Under Fire (Elite Force 3)

A sigh of total satisfaction racked her body until she wilted on top of him. He hugged her tighter and they simply lay panting in the cooling water.

At some point—she lost track of time—he lifted her from the tub and she was almost too exhausted to notice the drift of air across her naked flesh. He walked into the motel room, set her feet on the ground. Anchoring her to him with one arm, he unrolled their bed linens across the mattress. He scooped her up again and rested her on the clean sleeping bag before settling alongside her.

He was snoring before his head hit the pillow. Such a man. Her man. She curled against his side, the tepid air drying the water on them both. By all rights, she should have been ready to pass out after the past couple of days and the amazing sex they’d just shared. Instead, her body went on high alert.

Was she staying awake to keep watch so he could sleep?

She didn’t know. But she couldn’t stop cataloging details. The distant thrum of music carried from the bar. Cars revved and roared out of the parking lot, the sound of spitting gravel echoing. Disco and Fang leaped from the spare bed and padded together into the bathroom. Disco always preferred cool tile on a hot day.

And through it all, she held on to the hard-bodied bulk of Liam, wondering why her teeth were still chattering. Why was she more afraid now than at any other point during this crazy roller-coaster ride the past couple days? Because Liam was right. She had been lying. Just not about anything to do with Brandon’s situation. She’d been lying to herself for years about why she avoided relationships.

She’d been fooled by Caden when he promised to turn his life around, then had pot in his car. He’d vowed he was clean and joined the service. Would he have stayed truthful over time? She would never know. She’d tried to tell herself she’d held back from love because she’d already lost her soul mate fiancé. But she’d deluded herself.

Because believing a possible lie was easier than admitting she was afraid of being betrayed again.

Chapter 13

Liam walked in the land between dreams and reality, not sure where he stood or which side he wanted to land on.

But then the ground beneath his feet was shaky in the aftermath of the earthquake that had rocked this Bahamas island. He walked with Rachel in a strange kind of companionable silence, given the world around them. The landscape had changed somewhat.

Less dust. More volunteers erected temporary housing, hammers and saws echoing while dump trucks hauled away debris from fallen structures. Engineers worked on better water and sewage removal. Red Cross workers were everywhere.

The only thing that remained the same? The appalling scent of decaying bodies, still drifting out of the remaining rubble.

What a strange feeling to hang out with a woman who actually understood his job, who had experienced a good bit of the same kinds of hell he’d seen. So she would probably understand his need to leave it behind for a few minutes before they had to plunge themselves back into the thick of it all over again.

“So, ready for our hot date?”

“Date? Is that what we’re doing here? I think not.”

“Didn’t anyone tell you that you want to sleep with me? I thought you already knew.”

She choked on a laugh. “Wow, that was corny. Really corny.”

“I thought you could use a smile.”

“You’re right, and thanks.”

“Happy to oblige, again and again.” He slid an arm around her shoulders. “So stop, drop, and roll, baby, because you’re so hot you’re on fire.”

The scent of her freshly washed hair as she walked beside him chased away the rest of the world.

She groaned, but still kept on chuckling. “You’re bad.”

“No way. I’m entering the priesthood tomorrow. Wanna join me for one last sin?”

Her laughter turned to giggles until she hiccupped. “Okay, okay, enough already.”

“I figure if I make you smile enough, you’ll sleep with me.”

She swatted his stomach. “You’re so sensitive it’s a wonder all those women divorced you.”

Ouch. That one stung a little. But he liked the way she didn’t pull punches. And no, he wasn’t known for his sensitivity. But he was known for his ability to make a person smile in the middle of a crisis.

He stopped at the Red Cross supply station, holding up two fingers for the worker dispensing boxed lunches, complete with the little half-pint cartons of orange juice. Liam took the two stacked meals and looked at the crumbled street around them. The chaos of a few days ago had shifted into a steady grind of tackling a cleanup that would easily take years.

There weren’t exactly a lot of places to hang out by the beach and eat, so he steered her back toward their cottages. One of the porches would be as good a place as any to park it for now.