Tawny Weber - Sunsets & Seduction - Mine Until Morning / Just for the Night / Kept in the Dark

Maybe this was ill-advised, but he hadn’t felt like spending tonight with a stranger, even if all they did was have a drink.

He was hoping for more.

“Just finished a job, and any port in a storm,” he said, then winced at his poor choice of words. She didn’t seem to take offense.

“It’s a bad one out there, but not the worst I’ve seen,” she said, holding her glass to full lips that needed no coloring. He’d always loved that she didn’t wear lipstick. He hated the stuff. “So you’re working with your brothers now?”

“Yeah, personal security. How’d you know?”

She smiled at him, her eyes sparkling. Stupid question. She was one of the best news reporters in Hampton Roads, and she knew a lot about everything, and everyone, between here and the District.

“I’d hoped you’d be here tonight,” he said bluntly, meeting her bright blue eyes, and also appreciating the way her damp curls clung to her cheeks.

“Really?” she said, looking away. “Why’s that?”

He smiled and took another sip from his beer, shaking his head. “Just finished a job that reminded me about how crazy stuff can be out there. I don’t know. I guess I wanted to spend some time with a friend,” he replied somewhat truthfully.

“Friends? Is that what we were?” Her tone was somehow humorous, skeptical and suspicious all at the same time.

“I hope so,” he responded, and decided to cut to the heart of it. “When jobs are done, the intense ones, sometimes it’s like …”

“Hitting a wall? Like go-go-go then full stop?” she supplied.

“Yeah,” he said. He knew she’d understand. “You’re on a constant adrenaline trip for weeks, not unlike combat in some ways. Then it just ends, and while that’s good, I—”

“Have energy left to burn?” she asked.

“Something like that.”

“And you thought you might burn some off with me?” she asked, her voice hardening, and she shook her head. “No, thanks, Ely. I’m not interested in being another one of your pit stops.”

She stood, ignoring her drink on the bar, turning to leave.

Ely reached out, grabbing her arm gently, but firmly enough to stop her from walking away.

“Hey. It’s not like that.”

“That’s not how I remember it.”

“I know. I wasn’t ready then. I was just back from Afghanistan, I hadn’t even seen my family in more than two years and when I was in the hospital, I wasn’t sure if I was going to see them again, period. I didn’t know how to get back to normal, whatever that was. You helped. I’m sorry I left like I did. I never meant to hurt you. I just didn’t know what I wanted.”

“And I wanted too much,” she added.

“Yeah.”

Her stance softened a bit, and she looked back over her shoulder at him, but didn’t pull her arm away.

“Looking for a second chance, Ely?”

Was he?

He’d been back in civilian life for three years. When he was in Kandahar, he hadn’t had a chance to think about the future. When he’d gotten back, he couldn’t stop thinking about the past. It had taken him a while to put it all behind him and accept that he even had a future, especially after he’d come close to being blown to bits.

Eventually, he’d looked around him, around his life, at his own family, and realized he wanted more.

Did he want more with Chloe? Is that really why he came here tonight? Hadn’t he been thinking about it for days? Maybe longer? A second chance to find out seemed right.

“Yeah. Maybe, if you think we might have something worth taking a chance on,” he said, letting his hand slide down her arm to find her hand.

She stood still for a minute, as if weighing her decision, and squeezed his hand, nodding.

“Let’s get out of here,” she said.

They walked out into the storm together, making their way to her car. When she opened the backseat door instead of the front, he paused, surprised, but then joined her, the storm surging around them as neither had any interest in waiting.

He hadn’t planned on this, either, but he wasn’t about to turn her down. Hunger took over, and he buried his face in the soft volume of her breasts. It all came rushing back, how sweet, how responsive she was.

She gasped as he pushed her blouse and bra aside, holding his head to her as he sucked a velvety nipple into his mouth, drawing on it as he laid her back on the seat, pulling the top off altogether. No one would see them at the back of the lot, through the fury of the storm.

She pulled at his clothes, too, obviously not interested in anything slow this time, and within seconds, they were both naked.

He covered himself without wasting any time and met her where she sought him, thrusting deep, feeling her clamp down around him, the two of them coming together within a few short, hot minutes.

“Oh, no,” he panted, embarrassed and unable to believe he’d been so quick. “Sorry.”

“For what?” she asked with a slow smile that had him hardening again.

Pulling her up with him, he sat so that she straddled his lap, still planted deeply over him. She ground her hips against him in a circular motion that had her dropping her head back, those marvelous breasts positioned where he could lick, nibble and suck his way to ecstasy as she rode him.

The rhythm picked up, and they were both mindless, as if having waited for each other all this time and not able to devour each other fast enough.

She looked down, framed his face with her hands, and kissed him so deeply that neither of them could breathe. His body bucked beneath her as she cried out, too. He bowed beneath her, jacking his hips upward in hard thrusts as he came with a fierceness that left him trembling.

They were both breathing heavily, held close against each other, wordless as everything calmed around them.

“You should know you’re the first guy I’ve ever done in a backseat,” she said with a smile. “But I knew as soon as I saw you that this was going to happen.”

“Really?” he said, kissing her lovely, full bottom lip.

“Yep.”

“My hotel isn’t all that great. Your place?” he asked, hoping this wasn’t the end of their night together.

“I’ll drive,” she agreed as she pulled her clothes back on and they moved to the front.

Ely could have cared less about the storm, watching her every second of the drive, reviewing everything he was going to do right this time. He hadn’t planned on a second chance, but now that he had one, he wasn’t going to blow it.

“SO HOW DID YOU get to be such good friends with Kate anyway?” Jonas asked as they ran into the train station, finally under cover, soaked through yet again.

“She came into the shop when it first opened, and I made some special items for her. She was always very lively and friendly, and she invited me and Lydia to lunch a few times,” Tessa explained, getting their tickets and leading him to the platform.

“Then her husband died, and I knew that they didn’t have children, or other family close by. Her diabetes was affecting her sight, and just this year she was declared legally blind.”

Tessa peeked up to see Jonas’s expression, which remained stoic as he listened.

“So, I started helping out, visiting her more, and it just became part of my life. I never knew my grandparents, at least not on my mother’s side, and my father’s parents, well, let’s just say they preferred my brother,” she said, laughing shortly.

“So Kate was like a foster grandparent for you?”

“Something like that, I guess, though I really consider her a friend. I like spending time with her, listening to her stories about her and her husband, and she plays a mean hand of canasta.”

Jonas laughed, and she pulled back to look at him in surprise as they boarded their train.