Page 10 of Rescue Me (Tempting SEALs 6.10)

Damn good thing. Because Sam didn’t poach on other men’s territory. Not that he thought for a moment Beth would do anything hinky behind her husband’s back, even if she were tempted.

Sam’s thoughts had nothing to do with sweet, or kind. The second he’d seen her, his thoughts had turned carnal. Primitive. He wanted her hard and fast. Hot and sweaty. Slick and slippery. He wanted to have her on the counter at the bank. And on the hood of his car, on the floor of the only hotel in town. Hell, he didn’t think that they’d make it to a bed the first few times.

He’d moved into a condo a few blocks from her house and waited for the divorce to be final. One look at Beth, and he hadn’t been capable of staying away. Hadn’t, God damn it, been able to think of much else. He imagined her naked, having her on her desk in her cramped little office at her clinic two doors down from the bank. He pictured her small high breasts, and imagined that her nipples would be a soft delicate pink, like her lips.

“You have reinforcements, right?”

She was as tenacious as a bulldog and her lack of faith stung. “I’ll take care of you, don’t worry.” He was alone in this. It wasn’t a sanctioned op. He’d come on his own. Beth was a personal matter.

“That’s sweet, Sam.”

Sweet? She didn’t exactly exude confidence. And why should she? As far as she was concerned, he didn’t know one end of a gun from the other. Eleven years in a private army guaranteed he knew how to use the MP5. He also knew some interesting, and painful, tricks with a machete.

“But what’ll happen if you’re bitten by a snake?” she continued, slightly breathless now that she was on a roll. “Or eaten by a lion?”

Jesus. “Odd are against it.” He’d better stay hale and hearty. She stood zero chance of survival alone in the jungle. Less than zero if she was returned to Nkemidilm’s compound and the man who waited there.

He used the muzzle of the MP5 to flip away a curious, and highly poisonous, bush viper hanging from a limb in their path. It landed almost noiselessly in a thicket of vines before slithering into the underbrush. There’d be time to think about Beth’s delectable body later. Right now he had to get them both the hell out of Dodge before Thadiwe’s men caught up.

“How much longer?”

“Couple of hours.” Give or take. He could almost hear her brain working as she digested the information.

“Don’t you think I’d be better off going back and waiting for you to bring in some help?”

He heard her nervousness. So much for trust. “No, Beth, I don’t.” Sam made sure his barely-a-whisper was implacable. “We’re meeting a guy with a boat. Don’t worry. I’ll get you out of here in one piece, I promise.”

He stopped, and she stepped right against his back, letting out a little huff of surprise. “There’s a three-foot high log in our path. I’ll go first then help you over.”

Sam flung a leg over the mossy trunk and dropped down on the other side. Beth’s breathing was a little fractured. Fear. Tucking the machete into the sheath strapped to his thigh, he leaned over the log, extending his hand. Not that she could see it in the crack under dark. “Give me your hand.”

Blindly she held it out. Grabbing hold of her wrist, Sam gave a little tug. “Up and over. Straddle the log, then slide down on this side.”

Her cold fingers felt ridiculously small in his. Her chilled, sweaty skin told him she was scared out of her mind. Despite that, she was keeping up and not falling apart. Not yet anyway.

He gave a little tug to help her up, then watched as she flung both legs over to his side. “Right here,” he told her when she hesitated.

She slid into his arms. “Tha—What’s that?”

She was pressed against his semi-erection. “Don’t worry,” he told her dryly. “I’m not going to have my wicked way with you. Not here anyway.”

She smothered a laugh. “Not that. That.”

That. “It’s an MP5 submachine gun.”

She put her hand on his chest, the smile still tilting the corners of her mouth. Sam wanted to kiss her in the worst way. This time he resisted.

Not the time. Not the place.

“Do you know how to use it?”

He huffed out a laugh. “Yeah.” The fact that her body was still flush with his didn’t exactly make his thinking process crystal clear. Taking her hand, he stepped back. “Know that outfit just outside of town?”

“That private military place?”

“Counterterrorist training site, yeah. I work for them.”

“You—work for them? I thought you were a teacher?”

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