Page 26 of Undone
Amber
The entire underground bunker was on high alert with full energy as we prepared for tomorrow’s mission. We were to be ready to leave at 0300. The atmosphere at dinner was loud and excited. I guess the soldiers who were normally broody about being sexually deprived were now going to get the next best thing: a fight. We were advised to try and get some sleep until at least midnight, but I doubted I’d be able to rest.
I was even being strapped with a gun this time. If Daddy could see me now, he’d be so proud.
Our group was hyper after dinner as we made our way down the narrow hall toward the sleeping quarters. Mark had Matt in a headlock, and Tex was telling stories from boot camp that had the others rolling with laughter. Rylen and I hung back from the others.
“So . . .” Rylen cleared his throat. “I talked to Top.”
I tensed a little. “About what?”
“About the need to have a medic in the middle of battle. He’ll be coming to talk with you tonight.”
I stopped and turned to him, but we were blocking other people, so I pulled him to the wall as they passed. He crossed his arms, making his sexy biceps bulge. Damn him.
“What are you doing, Ry?”
“It doesn’t make sense. He even said it himself, that you’re to be protected, so your presence could be a distraction.”
“That’s bullshit.” I crossed my arms, too.
“You haven’t been trained for combat, Pepper.”
In truth, I was scared as shit about tonight. But this was our new reality. If I had to point and shoot at an alien, that’s what I’d do. To have Rylen try to hold me back from helping felt really annoying. Especially when he was going to be one of the first charging into battle.
“I’m going to be in the last wave of soldiers coming up the rear,” I told him. “You guys will have it under control by then. You’ll outnumber them, and I’ll just be focused on those who got hurt.”
Rylen’s jaw clenched and he looked away. “Top will be over in about an hour—”
“This is fucked up, Ry! I need to be in there!”
“No, you don’tneedto be in the fight.”
Ugh! I turned from him, pissed off, and stomped down the hall toward my room with the other girls. I was so on edge, I just wanted to cry and scream.
“Pepper!” he called from behind me.
Nope. He was risking the other soldiers by not wanting me to be there to help them immediately. I kept walking.
“Damn it, Amber, stop.”
His fingers grasped my wrist and tugged me to a stop, but I yanked it back. “Leave me alone!”
I tried to stomp away again, but felt his hands on my waist, pulling me, and then in a moment of confusion I was being stuffed into darkness with Rylen behind me. The door clicked shut and I heard a lock, then both of our loud breathing from being pissed off. It was pitch dark except a sliver of light coming in from under the door. Rylen’s body was completely flush against my back.
Oh my God . . . we’re in the closet.
Rylen’s mouth touched the shell of my ear. “There is no fucking way we’re going on this mission mad at each other.”
Emotion welled inside of me as I felt his hands on my waist, sliding down over my hips and slowly back up, making me shiver all over.
I whispered, “I just want you to have faith in me.”
“I do, Amber. God, I do. But I can’t lose you to those fuckers.”
I covered the tops of his hands with mine and pulled them under my shirt and forward to cover my breasts. We both gasped as he worked me. “I can’t lose you either, but I know it would be wrong to keep you from your job.” I lifted up onto my toes and pressed my ass toward his crotch, which was fully at attention. All of the pent-up desire I’d been tamping down came flooding to the surface, and I could barely breathe.
Outside the door, footsteps and voices sounded, but they seemed miles away.
