CHAPTER 3
Cassie smothered a laugh as Parker’s eyes grew wide. If she’d learned one thing on her last two tours, it was that life was too short to wait around. Seeing people you loved die had a way of cutting through all life’s bullshit. And she’d given Parker plenty of opportunities to make his move. Hell, they saw each other every day. Multiple times a day. And while she’d caught him staring when he thought she wasn’t looking, he’d stayed infuriatingly professional.
She was pretty sure he was interested in picking up where they’d left off the night before she’d left for basic all those years ago. But she was tired of waiting. And if that meant shocking him by taking the bull by the horns, so be it. If he wasn’t interested, better to find out now.
Parker opened his mouth to speak, and promptly snapped it shut, shaking his head.
“Well?” She waited, stomach jumping nervously.
“You’re something else, Cass, know that?”
She sat back, crossing her arms under her breasts, pushing them up. Let him look. Maybe that would spur him to action. “Why, yes. I do know that, thank you very much.” She shot him a saucy smile. Let him squirm a bit.
“You saved our asses out there today.” His voice grew serious.
Cassie fought a frustrated sigh and dug back into her spaghetti. You could lead a horse to water…
Fine.
She’d play it his way, for a bit. “Glad your pretty face didn’t melt like Indiana Jones.”
He huffed out a laugh and raked his fingers through his head. “Yeah. It was touch and go out there for a while.” He blew out a breath and rocked back on the legs of his chair, studying her.
A rush of heat spiraled through her as his gaze bore straight into her. Like he was finally seeing her. Was that the reason for his hesitation? That they needed time to slip back into their old friendship?
She’d always been the wilder of the two, pulling him along into whatever escapade happened to pop into her head. He’d always been more measured, more cautious. And she’d freely admit, her antics had started out purely as a way to grab his attention. When they’d been kids, Parker had come around in the name of making sure she didn’t break her neck. But then it had changed. In the months before she’d left for basic, he’d come around not to keep her safe, but to hang out. And then, yeah…
Her thoughts drifted to the night before she’d left for basic.
“Where’d you go, Cass?” Parker asked softly, a funny expression on his face.
She shrugged off the past, giving him a small smile. “Thinking about the last time we were alone together.”
His eyes heated briefly. Good to know he still remembered that night as fondly as she did. She spun another forkful of spaghetti, waiting for him to speak.
When he finally did, his words shocked her. “I owe you an apology for that, Cass.”
Wait. What?
The night she’d lost her virginity to Parker Hansen went down in the annals as one of the best nights ever. A fucking dream come true. And now, years later, he was sorry? She beat back a flash of hurt and anger. Slowly, she lowered her fork and drew on her training to stay calm and even. Gather information. Make a plan. No room for emotion. Ever. “For what?”
There was a sharpness to her voice she couldn’t keep out. And he’d heard it too, because his face flashed first confusion, then understanding, and finally amusement. “Shit. That didn’t come out right. I owe you an apology. But not for what you think. I… ah…” Two bright spots bloomed high on his cheeks. “I didn’t really know what I was doing.” The spots morphed into blotches. “I should have made it better for you.”
Well, damn. Now it was her turn to die from the furnace of heat exploding through her. Served her right. What had she expected when she’d taken the opening shot? She should have remembered who she was tangling with. She waved a hand, trying but failing to keep from grinning like a schoolgirl with a crush. Parker had a way of surprising the shit out of her.
“Oh, that. We were kids. I expect we’ve both learned a thing or two by now.” A little giggle snuck past her throat. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d giggled at anything. Parker looked positively discomfited. Like he was waging an internal battle. But when he raised his eyes to meet hers, the heat in them curled her toes. “I expect so.”
Cassie couldn’t look away. She didn’t want to, not with awareness rising and snaking through her, setting long-dead secret places on fire. Their staring standoff lasted about thirty seconds when Parker sat down the chair with a thunk. “We need to continue this conversation someplace else.”
A little thrill ran through Cassie. Now they were getting somewhere. But she kept her voice light. “So you’re saying you want to walk me to my locker?”
Parker’s expression grew fierce. “I should have done that years ago.”
“What else should you have done years ago Park?”
He grunted as he fisted a hand. A sound of pure testosterone that shot straight to her core. It had been so long since she’d felt anything resembling a sexual urge, she nearly jumped out of her chair from the intensity.
“You’re just dying to see what’s under my flight suit, aren’t you?” She kept her voice light and teasing. She was dying to reacquaint herself with what was underneath his low-slung sweatpants.
“Cassie.” His voice was part warning, part invitation.
She leaned forward, resting her chin on her hand. “Yes?”
“You know I don’t play games.”
Everything in her stilled and she looked him straight in the eye. “I’m not playing games, Park.” Let him chew on that for a hot second. She hadn’t gotten to where she was in her career by playing small or acting coy. And if she died tomorrow, she’d regret not laying her cards on the table. War zones had a way of putting things in perspective.
With another grunt that did squirrelly things to her insides, Parker pushed away from the table and stood, grabbing his empty paper plate. “C’mon.”
Cassie followed, a thrill of excitement ricocheting through her bones like a bullet. Only this time there was no pain. Simply the delicious ache of anticipation.
As soon as she pushed through the doors into the hall, Parker snaked an arm out and captured her hand, pulling her close. So close, that when she tilted her chin she could see the gold flecks in his blue eyes, and the lines of exhaustion etched into the skin below his lashes. Their legs lined up, hard muscle pressed against hard muscle. Park’s hand pressed into her lower back, keeping her close. Cassie’s heart lodged itself up in her throat, and her body went tight. A faint smell of smoke lingered at Parker’s neck, mingling with the scent of soap and aftershave. She breathed in deeply, her brain going a little fuzzy with the headiness of him. It had been so long since she’d connected with another human, and now that she was encased in his arms, it took superhuman effort not to burrow into his embrace and bury her face in his neck.
She wanted to taste him, discover if the spot where his neck met his collarbone was still sensitive when her tongue flicked over it. It didn’t matter they were tired and wrung out from a fire. She wanted this. Needed this. Nothing took the edge off exhaustion and adrenaline fry like skin to skin contact. And with the added excitement of sneaking around? Even better.
“You sure about this?” he murmured, eyes searching hers.
Always the gentleman.
Cassie’s insides melted the tiniest bit. She nodded. “You gonna kiss me?”
He gazed down at her, naked want in his eyes. “Not here.”
Her pulse surged. God, he was killing her with anticipation. It took all her discipline to not stand on tiptoe and take his mouth where everyone could see them. But Park was right. Not here.
The cafeteria door burst open, and Cassie leaped back, jamming her hands in her pockets as a group of firemen passed through. They needed to get out of here. At some point, her crew would come in search of her, and she didn’t want their questions or the inevitable harassment that would come if they suspected she was engaging in a little off duty activity.
Parker pushed off the wall, and they fell in behind the group obviously headed down to the rec room. Before they reached the rec room, he tugged on her elbow and pulled her down a deserted hall into a darkened alcove. “This’ll do for now.” He crowded her into the corner, bracing an elbow, while his other hand cupped the back of her neck, gently tilting her head.
Cassie sighed in satisfaction as his mouth claimed hers. The tension that had spooled tighter and tighter inside her for the last six weeks began to unravel, making her limbs soft and heavy.
She pivoted back into the door, snaking a hand around his backside and slipping under the waistband of his sweats to cup his rock hard ass and pull him closer. She opened to him as his tongue flicked across her lip, and she tasted garlic, smoke, and something deliciously Parker.
Her tongue slid against his, exploring. Inviting and receiving. Maybe it was because they already knew each other, maybe it was because it had been so damned long since she felt something – anything – but her nerve endings were on fire, buzzing to the point her toes went numb. Her nipples tightened into hard peaks, and her pussy throbbed relentlessly.
Parker broke away, and the sound of their heavy breathing filled the small space. “Cassie.” His breath came in hot puffs against her collar as he nuzzled her neck.
She laughed low, her own breathing shaky. “It’s the flight suit, isn’t it?”
“You’re sexy as hell,” he growled. “And it has nothing to do with the suit.” He captured her mouth again in another searing kiss that left her knees shaking.
Cassie couldn’t help it, she tilted her hips into him, searching for the pressure of his erection and moving against him when she found it. She didn’t care that they were practically fucking in a doorway. In fact, the danger of being discovered only heightened her senses.
Parker broke the kiss, nuzzling her neck, and sweeping his palm along the side of her breast. “Yes,” she murmured as his tongue flicked a path to the opening of her suit. She needed to get out of this suit. She was combusting from the inside out, and only one thing would put out the fire. Cassie reached for the zipper and began to pull.
“Wait.” Parker’s hand covered hers, stopping her downward momentum.
Cassie covered a groan of frustration. “I want you, Park.”
“Not here.”
“Yes, here.” She rocked her hips into his cock.
Parker chuckled low, and rocked back into her, giving her ear a little nip. “You want everyone to hear when I make you come?”
His words sent a fire straight to her center, and a rush of heat followed. Such. A. Turn on. She let out a small moan, turning her face to his, and capturing his mouth in another hot kiss. “Maybe.” She laughed breathlessly when they came up for air again.
Parker growled low, and nipped at her lower lip, grinding into her again. “Nope. That sound is for my ears only.”
“Then what are you waiting for?”
There should be a doorknob somewhere to her left. Cassie felt along the wood until she found it, and gave a twist. Heaven only knew what kind of room it was, but at the moment she didn’t care.
Bingo.
They stumbled into the darkened space as the door fell away before them.