Command Performance

Maggie nodded. They’d spent the entire flight to Tennessee talking about her interviews with his teammates. For the first time since they’d started working together, he’d answered all of her questions, telling her everything he could about the men she would meet in the morning. He’d told her how to put them at ease, what questions e

ach man could answer for her and what questions might make them nervous and clam up. “Thanks to you, I’m more ready than I’ve ever been for an interview.”

Hunter smiled. “Good. That’s good.”

Maggie reached for the passenger-side door, but something, maybe it was lust, or maybe she’d simply grown accustomed to having him around, made her pause and turn to him. “Would you like to come up?”

His smile faded. “I’m okay, Maggie. I called one of my buddies. I’m going to crash on his couch tonight. I’ll meet you for breakfast and drive you over to the base.”

“I wasn’t asking you because I didn’t think you had anyplace else to go,” she said. “I’m asking because I want you to come up.” She wanted one more night with him, one last chance to live out her fantasies. After she interviewed his teammates, his role as her liaison would end. Sure, he’d asked to read her rough drafts, but that could all be done long distance, over email. He was a highly trained soldier; the army couldn’t afford to keep him in upstate New York for more than a week, not when he could be off fighting the bad guys. She’d known when she’d stepped on the plane this afternoon that she would be flying back alone.

Even if their work wasn’t keeping them in separate states, Hunter had made it clear he was not interested in anything long term. And if he changed his mind? It still wouldn’t work. She needed stability and control. She couldn’t handle a head-over-heels love affair.

But maybe she was ready to spend the night with him. One night in his bed. She could do that without panicking, couldn’t she?

“Please,” she added.

“Maggie, if I come up, I’m staying the night.”

She nodded. “I know. Just promise me we won’t get too much sleep.”

Hunter leaned over and brushed his lips across hers. His hand reached up and caressed her face. “Honey, that’s one promise I can keep.”

* * *

HUNTER LED THE way from the parking lot to the check-in desk, waiting patiently with the bags while Maggie retrieved her room key. He knew she’d invited him up because she thought this would be their last night together. She would fly back to New York tomorrow afternoon after she met with his teammates. She thought that was the end. But it wasn’t. Not if he had his way. He planned on telling her how he felt about her before she left. And when he did, he hoped like hell that when she flew home, things wouldn’t end between them.

He was willing to do whatever it took to keep her in his life. Sure, his job was a bitch when it came to relationships, but this time he’d make it work. He didn’t have a choice. He needed her in his life. He wanted to come home to her. At the end of the day, that mattered more than damn near anything else. Once he shared his feelings with her, how could she walk away forever?

They were more than bed-pounding sex. She had to know that by now. Not that he wanted the off-the-charts sparks between them to simmer down. Hell, just the opposite.

Hunter grinned like a fool, nodding to an elderly couple passing through the lobby. He’d tell her how he felt, all right. But first, he’d show her.

When Maggie returned with the keys, he picked up their bags and followed her to their ground floor suite. The hotel wasn’t as fancy as the Marriott near West Point. Everything about the room was generic from the desk to the white robes hanging on the outside of the door to the bathroom—everything but the queen-size four-poster bed.

Hunter took Maggie’s bag from her and wheeled it aside. Then he leaned forward and brushed his lips over hers, offering a soft, gentle promise before he pulled back. He’d take this slow even if it killed him, learning and fulfilling Maggie’s every desire and need. When he was done, there would be no doubt in her mind that he was the man for her.

“I want to take care of you,” he whispered against her lips. “All of you. I want to make your dreams come true.”

“Hunter,” she murmured.

He kept the kisses light and playful, gliding his tongue along her lips and then withdrawing when she opened her mouth against his. He felt Maggie’s hands under his shirt, moving up his back, drawing his body closer to hers as he kissed a trail down her jaw.

His mouth found the place on her neck that drove her wild as his hands ran over her waist and up under the front of her T-shirt. Taking his time, he teased the erogenous area, before drifting down to her shoulder then back to her neck. Maggie whimpered in his arms and he repeated the move.

While his lips worshipped her soft, soapy-sweet-smelling skin, his fingers glided up and down her torso, brushing the fabric of her bra before drifting lower again. When he couldn’t wait any longer, he drew her clothing up, pausing briefly to cup his hands over her breasts.

“Lift your arms,” he said softly, his lips never breaking contact with the back of her neck. His command sounded more as though he was begging than demanding, but he didn’t care. Maybe it was the sweet smell of her hair or the softness of her skin, but all he could think about was Maggie. Naked. Now.

Command or not, she obeyed, raising her arms up even though he could feel her body turning to jelly the more he kissed her sensitive neck. Stepping back, he pulled her shirt over her head and tossed it aside while Maggie fumbled with the waistband of her pants.

“Too many clothes,” she muttered, stripping off her underwear and tossing it on top of her skirt.

“Couldn’t agree more.” Without taking his eyes off her as she deftly removed her bra, he shed his clothes in record time, not caring if he ever found them. But Little Miss Maggie didn’t make a run for the bed. Instead, she turned to face him, and with that brazen glint in her eyes he remembered oh-so-well from their first night together, dropped to her knees, her mouth inches from his erection.

“Maggie,” he managed, his voice hoarse with anticipation. God, he wanted her, too, but tonight was about her.

“Please. I want to taste you.” Her lips hovered so close he felt her breath as a few drops of liquid spilled from him. And then she wrapped her lips around him.