Page 6 of Under Fire

“And what else?”

“And…nothing else. Please, just let me go.”

When she mustered up the courage to glance back, her dark eyes told him what he needed to know.

She was being genuine.

The realization immediately tempered him.

Oh, fuck.

He rubbed his chin with his rough hand, feeling where he needed to shave. He’d been working too hard. Pre-deployment was never easy. Maybe he was in a mood, being too hard on her. Maybe he had overreacted.

“Look—” he started.

“I’m sorry,” she offered again, authentic as hell. “I know what I did, and I shouldn’t have.”

Second apology.He nodded, recognizing that.Authentic, too.She hadn’t stopped surprising him. So, he stood back, giving her space to continue.

“I’m really not after anything,” she carried on. “I know what it looks like, but things just got away from me. I’m engaged—and I did not plan on wearing this.”

Engaged? Christ.

“I don’t see a ring.” His tone remained low, suspicious. He didn’t want to believe it.

“Here.”

She intertwined her fingers in the gold chain around her neck, pulling it up and out of her mouth-watering cleavage. That’s when he saw it—a gold ring with a massive diamond at the end of the necklace.

“So, maybe you are telling the truth,” he said.

“Does that change anything?”

Under his gaze, she shifted, biting her lip, waiting for his response as she eyed her escape route. He chose to say nothing, enjoying how she fidgeted like a little schoolgirl in front of him. The way she pulled at the tight fabric of her top made her trim hourglass shape bob in all the right places. God, her nervousness… It was the type of thing Warren loved to sink his teeth into, rip apart. The more anxious she grew under him, the more focused he became, turned on beyond fucking comprehension—ready to snap.

The depraved thoughts running wild through his mind drew him to stifle yet another groan and tighten his hands across his chest. She was off limits. She wanted to leave. But, damn, he wouldn’t forget how easy she’d given him a hard-on with her little show. All he wanted to do was reach across and teach her what a man like him wanted.

But what the fuck was he supposed to do—pin her down and have his way? No, he wasn’t the type of guy to gnaw after women unless he was sure they wanted it. He didn’t falter. Never did.

So, he backed up a little more.

“I should get going,” she said quickly.

“Fine—what do you have left to do here?” Warren asked.

Alisa shook her head. “I can’t.”

“Why?” he challenged, a little confused.

She shifted, clearly trying to put words together.

Finally, she replied, nodding at the basement door, “I don’t like guns—or weapons of any kind—and I don’t…”

But she let herself trail off.

He wasn’t dumb. The implication was there.I don’t trust you. He cocked his head in laughter. How the tables had turned.

“I’m not a fucking psycho,” he grinned, assuring her. “I have stuff for work. I’m in the military. Don’t worry. You can finish up, then leave.”

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