Special Forces_Operation Alpha_Protecting Bobbi Read online

  “Okay.” He pressed a kiss to her temple and didn’t say anything else. Forcing the issue wouldn’t accomplish anything, so for now, he’d let her take the lead.

  The day was fun, full of laughter, good food and a lot of time close to Ron. He touched her every opportunity they had and after a while she stopped thinking about anything except being with him. Her heart was at war with her brain, reminding her she wouldn’t easily find another guy like Ron if she let him go. She wanted to believe it was going to be okay, that the glint of desire in his eyes wouldn’t fade and his dangerous job wouldn’t take him away from her. She’d experienced both of those things with Wade and it was humiliating and painful.

  Ron isn’t Wade, the angel on her shoulder reminded her. As she stared over at him, the thought made her happy.

  “Sam’s pooped,” Ron said as the sun sank low in the sky. “You ready to go?”

  “Any time you are,” she said, sliding her feet back into her sandals. It had been a light-hearted, lazy day and she was pleasantly tired and sunburned. These were great people and she hoped there would be other opportunities to spend time with them.

  They gathered up their things, thanking Benny, Jessyka and the others as they headed out.

  “I’m hungry,” Julian announced.

  “We just left a party,” Bobbi protested. “You had at least three hot dogs and probably more than those two cookies I saw you eat.”

  “Three,” he confirmed. “And a bunch of watermelon. But I’m still hungry.”

  “We may have to stop at the store to pick up some spaghetti,” she said.

  “Sketti!” Sam clapped her hands happily.

  “You hungry too, Sam-Bam?” Ron asked as he buckled her into her car seat.

  She nodded, still clapping her hands.

  “I don’t mind boiling some water to make spaghetti,” Bobbi said. “But we have to stop at the store. Tomorrow is grocery day and there isn’t much in the house. I’m stuffed, but I’m happy to feed them.”

  “And me.” Ron looked over at her guiltily.

  “Still the bottomless beanpole,” she laughed, shaking her head as she got into his SUV. “No problem.”

  “I have spaghetti at the apartment,” he said. “Let’s just go to my place so we don’t have to make any stops.”

  “Okay,” she nodded agreeably.

  They got to his townhouse and she put Julian in front of the TV while Ron gave Sam a bath. She found what she needed in the kitchen, boiling water for the pasta and putting the colander in the sink. She got out three plates, setting them on the kitchen table and was glad to see he had Parmesan cheese—Julian would have a fit without it.

  “I see you found everything.” Ron’s deep voice gave her a warm, happy feeling and she turned with a smile.

  “Your kitchen is pretty well-equipped for a bachelor.”

  He shrugged. “When my ex and I broke up we split everything down the middle—we’d lived together for two years so there was a lot of stuff.”

  “What happened?” she asked, stirring the pasta.

  “She didn’t want to marry a Marine. She asked me when I was getting out at least once a week. After a while, that got old. I mean, I wasn’t necessarily planning to stay in forever, but I wanted to get my 20.”

  “Wanted?” She looked at him questioningly.

  “I have Sam to think about now,” he said simply. “I can’t do this for more than a few more years. Once she starts school, I can’t count on sitters to do homework with her, take her to ballet or sports or whatever… Being a single parent in the military is hard. It can be done, but my job is different. I’d have to find someone I could trust to keep her for weeks at a time. At two, she’s not cognizant of much, but at six and older, I think it’ll be a different story.”

  “Your parents won’t help?”

  He snorted. “Not hardly. My parents barely managed to raise me. By the time Britt came along, they were done. I raised her more than they did.”

  “I’m sorry. That must be a tough decision.”

  “It is,” he admitted. “I love the military, love my job.”

  “What else would you do?” she asked.

  “One of the guys from my old unit keeps asking me to make the change to the NSA like he did.”

  “What’s holding you back?”

  “Riding a desk will be different. Louie’s a liaison to a Marine unit at Quantico but I don’t know that I’d do the same thing, and frankly, sitting at a computer all day would suck the life out of me.”

  “You have to do what makes you happy.” She spoke gently, but the words sounded hollow even to her own ears because she’d initially been excited at the thought of him leaving the military. If he didn’t want to, though, that was a different story.

  “I have to think about Sam,” he responded mildly.

  “Children certainly change things.” She turned back to the stove, dumping the pasta and water into the colander so it could drain. “Grab the kids and let’s get them fed.”

  “Okay.”

  They ate relatively quickly and settled in front of the TV with the kids to finish watching the show Julian had started before they’d eaten. Sam fell asleep about 30 minutes later so Ron put her to bed and 20 minutes after that Julian was asleep on the couch.

  “Let’s go in the other room and talk,” Ron whispered, pulling Bobbi close.

  She dropped a throw blanket over Julian and pressed a soft kiss against his hair before following Ron to his room. The same room where they’d been so rudely interrupted nearly two weeks ago. He shut the door behind them and sat on the edge of the bed, holding out his arms to her. She moved towards him slowly, settling on his lap.

  “What’s the matter, babe?” he whispered against her hair. “Things haven’t been the same since I came back from that op. Are we done before we even start? You can talk to me, you know. Even if things don’t work out romantically, I’d like to think we’re still the same friends we were back in high school.”

  “We’re definitely not the same friends we were in high school.” She sighed. “Things have progressed beyond that.”

  “Won’t you give us a chance? Give me a chance? I see the hesitation in your eyes and I don’t know what I can do to reassure you.”

  “You can’t,” she said simply. “There’s no way you can promise me nothing will happen to you.”

  “But there’s no way I can do that anyway,” he protested. “I could get in a car accident or find out I have cancer… There are no guarantees in life.”

  She sighed. “I know. It’s just…I never got used to being a military wife. Being alone wasn’t too bad, but the transitions were hard. He was one way before he was deployed and someone completely different after. And he was never deployed anywhere scary like Iraq. He had one assignment where he was driving a general around Europe. Stressful but not a war zone. It just took him so long to be…normal again. I don’t know how to explain it. I was always walking on eggshells, worried about his moods, waiting for him to notice me. I don’t know if I have it in me to go through that again.”

  Ron frowned. “I think my personality stays on an even keel almost all the time,” he said slowly. “Every mission is different, of course, and sometimes you see things you wish you hadn’t, but I can promise you’d never have to worry about me not noticing you. At the end of the day you have to have faith in me, babe. That’s all there is—trust and faith that I’m the man you think I am.”

  “You’re definitely the man I think you are.” She leaned against him, that strange yearning to be close to him hard to ignore. No matter where they were or what they were doing, she was drawn to him in ways that were difficult to explain. Caution went out the window and was replaced by a careless hunger that frightened her. She’d never felt like this about a man—her teenage crush paled in comparison to how he made her feel now—and pushing him away required much more energy than letting him get close.

  “So much running through your mind,” he teased s
oftly, brushing a stray lock of hair out of her eyes. “I can practically see the wheels turning.”

  “I want you so much it hurts,” she admitted.

  “Aw, baby, it’s not supposed to hurt.”

  His lips found hers, slowly teasing them apart and she melted into him. This was heaven. Fifteen years of longing was culminating into something sweeter, sexier and much more fulfilling than her teenage heart ever could have imagined.

  “Not tonight,” he whispered, pulling away slowly, hands on either side of her face. “The kids are right outside, Julian’s in a strange place… Let’s not tempt fate with this.”

  “Okay.” She sighed with disappointment, even though he was right.

  “Let’s find a night this week that works for both of us and we’ll get a sitter to—”

  “Ron.” She took a breath. “I can’t afford a sitter twice in one month.”

  “I’ll pay—”

  “No. I can’t let you do that.”

  He sighed. “Babe, how else are we going to be alone? You want to do this here and now? With the kids right outside? If it was just Sam, we’d be okay ’cause she won’t move before six, but with both of them? And Julian on the couch?”

  “I know, but I can’t…I can’t let you pay a sitter so we can have sex.” She flushed just saying the word.

  “What if I talk to Sandy about trading babysitting? Julian can go to her house this week and then on a day of her choice, you’ll take Dean?”

  She nodded slowly, the idea taking root quickly. “Yes, that would be perfect. Thank you.”

  He pressed his lips to hers once more. “It’s purely selfish, believe me.”

  Chapter 8

  The work week seemed endless. Bobbi enjoyed her job but the only thing on her mind was her upcoming date with Ron. They saw each other every day and they’d even gone for pizza at the park again yesterday, but it wasn’t the same as being alone with him. She and Sandy had made arrangements for Julian to spend the night on Saturday and then Sandy’s son, Dean, would come to Bobbi’s the following week. Ron was leaving Sam with his other sitter, June, so they would have the whole night to themselves.

  Initially, the whole idea made her nervous, but now that the day had arrived her nerves melted away and all she felt was excitement. Her shyness and overall insecurities had kept her from enjoying many things over the years, but this was the kind of second chance not a lot of people were lucky enough to have.

  Over the last few days, she’d come to terms with getting involved with another military man; anything else would mean giving up on Ron and that wasn’t something she was willing to do. Not after all this time. Second chances were rare, no doubt about it, and the one thing she knew for sure was that she wouldn’t find someone else like him. Instead of continuing to overthink everything, she was figuratively and literally letting her hair down.

  No conservative braid tonight, she thought with a smile, fluffing it out and letting her hair hang down her back. She was in a new dress too. It had been on sale and it was the prettiest thing she’d owned in a long time. Maybe ever. As she slid it over her head, she looked at her reflection in the mirror and bit her lip. She looked pretty. She’d gone light on the makeup but heavy on the mascara, adding an extra dab of gloss to her pink lips. Ron already liked her; she didn’t have anything else to prove. Except maybe to herself.

  She jumped when the doorbell rang and hurriedly slid her feet into high black heels that matched her little black dress. When she opened the door, Ron caught his breath, staring at her for a long moment. His eyes raked over her, burning with unmistakable desire, before drawing her close and whispering against her ear, “You’re going to make me do something very ungentlemanly.”

  She snickered. “Like ravage me before dinner?”

  “Exactly.” He stepped inside and kicked the door shut behind them.

  His mouth was on hers before she could react but she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back. Her eagerness must have been contagious because there was no easing into it; he walked her backwards to the couch and sank down with her in his lap. His hands skimmed her ass, moving up her back and ending in her hair, drawing her even closer to him.

  “Bedroom…” she murmured as her head fell back.

  “Too far,” he whispered in response, reaching down to slide her dress up and over her head.

  “Ron…” She was breathless, unsure what to do as he ran tender fingertips down her ribcage. He was doing something incredible with his tongue along her collarbone and an inadvertent moan escaped her.

  “Just tell me if we’re going too fast,” he breathed, “because you’re so fucking beautiful I don’t know how long I can hold back.”

  “No holding back.” She arched her chest into his hands and this time he was the one who moaned. His thumbs were making little circles around her nipples, until they were hard, aching points. Their faces were close together, noses touching, but he wasn’t kissing her; instead, the smoldering look in his eyes all but burned her skin and she had no choice but to allow it to sizzle from head to toe.

  Breath mingled, bodies close enough to exchange heat, an unfamiliar need began to coil deep in her belly. He stroked her breasts, cupping them in his big hands before lowering his head to suckle one and then the other. With each passing second, she got more and more sensitive, every nerve ending in her body suddenly alert and on fire. She fumbled with the buttons of his button-down shirt before restlessly pushing it off his shoulders. He wasn’t huge but every inch of skin was toned, muscular and tanned, a U.S.M.C. tattoo on his shoulder drawing her eye. She bent to press her lips to it, nipping him with her teeth. She sucked on the skin, the salty taste making her tongue tingle and the spot between her legs grow damp.

  “You ready for this, baby?” His breathing was a little choppy as he pulled back, getting a condom out of his wallet.

  “So ready,” she whispered, sliding back to give him room. She started to kick off her shoes but he was shaking his head.

  “Leave those on,” he growled softly. “But take off your panties. I’m dying to see you.”

  Before she had time to get embarrassed, she shimmied them down her legs and then stood up straight, watching him intently. Once again, he carefully looked her up and down, slowly devouring every inch of her now naked body with his eyes. When they finally came up to meet hers again, they flashed with passion, promise, and a touch of something that caught her by surprise: adoration. He wanted her physically but there was much more to it than that. The look he gave her spoke volumes. One glimpse into the depths of those silver-gray eyes showed her everything, from what he’d felt in high school to the unbridled need he had now.

  Something inside her melted into a molten puddle of goo as she straddled his lap. “Please,” was all she said.

  Ron managed to get his slacks off despite the beautiful naked woman in his lap whose mere proximity was making him perilously close to shooting off like a randy teenager. He fumbled for the condom and slid it down his aching shaft just as she positioned herself above it.

  “Easy, baby, let’s slow down.” He reached for her, digging his fingers into her hair and pulling her head to his. This time he claimed her mouth like a man possessed, capturing her tongue and making it his. They swirled and curled, mouths locked as if some supernatural force kept them together. She was so hot and ready, poised to accept him, and he used his hand to tease her with the tip of his cock. He rubbed it back and forth, watching her face as he made her wait. It was going to be too good to hurry, so he continued to torment her until she whimpered, gripping his shoulders and squeezing.

  “Ronnie…”

  “I know, babe. Soon…” He slid a finger into her dripping center and swallowed hard, unable to believe how wet she was. Smart, sweet Roberta had morphed into delectable, sexy Bobbi before his eyes, and without warning, he removed his finger and flexed his hips to thrust up deep. She gasped, stretching around him, sinking down to take all of him. Fully sheathed, her f
ingers sought his, and for what felt like an eternity, neither of them moved.

  As intimate as two people could possibly be, eyes, bodies and souls merged together, a moment of exquisite intimacy passed between them. It was heady, almost other-worldly, a lightning strike of desire mingled with a thunderous passion so strong it washed over them like a warm, textured blanket, leaving goose bumps in its wake.

  “Oh, baby, you’re fucking everything…” His lips took hers more gently this time, but his cock moved deep inside of her, thickening, hardening, until the pressure was too intense for either of them to ignore. She rose up, her eyes glued to his, and slid back down a fraction of an inch at a time, until he was fully seated again. She enveloped him, and it was divine, warmer and sweeter than any he’d had before. He rocked his hips upward and forward, until she started to move, meeting him stroke for stroke.

  Watching her ride him was captivating. Better than anyone or anything he’d ever felt and as they rode towards climax, she gripped him tighter and tighter. He squeezed his eyes shut, praying he could hold on long enough to get her over the edge. She was covered in a fine sheen of sweat now, bucking on his lap, making little sounds that got him even harder.

  “So good, baby…” His finger moved to the perfect little nub that was aching for him. He stroked it in time to her movements and her breath started to come faster. “That’s it, beautiful. Let me see how gorgeous you are when you come.”

  “Ronnie…”

  “Yeah, babe?”

  “Oh!” She lost control, an almost inhuman sound breaking from her chest as she came, and it was so sexy he growled in response. “Ronnie!” His name came out in a rush as she exploded around him and he jerked. A familiar tightening told him climax was imminent and he followed her over the edge, fingers digging into her hips as he thrust up so deep neither of them could move. He pulsed inside of her, her own fluttering walls milking him dry.