Page 85 of Her Delta Force Protector

Okay, a point to him. She combed her fingers through his hair. “That was nice.”

“Nice?” he sputtered.

She shrugged. It was amazing, but it was fun to tease him.

“I’ll show you nice.” He kissed his way down her body, and when his face was at her sex, he looked up at her. “You’re going to eat those words and scream my name. That’s a promise.”

“If you say so.” She swallowed a laugh when he glared at her, but she didn’t miss the humor in his eyes. He lowered his head and buried his face between her legs. And, oh God, as he’d promised, she was soon screaming his name.

“Better than nice?” he said when he moved back up her body.

“Not too shabby. I might really be impressed if you can make me scream your name again.”

“She throws down the gauntlet. Prepare to be impressed, my lady.”

“We’ll see.” She was glad they were keeping things light. She didn’t think she could hold back the tears if tonight turned heavy. “It’s my turn to make you scream, though.”

“Later.” He moved up next to her, then grabbed one of the condoms from his night table. “We have all night, and believe me, I want your mouth on me, but right now, I need to be inside you.”

There was something about a man rolling on a condom that was hot, and once it was on, she lifted her gaze to see he was watching her watch him. His eyes were hooded, his pupils dark and filled with desire, and when their gazes locked, one side of his mouth curved up. “You keep looking at me like that, H, and I’ll be lucky if I last a minute.”

“If you’d stop talking and do something, I wouldn’t have...oomph.” Well, never tell an operator to do something.

After tackling her and rolling them over until his body covered hers, he stared down at her. “You were saying?”

“I was saying something?”

He smirked. “That’s what I thought.” He brushed her hair away from her face, then his gaze fell on her lips, and then his mouth was on hers.

There had been tenderness in his eyes as he’d looked down at her, and she tried not to hope that this was more than just a fling for him. Still kissing her, he reached down and took himself in hand. As he slid into her, filled her, made love to her, and talked to her, telling her all the ways he wanted her, that hope refused to be banished.

Afraid her longing for his love would show in her eyes, she squeezed them shut. His mouth was on her neck now, one of his hands was under her, his fingers pressing into her bottom as his hips rocked, and his other hand was on a breast, those fingers playing with the nipple, sending tingling pulses through her. As the pleasure grew, so did the heaviness in her heart. She would survive without him, but she didn’t want to. She didn’t want to have to live with a broken heart.

“Eyes on me, Harper.”

She opened them to see that his face was above hers, his gaze locked on hers in that intense way of his. As she had earlier, she saw tenderness, a softness in them. She didn’t doubt that he cared for her, and she reminded herself that that was what she was seeing, not love.

When she shattered, he held her close, and when he did, she held him. Each time during the night that they made love, she mapped his body with her hands, memorizing the feel of him. After tonight, that was all she’d have of him, her memories.

“Are you sure you don’t want to take Duke?” Kade asked.

Harper shook her head as she swallowed the eggs past the lump in her throat. “He’s happy here with you, Everly, and the lake.” They were at the Kitchen, having breakfast while she waited for her dad to arrive. The last thing she felt like doing was eating, and she was having to force the food down. At least she wasn’t bawling, but she wanted to.

“You’ll come back to see him sometimes?”

“Sure.” Probably not. Seeing Kade for a few days, then leaving again...no. She just couldn’t. And when there was another woman in his life? Because the day would come when there would be, and seeing him in love with someone was something she couldn’t bear.

Now that Theo Watson and friends were in jail and the threat gone, it was time to get her life in order. The Peace Corps was out. Before her life was turned upside down, it had sounded like an adventure, but she was adventured out. Although the little side business she had as an author assistant to make some extra money had fallen apart thanks to being dead, she could revive that, make it a full-time job, but that wasn’t really what she wanted to do with her life.

There was one thing dancing in the corners of her mind, but she wasn’t sure if there even was such a job. While Kade had been inside the cabin with the SBI people, Chase had come to the end of the dock where she was sitting to tell her he was headed back to Charlotte.

“You were very brave, Harper,” he’d said.

“I don’t know about that. At least it’s over and those men are in jail. I’ll probably have nightmares for months.”

He squatted next to her. “You probably will. We’ve rescued women and children who don’t have the support system you do to turn to. You’re one of the lucky ones. Your friends care about you, and I hear you’re close to your father. Don’t hesitate to lean on them.” He glanced toward the cabin. “You know Kade will be there for you anytime you need him.”

“I know.” But she wouldn’t ask him to be. “What happens to those women and children who have no one?”

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