Stitched Up Heart (Combat Hearts Book 1) (11 page)

He moved a hand under the hem of her shirt. The warm night air caressed her stomach as he exposed her skin on his slow path up to her breasts.

Bree’s breath caught in her throat. His words, combined with his touch, fueled the slow burn of her desire.

“I want another taste, Bree.” Jase’s tongue traced her bottom lip before taking advantage of Bree’s gasp, diving in and tangling his tongue with hers. His hand traveled back down her side, over her hip, and grabbed her thigh. He pulled her leg over his waist, nestling his rigid length against her core. With no one to interrupt them, their hands roamed freely, lifting shirts, unbuttoning buttons, and skimming goose-pimpled flesh.

Jase tried to roll Bree under him, forgetting they were in a hammock, and nearly toppled them out of it. He put an arm out to break their fall, but his momentum propelled him out of the hammock and onto the wooden deck of the porch.

Wide-eyed, Bree stared down at Jase. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Jase said as he got to his feet.

Bree laughed a deep, full-belly laugh as she rolled back into the center of the swaying hammock.

“It wasn’t that funny,” Jase told her.

“Yes, it was,” she told him through her laughter.

“That’s it.”

Bree let out a shriek as Jase bent at the waist and grabbed her, throwing her over his shoulder yet again.

“Seriously with the Neanderthal?”

“Me Tarzan, you Jane.” He opened the door and headed straight back to the stairs leading to the unexplored second story. Bree held on tightly to his waist as he ascended, giving her a precarious view of the steep hardwood stairs.

Jase took a sharp left turn at the top of the landing and stalked to the king-sized bed. He tossed her gently onto the bed, standing above her as she scrambled to brush her hair out of her face. Jase reached behind his neck and pulled his t-shirt over his head, throwing it in the direction of the far corner.

Bree’s eyes traveled down his well-sculpted chest and stomach, noting the tattoos on his chest she hadn’t been able to see the last time he’d been naked. Jase shifted his weight to toe off his work boots and she licked her lips as he slowly pulled down the zipper of his unbuttoned pants. The anticipation might have just killed her as she waited for him to push them down his hips. He stopped, his thumbs hooked in the sides of his briefs.

Her gaze shot to his.

“Like what you see?”

She smiled, remembering his pick-up line at the bar. “That’s almost as bad as ‘Come here often?’”

“What can I say? I like to stick with the classics.” He ran his thumbs under the elastic of his underwear, teasing Bree with a glimpse of short, dark curly hair.

“Are you going to take those off?” she asked, a challenge in her voice. “Or do you need help?”

Jase removed his hands from his hips. “I think I need help.”

Bree sat up and scooted to the edge of the bed. “Let’s see what we’ve got to work with.”

She grabbed the outside seams of his jeans just above the knees and yanked hard, pulling them completely off his hips but leaving his boxer briefs in place.

Bree swallowed hard. Wow. His impressive hard-on strained the confines of his underwear.

We’re not going to fit.

“We’re going to fit, darlin’,” came Jase’s amused reply.

“Shit. I said that out loud?” She slapped her hands over her face.

“Yeah, you said that out loud.” He pulled her hands from her face and kicked free of his jeans. Moving over Bree, he scooted her back on the bed. He repositioned her so her head was on the pillows, bracing his arms on either side of her and resting his pelvis in the cradle of her hips. “Did you forget we already fit once?”

Her face felt like it was on fire. “I didn’t really take the time to look last time. You’re very, uh…proportional.” God, that was lame. She had basically just told him she forgot they had sex. If the bed would swallow her up right now, she would be eternally grateful.

Jase dropped his head into Bree’s neck as he laughed. “I’m hoping that’s a compliment.”

His beard tickled as he spoke, sending small electrical pulses along her skin. She ran her hands up his triceps, over his shoulders, one going into his hair and one going down his side and around to his equally defined ass. Maybe she didn’t need the bed to swallow her after all.

“Yeah, it was a compliment.” She ran her nose up his neck, inhaling his spicy aftershave.

“You done being nervous?” Jase lightly ran his tongue up the side of her neck.

“For the most part,” she breathed. “You are really well endowed.”

She felt him smile against her neck again. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure you’re ready for me.”

“How do you plan on doing that?” she asked, the challenge back in her voice.

“First things first, we need to get you out of these clothes.” Jase pushed up so he was straddling her thighs. He curled his fingers into the hem of her t-shirt and slowly drew it up over her head, tossing it over his shoulder.

He ran his fingers over the lace edge of her bra. “I like this,” he said in a low voice. “Front or back?”

“What?”

“The clasp. Front or back this time?”

“Back.” She arched her back, thrusting her breasts into his hands on the pretext of giving him room to remove it.

He unhooked her bra and eased the straps down her arms, exposing her breasts inch by aching inch. He scooted down the bed, quickly removing her shorts and exposing her matching lace-trimmed bikini briefs.

He placed his mouth over the thin cotton and tongued her clit through the fabric, causing Bree to groan at the contact.

“Now this,” he said, peeling her panties down. “This I’ve dreamed about.” Bree panted at his words. His warm breath caressed the most intimate part of her. “Sweet. Juicy. Heaven on my tongue.”

He pulled Bree’s legs over his shoulders as she ran her fingers through his hair, burying them in the soft curls. He didn’t tease this time. His fingers dug into the soft flesh of her upper thigh as his tongue swirled and flicked. Flicked and swirled. It seemed like Bree’s orgasm crashed over her in mere seconds.

Jase quickly removed his briefs and rolled on a condom. He positioned his cock at Bree’s wet entrance when she placed her hands on his hips.

“Wait!”

“What? What’s wrong?” he asked, worry creating a furrow between his brow.

“I wanna suck your cock first.” She bit the edge of his jaw.

“Holy fuck, woman, I thought I had hurt you.” Jase thrust hard into Bree’s slick heat. “Next time. Before you’ve just come all over my face in all of ten seconds.”

“It wasn’t that fast,” she argued. His thickness stretched and filled her. Slightly uncomfortable, but exquisite at the same time. She wrapped her legs high around his waist and tilted her hips, taking him even deeper.

Jase withdrew and thrust forward again. “I counted. You came so quick for me last time I wanted to see if it was a one-time thing or if you’re always that responsive.”

“Are you counting this time?” she asked, meeting him thrust for thrust, stroke for stroke. Each time he drove forward, he caressed her clit. Forward and back. Never enough contact to push her over the edge, but just enough to slowly ramp up her arousal again. If he would only prolong the contact with her clit, she could get there. She wrapped one hand under his arm and around his back. The other reached low, grasping and releasing his ass in time to his thrusts. Spurring him on.

“Darlin’, I’m doing everything I can not to blow my load before you can come again.”

“That’s going to be soon.”

“Thank fuck.” He rotated his hips while he was sunk deep, rubbing her clit on the downward stroke.

“Right there. Like that.” He did it again and she came apart in his arms, digging her nails into his back and ass, and biting his shoulder.

Jase threw his head back and shouted his own release, thrusting hard once, twice, and staying buried the third time. He collapsed most of his weight on her, breathing hard while running his mouth along the hollow of her shoulder.

He raised his head to look down at her. “You doing that on purpose?”

“Doing what?”

“Pulsing around my cock.”

“Aftershock,” she explained as she licked the base of his neck.

“It’s gonna make me hard again,” he said.

“Okay.”

Jase groaned, causing Bree to grin against his neck.

“I need to get rid of the condom.”

“’Kay,” she whispered, reluctant to loosen her hold.

He pressed his lips firmly to hers while gently easing his body from hers. When he returned from the bathroom, Bree was curled up under the covers, drifting quickly toward sleep.

The bed shifted as Jase pulled back the covers on his side and got into bed, jolting her from the edge of sleep. He pulled Bree close, tucking her back to his front as he kissed her exposed shoulder and buried his face in the base of her neck. His sigh caressed her neck and his weight became heavy at her back. She would never have taken him for a cuddler. She smiled and let her eyes drift closed, giving herself over to sleep.

“G
ET DOWN! GET DOWN!”

The sharp, whip-crack sounds of M-4 rifles were answered by the low, rat-a-tat of AK-47s. Bree scanned the road ahead of her, looking for pressure plates or uneven pavement that might indicate a secondary device. Bree raised her head over the driver’s side hood of the Humvee, scanning the insurgent positions.

“Cover me!”

“Goddamnit, Marks, get your ass back here! Fuck! Cover her!”

Go! Go! Go!
Running in a crouch, rifle pointed down, Bree raced across the open space - a perfect moving target for the enemy. Rounds ricocheted off the rough concrete. She slid on her knees behind the rear bumper of the Humvee that had taken the brunt of the IED explosion, tearing up the hard plastic of her knee pads. A round caught the corner of the mangled metal, missing her by millimeters. She flinched, small pieces of shrapnel stinging her face. Slinging her M-4 around her back, she pulled on the lever of the two-hundred-pound door. The passenger side had taken the force of the blast and the door swung open without any resistance. She glanced up to assess the soldier sitting behind the driver. Blood flowed freely down the front of his face as he fumbled with his seatbelt.

“Hold on. I’ll get you out of there.”

He turned his head. The right side of his face was gone. Nothing but a gaping hole. “Help me, Bree.”

She stood and took a step back, staring at the carnage in front of her.

“Don’t leave me here, Bree.”

She shook her head and took another step back. A fist clenched the sleeve of her uniform and yanked her around.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing, Marks?”

Thwack!

A bullet tore through the side of his head, blowing out a good chunk. Something warm and wet hit her face. She reached up to brush it away. Her hand touched a furry muzzle and a warm tongue threaded between her fingers.

She jerked her head away and her eyes flew open. Polly licked her cheek, following Bree’s movement.

You’re safe. You’re safe. You’re not there. It’s not really happening.

Her heart pounded, blood rushing so fast and hard it affected the pressure in her ears. Breathless, as if she had just finished a marathon, she concentrated on slowing the rise and fall of her chest. She looked to her right - Jase was on his stomach, still asleep. She must not have called out, or he was a deep sleeper.

Bree pushed the covers off, eased from the bed, and padded into the bathroom, Polly by her side, and closed the door. Easing the latch into place, she placed her back against the door and slid down to sit on the floor. Dim, pre-dawn light filtered in through a small window, creating ghostly shadows of the vanity, toilet, and free-standing bath. Polly wiggled herself onto Bree’s lap and let out a low whine.

“Shh, don’t wake up Jase.” She hugged Polly close and scratched her ears. “Thank you, sweet girl. Did you leave Charlie downstairs by himself? What do you think brought that on? You haven’t had to wake me up in months. Do you think it was Jase’s story about Tony? Maybe it was because someone tore up my room. Lots of stuff happened today, huh?”

She petted Polly and whispered to her for another few minutes. “Okay, girl. I think I’m good.” She moved her dog off her lap, used the toilet, and washed her hands before she eased back out of the bathroom. Edging onto the bed, she lay facing Jase. She moved as close as she could without touching him. Polly jumped onto the bed and took up position at her back. Watching Jase’s chest rise and fall, Bree matched her breaths to his.