SEAL's Embrace (9 page)

After squirting a handful of shampoo into her palm, she scrubbed her hair. Then she went to work on her body, hoping to wash away the residual tingling from where his hand had touched her. Suds slipped over her shoulders and across her breasts, warm smooth and making her nerves stretch for the release she needed.

Erin rinsed the soap from her eyes and watched as the bubbles dripped off the tips of her budded nipples. Some slipped over her torso and downward to catch on the little tuft of curls over her mons.

With a groan, she followed the trail with her fingers, parting the folds to find that little nubbin of flesh in the middle. If Caesar were in the shower with her, his big, rough fingers would stroke her there. Perhaps he’d go down on her and slip his tongue inside her body.

Flicking herself, she moaned. How much better would the sensation be if she were with the man instead of pleasuring herself? She flicked herself again, warm water sliding down between her legs, heating her inner thighs.

He’d dip his tongue into her and taste her juices. Her finger followed the path of her memory, slipping into her channel, slick with her cream, and back out to tease the tightly packed bundle of nerves, swelled with need and aching for fulfillment. Swirling her finger around and around, she felt tension build and swell until her body stiffened and she threw back her head.

Warm water pelted her face as she came to her own touch, dreaming of a particular SEAL’s hands and mouth on her body.

Shaking with her release and yet still dissatisfied, Erin realized what could have made her orgasm more complete. Being held in strong arms, the SEAL’s thick, hard erection sliding inside her, filling her like no cold, lonely vibrator could. Erin turned the shower setting to cold, dowsed her skin and raging body with icy water to chill her desire.

What good was dreaming about such things? The man resided in a hospital, recuperating from a spinal injury. Making love wasn’t an option.

Unless she was on top
.

The thought slipped into her mind and she banished it immediately. That was ridiculous. She couldn’t go to a patient’s bed, climb into it and make love to him in the hospital. That would go against all the rules and might put the patient at risk of reinjuring him.

Stop it! Stop thinking about Caesar
.

Erin buried her face in a towel and rubbed at her skin. No amount of scrubbing or chastising herself would wipe the man from her mind. Nothing would, now that she’d made love to him. The best she could do was hit the road and run him out of her system.

She dug into her backpack, found a PT shirt, shorts and her tennis shoes. In minutes, she was outside of the lodging and running in the damp, cool German air.

Caesar followed, never far from her mind. She ran faster. Every breath she took included an image of Caesar smiling at her with the confidence of a charmer. His entire countenance was one of a man who’d already won the battle and waited to claim his prize.

Damn the man
. Erin ran faster.

She found herself on the road leading toward the front gate. A huge crowd gathered outside, shouting and chanting, holding up signs written mostly in German, some in English.

Death to a Murderer!

Unwilling to get too close to the angry mob, Erin turned and ran the opposite direction. The angry tone of the shouting and chanting drove her back to the safety of the hospital walls.

By the time she entered, she was hungry and thirsty. She risked hitting the cafeteria, half-afraid, half-excited about the possibility that Caesar would still be there.

A sigh of relief mixed with disappointment. His was not one of the faces in the crowd. She quickly drank a glass of juice, forced herself to eat a bowl of oatmeal and then went in search of information about the next flight to Bagram. She needed to get back to work and away from temptation.

After making the arrangements to be on a flight out that left the next afternoon, she headed back to her room. The night on duty, a run that had taken the steam out of her, and the added stress of her forbidden desire for one hot Navy SEAL all wore on her energy level. She’d sleep it off and when she woke, she’d have a fresh perspective and perhaps she’d get her head on straight.

A quick shower, sans the masturbation this time, a brisk towel across her skin and Erin was ready for bed. She slipped a T-shirt over her head and crawled between the sheets, pulling them up to her chin in the cool air.

Yeah, warm arms would feel great about now.

No. She had to stop thinking that way. She didn’t need a man in her life. She was an independent woman who could take care of herself and her own needs.

As she slipped into sleep, she was betrayed by her dreams, settling her in the arms of a tattooed, Navy SEAL with brown-black hair and eyes so dark they appeared to be mirrors of his soul.

“Caesar, why are you here?” she asked the SEAL.

He kissed her, his lips trailing across her chin and down the length of her throat. “Because you asked me to come.”

“But it’s wrong.” As wrong as it was, she didn’t push him away. The sheet fell away and she was naked before him.

“How could it be wrong?” He teased a turgid nipple with the tip of his tongue. “You’re in a dream.”

A single tear slipped down her cheek and she whispered, “Because, I want it to be a reality.”

A knock at her door broke the mood. Caesar disappeared into a fog.

Another knock forced Erin awake and she sat up, her hand going to the breast Caesar had flicked with his tongue.

“Lt. McGee?” a voice called out.

Erin threw aside the comforter and climbed out of bed, her brain still fogged with her dream. Grabbing a pair of shorts, she slipped them on as another knock sounded.

When she opened the door, she was greeted by a dozen bright red roses. The bouquet shifted and the delivery girl smiled. “These are for you.”

Erin accepted the bouquet and closed the door. Who knew she was in Landstuhl? She ripped into the envelope accompanying the flowers.

You are more beautiful than a dozen red roses. CS

Erin shook her head. The scent of the roses filled the small room, their brilliant red seeming to be the only color in the otherwise colorless decor. She buried her nose in their soft petals and inhaled. Matt had never bought her roses, or flowers of any kind. He’d taken her out to dinner, but they’d always ended up in bed. After a while, the sex felt more like payment for the meal. Why had she put up with him for so long? A real man who cared would want to be with her for more than the sex.

A brief glance at the clock on the nightstand, and the rumbling in her belly, confirmed she’d slept for more than six hours. Plenty of sleep to gird her stamina for a long night shift. Now all she needed was fuel to see her through. After her shift ended, she’d be on a plane to Afghanistan, leaving Caesar behind.

Saddened at the thought, she dressed quickly in her flight suit, tucked her hair into a tight bun and dragged on her boots. Every movement was performed by rote memory. She’d dressed this way so often she could do it in the dark, and did, half the time. The difference being the way she felt as her clothes skimmed across her skin, reminding her of how Caesar’s hands had caressed her.

Another glance at the clock. If she hurried, she could go by his room under the pretext of checking on her patient. Her pulse kicked up and she hurriedly finished tying her boots. As she stepped out of the building, she spotted the bus pulling up to the curb and she hopped on board. In minutes, she was at the entrance of the hospital.

Her heart thumping against her ribs, she forced herself to walk a sedate pace to the ward where Caesar was recuperating. Would stealing a kiss be possible? Of course, only to thank him for the flowers. Her blood burned through her veins as she passed storage room doors, and waiting rooms, her mind scoping for a quiet place where they could be alone.

Stop fooling yourself
.

This hospital was perhaps the busiest of all with wounded soldiers and their families filling twenty-four/seven.

As she approached the door to his room, she drew in a deep breath, smoothed her clammy hands over her flight suit and entered.

The bed was empty. Once again, the sheets were neatly folded and the bed made as if for the next patient.

“If you’re looking for tall, dark and hunky, he’s in the cafeteria, hoping to see you there.”

Fighting back a gasp, Erin spun to face Lt. Reynolds. “Uh, I was just coming to check on him. I like to know that the patients I help transport are doing better.”

“Oh, he’s doing fine, and you don’t have to pretend with me.” Lt Reynolds shook her head. “If he didn’t have it bad for you, I’d have thrown my hat in the ring. That man’s worth every risk.”

Erin couldn’t agree with the woman more, but she wouldn’t in public. “Well, thank you. Would you please tell him I stopped by?”

“Tell him yourself when you see him in the cafeteria.” The lieutenant winked. “Look, rules were meant to be broken. I’d sure break a few to be with Caesar.”

“Thanks.” Too wound up with the need to see him before she went on duty, Erin didn’t bother to lie to the younger nurse. Obviously, her face told the story. She was in danger of falling for the man. Hell, she was already in too deep.

Erin made the long trek to the dining room, searching for his face down the long hallways, hoping to catch him if he was on his way back. By the time she reached the cafeteria, she’d stared at every face and come up short one SEAL.

Standing at the entrance to the large cafeteria, she scanned the sea of faces. Being dinnertime, the room was full and noisy with everyone talking at once. After several minutes, she realized his face wasn’t among those present.

Heart heavy, she turned to the clock on the wall. She didn’t have time to go back to his room. She barely had time to wolf down a bagel and a cup of coffee, scalding her tongue in the process. Five minutes later, with a burned tongue and a heart filled with disappointment, she headed for the ICU for shift change.

“You have Hassani again,” the departing nurse briefed her as she handed over the chart. “We pulled his intubation tube this morning but he’s still on oxygen. I just checked his IVs and drainage tubes. He should be good to go for a couple hours.”

After they both went over the patient’s chart and blood work, the nurse left and Erin was on her own to care for their prisoner.

Erin met the shift supervisor at the desk. “Hi, Sheila, anything new?”

Sheila looked up from her computer screen. “So far so good.”

“The riots calm any?”

“From what I understand, the German
polizei
cracked down on the rioters and sent them packing earlier this evening.”

“That’s good news.” Again, Erin checked her charts and made notes on fluid levels, pulse and blood pressure. “I bet you’ll be glad when they move this guy stateside.”

“You know it. I don’t like feeling like we’re under the gun, so to speak.”

“Imagine what our soldiers have to deal with in theater. This is nothing compared.”

“I know. Experiencing this brings it home to me and working on a patient who has caused so much death and destruction to our own troops becomes much more difficult.”

“Ditto.” Erin glanced toward the windowed room where Hassani lay recuperating after a life-saving operation. Her grip on the chart tightened. He’d been afforded care he would never have given to any of his prisoners. “Let’s hope he can shed light on where the four soldiers are.”

“If there’s even a chance of getting that information, the effort will have been worth it. I know if my son were one of those U.S. soldiers being held, I’d do anything to find him.” Sheila’s gaze narrowed before she continued, “Even give medical care to the enemy.”

Erin’s lips twisted in a wry grin. “We’d do it anyway. It’s the nature of our business.”

Sheila smiled. “Right. But sometimes doing that is hard.”

A couple hours
later, Erin stopped at the nurses’ counter and stretched. “I could use a bathroom break. Can you cover for me for just a few minutes?”

“Go. I’ll keep track of your patient.”

“Thanks.”

Erin hurried to the bathroom and locked the door behind her. At one in the morning, they were halfway through the shift and she was already tired. Part of her problem was that she was thinking too much about a certain sexy SEAL, instead of what she needed to do to get through the night. Every time she turned around, she became aware of something that reminded her of Caesar. Just seeing Hassani reminded her of what she’d learned. Caesar had carried the man out of the village, thus saving his life.

She wished she could have seen him before she’d reported for duty. The scent of roses lingered in her memory and she wanted to thank him. No matter how many times he heard how they couldn’t be together, the man didn’t give up. If nothing else, he was persistent. Did that mean he really cared about her?

Her breath caught and held.

Maybe.

She breathed out.

He knew all the right things to say. If he wasn’t sincere, he was well practiced in what a woman wanted to hear. From talking about sunsets, to dancing and roses, he was well on his way to stealing her heart.

Erin used the facilities and washed her hands, staring at her image in the mirror. The shadows beneath her eyes were more pronounced and she looked more haggard than usual. Turning on the cool water, she splashed a handful over her face. For a moment, she thought she heard something over the sound of the water running. She shut off the faucet and listened. Footsteps sounded outside the door followed by muffled shouts.

“Stop! You can’t go in there.”

That was Sheila’s voice shouting. Erin’s heart skipped several beats and raced on as she pressed her ear to the door.

Someone spoke in what sounded like Pashto, the language of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. Her pulse hammered so hard against her eardrums she could barely hear.

The distinctive noise of metal gears and bolts being shot home reached her through the heavy door. From the sound of the action, the ICU was being overrun by someone. Probably related to the Taliban. Erin’s first instinct was to reach for the doorknob, yank it open and demand that they get the hell out. But reason kicked in and she didn’t turn the knob. If she alerted them to her location, what would they do?