Chapter Nine
Dahlia scooped up a bowl of ice cream in each hand and walked into the living room. Her gaze fell on the empty sofa and her heart skipped a beat. A weak, boneless feeling washed through her, and she nearly dropped the ice cream.
He’d left again. After half a night of amazing sex and cuddling through a few episodes of a Netflix series, not to mention all those sweet words Ben had given her, the asshole had walked out again.
A sound made her turn to the window, and her heart launched into her throat the sight of the rugged man standing there staring out on the dark street below. Fully dressed.
When he pivoted, she shook her head, taking a step back, the ice cream in her hands forgotten.
“I have to go, honey. I’ve been summoned.” His lips were a tight slash, but his eyes…
Oh God.
He stepped toward her. She shook her head again. “Not now,” she managed.
He crossed the space and took the bowls from her hands, setting them on the coffee table. “I’m sorry, honey. My team’s waiting for me outside already.”
If she was still holding the glassware, she would have rifled the bowls at the wall. Dammit, she and Ben were just finding a rhythm and once again he’d be torn from her, for how long this time? A week, a month, a year?
Her legs gave out and she dropped into a chair and dipped her head into her hands.
Ben sank to his knees before her and took her by the shoulders. “This isn’t ideal timing. It never is.” He gave a harsh laugh. “Just… know that I care about you so much. I—”
She searched his eyes.
“Oh fuck it. I love you, Dahlia. And I’m coming back and marrying you.”
Her jaw dropped.
He tugged her against his hard chest, smashing her cheek to his shirt. “I’m so sorry it has to be now, honey. But I’ll be back to make good on that promise with a ring and a personalized instruction on creating the best knitting stitches.”
A laugh-sob escaped her, but her mind was whirling. Marry her?
He crushed her to him and then released her and stood, dragging her to a stand with him. Knuckling her chin up, he lowered his head and dropped a kiss of goodbye across her lips. Then withdrawing, he looked into her eyes. “I’ll be back.”
She watched him walk to the door and open it before her mind caught up to what was happening—that he was leaving and she may never see him again. She ran across the room and threw herself at him.
He caught her and clutched her by the nape and if it wasn’t her imagination, she felt a shiver run through him. His phone buzzed, and he released her. With a crooked smile and a wink, he walked out.
She rushed to the window trying to see him as he climbed into the waiting vehicle, but she couldn’t see much more than the dim halo of light on the corner where the streetlight stood.
Spinning from the window, she dropped her head into her hands again. What the hell had just happened? On the coffee table, the ice cream melted in the bowls. Her body still tingled from Ben’s very hot, very thorough lovemaking, and she was doused in his delicious male scent.
But he was gone.
Dammit, this was exactly the thing she hadn’t wanted in her life. Growing up with a father who couldn’t disclose his whereabouts was bad enough, and now this? This was… unfathomable.
How was she supposed to even think knowing he was out there in danger?
He’d told her he loved her, was going to marry her. And she’d stood there like a statue and said nothing.
“I love him,” she whispered to the empty room.
She ran forward and snatched up her cell, punching his number he’d given her earlier. It rang once, twice, three times. Then it made an odd clicking noise that wasn’t the voicemail.
His phone was already shut down, out of service, maybe flung into the Gulf for all she knew. She had no way of reaching Ben and telling him that she loved him too and would wait for him.
No, not just wait. She wanted to tell him that when he returned, she’d be ready to say I do.
* * * * *
Dahlia let herself into her father’s house and closed the door behind her. The place was empty and that was exactly what she needed to break into her daddy’s office and rifle his computer for records of Knight Ops’ whereabouts.
She passed the sweeping staircase she’d walked down on her sweet sixteenth to a crowd of smiling friends. And she’d always envisioned herself coming down these stairs to her groom on her wedding day. But not now. After three weeks without word from her lover, she had no idea if she’d ever see him again.
Her father’s office was dark with wood walls and bookcases, his big mahogany desk as old as the house it resided in and rumored to have belonged to a Civil War general.
She strode across the Chinese carpet and slipped behind the desk and into her father’s leather seat. The masculine notes of the space made her heart beat out of time—if her father came home and found her trying to crack information from his system, there’d be hell to pay.
Cool air from the wall vent was useless in drying up her perspiration. Her neck felt clammy and her underarms would need a hosing down after this mission.
She signed into her father’s computer, and to her bone-melting relief, it took the password. She smiled to herself—her daddy wasn’t very good at keeping things from her.
Logging on to the central Homeland security system was more difficult, and after her first failed attempt, her stress hit the pinnacle. She knew there were only two attempts allowed before the government locked her out.
Dammit, what she needed was a hacker like Dylan. He’d hacked the Pentagon, for God’s sake. He could surely get her in. Then again, if she had Dylan on hand, she’d have Ben and wouldn’t need Dylan’s services at all.
“Shit,” she muttered, wracking her brain for the key code. Even if she got it right this time, there were more gates to walk through, and she wouldn’t be surprised if there was a retinal scan involved.
No, she just had to think clearly.
Drawing a deep breath, she poised her fingers over the keys. Tapping out a letter, then a number. Pulse hammering in her temples.
A step in the corridor made her leap but not quick enough.
Her father, Colonel Jackson of the United States Marines and the man with the record of most scowls directed his daughter’s direction, opened the office door and leveled his stare at her.
“Internet shopping, dear?”
She gulped. “There’s a sale at Nordstrom. I thought I’d get a new summer dress for the party I’m throwing you.”
He arched a brow and circled the desk. She didn’t have a second to even close out of the screens. Her father glared at her and then leaned over and tapped a key, shutting down the entire system. He folded his arms over his chest and stared down at her.
“Want to explain yourself?”
She released a harsh breath. She wasn’t afraid of him—only of what he’d say if he found out she was looking for Ben. Because she loved him.
But she was a grown woman, and she didn’t need anybody, let alone her daddy, dictating her love life.
She squared her shoulders and stood to face her father. “I was looking for Ben.”
His eyes flickered with something she didn’t understand. “You won’t find him there.”
“How can I find him then?” Desperation threatened to seep into her tone, but she wasn’t a child and was far from weak, so she bit back the emotion.
Her father straightened from the desk and rounded the front. He folded his hands behind his back and took off pacing.
Dahlia gripped the edge of the desk for support. As a child, she’d seen her father do this a lot when thinking. But she hadn’t seen it since that day he’d called her into his office to tell her that her mother wasn’t coming home from the hospital.
The blood drained from her, and she swayed. “Oh God.”
Her father stopped his mid-rotation and stared at her. “Dahlia, you look about to faint. Sit down.” He moved to help her into the seat again.
Tears prickled her eyes. “It’s Ben, isn’t it? Something happened, and this time he isn’t just injured.” She couldn’t force out the words on her tongue and stomping all over her heart.
“Dammit, I knew that dickhead was messing around with you. I didn’t know it was this far advanced, though.”
Her heart convulsed. He wouldn’t be calling a dead man names, especially one who’d lost his life in the name of freedom. Did that mean…?
Her father gentled his expression in a way only she and her mother had ever seen. “Dahlia, he’s not dead. Not even missing in action, though I might see what can be arranged—”
“Daddy!”
“No, I don’t mean that. I’m sorry. Ben’s a fine Marine, the best actually. And he’s done much better than we anticipated.”
“What does that mean?” The blood was rapidly returning to her fingertips, leaving them tingling.
“You know I shouldn’t be telling you anything, but I can’t have you looking so distressed. You know, your mother had that same expression in her eyes when I’d go away every single time.”
“Just tell me what’s going on!”
Her father perched on the edge of the desk near her. “Ben led the team into some pretty heroic shit and even when things went bad, he pulled them out. As a result, OFFSUS is sending them out of the country again.”
She shook her head, unable to ingest this. “Again? Where?”
“I can’t say. But I can tell you where he’s being deployed from.”
She shot to her feet and grabbed her father by the shoulders, shaking him and leaning in to plant a kiss to his shaven cheek at the same time. “Thank you! Tell me please.”
* * * * *
Minutes later, Dahlia had a flight booked and a call in to the Knight household. Her hands were shaking so bad, she could barely hold the phone still to speak let alone drive, which was the purpose of her call.
She stood in her father’s drive, tapping her feet and pacing as she waited for Ben’s sisters to come to her aid.
When she spotted the blue compact car, she gave a cry and ran toward the vehicle. Tyler came to a stop and she jumped into the back seat. “Thank you guys so much for coming for me. I’m such a wreck—I’ve never been this wrecked even during the worst 911 calls. And there’s no way I could drive myself to the airport.”
Tyler twisted in the driver’s seat, flashing a grin that was so like Ben’s that Dahlia’s heart began to pound. “We got you, girl. Hang on. I’m backing out.”
When Tyler said backing out, she meant whipping the car in a half-donut in the driveway and stomping the pedal to the floor as they hit the road. In the passenger’s seat, Lexi squealed with delight.
Dahlia wondered how many of these adventures the pair of them went on for their brothers’ sakes. She sat back and strapped herself in, not totally trusting Tyler’s driving, though she seemed to have some damn good training in keeping it on four wheels when they should be on two.
They careened around a bend and Lexi threw Dahlia a grin over her shoulder. “This is like Thelma and Louise and… Tyleri.”
“I just had my nails done, but I’m not so girly that I won’t punch you, Lex.”
Lexi just laughed. “You’re not the only girl in the family who knows how to fight. Our brothers taught me too.”
Not rising to the taunt or removing her eyes from the road, Tyler hit another bend at a speed that had Dahlia’s stomach rolling and her eyes slamming shut on the trees and curve signs rushing past the back windows. If she made it to Ben alive, it would be a miracle.
Lexi bounced to sit sideways so she could look at Dahlia. “You look a little green. She looks green, sis. Slow down.”
“No, don’t slow down,” Dahlia said. “I can’t miss this flight.”
Lexi seemed to take that as a challenge, hit a straight stretch and stomped her little—wait, was that gator skin?—boot into the pedal. They hit a three-figure speed, and Dahlia thought she might puke. But losing out on this chance to make it to Ben before he left the States was the only thing she was concerned about right now.
“Are you going to marry our brother?” Lexi asked, smile wide. “It would be great to have you as a sister-in-law. Our family loves you.”
“They do?” Her stomach roiled, and she wasn’t sure anymore if she was going to puke or rejoice that the Knights were on her side as well as her own stubborn, controlling father.
Lexi popped the glove compartment and rifled through half a dozen cell phones. “What does Dylan need all these phones for anyway? Oh, here it is.” She extracted a plastic-coated bag and passed it to Dahlia.
“You know what our brother does with those phones. He blows shit up remotely,” Tyler said.
“Puke in the bag, sweetie,” Lexi said kindly.
She gulped as they careened around another corner, barely clinging to the pavement. Vehicles dodged from their path. “No,” she panted, “I’m not going to puke.” At least not until she was in the air and on her way to Ben.
“When y’all get back to Louisiana, we’ll celebrate at the cabin. We’ll make gumbo. You’ve never had anything as good as Maman’s gumbo. Won’t that be fun, Dahlia?” Lexi pressed on. The woman was as crazy as the rest of the Knights. How could she even talk about food when the car was moving like a paper airplane shooting through outer space?
Probably used to it.
She pictured Tyler racing to church or the shopping center and nearly giggled. But the exit ramp for the airport loomed ahead, and Dahlia latched onto that with everything in her being.
She was nearly there. Thanks to Ben’s sisters, she was going to make this flight.
Tyler took the ramp at high speed—big surprise—and skidded to a stop in front of the building. “Your destination, Ms. Jackson,” she drawled with all the honey of a Southern belle—who could handle a car like a stunt driver and still rock a French manicure.
Dahlia quickly released her seatbelt, firmly swallowing her stomach again, and leaned over the seat to kiss each of his sisters’ cheeks. “Thank you both! I owe you!” Then she launched from the back seat, hitting the ground running.
* * * * *
“You don’t want any of this food, man? I’ve never seen a spread like this,” Sean said.
Ben grunted. “Because it’s a last supper,” he muttered under his breath.
Food containers littered the glossy dining room table in the ritzy New York City suite OFFSUS had put them up in while they waited for the second they would be called to action.
“These ribs are freakin’ amazing. They rival the ones at Anatole’s. Try one,” Sean said.
He pierced his brother with a look. “How can you even eat knowing what we’re going into?”
His brother lifted a shoulder and let it fall. “Going on an empty stomach sucks even worse, don’t ya think?” When Ben didn’t reply, he dug into his ribs again.
The other team members sprawled over couches and the game was on the big screen. To anyone on the outside, it appeared that six buddies were living it up in the city. But Ben’s guts were clenched in fear.
Not fear of gunfire or battle—that was normal for him. But fear of never returning to keep his promise to get down on one knee and ask for the hand of the woman he loved. She had to be going insane with not knowing where he was. And that look on her face as he’d walked out the door had haunted him hourly since leaving her.
He pushed out a breath. “Gimme one of those ribs.”
Sean grinned, mouth greasy with barbecue, and passed the box to Ben. He fished out a rib and bit into it.
The knock at the door had them all dropping their food and launching to their feet. He snagged a napkin and wiped the sauce from his fingers as he strode to the door. When he whipped it open, he expected to come face-to-face with some man in uniform or even a man in black with black shades, here to inform them it was time.
He blinked at the person standing before him.
Dahlia’s chest heaved, bringing her cleavage up against the V-neck of her top. Her hair was knotted on the back of her head and she looked like she’d shed some tears to get here, judging by the shadowed streaks beneath each beautiful eye.
But she was here, in the flesh. How the hell had she found him?
“My God.” He scooped her up at the same moment she hurled herself into his arms. The impact of her body hitting his was the most bittersweet moment of his entire life.
And one he couldn’t live with again.
“What are you doing here? Honey, you shouldn’t have come.”
“I had to see you before you go.”
“You… know where we’re headed?” He leaned away long enough to study her face.
She shook her head. “Not exactly. But I got the information from my father and then I had your sisters come for me. Damn, Tyler is a freakin’ maniac behind the wheel, isn’t she?”
Chuckles sounded from his brothers behind him, where they were looking on.
“Slow down. Honey, I need to talk to you. Alone.” He glanced over his shoulder at the guys who didn’t seem eager to get out and give them privacy. With a growl, he towed her through the room and into the bathroom, locking the door behind them.
She stared at him, her heart in her eyes.
All the more reason to say what he had to say—right now.
“Ben, I love you,” she said at the same time he said, “I quit Knight Ops.
Her eyes widened. His chest flooded with warmth at her words.
“Are you serious?” they said together.
“Wait—you first. The loving you part can wait.” She cupped his jaw.
“No, it can’t. That’s my point. I have to quit to be with you. To show you every day how much I love you, Dahlia.”
She shook her head. “You’re just going to give up what you do for me?”
“Yes.”
“I-I don’t need that. I wasn’t sure I was willing to live this sort of life of a military wife, but I’ve done a lot of thinking since you’ve been gone—and especially on that flight here. I love you, Ben, and nothing’s going to change that.”
He leaned against the marble sink top. “Things always change after a mission. I change. I never come back the same man, honey.” His voice sounded with all the weariness he felt.
She shook her head, making the knot of hair wobble. She had two sticks shoved through her hair to hold the style in place, and what he wouldn’t give to pluck those free and see all her dark hair slide down into his waiting hands as he lowered his mouth to kiss her.
Every day for the rest of his life.
“I can’t risk losing you. Each time I come back from whatever hell we’ve been through, how can I know you’ll be able to still love me?”
She made a rough noise in her throat and stepped up to loop her arms around his neck. “Because that’s what love is about, Ben. Each time you come home to me, I learn about all the little idiocies you gained while away.”
“Don’t you mean idiosyncrasies?”
She grinned, making his heart turn over.
He plastered her to his chest and swayed as he embraced her. Breathing the scent of her hair, feeling not only how soft she was against him but how giving she was.
How perfect.
“Are you sure, honey?”
“Are you sure you can walk away from your duty as captain and leave your brothers and friend to do this alone?”
He looked down into her eyes, burning with emotion. “Say the love part again.”
Her smile spread. “I love you, Ben. And yes, I’ll marry you. The minute you hit American soil again, I’ll be waiting with my wedding gown.”
He hitched her against him, wishing he could wrap his arms around her twice and hold her closer. How he deserved this woman was the biggest question of all, but not one he was willing to ask twice. She belonged to him.
“My God, I don’t know how I ever found someone who was made for me.”
She went on tiptoe, her lips deliciously close. She moved his hand up to cup her breast. “Let’s see just how made for each other we are.”
“Right here in the bathroom?”
“It’s half as big as the bedroom in my apartment, so yeah. Plus, these mirrors will let me see your body from so… many… angles.” She flicked her tongue over his lips with each word.
Ben couldn’t waste another second. He had no idea what would be his last.
He slammed his lips over hers.
* * * * *
A deep heat pooled in Dahlia’s body, but the wild urgency inside her urged Ben on. The sooner he joined their bodies, the sooner they could reach that explosive ending—then start all over.
They might have hours, minutes or seconds. And Dahlia was making the most of each moment she had with the man she loved.
He stripped off her clothes with lightning speed. With his palm on her breast and his fingers working her fly, he swallowed her soft cries of bliss on his tongue. The forbidden tone of their coupling—with the rest of Knight Ops just separated by a few walls was sexy enough. But add in the fact they were having reunion sex and farewell sex, and neither of them had a glimmer of control.
She had him bared to the waist, and in the mirrors her red nail marks on his shoulders were evident. She had an urge to draw blood and give him something to carry with him after he left. But she settled for sucking on his neck instead.
“Fuck, you’re so wet,” he murmured between rough kisses as he found what he wanted.
“I need you inside me. Don’t make me wait, Ben.” She didn’t need to say they might not have time, because he knew it.
He rocked back, gaze piercing her as he undid his fly and drew his long, thick erection from his cargo pants. She moaned at the sight of that mushroomed head just begging for her lips and tongue.
She started to slide off the counter, but he held her in place. “As much as I want your pretty mouth all over my cock, I want inside you more.”
Their gazes held as he moved toward her. “I don’t have a condom.”
“I don’t care. I’ll take my chances on a baby.”
He froze. “Jesus,” he said after a heartbeat. “A little Knight. Fuck.” Without hesitation, he yanked her to the edge of the counter, braced a hand on her lower back and rammed his cock home.
She found a laugh escaping and threw her head back with utter joy. “I take it that means you won’t mind if you make a baby right here on this countertop.”
“Not a fucking bit,” he grated out as he churned his hips, the head of his cock reaching so deep inside her. Her inner walls clenched at him, and she located his hard nipple with her fingertips, strumming it in time to his thrusts.
He groaned and angled his head to kiss her more passionately. The small bottle of hand soap on the counter toppled over and both ignored it, too lost in their need to give a damn if anybody in the other room heard them. Most likely, they knew what they were doing.
Dahlia ran her tongue along Ben’s lower lip, and he issued a growl. “I love when you do that, honey.”
“I love…” she broke off as he bumped a spot that would send her sailing in seconds. Then again.
“I feel you squeezing me. God, I’m gonna blow.” He drew her tighter into his embrace as he found her erogenous zone and made it his personal quest to drive her crazy.
His reflection of tanned muscle, all chiseled sinew, had her excitement peaking. Uncontrollable noises escaped her, and Ben slammed his mouth over hers, stealing all thought. Sensation tripled, and her insides gave one hard squeeze around his thick length. She stopped breathing and closed her eyes as a wave of release overtook her.
Trembling with the force, she tried to open her eyes and see Ben’s face as he stiffened and bowed in her arms. The first spurts of his cum hitting her bare inner walls shocked her. She wrapped herself around him as they rode out their ecstasy.
She collapsed against him. From the other room, a loud male cheer went up as the Knight Ops team acknowledged their finish too.
“Oh God.” She twisted her face against Ben’s chest, a heated flush crawling into her cheeks.
Ben chuckled. “Assholes.” Affection rang in his tone.
Dahlia’s heart overflowed with love as she studied his rugged features.
“Cher… Don’t look at me that way. I promise I’ll make it back to you safe.”
She cradled his jaw and gazed into his eyes. “Damn right you will, Ben Knight. And I’ll be waiting.”
“Keep working on those new knitting stitches I showed you.”
A teary chuckle left her as tears began to drip from her lashes. “I will.”
“And go to my family. My parents and sisters will welcome you. There’s no need for you to sit alone all the time, especially when you’re stressed after work.”
A small shudder ran through Dahlia. “I will, but I don’t relish the idea of getting into a car again with Tyler behind the wheel.”
He snorted. “She’s a handful, for sure. And Lexi is far too intuitive for her own good.”
“I think I found that out as well.”
He arched a brow but didn’t ask more. Then he let his gaze dip over her breasts, leering like a hungry dog spying a juicy steak. “When I come back, I’m putting a ring on your finger.”
“You better. I might be pregnant.”
“Hmmm. Better increase our odds.” He pushed his still-hard cock into her pussy again, dragging a moan from her. When he withdrew, arousal flooded her all over again.
“Hurry. We may not have much time, Knight.” She leaned up to nip his lower lip.
Eyes dark with wanting, he lowered his lips until they were a breath from hers. “We have forever, honey. But right now, I’m going to make you feel… soooo… good.” He rocked his hips with each word, and Dahlia threw herself into the moment, living every heartbeat she shared with her lover to the fullest.
THE END
Read on for a sneak peek of HEAT OF THE KNIGHT, book 2 of Knight Ops coming soon!