Model Soldier (11 page)

“So I could possibly be the last woman you were with for an entire year?”

“Mmm, hmm, and not possibly, most definitely. Tonight is our last hurrah. There won’t be any time, with getting ready to deploy in a few days to go out for beer or women. You’re it, doll. My last hurrah.”

He smiled and ran a hand up her arm, sending a chill through her in spite of the hot stale air in the bar. “The last woman I’ll touch for an entire long, lonely year. The one I’ll picture at night when I’m all alone and lonely in my cold dark tent.”

Emily took a shaky breath. Her body wanted this man, and now her brain, which was usually the rational of the two, was starting to think it was a good idea, too.

Hawk stepped in closer. “Come on, doll. Do something just for the fun of it just once in your life. Go tell your friend over there that you’re tired and going back to your room.”

She glanced at the group of soldiers surrounding Jai. “Even if I leave alone and you sneak upstairs later, they’ll notice when you leave, too. They’ll all know.”

“My men? Maybe. Probably. So what if they know? Do you really care? You’ll never see any of them again, and they’ll all be envying me spending one of our last nights in civilization with the hottest girl in this place.”

Damn. She was really going to do this. She took a giant swallow of her beer.

“Room two-ten,” she told Hawk before her nerve ran out.

He looked about as surprised at her decision as she felt herself. Then she turned to go try and lie to Jai, who would most likely see right through her. The worst part was that Hawk was right. At the moment, with her heart pounding and her sex throbbing, she didn’t really care what anyone thought.

Chapter Ten

Room two-ten. Hawk swallowed hard and stared at the brass numbers on the door while the condoms purchased from the men’s room at the Ratskeller felt heavy in his jeans pocket.

Once within the inner sanctum, Hawk’s plan was to avoid talking at all costs. Emily was most likely the kind of woman to scare off easily and the last thing he wanted was for her to change her mind and turn tail and run before he got his hands on her. Not when he was this close. One thing Hawk knew for sure when it came to women, he never assumed he was in until he was, well,
in
.

Emily.
Funny how now that he stood outside her hotel room, feet from her, moments from making last night’s erotic dream come true, he didn’t think of her as Goldilocks anymore. That was quite a change. Usually the women he slept with remained forever “Red” or “Blondie” or “Legs” or whatever name he’d dubbed them at first sight.

Maybe the difference was he and Emily had a professional relationship, too. Who the hell knew? Nothing about this girl and his attraction to her made sense.

She was not his usual type, but pretty much the opposite of it. They fought like cats and dogs and at times he was fairly sure she outright hated him. And yet here he was, outside her hotel room, and at her invitation, no less.

Hawk realized he was wasting time on the wrong side of the door with all this thinking, which was also very unlike him. He raised a fist and knocked loudly, holding his breath that she’d answer.

And answer she did.

The door opened and Emily, still in the clothes she’d worn to the bar, stepped back to allow Hawk to enter. He took a step forward into the room, and suddenly had an arm full of woman.

Good thing he had lightening fast reflexes. He caught her and managed to not fall backwards onto his ass as she dove at him, crashing her lips into his.

Hawk shouldered the door shut with the hope it would lock on its own. Angling his head to take full advantage of her hungry kiss, he didn’t give the damn door another thought as Emily’s tongue invaded his mouth.

Figuring they would end up there anyway, he stepped heavily toward the bed with Emily wrapped around his neck and waist. A willing woman literally in his hands was good, but one in the bed was even better. There he’d be free to unwrap the wool-covered package and enjoy what was underneath. And more, holding her up was severely limiting his own participation in this unexpected but more than welcome foreplay she’d initiated.

Hawk prided himself on the prowess of both his hands and mouth and he intended to show off all his skills for this woman. They may have only one night together, but as he set her down and lay above her, he vowed he would make sure she never forgot it.

Beneath him on the mattress, Emily squirmed and broke their kiss. He raised himself up on shaky arms afraid he had crushed her with his not-inconsiderable weight.

He needn’t have worried.

All he could do was groan in response when one of her hands pulled at the turtleneck tucked into his jeans while the other fumbled with his fly.

She said only two breathless words. “Clothes off.”

Two words were enough and he couldn’t agree more. He wanted them skin to skin and since she was obviously willing, who was he to slow them down?

With a long low growl, he dove in for one more taste of her warm and inviting lips, untangled his hand from the mass of her hair and then set to work on getting them both naked as fast as possible.

She helped and by the time his clothes were in a heap on the floor, so were hers, then Hawk really had something to groan about. Her bulky sweater had hid more than just creamy, ivory skin. It also had disguised two perky peaks tipped with rosy nipples.

“Damn, you’re beautiful.” And to Hawk’s surprise that was no bullshit. He meant every word.

“You’re not so bad yourself,” she whispered while her hands explored his now bare chest.

From the top of her blonde head to the tips of her pale pink polished toes, and everything in between, this woman was a man’s wet dream. Better than Hawk’s latest dream actually, because she was real, in more ways than one. All of her—every last inch right down to the patch of pale curls between her legs proving her a natural blonde—was god-given temptation.

He’d always been a breast man, usually the bigger the better. But after a run of chicks with implants, everything from fake breast to surgically-plumped lips, Emily’s natural perfection was a huge turn-on.

Hawk ran his tongue over one pebbled nipple now and watched her shiver. He liked that reaction, a lot, so he took the bite-sized tidbit into his mouth and suckled hard until she groaned and lifted her spine off the bed to press further into his mouth.

Damn
. If the rest of her was as sensitive as her breasts, they were both in for one hell of a wild ride. He could hardly wait. When Emily spread her legs to give him room to lie between them, he didn’t hesitate. Heart pounding, Hawk nestled his throbbing erection against her folds.

Hard enough to drive nails with the thing, he nudged a bit and found her slick and ready.

“You’re so wet,” he breathed.

“I’ve been that way for two days now,” her raspy voice informed him.

They’d first met two days ago. She was finally admitting she’d wanted him from the very beginning. That knowledge was nearly his undoing.

Hawk held himself very still as he tried to resist plunging unprotected into her. The way he felt he didn’t trust himself to not lose it the minute he was inside this woman. The dead last thing he needed was a David Hawkins Junior running around back in the States while he was in Afghanistan chasing baddies through the mountains.

At the speed of light, Hawk grabbed the foil packet from the pocket of his jeans, covered himself and slid deep inside Emily.

The man slept like the dead.

No sooner had he shuddered inside her, left to briefly flush the condom away and then slipped back between the covers next to her and he was out like a light. She’d felt him literally fall into sleep as the rock-like muscular arm he’d thrown possessively over her had gotten heavier and heavier, pinning her in place at his side.

Not that she blamed him for being physically worn out. He had expended quite a bit of energy. And it wasn’t like he’d left her unsatisfied and wanting or anything. No, she’d done quite a bit of shuddering herself.

But still, how could he sleep? His even breathing told her he wasn’t having any second thoughts about what had happened between them.

Emily glanced at the clock. She’d been second guessing herself and what had happened for an hour and a half now. And on top of not being able to sleep, she had to pee.

Back in New York, counting the days until she met her supposed Prince Charming, Emily had imagined a similar scenario. Snuggling in bed after making love, bodies intertwined, falling asleep in his arms, feeling warm, safe and loved. Nowhere in her visions had it been a one-night stand and in her dreams she hadn’t had to desperately relieve herself.

Thinking waiting any longer was not an option and it would be just too bad if she woke Sleeping Beauty up, Emily wiggled her way free of the vise that was Hawk’s arm and slipped from the bed.

When she returned, he hadn’t moved a muscle. Hmm. Some war-hardened trained fighter he was. She could probably set off a bomb under the bed and he wouldn’t wake up.

“I sure hope the Taliban doesn’t sneak up on you at night,” she whispered under her breath and crawled quickly back under the warm covers with a shiver.

“I heard that.”

She could hear the smile in his voice.

“Well, it’s true. You sleep like a rock.”

“When I know it’s safe to do so. Otherwise, a boot crunching or a breath taken too deeply outside my tent will wake me up. Believe me.”

“Oh.” What else could she say about that? She knew nothing about what this man went through on a daily basis and she probably never would. Another reason her decision to jump him, literally, and hop right into bed was probably ill advised.

Hawk readjusted to accommodate her and then flung his arm over her waist. From behind her, his gruff voice asked, “What’s bothering you, doll? I can feel you frowning from here.”

Two big arms gathered her up and pulled her close to his chest. As he started to kiss up and down her neck and shoulder she felt him grow hard against her naked butt.

It wasn’t exactly easy to think with him doing that, but she managed to answer the question. “I’m wondering exactly how stupid sleeping with you was. And speaking of sleeping, what about all that big talk in the bar about how there’d be no sleeping? Hmm?”

“Mmm. I have an excuse. You wore me out. I didn’t know Goldilocks would turn into the big bad wolf in bed.”

“You’re mixing your fairy tales and I don’t usually do this, you know.”

“Have sex with incredibly hot and handsome soldiers you’ve only known for two days?”

“Yes. The two day part, at least. The hot and handsome part is pushing it, don’t you think?” she joked rather than let him see her doubt.

She felt him chuckle. “You still don’t like the idea that you found me attractive from the minute you walked into that office yesterday, do you?”

Actually, it was from the minute his eyes stared back at her from the paper computer printout back in New York, but she wasn’t telling him that. And because of exactly that attraction, she should have run screaming from the Ratskeller the moment she realized Hawk was inside.

She’d fallen half in love with Hawk on paper before ever meeting him, imagined fairy tale “happy ever after” with him. And even the reality of two days of fighting with him over every detail of this campaign couldn’t fight that attraction. So what did she go and do? She jumped into bed with him, willing to settle for one night over nothing at all.

Stupid, stupid, stupid
.

“You’re doing it again.”

“Doing what?”

“Thinking.”

“I can’t help it,” Emily sighed. Having sex with Hawk raised a good dozen or so questions. Would she ever hear from him again? If she did have to contact him for work, how weird would it be?

“Well I can,” he said, running a hand from her waist, over her hip and down to her thigh where it paused and made small circles against her skin.

“You can what? Not think? Yeah, I figured that.”

“No, my witty little thinker. I meant I can stop you from thinking.”

One large rough hand pulled her leg up and over his hip as he slid into her from behind while fingering her clit at the same time.

Her eyes closed involuntarily at the combined feeling of him moving inside while his hand worked her increasingly sensitive spot.

The tension began to build and she breathlessly shuddered out, “Oh.”

“Still thinking?” he asked playfully.

Somehow, she managed to respond. “Shut up, Hawk.”

Emily heard him chuckle just as the hip-bucking orgasm broke over her.

A few incredibly wonderful thrusts more and Hawk wasn’t laughing any longer. With a deep groan that reverberated straight through her body, he quickly pulled out of her and she felt warm wetness against her back.

Holding her tight, his body hot against hers, he growled against her hair. “Mmm. I could do that with you all night long.” Then to her great disappointment he pulled away and sat up. “But right now we both need a shower.”

Emily moaned at that suggestion. She’d be willing to overlook the stickiness on her back if it meant not getting out of the warm bed again. “Now? It’s cold out there,” she whined.