O Christmas Knight Page 4

  Hawk had a trail of ladies in his past, but hell, he couldn’t remember half of their names. Never had he wanted to curl around one of them and protect them while simultaneously making them scream his name over and over, not like Tyler.

  He pushed out a sigh and unpeeled a banana, biting off half in one big chomp. Damn her.

  When she’d gripped his shirt and given him those wide eyes, what was he supposed to do?

  Put a stop to it then and there.

  Sure, like you could have. She’s gorgeous. And every inch of her athletic body had you keyed up.

  He shook off thoughts of that distracting black sports bra and those boy-short panties.

  His ex-wife made amused remarks about him being a metrosexual—that he liked to dress nice and see women dressed beautifully too. For years he’d helped Elise with her wardrobe and his own boasted excellent taste. So he did some envisioning of certain women’s closets, and Tyler’s had always confused him.

  She was so duplicitous—part sultry Southern gal with short dresses that showed off her toned legs and part tomboy. He’d sometimes seen her sporting running shorts and a Marines T-shirt one of her brothers had given her knotted at the waist.

  So he hadn’t known what to expect under her government-issue camo, but the black, sporty undergarments had turned him on more than any lacy garment could have.

  Fuck, now his cock was getting hard again.

  He polished off the banana along with the second one and then forked up what seemed to be hash with some kind of meat. Out here, who couldn’t guess what animal it came from. Could be goat, for all he knew.

  The rest of the morning was spent with his team in a room with the blinds closed against the deadly Afghan sun and orders taken. Clearly this shit storm wasn’t finished and the military was asking him and his eleven men to remain in the area and handle it.

  Any other time, he’d be glad of the distraction and the chance to get out of the fucking Louisiana swamps with the rednecks and their constant supply of C4, but not this time. He wanted to get home and find Tyler—there was far too much unsettled between them.

  He pushed out a sigh. The words ‘in too deep’ didn’t even cut it in his case.

  When they were dismissed, Hawk walked outside onto an area shaded with a canvas awning and looked out over the land. Tyler was somewhere over the Atlantic. Was she thinking of their night together at all?

  He scrubbed a hand over his face.

  “You look like you could use a smoke.” One of the guys shook a couple cigarettes from the pack but Hawk politely refused. He was too hung up on the woman.

  Why now of all times? He’d known Tyler since she was in high school. Hell, after she’d split to join the Marines, leaving behind only a note and a selfie of her newly chopped off hair, she’d still never done much more than dial into his radar through her family.

  Now she’d firmly planted herself right in the middle of the screen, a blip with swirls radiating out from her and overtaking his world, like one of those category 5 hurricanes on the radar, the ones that flatten your house.

  He dropped to a nearby chair and tipped the legs back to rest his spine against the wall of the building. Around him, guys smoked and chatted about nothing in particular, but Hawk tuned them all out.

  After graduating from basic, Tyler had spent over two years on base training new recruits with her physical skill set. In that time, he’d hardly seen her, and she’d both changed and hadn’t.

  Grown more athletic, leaner but with curves in all the right places. The hair she’d lopped off had grown back lush and thick. And last night with it tumbling around them…

  Fuck. In too deep.

  One sip of crystal-clear water from a spring of life had taken over his thoughts, and he wasn’t even dehydrated. He didn’t need to go looking to get laid. Pussy was pussy.

  Unless it was Tyler’s pussy.

  In his mind’s eye, he saw her drawn brows after he’d called her by that ridiculous nickname Tyleri. He couldn’t see why it even riled her, but she sure was adorable when irritated.

  God, when she’d splintered around him, pulsating hard and fast on his cock—

  “Change of plans, Hawkeye. In the meeting room, now.”

  He dropped the chair to the ground and jumped to his feet, a salute in place before he’d straightened completely.

  The colonel eyed him. “Round up your men.”

  “Yes, Colonel.”

  As he marched his team through the building to the meeting room, the only sound was the thump of their boots on the floor.

  As soon as they were in the room with the door closed, the colonel turned to them. “It seems our friends have ended the dispute for us.”

  “Sir?” Hawk inquired.

  “A political war broke out between two groups and it seems they’ve taken each other out. Most of the leaders are dead. Which means you’re going home, boys. Transport in thirty minutes—be on it.”

  * * * * *

  Tyler pushed out another long, useless sigh. Even though she’d lectured herself that she couldn’t do anything about Team Omega’s transport being grounded, her body longed to get in the air and homeward bound.

  She’d had hours to think about holiday travelers who got stranded every year, miles from their love ones. That led to thoughts about her own family expecting her home soon, but that might not be possible now. She had no clue what was next in store for her.

  She looked out over the barren land and tried to convince herself that the faster she got out of this country, the better. Despite what she’d just lived through, that wasn’t even the truth.

  She was running from Hawk.

  Bo.

  The names intertwined in her mind and lifted an odd shaky feeling in her chest that she didn’t like and had never experienced before. Yeah, she needed to get away from this place quickly so she could regroup in time to see him at the next family gathering her brothers and Elise dragged him to.

  But she was stuck on this damn airstrip until orders came through to fly for home.

  Someone tapped her on the shoulder, bringing her out of her deep thoughts. She looked into Paris’s eyes.

  “C’mon. Time to go.”

  “Finally?” she asked.

  “Yup. There was some airstrike and civil war between political groups that kept us on the ground in the event they needed our aid. It’s handled, so we’re set to board.”

  The military aircraft had been sitting on the strip for hours, and she’d been staring at it so long that the shape felt familiar when she finally stepped onto the craft. She settled into a seat and Paris took the one beside her. The other guys of Team Omega spread out throughout the cabin.

  She was finally off.

  More minutes ticked by. The vibration of the engine gave her a funny reminder of body parts she had no business thinking of right now. She pushed the memories of Hawk to the back of her mind, under a thick layer of mental dust and caged by a fortress of steel no man could ever pick his way through to gain information. What happened between them would remain there, never spoken of again.

  More men entered the hatch door, sporting gear and grins. “Hey, good to see ya again,” one said to Captain March. They clasped hands.

  Her heart stilled. No, it had stopped altogether.

  This was the team that had come to their assistance yesterday.

  Which meant Hawk would be ducking under that doorway any—

  Fuck.

  She turned her head aside, a feeling in her stomach that wasn’t all dread. She wasn’t examining what the other portion really was and why it gave her a weird tingly sensation.

  Heavy boot steps paused next to Paris. A big hand reached out and tapped Paris’s shoulder.

  “You’re in my seat,” Hawk said.

  Paris looked around him. “Don’t see your name on it.” He wiggled his muscled form, settling more firmly in the seat Hawk was demanding.

  “And I’ve got seniority on you, asshole. Beat it.
”

  Paris remained unmoving for a long second, and Tyler glanced up to see the men having a stare-off.

  Finally, Paris stood and moved to a seat farther back the craft.

  Before Hawk’s ass hit the seat, Tyler shot out, “You’re a rude motherfucker, you know that?”

  “Yeah, and you’ve still got the mouth of a trucker.”

  “Or a Marine.”

  “Touché.” He stuffed his bag between his boots and looked at her, brow raised.

  Damn him for looking so damn gorgeous. Why did her body have to react to him this way? She dropped a glance to his hands, feeling once again the callused, thick fingers moving over her slick, tormented flesh.

  She looked away.

  “You left pretty quickly yesterday.”

  “Hawk.” Her tone brooked no talk about it.

  “I could use my seniority over you and order you to talk.”

  She glared at him until the corner of his mouth tipped up in that devilish smile that won many a woman’s hearts from what she’d heard.

  “All right, I can’t force you to talk to me. But I can sit next to you for the next sixteen hours and bug the shit out of you.”

  She turned her head away from him. “I have no doubts you will, too.”

  He chuckled, a low, deep rumble that she felt far more sharply than the jet’s vibrations.

  A few minutes later, they took off, ascending quickly. Tyler used the time to quiet her mind and focus on anything but the man at her side.

  “Have you heard from your brothers lately?” he asked.

  She glanced his way. “Not for a month or so. I had them all on a Skype call just before Chaz got married.”

  “Ah yes. Nice affair. Sorry you missed it.”

  “Me too.”

  “Lexi looked lovely in a spring green dress,” Hawk said.

  Amusement struck her. “You and your love for women’s clothing.”

  He held up a finger, black eyes twinkling, damn him. “Not a love for women’s clothing—a love for women dressed nicely.”

  “Got it.” She wished she had something to do on this trip besides talk to her seat partner. It was like one of those horror stories of being stuck next to the chatty passenger on a domestic flight. Or someone who smelled.

  If Bo smelled bad, it would be a lot easier to ignore the man, but the fresh scent of soap wafted off him.

  She balled her hands in her lap.

  He reached over the seat arm and stroked her knuckle, making her jump. She yanked her hand away but he drew back too.

  Good, she thought even as her body warred with her.

  It was time to lay things out there in terms he could understand.

  She pitched her voice to a low murmur. “Look, Hawk, what happened shouldn’t have. I’m sorry it did.”

  “You’re sorry you came apart in my arms—twice?”

  Oh God, must he remind her?

  “You know what I mean. We talked about this.”

  “No, we didn’t talk. You told me what was going to happen, but that doesn’t mean I have to agree.”

  “Why do you have to be so difficult?”

  “Just stating facts, Tyleri.”

  She closed her eyes and leaned her head against the seat rest, too exhausted for further argument. After a minute of silence, she hoped he got the picture, but when she stole a peek at him, she found him staring at her. Studying her, almost.

  Crap, she was never going to shake him, was she?

  She pushed out a sigh. “Tell me about home.”

  He slid his gaze from her mouth to her eyes, but the depths of his stare lost none of the intensity. Her skin prickled with awareness.

  “Home is home. Same old city, a party all the time. I was invited to the cabin a few weeks back with Lexi and Rocko.”

  An uneasy coldness slithered through Tyler. She narrowed her eyes at him. “You better not be fucking my sister!”

  That raised a laugh from him. Not just a low chuckle others would ignore but a big, booming laugh that had all the guys looking their way.

  “You really do have bad opinions of me. No, I am not fucking your sister.”

  “Shh!” She cast a look around his huge shoulder to the back of the plane, but nobody was paying attention to them now.

  “You Knights are extremely suspicious people.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” she snapped.

  “It means,” he reached over again and closed his fingers around her tight fist, looking deep into her eyes, “you believe everyone is out to screw you over.”

  “How do you think we’ve managed to stay alive?”

  He laughed again, just as loudly as before. He also kept his firm grip on her hand. “Sometimes, sweetheart, you just have to put your faith in other people. Didn’t you just learn that lesson back in Kandahar?”

  Chapter Four

  After a while, Tyler drifted off, her head angled toward him on the head rest so he was able to study her beautiful face.

  Dammit, he really was in too deep. Watching her sleep was doing things to his insides he’d never considered, and he’d seen plenty of women passed out in his bed. He was man enough to admit this woman was different.

  But why? Because he already knew her through his friendship and camaraderie with her brothers?

  Frustration also made his jaw ache. He wanted to wake her up and ask her why she’d turned to him back in his bunk and asked him to take her. Was it an easing of fear following her first battle or something else?

  He searched his memory for moments when their worlds had brushed each other’s. A holiday, a barbecue, one of Mrs. Knight’s famous low-boil dinners at the cabin. Of course he noticed Tyler—she was a striking woman and not only for her beauty but for her confidence. Not once had he noted an odd look from her, a batting of eyelashes or any other sign of attraction.

  Since he was so attuned to females, he’d know.

  He’d never gotten so much as a long look from her, let alone a deliberate brushing of a shirt sleeve when reaching for a dinnerplate.

  No, she’d never done any of those things. Then again, she hadn’t behaved at all like the women he’d bedded in his past.

  Hell, she hadn’t even behaved like herself.

  He pushed out a frustrated sigh and she rolled her head to a more comfortable position on the headrest. He stared at her plump lips, parted in repose, and felt his cock starting to harden.

  He quickly glanced away. This was gonna be one hell of a long flight.

  After she slept away most of the journey, he began to grow concerned that she might be ill. She hadn’t seemed fevered but maybe she’d acted out of sorts because she’d been coming down with something.

  She drifted in and out of sleep for hours, waking long enough to sip water or nibble on an energy bar.

  Finally, she opened her eyes and he found them clear and bright.

  “Feel better?” he asked. Part of him wondered if she’d been faking sleep and then decided that couldn’t be the case. She’d simply been drawing on her reserves for days and it had all finally caught up to her. He’d experienced it himself.

  She nodded and uncapped her water. When she took a sip, she winced. “It’s warm.”

  “That’s because you’ve been sleeping for hours. I’ll get you another.” He got out of his seat, stretching in the aisle so he reached almost to the ceiling of the craft and taking up all of the aisle.

  She raked her gaze over him and then looked away. With a crooked smile of knowing, he moved to the back to get her a water. He came back with that and a packaged sandwich that looked like it had come from a vending machine. When he plopped into the seat again and handed these to her, she took them with a quiet “Thanks.”

  “Probably tastes like shit, but I know you haven’t eaten much.”

  Her gaze shot back to his as she unwrapped the sandwich. “How the hell would you know?”

  “Because you’re slimmer than you were months ago when I last saw you.” br />
  “That doesn’t mean I haven’t been eating.” Her tone was all barbs and spears, both keeping him out of her perimeter.

  “What does it mean?” he asked.

  “I’ve been training hard.”

  “Oh?” He settled back, sick and tired of sitting, but they had a couple hours left in the air. Then with luck, a good hotel bed and a tub big enough to hold him for a good soak. He almost groaned at the thought of hot water lapping around him.

  She chomped down on the sandwich and tore a bit off ferociously. As she chewed, she said, “Been trying for a personal best and broke the base’s record on the long course.”

  He laughed but not at her proud moment. “You eat like a Knight.”

  She glared and continued to chew in a way that might turn off any other man but him. He knew she didn’t normally eat this way. She was trying to turn him off and make herself just one of the guys.

  Except that ship had long sailed. The moment she’d clutched his shirt and given him those big eyes, he’d only seen her as his lover.

  Fuck, in too deep, he reminded himself.

  She swallowed and went in for another bite. “My record got me noticed and put me here.”

  “I doubt it’s the first time you’ve been noticed, Tyler. You’re hard to miss.”

  “I’m talking about being a Marine, Hawk.”

  “Who said I wasn’t?” He arched a brow and held her gaze for a long heartbeat.

  When she tore hers free, he saw a small pursing of her lips that he ordinarily would have missed. But since having her in his arms, he’d become far more attuned to her than anybody he’d been with.

  “Proud of you, Tyleri.”

  Before he could draw a full breath, she jerked out a hand and clamped her fingers around his balls. His sac compressed by her hard grip and the pressure on his nuts grew harder until his eyes just about watered.

  But he was made of tougher stuff than that.

  “You really don’t relish having children, do you?” She applied just enough pressure that the water did come to his eyes. A big grin stretched across her face.

  He didn’t want to tell her that while what she was doing did cause an unpleasant ache in a place most men didn’t want fucked with, her warm fingers were actually arousing the hell out of him.