“Don’t be dumb,” Drake clipped.
“I’m being real.”
“Liberty lashed out at you. At me. At her mom and dad, uncles, cousins, all of us felt her terror. Are you pissed at Liberty?”
“Hell no.”
“Right. No one’s pissed because we all understood. I’m not asking. If one day Sunny wants it out in the open where it should be, she’ll tell us what’s going on. But I do know whatever it is that’s fucking with her head is bad. And you know I know what it means to have to dig that out. You know I know how heavy it gets when all the hurt and anger is dumped on you. Don’t go at this alone. Use all the tools available to you, including Liberty. Include me and your brothers.”
Drake absolutely understood the weight of carrying his woman’s pain. When Liberty finally unloaded it wasn’t pretty. Then being waterboarded and beaten nearly to death wasn’t pretty. But Liberty survived and she healed.
Shiloh would, too.
“Appreciate it.”
“Don’t give me your gratitude, give me your word you won’t go at this alone.”
Fucking hell.
In the beginning, there were days when I wondered if I’d made the right decision getting out of the Navy. If I’d taken the coward’s way out because my ego was bruised, I was no longer fit for deployment. I could train SEALs but I couldn’t be one. I’d be a man with a trident pinned on my uniform, but everyone would know I was a has-been. A washed-up, team guy reduced to the compound.
But now I knew differently. There was no other place for me. I needed my brothers more than I needed the uniform.
“You got my word.”
Drake jerked his chin. After that, I said my goodbyes and got back to work.
I sat on the edge of Shiloh’s bed and brushed her hair off her shoulder. I knew she was awake even though her eyes remained closed. There was no way my girl would miss me unlocking her front door. But if she had she certainly wouldn’t have missed me entering her bedroom.
“Did you bring in the condoms?” she muttered sleepily.
I was smiling when I told her, “No.”
I smiled bigger when she grumpily told me, “Go get them.”
“Babe, I just got off work and I haven’t talked to you since lunchtime when you told me you were crawling into bed for a nap. Maybe we can talk some before we get down to business.”
Shiloh pried open one eye and crinkled her forehead.
“You look like an angry pirate.” I chuckled.
My woman didn’t look amused when her other eye snapped open and she scowled.
“No, I look like a woman who was promised something last night and didn’t get to cash in. Condoms, handsome. Now.”
“Really? And what were you promised?”
“Orgasms. Lots and lots of orgasms. And you better hurry; if my pager goes off before I receive them, I might do something regrettable.”
I wasn’t sure if she was dodging us talking or if she was in need. We’d spent the better part of the week teasing each other. Not that our foreplay hadn’t ended spectacularly but there were more pleasurable ways to end the festivities. Ways that would turn spectacular into fucking fantastic.
“This morning—”
“Luke,” Shiloh groaned. “Please. I promise. Cross my heart, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye, I will tell you all about my morning and my talk with Gordy if you please go out to your truck and get the condoms.”
So, she was in need.
“Don’t need condoms to take the edge off, baby.”
And I didn’t. I’d spent a fair amount of time with my mouth between Shiloh’s legs. I could get her off and soaring in under five minutes.
“You’ve got two minutes, Luke. After that, I’m tackling you and we’re using the old pull and pray method.”
“Bossy,” I muttered.
“Luke,” she moaned again, and I smiled.
“All right, baby, I’ll go get the condoms.” I bent forward and kissed her neck. “Get naked for me. I wanna see you spread out for me when I come back.”
“Now who’s bossy?”
Shiloh shivered when my tongue traced the shell of her ear.
“You gonna be naked with your legs spread for me?” Shiloh nodded. “Good.”
I got up, went out to my truck, grabbed the condoms from the glovebox where I’d stored them, and retraced my steps back to her room.
Shiloh was naked, sheets thrown off, knees bent with the soles of her feet on the mattress, spread open for me.
“Christ, you’re sexy,” I told her from the doorway.
She lifted her head off the pillow and our gazes locked.
Those pretty pastel eyes darkened with desire.
“I could stand here all day just staring at you,” I told her and tossed the box of condoms on her dresser. “Spread wider for me, Shiloh.”
She did as I asked and I toed off my shoes.
“Last night I lay all alone in your bed thinking about you,” I continued and pulled my shirt off. “The sheets smell like you.” I ditched my shirt, picked up the box of condoms, walked to the edge of the bed, and dropped the box by Shiloh’s hip. “It was torture lying there thinking about you. Open the box, baby, get one out.”
I unbuttoned my jeans and Shiloh’s gaze lowered to my hands. “I couldn’t stop thinking about the sounds you make when you touch yourself. How hot you are when you grind your pussy in my face when you’re close.” I heard the box rip open as I pushed my pants and boxers down. “How good your hand feels wrapped around my cock. How your eyes get wide when you make me come. How fuckin’ wet you get when I fuck you with my fingers.”
I put my knee on the bed but paused to kiss the inside of Shiloh’s thigh before I knelt between her legs, fisted my hard cock with my left hand, and dropped my right and teased her clit.
“Thought about jerking off,” I continued. “Lying in your bed, thinking about this right here.” I dipped my finger into her pussy and found her soaked. “Thinking about how sweet your mouth is, how hard your nipples get, how you never hold back when we’re together, but when I play with your tits you detonate.”
“Did you?” Shiloh rasped.
“Nope. Started to, had my cock in my hand, started to stroke, but stopped.”
“Why’d you stop?”
“Because you weren’t here.”
I slid my finger out and pushed back in two.
Tight, hot, and wet.
I let go of my cock, grabbed the string of condoms Shiloh had unearthed, and tore one free. I had my cock sheathed in record speed.
I could swear I heard Shiloh sigh in relief, or maybe it was a groan of impatience.
I fell forward, catching myself on my palms, and slowly gave her some of my weight.
Shiloh’s legs wrapped around my hips. Her hands went to my chest then glided up until they rested on either side of my neck.
“Reach down and guide me in, baby.”
One of Shiloh’s hands left my neck. I shifted to my elbow to give her room.
Throughout this, her eyes didn’t leave mine.
She didn’t blink.
She didn’t hide.
She didn’t conceal.
Totally open.