Free High Octane Heroes by Delilah Devlin (ed) Page A

at formal dinner tables.
    He pushed aside the panel leading into Kate’s room and stepped through, the ring in his breast pocket burning a hole through to his heart. He loved Kate, and he wanted her to be a part of the rest of his life. He’d planned on laying out clues for her to find over the next few weeks until finally he’d take her out to dinner and propose to her.
    But today, he’d received his transfer orders. Max knew he couldn’t wait, and he couldn’t walk away from Kate. He didn’t want this fantasy to end. Tonight, he’d ask her to marry him, and he prayed she’d accept.
    When he stepped out of her closet into the bedchamber, at first he didn’t see her. “Kate?”
    “It took you long enough,” she said, her voice low and sexy. She lay in her bed, the cream-colored sheets pulled only up to her waist, her breasts bare and tempting in the light from a softly glowing lamp on the nightstand.
    Max stepped forward. “I hope you were expecting me.”
    “Only you, babe. Only you.” She threw back the sheet and quirked her head. “Join me?”
    His heart flipped in his chest, and his blood pounded through his veins as he ripped through the buttons on his uniform.
    For such a proper ambassador’s daughter, she was mind-blowingly passionate, a fact that still amazed him and made him burn with desire.
    Max shrugged out of his jacket, hanging it on the bedpost.
    “Let me help, or we’ll be all night.” Kate leaned up on her knees and reached for the buttons on his shirt, flicking through them with quiet efficiency. Then she tugged the tails out of his
trousers and pushed the edges over his shoulders, her hands sliding down the muscles of his shoulders and arms. She pressed her lips to his chest, finding and nipping at the little brown nipple over his heart.
    Max sucked in a breath and concentrated on control. He unbuckled his belt and slipped the hook free on his trousers, his motions jerky in his haste.
    “Uh-uh.” Her fingers caught his as he reached for the zipper. “Mine.” Kate dragged the zipper down. “Always in uniform? Right down to the tighty-whities.” She clucked her tongue even as she hooked her thumbs on the waistband of his trousers and underwear and pushed them downward until his cock sprang free. “Come to me.” She stroked him, those supple digits sliding over his engorged shaft, her right hand reaching low to cup his balls and roll them between her fingers.
    Patience shattered. Max kicked off his dress shoes and trousers. He grasped Kate’s shoulders and lowered her to her back in the bed, then climbed over her. “You take my breath away.”
    “I try.” She smiled up at him, her full, pink lips puckering. “Aren’t you going to kiss me hello?”
    “I’m going to do more than that.” He nudged her knees apart and slid in between her thighs. “But first…I’ll launch my own assault.”
    “Oh, should I be wearing camouflage…?” Her calf slid up the back of his leg. “And should I be carrying a weapon?”
    “Babe, your are the weapon. You’ve completely pierced my heart and laid it open.”
    “Such sweet talk from a grunt.” She wrapped her hands around his neck and drew him down to her. “Shut up and kiss me.”
    He lowered, his mouth claiming hers in a devouring kiss. He braced himself in the front-leaning-rest position so as not to
crush her with his weight, the muscles in his arms tight.
    When he came up for air, he forced himself to concentrate on pleasing her. If she let him, he’d spend a lifetime showing her how much he loved her.
    Max started by laying siege to her throat, tracing a path from her chin to the base of her neck and tonguing the spot where her racing pulse beat crazily beneath the skin.
    “I thought the dinner would last forever,” she admitted, her hands skimming over his shoulders and down to his waist.
    “I couldn’t take my eyes off you.” Max continued his attack, firing kisses and nips over her collarbone and the swell of one