Roberts, Sarah - Action Hero Junkie [Movieland] (BookStrand Publishing Romance) (7 page)

Mia quickly glanced up at Aiden. Between the streaks of black camo on his face, she could see the red flush staining his cheekbones. “As you say, sir.” He sounded very stiff, maybe even defensive.

The general snorted. “Very well! Lieutenant! Show Ms. Haven to your quarters. She will be your responsibility as long as she is with us.”

Aiden saluted smartly. “Yes, sir!”

Shaking his head, the general turned his back on them. Aiden and Mia looked at each other. Aiden grabbed her hand, and they hurried to make good their escape.

They left the command center and walked a short distance to a cluster of small buildings that all looked alike. Aiden motioned, and Mia turned with him to walk up to the front door of one. Stepping onto the small porch, Aiden opened the door and politely ushered her inside.

Mia stepped past him, and he followed her, the wooden door falling closed behind him with a hollow thud. She looked around slowly. The room was divided into living room and dining room, judging by the sofa and matching armchair and coffee table and TV on one side, and the small dining table and four ladder-back chairs on the other. A big circular rug covered the floor. It was a plain, utilitarian place, not a thing out of place, all clean and tidy. She could smell the invigorating aroma of Pine-Sol.

Mia turned until she was facing Aiden. They looked at each other, both of them kind of serious, neither of them, obviously, really knowing what to say.

Aiden slowly shook his head. He looked troubled, and his wide chest lifted in a long sigh. “I didn’t want this, Mia. I wanted you to be safe at home.”

“Yeah, well, that makes two of us.” Mia lifted her shoulders in a confused shrug. There was a lot going on in her head. She was being tugged in too many ways. She could be safe at home, right now, lying in her own familiar bed.
Alone. All alone, so alone.
But here she was instead, with Aiden, in a scary, different world.

Mia wasn’t sure what she really wanted, so she just walked forward into his arms. His massively muscular arms closed tight around her. Her cheek pressed against his hard, warm chest, and Mia felt it rise beneath her cheek with his breathing. The sound of his heart thudded solidly in her ear. She felt safe. She felt like she was home.

He eased her back from him, and his large hands came up to cup either side of her face. His thumbs brushed her cheeks. She looked up into his eyes. He was looking down at her with the most serious expression. The black camo streaks really added to the seriousness. “You’re so very beautiful and brave, Mia. I love you.”

The man was delusional. But she didn’t try to bring him to his senses. Instead, she gave a breathy-sounding laugh. She didn’t know where it had come from. It sounded far too sexy to be hers. “Take me to bed, Aiden.”

His electric-blue eyes instantly heated. He picked her up in his strong arms, like she weighed nothing—she really loved that part—and carried her through an open door into a small bedroom. He laid her down on a wide bed, and then he undressed her, and she undressed him. There were lots of murmurings and touchy-feely exploration, and then he was hot inside her, and Mia was losing her mind.

When Mia floated back into her body, she was tucked against him, wrapped up in his arms with her head pillowed on his lovely, hairy chest. His chest was rising and falling rapidly beneath her cheek. He smelled good, all musk and male and expended sex. With her eyes still closed, Mia grinned. She couldn’t help it. This was the way-coolest thing that had ever happened to her in her life.

“Mia, I don’t want us to be apart anymore.” His fingers were threading gently through her hair.

It felt very, very nice. She glided her own fingertips over his outstanding pecs and the mat of rough, wiry hairs. “I don’t want to be apart from you, either.”

His fingers went still in her hair. Mia could feel his chest stop moving before he took a really deep breath. His voice went all deep and rumbly. “Mia! Are you sure? You’ll marry me?”

Her eyes snapped open. Mia reared straight up. She stared down at him in shock. “Whoa, soldier boy! Where did that come from?”

Aiden sat up, too. She was momentarily distracted by the flexing of that magnificent manly chest matted with red-gold hairs. “I just asked you to marry me.”

Mia shook her head so hard that she thought her brain rattled.
“Wow.”
Her brain was still stuttering along on half-batteries, and her mouth didn’t work much better. “But–but you don’t know me! I don’t know
you
! We’re from two different worlds.”
Boy, that was an understatement.

“I know it’s crazy! You’re right. I’m Special Ops. My life can be crazy. I never know where I’ll be sent.” Aiden placed his large warm hands on her bare shoulders. “But, Mia, I’m crazy about
you
! I want you in my life.”

“I don’t know. I don’t know.” She shook her head. She was all shaken up. She couldn’t think.

His hands tightened on her shoulders. “Mia, are you trying to say that you don’t…care about me?”

She looked up quickly at him. His face had gone all stony looking. His mouth was a tight line. He was looking at her with a fierce light in his eyes. He looked really scary with the black streaks of camo on his face. “Oh God, Aiden! You’re the best thing that has ever happened to me!”

He crushed her to him. His lips came down on hers. Mia just kind of melted against him. Then she didn’t think anymore while she kissed him back. He had her breathless in seconds.

When he stopped kissing her, he folded her close. One of his hands stroked up and down her bare back. His breath ruffled her hair. “We’ll work it out, Mia. I promise you.”

She nodded, but she didn’t say anything. She couldn’t, without sounding crazy to him.
Oh, I’d like to stay with Aiden, all right!
But she was inside of a movie! And she wasn’t part of the movie. Wasn’t there some sort of cosmic law against that? What happened if she suddenly got zapped home? What if she got zapped home, naked, and ended up at the hospital or the grocery store?
Okay, okay, let’s not fall into a pit.
She should think about the positive. Here she was, in a great movie, and a really hot action hero thought he was in love with her and gave her great, hot sex. Duh! What was she thinking?
Run the ball, Mia, run the ball!

Mia raised her head and smiled up at him. She traced Aiden’s nicely-shaped jaw with her fingertips. “We’ll take it as it comes, soldier boy.”

He nodded. He got a goofy, tender expression on his face. “That’s why I love you, Mia. You’re so damn brave.”

Mia felt tears prick her eyes. She swallowed. She tried to be a brave, brave woman and not burst into thankful sobs. How had she gotten so lucky? “You have duties, right? I don’t want to just sit around while you’re busy doing soldier stuff. What can I do?”

“They’re always short-staffed at the field hospital. Would you want to—”

“Perfect. That sounds perfect.”

He smiled down at her. “You’re amazing. All right, let’s get some sleep. We’ve been up a long time.”

Mia moved her hand down into his lap and stroked a certain large, warm part of his anatomy. He sucked in his breath. “I was hoping you’d stay up a little longer.”

Aiden chuckled. He rolled her under him. His knees spread her legs open, his lean hips settled over her, and he slid home. Mia gave a huge sigh of contentment. She wrapped her arms and legs around him. She grinned up at him. “Did I ever tell you that I really like rock and roll?”

He laughed again, and then he rocked her world away.

Mia must have fallen asleep afterward because the next thing she knew, she was being gently shaken. She opened one of her eyes. Aiden was sitting on the bed, smiling down at her. His face was clean and shaven. He was dressed in a fresh uniform. Mia opened both of her eyes. “Oh. You’re leaving.”

“The general wants to see me. Do you still want to go to the field hospital?”

She sat up. “Yes, will you take me there?”

His gaze slowly dropped to her bare breasts and lifted back to her face. He smiled that slow, sexy smile. “I’d
take
you anywhere, Mia.”

She blushed. Mia couldn’t believe it. She never blushed. She grumbled under her breath. He laughed at her. Mia hit him on the shoulder. It was like connecting with granite. “Where’s the shower? And my clothes?”

Aiden stood up and offered her a hand. She took it. He lifted her effortlessly from the bed to her feet.
Ooh, I love big muscles!
He pointed. “The bathroom is through that door. I’ll get your clothes together and put them on the bed.”

“Okay.” She walked away from him. She could feel a laser centered on her, like one of those red dots before you get shot. Mia stopped and turned around. She frowned at him. “What?”

“I love looking at your gorgeous ass.” His eyes were heated again, and his voice was low and rumbly. His hands flexed, like he wanted to grab that part of her.

Mia flushed. “Oh.” She stood there for a second, kind of self-conscious. Then she lifted her chin. She pivoted and made like a runway model, swinging her well-rounded hips. She heard a low growl behind her. By the time she shut the bathroom door behind her, Mia was grinning. Her guy was really good for her ego.

She showered and shampooed and shaved. There wasn’t any moisturizer or a blow-dryer.
Of course not—soldier boy isn’t into metro.
She dried off and wrapped herself in the large white towel before she left the bathroom. She might be having great, hot sex but that didn’t mean she was going to parade around in her jiggling, bouncing skin. Aiden might not be the only one who lived in this house.

In the bedroom, lying on the bed, was a uniform and some underwear and a bra. There were also socks and some nice shiny boots. Everything was smaller than what Aiden would wear. Not that he would wear the bra, of course. “Aiden? Where are my clothes?”

His disembodied voice came from somewhere outside the bedroom. “On the bed. I’m having your own clothes cleaned.”

“O-kay.” Mia eyed the pants. She knew from experience that pants without elastic waists didn’t fit her. If she got them big enough to fit her hips, the waist always gaped open. She always had to have new jeans altered after she bought them. Mia put on the silky bra and underwear. They weren’t exactly standard military issue, being
Victoria
’s-Secret sexy. She shrugged. Maybe they were standard movie issue. Then she dressed in the uniform and the footgear. She looked down at herself. Mia frowned. Everything was a perfect fit. Even the waistband of the pants.

Aiden had obviously found her purse because it was sitting on the bed. Mia snatched up the bag, relieved to have her emergency makeup kit, and returned to the bathroom.

She finished doing her face and fluffed her hair, looking in the mirror.

Mia leaned closer. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Her make-up was flawless. Her ordinary brown eyes looked smoky and sultry. Her hair, which she believed had been cursed from hell, fell in soft waves without a hint of frizz. It was a fantastic chestnut brown with glinting-red highlights.
Boy howdy.
I look freaking amazing!
She’d somehow gotten a fairy godmother! If the fairy godmother was small enough, Mia was going to put her in her purse and take her home.

She left the bathroom and went to find Aiden.

Chapter Five

The general had sent a driver and jeep for their use, and Aiden and Mia climbed into the military vehicle. The driver hit the accelerator, and the jeep took off. Mia was pressed back for an instant in her seat. The warm wind blew back her hair.

Aiden could have walked to headquarters, of course, but instead he chose to ride along to the hospital with her. Mia was glad. It gave her a few more minutes to be with him. She had never experienced separation anxiety before.

Aiden must have picked up on her worry vibes. “Everything will work out, Mia. I promise.” He smiled reassuringly at her, lacing his strong fingers with hers. Mia tried not to worry. There wasn’t anything she could do about any of it, anyway.

The driver stopped to drop her off at the field hospital. Mia climbed out of the jeep. Aiden, still seated in the jeep, looked out at her. Concern shadowed his expression. His intense blue gaze searched her face. “You’re going to be all right?”

“Of course I am.” Mia managed to bring up an almost normal smile for him. Truthfully, she was terrified of being without him. She didn’t know what to expect out of the movie. Maybe it would just blow her right out of the screen into the theater like a giant noogie.
Gross, Mia! You’ve been around way too many preteens!

“You’re not just saying that, right?”

“Of course I am.”
She opened her eyes very wide. She broadened her smile, showing all of her teeth in a grinning rictus.

Aiden muttered under his breath, beginning to look wild-eyed. He grasped the side of the jeep and the seat, tensing his whole body, as though he was about to launch himself feetfirst out of the vehicle. “Wait, Mia!”

Her hunky hero’s overreaction pushed her over into laughter. Her nervous qualms disappeared. Mia suddenly felt a whole lot better. She made shooing motions, flapping her wrists and hands. “No, really! I’m going to be fine. Now go to work.”