Under Fire, page 12
“Indeed.”
She folded the bill, stuffing it in the envelope, hiding it away. There were things she didn’t want anyone to see.
Watching him cross his arms, Alisa didn’t miss one fact. Dean was not the boy she’d grown up with anymore. A handful of years in the Marines, he had grown up quick. His recent tour in Iraq had made him a man.
“Sorry about your mom,” Dean said, flat-toned. “She was a nice lady.”
She dropped her gaze, wishing only to count every tiny pebble at the bottom of the stairs and to get away from his pitying gaze.
“Happened fast, didn’t it?” he continued.
Alisa nodded, biting her lip.
“Need any help?” he asked.
She shook her head, the bill burning beside her. She damn well needed help, that was for sure. She was losing the house and was being hounded for everything else they owed. Cancer had cost more than just her mother’s life. It was costing her own, too.
“Alisa,” Dean pressed, “look at me. You’re not fooling anyone.”
She flickered her gaze up, still silent. His face held stern, unapologetic. She knew him well enough to know he had an agenda. He’d always been like that.
He carried on, “I know what’s happening here. I know you need money. You need help.”
“I don’t know what you’ve heard—” she started, but he cut back in, his gaze trailing up and down her perched form.
“Don’t bullshit me. We both know.” His arms dropped from his chest, and he reached inside his jacket.
That was when she caught the wording of the badge on the breast. Deadeye MC.
“Is that some sort of bike gang?” she probed, peaking her eyebrow, desperate to change the topic.
Pulling out his phone, he chuckled. “Ah—just a little thing me and the guys put together in Iraq. It’s nothing.”
She narrowed her eyes at him, questioning. What was he up to?
He pointed at her with his phone. “Do you have anywhere to go at the end of the month? I can put you up somewhere.”
She found herself folding her arms protectively. “I’m fine.”
“Where are you going to go?”
She tightened her arms around her ribs, holding on for dear life. The truth was…she didn’t know.
A pause found them, which he seemed to savor as he drank her in. Nearly curled up in front of him, he apparently sensed her vulnerability. He was practically salivating.
A sly grin crossed his lips. “You don’t have a plan, do you?”
Her eyes grew hot. He wasn’t wrong. And she was close to being screwed.
“Look… Everything has just happened so fast,” she pleaded for her self-respect. “I haven’t had time to even think.”
Not even about how she’d just been accepted to med school. The school sure as hell wasn’t going to pay for her to attend, and getting a loan was nothing more than a pipe dream with her credit.
Dean licked his lips, focusing on her, like she was the last unicorn on earth. He knew something.
“Alisa, you don’t have to do this alone. You need help.”
She exhaled, confessing, “Dean, I have no one, nothing. No one can help me now.”
“Not true.”
“Then who?”
He stepped forward, throwing out his coarse hand to her. “Me.”
Chapter Seventeen
Warren
Present day
The sun had long set over his training camp, but Warren didn’t care. All the guys had gone home long ago and were probably having dinner with their families. Warren had had girlfriends before. He knew what those final moments were like before a big tour.
Hard. Heartbreaking. Lots of anticipation.
And that’s why Warren had reluctantly agreed to the master chief’s request to let the guys have a long weekend. Though it was only Thursday, they’d trained hard enough that week. It was as good as it was going to get, the master chief had said. Let them all go to Crash’s wedding the next night and blow off some steam.
Warren reached into his gun case, storing the customized rifle he’d had purpose-built for the mission, locking it up. It was kind of like his baby. Maybe he’d be the only guy on target practice all weekend. Maybe he’d be the only one camping out in the middle of the desert, with dummies of high-priority targets for company. But he didn’t mind.
That’s where he was at home.
He paced to the front of the compound, not far from where the HMMWV—or Humvee—was parked. They had a handful of different vehicles driven up here for some of the more technical aspects of assault training. But tonight, that HMMWV was going to be his camper. He’d already pitched a small tent in the bed of it—the type of tent that he could ditch the top fly and watch the stars at night. It was hot enough that he barely needed anything anyway—just a cot and a net to keep night crawlers away.
Solemn, solitary, he focused on the few tasks he had left to do for the evening before trying to find something else to keep his mind off things for the rest of the night. Yeah, to say his mind had become addicted to fantasizing about the taste of her skin would be an understatement. He couldn’t get a fleeting thought of Alisa through his mind without his cock throbbing in angst. To say he wanted to fuck the shit out of her would be…
Well, goddamn accurate as fuck.
Things had just gotten complicated. He didn’t have space for complicated.
Pivoting to turn back to the office, he saw a flash of headlights coming off the gravel road in the distance. Immediately, he was thrown out of the temporary peace he’d attained. His spidey senses tingled, wondering what the fuck it was all about. Sure as hell, someone showing up randomly wasn’t going to be good. As the car repositioned itself in front of the gate, he heard a buzzing at the radio in the office. He felt irritation rising up his neck as he realized that whoever was there was trying to get in.
Marching inside the office door, getting to the radio console, he pressed the button.
“Can I help you?” he grunted into the box, keeping it distinctly unfriendly.
He waited for a second, still seeing the headlights outside the gate.
Finally, a response.
“Warren?” An anxious feminine voice crackled through the line.
Alisa’s voice.
“Christ,” Warren snarled, buzzing her into the gate and marching out of the office.
His temporary peace was kicked aside, replaced by a blaze sparking in his chest. What the fuck was she doing? He should have known her damn curious eyes had caught on when they’d driven by the place together.
Shit, she’s bright.
As his heavy boots hit the packed dirt, he stopped dead in his tracks, crossed his arms and watched her old beater drive down the gravel driveway. His mind spun with questions, including what the hell he was going to say to her. Within seconds, she was parking right in front of him, shaking like a leaf as she got out of the car. And despite the fact that it looked like she was suffering from heat stroke, with her cheeks flushed and skin glistening, she was undeniably the hottest piece of ass he’d ever seen.
For the first time all day, he felt that aching pain in his back, deep in his scar—a reminder of what mistakes cost.
“So, this is where you work?” Alisa broke the silence in the desert night air, approaching him in the dim moonlight.
“You shouldn’t be here,” Warren said, struggling to temper his growing anger.
“We need to talk.”
“No.”
“Warren,” she let out, flickering her dark eyes at him. He felt her hostility, her aching.
“You need to leave,” he pointed back at the gate, unwilling to get into it. “We don’t even tell our families about where we go, what we do.”
Alisa’s face twisted as she snapped back, “So that’s how these guys all cheat on their wives then, huh?”
“That might be some guys, but that’s not me,” he growled, unprepared for her assault. Though, he knew he should have expected it—given the way he’d left her.
“Oh, right—you’re the good guy, aren’t you?” she flipped back sardonically, rolling her eyes.
He felt his jaw tighten, his shoulders flexing. His body wanted to do things that his brain didn’t.
She continued, lashing out, “Mr.-fucking-perfect, huh?”
Warren tightened his arms across his chest, knowing exactly where it was going. As she got closer, he inhaled her seductive scent but couldn’t miss the redness around her eyes. She’s been crying. Clenching his jaw, he knew he’d caused those tears. The truth was painful, and she’d clearly come all that way to let him have it.
“Why the hell did you leave without saying anything?” she demanded, stepping forward to point at his chest.
“Because I’m the good guy.”
“That’s what you keep saying,” Alisa said, but then took in a deep breath, seemingly collecting herself.
When she pivoted, he felt her demeanor transform in front of him, less attacking and more real. She curled her long black hair over her shoulder habitually.
“You shouldn’t be here,” he repeated.
“But you’re the good guy, aren’t you? That’s why I’m here.”
He cocked his head, assessing.
She added, “I’m here, standing in front of you, asking…”
He had to stop her. “Asking for what?”
He felt her draw back in surprise, eyes widening. The way the moonlight reflected in her wet eyes nearly bowed him then and there.
She took in a deeper breath before finishing her thought. “I’m asking for more. I’m asking if we could be more.”
“What do you want me to do with that, Alisa?” He opened his arms, flashed his hands into the air and his tone grew angrier by the second.
“I took a risk,” she said.
“We both did.”
“But you aren’t in the same situation as me.” She flickered her lashes at him, pleading—that type of pleading that lit him on goddamn fire.
“I can’t give you more. I can’t give anyone more.” He motioned to the facility. “I’m fully committed to this. I’m leaving again soon, and I’m going to be gone for a long time.”
“I just—”
“And you’ve got that.” He pointed at the ring hidden underneath her creamy tank. “That’s what you are committed to.”
He let that message sink in, taking a step back. Yeah, he felt the fire between them…the lust. But that was what he knew he’d have to do. The second things got complicated, and he knew it would come to that.
“Warren…” She chewed her lip, blinking her eyes to keep in all in.
He quickly countered, laying down the law, “There‘s not a chance in hell that this can work. We both knew this.”
“But—”
“This was never going to be anything more.”
His words were met by a red flush flowing up her neck. A tear rolled down her cheek, as she shook her head in pure loathing. He took another step back, creating space between them, grumbling to himself.
“I should have trusted my instincts.”
“And what instincts were those?” She lashed out as he backed off.
“To stay away.”
As his words hit, he spun and marched away, knowing he couldn’t watch her fall apart. He couldn’t—because he couldn’t do anything about it. Shouldn’t. Wouldn’t. That was the way it had to be. There was no other option. She had to accept that.
He had.
“Warren, stop,” her increasingly incensed tone trailed behind him as he turned. The way she said his name was nearly his undoing. “I need you to listen.”
“I can’t,” Warren called over his shoulder, motioning back to the gate.
The only thing worse than hearing her cry was hearing nothing at all. Silence hit him hard as he marched away, moving through to the motor pool to the HMMWV, where his makeshift tent was. He shook his head—willing to hear her get in her car and drive away, willing her to listen to him one last time, willing the idea of Alisa wiped clean from his head.
But his engorging cock had other ideas.
As he got to the HMMWV, adjusting the straps on the side of the bed to secure the tent, he heard the telltale patter of female steps behind him. A rage rushed through his body. She didn’t know what she was doing to him, what she was putting him through. He was seconds from detonating.
“I told you to fucking leave,” he snapped, turning to face her.
“I need help.”
“Help?” he drilled. “What kind of help?”
She blinked her big dark eyes up at him and slid her tongue across her shaking lip, searching for words. He knew she had run out of them. He knew…because it was the same for him. The anger in her face was palpable—something he felt deeply. She pursed her lips as if to say something, but he found himself sliding his hand up her neck once again.
“You’re asking for trouble,” he growled at her, deep and threatening, gripping her jaw.
“I’m already in trouble,” she said.
“And you want more?”
“Let me have it.”
With a dark groan, he grabbed her body, drawing her fast and hard against his frame. He wasted no time claiming her mouth again with his, reminding her that he set the tone and pace…not her. Dancing his tongue with hers, he tasted her broken dreams, her spent wishes.
“I’m not the guy for you,” he grunted as his pulled her neck up to his mouth, letting his teeth trace down the sensitive flesh. “I have nothing to give you.”
“Then just give me this,” Alisa pleaded, losing herself in his grasp, sinking into his mouth.
It was a bargain he couldn’t refuse, not with her sexy, lithe body pressed up against his, and his cock angrily thumping in his pants.
Damn, he had to have her.
Chapter Eighteen
Alisa
With the desert breeze catching in her hair, Alisa felt Warren’s grip on her. He kissed her so deep and thoroughly that she started feeling dizzy. They’d been there before. She knew how it went.
Alisa had really enjoyed his kiss that last time, but things were already at the next level. In control, he demanded her surrender as he tasted her. He forced her body into his, gripping and holding her where he wanted. Her mind ran wild with fantasies about what he was going to do next, driving a tingling sensation up her thighs. He pulled away A dangerous sheen spanned his eyes, ready to make her plead for it.
“You want this?” he asked.
“Please.”
The subsequent feeling of his hands all over thundered desire throughout her body.
“You want more?”
“Please, just be the man I need tonight,” she said.
“Against my better judgment.”
He kissed her again, deeper, lapping up the sweet taste in her mouth before drawing back—teasing her with his delicious lips to no end. She tilted her head involuntarily as he pushed her jaw up to get better access to her neck, biting at it, shooting pain and pleasure down to her core. It was damn clear. He was as hungry as fuck.
And he wanted to take her down.
Alisa stirred in his arms, aching for him in ways she couldn’t explain—aching for him in ways that had forced her to drive all the way up here.
“Tell me how you want it,” he said.
Alisa bit her lip, passion and lingering anger burning her eyes. His grip only got harder, impossible to run from. She liked that feeling, liked to see the alpha breaking out of him. She liked to submit to him. She knew very well what she craved, but she’d never thought of sharing it with anyone…except him.
“I want you to want me so bad that you won’t take no for an answer,” she blurted out as he grazed his teeth up her neck, finding her ear.
He kissed all the way back to her mouth, kissing her hard and deep with a lot of tongue. He kissed her how she wanted him to fuck her—without apology.
She continued spilling her darkest thoughts. “I want you to push me against a wall, take me for your own—rough and angry. Even if I fight you, you just need to have me…”
“Is that your fantasy?” He exhaled, hauling her ass up in his hands, pulling her increasingly wet crotch up against the fabric of his pants.
“Yes—”
“To take you how I want it, whenever I want it?”
“Yes,” she confessed.
She ran her hands up his muscles, feeling every defined swell and bulge. Sinking and surrendering into his strength gave her a sense of security she never had.
“I can do that.”
“Oh my God, Warren—please.”
A growl escaped his mouth as he picked her up, throwing her over his shoulder, moving them both into the bed of the HMMWV. Inside the small tent, he slammed her body down on a cot, ripping off her pants and tank. In just her underwear and bra, his tough gaze evaluated her, running his hands up her soft, trembling thighs.
He tore off his shirt, kicking his pants and boxers to the side of the bed, revealing his jaw-droppingly gorgeous hard body and harder cock. She sat up to lean forward, grasping for his cock, needing to touch and taste the pre-cum glistening on the head. But he thumped her back onto the pillow, working his hands up her thighs to her panties, mission-focused. In one fell swoop, he ripped them off, tearing the lacy fabric. Her mouth dropped open as the pain ricocheted through her body, but then he found her bra—tearing it off just as viciously.
“Aren’t you going to fight back?” he growled.
She grinned, pushing back on his chest as hard as she could. He easily overpowered her, seeming to savor every second of it. Breathing heavily, his cock bouncing in hardness, he gripped the gold chain around her neck that housed her engagement ring.
“This,” he grunted, fury in his face.
She had no time to respond. He’d already yanked on the chain, breaking it and throwing it across the bed of the truck. A clinking sound echoed in the small space as he dropped his head to grasp her breasts, tasting and biting each nipple in turn.
As he sucked on her tits, any thought of what he’d just done left her mind, and she quickly found his rough hands drawing lower down her abdomen, teasing her once again. That was what she was growing to love about Warren. He helped her forget, to live in the moment. Her trembling thighs practically shook in anticipation, needing his body to graze her pussy, needing to feel his cock.
She folded the bill, stuffing it in the envelope, hiding it away. There were things she didn’t want anyone to see.
Watching him cross his arms, Alisa didn’t miss one fact. Dean was not the boy she’d grown up with anymore. A handful of years in the Marines, he had grown up quick. His recent tour in Iraq had made him a man.
“Sorry about your mom,” Dean said, flat-toned. “She was a nice lady.”
She dropped her gaze, wishing only to count every tiny pebble at the bottom of the stairs and to get away from his pitying gaze.
“Happened fast, didn’t it?” he continued.
Alisa nodded, biting her lip.
“Need any help?” he asked.
She shook her head, the bill burning beside her. She damn well needed help, that was for sure. She was losing the house and was being hounded for everything else they owed. Cancer had cost more than just her mother’s life. It was costing her own, too.
“Alisa,” Dean pressed, “look at me. You’re not fooling anyone.”
She flickered her gaze up, still silent. His face held stern, unapologetic. She knew him well enough to know he had an agenda. He’d always been like that.
He carried on, “I know what’s happening here. I know you need money. You need help.”
“I don’t know what you’ve heard—” she started, but he cut back in, his gaze trailing up and down her perched form.
“Don’t bullshit me. We both know.” His arms dropped from his chest, and he reached inside his jacket.
That was when she caught the wording of the badge on the breast. Deadeye MC.
“Is that some sort of bike gang?” she probed, peaking her eyebrow, desperate to change the topic.
Pulling out his phone, he chuckled. “Ah—just a little thing me and the guys put together in Iraq. It’s nothing.”
She narrowed her eyes at him, questioning. What was he up to?
He pointed at her with his phone. “Do you have anywhere to go at the end of the month? I can put you up somewhere.”
She found herself folding her arms protectively. “I’m fine.”
“Where are you going to go?”
She tightened her arms around her ribs, holding on for dear life. The truth was…she didn’t know.
A pause found them, which he seemed to savor as he drank her in. Nearly curled up in front of him, he apparently sensed her vulnerability. He was practically salivating.
A sly grin crossed his lips. “You don’t have a plan, do you?”
Her eyes grew hot. He wasn’t wrong. And she was close to being screwed.
“Look… Everything has just happened so fast,” she pleaded for her self-respect. “I haven’t had time to even think.”
Not even about how she’d just been accepted to med school. The school sure as hell wasn’t going to pay for her to attend, and getting a loan was nothing more than a pipe dream with her credit.
Dean licked his lips, focusing on her, like she was the last unicorn on earth. He knew something.
“Alisa, you don’t have to do this alone. You need help.”
She exhaled, confessing, “Dean, I have no one, nothing. No one can help me now.”
“Not true.”
“Then who?”
He stepped forward, throwing out his coarse hand to her. “Me.”
Chapter Seventeen
Warren
Present day
The sun had long set over his training camp, but Warren didn’t care. All the guys had gone home long ago and were probably having dinner with their families. Warren had had girlfriends before. He knew what those final moments were like before a big tour.
Hard. Heartbreaking. Lots of anticipation.
And that’s why Warren had reluctantly agreed to the master chief’s request to let the guys have a long weekend. Though it was only Thursday, they’d trained hard enough that week. It was as good as it was going to get, the master chief had said. Let them all go to Crash’s wedding the next night and blow off some steam.
Warren reached into his gun case, storing the customized rifle he’d had purpose-built for the mission, locking it up. It was kind of like his baby. Maybe he’d be the only guy on target practice all weekend. Maybe he’d be the only one camping out in the middle of the desert, with dummies of high-priority targets for company. But he didn’t mind.
That’s where he was at home.
He paced to the front of the compound, not far from where the HMMWV—or Humvee—was parked. They had a handful of different vehicles driven up here for some of the more technical aspects of assault training. But tonight, that HMMWV was going to be his camper. He’d already pitched a small tent in the bed of it—the type of tent that he could ditch the top fly and watch the stars at night. It was hot enough that he barely needed anything anyway—just a cot and a net to keep night crawlers away.
Solemn, solitary, he focused on the few tasks he had left to do for the evening before trying to find something else to keep his mind off things for the rest of the night. Yeah, to say his mind had become addicted to fantasizing about the taste of her skin would be an understatement. He couldn’t get a fleeting thought of Alisa through his mind without his cock throbbing in angst. To say he wanted to fuck the shit out of her would be…
Well, goddamn accurate as fuck.
Things had just gotten complicated. He didn’t have space for complicated.
Pivoting to turn back to the office, he saw a flash of headlights coming off the gravel road in the distance. Immediately, he was thrown out of the temporary peace he’d attained. His spidey senses tingled, wondering what the fuck it was all about. Sure as hell, someone showing up randomly wasn’t going to be good. As the car repositioned itself in front of the gate, he heard a buzzing at the radio in the office. He felt irritation rising up his neck as he realized that whoever was there was trying to get in.
Marching inside the office door, getting to the radio console, he pressed the button.
“Can I help you?” he grunted into the box, keeping it distinctly unfriendly.
He waited for a second, still seeing the headlights outside the gate.
Finally, a response.
“Warren?” An anxious feminine voice crackled through the line.
Alisa’s voice.
“Christ,” Warren snarled, buzzing her into the gate and marching out of the office.
His temporary peace was kicked aside, replaced by a blaze sparking in his chest. What the fuck was she doing? He should have known her damn curious eyes had caught on when they’d driven by the place together.
Shit, she’s bright.
As his heavy boots hit the packed dirt, he stopped dead in his tracks, crossed his arms and watched her old beater drive down the gravel driveway. His mind spun with questions, including what the hell he was going to say to her. Within seconds, she was parking right in front of him, shaking like a leaf as she got out of the car. And despite the fact that it looked like she was suffering from heat stroke, with her cheeks flushed and skin glistening, she was undeniably the hottest piece of ass he’d ever seen.
For the first time all day, he felt that aching pain in his back, deep in his scar—a reminder of what mistakes cost.
“So, this is where you work?” Alisa broke the silence in the desert night air, approaching him in the dim moonlight.
“You shouldn’t be here,” Warren said, struggling to temper his growing anger.
“We need to talk.”
“No.”
“Warren,” she let out, flickering her dark eyes at him. He felt her hostility, her aching.
“You need to leave,” he pointed back at the gate, unwilling to get into it. “We don’t even tell our families about where we go, what we do.”
Alisa’s face twisted as she snapped back, “So that’s how these guys all cheat on their wives then, huh?”
“That might be some guys, but that’s not me,” he growled, unprepared for her assault. Though, he knew he should have expected it—given the way he’d left her.
“Oh, right—you’re the good guy, aren’t you?” she flipped back sardonically, rolling her eyes.
He felt his jaw tighten, his shoulders flexing. His body wanted to do things that his brain didn’t.
She continued, lashing out, “Mr.-fucking-perfect, huh?”
Warren tightened his arms across his chest, knowing exactly where it was going. As she got closer, he inhaled her seductive scent but couldn’t miss the redness around her eyes. She’s been crying. Clenching his jaw, he knew he’d caused those tears. The truth was painful, and she’d clearly come all that way to let him have it.
“Why the hell did you leave without saying anything?” she demanded, stepping forward to point at his chest.
“Because I’m the good guy.”
“That’s what you keep saying,” Alisa said, but then took in a deep breath, seemingly collecting herself.
When she pivoted, he felt her demeanor transform in front of him, less attacking and more real. She curled her long black hair over her shoulder habitually.
“You shouldn’t be here,” he repeated.
“But you’re the good guy, aren’t you? That’s why I’m here.”
He cocked his head, assessing.
She added, “I’m here, standing in front of you, asking…”
He had to stop her. “Asking for what?”
He felt her draw back in surprise, eyes widening. The way the moonlight reflected in her wet eyes nearly bowed him then and there.
She took in a deeper breath before finishing her thought. “I’m asking for more. I’m asking if we could be more.”
“What do you want me to do with that, Alisa?” He opened his arms, flashed his hands into the air and his tone grew angrier by the second.
“I took a risk,” she said.
“We both did.”
“But you aren’t in the same situation as me.” She flickered her lashes at him, pleading—that type of pleading that lit him on goddamn fire.
“I can’t give you more. I can’t give anyone more.” He motioned to the facility. “I’m fully committed to this. I’m leaving again soon, and I’m going to be gone for a long time.”
“I just—”
“And you’ve got that.” He pointed at the ring hidden underneath her creamy tank. “That’s what you are committed to.”
He let that message sink in, taking a step back. Yeah, he felt the fire between them…the lust. But that was what he knew he’d have to do. The second things got complicated, and he knew it would come to that.
“Warren…” She chewed her lip, blinking her eyes to keep in all in.
He quickly countered, laying down the law, “There‘s not a chance in hell that this can work. We both knew this.”
“But—”
“This was never going to be anything more.”
His words were met by a red flush flowing up her neck. A tear rolled down her cheek, as she shook her head in pure loathing. He took another step back, creating space between them, grumbling to himself.
“I should have trusted my instincts.”
“And what instincts were those?” She lashed out as he backed off.
“To stay away.”
As his words hit, he spun and marched away, knowing he couldn’t watch her fall apart. He couldn’t—because he couldn’t do anything about it. Shouldn’t. Wouldn’t. That was the way it had to be. There was no other option. She had to accept that.
He had.
“Warren, stop,” her increasingly incensed tone trailed behind him as he turned. The way she said his name was nearly his undoing. “I need you to listen.”
“I can’t,” Warren called over his shoulder, motioning back to the gate.
The only thing worse than hearing her cry was hearing nothing at all. Silence hit him hard as he marched away, moving through to the motor pool to the HMMWV, where his makeshift tent was. He shook his head—willing to hear her get in her car and drive away, willing her to listen to him one last time, willing the idea of Alisa wiped clean from his head.
But his engorging cock had other ideas.
As he got to the HMMWV, adjusting the straps on the side of the bed to secure the tent, he heard the telltale patter of female steps behind him. A rage rushed through his body. She didn’t know what she was doing to him, what she was putting him through. He was seconds from detonating.
“I told you to fucking leave,” he snapped, turning to face her.
“I need help.”
“Help?” he drilled. “What kind of help?”
She blinked her big dark eyes up at him and slid her tongue across her shaking lip, searching for words. He knew she had run out of them. He knew…because it was the same for him. The anger in her face was palpable—something he felt deeply. She pursed her lips as if to say something, but he found himself sliding his hand up her neck once again.
“You’re asking for trouble,” he growled at her, deep and threatening, gripping her jaw.
“I’m already in trouble,” she said.
“And you want more?”
“Let me have it.”
With a dark groan, he grabbed her body, drawing her fast and hard against his frame. He wasted no time claiming her mouth again with his, reminding her that he set the tone and pace…not her. Dancing his tongue with hers, he tasted her broken dreams, her spent wishes.
“I’m not the guy for you,” he grunted as his pulled her neck up to his mouth, letting his teeth trace down the sensitive flesh. “I have nothing to give you.”
“Then just give me this,” Alisa pleaded, losing herself in his grasp, sinking into his mouth.
It was a bargain he couldn’t refuse, not with her sexy, lithe body pressed up against his, and his cock angrily thumping in his pants.
Damn, he had to have her.
Chapter Eighteen
Alisa
With the desert breeze catching in her hair, Alisa felt Warren’s grip on her. He kissed her so deep and thoroughly that she started feeling dizzy. They’d been there before. She knew how it went.
Alisa had really enjoyed his kiss that last time, but things were already at the next level. In control, he demanded her surrender as he tasted her. He forced her body into his, gripping and holding her where he wanted. Her mind ran wild with fantasies about what he was going to do next, driving a tingling sensation up her thighs. He pulled away A dangerous sheen spanned his eyes, ready to make her plead for it.
“You want this?” he asked.
“Please.”
The subsequent feeling of his hands all over thundered desire throughout her body.
“You want more?”
“Please, just be the man I need tonight,” she said.
“Against my better judgment.”
He kissed her again, deeper, lapping up the sweet taste in her mouth before drawing back—teasing her with his delicious lips to no end. She tilted her head involuntarily as he pushed her jaw up to get better access to her neck, biting at it, shooting pain and pleasure down to her core. It was damn clear. He was as hungry as fuck.
And he wanted to take her down.
Alisa stirred in his arms, aching for him in ways she couldn’t explain—aching for him in ways that had forced her to drive all the way up here.
“Tell me how you want it,” he said.
Alisa bit her lip, passion and lingering anger burning her eyes. His grip only got harder, impossible to run from. She liked that feeling, liked to see the alpha breaking out of him. She liked to submit to him. She knew very well what she craved, but she’d never thought of sharing it with anyone…except him.
“I want you to want me so bad that you won’t take no for an answer,” she blurted out as he grazed his teeth up her neck, finding her ear.
He kissed all the way back to her mouth, kissing her hard and deep with a lot of tongue. He kissed her how she wanted him to fuck her—without apology.
She continued spilling her darkest thoughts. “I want you to push me against a wall, take me for your own—rough and angry. Even if I fight you, you just need to have me…”
“Is that your fantasy?” He exhaled, hauling her ass up in his hands, pulling her increasingly wet crotch up against the fabric of his pants.
“Yes—”
“To take you how I want it, whenever I want it?”
“Yes,” she confessed.
She ran her hands up his muscles, feeling every defined swell and bulge. Sinking and surrendering into his strength gave her a sense of security she never had.
“I can do that.”
“Oh my God, Warren—please.”
A growl escaped his mouth as he picked her up, throwing her over his shoulder, moving them both into the bed of the HMMWV. Inside the small tent, he slammed her body down on a cot, ripping off her pants and tank. In just her underwear and bra, his tough gaze evaluated her, running his hands up her soft, trembling thighs.
He tore off his shirt, kicking his pants and boxers to the side of the bed, revealing his jaw-droppingly gorgeous hard body and harder cock. She sat up to lean forward, grasping for his cock, needing to touch and taste the pre-cum glistening on the head. But he thumped her back onto the pillow, working his hands up her thighs to her panties, mission-focused. In one fell swoop, he ripped them off, tearing the lacy fabric. Her mouth dropped open as the pain ricocheted through her body, but then he found her bra—tearing it off just as viciously.
“Aren’t you going to fight back?” he growled.
She grinned, pushing back on his chest as hard as she could. He easily overpowered her, seeming to savor every second of it. Breathing heavily, his cock bouncing in hardness, he gripped the gold chain around her neck that housed her engagement ring.
“This,” he grunted, fury in his face.
She had no time to respond. He’d already yanked on the chain, breaking it and throwing it across the bed of the truck. A clinking sound echoed in the small space as he dropped his head to grasp her breasts, tasting and biting each nipple in turn.
As he sucked on her tits, any thought of what he’d just done left her mind, and she quickly found his rough hands drawing lower down her abdomen, teasing her once again. That was what she was growing to love about Warren. He helped her forget, to live in the moment. Her trembling thighs practically shook in anticipation, needing his body to graze her pussy, needing to feel his cock.
