Encounter with a Commanding Officer

Feeling more secure, Fliss looped her arms around Ash’s neck and pressed her lips to his. They both knew he could have made her forget all her concerns with that clever mouth of his. The fact that he’d chosen to be patient and let her feel comfortable in her own time spoke volumes.

‘Happier?’ he murmured against her mouth in amusement.

‘Much.’ She smiled at him, still not lifting her lips from his.

They kissed as he reached up to take one of her hands in his, strong fingers curling around hers. They kissed as he held both their hands to her chest, as though they might be slow dancing. They kissed as she felt her heart beating rhythmically against her fingers. Her body hummed with contentment but, more importantly in that instant, her heart did too. It felt so right, and so natural.

Breathing in, Fliss allowed herself to imagine what it would be like to have this kind of lust and excitement every day. It wasn’t what this one night was about with Ash, she knew that, but it made her think that maybe the life she’d been trying to create for herself had never worked out because it wasn’t right. She imagined what it might be like to stop trying to convince herself that she was in love with men like Robert, and just allowed herself to fall for a man like Ash. She imagined that could be such a very easy thing to do.

And then Fliss stopped imagining altogether. Finally giving in to what her body was trying to tell her, and losing herself in the magic Ash was conjuring throughout her body.

She dropped her hand down between their bodies and let her knuckles graze the hard length of his erection through the fabric of his trousers. His reaction was immediate, and unmistakable.

‘Fliss,’ he groaned, ‘I can only resist so much.’

‘So don’t resist,’ she whispered, loving the way his voice sounded so torn. So raw.

For a fraction of a second he hesitated, and then he acted. His hand skimmed over her ribcage, the bare sliver of skin of her lower abdomen, the loose waistband of her pants. She sucked in a breath, anticipating his next move, longing for it. Finally, he dipped his fingers beneath the material.

* * *

He hadn’t planned on anything happening out here. Certainly not like this. He’d genuinely brought her up here because he’d thought it would be pretty and romantic. But then she’d told him how envious she was of the uninhibited displays of the few young couples in love who they’d passed on the way up, and he’d wanted to release that dormant side of her, the passion he knew lurked so close to the surface but which she didn’t believe existed.

Now he found himself consumed with his own lust, and a need to see her come undone in his arms.

She was like a drug to him. He wanted her with an intensity which shook him, had done ever since that moment in the supply room in camp. He wanted her with a ferocity he didn’t recognise. Driven, as if he was on some kind of mission.

Tonight was his one night to sate this insatiable hunger he seemed to have for Fliss.

Not for the first time, Ash slammed away the question of whether one night would ever be enough with this woman. He couldn’t afford to think that way. One night would have to be enough; it was all they had. And then it would be back to their careers, heads down and eyes in, that they had both worked at for so long. Neither of them could afford to let anyone else close, to create distractions, to get hurt.

He almost held his breath as he grazed his fingers lower, deliciously hot and damp through the flimsiest scrap of lacy fabric. She moaned and moved against his hand, urging him on, and Ash barely clung onto his self-control. He drew his body back so that he could see her in the starlight. She met his gaze, her eyes wide and dark, biting her lip as she waited for him to touch her just where she needed him. Her expression was pure, instinctual desire and he revelled in the proud sensation of being the one to put it there.

His eyes never leaving her face, he slid his finger under the lace. She made a small sound, clearly fighting to keep her gaze locked with his as she opened her legs a fraction wider. It was all the invitation Ash needed.

He let her move her hands back up his body before dipping his head to kiss her neck the way she’d loved earlier, all the while moving his fingers back and forth, unhurried at first, grazing their mark with deliberate precision. Her fingers bit into his shoulders as she tried to shift against his hand but he moved it away, only returning it when she stopped.

‘Wicked,’ she breathed into the night air and his slow smile curved into her skin as he sought out the nub of her sex, her gasp only tightening his own body all the more.

He moved quicker this time, the slickness of her threatening every inch of his willpower just as much as her soft sounds and low moans. At last, he slipped his finger inside her tightness, her body arching

in response.

‘So damned wet,’ he growled, his teeth nipping gently at her neck.

Fliss moved her head to bury it into his shoulder but he reached up with his other hand and cupped her chin.

‘Don’t hide your head,’ he commanded huskily. ‘I want to watch you come.’

She trembled against him and Ash flicked his thumb over her entrance as his fingers moved inside her, the pressure making her squirm. She was so very tight and he could only imagine how she would feel around him later tonight. His movements became faster, more concentrated, watching as her eyelids grew hooded. She was close, and he wanted it to be perfect for her. Needed it to be.

She gripped his shoulders tighter, her eyes closed now, her head dropping slightly forward, and he kept moving, feeling the tension mount in her body. And then, with a low cry, she climaxed, squeezing down around his fingers then releasing, and finally pulsing around them in waves of pleasure. He waited, careful not to move his hand until she was ready for him to, all the while dropping light kisses onto her bowed head so that she felt safe.

He understood just how much it had taken for her to confide in him the way she had this evening. In a sense, the fact that they’d both had a difficult childhood had created an additional closeness Ash hadn’t been prepared for.

But this closeness is transient, he reminded himself sharply. It would be wrong of him to allow either of them to confuse a temporary moment of bonding for anything more—not to mention unfair on Fliss—just because his head was a bit of an emotional wreck right now with the funeral looming.

He needed to find the right moment to remind her—remind himself—that it was still just sex.