By Request Collection April-June 2016. Оливия Гейтс

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СКАЧАТЬ hugged her arms around her middle, her expression one of concern. “Why don’t you come in and dry off?”

      “No, thanks. I’ll just get wet again when I go back out.”

      “Look,” she said, and Chase knew she tried to sound casual, but the way she rubbed her palms over her thighs told him she was nervous. “I’m not asking you to sleep with me, okay? But I’d feel safer if you were inside the tent with me. And since you’re going to stand watch anyway, doesn’t it make more sense to come in out of the rain?” She indicated a folding chair in the corner. “You can just as easily sit inside the entrance as you can outside, right?”

      Chase rubbed a hand over his face. She’d never know how tempting her words were, but he had to admit that everything she said made sense. But he hadn’t completely lost it. He still had a small vestige of brain cells left that functioned, warning him to retreat.

      “General order number one prohibits any service member from entering the sleeping quarters of the opposite sex,” he finally responded. “I shouldn’t come inside.”

      “Well, I’m not a service member,” she pointed out, “and surely allowances can be made for the fact that the weather is so terrible and all the power is out. You’d be able to do your job better if you were inside the tent. Besides, it’s not like anyone is going to come out here in this weather to check on me—or you.”

      Still, he hesitated.

      “Didn’t you tell me that your job is to ensure my safety while I’m here?” she pressed. “That you are my single point of contact for everything, and that I don’t do anything without you? If you refuse to do this, I will go to your commanding officer and tell him—”

      “Okay, okay,” Chase relented, interrupting her tirade. As threats went, hers was pretty ineffectual. As long as he kept Kate safe, his commanding officer had no interest in what he did or didn’t do with her. He just hoped he wasn’t making a huge mistake. “I’ll bunk down inside the entrance, if you don’t mind.”

      KATE FELT SOMETHING uncurl inside her at his words. No, she didn’t mind in the least, and she stepped back to allow him to pass. Immediately, the space felt smaller, and she watched as he pulled the dripping poncho off. Beneath the rain gear, he wore a pair of camo pants and a T-shirt, and while she pretended to be absorbed in rearranging the sleeping bag on her cot, she observed him. He had set his flashlight down on the floor, and by the beam of light, she could see how his T-shirt molded itself to his contours. Charity shook herself briskly, and Chase laughed ruefully as she sprayed him with water.

      “Oh, the poor thing,” Kate said, and grabbed a towel from the nearby stack. Walking back toward Chase, she handed it to him. He blotted his face and then scrubbed it over his hair, before crouching down to briskly rub the dog’s wet fur. Only then did she see that both his T-shirt and his pants were soaking wet.

      “You’re drenched,” she exclaimed, returning with another towel.

      “I’ll dry,” he said off-handedly, accepting the towel. He glanced briefly at her. “You should go back to bed.”

      “You won’t leave?”

      “I’ll be right here.”

      Kate walked back to the bunk and climbed under the sleeping bag, curling on her side with the flashlight on the floor beside her. He stood up and was silhouetted in the beam from his own flashlight. She held her breath when he grabbed a fistful of his shirt and dragged it over his head, dropping the sodden garment onto the back of the chair.

      He was breathtaking.

      She released her pent-up breath on a shaky exhale. She’d realized after seeing him in the bathroom that he was fit, but the flashlight cast intriguing shadows over his body, emphasizing every dip and contour. As he toweled himself dry, she could clearly see the thrust of his shoulders and pecs. When he bent forward to blot the excess moisture from his pants, his abdomen resembled corrugated metal.

      Kate felt herself growing warm. Recalling the intensity of his lovemaking the previous night, she knew he would be a good lover. Despite his size and obvious strength, his hands had been gentle on her body, coaxing a response from her until she’d been so aroused that if he hadn’t pulled away when he did, she would have come just from rubbing herself against him. Even now, desire coiled tightly inside her and then unfurled, blossoming outward until her breasts ached and she shifted restlessly beneath the covers.

      “You’ll sleep better if you turn that light out,” he offered, sitting down on the chair.

      “Are you going to sit there all night?”

      “That’s the plan.”

      Kate’s heart was beating fast. She reminded herself that she didn’t even know this guy, and that he’d all but told her that he had no intention of sleeping with her.

      But she knew he’d lied.

      There was no denying that they had chemistry. Sizzling chemistry. Maybe it was the storm that raged outside their tent, or the inherent danger that surrounded them from insurgents, but Kate had never been more desperate for human contact than she was at that moment.

      Did she have the courage to proposition him? More importantly, would she have the guts to face him in the morning, regardless of whether he accepted or rejected her offer? If she did sleep with him, it would be with the knowledge that they wouldn’t have any kind of relationship outside of a physical one, and even that would be short-lived. In a week, she would return home and he would resume his Ranger duties. But she also knew that she wanted this man more than she’d ever wanted any other. She’d made a lot of difficult choices in her life, some she’d regretted. This wasn’t going to be one of them.

      She watched as he tilted his head from side to side in an attempt to ease the tension in his neck. Charity lay on her belly beside him with her nose on her paws, and now she whined softly as Kate pushed back the covers and slid her feet to the floor. She didn’t have to see Chase’s face to know that his attention was riveted on her, although he never moved a muscle. His flashlight lay on the floor nearby, the beam of light angled slightly away from her, but she knew it provided sufficient light for him to see her. Outside, the wind howled and the canvas at the entrance flapped noisily.

      “Kate,” he warned softly.

      “Shh,” she whispered, standing directly in front of him. “Don’t talk. I know what you’re going to say, and you’re wrong.”

      His voice was a husky rasp. “You’re about to do something that you’ll regret.”

      “Wrong again,” she said, and with her heart in her throat, she slowly pulled her shirt over her head until she stood in front of him wearing only her loose flannel lounge pants and socks. She didn’t try to cover herself. She wanted him to see her, to be tempted by her.

      He made a sound that was half growl, half groan, and his hands formed fists on his thighs. “I’m giving you one last chance, Kate, but if you don’t turn around right now and go back to bed, I won’t be responsible for what happens.”

      But instead of retreating, Kate took a step forward, until her knees almost bumped against his. Chase’s eyes glittered in the dim light as they slid over her, and his chest rose and fell swiftly, evidence that he wasn’t nearly as composed as he seemed.

      She didn’t say СКАЧАТЬ