Aaron Weber was standing in her bedroom staring at her bed. Nervous energy trilled through Natalie’s stomach. Then it did a few unnecessary somersaults, which weren’t in anyway helpful in this situation.

“We can sleep together the real way if you want.” Her words were without conviction. She knew he wouldn’t take her up on the offer.

“Not tonight.”

The ocean blue of his eyes was heavy with concern. He stroked her cheekbone with his thumb. Her eyes fluttered closed. She reveled in his tender touch.

She had no idea how to go from fully clothed to her torn pajama pants with him there. She had no clue what he normally slept in, or what side of the bed he might want, or what would happen in the morning. All she knew in that moment was there was nowhere else she wanted to be.

“I probably have one of Luke or Grant’s old T-shirts around here, if you want to change.”

“I don’t wear much to bed. That okay with you? I could just sleep in my clothes. I don’t want you to be uncomfortable.”

“I won’t be.” Holy crap, what did much mean exactly?

“You sure? I want you to sleep, baby, not worry about me. Spent more nights than not sleeping in the sand. I’m good.”

“I’ll be fine.”

“And what does my beautiful cowgirl sleep in?”

“Nothing particularly sexy or anything. Usually a T-shirt that says Buck Off.”

Aaron’s half-smirk and the glimmer in his eyes made their return. Natalie rejoiced at their appearance. His rumbled chuckle shot sparks of heat straight to her core. “You have any fucking idea how sexy you’d be in nothing but one of my T-shirts?”

A shiver worked through her as his hands gripped her ass, bringing her to him.

“Kiss me.” His commanding thrum made her weak. The emptiness she’d grown so accustomed to it had taken on a numbing effect as of late ached to be filled.

His hungry lips found hers and she swore the wet heat from his mouth was nothing compared to what was flowing between her legs. Her stomach hollowed as he coaxed her tongue into his mouth. A whirlwind of desperate need whipped through her.

His fingers worked under the tight knit shirt she was wearing. Delicious heat flowed from his palms to her back. He lifted the shirt slowly as if every inch was a question of consent.

Natalie prayed her moans of approval were answer enough. Her heartbeat flew faster than Sundance at full gallop. His potent erection pressed into the cradle of her hips. Uncertain what she was doing, she rubbed against him letting her body take what it wanted, what would feel so good. Her mind was hazy with lust.

“Fuck,” he grunted. “Not tonight, baby. Soon. Jesus Christ, it’s gonna be soon. I swear.”

His hands landed on the strap of her bra. She shook as he expertly popped the clasp.

“I want a taste, Nat. I need a taste. Give me a taste, honey.”

“Yes,” flew from her tongue a split second before her shirt landed on the floor. He moved the ministrations of his tongue to the top swells of her breasts, easing the bra down her arms.

Her back arched in invitation. Her body rolled against his. A wave of nervous energy broke over her but desire to feel his hands and his mouth on her skin washed it away. The waffle-weave of his shirt abraded her tender skin. One tiny brain cell that was capable of any thought at all insisted this wasn’t fair.

Tugging his shirt from the waistband of his jeans, she wanted to feel the ripple of his muscles under her touch. He gripped her hands. “Not yet, honey.” His expression was loaded with undiluted need. His fingertips raced across her chest. “So fucking gorgeous.”

Before she could process his declaration, his mouth encapsulated her left nipple drawing it to a hot stiff peak.

A knot of pressure pulsated behind her mound. How was he doing that with his mouth on her breasts? “Oh my God,” she whimpered.

“That feel good? Tell me, baby.”

“Yes.” She had no capacity to answer with more than single word responses.

He returned to her left breast, kissing a trail of fire around her pulsating nipple.

“You need more don’t you?”

“Please,” came from her next.

He lifted his head. The victorious gleam in his eyes let her know what he was thinking before he spoke. “Told you I’d make you beg. Every single time we’re together, I’ll make you so needy you plead for more.”

Narrowing her eyes she drove her fingers through his thick black hair and shoved his head back to her breasts.

He licked and suckled before chuckling. “And there’s that cowgirl spite. Drives me wild.”

Every nerve ending in her body sizzled. Her skin was raw. Pressure mounted constantly. She had no specific knowledge of what she desperately wanted, other than her favorite vibrator, which seemed woefully inept when she compared it to the man standing before her, solid muscle, heat, and might. She wanted more of whatever he had in mind.

His hands returned to her ass. With every grope he drove her body against his erection. She hummed out a needy approval. When his hands traveled around her waist and popped the snap on her jeans, she panicked.

“Aaron,” her voice vibrated through her lips. “What happens next?” Shame burned through her. She should know this. She should know some way to make him feel as needy as she did. He wouldn’t let her touch his skin. Desperation for contact joined the embarrassment swamping through her veins. She wanted to hide.

He lifted his head and cradled her face in his capable hands. The fire in his eyes had softened. A little of his earlier intensity had slipped away. “What do you want to happen next, sweetheart?”

“I want you to take your shirt off, too.”

“I’m pretty intent on getting you out of those blue jeans. Can I do that first?”

As soon as he stripped his scars would be visible. This night wasn’t about him. This was about her exploring with him. Bullet wounds would have no part of this experience. She’d finally admitted that she was scared. Come hell or high water he was going to prove himself to her. He would show her that he would always keep her safe. Her inevitable questions about what had happened to him wouldn’t distract him from his mission.

She offered up a hesitant nod. Her teeth sank into her bottom lip. Her fists were in knots by her side. Her nipples were drawn in tightened buds, flushed the most perfect shade of a ripened peach. Aaron suspected that was from fear not arousal at this point. My God what had that bastard done to her?

Treading with more care than he’d take to walk through a minefield, he eased her back into his arms. “I’ve got you, baby. I’m right here.” He had to teach her to trust him. Her standing before him in nothing but a pair of worn Wranglers and cowgirl boots had all but done him in, but he refused to rush her as badly as he wanted to.

Dipping his hands down the back of her open jeans and the innocent cotton panties she was wearing, he groaned out his hunger. Cupping her perfect asscheeks, he let his mind conjure what she would look like naked before him but he kept her covered, exposing nothing to his starving eyes.

He needed her drunk on him, needed her to forget everything that had come before this moment. “This okay?”

“God yes.” She came back to the present. Elation rode on the tidal wave of blood surging straight to his cock.

“Can I see you, baby?”

A slight tremble led to a nod.

“Step out of your boots for me.”

She did as she was told. Her gaze seeking as she toed out of the boots.

The head below his belt reminded him how fucking much he loved to be in control when he was with a woman. There were a dozen subs in sex clubs all over Europe that would attest to his skills. The head on his shoulders knew this was entirely different. It was more. It was better. Even if he didn’t get to direct their lovemaking the first hundred times he fucked her, he’d eventually get her there. He’d show her the strength in giving yourself over to a lover. He’d teach her to let go. Teach her to ask for what she wanted with no shame. Teach her to wait to get it. He’d make her fly.

But not tonight, and not anytime soon.

Careful not to allow her panties to come down with the jeans, he slipped the denim three inches over her delectable ass. The sight of the light pink panties stretched across the firm globes of her backside made him throb. “So fucking sweet and beautiful you’re going to kill me, but if I have to go this is sure as hell how I want it all to end.”

Her body continued to tremble. Determination set in his jaw. Slowly, Weber. Act like a man that deserves her even if you aren’t. “Want me to stop, sweetheart?”

“No.”

Aaron weighed her response. She was both lying and not. Her eyes were locked on his. Her lips were full and hungry. Her arms were covering her breasts. Some part of her wanted him to keep going. Another part was terrified.

Shit. If he gave up on her now and insisted they go to bed fully clothed, she’d be furious the next morning. He knew her. She’d set her mind to something and once Natalie Camden did that there was no stopping her. She would be angry, not with him but with herself. He wouldn’t allow either one.

“Come here then.” He guided her back against him, providing her cover to what he so desperately wanted to see. Instead of dragging out what she clearly thought of as torture, he scooted the jeans down her legs.

He eased back and stripped out of the shirts he was wearing. Her eyes slowly traveled down his chest taking in each and every line of the black Eagle’s wings that stretched across his chest. She licked her lips, but a half-second later her mouth fell open. Her eyes blinked rapidly. The circular, white puckered markings mixed in with the scalpel scars were just as vivid as the inked Special Forces logo around his navel. They followed the lines of his abs. His tattoo artist had refused to cover them. He’d tattooed around them offering Aaron slight concealment from his past.

Concealment. He knew how important it was. She had no visible scars from her past. The invisible ones were far worse.

“Are those…?” She reached to touch his abs. He flexed automatically, tightening his fists and closing his eyes against her pity. “I’m sorry.” Her fingers never made contact. His eyes blinked open. She’d withdrawn her questing hand.

“No questions tonight, okay? Please.”

Another nod. “Okay.”

Working quickly, he pulled the undershirt away from the long sleeved shirt he’d worn and eased it over her head. It slipped down her slight curves, covering her body. He simultaneously hated it and was thankful for it. He told himself the relief painted on her features made it worth it. It was a lie but he clung to it with everything he had.

“Like a walking wet dream, baby.”

“What?” Her brow furrowed.

“That’s precisely how fucking sexy you are in my T-shirt.”

A harsh swallow contracted her throat. How perfect would she look with his mark on that delicate skin? God, he wanted to see it there, longed to brand her as his own. Need seared through his veins, burning away the shame of his scars.

If he didn’t get some relief the heat of his body was likely to set her bed on fire when he crawled in beside her.

Her attempt at stepping toward him had her toppling forward. Her ankles were still trapped in the jeans. He caught her as she leaned toward him. Chuckling, he held her hands while she kicked them off.

“I’m not usually so klutzy.” She sounded disgusted with herself.

“Does mighty things to my ego to think I make you just a little off balance, honey.”

“You definitely do. Hopefully, I’ll get over that once I’m more used to this.”

“Oh, I hope not.” With that, he scooped under her legs and cradled his sweet baby in his arms. Her body covered the reminders of every single thing he wished he could erase from existence.

Gently, he eased her under the unmade covers on her bed. Stepping back, he unbuckled his belt. She watched his every move. Her eyes were locked on his package. Damn if that didn’t just make him harder.

Without thought, he gripped himself, desperate for relief. Her lips parted in intrigue. A flash fire of desire lit her darkening eyes. One stroke. She moaned. On the next, she sat up in the bed. He made one more pull before he unsnapped his jeans trying to give his cock room to breathe. “You still good with this?”

“Keep going,” she urged.

“I’m counting that as begging, too, just so you know.” He shed his jeans and kicked them away.

His anxious cock tented his boxers and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it. When her hand shot out from the covers, reaching toward him he leapt back. “Nat, baby, if you put your hands on me right now it’s gonna get messy.”

Walking to the other side of the bed, he prayed she’d let the idea go. Her eyes narrowed in consideration. She wasn’t letting this go. He should’ve known better.

“I don’t mind messy. If I beg to touch you, will you let me?”

“You getting me off without me making you come isn’t how we do this.”

“I want to feel you. Please.”

“Fucking hell.” He wasn’t a saint. The patience he’d been trying so hard to extend went up in the flames exuding from his body.

“Please.” Her fingertips hesitantly traced through the slit in his boxers. His body and the bed shook from the force of his restraint being ripped away from him.

“Shit,” he grunted. “Nat, stop.”

“I don’t want to stop.”

Damned woman. “You sure you want this? Speak up now, honey. I’m about to wrap my hand around yours and show you how bad I need this.”

“Do that. I’m sure I want you to.” She pressed her hand through the slit and he lost all ability to reason with himself or with her.

Gripping her wrist, he pulled her hand away.

“I’m trying so hard to be brave, please don’t make me stop.”

“Baby, I don’t want you to have to be brave but I’m beyond any ability to stop you.” Slipping his boxers over his ass, he guided her hand back to his cock. “You’re sure about this?”

Her hand wrapped around him. Fascination and trepidation fought for dominance in her eyes. That was all the consent he was going to get.

Capturing her small hand in the strength of his massive one, he pressed her fingers to his head. His cock was weeping for her, weak bastard that he was. “Use what’s coming out of me to get me slick,” he commanded.

Again, she did precisely as she was told. His cock throbbed out its dominance, his command over her. The way she obeyed. She was perfection. He would burn in hell for this. He knew. He just couldn’t find it in himself to care.

She gave an experimental tug and ranchers three counties over probably heard his greedy growl.

“Looks like I could make you beg, too.” Naughty little minx gave him one hell of a sex kitten grin. Her confidence made a comeback.

“You want me to beg, baby? Do it just like this.” He jacked himself with both of their hands slowly, just the way he’d imagined it so many times. Up and down. All on her own she circled his crown with her thumb on the next upward glide. His entire body quaked. His mind scrambled.

Natalie, his Natalie had her hand on him. In that moment she wasn’t afraid. She was fascinated with the power she held with every tug of her hand.

“I swear next time I won’t blow like a teenage kid on his first ride. It’s just been so fucking long,” he choked.

Thrusting against their hands. God all he wanted in the world was to bury himself so deep inside her she forgot every single thing in the world but him. He wanted to be the only man who knew how she felt, knew how wet she got, knew how tightly she seized, saw the look of ecstasy on her face when she came. He was going to be the man who opened her, claimed her sweet little cherry all for himself, owned her so thoroughly she’d never want another.

That thought decimated him. White pops of light shattered in his eyes. The scent of Natalie aroused mixed with the perfume of her bed. His orgasm barreled through him. Spurts of hot cum shot over his abs and soaked their hands.

She gasped as he shook. A string of expletives flew from his mouth. “Damn, so fucking good. Such a good girl.”

She jerked her hand back and scooted away from him.

“Nat? What?” Quickly reaching for tissues on the bedside table he attempted a quick clean up while gasping for breath. Tossing them on the side of the bed he reached for her but she scooted farther away. “I’m sorry for whatever just happened. I should never have let you do that. Dammit, I knew you weren’t ready.” All consuming self-hatred rushed the lust that had filled him a split second before.

“That wasn’t it.” Her whisper was barely audible. The light in her eyes was gone again. Her body caved in on itself. Her arms were wrapped around her legs pressed to her chest, like she didn’t deserve to take up room. What had he done?

“Nat, honey, I’m sorry for whatever I did but I need to know so I never do it again. Please tell me.”

A shiver shook through her. She scooted under the covers and he hated himself all the more. “Baby, please.” He stood, determined to redress, certain she didn’t want him in nothing but boxers in her bed.

“You don’t have to get dressed.”

“I have to do something. I will do anything to fix this.”

“It wasn’t what we did,” she finally confessed. Her voice was tender, almost raw with the brutal scars from memories he wanted so desperately to erase from her mind.

Nodding, he seated himself on the end of the bed, as far away from her as he could possibly get and still be on the same piece of furniture.

“Can you tell me what it was?”

She wasn’t running and she hadn’t thrown him out yet. He tried to console himself with that fact.

“It was what you said.” Tears pricked her eyes.

“Oh my God, baby, please, please don’t cry. I won’t touch you. I swear. I’ll leave.” Racking his brain, he tried to remember what insanity might’ve flown out of his mouth while cum flew out of his cock. She’d been into it until he’d lost it all.

Good girl. His mind finally landed on what had to have been it. God, he was such an idiot. “I’ll never ever say that again. I swear. I wasn’t thinking. It’s hard to think right then but I’ll never let it happen again. I’m so fucking sorry.” When he found the scum of the earth that had done this to her the pathetic piece of garbage was going to burn. He’d set him on fire himself. A bullet was too quick, too easy. Didn’t hurt enough. Aaron knew.

“Okay,” she squeaked.

“I’ll go.”

“I don’t want you to go. Just give me a minute.”

“Take as long as you need. I’m really sorry.”

“It’s okay.”

“No, it isn’t. We shouldn’t have done any of that, and I sure as hell shouldn’t have said that.”

“You didn’t know. It’s not your fault. It’s mine.”

“No.” He longed to march to her and pull her into his arms. He stayed seated by the force of his own determination to fix what he’d done. “It is absolutely not your fault. Do you understand me? None of this was your fault. Nothing that happened when you were a little girl and nothing that happened tonight. None of it was because of you.”

A hesitant light made a reappearance in the golden flecks of her hazel eyes. Tempted to fall on his knees and thank God for it, he searched the room instead. There was a small chair in the corner of her room covered in clothes.

Sliding the clothing to the floor, he seated himself. “If you want me to stay then I’m gonna sleep here. I’ll be right here all night, unless you change your mind and want me to go.”

“I don’t want you to sleep over there,” she fussed.

“Well, I’m going to.”

“I want you to hold me in the bed.”

He’d served with the finest Green Berets in the army, the toughest Navy SEALS, and fierce marines capable of decimating anything that stood in their way. He watched them all stare down bullets and traverse land littered with IED’s like it was nothing. Yet she was without a doubt the bravest person he’d ever had the pleasure of sharing the earth with.

Refusing to get back in the bed mostly naked, he pulled his jeans back on. She didn’t argue. Slowly, measuring every step, giving her the precious time he knew she needed, he made his way back to the bed.

“You’re sure?”

“I’m sure.” She turned off the lamp on her bedside table. Darkness concealed them.

“Still want to be held?”

She scooted closer. “I’m sure, Aaron.”

“I don’t deserve this.” With precise care, he guided her head to his chest and wrapped his arms around her.

Her entire body relaxed against him. Clearly, the good Lord thought he deserved a few favors. Aaron made a mental note to drop all of the tips he made the next day in the collection plate Sunday. “Go to sleep, sweetheart. I’ve got you. I’ll never say that again.”

Her eyes fluttered closed. A half-hour later, her breaths finally steadied. Wishing for a wad of coffee to put between his lips and gums, the way he’d always done on fire watch to keep himself awake, he refused any kind of rest.

He wouldn’t risk scaring her again with a nightmare of his own and he sure as hell would be alert and ready if she had one herself. He’d find some way to undo the damage he’d done.