Seize (St. Martin Family Saga: Emergency Responders) Book 2: Erotic Romance Read online

  She was shaking her head and hugging herself.

  “Mia, sit in the desk chair.”

  She stopped rubbing and made eye contact with him.

  “Sit.”

  She slowly lowered herself into the plastic chair.

  He scooped up the bug and flushed it. Walking back into the room, he was attacked by warm, soft, sugary woman. She clamped her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck.

  “Thank you. I can’t believe it bit me.” She shivered. “Do you think it’s poisonous?”

  He set her on the bed. “Let me look at it.”

  “Oh no!” She clutched her leg. “You do, don’t you?”

  “No.”

  “But you would have just said no. You hesitated.”

  “Well, dammit, some beetles are. Now sit still and let me look at you.”

  Shit, the damn thing had left a welt on her smooth skin. He grabbed a towel and some ice from the bucket. The welt was large, about an inch and a half in diameter. When he set the ice pack on her leg, she winced.

  “I don’t think that’s necessary.” She pushed the pack away.

  “Do you want to scar?”

  She looked at the bite, then back to him with pleading eyes. “No.” Her voice was a deflated whisper.

  She was so sadly pathetic. He couldn’t take it, so he climbed onto the bed behind her and pulled her to his lap. He delicately set the compress on her leg. She needed a distraction, at least until the ice melted.

  “When I was in the marines, we had to do these drills. We’d go out in the field and stay for two to four weeks, learn to survive off the land and stuff. One of the gigs was in western Texas, dry and hot. One morning this guy we called Nuts—he had a pair of the hugest balls any of us had ever seen—well, the crazy fucker took out an Iraqi FROG in Fallujah all by himself. Later that morning he used one of the field toilets, basically a Port-O-Pot. Now would you think a two-hundred-twenty-pound, six-foot-four marine named Nuts could scream like a girl getting sand thrown in her eyes on a playground?”

  She was laughing so hard tears leaked from her eyes. He thought it was the cutest sound he’d ever heard.

  “Your scream, Miss Brown, was manlier than his. Seriously, his screech woke up the entire company and had us scrambling. We thought a woman was being murdered. It sounded like a cross between a seal and a hyena captured in a jaw-tooth trap. When we got to him he was rolling in the dirt in front of the toilets, his pants around his knees. Sand was stuck in the tear tracks on his face. The enormous marine had been brought down by a teeny spider bite to the ass.

  “To be fair, it wasn’t your average house spider. It was a goddamn tarantula. Poor bastard had to let his ass air out for two weeks. He carried a donut around to sit on.”

  Mia’s laughter eventually evened out and, given her proximity, they shared a way-too-intimate look. Her shy sweetness was playing tricks on his libido. He lifted the bag from her leg and lightly traced the swelling tissue. She turned in his lap and straddled him, leaning her head against his shoulder like she was going to drift off.

  “Did you check the bed for any more beetles?” Her soft voice in his ear made his cock twitch. Her head lifted, and sincere lavender eyes met his.

  “I did. We’re safe.”

  “You’re a real-life hero.” Her lips feathered a kiss to his cheek and then to the busted skin at his temple and jaw. “My hero.” She pulled away slowly, her eyes hooded. She held up two fingers, “That’s twice you’ve rescued me now.”

  She was so close, her breath heated his skin. Wanting to taste her rosy lips, he closed the gap between them. And he tasted. Her warm, soft mouth vibrated with sounds of pleasure.

  He pulled away to keep from getting carried away. He caught her gaze before she stared down in a shy gesture—gray laced with lavender. Spectacular. She snuggled into him and sighed.

  Great, a moral dilemma. The warm female on top of him was as sweet as Louisiana iced tea, and her soft groans had him as hard as oak. He’d rescued her from two life-threatening situations—though the beetle hardly counted. Still, he wasn’t one to quibble over details. He wondered if he was taking advantage of this bashful but passionate, honeyed woman.

  Thank God he still had his jeans on, because with the way she was straddling him, he surely would have come like a teenage boy without them. With her in just her white cotton panties and a bra with tiny black polka dots, Augie could see the perkiness of her small breasts and the way the hard peaks poked against the thin fabric. She was fresh, too fresh, and innocent to boot—he felt it in his gut. She seemed much younger than twenty-five, with the kind of innocence that came from inexperience. He wanted to take her youthful inexperience and incinerate it. Wanted her to be a woman who knew the score so they could share some hot sex without him having to even think about worrying about it. Without worrying about her.

  From what he’d read in the file he had on her, she’d been caring for her mother for years. She’d lived at the same address, in that small town, her entire life. She didn’t have the moves to impress, so she was simply herself—pure and honest. When was the last time he’d had a woman like that? He couldn’t remember. He thought he liked sophisticated and aggressive—the kind of woman he didn’t have to teach for her to know what he liked. But the thought of teaching Mia had him so close to coming that he squeezed his eyes shut and thought about Afghanistan.

  Then his thoughts shifted to Nicolas Claude Renaud. The bastard he’d hired had had his hands around Mia’s neck when he’d intervened. Yet despite her situation—being attacked by Renaud’s goons and then being pulled away from her home by him—she remained upbeat and constantly put others before herself. What would it be like to have a woman like that? Augie still couldn’t believe they’d spent an hour getting Russell situated with his mixer. An hour. And then she’d helped that family in the lobby, expecting nothing in return. She did it just for the joy of giving to someone in need. Most of the women he knew were egocentric, thinking only of their hair, their lipstick, their nails, but she didn’t seem to care about any of those things.

  She bent and kissed him innocently on the mouth before lightly running her fingertips down his neck.

  He wanted her. And couldn’t believe he’d thought her plain at first glance. She was anything but. Granted, she was a far cry from the forced perfection he was used to in the South, but he loved her dewy freshness. Her hair was a natural light brown with sun-kissed blond threads running through it. She didn’t flatten it into an unimaginable slickness, nor was it artificially curled. It was just her hair and it suited her. He didn’t think she wore any make-up, but she didn’t need to—her skin was as smooth as porcelain.

  But something had changed.

  Her eyes were darker now, the color more intense, hazy and sleepy. He wanted to know what had caused them to change.

  Could it be their bodies pressed so close together?

  Her hand landed on his jaw as her lips nuzzled near his ear. She rubbed her body against him, and it took all his discipline to not roll her beneath him and pump away into her tight heat.

  There was that smell again from his childhood, fruity and sweet. Runts. Her scent. It had him off balance.

  Shit, he had to put a stop to this. He’d never been out of control when it came to women, but she held his mind in a fogbank.

  But maybe just a minute more …

  She squeezed his cock through his jeans and licked her top lip. Groaning, he palmed her core, and the moisture he felt on her panties made him lose his tight control. He frantically unhooked her bra, her small tits hardening as he slid the material down her arms. She unbuttoned his jeans as he hooked his thumbs in her underwear and removed them. He lifted his ass from the mattress and she pulled his jeans down with his boxers and then they were skin on skin. Their heated bodies gave off so much heat that they were covered in a light sheen of sweat, silk and satin rubbing against one another, and it felt so right. God, it felt good.

  Rolling he
r beneath him, he ran his cock through her wetness. Shit! Condom. Hovering over her, he grabbed his wallet from the nightstand. She raked her hands up and down his chest as he fiddled with the package, then rolled the latex over his erection. He fisted himself and aligned with her, but there was no easy passage. She was small, so he positioned her better to take him by putting a pillow beneath her ass. He tried to push in again, but thought he might hurt her if he forced himself. Yet he needed to be inside of her. Now.

  “Fuck, how long has it been for you?”

  She inhaled sharply, panting against his skin.

  “Um, I haven’t ever actually had sex.”

  She writhed beneath him, her hands squeezing his ass.

  No. She didn’t just say …

  “Are you fucking kidding me?” He rose to his knees, threading both hands through his hair. He jumped off the bed, so wound up he couldn’t hold still. Hell, he needed some kind of release. The water bottle from the nightstand took the brunt of his wrath as he hurled it against the wall. It splintered and water rained down.

  Mia sat up on the bed, her hands behind her for support.

  “So you’re some twenty-five-year-old virgin? How’s that even possible?”

  “Not because I was saving myself. I just haven’t met anyone in the small corner of the globe where I live. But I want to have sex with you.”

  Their eyes met for the shortest of seconds, and then she bit at her lip.

  “I can’t take your innocence.”

  “My innocence? I’ve never had sex, but I’m not innocent. I know what’s involved.”

  “Your virginity. I can’t take your virginity.”

  “But I don’t want to be a virgin, and I’d like to have sex with you right now. Can we please try again?”

  He looked at her offering herself to him in the sweetest, most primal way as she leaned back naked and exposed. Her taut breasts and stomach, down to her bare cleft, were calling to him and he wanted to devour her. His dick was so hard he’d explode if she were to reach out and touch him.

  “I want you so badly I’m in pain, but I can’t give you all the expectations that should accompany your first time.” Shit. He didn’t know how to talk to her about the loss of her virginity. He’d never met a virgin before. Far from it. All the women he’d been with came highly experienced and skilled, and he liked it that way. Or he had until now. He still wanted her. He was dying to taste her, and he was curious about the noises she made when she was aroused. Curious about what she looked like when she came.

  He sat on the edge of the mattress. She pressed her palms to his chest, pushing him down to his back on the bed.

  “What expectations?” she asked.

  He didn’t fucking know what expectations. She slid her knee between his legs, and he instinctively rolled beneath her. The way her heat was riding him had him unable to put together a coherent thought. Her long narrow torso and toned legs called to him like a beacon to a ship. He was about to take it too far, and she didn’t get it. This moment would be something she could never get back. She’d remember it forever. Hell, he wasn’t prepared to be her first.

  He placed his hands on her firm but pliant hips and lifted her from him. He sat up, threw his legs over the bed, and scrubbed his face with his hands. This was wrong. He should have insisted on sleeping in the chair, but she’d been irresistible when she’d told him they could share the bed. She hadn’t thought anything of it, but he knew where it would lead.

  “Mia.” He stood and they gazed at each other from opposite sides of the bed. Opposing camps. “I think you can see it’s clear I want you.” He grabbed his erection.

  Her jaw dropped as her eyes focused on his hand stroking his cock. He dropped his hand when she made a sound between a moan and a sigh.

  “You should wait. You’ll meet some guy, and he’ll give you everything you want.”

  Their eyes locked. “What do I want?”

  He exhaled loudly and rubbed the back of his head. “Fuck if I know. All the things women want. Marriage, house, babies, my balls around your neck.”

  She stood directly across from him now. Her height imposing; she had to be at least five feet eight. Her lips pressed together, and her forehead crinkled. “I don’t want any of those things I just want a night with you.” She shook her head. “I’ve not had a chance to meet anyone, not anyone I’ve been attracted to. I’ve been taking care of my mom since I was a kid. This is my first time away from home. I have the time and, with you here, I actually have the circumstance. If you don’t want to have sex with a virgin because you’re nervous you won’t measure up, that’s fine. At least be honest. But don’t stand there and tell me what it is I expect.”

  What the fuck was he going to say to that? He’d apprehended criminals less intimidating than Mia Brown.

  She snapped her bra into place and pulled the straps up her arms.

  “I’m sorry I’ve upset you,” he said, the words sounding lame.

  “I’m not upset.”

  She bent over in front of him to pick up her clothes from the floor. He didn’t know if she was deliberately trying to be provocative but, given the way she was standing, he could see all of her. The sight made his body tense, and his balls had grown two sizes. He was going to have a serious case of blue balls if he didn’t get release soon.

  “I’m frustrated, humiliated, and embarrassed, but I should be thanking you.”

  “Thanking me?”

  “Yes, you’ve saved me from making it with a coward.”

  He was a coward? Shit, he thought he deserved the Congressional Medal of fucking Honor.

  She was dressing. “I don’t know how it is where you’re from, but in Canada, women are taught that they can have their own thoughts and express their opinions. Canadian men aren’t afraid of strong-minded women, they embrace them. I guess this energy between me and you just wasn’t meant to be.”

  “Where are you going?”

  “To get my own room.”

  He stood, aiming for her. She held one hand up.

  “Leave me alone, Augie. I don’t want to be in here with you.”

  She grabbed her purse and was gone just that fast, leaving him reeling. He immediately missed her. It was like someone had turned off the lights. And what she’d said had stung. Damn, he’d wanted her fresh lips around his cock and he hadn’t gotten to taste her sweetness.

  He fell across the bed and dialed up some porn, but was turned off at the fake, grotesque proportions of the women’s tits and their subpar, overindulgent acting. He switched off the television, closed his eyes, and thought of Mia: her slim figure, small breasts, fresh face, and her humor. To his surprise, his erection grew until the demand for release simmered through him. He grabbed his cock and thought of the lean curves that were already burned into his memory. She’d been willing to give herself to him, and he’d let her go. He’d meant to say she deserved someone better than him. He certainly didn’t deserve someone like her.

  He’d done bad things. Then he’d done worse things. And then he just existed. There was nothing remotely redeeming about him. Yeah, he was doing her a favor, but he wanted her there in the bed with him—to keep the demons at bay. He didn’t want to dream tonight. He didn’t want her where he couldn’t see her. Just as the poem said, he needed her scent to guide him from the darkness.

  He thought of her sweet, gentle exploration of his body when she’d been on top of him and immediately came in his hand.

  What the fuck? There was no denying it—he was into her.

  *

  Mia slowly walked along the sidewalk that led to the front of the motel. A chill in the air had her wrapping her arms around herself. She kicked a rock and picked at the disastrous series of comical events: she’d thrown herself at Augie, begged him to have sex with her; he pushed her away; she called him a coward; he called her a ball-busting man trapper. Not in so many words, but that was what he meant. She exhaled harshly and squeezed her eyes closed, thinking she could era
se his body from her memory. No luck. His taut chest and six-pack abs were there to stay—a great image to entertain her mind, but one that didn’t do anything to relieve her yearning body.

  At the front desk, she paid for the room using her credit card and asked for extra pillows.

  The room smelled musty, so Mia left the door open while she flipped through channels on the television. She landed on an adult-only channel. Her father had subscribed to something similar and when she was a teen; she used to sneak into his room to quench her curiosity. And while knowledge and experience were two different things, she definitely hadn’t been innocent since she was a seven-year-old staring down at her mother on the kitchen floor, her face bobbing in a pool of vomit made up of alcohol and pills.

  She sighed and closed the door. With the television on late-night comedy, she settled into the bed, unable to focus on anything but piercing brown eyes and that muscular stomach. His crazy sexy smirk and bright smile had her blood pumping—in the wrong direction if she intended to sleep.

  Geez, the man was hot.

  She rolled to her stomach and groaned. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw his dark eyes fixed on her. It was unnerving, so she opened her eyes wide. Which didn’t help much—she couldn’t stop picturing his body. His bulging muscles. His intense eyes. And yeah, his cock. She wanted him inside her. She wanted to taste him and rub up against him and feel an orgasm roar through her while her legs were wrapped around him.

  She wanted to enjoy sex with a man, all the messy, hot and wonderful glory of it.

  Augie would be the perfect guy for her first time.

  He seemed carved from marble with his bulky tightness. His ass in those worn jeans had caught and held her eye. It should be illegal for him to wear those jeans with that belt buckle. And then he’d caught her checking him out and let loose that cocky smile—the smile that was currently making her grin even though she didn’t want to because she was mad at the asshole. When she’d finally gotten her hands on him, she’d attacked. And maybe that had turned him off.

  She wanted to touch every peak and valley of his chest, run her hands over muscle and skin. She’d never touched a male body before tonight, and now her body wanted more.