Amy Fetzer - The Re-Enlisted Groom

Kyle’s heart did a quick slam in his chest at the familiar heat in her green eyes, vivid enough to create an ache in his groin. Damn. He hated and wanted her all in one breath. It wasn’t natural. What was, was his need to shake her, to demand why she’d abandoned him so brutally when he’d needed her the most.

Maxie Parrish had been his biggest heartache and his greatest humiliation.

But he was over her now. If he wasn’t, he would have looked her up long before now and certainly before this contracted deal with his chopper put him in her life. Regardless, Kyle’s gaze unwillingly lowered over the long slim body he remembered in his dreams. Her faded plaid shirt shaped her torso better than silk, loose shirttail over jeans worn nearly white and fitting her like skin. Her boots were scarred and caked with dirt. The Maxie he remembered was always dressed to kill and never without makeup. This woman had muddy knees and chipped nails.

But she was the same woman who’d deserted him without explanation, he thought as she reached out to unsnap the horse’s lead.

He caught her wrist as she passed, and their gazes clashed. “You’re wrong, Max. I know you better than any man.”

She tugged on his grip. “You’re dreaming. Again.”

With a jerk, he pulled her against him, hemming her in between his body and the wall as his free hand slipped smoothly inside her down vest. The cold air rushed into her lungs at the contact, then staggered as his fingers found their way beneath her shirttails, touching her bare skin.

Lord. It was as soft as he remembered, satiny, warm, making his body throb for her.

“Kyle, don’t.” She wiggled her wrist, but he held tight, even as his mind screamed at him to quit torturing himself, that he wasn’t prepared for any involvement with her, not again, not after the way she’d humiliated him. Yet without thought, he spread his hand over the small of her back, driving his palm upward, caressing, feeling. She was naked beneath the faded shirt.

“Oh, Maxie,” he hissed softly, and her eyes softened, drifting closed, her body gravitating toward him and he remembered... remembered tasting her skin, lying naked with her, being buried deep inside her soft body. His groin thickened painfully, and he pressed her into it. His face neared, his lips a breath from hers. He drank in her startled gasp as his hand swept around to enfold her bare breast, his thumb heavily circling her tight nipple. A moan escaped him, unheeded, like a long-awaited burst of freedom. That this, the passion, the desire neither could fight or understand, hadn’t changed, was a complication he hadn’t expected. Suddenly it made him feel unreasonably weak.

And he resented it.

Feebly Maxie wrestled against him, but the liquid heat blossoming through her body with every tiny movement of his fingers was hard to ignore. She’d hoped if this moment ever came, that her feelings would be faint, like an old wa tercolor, yet they were more like a cattle stampede, coming from all directions with a force that defied nature. Her knees softened, and all at once she was hot and hungry, vulnerable for the caress of a man. This man. No one made her feel like she did when Kyle Hayden touched her. The passing years had done nothing to extinguish it; in fact the ache in her was blistering, just waiting to be uncapped. She gripped his jacket lapel to keep from sinking into the floor and waited for more.

“Some things you just can’t forget, eh, baby?”

His mocking tone startled her, awakened her, and she knew in an instant he was throwing their past in her face. She focused on his eyes and found shaded indifference, a callous man without sympathy for how the past seven years had treated her.

She wrenched free and stepped back, furious with herself and him. “Yeah, but what we do about it is another,” she snapped, embarrassed she was so spineless when he touched her. “That’s all we had, Kyle.” She leaned a bit closer, her voice low with hot anger. “A little wild sex. Nothing more.” The lie rolled too easily off her lips. “At least I was smart enough to see that passion wasn’t enough for a lifetime.” She started past him.

He caught her, swiftly pressing her up against the wall and covering her mouth with his. He kissed her and kissed her, his tongue plunging between her lips, his hands diving beneath her shirt and molding her bare breasts. His hat tumbled to the ground as she growled against his mouth, teetering on surrender.

This is so good, she thought. He pushed his knee between her thighs, and she instinctively bore down on him, her fingers sinking into his hair and grabbing fistfuls, holding him as she paid him back touch for touch.

Suddenly he jerked back, staring. His lungs worked violently.

Her breath brushed his lips.

He arched a brow. “Not enough, Max?” The malevolence in his dark eyes was enough to make her see the moment for what it was. A humiliation. A payback.

She shifted past him, ignoring the feel of his eyes on her back as she headed out of the barn.

Kyle remained motionless, grinding his teeth, his gaze on her as she negotiated her way around tack and hay bales. He resented the hell out of it since he couldn’t even manage to move without snapping in half. And he was ashamed of himself for what he’d just done. But he’d never had much control around Maxie and knew the instant he’d seen her in the barn, he should have made an about-face and flown right out of there.

He stared at the dirt floor, rubbing the back of his neck. That was one hell of a reunion, he thought. But ending their relationship years ago was her choice, not his. She’d made the decision for them, excluding him completely and running like a coward. She never gave him the courtesy of having his say in the matter. The humiliation and agony of that day flooded through him again, and he clenched his fist over and over, wishing he’d never laid eyes on her again. He didn’t trust her. And the tightness crowding his jeans told him he shouldn’t trust himself around her, either. Nor could he board here for the next two weeks. No way. Seeing Maxie for ten minutes was enough to make him consider subcontracting out this flight obligation. That’s if he could have afforded it.

He had to make other arrangements. That was all there was to it Maybe the park service had something else, and he decided he would go check.

Raking his fingers through his hair, he grabbed up his seabag and strode to the entrance, but stopped abruptly when he saw her cross the yard to a horse trailer hitched behind a black Range Rover. She’s tucked her shirt in, he thought as she released the trailer door, lowering it to the ground, then disappeared inside, coming out seconds later leading a chestnut mare by the bridle. Her moves were confident as she led the animal into the paddock and out of his sight. Kyle tried not to crane his neck for a better look and stormed to his chopper. How could he hunger for a glimpse of her and curse the urge at the same time?

Outside, the wind howled around her Range Rover, and Maxie keyed the engine, letting the vehicle warm up. Closing her eyes, she pressed her forehead to the cold steering wheel and warned herself not to cry.

This was the worst, she thought. The absolute worst. That kiss—no—that mauling in the barn warned her not to give Kyle an inch. She smacked the steering wheel, angry with him for taunting her like that and herself for falling for him like a starry-eyed schoolgirl. Being weak-kneed around a man hadn’t happened to her...in seven years.

Oh, why did he have to show up now? Her priorities had been screwed up for years, and now that she’d gotten them in order, she didn’t want him coming in and fouling everything up. She was happy, for crying out loud. And for whatever reason Kyle was here, other than being a part of the standby rescue team for the park service, was meaningless. He no longer rated a priority in her life. She told herself that over and over, forcing herself to recall the look in his eyes after he’d kissed her, as if disgusted that the desire they’d once shared was stronger than ever. He was a bitter, angry man, and seeing him again only served to bring back the guilty pain. Just being within five feet of him was proof enough that her decision all those years ago had been the correct one. And she wasn’t letting him back into her life.