Thank God he had the landing to worry about.
They hit the gravel at perfect velocity, making Sage squeal with victory. As Garrett unclipped them both from the rigging, she was a ball of pure, squirming energy. T-Bomb and Kell were doing the same about twenty yards away. They exchanged upturned thumbs with each other, indicating everyone had gotten in a good jump. Kell, as the unit’s rigger, came jogging over to collect his chute and rig.
“The penguins will be here in about twenty with the van,” he stated.
“Got it.”
Garrett confirmed, reckoned it might be the longest twenty minutes of his life. He knew Archer would be riding with the ground crew and ready with an update about the assholes who’d snuck into the hangar. With any luck, the MPs would be able to detain the men long enough to discern how they’d tailed Sage onto the base.
Tension jabbed its way back into his muscles. He grunted at the invasion, wistfully saying goodbye to those blissful moments up in the sky.
He looked over in time to see Kell crack one side of his mouth up at Sage while he sorted through the lines and deflated canopy on the ground. “So, Sage Mouse, what’d you think?”
If it were possible, Sage’s glow got a little brighter. Kell was one of the guys who’d been around long enough to remember the unit’s endearment for her, given instantly after Garrett had fallen for her. “For once, the prey caught the hawk,” they’d joke. They got away with it because they knew it was true.
Thank fuck none of them had a door to his brain, allowing them to see how the woman proved it glaringly true right now. Damn, she captivated him. She was even more stunning than before the flight, bouncing around like one of those dancers from the Irish fast-step troupes, even humming a silly tune as accompaniment. The brilliance in her eyes was a breath-stopper. Her dazzling grin hadn’t faltered since they’d touched down.
“I…I didn’t think!” she exclaimed. “I couldn’t! And that’s what made it so…so…”
Kell chuckled. “Yeah. Pretty good, huh?”
“Pretty good?” She gaped like Kell had just grown horns. She spun around, pumping her fists skyward. “Wow! Fucking wow!” When her pirouette placed Garrett back in her field of sight, she stopped. Her smile dropped a little, but the change was good. Very good. It was the way only Sage could look at him, shoving past those doors inside him that said No Admittance, diving over the bullshit he gave everyone else and seeing him as nobody else could.
Holy fuck, he loved that look. And hated it.
And right now, he had no idea what to do about it.
Sage didn’t abandon him to the dilemma. Before he could form another thought, she threw herself against him. “Thank you, baby!”
She clearly intended the embrace to be over as soon as it started, but Garrett’s instincts, still on overdrive, forced another plan. He held her in return. He didn’t want a damn hug. He needed an embrace. As he wrapped his arms around her, he ducked his head against the side of her head. She felt so tiny. She felt so warm. She felt so right.
“You’re welcome.”
He knew how rough those words came off his lips, and he saw the recognition of it in Sage’s gaze when they pulled apart. He also saw what she wanted to do about it—if her lingering touch on his ribcage still meant what it had a year ago. On top of that, the celadon of her gaze deepened to a shade that matched her name, and her tongue snuck out in a tentative slide between her lips.
Damn.
He wanted to send his tongue in after hers.
And if he was interpreting her stare right…
She yearned for the exact same thing.
His blood fired with new heat, spiking his heart rate. It became an anaerobic fun zone as his mind took things from there, turning the image into a fantasy that ended with both of them naked, gasping, and drained. Damn it, this was getting messy.
And impossible to deny any longer.
Somehow, he managed to let Sage step back. But even those two feet were intolerable. His body gunned like a dragster at the start line, the key in the ignition and all cylinders ready to fire. If he didn’t get to open the throttle soon, the engine was going to explode.
“Kell,” he called without ungluing his stare from Sage. “We’ll be right back.”
“Okay. Where you going?”
“Yeah.” Sage frowned in confusion as he dipped his head toward the woods, indicating for her to follow. “Where are we going?”
He willed his voice and his gait into feigned ease. “Maybe we can find that—er—house key. Yeah, your house key. You said it fell loose just before we dipped in over the trees.”
“Oh.” Suddenly she quickened her own pace. “Right! Yeah, that’s right. Damn. I can’t believe that happened. Hopefully we’ll see it. Be right ba—”
He literally snatched the rest of the word out of her, pulling her through the underbrush at damn near a run.
The second they were out of eyesight and earshot from Kell, he whirled Sage around. The spot he’d picked was perfect, with plenty of bush cover and a wide tree right behind her. With one solid slam, he had her pinned between the trunk and him. Her mouth popped open in surprise and provided the perfect beacon for his. He didn’t waste a second, smashing a deep, hungering kiss on her.
A high cry swept up her throat. The vibrations of it filled his mouth, pulling his tongue deeper inside her. Perfect. So fucking perfect. She set him afire with her open, incredible surrender and fanned the blaze higher by stabbing her arms under his top, fisting his T-shirt, and pulling hard on the sweat-soaked cotton.
“Garrett!” She pleaded it against his jaw when he dragged away to let her breathe. “Oh yes…”
He stopped her with another kiss, though he wasn’t sure this still qualified as kissing. Conquering her mouth, controlling it completely, was a rushing, consuming exigency. He needed this. Fuck, he couldn’t get enough of her.
He bracketed her face with one hand, holding her in place while he plunged, plowed, and explored with his tongue and teeth. His imagination went into hyperdrive again. It taunted him with the fantasy of her creamy and nude against the leaves and mud. Ditch the dream, Hawk. Isn’t going to happen here. But the creative imagery exercise left its mark in his blood, torching him from head to toe so even the act of pulling down her jumpsuit zipper was a pure carnal pleasure. Her answering moan urged him on. In seconds, he found his way under her T-shirt and bra, landing his eager fingers on one of her erect nipples.
He finally pulled away from her lips but didn’t go very far. The soft column of her neck beckoned. He marked the skin there with his teeth while he continued to tease her breast. “Damn it, Sage,” he growled against her jugular, “I should still be furious with you.”
“I know.” Her voice was a rasp, but her hands gave him a different message. She tore at his back with her fingernails, her touch almost bestial with need. “I know, and I’m sorry…”
Garrett went at her mouth again, and she dug at his back even harder. He grunted from the new pressure but followed with a rough moan. If his endorphins weren’t turbo-charging everything in his body, he imagined her ploughs would be painful, but the only sensation he cared about was the hotter, harder heaviness between his thighs.
Hell. They needed to stop. The most dangerous prisoner in his psyche began stirring again. The dark beast paced the cage of his soul, demanding a little exercise. Okay, a lot of exercise. And his brain had run a goddamn mental obstacle course for the last two hours, depleting his strength to fight the monster.
He needed to push away. He needed to leave her the hell alone, or the cage was going to snap. This animal he didn’t know, much less control, was going to break free. Seeing her like this, with her hair half-down and her eyes half-wild, didn’t help. Not one fucking bit.