“Something wrong?” she asks. I can hear the laughter in her voice and though she’s trying to play innocent, we both know she’s trying to tease me. She has no idea what she’s doing. If she knew what was inside my head right now, it would scare the fuck out of her. I want her pretty damn badly, especially since the image of her nipples poking through her damp shirt is engrained in my head. Did no one ever teach her she shouldn’t poke a damn bear? And I feel pretty feral right now. I have to clench my damn hands to keep them from shaking.

“You should be careful who you flash your tits to, buttercup,” I growl, turning around just as she’s pulling my jogging pants over her ass. I glance at her once more, seeing her bent over, my gaze now glued to the way the material slides over her tanned, firm hips. Hips that I’ve dreamed of holding onto, bruising with my fingers as I sink inside her tight little body.

Jesus.

I may not survive tonight. My dick is so hard that my jeans are suffocating the damn thing.

“It’s you, Beau. We’re both adults like you said,” she says with just enough sass that I want to smack her hard on the ass and leave my handprint. My dick is dripping; I can feel the pre-cum on the head—that’s how fucking close I am to coming. Lexi has no idea what she’s playing with.

I move up to her, and I can’t stop smiling. My clothes dwarf her. There should be nothing sexy about the way my shirt hangs off of her or how she’s holding the material at her waist to keep my sweats on her sweet ass. But I don’t think I’ve seen a woman look better. I reach over and grab a towel I had lying on my cot, and hand it over to her. Then I move my hands down to hold over the one she has clenched, holding her pants on.

“Are you having fun teasing me, Lexi?” I ask, not bothering to hold in the growl that leaves me. I know it’s not my imagination when I hear the way her breath rushes from her lips. I grab the waistband of the sweats, her skin warm against my fingers. I begin folding them down, and cinching them to make them tighter against her stomach.

“I think I am,” she whispers, and her gaze is clouded with desire. I’d have to be a fool not to see it.

“I’m not a boy like you’re used to dealing with, Lexi. I’m a man. You shouldn’t tease a man—we might bite back,” I warn her and I turn her around gently so her back is to me now.

“I doubt you could dish out anything I couldn’t handle, Beau,” she says and she’s putting on a good front, but her voice is threaded with need and as I move my hand down her back, she shivers—and I’m pretty fucking sure it has nothing to do with the cold.

I move even closer to her, and I let my hands brush against the plush cheeks of her ass before they rest on each of her hips. I’m the one testing her now, seeing how far she’ll let me go. My body is against hers now, and when she tries to move away from me, I assert pressure on her, not letting her.

“No,” I say in a low rumble that seems to vibrate through me.

“What are you doing, Beau?” she asks, her voice tender.

“I’m just drying your hair, Lexi. That’s okay, isn’t it?” I whisper against her ear. I have no fucking doubt in my mind she knows I’m not really trying to dry her damn hair.

“I…yeah. That’s okay,” she answers.

I get the towel and carefully use it to get most of the moisture from the darkened tresses.

“You have beautiful hair, Lexi,” I tell her. I shouldn’t, but I can’t seem to help myself. The same way I push against her ass, wondering if she can feel how full and heavy my cock is—even through my jeans.

“Beau,” she moans, pushing her ass against my cock.

I could take her now. Take her and make her mine—the way I should have years ago—the way I was always meant to.

I wrap my hand around her hair and tilt her head back, desire filling my body. I’m on a razor’s edge and I’m so tired of holding back.

And then an image of Brooks flashes in my mind.

Brooks. My best friend. The man who saved my ass more than a few times in Kandahar while on patrol. A man who gave me a family when I was younger, when I had none.

I owe him. If nothing else, I owe him loyalty. He doesn’t want me with his baby sister. As quick as that, my desire turns to anger.

Anger at Brooks, anger at the situation, and anger at Lexi for teasing me. Most of all I am angry at myself.

“You feel what happens when you tease a real man, Lexi?” I ask. I pull her body hard against my raging cock. There’s no way she can help but feel it now. “You better be careful what you ask for, you just might get it.”

I hurl the words at her, doing my best to keep the anger out of them, but instead making them sound like I’m mocking her. It’s not easy. It nearly destroys me and my cock is so hard it aches. I gently push her body apart from mine.

She turns to look at me, shock evident on her face.

I do my best to hide the torture I’m in and smile at her, daring her to push me further.

“I hate you,” she whispers and that one sentence is enough to wipe the fake smile from my face.

Fuck.