Free Special Forces: Operation Alpha: Protecting Maddie (Kindle Worlds Novella) (An Omega Team Crossover Book 4) by Desiree Holt

novel if that’s what you want.
    She wondered if he was going to leave the room so she could get her naked body out of bed. Instead, he leaned forward, pulled her close to his body, and kissed her with such intenseness, such fierceness, every drop of her blood heated and everything tingled—her nipples, her mouth, her sex. His tongue scoured her mouth, dancing with hers before he sucked it hard into his own mouth. She could barely breathe, but she didn’t care. She was lost in the erotic pleasure of the kiss, of his taste, of his nearness.
    Then, with the same abruptness, he lifted his head and sat back.
    “I could do that all day, but you have a classroom waiting for you. I’ll fix breakfast.”
    He walked from the room with his measured stride, leaving her naked and speechless. She stared after him, slightly shell-shocked but still mesmerized by the flex of the muscles in his back and as much of his toned body as she could see.
    Scrubbing herself in the shower, she could still feel the touch of his hands and his mouth on her body. He knew all too well how to coax every response from her. How to take her up that slippery, erotic slope so she could fly apart with the force of her orgasm. She didn’t know who was more shocked at what had happened, her or Hawkeye. That kiss this morning had shocked her even more. How was she supposed to act during the day now? Would he talk about it? Should she?
    Ready to bang her head against the tiled walls of the shower, she finally shut off the water, stepped out, and discovered he’d not only left a towel on the vanity for her but also a steaming mug of coffee. God, the man was certainly a mixture of contradictions.
    He was waiting for her in the kitchen, a mug of coffee in one hand, his cell phone in the other. She’d told him she seldom ate much for breakfast, but he’d set out a bagel and cream cheese on the counter.
    “I learned a long time ago you have to feed the machine.” He dipped his head at the food. “Something to prime the machine.”
    “Oh. Um, thank you.”
    “Grey Holden called.” He held up the phone. “Their immediate crises are under control. That means he’s freed up some computer time. I asked them to do a history on you covering everything from the day you were born. I could only do so much myself with the links they gave me access to.”
    “Okay.” She spread cream cheese on one half of the bagel. “Are you informing me or warning me?”
    “Both, I guess. There has to be something, maybe that you don’t even know about, triggering this.”
    Maddie bit off a piece of the bagel and chewed thoughtfully. “I know you must find this hard to believe, but I really have lived a plain, ordinary life. I never even got in trouble at school.” She gave him a weak grin. “Although, in college, Gretchen tried hard enough to coax me into it.”
    “If she’s Ghost’s cousin, I’m sure she did. Go on.”
    “I grew up in San Antonio, Texas, but you already know that, I’m sure. My dad works in accounting, and my mom has been with the library forever. There is nothing outstanding about that, right?”
    “I don’t know. I’ll let you know when I hear back from Omega. Meanwhile, let’s get you to work.”
    As he had the two previous mornings, Hawkeye checked the monitor for the outside cameras twice and then did a visual check before allowing her into the car and then backing down the driveway. Even then, she noticed before he started the car he took his gun out of his holster and placed it on the seat beside him.
    “Just in case,” he’d told her when she’d asked about it. “If I need it, I don’t want to have to go digging for it. We could both be dead before I got it out.”
    That was certainly a chilling thought.
    He didn’t speak again until they were on the interstate heading crosstown. “I have a feeling this has something to do with your mother and father.”
    “But why? I don’t understand. I told you how unremarkable they are.