A Wicked Persuasion: No Going Back / No Holds Barred / No One Needs to Know. Debbi Rawlins
before drawing her nipple into his mouth, sucking gently on it and laving it with his tongue. She felt an answering tug of need between her legs and instinctively spread her thighs to cradle Chase’s hips against her own.
He made an incoherent sound of approval and covered her other breast with his hand as he continued to suckle her. Kate couldn’t get enough of him. Boldly, she slid her hands down the length of his back and over the firm rise of his buttocks, pressing him to where she ached for fulfillment. Nothing mattered except the man whose delicious weight pinned her to the mattress.
“You feel so good,” she whispered against the top of his head. “I want to feel you inside me.”
He groaned loudly, and his mouth stilled. He raised his head and then, almost regretfully, pulled her shirt down, covering her breasts.
Kate frowned, grasping for his hands as she tried to stop him. “What? Why are you stopping? Please don’t stop.”
But Chase carefully disentangled himself from her limbs and sat up, scrubbing his hands over his face. His breathing sounded uneven, and Kate cautiously sat up, feeling chilled without his warmth.
“That was a mistake,” he said in a low voice, not looking at her. “I’m sorry.”
“Please don’t apologize,” she murmured. “This was my fault, not yours.”
He angled his head to look at her, and she could see remnants of the earlier heat lingering in his eyes. “My job is to keep you safe, not to take advantage of you.”
Kate gave him a wry look. “I’m thirty-one years old, not sixteen. I know what I want.”
“Do you? Because I think if you thought this through, you’d realize the last thing you want is a short-lived fling with a guy you’ll never see again after this trip.”
The thought of never seeing Chase Rawlins again caused a tightening sensation in her chest. She knew he was right, but at that moment, the only thing she wanted was to finish what they had begun and to hell with the consequences. Her job as Tenley’s publicist kept her too busy to see anyone seriously, but Chase’s touch had reminded her just how much she missed having intimacy in her life, even superficial intimacy with a near stranger. She was pathetic.
Gathering her dignity, she laid a hand on his arm and gave him a forced smile. “You’re right. I’m sorry to put you in such an awkward position. I didn’t mean to make this any more unpleasant for you than it already is.”
“Jesus.” Chase gave a disbelieving laugh. “You think that was unpleasant for me?” His eyes grew hot. “Do you know how badly I want you?”
Abruptly he stood up, adjusting himself quickly, but not before Kate saw the evidence of his arousal. Her hand fell away from his sleeve, and she pressed her fingers against her mouth, still feeling him there. He stood looking down at her for a long moment, before he dragged a hand over his hair, frustrated.
“I’ve gotta get out of here.” His voice was no more than a husky rasp. “Get some sleep, Kate.”
She watched as he left the bedroom, and then she heard the door open and close, followed by the click of a key in the lock. It was the first time he had called her Kate, and she wished she didn’t like how it sounded coming from his lips. She lay down and dragged the blankets over her shoulder, staring into the darkness as she replayed the encounter over and over in her mind.
Turning on her side, she bunched the pillow beneath her cheek. His scent clung to the fabric and she found herself turning her face into the cloth and breathing deeply. Only then did she drift into sleep.
“HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE us to reach Camp Leatherneck?” Kate asked the following morning, as she rode in the passenger seat of a Humvee, watching Chase drive.
“A couple of hours,” he said shortly.
As if by tacit agreement, neither had mentioned the incident from the previous night. But Kate couldn’t help but notice that Chase seemed a little short on patience and temper, and she wondered if he regretted what had happened. She hoped he would lighten up a bit, because she wasn’t sure she could spend an entire day with him if he was going to be surly.
She studied him furtively as he drove. He wore a clean uniform and a camouflage-patterned baseball cap that was frayed along the brim. He hadn’t shaved his beard and he still looked as if he kicked ass for a living. Charity lay obediently on the back seat, and Kate had been surprised to learn the dog would travel with them to each base.
Chase had woken her up before seven o’clock by pounding with his fist on the door of his housing unit until she opened it, bleary-eyed but feeling rested. He, on the other hand, had looked tired and irritable. He’d retrieved her duffel bag and belongings from the women’s tent and had given her just ten minutes to dress and meet him outside.
Now they drove across the base, past the housing units and the dining facility. The smell of bacon wafted from the kitchens and her stomach growled loudly, reminding her that she hadn’t yet had breakfast.
“Will we have a chance to grab a bite to eat before we leave?” she asked hopefully. “I could really use a cup of coffee.”
“Later,” he said brusquely. “I have some grub in my bag and we can eat on the way to Camp Leatherneck. But our flight departs in ten minutes and if we’re not on board, it leaves without us.”
Kate was silent after that. They continued to drive past the parade field, until the only buildings in sight were enormous hangars and storage facilities. But it wasn’t until Kate caught sight of a helicopter landing pad, complete with military attack helicopters, that she began to understand just how they would travel to Camp Leatherneck.
“You’re kidding,” she breathed, and looked over at Chase for confirmation that he was, indeed, just pulling her leg. But he kept his attention fixed on the road, and the only indication that he’d heard her was a small smile that played at the edges of his mouth. “We’re flying in a helicopter?”
“Not just a helicopter. A Black Hawk.”
He drew the Humvee to a stop at the edge of the helo pad and climbed out of the vehicle, while Kate sat in the passenger seat and peered through the window at the helicopter. Were those rockets strapped to the underside of the small stub wings? Her heart began to thud hard in her chest.
Chase opened the door and waited for her to climb out before he reached in and grabbed their duffel bags and a rucksack. Charity hopped down, her tail wagging in anticipation of this new adventure.
“I brought you something,” Chase said, opening the rear of the vehicle.
“A thermos of coffee?” she asked hopefully.
To her surprise, he pulled out a combat helmet and a flak vest. “Try these on for size.”
Kate took the helmet from him and put it on, then waited while he fastened it beneath her chin. His fingers brushed the skin of her neck and she tried not to stare at his mouth. He was so close that she could see the tiny scar that bisected his upper lip. She wanted to rub her fingertip over it. When she raised her gaze to his, she found his light green eyes were fastened on her mouth. She had to resist the urge to nervously moisten her lips.
He helped her into the body armor, lifting her arms to tighten the Velcro fastenings on either side. The weight of the metal plates inside the vest were enough to make Kate’s shoulders sag.
“Is this really necessary?” she asked, noticing that he wore neither a helmet nor a vest. “We’re in a helicopter, after all.”
Even without body armor, his uniform, combined with his expression, gave him a distinctly dangerous appearance. He nodded toward her vest. “Those metal plates are the only thing standing between you and a bullet. If we come under attack en route to Camp Leatherneck,