In the Line of Fire (10 page)

All this time, she'd focused on simply his body—his chest, his belly, his hips. Now, she looked up at him. The flickering candlelight darkened his green eyes, but it was
her
that left them glittering with heat.

Deliberately, she looked back down and lowered herself, aching to taste him. She delicately licked at the base of his cock and then swiped her tongue up his rigid length. She was thoroughly turned on by his scent, the velvet heat of his penis against her tongue and the sound of his muffled groan followed by his broken, “Oh…Andi…honey.”

He buried his fingers in her hair, cupping her scalp, but not tugging her forward. She was free to take things as far as she wanted to. She caught the drop of moisture with the tip of her tongue. His essence was slightly salty. Steadying him with her hand wrapped lightly around his base, Andi took him in her mouth…or rather as much as she could. She wanted to give him pleasure. She wanted him satiated. She wanted to love him in every way a woman could love her man.

She moved her mouth up and down his erection, setting a rhythm between her hand and mouth. She loved the taste and feel of him in her mouth and moaned her pleasure. Colton's harsh breathing punctuated the air.

And then he stopped her. “Andi…no…not the first time…not this way.”

She rose to her knees. She understood. She'd been totally into him and what she was doing, but no, she didn't want their first time to be that way either. She wanted him buried deep inside her. She grasped the
hem of her gown in her hands and pulled it up and over her head, tossing it aside.

“Andi,” he said on a husky, awe-filled note looking at her fully naked for the first time.

It was the right thing to say. She'd come to terms with the fact she was never going to be one of those model-thin girls and had accepted she was a woman with curves, some in places she didn't particularly care for, namely a muffin-top. Apparently Colton was fine with curves.

“I want to feel every inch of you against me, in me,” she said, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing close to him. She rubbed against him, reveling in the sensation of his hair-roughened chest against her nipples.

His mouth captured hers in a hot, hard, demanding kiss…and she loved it. Lost in the sensation of his mouth and tongue and the hard press of his body, she found herself on her back.

Colton braced on one arm to keep his weight off of her. He stroked and smoothed his other hand over her breasts, down the curve of her hip. He paused as the tips of his fingers brushed the edge of her pubic hair. “Oh, you are wet.” He explored farther, lightly running his big finger along her nether lips. She was so ready for him, so aching, she shuddered beneath his touch, arching her hips up to bring his finger into more intimate contact with her body.

“That's what you do to me, Colton Sawyer. That's
the effect you have on me. That's how much I want you.”

He positioned himself between her thighs and nudged at her wet channel with the head of his penis. “And this is how much I want you.”

“Show me more,” she said, widening her legs and canting her hips to meet him, a welcoming committee of one.

He froze. “Protection.”

“I'm on birth control and the other should be fine if you're okay.”

“I'm good. It's been a long time.”

His eyes caught and held hers as he eased inside her. She gasped and he immediately stopped. “Am I hurting you?”

She shook her head. “No, it just feels so good, so right.”

“It does, doesn't it?” he said as he pressed the rest of the way home.

It was as if they had been custom-made for one another. With each stroke, with each in and out, Andi felt as if he was loving her, as if he'd never touched or made love to another woman the same way he was with her now. And with each thrust and slide where she met him she was giving him the same thing—herself, as she'd never given herself to another man.

She was growing tighter, tenser, climbing higher and higher with him and she felt herself teetering on
the brink when he said, “Come with me, Andi. Cum for me.”

He reached between them, found her clit with his finger and stroked it while he moved in and out of her. She felt as if her body went into slow motion as she slowly, exquisitely came undone and unraveled at the same time Colton did.

C
OLTON PULLED
Andi closer, his arm beneath her head, his other arm wrapped around her middle. He nuzzled her shoulder and inhaled the fresh scent of her hair. It had been one helluva weird day. He'd started it fully expecting her to marry another man and he'd ended it making love to her. The day had definitely taken a turn for the better.

It had certainly been a heck of a day for Andi, as well. “How are you?” he said.

“I'm wonderful,” she said, pressing a tender kiss to his arm. She wiggled her bare backside closer to him and sighed. “Maybe a little tired, well, a lot tired, but wonderful nonetheless because I'm here with you. What about you? Are you okay?”

God but she was sweet and sexy and, for now, his. He tightened his arm about her. “I'm better than okay.” Making love to her, being inside her, feeling her hands and her mouth on him—it had been infinitely
better than he'd ever even imagined, and he'd imagined plenty. “Although I may get up in a minute and hit the shower.” But he wasn't ready to move just yet. For now he wanted to enjoy the experience of lying in bed and holding her in his arms.

“There's nothing quite like a hot shower, is there?”

He traced his thumb over the swell of her breast and smiled into her hair. “Well, there are a few things that are better.” She offered a short chuckle at his gentle teasing. “But yeah, showers are pretty damn nice. It wasn't until I did my first tour in Iraq that I realized just how attached I am to a hot shower. Any shower, for that matter.”

Andi stroked the back of his forearm with her fingertip. “Rion said the same thing.” She gave him a searching look in the mirrors above the bed. “Do you want to talk about being over there?”

He shook his head. “No. Thanks for asking but I don't. I'm not trying to shut you out but when I get to leave it behind for a little bit, that's a good thing. Our work there is important but I want to be one-hundred-percent here with you now.” That was another thing he'd learned quickly in a war situation. Living in the good moments when they were there…'cause you just never knew when your time was up.

He'd told her he didn't want to talk about his time in Iraq or Afghanistan, and he didn't. But one of the things he carried with him inside—one of the things
aside from ripping Andi's family apart, if they had any kind of future, if she'd have him—was the countless times he'd seen fellow soldiers with wives and children waiting for them at home lose their lives. At least if a bullet, bomb or IED with his name on it found him, he wasn't leaving behind a wife. He wasn't being critical of the men who were married, it was simply his choice not to do that. He would not ask a woman, namely this woman, to wait for him while he was in a war zone. An old-timer had told him once that if the military wanted a man to have a wife, they'd issue him one. He had to say there was some merit to that. He put aside the thought, deliberately bringing himself back to the precious moment at hand.

“Mmm, I'm glad you're a hundred percent here with me now,” she said. She offered him a smile in the mirror, her eyes heavy with satisfaction and sleep. “I think I'll take a quick nap while you're in the shower.”

“You do that, baby.” He pressed another kiss to her shoulder, extricated his arm and tucked the cover around her. “You comfy?”

She nodded, her eyes already closed. “Yes, but it'll be better when you're back in bed with me.”

He rolled out of the bed and stood there for a moment, watching her simply because, for now, for the next four days, he had that privilege. Her red hair, a tangle of curls, fanned over the pillow. The alabaster
curve of her shoulder peeked out from beneath the quilt. He could happily watch her drift off to sleep every night for the rest of his life. But some things just weren't meant to be.

 

A
NDI STARTLED AWAKE
, momentarily disoriented. She looked around. Where was she? Ah. The Daisy Inn in South Carolina. She'd heard something. That's what had awoken her. She heard another sound from the bathroom and realized it was the sound of the running water, of the shower. That must've been what had awoken her.

She checked the bedside clock. Two-fifteen in the morning. She'd maybe been asleep fifteen minutes tops but she felt refreshed and invigorated. She wasn't so sure that it was as much the nap as the man in the other room and the driving need to make as many memories with him and for him as she could in the next few days.

On a whim, she rolled out of bed. They were about to make another memory. She relit the pillar candles on the bedside tables—he must've extinguished them before he'd gone into the shower. That was the kind of thorough, safe man he was.

Working quickly she pulled on the lace-topped thigh highs she'd worn earlier in the day, a white lacey thong, the plunging white front-hook push-up bra and her white satin pumps. Hose and heels made her feel
sexy and she had a hunch Colton would like them, as well.

She snagged her brush and dragged it through her hair, bringing some slight semblance of order to it. She clipped it loosely up, a few pieces falling down around her shoulders.

The shower stopped in the bathroom and she hurried over to the bed. Colton didn't strike her as a man to linger after he finished showering. Stretching out on the bed on her side, her heart began to thump against her ribs and moisture gathered between her thighs in anticipation.

The bathroom door opened and he stepped out wearing a pair of underwear. He stopped short when he saw her.

“I was through with my nap, so I thought…” She trailed off.

He grinned and crossed the room in a few short strides. “I definitely like the way you think.” He joined her on the bed.

“Mmm…you smell good,” she said. She stroked her hand over his shoulder and down his chest, his skin and hair still moist from the shower. “And you feel even better.”

He slid behind her, spreading his legs on either side of her, his back against the pillows and headboard.

“Speaking of feeling good…” It seemed the most natural, the most right thing in the world for Colton to stroke and caress her skin until he was cupping her
bra-clad breasts in his hands. He smoothed his thumbs over the tops of her breasts that spilled over the edge of her lacy cups. Reaching between, a smile curving his sensual mouth, he released the hook. In seconds her bra joined the rest of their clothes on the floor.

Colton, his breathing hard, wordlessly pulled her in between his legs and turned her so that her back was to him, her buttocks between his thighs. “Lean back on me,” he said, cupping her heavy breasts in his hands.

She knew exactly what he was doing…and she liked it. She leaned back and looked up. She'd only thought she was turned on before. His skin was naturally darker than hers and hours spent in the sun had left his arms and hands darker still. They were a marked contrast against her paleness. Her red hair spilled across her shoulders and his chest.

She felt the heavy beat of his heart against her back, heard the uneven cadence of his breathing, which echoed her own. Her eyes caught and held his in their reflected image. Slowly, deliberately he toyed with her nipples until she was arching against his questing fingers.

She was burning for him. “Touch me lower,” she said.

He brushed his hands down the plane of her belly to stroke her thighs. She rocked her hips in silent invitation. Fascinated, incredibly aroused, she watched as Colton delved his fingers beneath the edge of her
panties. There was something terribly, terribly erotic in watching from the mirror as she experienced the tactile sensations. She gasped aloud when he found her wet, slick channel. His moan resounded in her ear.

“Take them off,” he said.

She slipped them off and down her legs, one side tangling on her ankle until she kicked it off. She leaned back against him again and spread her legs, any vestige of modesty long abandoned to passion.

They both watched as his sun-kissed fingers stroked and toyed with her pink glistening flesh. And then his thumb found her clit and the orgasm that had been building and building exploded inside her. As the first tremor shook her, his voice was low and urgent in her ear. “Look at me,” he said.

She focused on him, on them as she found her release.

“That was…incredible,” she said, when she could finally speak again. “But not fair to you.”

“Oh, honey, it was more than fair. Do you know what I felt like watching you come and knowing I was the one that took you there? And it's about to be fairer still, if you're up to it.”

“Up to it? Why wouldn't I be?”

“I didn't know if you might be sore. If it doesn't feel good we'll take a break.”

Had there ever been a man who was more thought
ful and sexy and just generally wonderful? “I think it will feel just fine.”

“Move down a little bit and then turn to face me.”

She did as he instructed.

“Slide back toward me and put one of your legs under mine and the other one on top of mine.”

Once again, she followed his instructions. She didn't wait on him to tell her to slide forward, she figured out that part all on her own.

She leaned back, bracing on her elbows, watching in the mirror as his penis nudged against her wet curls and orgasm-drenched pussy.

“Oh, honey…” he said, his face tightening. Bit by bit, he entered her, giving her time to adjust, to stretch, and take him all. One thing was for sure, she was wet enough.

She dropped her head back. “Oh, God, you feel good.”

“Not nearly as good as you feel.”

He shifted his hips and began to move inside her. She'd thought she'd just make him happy and bring him to his release. Amazingly, she felt another orgasm began to build. She wasn't sure who cried out the loudest when they both came.

Andi collapsed on her back. “That was… I've never…ohmigod.”

“I read about that once when I was researching, but never tried it.”

“Researching what? Sex?”

“Well, yeah. That's how you're informed. You study and research. I thought it sounded interesting—you know, to bring your partner to back-to-back orgasm.”

She'd never loved his logical engineering geeky mind more. “Well, I'll be interested in learning more about your research.”

 

T
HE NEXT MORNING
Martha Anne was surprised when she walked into the den and spotted Mattie in the kitchen. It wasn't her daughter's favorite place to be. Even more astonishing, however, was the unmistakable scent of coffee and baking muffins.

“Morning, Mom,” Mattie said. “The coffee's ready, blueberry muffins are almost done and I've got the pan ready for poached eggs.”

Martha Anne peered over the top of her glasses. “What happened to my daughter and who are you?”

“Very funny, Mom. I know what happened yesterday, about you and Ms. Daisy, was upsetting. So, I guess this is my way of saying I'm sorry. Well, you know, in addition to actually saying I'm sorry because I'm the one that brought up Andi's crush on Colton.”

“Apology accepted, even though unnecessary…and I like my eggs medium, white set, yolk runny.” It was
a nice change to have someone preparing breakfast for her.

Mattie grinned. “I've got it covered.”

Martha Anne took out her favorite coffee cup and moved through the ritual of preparing it just the way she liked it—sweet and with lots of half-and-half. Her coffee to her satisfaction, Martha Anne settled on a bar stool while her daughter moved about in the kitchen.

Her back to Martha Anne, Mattie spoke from where she was in the kitchen. “I know you were disappointed when I married Marcus and I know it's embarrassing for you to have me divorced, broke and living back home at my age…” Mattie didn't actually cry but her voice thickened and her eyes teared up on the last bit.

“Honey, I was disappointed when you married Marcus. I wasn't disappointed in you, simply in your choice. I want you to be happy. I want you to have what your father and I had. You deserve a man who appreciates you for the bright, beautiful woman you are, and I knew that wasn't Marcus.” She paused to sip. “Good coffee, by the way. Now as to being embarrassed by you living at home. That's definitely not the case. I hate it for you, because I think
you
find it embarrassing but I'd ten times rather have you back home with me than staying with a man who was bankrupting you financially and emotionally just because you thought you had nowhere else to go.”

“Are you sure?”

“Honey, you're a paralegal and a fine one at that. I'm proud as punch of you. You know part of it is that Colton reminds me so much of your Daddy while, honey-bunny, you definitely didn't fall far from the tree. Sometimes we're so much alike, you and I, that we lock horns but that doesn't mean I love you any less.”

“I just know Colton never got in trouble as a teenager…well, wait, let's just qualify that he never got in trouble.”

“Well, that's because he's got that logical, reasoning engineer's brain the Sawyer men seem to have. Colton doesn't get into trouble because he's slow to make decisions. He has to consider every angle and every nuance before he takes action. And there's no devilment in the boy, whereas you and I, and I'll throw Andi in there too, we've got far more devilment in us. We're more creative and impulsive and sometimes it gets us in trouble.”

“Thanks, Mom,” Mattie said, hugging her. “I think we needed to have this talk.”

“Oh, if you thought I found you an embarrassment or disappointment, we definitely needed to clear the air.”

“Why is Ms. Daisy so crazy?” Mattie transferred the eggs to the waiting plates and added a muffin. “She's serious about not wanting Andi and Colton
to get together.” She joined her mother at the breakfast bar.

Martha Anne had lain awake in her bed last night thinking about her friend into the wee hours of the morning. “We all know Daisy had a hard, hard time when they lost Gerald. There was no warning. He simply left that morning for a conference and was lost to them a few hours later. Savannah is her world, it represents home and safety. She sees the rest of the world as…well, threatening. She's very insular. It's really just fear, Mattie. She feels if they stick close to home, they'll be safe. She's terrified she's going to lose Rion in this war and so that's just making her clutch Andi even tighter.”