her legs, her body anchored against him by his hand on her rear end.
She felt almost faint. “Much better,” she said weakly. “Now kiss me.”
He didn’t move. He just gazed at her, that hypnotizing heat smoldering in his eyes.
After several long moments, he still didn’t move, so she kissed him.
It was a small kiss, a delicate caress of his beautiful mouth with her lips. And he still didn’t move.
But he was breathing hard as she pulled back to look at him, as if he’d just run a five-mile race. His eyes were the most brilliant shade of blue she’d ever seen in her life.
She kissed him again, and this time he finally moved.
He lowered his head and caught her mouth with his and then, God, he was kissing her. Really kissing her. Soul kissing her.
She angled her head to kiss him even more deeply, pulling his tongue hard into her mouth, wanting more, more.
He tasted like sweetened coffee, like everything she’d ever wanted, like a lifetime of fantasies finally coming true.
He pressed her even more tightly against him as she clung to him, as still he kissed her, harder, deeper, endlessly, his passion—like hers—skyrocketing completely off the scale, his hands skimming her body as she strained to get closer, closer ….
And then Jake finally tore his mouth away from hers. “My God.” He looked completely shocked, thoroughly stunned.
Zoe still held on to him tightly, her knees too weak to support her weight. “That was … very believable.”
“Yeah,” he agreed, breathing hard. “Very believable.”
“Good to know we can make that seem … so believable.”
He pulled free from her embrace and turned away. “Yeah. That’s good to know.”
She had to lean against the counter.
“Look,” he said, his back to her, “it’s really late and I have some things I need to do before morning, so …”
He wanted her to leave. Zoe moved carefully toward the door. “I hope sleep is on that list.” She tried to sound lighthearted, tried to sound as if her entire world hadn’t just tilted on its axis.
He laughed quietly. “Yeah, well, sleep’s pretty low priority these days. If I don’t get to it tonight, there’s always tomorrow.”
She paused with her hand on the doorknob. “Jake, that kiss—it wasn’t real. We just made it look real.”
He turned and gazed at her then, the expression in his eyes completely unreadable.
“Yeah,” he said quietly. “I know that.”
CHAPTER FOUR
“LET’S DO IT!” HARVARD SAID, but stopped short as he caught sight of Jake. “Admiral. You’re joining us for a run this morning, sir?”
“Do you have a problem with that, Senior Chief?”
“Well … no, of course not, sir.” Harvard didn’t say the word but. He didn’t have to. It was implied.
Jake held on to the side of the team’s beat-up station wagon for balance as he stretched the muscles in first one thigh and then the other. He kept his expression pleasant, his voice easygoing. “Say what you’re thinking, H. If we’re going to be a team, we can’t keep secrets from each other.”
“I guess I was thinking, sir, that if I were an Admiral, you wouldn’t find me volunteering for PT at oh-seven-hundred on a morning after I’d been out on a sneak and peek until oh-three-hundred.”
Jake looked at the faces of his men. And woman. Zoe was there, dressed in running gear that might as well have been painted on to her. He looked away from her, refusing to let himself think about last night. Refusing to think about that incredible kiss.
“Cowboy here was out as late as I was,” he pointed out. “Lucky and Wes, too. In fact, who here closed their eyes last night before oh-three-thirty?”
No one.
Jake smiled. “So like you said, Senior, let’s do it. I’m as ready as you are.”
Harvard looked at Cowboy, and Cowboy nodded, very slightly.
The message couldn’t have been more clear if he’d signaled with flags.
Don’t let the old man hurt himself.
Jeez.
Harvard set the pace, taking the road that led in a two-mile loop around the campground at an unchallenging jog.
And no one complained. In fact, they hung way back, letting Jake be way out ahead, up with Harvard.
Not a single one of ‘em thought Jake could keep up with them. Not even Billy or Mitch.
It would have been funny if it weren’t so damned sobering. If his team didn’t think he could keep up with them on a morning run, there wouldn’t be much they’d trust him to do.
But then Zoe broke free from where she’d been blocked in, in the back, kicking her pace until she’d moved up alongside Jake. She didn’t say a word. She just made a face, clearly scornful of the slow and steady pace. And then she lifted one eyebrow, her message again quite clear. Shall we?
Stop thinking of that kiss. God, he had to stop thinking about that kiss. Shall we run? she’d meant. As in run faster.
Jake nodded. Yeah. He turned and gave the senior chief his best-buddy smile. “Hey, H, how many times around this loop do you figure you’ll go?”
Harvard smiled back. He clearly liked Jake. But this wasn’t about being liked. “Oh, I figure twice’ll do it, sir.”
“And at this pace, that’ll take you, what? About forty minutes?”
“A little less, I think.”
“Dr. Lange and I are going to push it a little bit faster,” Jake said, “and a little bit farther. We’re going to do three loops in about two-thirds the time. Just let us know when you get back to camp.”
Zoe was ready, and as Jake jammed it into higher gear, she was right beside him.
“Hey!” he heard Harvard say as they left him in their dust. He put on a burst of speed, hustling to catch up. “Admiral, this isn’t necessary. You don’t need to prove anything here.”
“Obviously, I do.”
“We’re all tired this morning—”
“Speak for yourself. I’m an old man—I don’t need much sleep.”
Harvard
