Free Caught by Surprise by Deborah Smith Page B

Mesmerizing her?
    “Nope. Moist heat.” He bent over and placed his damp, hot lips into the curve of her back.
    Millie shut her eyes tightly and willed herself to protest. The words were almost spoken when he slid his mouth up her spine, dabbing each vertebra with the tip of his tongue. Speech, she realized quickly, was an impossibility. Nothing had ever felt so good.
    Brig stopped at the base of her neck and nibbled gently. Then he reversed the journey, tracing her spine back down to the edge of her shorts. When he circledher beauty mark with his tongue, she simply moaned and gave up.
    “You can stop doing that in about a million years,” Millie whispered.
    “No harm in it, eh?”
    “Plenty of harm. But I’m only human.”
    “Female human. Without a doubt.” He began kissing her shoulder blades, his breath brushing her skin in warm puffs. The fingers of one hand trailed up and down her spine. “Woman with all sorts of womanly feelings.” His fingers curled around her waist and stroked upwards to the sides of her breasts. She shivered as he rubbed lightly. “Melisande,” he whispered in a husky tone, “this part of you is so soft and delicate.” He chuckled, the sound strained. “I’ve got just the right hard parts to go with your soft ones.”
    Millie tried to take a breath, only to hear a shallow, ragged sound. “Stop. Oh,
please
, stop.” She raised her head and pushed clenched fists into the bed.
    He pressed her down again. “Sssh. Relax. Well talk about safer things, love.”
    She sighed heavily. “Nothing is safe with you.”
    His hands moved with wicked skill over her back, coaxing her to relax again. “I can behave,” he assured her. “Now, let’s see … the navy. Tell me why you left the navy.”
    Millie hugged the pillow under her head and tried to arrange her whirling thoughts. After a moment, she said quietly,. “The military still isn’t a good place for a woman. No matter how competent you are, you’re still a woman doing a man’s job. Everyone treats you like some sort of experimental toy. Sexual harassment is a way of life.”
    “But you’re not a quitter. What made you give it up?” She frowned and was silent. He grasped her shoulders and squeezed. “Talk, Melisande. I keep secrets like a miser keeps money. You’re safe with me.”
    Tears came to her eyes. She
did
feel safe with him, even though he kept up a running assault on her resistance. “I was assigned to the shore patrol at one’ ofthe Pacific bases. There weren’t many women there, and I was the only one who wasn’t a secretary or a nurse. The commanding officer decided I was eccentric, and he made my life miserable. He cornered me one night and said he was going to teach me how a normal woman enjoys a man.”
    Brig’s voice was rough. “I reckon you showed him that a normal woman can fight like hell.”
    She smiled against the pillow. “He didn’t walk without limping for two days.” The smile faded. “I filed a complaint, and there was a hush-hush investigation. He got away with a slap on the wrist and I ended up looking like a troublemaker.”
    “Damn, Melly. Damn.” He kissed the back of her neck in sympathy and rested his coarse masculine cheek there. They were both silent for a moment.
    “Brig? No one but you knows that story. I didn’t want my brothers to find out that I was attacked. Kyle and Jeopard work in navy intelligence—very important stuff, and they have solid careers. They think I left the navy because I got tired of sexism, which is basically true.”
    “But why—”
    “They’d have located that officer and beaten the hell out of him,” she explained grimly. “They still might, if they found out. I won’t let them risk their careers that way.”
    “I like your brothers, and I haven’t even met them.”
    “If you think
I’m
a tough cookie, you should meet Kyle and Jeopard.”
    Brig stroked a hand over her hair, letting his fingertips brush her forehead. “Sounds like a