Author: Nicolette Day

Heart racing, she tilted her head back to look up at the man towering over her, blinking away the light rain falling from the sky. This close, she could see every speck of gray in his cobalt eyes. His gaze darted down to her mouth and heat sparked low in her belly, igniting the need to give in to the white-hot connection burning between them. She didn’t know what she wanted more. To douse that connection with ice water and extinguish it forever, or keep it burning bright just to torture him for pretending it didn’t exist.

Being this close to him felt too familiar. Too intimate. Too…good. She swallowed, knowing she should tell him to back the hell off, but she couldn’t seem to find her voice through the tangle of emotions clogging her throat.

Her gaze dropped to the dog tags dangling on his chest and a flash of her gripping the chain as he dragged her in for a hot, wet kiss flashed across her mind. She wriggled against the truck, wanting, no, needing to put some space between them. His heat, his fresh-from-the-shower masculine scent, it was all over her, making her stomach tighten with want.

Wait…want? No. She did not want Nate Jennings.

What she wanted was to give him a swift kick in the family jewels to get him to back the hell off.

“Does this rule-setting require you to be shirtless?” she said in an unsteady voice.

“What’s the matter, Princess?” Nate smirked. “Afraid you can’t control yourself around me?”

“If you’re referring to my burning desire to physically harm you, then yes. That is something I’m concerned about.”

His gaze drifted over her dress, which was slowly but surely going nearly transparent from the rain. “First rule. No more smart-ass commentary. I was late. I apologize. I want to get to Vermont with my sanity intact. That’s not going to happen if I have to listen to you run your mouth for fifteen hours.”

She shrugged. “I make no promises.”

His nostrils flared and she could hear his hands ball into fists against the truck. “Fine. But know that every time that pretty little mouth pisses me off, I’m going to retaliate.”

She raised a brow. “I might actually feel threatened if I thought you’d keep your word,” she said. “But I think we both know how good you are at that.”

“I think I might be motivated enough to follow through this time.”

“Oh yeah? And what exactly do you plan to do? Spank me?”

His smirk curled. “As tempting as that sounds…” He leaned in close enough to share the air touching her lips. “I’ll do the one thing I know terrifies you the most.”

She lifted her chin a fraction, refusing to be intimidated. “And what is that?”

“I’ll kiss you.”

Her lips parted without permission and she sucked in a breath. “You wouldn’t.”

“Princess, I’d do just about anything to shut you up.” His voice lowered, the sound sending delicious vibrations down her spine. “If memory serves correctly, the last time I shut you up, you liked it.”

“I was faking it,” she snapped.

Fire lit behind his eyes and he pressed her into the side of the truck, his gaze raking over her suddenly trembling body. “Well, since you hated it so much, it should be decent motivation for you to keep quiet.”

Her pulse kicked up a notch as she tilted her head back to look him in the eye. This was the first time they’d been this close in a year. Hell, this was the first time they’d been alone without Hayden, Jace, or a bar full of people to create a buffer between them. She straightened her spine, refusing to let the arrogant bastard know how much he affected her.

His palm pressed into the truck door above her and he closed his eyes as if he were fighting for control.

“Are you sure you want to do this, Lil?” he whispered.

“Do what?”

“Take this ride. With me.”

He opened his eyes and the deep timbre of his voice sent a shock wave of unwanted heat through her. Anger burned right behind the desire, determined to snuff it out.

“Trust me, if I had another option, I’d take it,” she said.

“You remember what happened last time you got into my truck, don’t you?” he said. “Do you really want to risk that happening again?”

He dropped one hand to wipe a tiny smear of whipped cream from her collarbone that the rain hadn’t managed to wash away. Her body’s reaction to that simple touch was unreal. An ache bloomed between her thighs, and her nipples strained against the thin lace cups of her bra.

No. Her body was not reacting this strongly because of him. If it was, what did that say about her? She could barely stand to hear his freaking name. She blamed it on her sexual drought. She hadn’t been with a man in a really long time. That was all. Her body was just starved for any kind of attention. By this point, a bum could probably have elicited this same reaction.

She swallowed the lie and sucked in a breath. “You know, I don’t remember that,” she said. “Must have been too underwhelming to leave an impression.”

His eyes narrowed and one of his fingers lifted a lock of her hair. “I don’t remember you complaining. If anything, I remember you begging for it.”

Her spine stiffened. With all the back-and-forth sniping between them over the past year, neither of them had ever mentioned that night. And now a year later, he was using it against her?

“You didn’t stick around long enough to hear the complaints,” she gritted out. “Maybe next time you decide to do a fuck-and-dash, you should leave a comment box next to your bed instead of a wad of cash. I have a feeling the feedback would be helpful to an inconsiderate tool like you.”

She gave his chest a firm shove, pushing him back a few steps, then pulled the truck door open, climbed in, and shut it in his face, before he could retaliate.

She rolled the window down a smidge. Just enough to get a good look at the dangerous glint in his eyes and the erection filling out his jeans.

“So. Are you going to stand out there all day, or are you going to get this rig on the road?” She flashed him a satisfied smile. “Clock’s ticking and Vermont’s waiting, Soldier Boy.”

Chapter Four

Beyond the driver’s-side window, the cluttered city had disappeared, giving way to long stretches of wheat and tobacco fields. If Nate had been alone, he’d have taken the time to appreciate just how beautiful the state he’d called home for the past two years was. But focusing on anything other than the woman torturing him from the other side of the cab was damn near impossible. Only a half hour outside Charlotte, and Nate was already going crazy. Without Lilly even uttering one damn word.

Unfortunately, she had other weapons at her disposal…and she was using them. Any second now, his head was going to explode. Or possibly, other parts of his anatomy.

She’d ditched the high heels and now her bare feet were propped up on his freshly Armor All-waxed dash, her perfectly manicured pink toes tapping out the rhythm to a silent tune. The hem of her dress seemed to slide another inch up her thigh every time the truck rolled over a fucking pebble in the road.

If only he could find a speed bump to fly over or a curb to check. Maybe then he’d finally get to see what color her panties were, and his cock would stop punishing him for wondering.

Half an hour in the car and he could already smell her on his clothes, bringing back memories that needed to stay buried if he wanted to have a chance in hell of keeping his dick in his pants on this trip.

He pushed his Ray-Bans up his nose and forced his attention back to the road.

He’d meant what he’d said. If she kept giving him shit, kept teasing him, he would retaliate with that kiss. His dick was literally begging for her to smart off, just to give him an excuse to taste her.

Would she taste the same? God, he hoped so. Her taste had ruined him. He still couldn’t eat a strawberry without sporting a damn hard-on. She might push him past his breaking point and irritate the hell out of him, but damned if he could fight back against the desire she sparked in him.

He needed to fight it, though. He really fucking needed to, if he knew what was good for him…and for her. He had too many battles to fight in his life, and this was one he didn’t have the energy for. Or the will. Even now, the darkness and anger inside him were beating on his skull, demanding he allow his emotions to implode. They were always there—reminding him of the people he’d failed. And the mistakes he’d made.

Hale. Clemmons. Keller. Puckett. Rivera. Hanson. Lopez.

Nate gritted his teeth and rubbed his dog tags between his fingers, trying to focus on the road and not the ghosts fighting for space in his head.

But it was no use. As the only survivor of that hellish day, as the one who had brought that helo down, he owed it to the dead. What he wanted didn’t matter. They mattered—the men who had counted on him to save their lives. The men he’d failed. And making their deaths mean something by going back to continue what they no longer could. That mattered.

Getting caught in the tangle of emotions that Lilly stirred up would only distract him from his mission. Would only make him want something he couldn’t have. And put even more strain on the thin line of self-control he teetered on day to day.

He couldn’t go there with her. Which meant it was time to banish the ongoing film reel of fantasies in his head starring him, Lilly, and a year’s worth of sexual tension set free.

“Could you get your feet off of the dash?” He scrubbed his fingers through his hair with his free hand, forcing patience into his voice. “I just waxed it.”

“What a coincidence,” she innocently mused. “I just waxed, too.”

Kill me. Kill me now.

He clenched his jaw so tight it popped. He forced a mental block to beat back the images of smooth, pink skin hidden under her barely there panties. But his dick wasn’t taking no for an answer. It rose to attention, making him shift in his seat.

“Are you going to take your feet down or not?” he snapped.

“I’m quite comfortable like this. But thanks for your concern.”

She leaned over and flipped the radio on, severing the tense silence between them. She scanned the presets, then went rogue and landed on a pop station. She sank back into her seat with a smirk on her face and Nate cringed, losing his train of thought in the barrage of shitty music rattling his dash. Was that…Britney Spears?

Oh, hell no.

“I don’t think so.” He punched a preset and the twang of good country music filled the cab. He preferred silence, but anything was better than the teenybopper crap Lilly was trying to force on him.

“Hey! I was listening to that.” She switched the station again and cranked up the volume.

The pain throbbing behind his temple flared back to life and he gritted his teeth. Why the hell couldn’t anything with this woman be easy? Was she deliberately trying to make his life hell? As if he needed anyone to help him with that. He managed to find himself there every night all on his own.

He looked over at the smart-mouthed temptress taking up the other half of his bench seat. Of course she was. She wouldn’t be Lilly if she wasn’t being a colossal pain in his ass.

“My truck. My music.” He punched the preset again, reviving George Strait’s voice, and Lilly made a frustrated sound. When she reached out again he grabbed her wrist before her fingers could reach the button.

Immediately, he regretted the decision. After all her teasing, that little bit of skin-on-skin contact was all it took to send a hot shiver of desire down his spine, lighting a fire under his cock so hot, he didn’t think he could ever snuff it out.

“What are you going to do?” She smirked. “Retaliate?”

He could think of a hundred ways he’d like to retaliate for all of the torture she’d unleashed on him over the past year. Shaking her earth-shattering ass in those tiny dresses at the club while he was forced to stand behind the bar and watch. Twisting him up inside with her smart mouth until he didn’t know the difference between anger and lust. He released her wrist, ignoring the heat in her eyes, and returned his attention to where it belonged.