“Good.” He set his hands on her hips and withdrew almost all the way before he pressed deep inside her again, stretching her even further. He did it one more time before he picked up the pace.
He shifted his hands until one hand held her shoulder and the other pressed the base of her spine. The added pressure encouraged her to arch her back and bend into the bed while he drove into her over and over. She fisted the blankets under her as the pleasure built and she gave herself over to the sensation, to him. Every stroke inside her pressed a moan out of her until she was alternating between moans and hoarse whimpers as she asked him to go harder.
His hands tightened on her again, and he obliged. His hips pounded into hers as he drove inside her, hitting all the right spots on the way in and on the only slightly slower drawing out. Her stomach tightened as she approached the pinnacle of her pleasure, and she cried out as she fell over the edge and came.
His voice mingled with hers as he continued for a split second longer before shuddering into his own release.
Chapter Twenty-Two
You know, sleepovers are definitely more fun than I remember from childhood.” Elisa lay on her side with Alex pressed against the length of her back.
His chuckle rumbled up from his chest and over her back, sending delicious shivers through her entire body. “I hope so.”
“I’m glad you stayed.” She traced her finger down the inside of his arm, which she was currently using as a pillow.
“I’m glad you said yes to me.” He shifted his hips against hers.
She let out a happy sigh. “Do you feel better now, too?”
He stilled against her back.
Hurriedly she tried to clarify. “We were both on edge last night. I don’t mean…”
“It’s okay.” His other arm came across her in a brief hug before he set his free hand on her waist. “Last night definitely brought out some of the darker parts of me.”
And she was as attracted to those parts of him as the kinder parts he’d displayed when they’d first met. At no time had she felt threatened or coerced by him, and she wanted him to know that. But he might not believe her if she just said it. Instead, she snuggled closer to him and went for a different response. “I can listen, too, if you’d like. I want to get to know you better.”
“I’ve been a couple of different people over the years.”
“You’re still you,” she responded. “But I’d like to understand how you got to who you are now, if you’re willing to share.”
He ran his hand over her hip, gently kneading as he progressed. For a moment, she wondered if he was trying to distract himself, because it was going to work if she didn’t push the discussion. But he started talking. “It was rough overseas on active duty. Our SEAL unit tended to move out to forward positions to secure locations before there was a base established in the area. We were under constant strain. It wasn’t a situation where a person could head out on a mission and return to a safe place at night to shower and get some sleep before going out again. We’d be out for days, even weeks at a time. And sleep was something you got while your teammates had the watch, but you were ready to jump into action at a moment’s notice.”
She snuggled in closer, unsure what to say but wanting to listen and take in what he was sharing.
“Thing is, we saw a lot of awful things.” He fell silent for a moment, struggling for words. And then he dropped a kiss on her shoulder. “There isn’t just one story; there’s dozens. There isn’t just one nightmare. And Forte, Cruz, and me…we all deal in our own ways. For me, it was a state of hyperawareness, of being constantly on edge.”
“Did it get better when you came back?” She hoped it had.
He huffed out a negative. “Uh-uh. I rushed home after each short deployment. I was married, and there was Serena to come home to. But at one point, I came home between missions to find divorce papers waiting for me. After that, I was looking forward to each new training, each new mission, because it was the easiest way to get through the time in between visitation with Serena. Then the call came. My ex-wife had been admitted to the hospital, literally as I was getting on a plane to come back to the States. She’d passed away before I even landed on home soil.”