Christmas with the Marine Read online

  And then she’d invited him to her room. So he could have some peace and quiet and raid the minibar.

  Ben was more than a little confused. Usually he kept things pretty simple with women. They had a good time, slept together and then that was that.

  With Ainsley, well, it was complicated.

  But he did welcome the quiet. He was embarrassed that Megan had told her about his breathing exercises backstage. That was something no one, except some of his closest friends, knew about. The waves were a lot more relaxing than the sounds in the ballroom and his shoulders felt like they’d dropped at least an inch, maybe two.

  Inhaling the salty air, he closed his eyes.

  Heaven. This thing with Ainsley, whatever it was—he’d let her lead the way. Maybe she was just as confused as he was. Given how she’d acted in the elevator, he had a feeling she wasn’t in the habit of asking guys to her room.

  He heard the faucet in the bathroom turn on. She’d gathered some clothes and gone into the bathroom to change.

  He remembered he was supposed to be finding them drinks in the minibar, which was better stocked than most of his friends’ kitchens.

  Certainly better stocked that his. He’d moved into his apartment right before Thanksgiving. Then they’d been sent to Germany for a training mission. And since he was hardly ever at home, except to sleep, he hadn’t done anything with it, or bought much food. It was the first place of his own. For years he’d been living on base, or military housing, but he’d always had roommates. He preferred sending his money home to help out.

  But last year, his mom had finished her nursing degree and had a great job. She refused to take his money, though she allowed him to contribute to his sister’s college fund. She was also paying him back for the house he’d bought them a few years ago.

  He didn’t need the money, so he put it in savings with the hope that some day he might settle down and get a place of his own. But that was a few years away. He had his eyes on making colonel, so he had to focus on the Marine Corps for now.

  “You were drinking champagne—do you want that or something else?” he asked Ainsley, who was still in the bathroom.

  “What do you want?”

  You. But he didn’t want to sound cheesy or scare her off. Maybe she really was just being nice and giving him some peace and quiet before he headed out.

  “I was going to stick with water since I have to drive home in a bit.” He’d already had a couple of whiskeys. That was his rule. Two drinks and done. He never had liked the feeling of being drunk or out of control. Plus, he had enough trouble with headaches, so the last thing he needed was a hangover.

  “Oh, uh...” She sounded unsure about something.

  “What?”

  She opened the door and stepped forward. She was wearing little flannel shorts and a long-sleeve pink T-shirt that came down to her hips. He turned around and headed back to the minibar, pretending to be interested in the contents.

  No question, the woman was beautiful.

  Those legs. He so wanted them wrapped around his waist.

  “I thought we might hang out a little. I’m hungry again. I was going to order room service.”

  Food and hanging out. Well, if that’s what she wanted to do, he was game. And there was never a time he couldn’t eat.

  “I could go for some protein. Do they have a late-night omelet or something?” He shut the fridge door. But when he turned he found her staring at his chest.

  He glanced down at his shirt. Had he spilled something?

  “I don’t do this,” she said, and then she bit her bottom lip. She was nervous.

  “You’re going to have to explain what this is, because I’m not really clear on why I’m here,” he said honestly. Though her look was telling him something that he wasn’t sure she was ready to say. “I’m a pretty straightforward guy. Just tell me what you want, Ainsley. Tell me why I’m here.”

  She fisted the bottom of her shirt, and then took a deep breath. “I don’t just have sex with guys, usually. I, um, I have to know them, uh, you. But you’re different. I want to be superclear about this. This is simply fun. Okay. Just fun.”

  “Got it. You don’t normally have sex with a guy in a hotel room, someone you’ve recently met, but you want to with me?”

  She nodded. “You know, I’m a confident woman. So I don’t understand why this is so tough for me. Do you want to have sex with me? I mean, we were flirting—”

  His mouth was on hers before she could finish the next word. She tasted of mint, and he had to have more. He backed up against the wall and she leaned hard into him, her breasts pushing into his chest.

  Her tongue warred with his, and when he slid his hands over her butt and brought her against his hardness, she let out a sweet little moan.

  The woman was supremely sexy.

  It was tough, but he broke off the kiss and lifted his head. “How does this feel?”

  She blinked and then glanced back at his hand on her ass.

  She nodded. “This feels good. Amazing. Spectacular. More. If this is our one night of fun, I want us to make the most of it. I need you to touch me almost more than I need to breathe.” Her hand caressed his chest through his shirt. “Give me more, Marine. Much, much more.”

  “Unbutton my shirt, Ainsley.” She wanted quid pro quo, he’d give it to her. Though her touch might be more than he could take. He was already so hard.

  She gave him a fake salute and did what he’d asked. Then she pushed the shirt off his shoulders and he let it hit the floor.

  She traced the Semper Fi tattoo with her finger. He’d had it for years, the first thing he’d done after boot camp. The same boot camp that nearly killed him. When he’d finished the intense training, he felt as if he could do anything. He also felt as if he’d found a home. He was faithful to the Corps through and through.

  “Now you,” he said, and he lifted the hem of her T-shirt. She was naked underneath. “More beautiful than I could have imagined,” he told her. His thumbs gently teased the tightening buds.

  “So are you,” she said, her hands gliding up his torso. Then she kissed him. The sensation of her mouth on his, combined with the feeling of her nails lightly brushing his stomach... Well, he very nearly lost it. Her hands moved lower, caressing him, and he hissed in a breath.

  As much as he hated to, he gently took her wrists and put her hands on his shoulders.

  “If this is going to last more than five minutes, I need you to keep your hands up here,” he said, tapping his shoulders, before kissing her again.

  She ground her pelvis against him, which wasn’t helping him maintain his control. She needed a release and he was going to give it to her.

  He rubbed her intimately, her shorts still on, but she quickly seized his hand and slipped it inside underneath them.

  Well, okay then.

  When his fingers found her slick heat, she groaned. At his tender touch, her body shook. Closer and closer still, she was reaching for that sweet release. Harder and faster, he aroused her; she now rode his fingers as if her life depended on it. He opened his eyes to watch hers glaze over.

  “Ben,” she whispered. “There. Yes. Right there.” He increased the pressure and soon she was chanting his name. Her body was so responsive, it made him want her even more. He wasn’t even sure that was possible.

  She writhed and repeated his name, her cry sounded, her pleasure peaked. He waited for her breathing to calm—he had a feeling if he let go of her, she would fall. Remembering what she’d said about being a puddle, he smiled.

  He walked her over to the bed and carefully laid her on it. It was high off the floor, which was perfect.

  Soon, he was out of his pants, but not before retrieving a foil packet from his pocket. Marines were always prepared.

 
Leaning next to her, he caressed her cheek and kissed her lips, her cheek...

  “Ben, I need you.” She raised her arms and opened them, welcoming him.

  The trust she showed him was an aphrodisiac if ever there was one. A man could get lost in those beautiful green eyes of hers.

  After putting on the condom, he spread her legs and wrapped one around his waist, the other he left down. He slid his tip into her.

  She shifted, and used her leg for traction, easing him farther inside her, moaning as she did.

  He couldn’t help but smile. He pulled out and then pushed back in gently.

  She bucked against him. “I need you, Ben. Fast,” she said. “Please.”

  That confident woman he first met, the one who seemed to own the world was back. She was no longer hesitant, and he found it attractive. Oh, yeah, he was going to give her whatever she wanted.

  He pumped into her strongly each time and picked up speed, biting his cheek as she lifted that other leg and locked her feet behind him. She was fisting the sheets, and from how she tightened around him, he knew her climax was close. He put a thumb on her clit and she arched off the bed. He’d barely rubbed it before she was quaking around him, her muscles squeezing him. It only took him a few strokes and he came hard.

  He collapsed over her, careful to catch himself on his forearms so he didn’t land his full weight on her. He kissed her as they rode the final waves together.

  She touched his cheek lightly with her fingers. “That was fun,” she said huskily.

  “Yep.” He wasn’t sure how she could speak. His mind wasn’t quite back on planet Earth. “Fun.”

  She kissed him. “I think we should do it again.”

  He chuckled.

  “I mean, if you want to. And not right this second. I need food. But then. Then I want to do it again.”

  “Yes,” he told her, though it was more of a mumble. “Again,” he said.

  “Good. Good. I’m craving waffles,” she said, as she dropped kisses along his chest, lingering at his tattoo.

  He didn’t eat food like waffles. He was careful about what he put in his body, but he wasn’t about to tell her that. She was so sweet, and hot, and sexy.

  They talked about nothing and everything. A half hour later their food arrived and they discovered creative ways to eat it off of one another.

  And then she said two words—“More, please.” And he was lost in her again.

  Insatiable, that’s what he was when it came to her. But this one night was it. They’d both been clear about that, but as she climaxed around him for the third time, a truth became apparent.

  He was in big, big trouble.

  6

  “LUV, YOU’VE BEEN staring at that same screen for a half hour. The CEO from Wilson’s will be here in twenty minutes.” Bebe’s voice broke through the haze that was her thoughts. Dang her. All morning Ainsley had tried to think of something other than her night of heaven with Ben. But—

  “Ainsley! Bloody hell.” She glanced up to find Bebe shouting from the door frame.

  “How do you know I wasn’t working?”

  Her friend rolled her eyes. “People who are working make clickety clack sounds with their keyboard. Usually your constant rattle on the keys drives me bonkers. But today, you keep sighing and then nothing. Are you going to tell me what happened this weekend? You’ve been acting weird ever since you walked in the door. And what’s with the gutted look?”

  Was she gutted? Maybe. She shook her head. No one, as far as she was concerned, would ever know what happened with her and Ben. It was a special night she was going to keep in her fantasies, probably for the rest of her life. They’d made love three times and her body still felt the effects, a wonderful soreness that she didn’t want to forget.

  Even though she had to. That was it. They weren’t even repeating that night. If only she could get the image of the hot Marine out of her head.

  He’d had to leave before it was light out; he needed to get to the base, and she was still mad because she’d barely been able to open her eyes when he was gone. He’d whispered something but she couldn’t remember the words.

  She’d pay big money to know what he’d said.

  When she’d opened her eyes finally, he was no longer there. She’d wanted to make love to him one more time. Just to get him out of her system.

  Yep. That’s why.

  Bebe cleared her throat.

  She glanced up at her friend. “I’m on it, okay? You know how I am when I’m working on those creative problems. Sometimes I stare off into space. Go make the coffee or something, already.”

  Bebe quirked an eyebrow.

  Cranky. “Sorry. Sorry. I’ll make the coffee.”

  Her friend smiled. “Don’t worry about it. I’m just giving you a hard time. I already know about your midnight shag with the handsome Marine.”

  “What?” Her hands flew out and nearly knocked over her coffee cup.

  “Well, technically, I didn’t know. I guessed, but you just gave it away.” She held up a newspaper. There was a picture of her dancing with Ben with the headline Military Men Break Charity Records.

  Kill. Me. Now. What would Ben think of that photo? She hoped he didn’t mind being in the paper or linked to her. Sometimes she forgot about the fact that some people were interested in her life just because her parents were wealthy. But the story really did seem to be more about the charity. At least there was that.

  “So we danced.”

  “Yes. And then what? You must have been snogging the heck out of that Marine,” Bebe said. “Look at how he’s staring at you, like he could never get enough of you. Whew. That’s some heat, luv.

  “And you’ve been starry-eyed all morning. So this is what you’re like when you get some good sex! Quiet, and introspective. Those aren’t two words I’d ever use to describe you. Maybe it should happen more often. Should I call the Marine for another session? He might be better than meditation or even yoga.”

  “Shut it.” What if he’d seen the photo? Would he be embarrassed? And her expression wasn’t much better than his. What had she been thinking right then? Because she looked like she was ready to rip her clothes off and have him... Well, she sort of, in a way, had been thinking exactly that.

  No. No. Don’t go there. He’d been doing her sister a favor and now here was his picture. No doubt it was online, as well. Would he get in trouble with his boss? He’d mentioned a couple of times how the officers were expected to lead by example and she didn’t know what he might think about ending up on the social pages. A big part of her was too chicken to even text him to ask.

  “Hmm. You are smitten. Fifteen minutes until one of our best clients arrives. You might want to at least look at your presentation, which I did just email to you. I think you’ll like the gifts I picked out for the executive level.”

  “Bebe?”

  Her friend turned back. “Yes?”

  “I really do love you best.”

  Her friend and business partner grinned.

  Ainsley downloaded the presentation and sure enough, her friend had outdone herself.

  Her phone dinged, and she glanced down to see Ben’s name flash across the screen.

  Her pulse quickened and she might have gasped a little.

  OMG. She hadn’t expected to hear from him again. They’d both agreed. She reached down to swipe across the screen, but stopped.

  There were voices in the outer office. Shoot.

  Ben would have to wait. Even though reading his text was the only thing she wanted to do. This was why she couldn’t do relationships, or fun in general. Life was too busy and she had to put all of her energy into her business. Spending hours mooning over some guy was not the best route to being productive.

  That settled
it.

  Leaving her phone on the desk, she gathered her laptop and headed into the conference room of the old house where she and Bebe worked. She lived upstairs, and the bottom of the Georgian home was where she did business. The conference room had actually once been the front parlor. She’d inherited the house and had planned at first to use it as a rental, but when she moved back to Corpus from Dallas, she and Bebe fixed up the downstairs for their offices.

  They’d kept the original style, but freshened up the place. It didn’t have the opulence of any of her parents’ houses, but that was one of the reasons she liked it here. This house felt like a home, not some museum where you couldn’t put your feet up. Straightening her shoulders, she didn’t bother glancing back at her phone. Even though she really wanted to.

  It was strange that Mr. Wilson wanted to meet here at the office, but who was she to question him? Saved her the drive to downtown, since her house was in one of the quaint neighborhoods near the beach.

  She pasted a smile on her face and entered the conference room. When he stood to shake her hand, the smile became real.

  Mr. Cam Wilson III was wearing board shorts and a T-shirt with flip-flops. Not exactly his usual Armani.

  “The waves up today?” she asked.

  “Yes, as a matter of fact they are. Packery Channel Beach is reporting five-foot swells—not so big, but bigger than usual.” He clapped his hands together. “We have twenty minutes. Show me what you got.”

  And this was what it was all about. Her business and the clients who depended on her.

  “Five minutes, and I’ll have you out of here. Wait until you see what we’ve come up with.” Thank goodness for Bebe. Maybe she really should talk to her friend about giving her a raise. She’d saved her today.

  She’d get through this.

  And then she was going to read the message Ben had sent, even though she really, really shouldn’t.