Need You for Always (Heroes of St. Helena)(68)

Question answered.

Always a gentleman, Dax did his part to ensure her comfort and safety, helping her slide even farther up on his body. Lucky guy that he was, helping led to touching, which had her doing those little moans and shimmying closer, and well, hallelujah, look at that! His hands were back on her ass, like a heat-seeking missile locked on its target, and all of that situational awareness preparation Uncle Sam paid so much for came shining through, because, just like he’d predicted, she was completely commando under there.

Silky, soft, and totally bare.

A situation that required a flat surface.

Mouths fused together, cupcakes front and center, he turned the chair toward the counter and went to lift her when she shook her head.

“No.”

Dax paused. “Was that a no to sex on the table? Or more of a no, sex is off the table and that was just a bold thanks for being my friend? Because if it was the former I’d like to point out that this is a different counter, so we’re good. But if it was the latter, more of a caught up in the moment and already feeling regret, then I get it. Second thoughts happen.”

He might cry later, but he’d understand.

She didn’t answer right away and he couldn’t tell what that meant. Then her cool fingers touched his cheek and slid up to remove the blindfold. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust, but when they did he found himself staring into the deepest green pools, which were filled with hunger and need, and so much raw compassion his lungs stopped working. “No second thoughts. In fact, everything just got a whole lot clearer.”

She held up a condom and he nearly wept. This wasn’t some spontaneous, caught-up-in-the-moment, cupcake-inspired sex. This was premeditated. She’d thought about this, knowing Emerson, long and hard, sure to weigh the risk with reward, and she’d still decided she wanted to be with him.

Without a word, Emerson slipped off his lap and took his hand. She also took charge. Leading him through the house. No questions asked, he just watched the sway of her hips and let her tug him farther and farther down that hallway, making him guess where she wanted tonight to take place. At first he thought the garage, pull Lola inside and go for a different kind of ride. Or maybe the hot tub on the back porch—there were a few of those water noodles they could get creative with. But when she reached his bedroom, the same bedroom he couldn’t seem to get comfortable in, he stopped.

She offered up a sweet smile and squeezed his hand. It was small and dainty as squeezes went, but there was a gentle understanding behind it that had his insides stilling. She met his gaze. “I could never regret you, Dax.”

And wasn’t that the most incredible and terrifying thing she could say. Even worse, she meant it. The truth was right there, staring back at him. She was feeling the same crazy pull he was. It should have made him want to pack his ruck and pop smoke. In theory this had just become one of those math equations where two steam engines were speeding down the same track toward each other, and it didn’t take a genius to figure out that they were a train wreck waiting to happen.

She looked at his bed, seemingly untouched since he hadn’t slept in there in weeks, then back to him. “Trust me?”

At her words, calm stillness took over, radiating from her fingertips on his jawline and moving out until everything inside him downshifted and all he felt was peace. Nightmares, emotional strings, regrets, disappointing Jonah, her—himself—it all disappeared as he became hyperaware of the woman in front of him. Her scent, her confidence, the way her fingers gently slid down his jaw. It was all he could focus on.

Not like earlier, not from the trained soldier, but from somewhere deeper. Somewhere that he had no business visiting. But with her he couldn’t help it. Found that he didn’t want to change direction, not yet. The impending collision felt exciting.

He felt alive.

“Absolutely,” he said with a certainty that shook his core, then he took her mouth.

She took his right back, reminding him of exactly why he couldn’t stop thinking about her. The first kiss had them stumbling backward into his room until they crashed up against the nightstand next to his bed. The second kiss had her spinning them backward and him going down on the bed.

“Your knee,” she said, her hair a mess of tangles, her skirt slightly askew. The moonlight came through the window and reflected off her wet lips and bedroom eyes. She looked hot, horny, and incredibly beautiful.

“Can’t even feel it.” In a second he was on her, grabbing her arm and yanking her down—right on top of him. She giggled at first, then he rolled her over and under him, and when they settled he’d managed to rid her of her top and make her laugh. It was so contagious he found himself laughing back, until those talented hands of hers slid down his chest and into his pants.

“I can,” she said and gave an eye-rolling-to-the-back-of-the-head squeeze. “But I want to feel more.”

“I want to finish that tasting,” he said, sliding a hand under her to, voilà, free her cupcakes for their tasting. “I’m pretty sure these will be my favorite.”

“They’re not frosted,” she teased but arched so he could look his fill. And he did.

Dax looked and tasted his fill until she was quivering beneath him and he was certain that, one, her cupcakes had the power to end world hunger, global warming, and all future wars, and, two, she might moan like the kind of woman who could rock his carefully crafted world, but she tasted like home.