“Oh?” I reply as my lips press against his neck.
“Should I show you with my mouth?” he inquires while his scruff grates across my shoulder. It prickles my skin and ignites the lust that had dropped to a low simmer.
My phone chimes, interrupting where we were going. I groan and reach over toward my purse. Liam adjusts himself and sits back, looking at my half naked body with a smug smile.
“Shit,” I say when I read the text. “I gotta go. Aarabelle is being super fussy and Rea has to run out.” I grab my bra and Liam snatches it from my hand. “I need that.”
“I’m thinking you wouldn’t want to leave the house like that.”
I don’t want to leave. God knows I want to stay here with him. It’s the only time I’m whole. There’s no pity in Liam’s eyes. When I see myself in him, I’m desired and beautiful. I lean down and kiss him and grab his t-shirt. I throw it over my head and smile.
“Keep the bra. I can wear your clothes.”
Liam stands before he takes a measured step, slowly drawing me in. “I’m going to take the coldest shower I can manage. I’ll somehow find a way to not think about you in my clothes. Walking around with my shirt clinging to your body and you smelling like my cologne.”
I step back and grab my purse. “You may need to take two showers.” I wink and open the front door. I turn back and glance at him over my shoulder. “You know, I might even sleep in it.” I turn back and hear him groan as I close the door behind me.
Funny, I didn’t think of the pain Aaron caused even once while I was in Liam’s arms.
“Dempsey, my office now,” Commander Hansen orders and I pop tall. What the hell did I do now?
“Sir,” I say and stand at his desk.
“Take a seat,” he instructs me and points to the chair. Commander is the kind of officer we all want to serve under. He’s fair and doesn’t think he’s above everyone. He’s a leader you want to follow and it makes taking orders from him pretty easy. “My wife is a pain in my ass. She meddles, and most of the time I’m able to handle her shit, but Natalie is a different story. Gilcher served under me for six years. I knew him and he was like family. So, me calling you in here isn’t Commander to Chief. It’s man to man.”
I nod out of respect and bite back my response. It’s no one’s business what the hell happens between Natalie and I. The other night was a shit show. What was supposed to be a turning point ended up in complete disaster thanks to a stupid bitch.
“I’m sure you don’t give a shit, and honestly, I don’t care if you do. I care about Lee and Aarabelle. More than that, my wife makes my life miserable when she gets like this. Rea is worried, so if you need to take a few days and be there, go.”
That wasn’t what I thought he was going to say. I thought I was going to get the stay-away-from-her speech. To which I would’ve found a way to tell him to suck my dick . . . respectfully. “How long?”
“If you need to drop leave, I’ll approve it. We have the next two weeks where there’s nothing going on. Hell, most of you guys will leave before lunch anyway.”
“I’ll do that, sir. I appreciate it.”
Commander looks away and huffs. “Natalie didn’t smile, cry, or laugh. For weeks she just sat with no emotions. Reanell was in the delivery room with her and it wasn’t until Aarabelle was born that she finally cried. She went back to that way a few weeks after Aaron’s memorial.” He scratches his face. “Then she started to open up when she thought no one was looking. I attribute that to your arrival.”
“I don’t know that I had anything to do with it.”
“I don’t either, but it’s a hunch.”
This is the most bizarre conversation I’ve ever had.
Commander stands and walks to the wall. “I suspected something was going on before he left for Afghanistan,” he admits. “I think Natalie remembers a different life than what she was living.”
Aaron was my best friend. I knew he was struggling with a baby coming and what it meant, but I never thought he was fucking around on her. He and I were living on opposite coasts, so we didn’t talk as often, but he sure as fuck never mentioned another woman.
I think about Natalie and how she is already reconstructing her walls. I remember what she felt like, tasted like, and how long it took my dick to go down. Yesterday was another day I didn’t expect to happen the way it went, but she opened up to me. The need to claim a part of her was so strong, I wasn’t sure I would stop. I had to constantly remind myself that she was in control of how far we went.
She’s worth the blue balls.
“I understand, Sir. I’m going to need those few days.”
“I was hoping you were the man I thought you were.” Commander stands and extends his hand.
“Commander.”
“Chief, I’ll see you in a few days.”
I turn and start to form a plan. One that includes no way out and maybe rope.