Page 51 of Delta Force Defender

Then again, he’d always been good at making paths in the wilderness, no matter what tried to stop him.

“Isaac,” she said, a different edge to the way she said his name. “I’m in your bed. Surely you can think of something better to do with me than talk.”

Without waiting for him to respond to that, she heaved a long-suffering sigh. She swung off the side of the bed, then started toward him as if she’d never been so put upon in all her life.

ThisCaradine he knew all too well.

When she reached him in the doorway, she tilted her head to one side so he could see nothing but the heat in her gaze, vanquishing any ghosts that might have been lingering there between them.

And in the next breath, she jumped him. Literally.

She jumped up and he caught her, and then he had her legs wrapped around his waist, her arms around his neck, and everything seemed to slide down hot and wild to the place where they were joined.

But not joined enough.

“Julia,” he began.

But she bit him.

Nipped him on his jaw, to be more precise, just enough to make him hiss in a breath.

But not enough to make him let go.

“Caradine,” she said against his mouth. “With you, no matter what, I’ll always be Caradine.”

And then she tightened her hold, angled her head, and slammed her mouth to his.

Fourteen

The best thing about kissing Isaac was that he always let her act like she was in charge.

For a moment or two.

Then, like now, he would make that hot sound in the back of his throat and take control.

And, God help her, but she loved it when he took control. She didn’t want to think, she wanted to feel. She wanted to forget everything.

Everything but him.

Isaac, whom she never should have touched.

Isaac, whom she couldn’t seem to stop touching.

Everything was heat and fire and that intense, electric connection that hummed so loud inside her she was sure he could hear it, too. And only when they were like this did they stop fighting each other, and start fighting together. Toward the same goal that felt more and more like magic every time.

Maybe he was the magic.

Isaac walked her backward and tipped them both ontothe bed, catching himself on one arm but still lowering her the rest of the way. And something about being pressed into a soft comforter that carried his scent while he kissed her like a lost, precious thing made her want to sob. Or scream.

Maybe she did. Caradine was vaguely aware of it when Horatio jumped off, then padded out of the room. But all she really cared about was the way Isaac kissed her, his mouth a slick, hot demand on hers.

She had left Grizzly Harbor never expecting to see him again.Intendingnever to see him again. Then he’d appeared in Maine. She’d thought she might get one last taste, but he’d tricked her.

In retrospect, she was angrier about that than being tied up and hauled off into the night.

But now she was here. At last. In his bed, which felt momentous in ways she refused to analyze. Not here. Not now.

Maybe not ever, if she could get away with it.

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