LITMIR.BIZ

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back toward Alexa’s home. It was close to midnight according to the glow from the dash clock. Alexa had slipped her shoes off onto the floorboard of his sporty car. He’d opted for something nicer than his truck, mostly for Alexa because he didn’t give a damn what anyone else thought of him.

      She hadn’t said a word since they left. It was almost as if she knew he needed to be alone inside his mind. That was what was so great about her. She just knew what he needed.

      “Seven of my best friends were killed that day.” He wound through the streets leading to her town house. He didn’t even realize he’d started speaking, but now that he’d started, he found he didn’t want to stop. “We were sent in to rescue three women and eighteen girls at a school that had been overtaken. We had a solid plan, but nothing is foolproof.”

      Alexa reached across, sliding her hand over his on the console. Silence settled between them, but her act of compassion spoke volumes. Damn it. She was getting to him. He’d known she was, had known the more he was with her the more likely he was to want more of her.

      “I’ll spare you the details, but there was an ambush,” he added, trying in vain to block the images that played like a horror movie inside his head. “The women and girls were saved, I was spared, but...”

      “I won’t tell you not to have survivor’s guilt.” Her soft words filled the cramped area. “That’s human nature to wonder what if. I went through it. I’m still going through it. I wonder what would’ve happened had we known about my husband’s condition. Could we have prevented his death? But I can’t get stuck in that mind-set, mostly because of Mason. He deserves to have his mother at one hundred percent.”

      “Mason is a lucky boy,” Hayes stated. “I’m sure he’ll know how loved he is.”

      Alexa sighed. “That’s my hope. But you’re doing remarkably well, considering. You only tensed a few times tonight being with all those people.”

      He turned his hand over, lacing his fingers with hers. “Figures you’d notice.”

      “I know you,” she said simply.

      Wasn’t that the truth. After such a short time, she’d honed right in on what made him tick, what his fears were, how to handle them. He hadn’t wanted to show any vulnerability, but Alexa never made him feel as if he had. She made him feel...human. Like everything he was going through was okay and he’d make it.

      “I just pictured your underwear.”

      Her laughter warmed him, taking him to that place that was so perfect, so right. He hadn’t thought such a place existed after he’d come home, but since meeting Alexa, he’d discovered maybe there was a bright spot in the world. Maybe that was the one thing he shouldn’t fear.

      “I could tell when you’d look at me across the room,” she told him. “I knew exactly what you were thinking.”

      “Good. Because I’m about to show you exactly what was running through my mind.”

      He pulled into her drive and barely got the car in park before he reached across and cupped the back of her head, bringing her mouth to his.

      Finally. He hadn’t kissed her all evening, hadn’t touched her in the way he’d wanted to. In short, he’d been on his best behavior.

      Now, he was about to be on his worst. He reached for the zipper on the back of the dress. “How the hell did you get into this thing?” he growled against her lips.

      Alexa laughed, her eyes shining bright as she stared back at him. “Side zipper, but we better get inside before my neighbors see us making out like teenagers.”

      “Your neighbors’ lights are off.”

      Alexa tugged on the door handle. “I’m not taking the chance.”

      Hayes followed her inside. They barely made it in the door before he backed her up against it, flicked the lock and caged her head between his forearms.

      “You have three seconds to get that side zipper or I’m going to rip this dress off.”

      Her hands were moving as she tossed her head back with a sultry laugh. “You paid for it.”

      “Best money I’ve ever spent.”

      As the dress peeled away and fell below her breasts, Hayes was on her. He couldn’t get enough and this entire evening of foreplay had nearly done him in. Watching her curves move beneath that red dress, the way her dark hair flowed around her shoulders, seeing her laugh across the room, then catch his eye. He knew he wasn’t the only one thinking of this.

      Her little striptease had him jerking his uniform off, quickly ridding himself of everything so he could be skin to skin. They still hadn’t turned on lights, but he didn’t need them. There wasn’t a spot on her body he wasn’t familiar with.

      He lifted her against the door, dipping his head to capture her mouth once again. Alexa’s legs locked around his waist and he wasted no time in joining their bodies. Finesse would come later—much later. Right now he had a need that had been building all night.

      Her fingers dug into his shoulders as she arched that sweet body against his. Hayes slid a hand down the dip in her waist and over the flare of her hip, gripping her to hold her in place. She dug her heels into his backside and Hayes knew she was on the brink.

      He tore his lips from hers and shifted just enough to see her face. The slight glow from the porch light filtered in through the window, slashing just enough of a beam across her face for him to fully appreciate her pleasure.

      “Look at me,” he commanded, squeezing her hip.

      Those black eyes immediately locked onto his and a second later she cried out. That’s exactly what he’d been waiting on. Seeing her come apart in his arms, knowing he was the one who made her lose control was all he wanted. Her hips quickened as she came apart and that’s all it took to have him joining her.

      Hayes’s body trembled as he fisted one hand on the door beside her head and continued to hold on to her hip. His knee was starting to shake from being too weak, but hell if he’d give in now.

      Alexa ran her fingertips up and down his back, his arms, murmuring something in Spanish as he came down from the tremors. Resting his forehead against hers, he pulled in a breath of sweet jasmine...the same scent she’d tortured him with all night.

      “Do you have the energy to get to the bedroom?” she asked.

      Hayes laughed. “If it’s not far. Or we could sleep here on the floor.”

      “Let me down,” she told him, untangling her legs from his waist. “Your knee has to be hurting.”

      He stepped back and said nothing.

      “Exactly,” she confirmed. “You shifted too much and kept fisting your hand by my head. Get in bed and rest that.”

      Hayes instantly lifted her up and over his shoulder.

      “Put me down,” she cried, smacking his back. “Hayes, your leg is going to give out and we’ll both be down.”

      “Like hell,” he growled. “I’ll rest it when we get in there. Better yet, you can give me a rubdown. Now tell me where the bedroom is.”

      “Last door on the right.”

      He palmed her backside, earning him another laugh from her. Damn, that laugh made everything seem so right, so perfect. Could such happiness be his for the taking? Alexa had lost her husband and never claimed to be looking for a relationship. Hell, he hadn’t either, but the idea of letting her go, the thought of another man even touching her settled a new level of rage within him.

      She also hadn’t mentioned wanting or even needing a man to fill the role of daddy to her son. Maybe that’s not something she wanted at all. It was one thing to be involved in an affair, but quite another to become a family.

      Hayes’s eyes had gotten used to

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