Free Ripped! by Jennifer LaBrecque Page A

not be good at flirting but he knew all about being a leader. So he took charge.
    He crossed the room, turned a corner lamp on low, walked back over and killed the overhead.
    He held out his hand. “Come here.”
    She put her hand in his and he led her to the sofa in the main room. He sat down, pulling her down beside him. “Where were we?”
    Her smile rocked his world as she leaned into him. “Something must’ve distracted you, Lieutenant Colonel.” She trailed kisses up the side of his neck, nipping at the tip of his ear. “You were conducting a reconnaissance mission.”
    “Then let me get back on task.”

7
    E DEN DIDN’T EVEN TRY TO STIFLE her moan as she tugged his shirt free of the waist of his jeans. Finally.
    She kneaded the muscles rippling along his back. His skin was warm and supple until she encountered a ridge of scar tissue. A warrior’s mark. Later. She’d ask later where he earned that.
    He nibbled his way along the ridge of her collarbone and up the sensitive line of her neck. Oh. My. God.
    “That feels…so…good.”
    He laughed softly, his breath warm against her highly-charged skin. “Does it? Does it feel as good as this?”
    Like a magician casting a spell over her, he trailed a matching set of kisses up the other side of her neck. Yes…
    “Hmm. That might even feel better.”
    “Really? Then what about this?” He scraped his teeth over the back of her neck and sensation shot straight to her core followed by a rush of wetness.
    She gasped. “Oh…yes….”
    “Put your arms around my neck,” he said.
    She did. Though blindly following orders went against everything she believed in, she had a feeling this would be to her benefit.
    In one smooth motion he stood, scooping her up in his arms. “Do you mind if we move to the bed? There’s a whole lot more room there.”
    “Be my guest.”
    She felt his belly muscles clench against her hip. She’d thought she couldn’t be any more turned on. But when he took her in his arms, she realized she could. She was.
    He crossed the room, carrying her as if she weighed no more than a sack of groceries—which God and her bathroom scales knew she did. He deposited her on the bed, kneeling.
    “Take off your shirt,” she said. He wasn’t the only one who could issue orders.
    He complied in short order, pulling his shirt up, over and off his torso. There was certainly no doubt he was Special Forces, not that there ever had been.
    “Oh…”
    He was…in short order…ripped. Shoulders, arms, chest, belly—all muscle and taut dark skin with hair scattered over his chest and down the ridged plane of his belly. A man in prime condition. Her Mercury.
    An arrogant smile curved his mouth. He had every right to be arrogant. He obviously worked damn hard to be in that shape. Any man who passed the rigorous training he had, and maintained that training on aregular basis should be proud of what he had. Which was why he could pick her up and carry her across the room as if her 150 pounds was of no consequence.
    “And I thought you were beautiful before…” she said.
    He shook his head, as if she constantly confounded him. “Men aren’t beautiful.”
    Eden hooked her finger in the edge of his jeans and tugged him toward her. “Honey, that is all a matter of perspective.”
    He lowered himself to lie beside her and brushed his hand over her forehead, along the curve and hollow of her cheekbone. His touch, sensuous, reverent had her shivering inside. “ You are beautiful. I wasn’t quite sure what hit me this morning and then I looked down and…” He outlined her lips with this finger. “I’m supposed to be prepared for anything. I wasn’t, however, prepared for a woman with midnight-blue eyes, an irresistible mouth, gorgeous legs and sexy red heels.”
    “Soldier, you know exactly what to say,” she said, exploring the texture of his skin with her hand, testing the springiness of his chest hair with her fingers.
    “I’ve wanted to do this