Page 71 of Secret Mission

Blinking, I find my bottom lip caught in my teeth.

My chest is full of the quivering rhythm of a heart that’s been revved up and is now sitting idle.

Truck’s fingers brush lightly over my face. “I promise it will be worth the wait.”

He leans down. The brush of his lips gentle and reassuring.

I’m lost immediately, tangled up in every exhale, in the way his hand cradles my face. In the warm simmering energy banked in my low belly that thrums and spreads, but this time instead of licking flames, it’s a calm eternal glow.

When he pulls back from the kiss, he nuzzles my ear. “Let me hold you.”

Yes. A thousand times, yes.

“I’d really like that.” As I reply, trailing my fingertips up his arms, I process that I’m not disappointed at all.

Truck wants the first time he’s inside of me to be special—that honorable desire holds a weighted appeal that calls to my soul.

If I was just a notch on his gun holster, he wouldn’t care. Nope. I’d be bent over the bed, and he’d fuck us both brainless.

Admittedly, that would be delicious in its own way.

But some hollowed out part of me wants…

God. What do I want?

“Your thoughts are loud as thunder.” His tone is intimate as he settles in next to me, pulling me into the cocoon of his enormous body. “I’d like to hear what’s in that sharp mind of yours right now.”

“I like being in your arms.”

He sighs, and the sound feels distinctively happy.

This is new.

I’ve seen Truck angry, fierce, protective, concerned, aroused… and now this.

It’s impossible not to wonder how long it’s been since he’s been happy.

“You fit perfectly. I like how tall you are… those legs… they kill me.” A soft moan rumbles through him.

“I was too tall in school.”

“Try being six-foot-five at age fourteen.”

Grinning, I kiss his chest. “I bet you were a sight.”

“Oh, right. I cut all my pants off into shorts because nothing fit.”

“Me too! Then I just realized I could wear skirts, but I looked like a stork.” I laugh through my embarrassment. “Needless to say, I was the brunt of a lot of jokes.”

Truck’s fingers tighten on me as he lets out a little growl. “Give me all their names. I have SEAL buddies all over the world.”

“Truthfully, I can’t even remember their names, I barely remember their faces. It feels like I erased that part of my life.”

I don’t tell him there are lots of other much worse things that fill up all the room in my memory.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart.” His hold tightens, the warmth of his arms more like a soothing balm than anything I’ve ever felt.

After a beat, he asks me, “What are you thinking now?”