Page 25 of Breaking Danger (Ghost Ops #3)

“I’ll bet you found comradeship and purpose in the military,” Sophie said quietly.

Bingo . Jesus, how could she read him so clearly?

“Yeah.” He swallowed. “I loved it. Loved everything about it. I loved working with a lot of smart people toward a common goal.”

She smiled. “Sounds like science. I love that aspect of it, too. Science isn’t one lone crazy person with a microscope shouting eureka! It’s a community of men and women throughout the world working together, building on each other’s discoveries. It’s very powerful, working with others.”

Jon stopped, thought about it. “Yeah. This is the first time I looked at it that way. I guess the military life must be a lot like science.” Except in the military they wore body armor and whacked people instead of watching microscope holograms in lab coats.

But except for that—yeah, pretty much the same thing. “It changed my life. But then?—”

“You were betrayed again. Or so you thought. By your captain,” she said quietly.

He nodded.

“So we founded Haven. Everyone up there is working their ass off to save whatever can be salvaged. And the point of this long sorry story—” Jon picked up her hand, where it lay on his chest, warming the area around his heart, and kissed her fingers.

Damned if he couldn’t swear his lips felt warmer.

“The point is that even in truly awful times, when good people work together, great things can be done.”

Sophie smiled, though the smile didn’t touch her beautiful eyes. “There’s more you’re not telling me. Lots more. But I get your message. Do you think—do you think there’s much hope?”

The noise from the streets grew suddenly louder.

It had been a harsh rumble all along but the screams swelled, filling the room.

She jumped when a loud boom went off. Gas mains exploding somewhere, probably.

Jon had been trained not to jump at unexpected noises but she hadn’t been.

At the boom, she took in a quick, surprised breath.

Her fingers trembled in his.

She was worried. Well, fuck, so was he. But he wasn’t about to add to her worry.

He kissed her hand again. “Yes, I think there’s hope.

Mac and Nick and the captain—and apparently, General Snyder, who was a great commander—are working hard to provide shelter for as many refugees as possible, and helping as many communities as they can to remain intact and fortified.

They’re working round the clock. They’re working on it right now.

Catherine and Elle are setting up a lab and, knowing them, vaccines will be rolling off the assembly line right after we get back.

Those two women are amazing. I think there’s a good chance we can save a whole big chunk of the state of California.

We’ve got a lot of good and smart people on our side and we’re all working together on this.

And in answer to the question you’re about to ask”—he let go of her hand and rubbed his thumb over the worry lines between her eyebrows—”yes, we’re going to make it.

I’ll get you to Haven. I’ve never failed a mission yet. ”

Well, that wasn’t quite true. He had failed one.

The lab outside Cambridge, a clusterfuck of epic proportions, but only because they’d been betrayed and ambushed.

That one didn’t count. He wiped it from his mind and made sure that the truth of the matter—that he was going to get her and the vaccine case safely back to Haven no matter what—was in his voice, in his touch, in his gaze.

In his kiss.

Because, well, there was no resisting her. Not when chaos and death were just outside. They didn’t matter right now because in here, in this bed, he had a magical woman in his arms.

Oh God, that heat he felt from her hands was magnified tenfold when he held her. Warmth penetrating him all over, so deep, so hot that he felt it even where he wasn’t actually touching her.

He slid her clothes off, then his, then turned, adjusted and—oh yes.

Just like this. Perfect. Lying on her, feeling heat all along his front, from the top of his head to his toes, her mouth giving heat, her breasts against his chest almost glowing with heat.

She slid her legs open in welcome, hugging his hips with her thighs and oh man.

Blazing heat against the tip of his dick, like a little oven.

Warm, welcoming. He slid a little inside because he’d die if he didn’t.

He didn’t even have to think of it, his dick moved all on its own.

In, feeling that incredibly warm welcome and he was halfway into her when warning bells went off in his head.

Something was missing. Something he should be doing.

He released her mouth—and it was damned hard to do because her mouth, all on its own, was an incredible source of pleasure—and nuzzled the side of her face, her neck. His lips were on her ear when he whispered, “Foreplay. Forgot. Again.”

She’d been rubbing against him like a cat and she suddenly stilled.

“What?” The exhale of breath made a lock of his hair move, brushed against his ear, gave him goosebumps. He was half in her and wondered if she could feel his heartbeat there, inside her.

“Foreplay,” he groaned. He’d forgotten all about it.

The Cool Dude, forgetting foreplay. Wow, that was a first. He was good with the ladies.

He knew he was never going to stick around for very long, so he made sure he got it right the first time because chances were there wasn’t going to be a second time. Certainly never a third or a fourth.

So yeah, he had foreplay down pat. Took his time, did it right.

Took so long sometimes he started thinking of other things, like the time he was reviewing a combat plan while going down on a woman.

She’d had to tug on his hair to get him to stop.

Foreplay was automatic for him, something he did as a matter of rote.

“Don’t need it,” she sighed and lifted her hips so he slid more deeply inside her. He groaned, tightened his buttocks, and pushed into her fast.

Of all the women in the world, he broke his iron-clad rule with beautiful, smart, delicate Sophie Daniels.

Pure instinct took over. Foreplay was unthinkable when all he wanted was to slide as fast as possible right into that sleek, welcoming warmth.

His mouth covered hers when he slid all the way in and he could feel the surprise and pleasure in her mouth, in her kiss.

She groaned into his mouth. He felt the vibration more than heard the sound.

He stayed in her, keeping still. Not daring to move an inch.

Telling her his secrets had unhinged something inside him, something that had always been as tightly closed as a bank vault. It was cracking open. He was cracking open.

It unsettled him, rattled him. He couldn’t keep his boundaries straight. He was breaking open and his self control was oozing through the cracks.

He was in her so deeply it was hard to tell where he stopped and she began.

All the boundaries were fuzzy, fluid. Was that his heartbeat tripping wildly?

How could it? His heart was always a steady 60 beats per minute, even under fire.

He didn’t do pounding hearts. But one of their hearts was pounding and he couldn’t tell which one.

It felt like his entire body was pulsing, quaking, in the middle of a meltdown.

He pressed into her more tightly, held her closer, kissed her more deeply.

Because though she was the cause of the meltdown there was also some nebulous something that could be found deep within her body.

Something that felt perilously close to… peace.

Which was absurd, of course. Jon wasn’t a peaceful kind of guy.

And now was not a good time to be kum-bay-yaing, not with monsters raging through the streets.

But somehow he was able to switch part of his eternal vigilance off and simply sink deeper into this woman, this one magical woman who made him magically feel better.

And then those tender thoughts blew away like smoke because Sophie tired of him holding himself still, deep inside her and started moving.

Her hips withdrew slightly and she pulled herself up against him by pressing down on his ass with her heels.

The movement made her moan and she writhed against him.

It was shockingly erotic.

He pulled back, watched her face. Their smiles were gone. He clenched his teeth against the pleasure as he moved back into her slowly. She closed her eyes, arched her back. Whispered, “More. Harder.”

It was as if he’d been held back by ropes that were now cut, unleashing him.

“Open your eyes.” His voice was low, hard.

Her eyes opened, but only halfway, pupils glowing a deep navy blue. Slightly unfocused.

No, he wanted her attention. He wanted her focused on him , on the sex they were having.

He’d never had this reaction before. As long as the woman seemed to be enjoying herself, he was cool.

She could be thinking anything she wanted.

Hell, she could be fantasizing about some actor or singer for all he cared as long as she was having a good time.

But right now, he wanted Sophie Daniels to know that she was fucking him. Jon Ryan.

Her eyes opened, startled. They were so gorgeous, such a deep deep blue, like the ocean far out at sea. Rimmed with dark ridiculously long lashes.

“Look at me. Look at us ,” he said, his voice guttural. He lifted his entire torso up on his arms, away from her, so she had a good look down to where they were joined. The movement pushed him even more deeply inside her.