|
An Excerpt From: BEYOND LUST
Copyright ©
MARY WINE, 2005.
All Rights Reserved, Ellora's Cave Publishing,
Inc.
“Javier, do I want to know what you’re doing on my
outpost?”
“No.” Javier watched Katriona as she stepped up into her
quarters, and softly snarled. “But I’ll be happy to furnish you with a few
odd reasons if you want to hear them.”
Lee only grunted, and that suited him just fine. His
body wanted to rise out of his chair as he considered what Katriona would
be doing inside her little home. Dark sweat marked her workout uniform and
she would peel it off her skin until she was bare. His cock twitched with
interest as he thought about what lay under that black fabric. Her breasts
were little mounds and his hands itched for them.
Javier sat in Lee’s front room because he was enjoying
the raw edge of need. It pulsed through his veins like a current as it fed
off each little detail his eyes had absorbed. The frank, female sway of her
hips as she walked captured his devoted attention.
“How in the hell did you rate a female lieutenant
anyway? I thought Russell was still pissed off at you for marrying Chenoa.”
“Oh, Russell is still bent out of shape, no doubt. I
think that’s exactly why he sent me a woman officer.” A cocky grin covered
Lee’s face as he looked at Javier. “Let’s see, There are now four officers
on my compound and we have only three housing units for officers. Three
thousand men under my command and not a bar within driving distance. Yup,
Russell is making a point by dumping a female officer into a command
position over my ranks.”
“Kiril had better be bunking with his men.”
“Much to Lieutenant Joy’s displeasure, he is.”
Javier raised an eyebrow at his friend. “She wanted to
share a bunkhouse with her men?”
“What she wanted was equal treatment, but I think
Russell sent her out here because she ticked him off, so I ordered her to
take over the housing unit.” Lee smirked at Javier as he leaned back in his
chair. “Who the hell am I to disagree with Russell’s privileged people
treatment plan, anyway.”
“She has a good heart.” Chenoa moved through the screen
door and sighed as the cool evening air hit her neck. Lee stood up as his
wife sat down next to him. Javier watched the concern float across his
friend’s face and felt like grinning like an idiot. The couple did that to
him. He had written Cupid off as dead until Lee met Chenoa. The two were so
deeply in love, Javier sometimes came out to visit just to watch them.
Chenoa raised her dark eyes and smiled at him as one of her hands rubbed
her distended belly.
“Lieutenant Joy has more patience than me. She claims to
have an understanding with Serena.”
Javier looked at the small housing unit and frowned.
“Kiril was dealing with Serena.”
Chenoa laughed. “It appears that Serena likes her home
and she refuses to move. Kiril takes her away each day and she is back
before sunset.”
“Move the nest.”
Chenoa covered her mouth with a slim hand as she
laughed. “Kiril moved the nest and I understand Serena built a new one in
the middle of Lieutenant Joy’s bed. I believe the lieutenant is considering
learning how to cook fowl.”
Chenoa watched her husband as he laughed at his friend.
It wasn’t lighthearted amusement, instead it was that deep male rumble that
shook his wide shoulders. Javier strode across the compound on a steady
course towards the small housing unit. Her husband nodded his head before
turning to her confused look.
“I think Javier just might have a hard time pulling
Joy’s braids.”
Chenoa giggled. Not so long ago she had accused both men
of being no better than the boys in the school yard who pulled the braids
of the girls during recess. Her lips stayed in a smile as she thought about
Lieutenant Joy’s response to his naughty pranks.
* * * * *
“You are lucky that I haven’t found a recipe for roast
duck yet.”
An angry squawk was her answer. Katriona glared at the
mess in her bedroom and pointed at the animal responsible. “I expect two
eggs tomorrow, you obnoxious bird, or I just might be sleeping on a
duck-feathered pillow tomorrow night.”
The duck flapped her wings and took flight. Katriona
raised her forearm as the creature swished past her head and went right out
the open doorway.
“Hello, baby.”
Katriona spun around but already knew who that dark
voice belonged to. She wasn’t certain what astounded her more—the fact that
Javier was standing in her housing unit, or the fact that he was petting a
duck. His large hands smoothed over the bird’s feathers as it gave a few
contented squawks.
Heat raced down her body as she watched his hands. The
reaction was instantaneous and annoying. Katriona forced her eyes away from
his fingers and the stroking motions over the duck sitting in the nook of
one of his arms. Her imagination ran wild with images of what it must feel
like to be under his hands.
“Did you just threaten my Serena?”
“Serena? There is nothing serene about that duck!” His
lips twitched and more heat bled across her face. “And I thought she
belonged to the commander’s wife.”
“She’s my duck and exactly the way I like her.”
“Well, Mr. Trey, your duck ate every last supplement
capsule I had and she didn’t lay today either.”
Javier raised an eyebrow at her. “What do you care about
the eggs for?”
“The least that animal can do is feed me.”
Javier moved across the floor and sat Serena in her
windowbox nest. It was attached to the window, and despite Kiril’s best
attempts to relocate her, the duck refused to nest anywhere but in the
window of this housing unit. Serena had simply begun laying her eggs in
Katriona’s bedding until she told the man to put her nest box back on the
window ledge.
Javier gave the duck a few firm strokes of his hand
before he turned to peg her with razor-sharp eyes. He appeared to be
studying her. An insane little urge to smile at him popped into her
thoughts. Katriona held her lips in place as she tried to ignore the heat
pooling in her abdomen. She was not going to acknowledge the fluid seeping
down her passage as a sexual response to this man.
CLOSE WINDOW
|