Finding Dani (Once a Marine, Always a Marine Book 3) Page 9

  “What?” she demanded.

  “I’m going to have to be careful around the guys smelling like this.”

  “Afraid they might get a little frisky?”

  “Damn, skippy.”

  “Well, you do have a cute ass.”

  “’Bout time you noticed.”

  Dani shook her head as she soaped her hair. Getting clean was clearing up her head too. “Did you find Travis?”

  “He’s not in the camp. He skipped out this afternoon before I was able to get the perimeter locked down. And that makes him look guilty.”

  “He might be working—,” she defended, “—And he’s used to coming and going from camp.”

  “It’s not his job at this camp. That’s what Monty’s team is for.”

  Dani didn’t have an argument for that, because he was right. Even pitching in and helping was at the discretion of Dr. Nelson. Here, now, he was team leader. Even though he was with Doctors Without Borders, and not the CDC, he was a good leader.

  “Need me to wash your back?” Damon asked, holding her bar of soap over the curtain. All she could see was his hand.

  She laughed, “I’ve been washing my own back like a big girl for some time now.”

  “What fun is that?”

  His shower turned off and he was toweling off as Dani finished soaping up her body. And if her soapy fingers lingered on her breasts just a little longer than strictly necessary for cleaning, then she couldn’t be blamed. Because Damon’s sexy voice and teasing tone were doing things to her that should be illegal. She wasn’t even seeing anything, just listening to him talk. She heard him step out and the towel rasp across his body and she had to stop herself from peeking.

  Her mouth watered at the thought of Damon, naked and still wet from his shower. Closing her eyes, she tilted her head back and rinsed her hair, half wishing Damon would go ahead and come wash her back. Her poor body, which was finally somewhat cool, revved up to broiling in an instant.

  “Let’s go, Red. The water’s about to turn off on you.”

  That got her attention and she turned and rinsed off her front just as the water clicked off. She knew it was to preserve water, but Dani could have used a couple minutes more. Thankfully, Damon was dressed when she finally looked at him.

  But the look on his face was more than mischievous. It was downright naughty.

  “I’ll be outside waiting. But hurry up, we need to discuss something important when we get back to your tent.”

  He was gone before Dani could say anything. She dried off and dressed in a clean tank top and shorts. What else did they need to discuss? Other than what she’d found out about Martin. Damn it, she’d been so distracted she’d forgotten to tell him about that.

  She needed to tell him so they could question the other doctor about his gold case.

  Dani just wanted this to end. She was lonely, overworked, and horny. Something had to give.

  Chapter 12

  Dani had been quiet on the short walk back to her tent. Once she was inside, Damon nodded to the two Marine guards and gave them the look. It was filled with all kinds of things that never needed to be spoken aloud. They backed off and set up watch more than ten feet away with an understanding nod.

  He turned and went inside.

  “What did you—?”

  But he was on her before she could finish. His lips on hers, his hands on her, he pulled her body closer and breathed her in, the fresh lavender scent turning his brain to mush. It had been everything he could do not to rip down the flimsy curtain separating them in the shower and take her there. Instead, he’d had to wash with her damn scented soap without embarrassing himself by going off in his own hands like a teenager with his first hard-on.

  “Damon,” she murmured.

  His tongue swept inside to taste every warm, wet part of her mouth. From her straight teeth to tangling with her own questing tongue, he wanted it all. And when her hands pulled his T-shirt loose and dove underneath to touch his skin, Damon sucked in a breath.

  This is what he needed. She was what he needed.

  He pushed her tank top down, along with her bra straps and his hands were filled with her lush breasts as he kissed her. The sounds she made in the back of her throat urged him on. He wanted her wet and ready, but he’d dreamed about this for so long that he’d be damned if he rushed it. Even though the need to claim her was riding him hard.

  Her breasts were lush as he kneaded them, nipples twin points digging into his palms. He pulled his lips from hers, kissing a path from the corner of her mouth, down her neck, only stopping to nip at her collarbone.

  Her pale breasts with their soft coral tips were the most beautiful things he’d ever held. Slowly, reverently, he leaned forward and took one into his mouth. Dani gripped his shoulders, nails digging in lightly as he worshipped her. His tongue swirled and teased, and she moaned low in her throat. The moment was better than his wildest fantasy.

  “I can’t,” she whispered. But she wasn’t pushing him away.

  Damon dragged his lips from her breasts, breathing heavy and trying to control the caveman inside. The one that was way past talking. And his voice was low and gravelly when he asked the question. “Tell me why.”

  “It’s not right.”

  Hugging her closer, her breasts were against his chest. If only his shirt was off, then he’d be able to feel her skin against his. He let out a ragged breath. He could do this. He could talk rationally about whatever was bugging her.

  “Dani,” he sighed. But, deep down, he already knew. And he needed to make her see what he did. “Look at me.”

  “I am looking at you,” she said.

  He stepped back from her and tore his shirt off, even while she retreated and covered her beautiful breasts with her hands. He kept his pants on, because he wouldn’t be able to think any further if he was naked with her ogling him the way she was.

  “No, Dani,” he said, and reached out to touch her chin. He forced her eyes up to his. “Really look at me. I’m not Gabriel.”

  When she flinched, he knew that he’d made a direct hit.

  “I know that.”

  He shook his head. “I don’t think you do. Not about this,” he waved his hand between them. “Not when it counts.”

  “He’ll always be there, Damon. Don’t you see that? And you look just like him.” She turned her back and he watched her shoulders round as she pulled into herself.

  Damon reached out to her and pulled her back against his chest, his arms going around her body. She resisted only a moment before settling against him. But she still wouldn’t look at him. So, he dealt with her ghost. Their ghost.

  “You still love him?”

  “I always will,” she whispered.

  “So do I, and I always will. You lost a husband, but I lost the other half of myself. The half that was better and brighter. And he will always be with us both.”

  She turned in his arms, green eyes shiny with unshed tears. “He wasn’t better than you, Damon, just different.”

  “Exactly. Different.” He brushed her wet hair out of her face. “Do I really look just like him? Every detail the same?”

  He studied her while she really looked at him. Her mobile face was serious in thought and the scientist inside of her came to the surface. Every part of his face was examined visually, and then she reached up to touch him. To touch the small scar that was normally hidden by his longer hair. The one by his left ear, courtesy of some shrapnel from an I.E.D.

  Her hands on his face were soft while she explored. It was a sweet kind of torture, letting her touch, while not touching. He wanted her, but he needed her to come to him wholeheartedly, not because he was a genetic match to a dead man.

  “You always wore your hair longer, didn’t you? Except while you were in the Marines.”

  “What about my eyes, Dani?”

  She turned them toward the lamp burning in the corner and put both hands on his face, her thumbs pressing lightly against his c
heekbones. He briefly thought he was going to lose his mind when her breasts pressed against his chest, nipples pebbled and pointing into him. But he wouldn’t break her focus.

  “Your eyes are lighter than Gab…” She stopped, uncertain.

  “Never be afraid to say his name. Not to me.”

  She nodded and exhaled the breath she’d held when she almost said his brother’s name. “They’re lighter and—wilder. Gabriel always said you were a daredevil, while he…”

  “Was the cautious one.”

  Her hands slid from his face down his jaw and left his face before settling on his pecs. “What else, Dani? What else is different?”

  “Your body.” Her response was immediate.

  He finally gave in and touched her, but only her hands. He smoothed her soft palms down his chest, and settled them on his abs. “How is it different?”

  “No hair. You’re smooth and hard in a way that he wasn’t.”

  Her throat worked hard and her breathing became labored while she explored his chest and stomach. Damon was having a hard time controlling his breathing as well, and he badly wanted to explore all the curves and valleys of her body.

  “I’m not Gabriel, Dani. As much as we may have looked alike, we were completely different on the inside. He studied all the time and became a doctor. I barely passed high school and didn’t bother with college. He was cautious and I was reckless.”

  He stroked her hair, liking the way the ends curled around his finger as if it didn’t want to let him go. “He played fair and I don’t. But I did for him. For him, I gave up the one thing I wanted.”

  “What was that?”

  He dipped his head and gave her a quick kiss because he couldn’t stop himself. “You, Dani. From the moment I saw you, I wanted you. So, I guess, in some ways we were the same. We both fell for you pretty much on sight.”

  “But I was already engaged to your brother.”

  “If it had been anyone else—anyone—I would have taken you away from him.” He smiled ruefully. “But I loved my brother more than my life and he was completely, madly in love with you.”

  He took a deep breath, and the lavender scent mixed with her unique fragrance was making his pants even more uncomfortable. She’d stopped moving as she stared up at him, her mouth open slightly.

  Not able to resist the temptation, he leaned toward her and nipped the corner. “Let me love you, Dani. I’ve wanted to for so long.”

  “I’m not sure—”

  “I am,” he said. “I’m not Gabriel, sugar, and I know for a fact that he wouldn’t have wanted you to pack yourself away and live only on his memory.” He nipped her full lower lip before using his tongue to soothe the small sting.

  “I know,” she said.

  “Say it.”

  ***

  “You’re not Gabriel,” Dani said.

  Damon had turned her into a boneless pile of want. His kisses drugged her mind, but he’d been right. She had been thinking of him only as a twin that genetically matched her husband. Not as his own person.

  But his eyes held truth.

  When she finally allowed herself to look deep into his soul, what she saw was…Damon. Not Gabriel. She’d been too much of a coward to do that before. To really look deeper into the man in front of her, instead of focusing on the similarities.

  “’Bout damn time you realized it, too,” he growled.

  Then he kissed her again, and this time she allowed him in. The way she was going to let him into her body, she let him into her mind. And if her heart cracked open just a little, well, she’d think about that later.

  Right now, she just wanted to feel. “Make love to me, Damon,” she said against his lips. “Like tomorrow doesn’t matter and all we have is this moment.”

  “I thought you’d never ask, sugar,” he said, and then he put his hands on her.

  They were hard, calloused hands. A working man’s hands and the roughness felt so different on her softer skin. It felt good. Wild. And when he cupped her breasts and used his thumbs to scrape across her sensitive nipples, she was afraid her legs would just give out.

  “You feel so good,” he whispered in her ear.

  Goose bumps broke out over her arms as his breath tickled that spot on her neck that drove her mad. And it was like he read her mind because he used his teeth to nibble that spot, and liquid pooled between her thighs. She couldn’t stop the ragged moan that wrenched itself from her throat.

  “Let’s get rid of these,” he said and pulled at the waist of her shorts.

  Dani stepped back as he worked the buttons of the khakis. Her own hands were just as busy. She wanted to see him. To see everything that he was, because she was looking at him with new eyes. And everything about him was different than what she couldn’t help but expect.

  “You too,” she said. “Take those off.” She stepped out of her shorts as they slid down past her hips. Then her fingers were busy with the buttons of his BDU pants, but she was shaking so badly with want that she couldn’t manage. His hands stopped hers.

  “In a moment, I want to look at you first.”

  “Off now,” she said it imperiously and took another step away. Then she grinned. “Doctor’s orders.”

  The smile that broke out across his face made her stomach flutter, but it was his roguish laugh that made her clench her legs together to stop the quivering.

  “Yes, Ma’am.”

  His long hair had fallen over his forehead as his nimble fingers went to the button of his pants. “I want you to touch yourself while I strip for you. Dip your fingers into those cute white panties and show me how wet you are.”

  Her face flamed at his words. It was probably the same color as her hair, but she didn’t care because he looked at her like dessert. And he looked hungry. With one hand, she cupped her left breast, feeling how swollen it was, how aroused. With her right hand, she skimmed her waist and paused only briefly at the waist of her panties before dipping inside.

  “Just like that. Tell me what you feel, Dani. Tell me what I do to you,” he said, while he undid the button of his pants and slid them carefully over his large erection.

  Dani touched herself, feeling the heat and slick wetness that greeted her fingers. But it wasn’t her finger she wanted there, she wanted all the hardness that was being unveiled to her as Damon stepped out of his pants and hooked his thumbs into the waist of his underwear.

  His voice was low and husky and he hadn’t moved toward her again. “Tell me.”

  “You get me hot,” she said it simply. Because it was a raw feeling. She moved her fingers along the outside of her labia before exploring deeper, touching her inner lips. “My fingers aren’t enough. You did that, Damon. You make me burn inside.”

  “Goddamn, you’re beautiful. Take those panties off. I want to see for myself how wet you are.”

  Dani hooked her left thumb into the side of her panties, and pulled them down an inch before she stopped. She left her right hand inside, still touching herself. She’d never done anything like this before and just his eyes and words were about to make her come. It was like she was on display for his pleasure—and hers—and it felt naughty.

  “You too,” she said, nodding at him and looking pointedly at the part of him that she desperately wanted to feel. With her hands and with her mouth. It had been so long since she’d allowed anyone close, and it had been eight long years since she’d made love. She reached out, showing him her glistening fingers.

  His boxer-briefs hit the floor at the same time as her panties. He groaned.

  She reached for him and he was there. Their lips met and bodies melded and Dani was overwhelmed with the sensations. His hard chest rubbed her breasts and his big hands cupped her butt, lifting her to meet his hungry mouth.

  He kissed her like a man savoring the most expensive champagne.

  “I want you, Damon.” She had to say his name aloud. Otherwise, she might decide this was a just a lust-filled dream. One that, if she were honest
, she’d had before.

  “I need to be inside you.”

  “Yes,” she moaned.

  He picked her up and she wrapped her legs around him. His hardness hitting her in the most sensitive place and almost sending her over the edge. She had to bite her lip to stop from letting go. She licked his neck and bit his earlobe. He tasted salty and smelled of her soap. It was a heady combination.

  “Fuck, baby. You’re making my knees weak.”

  He had her blanket down on the ground with her pillow while he still held her, but then he was on his knees laying her on her back and she reached out to stroke his shaft. He bucked in her hands and sucked in a breath. But he stayed on his knees feasting on her with his gaze.

  “That’s the idea, sugar,” she drawled.

  The look in his eyes went a little feral when she imitated his Louisiana drawl, and suddenly his hands were everywhere. He touched, kneaded, and stroked her into a frenzy. His hands were between her legs, fingers on her, before sliding inside. Her back arched in pleasure and she closed her eyes.

  “Look at me.” His voice was gruff but insistent.

  Her eyes popped open and she was seared by his look. “Damon—”

  The condom in his hand seemingly appeared from nowhere, but she knew they were readily available on the base. He sheathed himself and shifted off of his knees, coming down between her thighs. He supported his weight on his elbows as he tangled his fingers in her hair.

  “You’re beautiful, Red.”

  Dani had her hands on his biceps, loving the hard strength she found there. “Make me yours,” she whispered.

  And he did. Inch by hard inch, he slid inside her slick channel, stretching unused muscles with his size and kicking her into an orgasm as soon as he was seated to the hilt. And it was everything she’d missed about sex. Rockets and stars and blindness to everything but the feelings she was experiencing.

  “So good. Oh, my God.”

  Damon kissed her, stealing what little breath she had. “You feel incredible,” he said.

  And when he moved, he took her the way a pirate takes gold. Forcefully, and with not a shred of hesitancy that a new lover might have. She loved it. Loved that he lost control and pinned her to the floor, taking her in a way that she’d never been taken before. She felt claimed as he surged in and out of her.