lust-filled look he gave her. She could feel her breasts tightening, her nipples hardening beneath the flight suit she wore.
“Even talking about it is a turn on,” she griped unhappily. “I just wish there was some place to go on Bravo where we could...well...you know?”
Ethan nodded. “I know....”
Even though she was twenty-nine years old, Sarah had had few partners until he’d crashed into her life. Her traumatic childhood, being sexually abused by one of her foster fathers, had fractured her soul. Somehow, and Ethan still couldn’t explain it, he’d been able to lift those walls she hidden behind, gain her trust and watch his fierce love for Sarah open her up like a beautiful flower who was in the process of blooming. An intense respect for Sarah’s courage, for her bravery to confront her horrific past, made Ethan love her even more. And to be able to sit here and tease her about sex was just another petal of herself opening. Sarah trusted him with herself, her heart and her incredibly loving body. Ethan knew she was a gift to him in every possible way.
“Where did you go?” Sarah teased, looking up from her report.
“What?”
“You left, Ethan. Where’d you go? I can see it in your eyes.”
Sheepishly grinning, he said, “Just thinking of how damned sweet it would be to undress you, lay that flight suit of yours on the table, pick you up, put you on top of it and...”
She shook her head, writing some more. “Is that all you ever think about?”
Ethan gave her a smug look. “Like you weren’t thinking about it, too?”
“Well, not here!”
He chuckled. “Angel, making love to you anywhere would be nirvana.”
The gritty tone of his voice rifled through Sarah, made her forget the horrors of the mission. Ethan had that effect on her. No matter how bad her day or night went, he could pull her into his arms, and the sordid world went away. “I’m still exploring possibilities, Quinn. I’m not sure a table is...well...very appealing.”
“Trust me, you don’t know what you’re missing by not using a table.”
Sarah sighed. “I’m such a neophyte.”
“You’re innocent,” Ethan drawled good-naturedly, “but I’m enjoying showing you all the ways we can love one another.”
Sarah snorted and scowled. “I’m hardly innocent!”
Ethan grinned. “Innocence is not age determined. And there’s nothing wrong with being that way, Sarah. I like exploring you, showing you about your own, beautiful body, sharing all of that with you.” And the few times they had been able to be together, to love one another, Ethan would lie awake after they made love and as Sarah slept, simply watch her in his arms, her innocence so much a part of her.
Looking around the room, Sarah growled, “The way I feel right now, Ethan, even this table is starting to look good to me.” His eyes became stormy gray as if he were considering it. “The problem is...well...you know,” and she shook her head, backing off from her bold statement.
“Like I said,” he admitted, “we live in a very special hell of ‘look but don’t touch.’” Except when Emma or Khalid invited them to stay overnight at their villa. As a military couple, they understood what it was like to be in love and have no privacy. Ethan was grateful for their consideration toward him and Sarah.
Signing off on the report, Sarah muttered, “There. I’ll push this under Major Donaldson’s door and be done with it.” She took another drink of water and stood up.
Sarah loved looking at Ethan. There was a feeling of coiled tension around him, along with the lust burning in his eyes, for her alone. Sarah was still getting used to it all. “I need a shower,” she griped. The women’s showers were in the center of the camp, a small brick building.
“I’ll take you over and play guard dog,” Ethan said, standing. He walked over to the door and locked it. Turning around, he wrapped her in his arms.
“The least we’re getting out of this is a kiss,” he whispered against her lips, hauling her tightly against him. Moving his mouth softly across Sarah’s lips, he heard a delicious moan rise in her slender throat. Her luscious body, filled with curves and softness, melted against his harder angles. She tasted of clean water, her lips opening eagerly, her hands sliding around his neck, straining to get as close as she could to him.
Ethan’s nostrils flared as he inhaled her unique, womanly scent. It was sweet and drove him wild with hunger. The silk of her hair tickled his jaw as he brushed his mouth across her lips, welcoming Sarah home. Welcoming her back to him. He captured her face with his long, spare fingers and, as he eased from her mouth, saw her cheeks flush. Sarah’s drowsy blue eyes opened, and Ethan felt his soul melting into hers. Her breath was as shallow and uneven as his. He tunneled his fingers through her soft, silky black hair, watched her lashes fall closed beneath the massaging pleasure of his fingertips. The move exposed her slender neck and he leaned over, tasting her flesh, hearing those soft, pleasurable sounds vibrate in her throat, pressing her body more insistently against his. Sarah smelled good, tasted good.
Releasing her hair, Ethan caressed her lips, opening them, moving his tongue inside, needing to feel her heat, that fire he knew that smoldered so hotly within her. A desperate mewl came from her as he touched her tongue. He was in such trouble, deep trouble, if he didn’t stop now. Ethan was so damned hard, he ached.
He drew his mouth from hers, sliding his hand down her long, supple spine, caressing her hip, bringing her tight against him, to feel his erection. “Dammit,” he breathed roughly against her temple, kissing her, feeling her hair tickle his face, “I’d give my right arm to have somewhere to make love to you, Sarah.” Ethan knew she’d never consent to use that table. They were too exposed to someone walking in on them. He wasn’t ever going to put her into that position.
Sarah felt his frustration. “Let’s look at our schedules again.”
His large hand splayed out across her hips, his hardness pressing deep into her belly, making her contract. Her breathing was uneven as she felt his kisses from her temple to her cheek. This time Ethan’s mouth curved powerfully against hers, a man claiming his woman. It was the most wonderful feeling in the world to be loved. To finally belong to someone who cherished her as Ethan did.
Tearing his mouth from hers, his eyes glinting with raw lust, Ethan muttered, “You think your flight schedule’s changed since the last time we looked at it?”
Sarah managed a whispery laugh. “No, but maybe if we look at it long enough, it might magically change?”
How Ethan wished. Her CO, Major Donaldson, was giving Sarah fewer days off than the male pilots in her squadron. Not only that, he was assigning her more standby time. That meant she was on duty, had a helicopter at her disposal for anyone who needed it and her services during that twenty-four-hour cycle.
“Tell you what. I’m going to use a little SEAL magic and see if we can’t get a day off together.”
Sarah sighed and drowned in his narrowed gray eyes. “Uh-oh,” she whispered, a grin tugging at her mouth as she stepped out of his arms. “Winners win and losers lose.” It was another SEAL saying, and judging by the feral look on Ethan’s face, he wasn’t going to lose this
