Ice (Elite Forces #1)

“Those must be some killer pain pills. You were out and you snore.” They must be. I still wonder how I went from Harris to him. Kaleb chuckles as he stretches his arms over his head, those tattoos pulling taut when his muscles flex in his upper arms. Right now, I don’t care how I shifted my body in my sleep. He’s a distraction. One I’m not sure if I want to eat off of, or choke on.

Shit. I would love to finally get a close-up of every one of those tattoos. I wonder if he’ll ever tell me the meaning behind them. And don’t even let me forget about those damn abs. His thin t-shirt doesn’t leave a damn thing to the imagination, not that my mind will let me forget them. They’re hard, defined, and bulging through his t-shirt, and I can still feel the ripple on my fingertips from when I was sprawled across him like a desperate magnet.

In spite of sleeping for the most part of the flight, I’m still exhausted. All I want to do is go home, take a long, hot shower and sleep for days. Then wake up and figure out what in the hell I’m going to do with my time off. I need a distraction, anything to help me keep my troubled mind off of that boy.

“He’s right, you do snore. Loud.” My head swings around to Harris.

“What the fuck ever. Like the two of you don’t.” I roll my eyes at him.

“I will the minute I hit my bed, that’s for damn sure.” JJ leans forward, stretching. He looks worse than I feel, which says a lot, because I feel like shit.

“Won’t we all.” Harris looks at me, then to Kaleb. The way he glares at Kaleb has a red flag instantly waving in my face. Something happened while I was sleeping, I can feel it. The tension between these two has hardened. Damn them. I’m not in the mood for whatever kind of bullshit these two have going on between them, and if Kaleb said anything about what happened between the two of us, he’ll wish to god I didn’t save his ass, because I will kill him myself. Even though it will be a long time before I even think about having sex with another man, there could never be anything between the two of us. We’re entirely different.

I’m not a prude, that’s blatantly obvious by the way I let him fuck me in every hole he could, but we aren’t even on the same page when it comes to sex. The cheeks of my ass clench together when I think of the way he roughly took what he wanted, his demanding ways making me submit to him. God, I’d be lying if I didn’t love every minute of it. The way he touched me, fucked me like he could never get enough.

I need to get the hell away from him and have some me time. I could hit the clubs with my girlfriend Mallory. Anything to make me forget him. It’s been way too long since I’ve done something for myself, but when the Army is your life and you’ve done nothing but train for the past few years to set goals to fulfill your dreams, going out is the last thing on your mind. I haven’t had time to myself in I don’t know how long.

“Let’s get out of here.” Kaleb extends his hand out to me as soon as the airplane comes to a stop. He helps me stand, and I stretch more, holding my sore arm tight against me. The pain has faltered some, leaving me with a slight discomfort, but it’s nothing I can’t handle. The pain pills will help. I drop his hand the minute I step out into the aisle, making him frown.

“Just go,” my cranky ass tells him. I watch him and chastise my stupid hormones the entire way off the plane, all the way down the hallway. Stupid woman. Why did you taste the forbidden? He’s ruined you for a long time.

“You’re riding with me.” He grabs my hand again like we’re a damn couple as we walk through the airport after saying goodbye to JJ and Harris.

Harris seemed distant, his hug brief, no smartass comment like he usually drops either.

“What happened between you and Harris, Kaleb?” I jerk my hand from his when we exit the door. The sweet smell of Florida hits my senses immediately. The tang of the salty air has me breathing it in. I’m home. American soil has never felt so good.

“I’ll tell you when we get to my Jeep.” I can’t help but laugh, don’t ask me why. I never gave a thought as to what kind of vehicle he might drive. Hell, I never thought about anything except the way he fucked me and the way he made me feel. A part of me wants to know everything I can about him, while the rational part of me knows I shouldn’t.

“God, your laugh is beautiful.” He stares down at me. For the first time since I met him, I feel my skin blush. It’s strange being able to hear those words from him, knowing he can speak his mind now without having to hide anything. I’m at a loss for words.

“Thank you,” I reply politely and feel extremely uncomfortable. This is so unlike me. I know I need a ride to the base to get my evaluation done and tell my superior officer what happened to me. I’ll need to fill him in on how well Kaleb guided us through our mission, like the great leader he is.

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