Chapter 18

When the bed sank and Gabe’s muscular arm slid under her, Audrey woke. His skin was still warm and dewy from a shower, and he’d shaved. His hard jaw felt baby smooth as he nuzzled her ear. He pulled her close, his natural male spice and some kind of flowery soap scent enveloping her. Yum. She wanted to bury her nose in his shoulder and breathe in nothing else, but that would require moving, and she was quite comfortable now that he was in bed with her.

Except for the blooming ache between her thighs. She wanted this man, and now that they were safe and closing in on finding her brother, maybe they could take a moment for themselves. A moment to indulge in the electric tension that had been crackling between them since they first laid eyes on each other. A moment to just… live.

She smiled without opening her eyes. “You smell like a garden.”

He grunted. “It’s the shampoo. Some girly designer shit. I had no choice.”

And he sounded really unhappy about that. Audrey stifled a laugh in the pillow, sure he wouldn’t appreciate it. “It’s nice.”

“I’ll be sure to order a bottle,” he said, deadpan.

She huffed out a breath in exasperation. “Do you ever get sick of being so sarcastic?”

“Do you ever get sick of being so contrary?”

She elbowed him in the gut—and, ow! About like jamming her elbow into a block of stone. But she still heard a satisfactory umph in reply. “I am not contrary.”

“Bullshit. You’re the most stubborn woman I’ve ever known.” His voice was now a low growl in her ear.

Audrey lied perfectly still, the sudden shift in his tone bringing a rush of heat along with it. “I’m not stubborn. I’m determined.”

“And there’s a difference how?” His breath tickled her ear, and Audrey squirmed at the sensation.

“The difference,” she murmured, “is that stubbornness is a refusal to change your mind, while determination is a drive to achieve something.”

“And what is it that you want to achieve?” Gabe’s voice had grown softer, though the teasing edge was still present. He shifted so his mouth was hovering much too close to her throat.

Her pulse quickened. “I want to find my brother.”

His breath ghosted over her bare shoulder in a feather-light caress. “And that’s the only thing you want?”

Her heart pounded in response as his fingers traced idle patterns on her arm. “That’s... that’s my main concern.”

His lips brushed against her neck lightly, causing an involuntary shiver to course through her body. “You’re a terrible liar, Audrey Van Amee,” he murmured against her skin.

“No, I’m not.” She moved to elbow him again, but he caught it and, in one deft move, had her on her back, pinned to the mattress with a big hand on each arm and one thick leg locked over both of hers.

With his pelvis pressed to her hip, it was impossible not to recognize the bulge she felt there as anything less than carnal male interest.

“Stop. Hitting. Me,” he said through his teeth.

Why? He needed to get hit every once in a while to remind him he was no superhero. But saying that aloud wouldn’t improve her chances of getting him naked in the next five minutes, so she gave her most innocent smile instead. “Okay. How about I do this?”

With her arm still in his grip, she couldn’t move her hand far but managed to wiggle it close enough to cup his growing erection through his jeans. Pity he’d put the things back on after his shower.

No, on second thought, it wasn’t. Now, she’d have the great pleasure of stripping them off him.

The way he reacted to her touch, you’d think she prodded his family jewels with a branding iron. He jerked away and rolled to a sitting position on the side of the bed, his back to her. And what an amazing back, a perfect V of muscle that made her mouth water. She wondered if he’d flee in terror if she licked her way down the indentation of his spine.

Hmm. Only one way to find out.

Audrey crawled across the bed and placed an open-mouthed kiss on the back of his neck. On a groan, his head dropped forward. She took that as encouragement and experimentally ran her tongue along his spine, pausing long enough to give him a love bite on the elaborate tattoo covering his shoulder blade.

“Audrey…” His voice came out hoarse, and he tried clearing his throat twice before continuing, “This is not professional. I won’t take advantage of?—”

“Looks to me like I’m the one taking advantage right now.”

“Jesus. I shouldn’t have touched you like?—”

“Like you want me?” She couldn’t stop the rush of disappointment that came with his rejection, but she hid it behind a veneer of defiance. “Because it’s pretty obvious you do want me, Gabe.”

He turned to face her, his tiger eyes flashing with a mix of desire and frustration. It was the first time she’d seen him look truly vulnerable. “You know it’s not about what I want.”

“Then what is it about?”

“The mission,” he said firmly, as if that would settle the matter.

“The mission,” she echoed, seething with anger and hurt. “Is that all I am to you? A mission?”

“That’s not what I meant.” He reached out to touch her face, but she shook her head and scooted off the bed to kneel on the floor in front of him.

“Well, I have a mission, too. I want to celebrate the fact we’re alive and relatively safe for the moment. I want to lose myself in someone who understands what I’ve been through. I want to feel something other than fear and uncertainty.”

His eyes softened, the anger and frustration melting away into something akin to understanding. He lifted a hand, tracing the curve of her face, his touch gentle, almost reverent. “Audrey...” he began, but she shook her head, cutting him off.

“No, let me finish.” She took a deep breath, steeling herself to lay her feelings bare before him. “I want to do all that with you, Gabe. Because in the short time we’ve known each other, you’ve become someone important to me. And I think... I think maybe it’s the same for you. So can’t we just forget about the mission for just a few hours?”

As she reached for his fly, he gritted his teeth so hard a muscle jumped in his cheek, and the fingers of one hand kept clenching and unclenching.

Good. She wanted him riled up. She wanted him to lose control. She just plain old wanted him. And she knew he wanted her because the evidence was right there in that massive erection. So why did he keep fighting it, the stupid man?

She pulled down his zipper and found him bare under the denim, already solid and throbbing in her hand. His breathing deepened as she stroked him, a low growl of pleasure erupting from his throat.

But instead of letting her continue, he captured her wrist with a firm grip. “Audrey, you’re not a mission to me.”

She stilled, her heart thumping wildly in her chest. Her fingers tingled where he held them in his grasp, the warmth from his hand seeping into her skin.

“It started out that way. I wanted to keep it that way, but then...” His hand left hers, sweeping back through her hair before resting on the curve of her neck, thumb sliding across the soft skin beneath her jawline. “You came barreling into my life like a damn hurricane and I’ve never been able to resist a storm.”

A wave of relief washed over Audrey at his admission, quickly followed by a surge of desire. His words were raw, honest, and they sparked a fire in her that went straight to her core.

“So, stop trying,” she whispered, then closed the distance between them, capturing his lips with hers.

His hand tightened in her hair as he deepened the kiss, pulling her up so she could straddle his lap. She snaked her arms around his neck, bringing their bodies flush against each other. The kiss was hungry, urgent, and it stoked a desire within both of them that had been simmering beneath the surface for far too long.

She arched into his touch, a sigh escaping her as she rocked her hips, teasing him with her heat, her wet desire. Leaning forward, she nipped his earlobe. “Don’t resist me, Gabe.”

He pulled back and studied her for a moment, those intense eyes burning into hers. He seemed to be weighing the decision internally, the conflict clear on his face as he wrestled with his own self-imposed rules and regulations.

Her stoic, stubborn, ceaselessly honorable SEAL.

But oh, how she hoped he’d break those rules just this once. For her.

“Dammit, Audrey,” he growled, then, without another word, crushed his mouth to hers.

She felt it then, the surrender in his touch, the release of control he had fought so studiously to uphold. The feel of his lips on hers, desperate and giving, sent a thrill of victory coursing through her veins.

She’d made the unyielding Gabe Bristow yield, even if just for this stolen moment.