Tala drifted slowly toward consciousness, surrounded by warmth. Gradually, she became aware of a low-grade pain in her right leg, and then more, expanding out to various other places across her body.
The mountain. The blizzard and the shooter.
A chill shot through her. She opened her eyes to find her cheek resting on the hard plane of a muscular chest.
Braxton. He was here beside her. They were safe. Alone.
She relaxed, banishing the frightening memories because they didn’t belong here. Now it was just her and Braxton. She intended to enjoy him to the fullest while she still had him.
Heat spread through her, pooling low in her belly. She eased a hand up the soft T-shirt covering his broad back, mindful of his bruises, wishing he was naked too.
He tensed slightly as he awoke, then a deep, satisfied rumble sounded in his chest as he drew her closer. “Hey.”
“Hey,” she murmured, snuggling closer. Her whole body tingled with anticipation, a hot throb blooming between her thighs. He felt even better than she’d imagined, warm and solid and…hard all over, the unmistakable ridge of his erection cradled against her belly. “What time is it?”
“Little after seven.”
So they’d only slept a little over an hour. She should be exhausted still, but instead she was wide awake, arousal pumping through her like warm honey. Everything that had happened up ‘til now had led them to this moment. To here and now, the two of them alone in this bed, and she couldn’t wait a moment longer to have him.
She slid a hand up to stroke his hair. Braxton made a deep sound low in his throat and cupped the back of her head, then his mouth was on hers. She moaned and parted her lips, fire streaking through her as their tongues touched. Her breasts ached, the nipples tight as she rubbed them against his covered chest.
Frustrated at not being able to feel his skin against hers, she reached for the bottom of his shirt and impatiently dragged it up his body. He helped her, breaking the kiss just long enough for him to fling it over his head, then he was kissing her again, his hands cradling her face as he rolled them until she was on her back and he was settled between her legs.
Tala gasped as his weight sank on top of her, his erection pressed to her throbbing core. She angled her hips to rub against him, a shudder rolling through her at the contact.
Yes. More. So much more.
Braxton stroked her tongue with his one last time, then nipped her lower lip and began nibbling his way across her jaw to the side of her throat. She tipped her head to the side and palmed the back of his head, gasping as his lips and tongue hit a sensitive spot that sent streamers of pleasure shooting across her skin. She felt like she was dissolving, every stroke of his lips and tongue melting her bones.
He shifted one hand down to brush his fingers along her right collarbone, along her sternum and followed it down to the curve of her breast. She sucked in a breath when he cupped it in his big hand, glanced down in time to see the taut, absorbed look on his face as he stared at her naked flesh and swept his thumb across the rigid nipple.
Her toes curled. She bit her lip, then whimpered as he lowered his head and captured the aching peak in his mouth. Heat engulfed her, roaring through her veins and settling in her swelling clit. She was already wet and aching for him. He sucked on her slowly, as if savoring a piece of candy, his tongue caressing with each decadent pull of his mouth.
“Braxton,” she whispered, her heart threatening to pound out of her chest.
He made a deep sound of enjoyment and kept sucking, shifting his hand to her other breast and playing with the nipple while he enjoyed her other one. Tala reached up to grip his shoulders, remembered at the last moment how battered he was, and gently coasted her palms down the length of his naked back, enjoying the feel of all that smooth, hot skin shifting over bunching muscle.
She curled her fingers in the waistband of his pants and shoved them down, then sucked in a breath and grabbed his hips when his mouth switched to her other nipple. Pleasure shot through her, streaking down to the slick folds between her legs.
His hands closed around her ribcage. He lifted his head, the molten heat in his gaze as he looked up at her stealing her breath. “Condom.”
“On the bedside table,” she whispered in a rush. “I brought it down last night.”
“God, I love you,” he breathed, and went right back to what he’d been doing.
She smiled and let her head drop back into the pillow as he released her throbbing nipple to kiss his way down her stomach, one of his hands leading the way to the center of her body, his fingertips skimming over her heated flesh.
She sank her teeth into her lower lip, her muscles tensing in anticipation as those talented fingers stroked and teased her hipbone, the inside of her thigh, following it down to her knee before easing back up and stopping several inches from where she was wet and needy.
His tongue dragged over the tender skin beneath her navel. Her abs contracted, her rapid breathing filling the air as she waited for the touch she’d fantasized about for four endless years.
Then his hand shifted. His fingertips grazed the edge of her soaked folds. She squeezed her eyes shut and moaned, tilting her hips, dying for more.
“So pretty, baby,” he whispered as he sank to his knees on the floor at the end of the bed and pulled her hips toward the edge. His fingers kept teasing, gliding up and down, making her wetter, hotter. “I’m gonna lick you all up, until you come on my tongue.”
She couldn’t answer, could only lock her fingers on his hair and wait, her whole body drawn taut in anticipation of that first touch of his lips and tongue on her aching clit. His fingers stroked lower, easing just inside her as his tongue flicked the swollen knot.
Tala cried out, fisting his hair and opening wider for him. His mouth settled over her more firmly, but his tongue was oh-so soft as he caressed her clit. She shuddered.
Slow, tender circles, growing smaller and smaller until he found exactly the right spot that made her arch and whimper, her muscles trembling with every tiny flutter of his tongue. He kept going, his fingertips stroking just inside her body, curving upward to hit the spot that threatened to make her explode.
“Brax,” she pleaded, her voice ragged and breathless. She’d gone so long without him, and only had a short time left before he was leaving again. “Let me touch you. I need to touch you. Want you inside me.”
He delivered one last devastating caress with his tongue, then lifted his head and leaned down to suck a taut nipple into his mouth while he shoved his pants down his thighs. She tried to sit up, desperate to get her hands on him, but he held her down with a hand on her stomach and a warning growl and kept his mouth right where it was, allowing her only to touch him where she could reach.
She stroked her palms over his broad, bunched shoulders, over the corded muscle on either side of his spine before coming back up and dipping around to map the front of him. The hard mounds of his pecs, and the flat, ridged abs beneath.
She leaned to the side, her hungry gaze latching onto the rigid length of his cock standing proudly against his lower belly.
Her hand closed around him, her core clenching at how thick and hard he was. Braxton froze, a groan ripping free. His eyes were squeezed shut, an expression of blissful agony on his face as she gripped him, then eased up and stroked down his length.
He shuddered and pushed into her fist, his forehead pressed to her stomach. “Tal,” he groaned. His hand closed around hers, squeezing to stop her. Pulling in a deep breath, he raised his head, and their gazes locked.
“Make me come,” she whispered, rocking her hips, feeling more sensual, powerful and beautiful than she ever had in her life. All because of him.
He released her hand with a growl to grab the condom from the nightstand, shuddering again when she stroked him with one hand and dropped the other to her clit. His gaze zeroed in on her fingers as she circled the throbbing bud, the incredible arousal on his face making it even hotter.
She moaned as pleasure swirled through her. Braxton tore open the condom and rolled it on, then tugged her even farther toward him so that her ass was almost off the bed. “Hand me a pillow,” he said in a deep, sexy voice.
She flung a hand out to grab one and gave it to him. He lifted her hips and shoved it beneath her lower back, arching her spine, then leaned one hand on the bed beside her ribcage and positioned the head of his cock against her.
Tala curled a hand around his hip and looked up at him, her heart knocking against her ribs when their gazes connected. She needed him. Needed to hold him inside her. His face was tense, his jaw taut, eyes blazing as he eased forward, lodging the thick head of his cock inside her.
Her mouth opened, eyes slamming shut at the incredible sensation. Heat and fullness, a delicious stretching that filled her, easing the hungry ache initially, and then making it a whole lot worse. She grabbed his shoulder, a wave of emotion hitting her. “Brax…”
A deep, hot kiss cut her off, a deep sound of pleasure coming from his chest. “Let me.”
She nodded and stroked her clit faster, arching her hips to fight for more of him. Then her eyes sprang open when he pushed her hand away.
“Let me,” he repeated, his voice deep and sexy. Holding her gaze, he slid a hand under her hips and eased his lower body forward, seating himself deep inside her.
She made a soft, pleading sound and tightened her grip on his shoulder, wanting to rock and thrust. He stopped her, watching her as he shifted his weight until his pelvis was tight against hers and the base of his cock nestled against her swollen clit.
“Eyes on me, Tal,” he rasped out, his jaw tight.
She met his gaze, her heart threatening to explode, her body dying for the release he’d been building her to. But he didn’t thrust. Instead he…rubbed. Rocking his pelvis against her, stroking her with his cock while his body caressed her clit.
Tala whimpered, her whole body trembling at the incredible pleasure streaking through her. All she could do was cling to him and angle her hips so that he hit exactly the right place. She was worried it wouldn’t work for her but he was so damn hard inside her, every single brush of their bodies hitting both her sweet spots.
“Brax,” she sobbed, shaking as the sensation built and built and built. She loved him so much.
“Love you,” he rasped out. “Just let me love you.” His mouth captured hers, his tongue twining with hers as her core clenched around him and the pleasure detonated. She tore her mouth free, crying out her release as she shattered.
When it finally began to ebb, she collapsed against the bed and forced her eyes open. Braxton’s face was inches from hers. He was breathing hard, his jaw clenched, those gorgeous dark eyes staring into hers, his big body on edge.
Tenderness flooded her. She curled a hand around the back of his neck and drew him down for a kiss, winding her weakened legs around his waist. He moaned into her mouth, drew his hips back slightly and then thrust deep, finally allowing himself to seek his own pleasure.
Tala stayed with him, kissing and caressing while his rhythm sped up, his thrusts becoming longer, deeper. Raw, deep sounds of pleasure came from his throat each time he drove into her.
She knew the exact moment he reached the edge. He plunged deep and froze, his breath hissing between his teeth, then an agonized groan ripped from him as he shuddered and began pulsing deep inside her.
She drew him close, cradling his head on her shoulder, his face pressed into her neck while it tore through him. His body slowly relaxed, the weight of his head and torso becoming heavier as his ragged gasps warmed her skin.
Tala kissed wherever her lips could reach, letting her hands drift over the damp skin of his back and shoulders. That had been so good. Incredible considering it had been their first time. Her heart had never felt so full, or her body so sated.
“I love you so much,” she whispered, already dreading the moment he would leave in a few more days. She wasn’t sure her heart could take it after all they’d been through and how long they’d already waited for each other.
He buried his face in her neck and slid his arms beneath her to wrap all the way around her, locking her in a fierce hug that made her feel utterly safe and adored. “Ah, Christ, I don’t want to leave you.”
Her heart hitched, her hands pausing on his back. Did he mean because of his tour? Or something else? They hadn’t talked about the future. She didn’t know what—
Braxton raised his head to look down at her. “We have to make this work somehow.” He took her face in his hands, his expression desperate. “Say you’ll help me make this work, Tal, because I can’t lose you. And if leaving the military after this contract is what it takes to have you, then—”
“No,” she said, surprising them both. But she couldn’t bear to make him give up the thing he loved as much as her.
Until yesterday, she’d been so sure about what she wanted, about the boundaries she’d decided on and that she wasn’t willing to come in second in Braxton’s life. But what they’d just gone through had changed everything. And she knew what being part of his unit and serving his country meant to him.
Forcing him to give that up for her was selfish and he would grow to resent her for it. If he wanted to stay in, then he should, and she would just have to deal with it. Because there was no way she was letting him go now.
“We’ll make it work,” she whispered. He was worth it.
He exhaled hard and pressed his face into the side of her neck, his relief palpable. “Thank God.”
She held him, a sense of peace spreading through her now that she’d made the decision and given her word. “I’ll wait as long as it takes as long as I know we’ll be together when you come home.”
“We will be.”
With Rylee off to college now, she was free to move anywhere to be with him. “I feel like I’ve been waiting for you my whole life,” she whispered unsteadily. For this moment, and the future they would build together.
He lifted his head to stare down at her, a loving smile curving his lips. “Same. And I promise to be worth the wait.”