Page 31 of Hawkeye

The men moved, and I watched the first surveillance teams leave the garage, then handled the remaining Black Castle assignments before checking the time. My rotation on the ridge above the estate yard began in less than an hour, but the protection apartment sat three minutes away. I had no intention of spending the entire night without seeing Josie merely because armed men needed babysitting.

Her mother opened the apartment door before I knocked twice. She gave my cut, tattoo, and expression one long inspection before stepping aside with a knowing curve to her mouth. “Dinner’s in the kitchen. Josie has checked the hallway every time the elevator stopped, but she supposedly wasn’t waiting for you.”

“Good to know,” I replied, closing the door behind me.

“I thought so.” She collected a mug of tea from the counter and nodded toward one of the bedroom doors. “I’m going to bed before I accidentally overhear something that ruins my opinion of either of you.”

Josie appeared from the small kitchen carrying a covered plate, her chestnut waves loose around her face and her shapely legs bare beneath dark sleep shorts. The fitted red top she wore hugged her tits and narrow waist closely enough to send a hard surge into my cock. My body remembered those thighs locked around me, her virgin-tight pussy gripping every inch, and the way she had cried my name when I made her come beneath me.

“You came back,” she murmured, pleasure warming her expressive brown eyes.

“Told you I would.” I took the plate from her, set it on the counter, and closed one hand around the back of her neck. “Come here.”

Josie stepped into me without hesitation. I kissed her until the pleased welcome in her mouth turned hungry, my other hand sliding around her waist and pulling her against the erection already straining beneath my jeans. Her breath caught when she felt it, and her fingers clutched the front of my shirt while I fought the urge to lift her onto the counter and find out how quietly I could make her come with her mother twenty feet away.

“You’re supposed to eat,” she whispered when I moved my mouth along her jaw.

“I’m deciding which meal matters more.”

Her cheeks turned pink, but her hips pressed closer. “My mother is still awake.”

“She announced her retreat. Smart woman.” I dragged my thumb beneath Josie’s ear and watched her pulse jump. “Unfortunately, I have to leave before I can make proper use of the privacy.”

Disappointment flickered through her face before she covered it with a narrow look. “You kissed me like that when you knew you were leaving?”

“I’ve spent hours watching thieves move boxes while remembering you naked in my bed.” I kissed the dark speck beside her mouth. “You’re lucky I stopped.”

The flush spread down her throat while her dimple appeared. “I wouldn’t call that lucky.”

I didn’t respond because I was afraid anything I said would break my control.

Josie retrieved the plate before I could change my mind, then led me into the apartment’s small sitting room with a fork and a glass of water. Heavy shades covered the reinforced windows, and the exterior security feeds played silently on a monitor mounted near the hallway. I sat in one of the deep chairs, caught her wrist when she chose the other, and pulled her sideways across my lap.

She shook her head, but the warmth in her expression gave away how much she liked where I’d put her. We shared the dinner she and her mother had saved, passing the fork between us while the apartment stayed quiet around us and Black Castle men covered the hallway and lobby and secured the garage. Josie traced the edge of my cut after several minutes, her attention growing thoughtful.

“I joined up right after high school.”

“You were eighteen when you enlisted?” she asked.

“Yeah. I knew I wanted reconnaissance before I signed anything, although the Army had its own ideas about how much shit I needed to do first. Then six years later came Delta.”

“Dang. You were Special Forces at twenty-four?”

I nodded, letting my hand move slowly along the outside of her thigh. “Stryker led the team I joined. He watched me for about thirty seconds, told me I was too quiet, then spent the next several years trusting me to sit alone on ridges and shoot people.”

Josie’s mouth twitched. “Did you point out the contradiction?”

“I liked the job.”

She asked about leaving active service, and I gave her the answer without dressing it up. I had done the work I enlisted to do, watched too many good men get replaced by strangers on a roster, and reached the point where being sent wherever someone else drew a line no longer held the same pull. Stryker had already returned to California and begun building Black Castle, so when I came home, I stepped into the company beside him.

“The club came afterward?” Josie asked, shifting enough that her ass rubbed over my cock.

My grip tightened around her thigh. “Keep moving like that, and the history lesson ends.”

Her eyes widened innocently, but the gold near her pupils told a different story. “I was getting comfortable.”

“You’re getting fucked the second we’re alone again,” I warned, holding her still against me. “You can get comfortable then.”