Uniform Desires (Make Mine Military Romance) (48 page)

“I’ve got an idea.” He led her around the bench table to the storeroom where Sophie’s cot was. He slid his cargo pants down, sat on the cot, let her pants fall to her ankles. She stepped out of them and stood before him fully naked. He guided her over to sit on his lap, legs spread to the sides. Holding her waist in his massive hands, he adjusted her to slide down his shaft.

She gripped the tops of his shoulders as he bounced her up and down on him, her knotted nipples rubbing against his warm chest. He was so deep, and she still wanted more. Her swollen tissues were sore, but she wanted him anyway. He adjusted his pelvis, leaning back and bracing the weight of both their bodies on his palms gripping the edge of the cot. He rolled his hips and ground into her in smooth movements that were urgent, demanding, and relentless.

Her orgasm was quickly coming on her. “Oh, Nick.”

He sucked her breasts, teasing her nipples with a little bite that made her jump. She held herself against his chest, wrapping her arms around him as her muscles milked his cock. As he lurched and began to come, she drew back to watch his face, then softly leaned back into him to nibble on his lips.

“Love this, baby,” he said between kisses.

“Yes,” she sighed. “I want you more each time we—” Her orgasm sent the delicious shudder down her spine. When she opened her eyes, the look he gave her showed his need. It was something she wanted to remember forever.

Nick hauled two bags of ice to the cooler while Devon brought a case of bottled waters. She placed them in the ice while Nick brought out some sodas and beer Marc had bought the night before.
 

The radio was blaring out a country western station and soon all the SEALs were topless. With each new song, which was always someone’s favorite, there was an outburst
 
of air guitars and karaoke routines. She hadn’t seen so much undulating at shovels or rakes and pole dancing two-by-fours in her life.
 

When one song came on, it seemed to erupt in a dance free-for-all.

The way I see it,
 

The whole wide world has gone c-r-a-z-y,

So baby why don’t we just dance?

Cooper was dancing with Kyle. Fredo grabbed Malcolm’s elbow and they did a do-si-do. Rory Kennedy put his T-shirt over his head and paraded around like on a runway with his shovel, sticking his chest and his butt out with affectation. He got sprayed with the hose.
 

Devon was clapping her hands and enjoying the spectacle, when several of the men came towards her and took turns twirling her around on the gravel floor of the greenhouse under a liberal sprinkling of water from the overhead wand. She wound up dancing with Nick last, and realized it had probably been designed that way.

By the end of the day the plants were trimmed and sorted. An enormous pile of discarded plastic containers was stacked neatly behind the water tank beside a pile of debris and dirt. Sophie sat in her wheelchair and wrote prices on plastic tags Devon placed according to her instructions. Cooper managed to get two high weed mowers oiled and tuned to perfection, as well as six rototillers. He even serviced Sophie’s small tractor with the front loader on it. Fredo and Malcolm replaced missing slats in the walls and the overhead canvas suncover was replaced with new material Sophie provided.
 

They made a large PLANT LIQUIDATION SALE sign for the end of the driveway to put out in the morning. Wind chimes, garden tools, fertilizers and statuary were displayed inside the office at 50% off. Sophie had a few items she wanted to keep, and Devon took them to her bedroom. Everything was dusted, swept. Team guys washed windows and removed cobwebs from the eves inside and outside the little structure. They raked the gravel parking lot last.
 

Emma’s brother had relieved her in this morning. Charles was also from Fiji but was easily as tall as Cooper and built like a linebacker. He liked working with the SEALs, and showed some of his island dance moves. At one point, he started a line dance that went viral and snaked around the property with all the frogs in tow. Devon got some pictures none of her friends would believe and decided to post them on Facebook as proof.

Sophie came out to look over the place as the sun was setting. “Can’t believe how beautiful this is. Just like I’d pictured it could be. Makes me wish I didn’t have to sell it. Sure none of you wants to go into the nursery business?”

Marc agreed to stay back with Sophie while the rest of the dirty crew decided to clean up and go into town for some pizza and more beers. Devon hung back, not sure she was invited.
 

“You’re going with me,” Nick said. “I intend to keep my promise to my sister, and this will make date number three, if I’m not mistaken.”

The pizza parlor was filled with Friday night revelers. They took a large round table in the corner and ordered several pitchers of beers, watching the local “talent” as Rory called the girls who ogled and drooled over the Team guys.
 

Devon didn’t have much appetite, so ate a few bites of her salad and sipped from
 
Nick’s beer glass. As the minutes went by, he slid closer and closer to her, at first tracing the arc of her right ear with his forefinger, which tickled, and then exploring discreetly the nape of her neck in a dark corner away from the eyes of his friends.
 

His seduction became more obvious and it quickly came time for them to leave the party. Taking her hand in his, he addressed Kyle and the rest of them, “Don’t wait up for us.”

“Careful, Devon. He’s got that look,” Malcolm said.

Inside, Devon was beaming.

She could hardly wait.

Chapter 17

Nick knew where he would take her. The lights from Neverland, the legendary place where many of his high school buddies had lost their virginity, were stunning, and he knew she’d love it. They climbed the steep off-road drive, and as they came around to the flat area Devon gasped. Twinkling lights shone before her on the expansive Santa Rosa plain that stretched fifty miles. He angled the car pointing west, pulled onto a gravel shoulder and turned off the car.

“Beautiful.”

He was looking at her face in profile, thinking the same thing. He traced the line of her jaw, slipping his fingers around the top of her neck and pulling her to him across the console. His lips sipped from hers. Devon opened to him as his tongue found hers and coaxed her to return the favor.
 

The cabin was feeling cramped and his erection was getting painful.
 

“Come on.” He picked up a blanket from the second seat, coming around to lift her out of the car. They walked through the dried grasses to a perfect view. He spread the blanket and invited her to join him. Their shoulders touched as they watched the lights, felt the gentle breeze, and listened to the crickets. The smells of the grasses and the sounds of traffic in the distance were always soothing to him. Tonight, it felt like magic.

Nick had never felt this way about anyone in his life. He had thought of himself as Teflon—immune to love. He had been so certain that his loyalty to his Teammates and his country would forever be most prominent in his life.
 

But now there was Devon, and it just felt so natural to have her beside him. There was a lot he didn’t know about her. Could she handle carrying on a long distance relationship? Playing around with his buddies was one thing, but could she hold up during his difficult deployments? Would the intensity of their feelings survive being apart with him living in San Diego and her in Sonoma County?

“Thank you for bringing me here, Nick. I can see this is a special place,” she said.

Nick had to smile. “They call it Neverland.”

“Really? Why?” Her eyes sparkled in the reflection of the lights ahead of them. Then she put her hand to her mouth. “Oh. A makeout place, right? Like a
legendary
makeout place?”

“I’m surprised you haven’t—” He suddenly realized he shouldn’t have said it.

She touched his lips with her fingertips. “No. I never even got close to making love with anyone. I’ve barely been kissed.”

“That’s all in the past, baby.”

“Yes.” She looked down, as if shy.

“I can’t believe no one tried to get close to you, Devon. You’re beautiful, smart. You’re a good friend to Sophie. Girls like you don’t come along very often.”

“Thank you for saying that, Nick. I have to admit, I’ve never met anyone like you, either.”

The doorway was being breached. Surrender was imminent. But whose? He wanted to give himself to her as much as he needed her to fill all those raw spots and holes in his soul.

“I’d like this to continue after I go back to San Diego. Can you ever see yourself—what I’m asking I have no right to ask. You don’t even know me.”

“I know Sophie and she’s told me some stories. Sophie doesn’t lie.”

“No, she doesn’t. So now I’m afraid of what you’ve been told.”

She looked back out to the lights. He saw the moisture on her lips as they began to curl up at the ends. “She said you don’t let anyone in. Ever.”

“Until now, Devon.”

Her sparkling eyes lit up his heart when she turned to face him again. “I was hoping to hear that, Nick. For me, all this sex, it’s something more than just that. I feel like I belong here, beside you.”

“You do, baby.”

They kissed as he lay her down into the blanket. He nuzzled under her ear and spoke the words she wasn’t sure she heard at first. “I’m falling hard and I don’t want to stop. You’d have a terrible time getting rid of me if you change your mind.”

She laced her fingers through his hair, moving on to his temples and caressing the sides of his face. “Don’t stop. I don’t want you to stop. I don’t want to lose this feeling—”

Before she could finish he stopped her as he brushed her lips with a soft kiss and slid his hand up under her shirt. He pulled the cotton fabric off, bending to penetrate the tops of her bra with his tongue. She arched to him with a moan that nearly made him come. He removed her bra, then worked on her pants, sliding them down her thighs. Her white lace panties glowed in the moonlight.

She waited and watched him as he shed his own clothes. Then, raising one of her knees over his shoulder he bent down and licked the inside of her thigh. His tongue snaked its way under the elastic of the panty to seek and find her slit as he dipped the tip inside her warm opening. Devon wildly grabbed his hair, clutching with her fingers wildly as her hips writhed, presenting her mound to him.

Watching her face under the stars, he slowly pulled her panties off and slipped two fingers inside her. It was heaven to watch her melt with desire. He and only he had opened the doorway to her garden of delights. It had never been important before, but tonight it was. He vowed he’d be the only man to ever make love to Devon for the rest of her life. If she’d have him.

He sucked her clit as he moved his fingers in and out of her.
 

“Please,” she moaned.

“Yes. I’m here, Devon.”

“Please, Nick, I need you inside me.”

“Yes,” he whispered. “I want—“
 

Should he say it? Was it wise?

“Please, need you,” she was moaning.

“I want to be the only one, Devon.”

“You are.”

“I want to be the only one, ever,” he said as he mounted her. He’d brought protection and quickly slipped it over his engorged shaft. The delay sent her into a frenzy.

“You are the only one. I don’t ever want to let you go.”

Nick entered her as she exploded all around him. Her warm sheath held him, pulled him deeper. Her breasts shone in the silvery night air, the red peaks of her nipples knotted with pleasure. Nothing in the world compared to the beauty of this woman surrendering fully to him under the night sky. She loved with complete abandon, and he vowed, he would never leave her.
 

Somehow, they’d figure out a way to make all the pieces fit into place, just as their bodies fit together.
 

Somehow.

Devon stroked along Nick’s back, felt the circular scars that reminded her he’d faced death more than once. Another long thin scar inched from his hip nearly to his spine.
 

His callused fingers were rubbing her chest, squeezing her nipples as he laid his head against her to listen to her heart. There wasn’t any part of Nick’s body she didn’t love. His thick thighs draped across hers, his steady breathing warming her. She ran her hand down his sides, reveling in the weight of his body on top of hers, right where he belonged.

They had not spoken of love, but she knew what this was. And she was sure he felt the same. She felt protected, honored to be loved by such a beautiful and powerful warrior.
 

She wanted to spend her life pleasing him. If he’d let her.

Chapter 18

Devon awoke to the feel of Nick’s body spooning behind her in the guest bedroom.
 

Thank God it wasn’t a dream.

They’d not gotten much sleep, but in spite of the lack, she felt energized. They showered together and barely made it to the kitchen in time to join Marc and the others at breakfast.