Page 22 of Boomer
She froze mid-step. Skin still flushed from the run, damp hair curling at her temples. Those sharp-as-hell glacier blue eyes locked onto his and didn’t move.
Boomer’s breath caught in his throat. One second passed. Then two.
Before she could say a word, he grabbed her by the arm, opened her door, and hauled her inside like the situation was wired with live current.
The door clicked shut behind them. He was a breacher, a direct-action warrior, the tip of the fucking spear, and he didn’t tolerate anything from people who didn’t understand what that meant.
He stepped in, closing the distance. His body towered over hers, skin still damp, still searing. His presence filled the space like a detonation in a sealed room.
“We’re working together. I get it. You’re mad. You’re hurt. I now know I fuckinghurtyou.” His breathing was ragged. “So, I get this cold shoulder crap,” he ground out, voice rough. “That’shurtingme, Taylor.” He backed her into the wall without touching her. She didn’t step away.
Her eyes were wide. Surprise. Hunger. Something that made his heart and dick ache. The towel couldn’t hide it.
“This ends now.” Boomer’s voice dropped. “I. Had.No. Choice. Uncle Sam tells me where to go, and I don’t have a goddamn thing to say about it. I’m eager to go. I’m wired to go, and I love it,” he said fiercely. “You’re looking at me.Now.While I say I’m sorry…again. I wanted to be here. It’s all I’ve thought about since Colombia. The minute I saw you I lost my damn mind. I looked at you and thought,too young, too smart, too damn good.” He took a breath that felt like fire in his lungs. “IfI’d made it here…if I hadn’t been deployed, you’d be looking at me differently right now. Iguaranteeit.”
Silence stretched between them, taut and sparking. He stepped back and she did look at him. Really looked. Her gaze swept over his chest, down the ridges of his abdomen, across the faint scars, the muscle, the towel barely hanging on his hips, the tent his dick made in the terry.
Her breath stuttered. “Carter…”
He broke. He couldn’t take it. Couldn’t hold all that she was, all that he was, in this moment where he was so close to breaking open entirely. He turned and slammed out of the room.
Right into Breakneck, who stepped back fast, hands up in surrender at the look on Boomer’s face.
Taylor came to the doorway a second later. Her hand braced on the frame, her expression tight andaching. Boomer didn’t stop. Didn’t linger. He swore low and took off toward the showers like he could outrunall of it.
Inside, he yanked off the towel, cranked the water to cold, and stepped under the spray with a hiss that welcomed the splash of ice. If only it had a prayer in hell of cooling him off.
4
Breakneck entered the showers.Boomer was under the spray, shaking. He grit his teeth, realizing that their breacher was being breached…by Taylor, and he was hurting. Something he couldn’t name gripped his gut and heart. Anger, not something he allowed himself. He was too volatile to entertain that kind of fury. He had half a mind to go give that woman a piece of his mind. What the fuck had just happened? Why was he in Taylor’s room? Why had she looked at him like that? Now was not the time to drill him.
Oh, fuck him. That was it.Shewas the reason he was off. Out of sorts. Drinking and carousing and getting into fights.
Skull sauntered into the area, and when he saw Boomer, he walked toward him. Breakneck immediately put his body between Boomer and Skull. Skull’s eyes flashed and narrowed. Breakneck shook his head, slashing his hand across his throat. The guys piled up behind him.
“What’s up?” Hazard asked, his voice low, glancing at Boomer, his blue eyes seeing exactly what Breakneck had seen.
Breakneck walked to the end of the showers where the sinks were. He told them what he’d seen in the hall. Boomer’s face. Taylor’s expression was…devastated.
Suddenly, Iceman’s voice intruded. “No one says a word to him.”
“But—”
Iceman pinned Skull with those pale, chilling eyes. “Just recently, you were driving yourself crazy over a certain Hummingbird.”
Skull made a soft sound and looked away. “She just about killed me. Damn…boss. Boomie?—”
“He has to weather this storm. We’ve all been there.” He looked around the group.
Breakneck swallowed hard. “I haven’t,” he said. “This is hard to watch.” Hard to watch? Fuck, it terrified him. Boomer was older, stronger, more experienced. If he could come apart over what Breakneck was realizing was strong emotion for Taylor.What the fuck would it do to me?
“You’re the exception, but you’re also in a unique position to help, Break.”
“That kid? What can he do that we can't? We can sympathize. He’s wet behind the ears.”
They teased him like he didn’t know the first thing about sex, like he’d never kissed a woman without sayingma’am. But back in high school? He was the reason for three hallway fights, a minor cafeteria riot, and a dress code revision that banned tight jeans for "causing disruptions."
He’d been quiet, polite, and built like a young god by junior year, every teacher’s headache, every guidance counselor’s mystery, and the unintentional center of a very hormonal storm.
