By Request Collection April-June 2016. Оливия Гейтс

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СКАЧАТЬ to stay, at least until the storm passes.”

      Chase paused in the act of retrieving his rain gear and gave her a disbelieving look. “Kate, if I stay here with you, do you really believe we’ll play cards?”

      Kate’s breath caught at the expression on his face, and her heart leaped in her chest. “Look, if it’s about last night—”

      “Yes, damn it, it is about last night.” His voice was a low growl. He leaned forward until his face was just inches from hers and raked her with a heated look. “I’m trying very hard to keep this professional, but every time I look at you, I see you lying across my bed, making little gasping sounds as I touch you. Christ …” He spun halfway around and scrubbed a hand over his hair before turning back to her. “So just—give me a break, okay? Understand that this has nothing with my not wanting to stay with you. I can’t stay with you. Not unless you want to be flat on your back in that bunk with me inside you.”

      His words caused Kate’s heart to stop beating and then explode into overdrive. Part of her realized she should be at least a little bit frightened by this man, but the images he conjured up filled her with a buzz of awareness and a sense of her own feminine power. She knew that her eyes grew wide and her mouth fell open, but nobody had ever spoken to her so bluntly, or admitted that he wanted her enough that he couldn’t trust himself to be with her.

      Misreading her expression, Chase gave a rueful laugh.

      “Pretty pathetic, huh? I guess I really have been deployed for too long.”

      Kate didn’t know how to respond to that. Was it pathetic that he should find her attractive? And did he only find her attractive because he’d been deployed for so many months? How would he react if she told him that she hadn’t been with a guy in almost two years? Now that was pathetic.

      Outside, another flash of lightning illuminated the sky, and wind gusted through the entrance, bringing a spray of cold rain with it. Chase grabbed his poncho from the hook and dropped it over his head.

      “You have my beeper,” he said curtly. “Use it if you need me.”

      Kate stared at him in dismay, unable to comprehend that he was really going to leave her alone in the enormous tent while a storm raged outside. It was wrong to expect him to stay with her. She was a grown woman, after all, but she couldn’t deny that she wanted him with her. “I don’t need your damned beeper, Chase. I want you.”

      Chase held up a finger and gave her a warning look. “Don’t. I’m barely holding it together here, Kate.”

      Before she could argue further, he pushed aside the flap and vanished into the night. Kate stood staring after him in disbelief for a full minute, expecting that he would reappear. But when an ear-splitting crack of thunder reverberated through the tent, Kate dashed back to her bunk and dragged the sleeping bag over her.

      With her back pressed against the headboard, she sat with the flashlight in her hands, directing the beam at the entrance, certain that someone—or something—was going to get her before the night was over. The shadows seemed to grow and move in the corners, and the combined cacophony of rocks and sand being flung against the sides of the tent, as well as the hard rain drumming against the roof, guaranteed that she wouldn’t get any sleep that night.

      She realized she still clutched Chase’s beeper in her hand, but nothing would induce her to press that button now. Not when he’d made it clear that he couldn’t be alone with her. He obviously was a man of honor, and there was no way she would ask him to compromise his principles for her.

      An ear-splitting crack of thunder directly overhead, followed by what sounded like an explosion very close by, made her jump with alarm. Drawing a deep breath, she pressed the beeper.

       9

      CHASE SAT JUST OUTSIDE the entrance of Kate’s tent, hugging his poncho around his body, not that it did any good. The sheeting rain found its way inside the protective gear, and his clothing was soaked. Charity had refused to leave him, so he’d let her curl up beneath his poncho, but even she was dripping wet.

      Beneath his feet, the ground was a swirling soup of red mud and rocks, and the wind caused the fabric of the tent to snap loudly. Reluctant to leave Kate alone, he had taken up watch for the night, just in case she needed him. The conditions were so bad that only the security vehicles were out, driving slowly through the flooded roads, their emergency lights cutting orange swaths through the wind and rain. Chase doubted there would be any chance of a mortar attack tonight, since the weather would drive even the insurgents for cover.

      His tent was only a five-minute jog away, but he didn’t want to risk anything happening to Kate in these conditions. The main power was still out, although the emergency lights were working. As he crouched by the entrance, a bolt of lightning lit up the sky, so close that he could feel the electricity in the air. The streak was followed immediately by a deafening crack of thunder, and a loud popping sound as the lightning struck a nearby transformer and caused it to explode, plunging the area into total darkness.

      Chase pushed himself to his feet just as the beeper in his pocket began to vibrate. Kate. Making his way through the entrance of the tent, he stood just inside and swept the interior with his flashlight, looking for her. He found her huddled on the nearest bunk, wrapped in her sleeping bag and clutching the flashlight that he had given to her earlier.

      “Are you okay?” he asked. He didn’t come any closer. Water streamed down the rubber coating of his rain gear in heavy rivulets and pooled on the floor.

      “How did you get here so quickly?” she asked. “I heard a noise, like an explosion, and it sounded pretty close.”

      “Yeah, the lightning took out a transformer just down the road.”

      In the indistinct light, he could see the speculation on her face as she considered him. “Were you standing outside my tent this whole time?”

      “Just doing my job,” he said evenly. “I meant what I said earlier—attached at the hip.”

      Oh, man, if only. His words conjured up images that he had no business thinking about. Shaking off the disturbing thoughts, he strove for a professional tone.

      “If you’re okay, then I’ll let you get some sleep. I’ll be right outside if you need me.” He turned to go.

      “Wait!”

      Chase stopped and looked at her expectantly. Another bolt of lightning flashed outside the tent, followed by a loud boom. To his surprise, Kate stood up, letting the sleeping bag fall onto the mattress. Her flannel pajama bottoms rode low on her hips, exposing a pale strip of skin along her abdomen. He swallowed hard and watched her approach, half hopeful, half filled with dread.

      “As much as I appreciate you standing watch,” she said, stopping just beyond the puddle of water he was creating, “I wouldn’t put a dog out in these conditions.” She looked pointedly at Charity, who stood in the doorway with her head down, shivering. “Not even a guard dog.”

      Chase hoped the hood of his poncho, combined with the darkness, hid his expression, because he knew he was eating her alive with his eyes. She looked warm and feminine and he ached to slide his hands into the back of her loose pajama bottoms and cup her luscious rear. He wanted СКАЧАТЬ