arms and around to her back, dropping low to cup her buttocks.

She gasped, her lips parted and her hands pressed against his chest. But not to push him away. Her fingers dug into the soft fabric of his T-shirt, dragging him closer.

He thrust his tongue through her parted lips and teeth and caressed the length of hers, his hands kneading her ass, pulling her closer until his hardening erection nudged against her belly.

Erin’s arms slipped up around his neck, her fingers threading through his hair. The kiss that had started out solely from his side turned around and she gave as good as she got, her tennis-shoe-clad foot, sliding up his calf, her crotch scraping across his thigh.

Heat raged through Caesar as he tugged the hem of her T-shirt free of her shorts and slipped his hands beneath to feel the silky smoothness of her skin. He groaned into her mouth, wanting more than just a kiss, more than to feel her body with his fingers. But how much was too much?

Afraid he’d scare her away, he broke off the kiss, removed his hands from beneath her shirt and took hers. “I’ve wanted to do that since the day we first met.”

“We could get in so much trouble for this,” she said, leaning her forehead against his. “If anyone were to see us…”

“We’re just two people out here, alone in the dark.”

“Silhouetted against a unique sunset,” she said, her voice flat.

“Know of a better place, where we won’t be seen?” he quipped, fully expecting her to tell him to take a hike.

“I do,” she said, her eyes widening.

Could he be this lucky? “Where?”

“The back of the supply building.”

His pulse slamming hard against his arteries, he smiled down at her. “Let’s go.”

“Not together.” She bit her lip and glanced around. “Meet me there in five minutes.”

He nodded and reluctantly let go of her hand. “Five minutes will be forever.”

“No, it’ll be enough time to put distance between you and me, in case anyone is watching.”

Before she could get an arm’s length away, he captured her hand and yanked her back into his arms, kissing her hard on the lips, his hand grasping her bottom, pressing her hard against his arousal. “I’ll be there. Will you?”

Erin turned and
ran back toward camp, her heart racing, her thoughts spinning. What was she doing? The more distance she put between the two of them, the clearer her mind should have become. Instead, all she could think of was getting to the back of the supply building, stripping naked and making love with the sexy SEAL who’d captured and wooed her in the light of a setting sun. Was she insane?

Yes
.

Was she crazy enough to go through with their plan?

Yes!

Perhaps by making love to the man, she would get him out of her system, once and for all. Then she wouldn’t be constantly frustrated and horny every time he came in with a cut finger.

As a woman who believed in following the rules, she was taking a giant leap out of her comfort zone. If she were caught, she could lose her commission, maybe even be court marshaled.

The danger only made the assignation that much more titillating. Her speed increased, as if she were running from her own demons. By the time she reached the back of the supply building, she was panting hard, her pulse racing and her heart pounding against her ribs.

She couldn’t do this. An officer and an enlisted man being together was wrong. Against every rule in the books. And while deployed was ten times worse. Reason returned as she ducked into a corner, hidden by shadows. When Caesar joined her, she’d tell him she’d changed her mind, that she really couldn’t go through with it.

Footsteps crunched in the gravel and she held her breath, forming her words in her mind. Ready to tell him just how she felt, she started to step out.

At that moment, an MP strolled by, carrying an M4 rifle and wearing an armored vest and helmet.

Afraid of being caught and questioned, Erin silently sank back into the shadows and waited for the guard to pass.

Not until the MP continued around a corner and out of sight did Erin release the breath she’d been holding. That had been far too close. She couldn’t do this. Couldn’t risk her career over a clandestine meeting with a Navy SEAL enlisted man. Heart pounding, she stepped away from her hiding place and ran into a solid wall of muscles.

Caesar gathered her in his arms and pulled her back into the shadows and up against his powerful body.

What had she been about to do?

His lips closed over hers and all coherent thought flew from her mind as she pushed his shirt up over his chest, her hands skimming across his taut skin.

Caesar grabbed the hem of her shirt and yanked it up over her head, dropping it to the ground. As quickly, he unhooked her bra and let it fall onto her shirt. Then he bent and kissed one of her breasts, sucking the nipple into his mouth, nibbling the hardened tip.

Her core heated and she grabbed the back of his head while arching her back, urging him to take more.

He pulled hard, his tongue swirling around her areola.

Erin bit down on her tongue to keep from moaning out loud. If the MP made another pass through the buildings… If he discovered the two of them…

Excitement ratcheted higher and her core flamed.

Caesar hooked his fingers in the elastic of her shorts and panties, and he dragged them down her legs and over her tennis shoes.

Naked but for her shoes, she felt the warm, desert air caressing her body, followed by Caesar’s fingers. Erin closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath, her breasts swelling into the palms of his large, callused hands.

When she reached for him, he grabbed both wrists in one of his hands and pinned them above her head. “Me first,” he whispered against her earlobe.

His free hand cupped her cheek and he raised her face. At first, light and tender, he brushed his lips across hers. The pressure increased and she opened to him, her tongue seeking his and finding it, tangling, touching and tasting his minty freshness.

Slowly, he dragged his mouth away, skimmed along the line of her jaw and downward to the pulse beating at the base of her throat. Not pausing for long, he moved lower to take a breast into his mouth, tonguing the tip until it hardened into a tight bud. “You taste amazing,” he said.

She tugged against his grip. “Let me.”

Holding firm, he refused to let her touch him. “Not yet.”

Anxious to join the exploration, she moaned, her body writhing, her center so hot she thought she might spontaneously combust before he got there.

He slid a hand over her belly then lower to the mound of curls covering her sex.

Panting, she thrust her pelvis forward, wanting him to find that narrow strip of flesh, the center of her desire.

Parting her folds, he did, strumming her like an instrument, to be plucked and played until beautiful music filled her body.

Tension built, she twisted her head back and forth. “There. Sweet Jesus, there!” she cried softly.

Letting go of her wrists, he dropped to his knees and spread her folds with his thumbs.

Erin threaded her fingers through his hair, digging them into his scalp.

His tongue slipped into her channel and he swirled around, then dragged it back up to flick her clit.

Her knees wobbled and she moaned, “Holy hell.”

In response, he flicked again and again until her world centered around his tongue and the amazing things he was doing to her body. The more he stroked her, the tighter her muscles stretched until one last touch sent her spiraling out of control. Her breath caught and held. When he would have continued his assault, she pulled his hair, forcing him to stop as she rode the wave all the way to the end. No matter how exquisite, the pleasure wasn’t enough. She had to have more.

Caesar rose, dragging his hands up her body as he straightened, sliding over the curve of her thighs, the swell of her hips and the roundness of her breasts, reminding her of the woman she was but tended to forget while wearing a uniform.

God, this was so wrong, but when she ran her hands down his back and under the elastic band of his shorts, she was past reason. His skin smooth, his muscles hard, she couldn’t get enough and pushed his shorts far enough down his legs to free that pulsing, stiff, evidence of his desire. “I need you. Inside me. Now,” she begged, her breath coming in short gasps, her body shaking with her continued release.

His hands froze and he drew in a deep breath. “I can’t.”

“What do you mean you can’t?” She wanted to wail out loud, but her words came out in a short breathy burst.

Touching his forehead to hers, Caesar smoothed a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “I don’t have protection.”

Her heart fell to her belly, though her nerves remained stretched taut. “Do you have any STDs?” she asked, her voice more breathless than she could help.

“No. Recent tests were clear and I haven’t been with anyone in a long time.”

She snorted, her hands cupping his firm, delectable tush. “I find that hard to believe.”

He smiled down at her. “It’s true. I told you, I’m not the kind of guy who leaves a girl in every port. Not my style. Plus my mother would whoop my ass.”

Her pulse nudging upward, she made a decision a sane woman wouldn’t consider. “Just don’t come inside me.” She dragged her calf up the side of his, rubbing her aroused sex across his thigh.

“Are you sure?”

She kissed him hard on the lips and said, “Please, hurry before I come to my senses.”

Caesar lifted her and she wrapped both legs around his waist. Backing her against the wall of the building, he slid into her, her juices slicking the way. Halfway there, he pulled out.

Erin tightened her thighs, digging her shoe heels into his buttocks. “All the way, frogman.”

“Aye, aye!” He thrust hard, filling her completely until his balls slapped against her bottom.

Her back pressed against the building, the residual warmth penetrating her naked skin. She sucked in a sharp breath and held it, relishing the full thickness of him inside her. This was what she’d needed, what she’d craved since meeting the SEAL.