Reckless Hero

He pushed into me faster, deeper, and rougher. And with a shout, he joined me in paradise.

Through the synthetic barrier protecting us, I felt the heat of his release. Just the knowledge of him coming set off fireworks in my belly. I shuddered and gasped.

I had no idea how long it took for me to come back down to earth.

Once I was no longer riding my high, the gravity of what I’d just done hit me. My racing heart turned from one of pleasure to one of panic. My body tensed, all the sweet sensations morphing to horror.

The heavy smell of sex in the air and wetness coating the insides of my thighs both served as testaments to my lapse of judgment.

Tucker was still hard inside of me, and my body was still responding to his readiness despite the walls my brain and heart were erecting.

Tucker stiffened, obviously feeling the change in my mood. He turned me in his arms and looked down at me, his eyes searching before he tilted his lips toward mine.

But I dodged his kiss, letting it graze my cheek instead.

He let his lips linger for a moment before lifting his head. “What’s wrong? Regrets already?”

I averted my gaze, unable to look at him. “This was a mistake. We shouldn’t have let this happen.”

“Why? We were great together.”

My body still shook with how great we’d been, which was precisely the problem. “I can’t get emotionally involved with anyone right now, Tucker,” I said.

Especially you, I thought, but left that part out.

“Then let’s leave the emotions out of it,” he said.

I blinked, stunned. He’d spoken like it was the most logical thing in the world. “What?” I said, dumbfounded.

“We both have a lot going on right now with school and everything. A relationship will only complicate things. So let’s keep it strictly physical. We’re great together. And law school is going to be stressful as hell. We’ll both need this kind of release. Even though we just fucked, I want you again. And I know you want me too. Let’s be friend with benefits. It’ll be like a professional agreement. A contract.”

I stared at him. On some level, I wanted to laugh. He already sounded like a lawyer. Or maybe it was his military background that made him capable of speaking in such a matter-of-fact way.

Logically, I knew there was no way I could agree to such crude proposal. But apparently, my mind and my mouth were not in sync, and I heard myself saying, “Okay.”

We would have sealed the deal with a kiss, but my cell phone started blaring from inside my bag.

It was time to get back to reality.

CHAPTER 9

Tucker

After tossing and turning for hours, I finally fell into a restless sleep.

Even though I was out of the military, I still slept like it. I was trained to sleep lightly, and able to wake at a moment’s notice. I couldn’t remember the last time I slept so deeply that I forgot my surroundings; sleep like that was luxury, not something to indulge in enemy territory when the squad could be attacked at any moment.

This particular night, in my dream, I was seated around a table with five other guys. We were all dressed in camouflage gear with patches proclaiming U.S. Army. We had just come back from a successful mission and were having a drink at a local bar in a small Iraq town to celebrate. The town was known to be friendly to American soldiers, so we had thought ourselves safe enough.

We’d been ribbing a newcomer to the group, Lucas Thompson, just before all hell broke loose. In typical fashion, Lucas had just been initiated into the group with a bunch of pranks, the latest leaving him running around the base nude with nothing but whipped cream covering his dick and a bright pink bowtie around his neck.

Lucas’s face was red while the rest of the guys, including myself, laughed. He took it well though, guf

fawing with the rest of the men as jokes were made about the sight of his bare ass fumbling around the camp in search of his clothes.

I kind of felt bad for the barely twenty-year-old guy. My own initiation into the group had been no less embarrassing. However, it was funny remembering the horrified look on his face when our base camp leader had spotted his mad dash.

A fresh round of laughter sounded at the table just before the world exploded.