Page 74 of Lucky Charm
Not sure she’d ever sat on a man’s knee before except her father, she eased carefully on to his knee.
He grinned. “I don’t break.”
“I have evidence to the contrary.” She slid close and balanced carefully. He put his arm around her to finish the act. “That’s quite a lecture.”
He took a deep breath as if bracing himself for a confession. “I have never done this before, and I’m feeling my way.” She’d seen his mean face when he was in a fight, his alpha command face when he told his men what to do, his concerned face when he was worried about her or an injured man, and his slight smile when he found something humorous. She’d even seen his face in pain from injury and in the throes of passion. His serious face was new, and she sobered accordingly.
“What’s wrong?”
“Not wrong.” He pressed his lips to her hair and her head. “First, I’m worried about this mess, andI’m concerned we’ve pulled you in deeper than we planned. Hell, that wasn’t planned at all.”
“Not the responsibility of either of us. We did what was asked of us.”
Hunt sighed. “I usually focus on responsibilities. This job is complicated enough without doing it distracted.”
Cait’s stomach rolled, her pre-tour decision to find him collapsing with insecurity. “I do the same.”
His arm tightened around her. “Now we’re trying to navigate this personal thing between us and…” He stopped and closed his eyes. “It would be easy to fall back into the sex, honey, and keep rolling through.”
“But?”
“Don’t you want more?”
She took a moment to gather her thoughts. “You know why I accepted when they ask me to do this third tour?”
He tipped his head. “Me?”
“Yes. For the most part. I wanted to find you.”
“I’d already found you in San Antonio. I needed to be released to take leave and find you. That never happened. IQS strikes again. I had to return my plane ticket.”
“You did?” Wonder bloomed.
He grinned. “You weren’t that hard to find.”
“I couldn’t find you.”
He dropped a kiss on her neck. “You shouldn’t have been able to. I don’t have much of a fingerprint anywhere.”
She let her eyes linger on his. “I didn’t expect this. I guess in my head I didn’t get as far as finding you, not in this context anyway.” She chewed her lips. “I’ve missed you so much.”
“I’ve done nothing but think about you.” He rubbed her back, his hold tightening.
“So, what’s the goal? We’re both here to do jobs, important jobs. Stealing time? Is that what we’re reduced to? Backdrop that with serious job responsibilities, military etiquette, rules, and people gossiping?”
Hunt settled back on the bed, pulling her against his chest. “I am not letting go. I want time. We have to be patient. That’s what I was originally talking about – respect, trust. Do you trust me?” He loosened his grip, his leg underneath her firming with tension. He shifted to see her face. His serious expression snared her attention once again.
Moistening her lips, she battled against protecting her feelings and tried for honesty. “You hauled me off a mountain and have stuck with me. Of course, I trust you.” She lifted her arms around his neck not letting him keep his distance.
His face tightened, his eyes on her shoulder. “That’s work.”
“No, that’s life. Mine. It matters.” She turned his face to hers and placed a kiss on his chin. “I don’t inject sex into my military career. Ever. I’ve had a lot of time to think about this. I trusted you with some innate sense of safety months ago.”
“I purposely picked civilians so there was never a conflict, and those relationships didn’t last long.They can’t when I’m gone eighty percent of the time, and I didn’t want them to last. But I don’t want a foundation that’s about only sex. I want shared goals with you where we’re working long-term, and it comes down to communication, trust, and honesty.”
The speech stunned her. He waited, a flush appearing across his cheeks. Again, she made him turn to look at her. “I want that, too. All of it.”
He cleared his throat. “Honesty starts here then. We have to take it slow and build what we want, but I have no idea how.”
