Course of Action: Out of Harm's Way / Any Time, Any Place
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“Yeah, Rush Springs. I grew up there and was a cowboy until me and my football buddies joined the military.” Travis smiled fondly. “I had six buddies on the football team, and we called ourselves the Sidewinders. Our team took the Class A football title for Texas and we were just this Podunk town out in the middle of scrub brush, desert and cactus.”
“You guys must have been really good,” Madison said, watching his face relax. It was a secret pleasure to watch him eat, the way his lips moved, sending heat sheeting down through her like a lightning strike. And his hands... What would they feel like, moving across her body? There was gentleness in him. He might have to kill the enemy, but his touch with her was always tender. She was shocked at her own sexual hunger for him. It was wrong, and she felt torn and guilty. He was more than likely married to a beautiful woman and had a couple of kids.
“We were a force to be reckoned with,” Travis agreed amiably. “All my buddies joined different branches of the military the day after we graduated. And we all ended up in black ops.” He smiled a little. “I just saw Duke Carmichael, one of the Sidewinders, a couple of months ago. We crossed paths at Bagram. He’s a black ops Air Force CCT, communications specialist. I was deploying into Afghanistan for six months and he was just leaving on another assignment. When we do cross paths, we catch up on one another’s lives.”
“Six months over here?”
“Yeah. SEALs are on a two-year cycle. We spend eighteen months back in the States and most of the time we’re renewing our skills, taking courses in our area of expertise and learning new weapons systems. Then, the last six months is rotation over here. I’m with Seal Team 3 and we’re always deployed to the Middle East. Other Seal teams take care of different parts of the globe.”
“I didn’t realize,” Madison admitted. “How do your wife and kids handle you being gone so much?”
He raised a brow and gave her an amused look. “SEALs have a ninety percent divorce rate. I’m in that statistic because I’m a SEAL.”
Her heart pounded a little. “Well, then,” she stumbled, “your girlfriend? A significant other?”
Travis just shook his head and paid attention to eating his MRE. “I have a lousy track record,” he muttered.
“I’m sorry,” Madison said quietly, holding his gaze. “You’re a hero in my eyes. That shouldn’t mean you have to be so alone.”
His heart squeezed unexpectedly beneath her sincere voice and expression. He could entertain having her as his woman, no problem at all. But as with all the rest of his experiences, women in his life went one way and he went the other.
“You get used to it,” Travis said, avoiding her searching blue gaze. The woman could melt rocks with those eyes of hers. Hell, she was melting him and he wasn’t sure what to do about it. Did Madison know her own feminine influence over him? Oh, in his high school days, because he was part of a star football team, he hadn’t wanted for girls. Every cheerleader had set their sights on the Sidewinders. And Travis had enjoyed his high school years. “Why aren’t you hooked up with a guy?” he asked.
Blinking over the blunt question, Madison shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe too many hours of training our horses and showing them? Running a breeding facility?” She opened her hands and added, “I love what I do, Travis. There aren’t a whole lot of single guys my age that are in the horse business. Most horse farms and breeding facilities are family run.”
“What do you like to do for fun?” He had images of her jumping into a river and skinny-dipping. Madison might seem shy, but he’d seen her strength under fire. He liked her way too much. She was appealing to him. Somehow, this blond-haired beauty was turning his world upside down and making him think differently about settling down.
Shrugging, Madison said, “You’ll laugh at me.”
“No, I won’t.”
The sparkle of life came to her eyes for the first time and it damn near stole his breath. Her cheeks flushed and her eyes were so alive. An ache, a really crippling ache, grabbed hold of his lower body. Would Madison look at him like that as he made love to her? His mind and his body rocked on that heated, dangerous question. “Tell me.”
“I have two passions in my life,” she said, feeling his genuine interest, feeling warmed by that intense look that made her yearn to kiss him. “I love my horses but my hobby is sort of boring by a lot of people’s standards. My mom, who is a large-animal vet, taught me quilting when I was a teen. I love making quilts for the elderly. I belong to a local women’s quilting club and we get together once a week to work on our latest quilt to help those who have so little.”
“Are you a throwback to another era and age?” Travis wondered aloud. “My grandmother quilted. My mother never picked it up, too busy raising us kids on a cattle ranch.”
“Maybe the word old-fashioned fits me, then?” Madison felt shy and broke away from his burning gaze. God, she felt like the man had X-ray vision and could undress her with his eyes. She didn’t feel threatened, but rather, desired. Very desired. Was something going on between them, something invisible? Whatever it was, she felt shaky, needy and hungry. Granted, Travis Cooper was a man’s man. There was no strutting. No bragging. He was quiet. Confident. She’d not met many men like him. And it drew her powerfully.
Old-fashioned.
Yeah, Madison certainly was. Travis smiled a little to himself as he finished off his meal. Madison seemed uncomfortable about admitting it to him. The Texas girls he grew up with were strong-willed and knew what they wanted. And they didn’t apologize for chasing him or his other friends to get their attention. He watched her nervously move her fingers clasped in her lap. “So, you were born in Texas?”
“Yes.”
“Horses consumed your life from when you were a little girl onward?”
“How did you know?” Madison was shaken by his insight into her.
“Just a guess,” Travis murmured, giving her a slight smile, trying to put her at ease. At least she’d eaten her meal and that was a positive start. Putting his MRE away, he said, “I’ve got a towel, washcloth and soap in my ruck.” He hooked a thumb over his shoulder toward the pool. “That’s glacial water and it’s damned cold, but you could strip out of those ruined clothes of yours, get washed and cleaned up. I’ve got some shampoo somewhere that I can scare up so you can wash your hair.” He saw her sudden response, hope coming to her eyes.
“Really? Oh, I’d give anything to get clean.” Madison wrinkled her nose, opening her hands, the fine silt and grit on them.
“I thought so,” Travis said, unwinding and walking to his ruck. Rummaging around, he found the items and set them on the sleeping bag near her leg. He added a clean T-shirt and a set of his trousers for her to wear because her clothes were torn and ruined. “I’m going to go check out our environs. Be back in about an hour, maybe a little less. Will that give you the time you need?”
Madison nodded. “Yes, thank you.” And tears suddenly sprang to her eyes. “I don’t mean to cry,” she whispered, trying to push them off her cheeks.
“Hey,” Travis growled, kneeling down next to her. He cupped her face, lifting her chin just enough to look deeply into her marred gaze. “Never apologize for tears, darlin’. You’ve been through a lot.” And dammit, he was going to kiss her if he didn’t stop right now. Dropping his hands, he gave her an apologetic look and stood up. He had to leave or they were both in trouble. Walking over to his M-4, he picked it up and threw the boonie hat onto his head. “I’ll see you later.”
Shaken, Madison could still feel the warm, callused hands cupping her jaw. His mouth had been inches from hers. Her breath had snagged, her pulse skyrocketed as he surprised her with his unexpected attention. Closing her eyes, she pressed her palms to them, feeling shaken, a quiver rocking through her womb. She released a huge sigh, then scrubbed her eyes and slowly stood up. Her skin burned with pleasure where his hands had slid across her jaw, holding her, looking so deeply into her eyes. She didn’t know what to do. Her world had turned upside down last night. Madison was still cartwheeling emotionally, unsure of herself.
Getting the towel, wash cloth and soap, she walked slowly over toward the pool that now glinted with sunlight. Her heart was pounding. And it wasn’t out of fear. She wanted Travis to kiss her. And then what?
Chapter 4
Travis moved silently into the cave an hour later. He saw Madison standing in the sunshine, looking up through the hole in the cave roof at the blue sky above. His body went on red alert. His T-shirt did nothing but emphasize her breasts and slender body. The trousers were far too large on her, bulky, and she’d rolled them up as best she could around her ankles. But that T-shirt... He took a deep breath, grappling with his desires.
“Hey,” he called, letting her know he’d come back. Madison started and jerked in a breath. “God, you scared me!” She placed her hand against her wildly pounding heart. Travis gave her a look of apology as he placed his rifle against the wall. He was sweating, his skin glistening, that hard look on his face. Only his eyes softened as he shed his gear and stripped down to his T-shirt and cammies. The man had a body that simply took her breath away.
“Sorry,” he said, meaning it. He walked over to her and frowned. “I thought you were going to wash your hair.”
Madison made a face. “I didn’t want to sound like a whiner,” she admitted self-consciously. “My shoulders... I can’t lift my arms above my chest to wash my hair. It’s too painful.”
Frowning, Travis reached out, his large hands covering her shoulders, feeling around the joints. “They’re screwed up because your hands were tied behind your back for eleven hours straight.” She flinched a little when he took her arm and slowly started to raise it. Lowering it, Travis shook his head. “You might have torn rotator cuffs.” If that was so, she would be unable to lift her arms very high at all. It would take a good four to six weeks until she could lift her hand over her head once again.
“That’s not good if they’re torn,” she muttered, wildly aware of his body, how close he was to her, the care burning in his eyes. Even as he examined her shoulder joints, it sent streams of pleasure through her.
“There’s nothing I can do except give you Motrin for the pain,” he told her, reluctantly releasing her. Travis stepped back because if he didn’t, he was going to kiss that mouth of hers. “Want to live dangerously?” he asked, grinning down at her as he placed his hands on his hips.
Puzzled, Madison stared up into his face. All that game face had melted away. The man who stood in front of her right now was pulverizingly sexy. Sensuality dripped off him. “Aren’t we doing that already?”
He chuckled. “I’m used to it. This is an ordinary day for me out here in the badlands.” He lifted his hand and gently caressed the tangled strands. “Let me wash your hair for you.”
Stunned, Madison blinked. “You?”
Travis shrugged. “Why not? I can position the bag and the ruck over there by the pool and get you to lie down. All you have to do is hang your head over my ruck and I can wash your hair.” Travis felt the heat flowing to his lower body. What would it be like to touch that mass of golden hair? He’d literally been itching to thrust his hands through it, to feel it. Madison looked thoughtful.
“I’d love to get my hair washed,” she admitted, hesitant. “Are you sure you wouldn’t mind doing it?” Just the idea of the intimacy of the act sent her pulse racing. She saw amusement in his eyes, that mouth of his relaxed, corners hitched upward. Being touched, really touched by Travis, sent crazy signals all through her body.
“Naw, piece of cake. I used to wash our quarter horses all the time, scrub them down, clean them up.”
Madison laughed softly and shook her head. “I’m hardly a horse, but I get the drift. I’ll do almost anything to get that horrible grit out of my hair. It’s driving me up a wall.”
She was driving him up a wall, but it wasn’t her fault. Travis nodded. “Okay, so let me get the bag and ruck over there.”
“Do you have a comb? A brush?”
“No brush. But I do have a comb in my ruck.”
“Shoot,” she muttered. “Even if you did, I can’t lift my hands high enough to comb my hair out.”
“I’ll do it for you.”
Madison watched him walk to the bag, pick it up and shake it out. Travis was not only going to wash her hair, but comb it? That sent a streak of heat down her body. She wavered, wishing she could stop wanting him. Travis had done nothing to indicate he wanted her. Except for that look in his eyes. That intense stare, that hunger she swore she felt coming from him, embracing her.
Closing her eyes, Madison wasn’t sure if she was going to cry or scream. For the hour he’d been gone, her emotions were flying around and she’d barely held on to them. Shock. God, she never realized what shock did to a person until now.
Still, Madison wanted her hair washed no matter what her feelings were doing. As Travis got everything in place, she forced herself to walk over to the pool. He was kneeling next to the ruck, his hands on his long, hard thighs.
“You don’t have to do this,” she said, giving him an unsure look.
“I want to do it.” Travis patted the ruck. “Come on, lie down. Head here and I’ll hold you.”
Madison chewed on her lower lip and finally eased down to her hands and knees on the sleeping bag. “You’re sure going above and beyond the call of duty on this one, Travis.”
He gave her a bemused look and watched as she lay on her back. “SEALs are used to doing just about anything to survive in the badlands. We think outside the box. I never thought I’d put washing and combing a woman’s hair on my list of things I could do.”
When she put her head over the ruck, Travis curved his hand beneath her long, slender neck, cupping the back of her head. At first she was stiff.
“Relax,” he urged, picking up an aluminum cup he kept in his ruck.
Madison eyed him worriedly and then dutifully closed her eyes. His gaze moved across her body. Her full breasts definitely gave his T-shirt new meaning. Her nipples pushed against the fabric. Madison was a curvy woman, not a stick-like model. He preferred his women with some meat on their bones, the softness of their curves, molding them beneath his hands.
Shutting off his desire, he absorbed the luxury of guiding her hair into the water, watching the flaxen colors become even darker. Her hair was so long, the strands so thick. He slid his fingers to the nape of her neck, easing the strands outward into the water. God, it was a delicious sensation feeling those smooth, thick strands moving like molten gold across the water, sliding through his fingers like wet silk. He felt himself harden and forced himself to focus. He dipped the cup in the water.
“This is going to be ice cold,” he warned her.
“Oh, I already know that.” Madison laughed, sliding her hands across her belly and linking her fingers. “I didn’t care. It just felt so good to be clean.”
Yeah, he knew that one. “Okay, give me your trust,” he coaxed. Travis felt her relax more and finally, she allowed him to hold her head and neck fully. Trust. He wanted to tell her she shouldn’t trust him. Thank God she couldn’t read his mind. She’d never have relaxed in his hand at all. As he ladled the water across her head, her breath hitched for a moment.
“Told you it was cold,” he said wryly, wetting her hair. As he looked at the strands beneath the sunlight lancing across the cave, he admired the different colors.
Madison grimaced. “It is, but I’m so grateful you’d do this for me.” And she was. His long fingers easily held her neck and her head. The water was stinging and took away from the pleasure she felt with his fingers upon her flesh.
“This will be a story you’ll tell your kids someday,” he joked, getting her hair completely wet. After setting the cup aside, he took the bottle of shampoo and drizzled it across her head.
“I wish I didn’t have a story to tell at all,” she admitted, frowning, feeling the stroke of his fingers begin to wreak another kind of magic. Oh! His massaging fingers made her purr. And then, to her consternation, her nipples hardened. Oh, no. There was nothing Madison could do about it, the slivers of heat radiated from her head to her breasts and then dove farther down. The man’s touch was scorching. Unsettling. Never had Madison felt this way, her body responding hotly to his firm touch.
“I can’t blame you for that. You went through hell,” Travis said, sad for her, but not missing the hint of attraction between them. Her hair was oozing with bubbles, his fingers sliding across her scalp and he watched as she utterly relaxed, lips parting, enjoying his caress. Once he’d thoroughly cleaned her hair, he began to massage her scalp. His erection was killing him. He ached to shift, to relieve the pain. Damn.
“Your hair is so thick. Like a horse’s mane,” Travis teased, trying to get his mind off his own anatomy. Impossible, but he was going to try.
Madison smiled a little. “Spoken like a true Texas boy.”
Laughing, he nodded. “That didn’t exactly come out right. You have beautiful hair, thick and silky.”
“My mother has thick blond hair. I got lucky and inherited her gene.” She wanted to groan with pleasure as he continued to carefully and thoroughly wash her hair. He’d probably take her groan as a sign of pain, not pleasure, so she bit down on her lower lip to keep quiet.
“You doing all right?”
“Umm, yes...it feels...wonderful.”
Travis smiled. Wonderful? Hell, this was foreplay in his book. Her face went soft, her lips ripened. All he wanted to do was cup her chin, angle her toward his mouth and kiss her until they melted into each other. He quickly rinsed away all the soap, her hair obviously clean even in the pool of water.
“I’m going to ease you into a sitting position and get your hair wrapped up.” He grabbed the towel.
Madison sat up as he wound the towel around her long, wet hair. She smiled to herself. His care made her heart open wide with ribbons of happiness. His slight awkwardness was touching to her.
Travis pushed the ruck out of the way, and with one hand on the towel, he got Madison to turn around. “I’m going to lean up against the cave wall and you’re going to sit between my legs. I’ll dry your hair enough to run a comb through it.”
“Okay,” she said, her voice a little breathless. She felt him sit down and saw his long, hard legs appear on either side of her. She sensed his heat, smelled him and his hands moving with luxurious slowness to dry her hair. Thick, wet strands fell around her face and shoulders. Madison smiled softly. Travis was all thumbs, but who cared? The fact he’d do this for her made her want him even more.
After placing the damp towel around her shoulders, Travis pulled the comb out of his cammie pocket. Madison sat straight, legs crossed, her hands in her lap. Easing his fingers through that dark blond mass, Travis urged it across her proud shoulders until all of it hung like molten gold between her shoulder blades. He went to work to tame it.
“Start at the ends,” Madison told him, “and work your way up.”
Travis nodded. “I can take apart my M-4 blindfolded and put it back together again but when I see the tangles and snarls in your hair I don’t have a clue.” He laughed.
“You’re doing fine,” she whispered, closing her eyes. Her scalp prickled and tingled with sparks of heat when his fingers accidentally grazed her. It felt so good. So...intimate. So hot. Madison could feel dampness collecting between her thighs and groaned to herself. She wanted to lift her hand and skim it down his hard, long thigh, wanting to feel his muscles leap, feel his response. Did he feel it, too?
Travis forced himself to focus on just her hair. God knew, he wanted to do so much more. And all too soon, her hair lay wet and gleaming, slightly curled, halfway down her back. In a selfish move, he slid his hands beneath the heavy curls and lifted them to his face, inhaling their fragrance. The fire within him expanded exponentially, making him clench his teeth for a moment until he wrestled himself back under control. Gently allowing her hair to lie against her back, he struggled and took in a deep, ragged breath.
“Could you braid it?”
Travis froze for a moment, caught up in the blaze within his body. “Braid?” he managed, his voice gruff sounding.
“I always plait my hair into one long braid. That way it’s out of my way.” Madison twisted a look over her shoulder. The expression in his eyes was raw, hungry. And just as swiftly, that burning look was gone. Her lips parted and Madison felt suddenly shaky, understanding more was going on than she realized.
“Yeah, I can braid it. Sort of like braiding a horse’s tail,” he said.
Oh, hell. He’d blown it! Madison’s expression told him everything. Travis wrestled inwardly with himself. His desire clashed with his sense of what was right and wrong. And he was acting more like a teenager than a grown, mature man. Worse, she’d caught him at it. So much for SEAL stealth, right? Furious with himself, Travis softened his voice. “Well, maybe not a horse’s tail, but you know what I mean?”
Madison wisely turned around. “I know what you mean,” she whispered. Unsure, she sat primly, shoulders thrown back, spine straight, hands in her lap. Her heart yearned for him even more now. Madison felt him divide her hair into three thick plaits, confidently weaving her hair into that braid she’d asked for.
“Do you have sisters?”
Travis frowned. “No. Can you tell?” he asked wryly, looking up and seeing her profile and her lips curving.
“No, not really.”
“How about you? Sisters? Brothers?” His fingers felt on fire, wanting desperately to maintain contact with her. Travis frowned, knowing he wasn’t controlling himself as much as he wished he could. Somehow, Madison had crawled into his heart, his body and innocently staked a claim on him.
“No, only child.”
“What will you do once we get you out of here?”
“Go back to the ranch. Tell my parents how sorry I am I screwed this up for them.”
Travis always carried string in one of his pockets. He let the braid sit against her back, dug out the string, cut off a piece of it with his KA-BAR and then tied it around the end of her braid to hold it in place. “I think they’re going to be far happier to see you home than be angry about it,” he told her. “There. Your braid is done.”
Madison turned around between his long legs and sat back on her heels. She pushed her damp palms against the cammies she wore. “Thank you. You have no idea how good it makes me feel.”
He wanted to feel, all right. Her. Every square inch of her flesh. Explore her. Feel her react to him. Listen to happy sounds caught in her throat as he pleasured her. Travis met and held her sincere and grateful blue gaze.
Madison looked like the girl next door, some shorter curls soft and dried at her temples, giving her a mussed appearance. She needed no makeup. Nothing. Her cheeks were flushed pink and that mouth of hers damn near did him in. Forcing himself to get up, Travis said, “Glad to be of help.”
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