Page 90 of Locked and Loaded

"You don't know that."

"I do know that. I've seen it. People who don't eat, don't sleep, don't stop? They make mistakes. They miss things. And in our world, mistakes get people killed."

"I don't care,” she growled.

"Yes, you do. You care too much. That's the problem."

She yanked against his grip, but he held firm. Her chest heaved. Her eyes were bright with exhaustion and fury and something else. Something that looked a lot like fear.

"Let me go," she said again, quieter this time.

"No."

"I hate you,” she spat with renewed vigor.

"You don't."

"I hate that you think you know what's best for me. I hate that you're probably right. I hate that you can just pick me up and carry me around like I weigh nothing." Her voice broke. "I hate that I can't save her."

The last words came out as a whisper. The fight drained out of her all at once, and she went limp beneath him.

"You're not alone in this," he said. "I'm not giving up on Chloe. But I'm not giving up on you either. And right now, you're the one I can help."

She stared up at him. In the dim light of the tent, her eyes looked huge. Exhausted. Beautiful.

He knew he shouldn't escalate what he was feeling. Every logical part of his brain was screaming at him to get up, walk away, give her space.

He kissed her.

She went rigid for half a second. Then her mouth opened under his, and she kissed him back like she was drowning and he was air. Her hands twisted free of his grip and fisted in his shirt, pulling him closer.

The kiss turned hungry. Desperate. All the fight and fear and frustration of the past twenty-four hours pouring into something that wasn't words.

Her legs wrapped around his waist and she pulled him down onto the bed with her.

And god help him, he went willingly. Like a drowning man, capitulating to the pull of the current, he allowed himself to be spun away. He was a drowning man, only drowning in emotions he didn’t want to name, a need he refused to identify or categorize. He’d have to pay this particular piper later, but for now, he just went with it.

He tangled his fingers in her hair and continued to kiss her, the drugging nature of her response as addictive as any high he’d ever chased.

Her body quivered under his; her frame was racked with the involuntary shivers he knew came from desire as much as from tension. Trailing one hand along her side, he gentled his touch, attempting to soothe away her trembles. Her hands were limp on his shoulders, and he recognized the sheer exhaustion.

“Lennox, we shouldn’t,” he whispered along her neck, tendrils of hair that had escaped her messy bun tickling his temple. “You are drained.” Her quiet whimper told him just how out of gas she was.

“I need…” She didn’t finish her statement.

“I know what you need, baby,” he crooned. And he’d provide, even though it meant he’d be hard and aching by the time they finished. “I’ve got you.”

He broke the hold her legs had around his back and pushed himself upright between her thighs. Watching him, her eyes were huge as he ran his hands from her shoulders, over the slopes of her breasts. He thumbed the taut nipples hidden beneath the linen shirt and lacy bra, then continued his downward trajectory. He touched each rib, and when he reached the waistband of her drawstring pants, he tugged the fabric of her shirt free. When his fingers touched her soft skin, he gasped as the heat of her flesh seared him. His cock jumped and angled toward her, but he commanded it to stand the fuck down. This was all for her.

“Dragan, what are you doing to me?” she whispered as he palmed her breasts, squeezed them together, and then jammed his leg against the secret spot at the apex of her thighs.

In response, she writhed and ground against his hard muscular thigh. Damp heat bled through her clothes and into the thin cotton pants he wore.

“Shh,” he quieted her moans. “I’ve got you, baby. This is all for you.” He bent over her body and claimed her lips once more, sliding his tongue inside to fondle and stroke hers. While their lips clung together, he flattened his hands on her chest, turned his wrists so his fingertips touched and dragged both hands down her body. He found the ties on her pants and pulled the drawstring, releasing the only fastening.

Now, he moved his mouth along her chest, nuzzling his nose between the valley of her luscious tits as he slipped his hands inside her pants, over her hips, then dropped lower to cup her ass.

Lennox’s hands found the hem of her shirt and pulled up, dislodging his face from the valley between her breasts as she yanked it upward. Then she reached behind her back and released her bra. Even as she shrugged the straps off her shoulders, he seized one lacy edge between his teeth and helped her shed it.