Need You for Always (Heroes of St. Helena)(73)

“How long have you been standing there?” he asked.

She walked over to him, not stopping until her arms were wrapped around his middle and her head pressed against his chest. “Long enough to know you make me smile just the way you are too.”

As Dax drew Emerson in close, he decided that he’d do just about anything to make her smile. When he’d first agreed to be a Lovely co-leader, he’d done it to get into Emerson’s pants. Now, after a few weeks of working with the girls and his co-leader, he decided he’d rather be right here, with her. Standing beneath a canopy of oaks and pines, miles from town, her looking up at him as if she liked what she saw.

Not that he didn’t want to see if she went camo or commando under those PTA pants, but he was also interested in seeing more of what lay beneath that Kevlar exterior.

“Are you admitting that you like me, Emi?” he asked.

She pulled back and gifted him the most amazing smile. “Ask me after we win.”

A faint chanting in the distance caught his attention. He looked past Emerson’s shoulder at the trail ahead. “Looks like you’re going to have to answer that question sooner than you thought.”

Emerson turned around right as a cluster of three-foot-talls tore down the trail toward them. Violet was leading the pack, a big red Loveliest Survivalist flag flapping as she ran.

“Loveliest Loveliness! Six-Six-Two!” they chanted.

“We won?” Emerson asked, bouncing up on her toes. And the sheer amount of joy radiating off her was enough to bring a man to his knees.

“Looks that way.”

“Oh my God. We won.” She kissed his cheek, then spun around and started jumping up and down, chanting along, “Loveliest Loveliness! Six-Six-Two!”

Dax took a step back as the chanting and flag got closer, knowing that they would want to wave it all the way to the campsite. But instead, they bypassed their tents and kept going—straight at him.

Four sets of ear-piercing giggles and sparkly boots surrounded him, and before he could brace himself, they were all jumping up and down, their dainty arms latching on to him in a group hug that was pretty incredible.

And Dax felt like he’d won too.



Dax’s heart pounded hard exactly once.

Coming completely alert, he forced his heart rate to slow, kept his eyes closed and his body stock-still so he could hear everything. Process the threat.

The night air, thick with the scent of damp soil and fresh pine, stirred the trees outside his tent. But something was stirring the air inside. More like someone, he thought, relaxing his body, as he caught the aroma of milk chocolate and sneaky woman.

Releasing a calming breath, Dax cracked open one eye to see Emerson waving a hand in front of his face. She was wearing a giant Bed Bug T-shirt that hung to her knees, her mascara was slightly smudged, and her hair was a disaster, falling down her back in bed-rumpled corkscrews.

“Are you awake?” she whispered.

He was now. That was the thing with Rangers, they were trained to grab sleep when they could. Dax could reach REM mode in seconds, and be in full combat mode even quicker.

Not giving her time to process, he moved fast, hooking an arm around her waist and, before she could release the scream he felt building, he pulled her down, rolling her under his body. She was curvy and soft and all things warm woman. “You tell me.”

She blinked up at him. “Jesus, Dax. You scared the crap out of me.”

“Crap is a bad word,” he said, then ran a hand down her leg to find nothing but body-hugging leggings. “And this is the boys’ tent.”

She slid her fingers into his hair. “I know.”

“Girlie parts in the boys’ tent.” He nuzzled her throat, pressing little kisses to her exposed skin and making her gasp. “My twelve-year-old self would be jealous.”

“You seem so surprised,” she said, wrapping those elegant hands behind his neck and skimming them under his shirt. “You invited me to the boys’ tent to give you a proper thank-you. Remember?”

“Oh, I remember.” He kissed her neck, her breathing going erratic when he reached the little hollow area in the curve she loved. “Full disclosure. I invited you to the boys’ tent to get you in my sleeping bag.”

“I know,” she said, all kinds of sexy lacing her words.

He lifted his head. “Why, Emerson Blake, are you breaking one of those rules you’re so fond of?”

“You like it when I break the rules.” She wrapped those lush legs around his, turning him inside out—and breaking more than a few Lady Bug official chaperone rules. “The question is, what rule do you want to break tonight?”

All of the erotic possibilities that came to mind set him on fire: two lone survivors stranded in the wild with only their body heat to keep them warm. No, sexy bombshell from the neighboring campsite jumps into his tent, naked and terrified of passing bears. Or, better yet, Lady Bug Lovely leader is so hot for her co-leader she sneaks into his tent to seduce him under the stars.

“Why are you smiling?”

How could he not, with her looking at him like that? All warm and open, her edges softer than usual. Happier too.

“Just thinking.”

She snuggled closer. “About?”

“You.”

Then he kissed her. Slow and steady, taking his time to explore every inch of her mouth, to coax out those breathy little moans that he’d become addicted to. He wasn’t in a hurry—not tonight. Not with her holding on to him as though she was content to stay right there, in his arms, and do just this until the sun came up.