Soldier of Fortune Read online

  “I agree. Can we start now?” Despite his military experience and his seniority, the naughty-boy twinkle in his eyes made her want to laugh. He’d made her laugh in Fiji. They’d had so much fun, swimming, snorkeling, walking hand in hand on the white sandy beach. And the nights. They’d danced, dined and made love. Mac sighed, her body tingling from the memories.

  “Yeah,” she said, striving for honesty and ignoring the little voice in her head telling her this wasn’t a good idea. “I need to work off the buzz.”

  “That we can do,” he said, reaching for her. His strong arms and familiar scent surrounded her. She felt the steady throb of his heart, smelled the dusty cotton of his shirt and relaxed against his hard chest, slipping into the comfort he offered.

  “You ready to fuck?” he whispered against her ear. The blunt words sent a dark thrill sizzling through her body.

  Mac tipped back her head. “Bring it on.” She unbuttoned his shirt with deft fingers, the fiery-hot flesh beneath sending an urgent message to her brain. Hers.

  Before she could touch, he kissed her. Hard. Urgent. Full of need and tinged with desperation. Blood roared through her veins. She tunneled her hands into his hair and fought for sensual control. Nothing gentle. All rough demand. They nipped, ate at each other’s lips. Warm, sleek tongues stroked and danced while urgent hands explored. Skin. She needed skin. Mac ran her hands over tanned pectorals, dug in her fingernails, reveled in his hiss. Roughly, she yanked his belt to gain access to the rest of his luscious body. Mac ripped open the fly of his trousers, tearing at the zipper.

  “God, let me,” he muttered. “Don’t want an unexplained injury.”

  Mac laughed and stepped back to shuck her clothes. Louie did the same and she stared in unabashed curiosity. Her memory hadn’t done the man justice. Not an ounce of extra fat, he was all lean muscle. Sexy.

  “Now,” she said in a hard voice.

  “You’re not ready.”

  “Now,” she insisted. “I need you now.”

  Louie scooped her up and dropped her on his narrow bunk. It smelled of him with the faint tang of soap. She didn’t have much time to take in anything else. He covered her, taking a nipple in his mouth. One of his hands parted her legs, stroked along her slit. He grunted.

  “You on the Pill?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I’ve been over here since Fiji.”

  In other words, he hadn’t slept with anyone since her. In Fiji they’d used condoms.

  “You don’t need a condom.”

  “Good.” The word hissed from between his lips as he pushed into her tight pussy.

  Mac groaned and he stilled. She didn’t want talk. Action. That’s what she needed. Mac arched up, impaling herself fully on his cock. Good. So good.

  Louie pulled back and started thrusting in deep, even strokes. In. Out. Mac trembled, loving the hard feel of his body, the maleness of him, and his scent. God, she’d dreamed about his scent for months. It was something uniquely him with just a hint of lemon and spice. She gripped his shoulders, digging in her fingernails, silently urging him on. Harder. Faster.

  His mouth latched on to a nipple while his blunt fingers roughly stroked her other breast. The nip of pain hurtled her toward climax. She clenched her inner muscles, clamping down on his cock. Louie groaned, stroked her again. Once. Twice. A third time and she flew apart, spasming with the acute rush of pleasure. She was vaguely aware of Louie coming. He stilled, his lungs working like bellows. Louie rolled, taking her with him until they both lay on their sides. He pushed her head against his chest, cuddling while they drifted down from the high. Not exactly the way just sex went, but Mac went with the flow, savoring the warmth and the closeness of another body.

  Mac had good friends in the military and kept in contact with them. All of them were still in active service. Ties forged under fire were strong but completely different from what Louie made her feel. Cuddling was dangerous, more treacherous than facing insurgents. She knew it, accepted it but still didn’t move. Her eyes drifted shut. Just a little longer…

  Chapter Two

  Louie listened to the whistling breaths of the woman in his arms and knew he was toast. He’d wondered if his memories were faulty, if he’d built Joanna up into a goddess. Then he recalled her calmness out on the recon, her steady participation and snorted inwardly. The woman was a warrior.

  His warrior.

  She might fight it, but she was his. He’d prove it to her, given time, but knew it wouldn’t be easy to muscle past her defenses. First, they both had to stay alive. His heart twisted, acknowledging the flutter of fear for Joanna’s safety. Instinctively he knew the worst thing he could do was treat her like a woman and try to protect her. Take the safe road. Fuck, that would make the game dangerous. He couldn’t allow himself to think of anything apart from the job. Stay focused. Soldiers who allowed their concentration to wander died. And suddenly he wanted to live very badly.

  Louie stroked his fingers down Joanna’s warm, naked back and wondered what would drive a woman to seek out big money in the private sector. With him it was the only way to forge a future. The army and now private security was all he knew. He thought he might buy a small hotel, somewhere warm where the pace moved leisurely. Laid back and easy. But what did Joanna want? Her needs would dictate their future too.

  “Mac. Mac.” He shook her awake before easing away from their embrace. He missed her warmth immediately and fought her allure. Softly, softly.

  She blinked at him, her large startled eyes reminding him of an owl. “Did I fall asleep?”

  “Yeah.” Louie stood and started dressing, going against every instinct screeching through his mind. “You want to hit the gym?”

  A faint frown creasing her brow. “The gym?”

  “Yeah. Most of the others will be there.” He let the words sink in while he grabbed a pair of shorts and a T-shirt.

  Joanna. Mac—he had to think of her as Mac—sat up, her mouth cracking open in a yawn. “The gym. Okay.”

  Louie turned away to grab a pair of socks but not before a vision of her long, lean body and rounded breasts with pert nipples seared to his retinas. God, he wanted to sink into her pussy again, love her slow and show her tenderness. But he resisted, instead choosing a strategic battle. Instinct told him that was the only way to win the war.

  Faint rustling indicated Mac was moving. The woman was staring at his ass. He could practically feel the heat from her eyes. Dammit, she needed to get with the program. How could he keep his hands off if she openly showed her interest? Louie concentrated on controlling his unruly cock, thinking of cold things while he reached for his shoes.

  “You said everyone would be there.”

  “Yeah, to burn off energy.” He could have commented further but didn’t want her to get the idea he hadn’t liked the way they’d rid themselves of adrenaline.

  “Right.” The word came out so crisp it damn near saluted.

  Louie glanced at her, wary now and a little worried. “The gym is down the hall, third door on the right. You’ll probably hear everyone before you get there. Some of the boys like to play basketball.” He didn’t give her a chance to reply, instead leaving the room, closing the door behind him. Damn, this relationship stuff was worse than picking his way through a minefield. But worth it. A slow grin bloomed as he remembered her, all liquid fire and warm silk in his arms. Definitely worth the trouble. Still grinning, he strode down the hall. The way he felt right now, he could take on Simon at a little one-on-one basketball and give him a real hiding.

  * * * * *

  A mistake. When she made them, they were doozies. She shouldn’t have jumped Louie like that, shouldn’t have given in to temptation.

  But she had. Done deal.

  Mac opened her bag and pulled out a pair of shorts. She yanked open a locker, saw it was empty and decided to take a moment to unpack. Her body felt well-used, a little sore, but power pulsed through her like the kick of one of those energy drinks. All due
to Louie.

  The thought brought a frown. She grabbed a sports bra and thrust her arms into it, pulling a gray tank over the top. Five minutes later, she admitted prevarication had become her middle name. Mac jerked the bedroom door open and headed for the gym. If Louie had told everyone he’d banged her, she’d soon know. The gossip and hits from the other men would make life unpleasant but not impossible. She’d lived through worse.

  Rowdy shouts and thumps guided her, as Louie had promised. A faint tang of sweat filled the air along with colorful curses when she walked through the door. The sounds and sights were comforting and familiar, part of the male-dominated world she inhabited.

  Most of the men were playing a boisterous game of basketball and paid her no attention. So much for her ego. And maybe she was guilty of judging Louie by her ex-fiancé David. He’d liked to brag about his sex life, something she’d discovered late in the piece. It was one of the things they’d argued about before he’d told her to forget their engagement and sauntered away without looking back. A bitter snort escaped. The perfect relationship was a fallacy perpetrated by wedding planners.

  Mac walked over to the equipment area and worked through a series of stretches to warm her muscles. She glimpsed Louie in the middle of the melee, a symphony of muscles and smooth moves as he ducked and dribbled the ball down the makeshift court. Mac’s body heated instantly. She cursed and started working through the exercise circuit someone had set up. From the start, she pushed herself, trying to outrun her wanton thoughts.

  Lift. Pump. Grunt. Her breathing deepened, heart thudding with the exercise. The man might be good at releasing the buzz but that didn’t mean she needed him. It wouldn’t happen again. Yep, she’d keep her hands off, do the job, collect her money and go home to check on her father before grabbing another contract. Mac moved to the next station still thinking of her father. She needed to check out the email situation. She’d promised to send a note to the head nurse at the home, let her know she’d arrived and how to reach her in case of an emergency. Maybe she should think about getting another cell phone. Nah, the way she killed them off it was becoming expensive. Her lip quivered a fraction when she recalled fishing the last one out of the toilet. It had never worked after that.

  Mac grunted, lifting weights that tested her strength. The burn felt good until her arms started shaking on the sixth rep.

  “You should have someone spotting you.” Simon, Louie’s second-in-charge, took the weight from her and set it back on the rack.

  Louie stood beside Simon, a frown on his sexy face. Her heart squeezed out three hard, fast beats before she regained control of her breathing.

  “You’re right,” she said, sitting up. Using the bottom of her tank top, she blotted the sweat off her face. “No excuses, except I needed to push myself.”

  “Don’t do it again,” Simon said.

  “I won’t.” She wasn’t only talking about the weights, and she saw from Louie’s face he guessed the direction of her thoughts.

  “We’re all going to watch a movie after we clean up. You’re welcome since you’re part of the team,” Louie said.

  Probably something with naked women. Mac knew better than to watch a movie with the guys without checking first. This time she’d give it a miss completely. “Thanks, but I need to check my email. Is there somewhere I can do that?”

  “Most of the guys have their own laptops,” Simon said.

  “You can use mine,” Louie said. “If you’re finished here, I’ll log you in.”

  “Thanks.” She stood, feeling uncomfortable with the silence that fell. Rooming together had suddenly become altogether too intimate. Not that she could do anything about it. This was work, the best way to earn lots of money fast and ensure her father had the best healthcare possible.

  The three of them headed for their rooms, Simon entering one several doors away from theirs. Mac opened their door and stepped inside. The sharp clunk of the door closing made her jump, even though she was expecting it.

  “You okay?”

  Mac forced a laugh. “I’m fine. Where are the showers?”

  “You passed them on the way to the gym.”

  Shoot. She hadn’t noticed since one man dominated her thoughts. Not good, especially for a soldier.

  Louie frowned. “We’re not set up for women here. The showers, I mean. There are no cubicles, just the showerheads along one wall. Everyone showers together.”

  “Don’t worry. I’m used to sharing. It won’t be a problem unless someone grabs something they shouldn’t.”

  His face cleared and she watched a twinkle appear in his eyes. Her stomach lurched in a zap of attraction. “Do I need to warn the men about you? Are you likely to grab?”

  Mac spluttered a couple of times before realizing he was kidding. She drew in a sharp breath, strove for control. “I’ll try to control myself.”

  “You’re welcome to grab me anytime you want.”

  Dangerous territory. Again. Suddenly the silence between them throbbed with possibilities. “I don’t think we should do that again. All I want is to get through my contract alive.”

  Louie’s inscrutable face didn’t reveal a thing. “That’s what we all want. My laptop is on the desk. Just help yourself whenever you want to use it. The password is Fiji.” He grabbed a towel and a navy blue toilet bag and exited their room, leaving her gaping after him.

  Fiji.

  Mac closed her eyes, struggling to deal with the memories, the emotions he’d tugged to the surface by uttering that one word. Unfortunately shutting down her sight made her other senses jump to the fore. Louie’s scent wound through her, seductive and enticing. The sexual throb she’d worked off in the gym came back to haunt her big-time. Damn the man.

  She grabbed her towel and wiped her face. Although a shower sounded tempting, she decided to wait until the men started their movie before venturing into that territory. They needed to get used to having her around, start thinking of her as one of the boys first.

  Mac yanked out the spindly chrome and wood chair and gingerly rested her weight on it. When nothing happened, she settled back and opened the lid of the laptop. It whirred while it powered up and finally she entered the password. Fiji. Why had the man used that particular word? Her mind sped through the possibilities and kept coming back to the same one. Fiji had meant something to him. But that didn’t make sense. Why hadn’t he bothered to contact her?

  Oh yeah. He wouldn’t have been able to contact her because she’d given him a false name. In the past she’d always been big on keeping her private life separated from her sex life. Her choice of occupation attracted nosy questions, sometimes outright hostility. And she’d found out the hard way not many men liked to share the responsibility for a father who suffered from Alzheimer’s. That had been something else she and David had shouted about the night they broke up. Her eyes misted as thoughts of her previously robust father flooded her mind. Ex-army, he’d always seemed larger than life. Seeing him robbed of dignity made her heart ache. Sometimes the loss of pride was worse than the fact he didn’t remember her, even on his good days.

  Trembling fingers logged in to her email account and her heart beat frantically until she saw she’d only received mail from army friends. No news from the home meant nothing had changed with her father. Her breath eased out with a relieved hiss. Her father had been both pleased and concerned when she’d joined the army. He’d explained the pros and cons of the lifestyle, the danger and positives of the good mates made for life. She’d write him a letter soon. He liked the nurses to read him letters, even though he didn’t know who they were from. Strangely, he remembered some of his army life and this familiarity with some of the contents of her letter gave him pleasure.

  The door opened without warning and Louie stepped inside. She gave a girlie gasp and wanted to kick herself. For God’s sake, woman. Grow a set of balls. You have to stop reacting like a startled recruit around Louie.

  “Everything okay?”

&nb
sp; “It’s fine. I’m fine.” The edge on her words was sharp enough to carve stone. A giveaway of her turmoil. She concentrated on slow, even breaths, unwilling to admit how close she was to the ledge. Seeing Louie had thrown her because she’d thought of him often and her memories had held regret. Add that to her continued grief over her father’s decline and yeah, she was off her game. “Put on a shirt.”

  A smirk bloomed, lighting up his eyes. Man, she was a sucker for a fine pair of eyes. Add a sexy bod to the equation and danger loomed in her future. He prowled closer, his chest as bronzed as it had been in Fiji. Mac studied the white towel, tucked in at his waist, and wondered what it would take to make it fall. Earlier hadn’t been about looking, touching—it had been more about mutual craziness. She’d wanted to feel.

  “Do I have to remind you about misconduct?”

  “It’s only misconduct if it’s not mutual,” Mac muttered. Heck! Had she just said that? She risked a glance, found him grinning and pouted. “I didn’t say that. It was a djinn, an evil spirit intent on trouble.”

  “Look, I know you’re worried we’ve made a mistake. But I want you, Mac. Can’t we let it happen and not worry about complications?” He held up his hands when she would have protested. “No, let me say my piece. I like you, but we’re here to do a job. The job comes first. Always, because that’s the only way any of us leave on our own feet. We can do casual without it blowing up in our faces.”

  “Use each other,” she inserted once again with bite because his words weren’t what she wanted to hear, no matter what she told herself.

  “Blunt, but basically what I had in mind. Mac, you know me. Better the devil you know.”

  “True. Yeah, okay.” There was something wrong with her, leaving herself open for hurt this way. But damn, it would feel good having someone to hold her in the dark of the night when nightmares of death, hers or her father’s, stalked her mind. For a few seconds she worried about gossip until she concluded there would be rumors anyway. It was up to her to divert them and show the rest of the men she was the same as them—a soldier doing a job.