Worth Fighting For (Warrior Fight Club 2.50)

Tara curled into his side, and he hauled her in tighter with an arm around her shoulders. “I don’t think I could move right now if I tried.”

“Can barely talk,” he said.

She chuckled, and her breath puffed against his chest. “Okay if I stay for a while?”

Stay as long as you want.

That was his gut-check of an internal reaction. Not that he voiced it. “O’course.”

“Good.” She heaved a deep breath and slid her knee up across his thighs.

It made him feel claimed. Like he belonged to her. Dangerous fucking feelings when neither thing was true. When he was claimed by no one and belonged nowhere. Not anymore.

All of which probably should’ve had him ushering her out of his bed. But no one had ever accused Jesse Anderson of making good choices. So he pulled Tara in tighter. And promised himself he wasn’t going to fuck up or let anyone down.

Not this time.

* * * *

Tara had no idea where she was.

Or who she was with.

She lifted her head and looked up the hard masculine body on which she lay. Jesse. His hotel room. The single best night of sex of her life.

Oh. Oh, right.

She eased off the bed, but Jesse didn’t move a muscle. And God he was gorgeous. Between his cock lying soft against his belly, the ink all down his arm, and the miles of lean muscle, his nudity was downright decadent. She could stand here all freaking night and never get bored taking in each new detail.

But her bladder had something to say about that. So Tara closed herself into the bathroom, careful to shut the door as quietly as she could. She did a double-take as she glanced at her reflection in the mirror.

Her hair was a hand-tousled wreck. Her lips appeared puffy. And her stomach still bore the dried evidence of Jesse’s orgasm.

Girl, you look well fucked and then some.

She really, really did. And it was almost like she was looking at a stranger because Tara Hunter had never picked up a man at a bar in her whole life. Nor had sex the first night she’d met someone. Nor had orgasms so strong they left her breathless and boneless.

I really need to do this sort of thing more often.

A half-giddy, half-hysterical chuckle bubbled up, and she clapped a hand over her mouth. Hopefully, her sex high would get her through her first day on the new team tomorrow, because at this rate she’d be lucky to get three hours of sleep before her 7:30 AM all-hands meeting.

Tara cleaned herself up and used the toilet, then waited until the water stopped running inside the bowl before she opened the door.

Out in the room, Jesse lay sound asleep in the same position. Still freaking gorgeous. But she couldn’t fully appreciate it just then because anxiety was digging its claws into her nervous system, making her second-guess her choice to drink and get so little sleep before her first day back on a diving team. And that made regret drop like a rock into her belly.

Because Tara needed to leave.

She gathered her clothes. Redressed. Stepped into her boots.

Jesse’s phone had spilled from his coat pocket onto the floor by the suite’s door. She grabbed it wondering if she could put her number into his contacts, and was pleased if a little surprised to find that it wasn’t password protected.

She called her cell from his, then added herself as a contact.

Name: Tara Hunter

Mobile: 202-555-2341

Employer: Rick’s Cafe