Free Highly Charged! by Joanne Rock Page B

sleeping in the home of a gorgeous woman who wanted him as much as he wanted her. She’d felt like an angel in his hands, her body so smooth and perfect. Her touch had been sweet and gentle when she’d awoken him from his private hell. And when things turned carnal, she’d been right there with him. Her brain might not have approved the plan yet, but her body had spoken volumes—enough to assure him they’d be finding mutual bliss together soon. He’d kissed her before bed. He’d worked his way into her good graces.
    By all accounts, he should have gone to bed one happy freaking dude. Still, he’d woken up screaming like a pansy and replaying the scene in his mind before that bomb had exploded and sent his world to shit.
    Brad had been wearing protective gear that afternoon when he’d dismantled the IED. The local kid who’d secretly followed him into the field hadn’t been so lucky. The kid’s father—a subsistence farmer with more offspring than resources—had pulled the kid back, shielding him at the last second. Saving the boy. Losing an arm.
    How the hell would he farm now? Brad had the benefit of the U.S. government to swoop in and provide topnotch medical care for the burns and shrapnel wounds in his leg. What did the Middle Eastern farmer have for support? While military hospitals patched up any number of civilian casualties, the guy had refused assistance from a military doc for fear of retaliation from insurgents in his town.
    And Brad blamed himself. Not for detonating thebomb. That was his job. He was guilty for befriending the kid in the first place, working around the language barrier to form a bond with a local boy in need of a role model. Some freaking hero he was.
    He didn’t know what to do with all his anger. And it only pissed him off more that he was stuck here—motionless and useless in Virginia.
    At this rate, he’d be lucky to receive his Get Out of Jail Free card from the base shrink. He pounded his head against the pillows that smelled like Nikki’s shampoo. Obviously, he’d lie through his teeth when they asked him if he was still having nightmares. But what if the flashbacks interfered with his ability to do his job?
    That, he could not even consider.
    Nikki had no idea how much he needed her. How much he wanted to be here, away from the four walls at home that he’d been starting to climb. At least here, she’d awakened him before the worst of the dream came, when he started to re-order all the sequence of events to try and come up with a scenario that wouldn’t have resulted in a bomb going off and almost killing that kid.
    Tonight, she’d ended up in his bed afterward. And he didn’t mind waiting for her to be ready for more. He wanted to be around her in the hope all the work and the sex thoughts would chase away the bad crap clogging up his brain.
    Burying his head in the pillow, he inhaled her scent. Focused on the memory of her soft skin and the sound of her sweet sighs every time he’d touched her. He wished he could indulge in those thoughts just for the pure pleasure of it.
    But he had the feeling they were the only way he’dkeep from losing his mind tonight. At least, she’d made it clear she didn’t want a relationship, so he didn’t have to feel guilty about the fact that he didn’t have jack shit inside himself to offer a woman emotionally.

6
    â€œS O WHO IS E DUARDO?”
    Brad’s question surprised her the next afternoon as Nikki picked up a broken beer bottle from an overgrown garden. They’d settled into a work routine early, perhaps hoping mutual avoidance would solve some of the issues between them. Apparently he wasn’t any more ready to talk about what had happened the night before than she was. She was so mixed up and confused, part of her longing to tug him back into the house to finish what they’d started. Another part insisted she keep