where she was, close to him, absorbing his heat.
“Air’s not clear, Laura.” He reached behind her, and gripped the end of her long braid. He tugged out the tie and with careful fingers, started unraveling the strands.
“Noah—”
“God, I love hearing my name on your lips.” He finished with her hair, spreading it over her shoulders. “And this…this is just beautiful.” His gaze hit hers, locked there. “Last night, all I could think about as I lay in bed was what this would feel like moving over my bare skin.”
Her breath hitched. “We can’t do this.”
“Why not? Two single, consenting adults. Nothing wrong with that.”
That wasn’t it. She just knew he was a danger to her—not physically, but to something deep within her. Something that was encased in thick ice she was too afraid to break through. “I can’t.”
He pulled her closer, his hand coming up to fiddle with the buttons on her shirt. “So neat and tidy, it makes me want to mess you up. See the perfect Captain Bladon go a little wild.”
“I am not wild.” She’d never been wild.
“Why did you come down here, Laura?”
“To clear the air—”
He pulled her closer, their noses brushing. “Tell me the truth.”
“That is the truth!”
“Bullshit. You deal with uncovering the truth for a living. You expect me to believe you don’t know you’re lying?”
She swallowed. Oh, God . “More.” The word escaped, unbidden, on a broken whisper.
The hard lines of his face softened. “More of what, honey?”
“More of you. I want more.”
His mouth captured hers and she grabbed him, kissing him back. She moaned into his mouth.
God . It was just like in the gym, but better. She gripped his shoulders, her fingers digging into his soft T-shirt and hard muscles. The kiss was a battle, like they were both trying to devour the other.
His mouth slid to her neck, his teeth scraping over her skin, making her shiver against him.
“Honey, you taste good, feel good. I want to see that red hair on my bed as I fuck you. Hell, I want to hold it while you suck my cock.”
His raw words should have repelled her. No one had ever talked to her like that. Instead, her panties were drenched.
He sucked on her neck, biting down on the sensitive spot where her neck met her shoulder. She moaned.
“Come back to my quarters, Laura. We can have some fun and fuck each other until this craziness burns out.”
His words made her desire stutter. Was that what she wanted? A quick fuck here and there, until they got sick of each other? There was nothing wrong with that, she knew plenty of single people in the base coped with the stress of what had happened by sharing each other’s bunks.
But she’d had more once.
And Noah’s words made something inside her crack a little, and it hurt.
No, she wasn’t going back there. To the pain and heartache.
She swallowed and pulled out of his arms. “Sorry. I…that’s not what I want.”
His gaze narrowed. Desire made his face look sharper, harder. “What do you mean? You want hearts and rainbows?”
“No. God, no.” She didn’t want anything. She didn’t .
“Good, because I fuck, I don’t do that bogus relationship crap.”
Her gut tightened. “Oh? But you were married once.”
He gave a harsh laugh. “Yeah, that’s what taught me that love is just one big cosmic lie. It’s something companies used to use to sell cards and flowers and chocolates.”
Laura shook her head. She’d had love, and while she’d had it, it had been amazing, comforting, passionate, supportive. When she’d lost it, it had been the most horrible day of her life. Noah had clearly been hurt, just as she had, but in a different way. She gave a little, hollow laugh. “I don’t want anything, okay? Let’s just pretend this—” she waved a hand between them “—never happened.”
As she stepped back again, he gripped her arm. “Hell, no. You think this fire between us is just going to snuff itself
Learning to Kill: Stories