Sweet Affliction [Sweet Awakenings 4] (Siren Publishing Classic) (13 page)

“I’m glad you find that amusing.”

“I did. I mean, no, you’re not an asshole, but just the way you said it. It’s like you know that sometimes you’re not so nice.”

“I’m so hurt. Me not nice?” In a mocking gesture he held his hand to his heart and staggered backward.

Between being shot, lying in bed for three days, and barely having enough food to sustain him on a normal day, his strength wasn’t what it normally was. He lost his balance and fell backward. AJ reached for him, trying to right his balance, and they both went down with a thud.

Pain. Excruciating pain enveloped his side and radiated throughout his body. He had tucked his head in so it didn’t hit hard against the floor, but when he saw AJ falling with him his first instinct was to wrap his arms around her, protecting her from the fall.

“Oh God, Nick. Are you okay?”

He gritted his teeth to keep every curse word from flying out of his mouth. His eyes were glued shut as the pain rocketed through him.
Damn that hurt.

AJ squirmed in his arms, and he felt her soft hand touch his face. “Nick? Please say something.”

He opened his eyes. She was no more than an inch away from him. The small features of her face seem magnified but not in a bad way. It was as if he was seeing her for the very first time. Her eyes were brown, but close up reminded him of creamy milk chocolate. They held caramel-flavored hues in them, and he wondered if they looked even more vibrant when she wasn’t under so much stress.

“Are you hurt?”

He laughed at her question. He couldn’t help it. She was too damn cute with her obvious questions. Was he hurt? He still had a hole in his side, and he could tell from the warm feeling on his side that the jar from the fall had probably torn a couple of his stitches.

“What is so funny?”

“You are. Am I hurt? Sweetheart, I have a bullet hole. I’ve had better weeks.”

She grinned at him. He was really starting to like that smile of hers. She had a dimple on her right cheek that made her look extra cute.

“I think you know what I meant, smart-ass.”

“Uh uh uh…careful,” he warned her. “The last time you hurt my feelings we ended up on the floor.”

He was trying to make her laugh again and thankfully it had worked, but the truth of the matter was he kind of liked being here on the floor with her lying in his arms. Sure he could have done without the jarring pain, but the end definitely justified the means in this case.

“You’re something else, Commander Slater. Come on, let’s get you up off of this floor.”

When she placed her arms on either side of him, bracing herself to get up, he tightened his hold on her.

“Nick, what are you doing?”

He didn’t stop to think. If he had he might not have gone and done it. Something inside him wouldn’t allow him not to take what he wanted in that moment.

Lifting his head up just one more inch he touched his lips to hers. It struck him how soft they were. Despite her tiny features, her lips were so full and so inviting. He prayed the toothpaste he’d used a couple hours earlier had a lasting effect.

He removed one of his hands from her body and brought it to the back of her neck, holding her firmly to the kiss. Slowly he slid his tongue against her lower lip, sliding it back and forth before using it to part them. When she opened her lips and sighed he could feel it deep to his bones. His body woke up despite its recent trauma.

He brushed his tongue against hers, slowly stroking it and teasing her to join him. She was timid and unsure, but she hadn’t pushed him away. He spread his hands against the back of her head and gently brought them both just a bit closer.

His blood was rushing through his body, straight down to his cock. It started throbbing intensely and becoming harder with every second he kissed her.

She must have noticed it, too, because she tensed her body, and her timid kiss turned into a frozen one. She lay in his arms still, almost unsure of what to do.

“AJ, please kiss me back.” He was begging, and he didn’t care. He wanted her kiss so bad right then he would have done anything to get it.

Covering her mouth with his again he slipped his tongue past her lips and did everything to entice her. Sliding a hand up her back and massaging the back of her neck were actions more for him than they were for her. Suddenly, in that moment the need to feel her body against his was so strong. Bullet hole or no bullet hole, no one could’ve pulled him off of this floor. The pain, the snipers, none of it mattered. He just desperately needed her kiss.

His prayers were answered as her head tilted to one side. Her tongue met his, danced with it and explored his mouth as he explored hers.

The timidness he sensed in her moments ago was gone. She wasn’t holding back this time. They were kissing each other. He couldn’t help himself. His hands started stroking her back, rubbing up and down, trying to soak up all of her that he could.

He was in agony he was so hard, wanting so desperately to rid her of her clothes and slide in between her thighs. The thought made it unbearable for him.

He pulled away from her kiss and firmly tugged her head back with his hand. Trailing his tongue from her mouth down her neck he could taste the saltiness on her. It was hot outside, and obviously the heat had made her perspire. The exotic flavor to her skin just heightened his awareness of how great her body felt lying on top of him.

He made his way to her earlobe. First he flicked the end of it with his tongue, but it looked too inviting for him to not do more. He closed his mouth around it and gently nibbled. She tilted her head to grant him better access, and he wanted to applaud her for her ingenuity. It gave him a teasing glance at the small dip between her neck and shoulder. It was the sexiest damn thing he’d seen in a very long time.

Refocusing his attention he brought his mouth down the side of her neck, alternating between featherlight kisses, nibbles, and licks. She moaned in appreciation of his work. His eyes opened, and he saw her hovering over him. Her cleavage was a teasing view in front of him.

“Jesus,” he muttered.

With both hands he grabbed onto the side of her face and brought their mouths back together as he laid his head back down against the floor. She went willingly with him. Her mouth met him just as her kiss did. Their tongues were no longer strangers to one another. Each of them had found a rhythm with each other in a very short time.

The ache was too strong. He thrusted his hips against her just a little. Desperately he needed to feel the warmth of her body against his hardness as he ground against her. She moaned again. Damn she sounded sexy when she did that. He wanted her.

“You are so…” He didn’t have a chance to finish his sentence.

A voice from the other room interrupted them. “AJ? Sweetie, are you here?”

Quickly she pulled away from the kiss. Bracing herself on the floor she got up and hurried to the other room while adjusting her clothes.

Nick closed his eyes and tried to rein in the lust that was coursing through his veins. Seconds ago he was holding her in his arms and wanted to bury himself inside her heat, and now, just as quickly as it had begun it was over.

“Fuck!”

Struggling, he somehow managed to push himself off of the floor and back into a standing position. He looked down and shook his head. His dick was sticking clear out and was an obvious sign. No way in hell could he go in there like that. Cancer or no cancer, that former marine would get out of bed and kick his ass.

He reached into the refrigerator and got a bottle of cold water and all but tiptoed to her bedroom. He could hear the two of them talking. Obviously he was okay after resting. The two of them needed their alone time anyway, so he decided he would check his new e-mail account to see if he had heard back from Adam.

Jack walked back into the motel room, locked the door behind him, and tossed the keys on the small round table flanking the window.

“Did anyone see you?” Adam asked.

“Negative. I took the tourist route. Drove around so many side streets and back roads and then went in a couple of circles. If anyone was following me they took no shot, and I lost them anyway. We’re now the proud rental customers of a dated station wagon.”

Rex took a peek out the window and grinned. “Nice.” He laughed. “You sure you didn’t just get that to test it out for JJ?”

“Positive, smart-ass,” Jack replied before turning his attention to Adam. “So are you going to tell us what the hell is going on now?”

He waited while Adam took his phone from his pocket and turned it on. Tossing it at Rex he said, “Read the e-mail from Allison. But be quick about it. I want the phone turned off within a minute. If they are tracking us, I don’t want to take the chance they’ll have enough time to lock in a location.”

“Allison?” Chelsea looked at him confused.

Jack read the message immediately after Rex and quickly shut the phone off. He listened intently as Adam explained to all of them in detail all he had deduced from the e-mail. He might have told him he was crazy. That his theory was convoluted at best, but he couldn’t ignore the fact that they were shot at.

When the glass shattered, Tamara and JJ were the first things that flashed through his mind. If anything happened to them…well he didn’t want to think about that. A couple of years back he had come dangerously close to losing her so quickly after he’d found her. Nothing and no one would jeopardize his family, not as long as he drew breath.

“Wait, I don’t understand. Why use this guy Reginald from your BUD/S class as a clue? I’m not seeing the importance in that,” Rex asked.

Adam, who was lying on the bed, his back against the headboard with Chelsea resting against him, rolled his eyes in annoyance. “Don’t you get it? I told you. That dude was the strongest swimmer I’ve ever seen. He could swim in freezing cold water without tiring or cramping up. Nick was on a boat when they were ambushed. I think it was his way of trying to tell me that he was able to swim away to safety.”

Jack granted him that path of logic, but still it all seemed just a bit too unbelievable to…well, to believe. “Okay, so Nick swims away to safety. But didn’t we already suspect that from him being found on the other side of the island? I mean they found his body, Adam. How are you going to dismiss that?”

“Wrong!”

Rex and Jack eyed each other curiously. “Come again?” he asked.

“They found a body. When I showed up with proof that Nick wanted to be cremated and I was to be granted his ashes, I asked to see him before they went ahead with it.”

“Oh, honey. I didn’t know that. Is that why you didn’t want me to go with you?” Chelsea kissed her husband on the cheek.

He nodded at her before continuing. “The CO at Coronado told me that his face was blown apart. Apparently he’d been at close range.”

Jack sat next to his wife and put a comforting arm around her when he saw her shift uncomfortably on the edge of the bed. “So, who exactly identified him?”

Adam shrugged. “They said his military ID and wallet were on him.”

Rex stood up in apparent outrage. “That’s it? A piece of cowhide and plastic and they wrote him off as being dead without any positive ID?”

“Dude, what the fuck do you want from me? I wasn’t there. I’m only telling you what I was told. And what I know to be true now,” Adam snapped back.

Jack held up his hands to cool the two hotheads. “All right, let’s all settle down here. Rex, I know you’re stressed about us getting shot at while the women were with us, but stop jumping all over Adam. And you”—he pointed to Adam—“I agree your theory has some merit, but it’s not a fact. Let’s just slow down and think about this. We need to decide what the hell we’re going to do, because one thing is a fact. Someone was perched up on one of the cliffs with a rifle and scope. That was no gangbanger. That was a damn sniper. I don’t need to tell you what that means.”

Clearly distraught, Shelby spoke up. “Well you need to tell me. I’m betting Chelsea and Tam are a little curious, too. Need I remind you, Jack, that we were not SEALs?”

She was right, and he knew it. The three of them who served on the teams together knew things that their wives never could. He forgot that sometimes.

“Sorry, Shelby. We’re not active duty anymore. Meaning we’re not on assignment somewhere where the chance of getting taken out by a sniper is plausible. It means that it was a professional hit.”

“Oh God.” Tamara’s chilling response cut through the air. “Jack? What about JJ? We always said if anything ever happened to us that we wanted Rex and Shelby to take care of him, but they’re here, too.”

Jack went to hold her when she covered her face and started to cry. Wrapping his arms tightly around her, he smoothed her hair down and kissed the top of her head.

“Nothing’s going to happen to any of us, sweetheart. You have my word.”

“He’s right, Tamara,” Rex added. “Haven’t you ladies learned anything by now? Do we let anything bad happen to you, ever?” He winked at Shelby and gave her a kiss.

“Let’s get down to business,” Adam interrupted as he took a laptop out of its case. “I’m going to set up a dummy e-mail account. I’m going to use my name but Reginald’s last name. Leave a couple clues in the message and see if he bites. Concur?”