Page 88 of Boomer
He growled and thrust a little, and she groaned. He grinned. “Breaching…o-fucking-kay. Depends on the door. Depends on what’s behind it. Sometimes it’s a charge. Sometimes it’s a torch. Sometimes it’s just a shoulder and a prayer.”
She couldn’t keep her hands still; she caressed his nipple over and over again, then raked her nails over the hard nub. His jaw clenched, and he closed his eyes, taking in a ragged breath. “But it’s always fast. Always committed. You don’t knock. You don’t hesitate. You read the structure, feel the weight...and go through it like you mean it.”
She shivered, the memory of Boomer breaching that ship’s door.
“That’s what you did to me,” she whispered.
“What?” He lowered his head and kissed her, the soft, sensual glide of his tongue matching the rhythm of his forceful thrusts. Eventually, the heat, friction, and fire caught up to him, finally shattering his control.
“Breached. Without explosives, without detonation. No warning. Just...blew through and wrecked everything I thought to be true about myself. You did it effortlessly, sliding under my defenses without any kind of threat. Working into my heart and soul like you were always there.” She felt the change in him as his pace quickened, his breathing grew ragged, and he pumped harder, faster, his chest heaving, moaning deep, the sound vibrating against hers. “Carter…I don’t know how to do this, but I can’t think about my life without thinking about you,” she whispered.
“Taylor…” his voice was soaked in more than pleasure, rich and filled with something like awe. He pulled out, then thrust in slow and deep, his voice a murmur against her temple. Her body clutched him, her hands taking in the heat of him, the texture of his skin, the hard, velvet feel of the muscle beneath. “You’rethe only door I didn’t want to leave open,” he said, his voice compressed. “I wanted to stay inside.”
“I want you inside, so deeply inside.”
He blinked several times as moisture gathered in those green depths. “What? You mean…take this…” He closed his eyes and thrust into her again, his heart thundering against her chest.
“To something more, something we both want.” His guttural groan flowed out of him as she dug her fingers into the rippling muscles of his damp back, arched high and hard into his thrusts, and felt him stiffen as his climax peaked. He dragged his lips from hers, surged into her a final time, and on a ragged, primitive growl, he spilled himself into her.
Breathing hard, he buried his face against her throat, and she held him so deliciously against her, lost in the pure passion she had for him. A few minutes passed before he finally lifted his head from the curve of her neck. In the dim light, his features were shadowed, but there was no mistaking the possessive gleam in his eyes as he stared down at her. In that moment, she felt incredibly exposed and vulnerable again, because she knew he continued to command her physically and emotionally.
She shivered from the power of his penetrating gaze. He pulled out of her with a jerk of his hips and a soft groan, his mouth capturing hers in another crazy, wet, hot kiss. She was a complete mess. He pulled the covers over them, sent his thigh between hers as he pulled her into the curve of his body.
Burying his face against her throat, he tightened his hold. “You make me helpless, Taylor. I-I-...yes…to something more…yes to something real,” he choked out, his chest heaving. She cupped his face and for a moment, she rubbed her thumb against his strong, bristly jaw. Tenderness washed through her, but he didn’t raise his head.
She said softly, “Look at me.” He resisted and she slipped her hands around his head, and he looked at her, staring at herfor an instant longer, then he closed his eyes in an expression of immense hope, and Taylor closed her eyes against a wrenching surge of emotion as his arms came around her in a desperate, crushing embrace.
Holding onto him with every ounce of strength, he dropped his forehead to hers, choking back tears. She waited for him to feel the measure of her love…because shelovedhim, beyond reason, beyond measure. He was the one who taught her about trust, and need and want, and that control was only a barrier to being free to give what she had inside her…tothisman…thismagnificent, devastating sexy man.
Caving in around her, Boomer tightened his hold and tucked his head against hers, and she felt him give into those emotions. “I never thought I would get to have this. I never thought, a fucking beautiful woman who could have anyone she wanted would choose…me.”
“It was the easiest and the hardest thing I’ve ever done. You made a safe space for me to learn the truth about myself. How can you not know how worthy you are, not only to me…Oh,Gott, Boomer, to your team. They love you, but what you don’t know is that I love you more.”
He went dead still and stared at her, the pulse in his temple suddenly beating double time. “What?” He rolled on top of her, crushed her to the mattress, cupped her face and demanded in a tone that was wrecked. “Fucking say that again…darlin’”
“I loveyou. Iloveyou.Ilove you,” she whispered, her eyes filling. She flattened her hand against his nape, holding onto him while her world tilted off its axis.
He watched her with an intensity that made her heart climb up her throat. Finally, he hauled in a deep, uneven breath and grasped her face between his hands, the look in his eyes fierce with emotion. “I’m drowning in you. I don’t know how this happened, but I’m lost, so lost.”
He stared at her for an instant longer, closing his eyes and hauling her into his arms, his unchecked strength nearly crushing her. He didn’t say anything for the longest time, just held on to her as if he couldn’t let her go, and Taylor clung to him, fear mixing with hope.
Finally, he let the air out of his lungs, and with unsteady fingers, he swept her hair back from her face. “Just listen for a minute,” he said, his voice rough and unsteady. “You need to think about this, darlin’. Don’t do something you’ll regret later.”
“I thought?—”
“I fucking do!” he said fiercely. “I just don’t…can’t have you suffer because of me.” He hugged her closer, tightening his hold. “I’m not putting you off.” He inhaled roughly and slid his fingers around the back of her head. “I just want you to be sure this is what you really want.” He took another deep breath, then continued, his voice so strained, so thick with emotion that she could barely hear him. “If you commit to me…Taylor, I'm tangled up inside. I want you to know that I'm damaged. Maybe not beyond repair. But I’m trying to be the kind of man you would want me to be.”
A thousand feelings washed through her, and she sagged against him, her face pressed to his neck. Boomer stroked her head with his big, cupped palm, molding her closer, his touch firm and reassuring. “We’re in the thick of this mission right now. So, take your time, and when it’s over, we’ll know where we stand.”
She tightened her arms around his neck and nodded, focusing on the warm scent of him, the weight of his arms around her. Those were real, solid and secure. He held her for a long time. Gazing down at her, his expression taut and solemn, he bent his head and kissed her, one of those long, wet, open-mouthed kisses that made her senses swim and her body go weak.
Taylor sank into it, tears seeping out from beneath her lashes, not sure where they were going to go, but trusting in Boomer so deeply, her fear turning to hope.
He rolled away from her, then snuggled her against him, and she lay in his arms, as her eyes drooped and she slept pressed to him.
He shivered in his sleep, a deep tremble, and then shifted. Taylor opened her eyes. It was still dark. Boomer was breathing strangely, like he was running a mile instead of laying in her bed. When she raised herself up on her elbow, she saw he was covered in sweat, and with surprise that rumbled like a shockwave through her, she saw that his green eyes were open, his whole naked body rigid.
In a broken voice, he kept repeating. “No, Mike, no….” Over and over again.
