The Loner Read online

  “You’re still a very intelligent woman, Shel.” He caressed her lower lip with his thumb. “I’m a lucky man.”

  “Tell me something,” she said, catching his hand and kissing it. “Why was Jake looking at me like I was some kind of alien from another planet? I tried to be nice to him. Not screw up and embarrass you. Did I say or do something wrong to earn that kind of look from him?”

  Chuckling, Dakota pulled her against him, her head coming to rest on his chest, her hair a gold coverlet across it. “Don’t let him bother you, Shel. He’s got problems with any woman in combat.”

  “What?”

  “Yeah, he thinks no woman can handle combat of any kind. Doesn’t matter whether it’s a woman in the military or outside in a civilian agency, like being a law enforcement officer or firefighter, for example.”

  Shelby absorbed the slow thud of Dakota’s heart beneath her ear. He loved her and she had never felt so happy. “That’s such a crock of bull.”

  “You and I know it. He doesn’t.”

  “So I’m like some kind of bug under his prejudicial microscope of life?” Jake had agreed to be his best man at their wedding in early September.

  “That pretty much sums it up.”

  “You know what I wish for him?” Shelby eased up on her elbow to meet his glittering eyes that burned with desire for her. “I wish with all my heart he someday meets his match. Only it’s a woman who sits his ass in place this time around.”

  As he caressed her reddening cheek, Dakota felt her anger. “Calm down, Shel. I’m a believer. Women handle combat of all types, all the time. It might not be a war overseas, but there are plenty of wars on the streets of towns and cities. Women in the military are in ground combat in the Middle East right now.” He lightly touched her nose and added, “You’re in combat as a law enforcement officer every day.”

  Some of her frustration dissolved as he traced her brow with his thumb and his fingers trailed tantalizingly across her jaw and neck. His touch was electric. Provocative. And it made her hungry for him. “Okay, white flag. I’m in bed with you, not him, thank God.”

  Grinning, Dakota chuckled and hauled her over on top of him, their legs tangling among one another. “You should feel sorry for him, not angry.” He slid his hands across her mussed hair and slowly moved his fingers down across her shoulders, tracing the outline of her long torso to her flared hips.

  “Do you think he’ll be home in time from this op to be your best man at our wedding?”

  “I don’t know, Shel. He’s been pulled in on a top secret assignment. And once he knows what it is, he can’t tell me. We’ll just have to wait and see if we hear from him. I’m sure he’s going Down Range. Back into combat. Jake has my email address. He knows where I live and I know he’ll stay in touch with me.”

  Lying against his hard body, feeling the muscles shift and tense as she suggestively moved her hips against his, Shelby shook her head in frustration. “I hope for your sake he can, Dakota. I know he’s like a brother to you.”

  Dakota needed all the cosmic family he could get. No one went through life alone. Soon, though, this fall, he would be absorbed into her loving family. Her father respected Dakota, and they got along like father and son. Her mother doted on him. She’d been baking him his favorite chocolate chip cookies once a week. No, Dakota would easily become part of her family. He deserved that kind of good dharma. He deserved her.

  Leaning down, she grazed the hard line of his mouth, feeling him begin to relax, to focus on them...on her. Shelby saw the unspoken worry in his eyes for Jake. They had two more days together and she knew that time with his friend meant the world to Dakota. She silently promised not to make an issue of Jake any longer. Time was too short and she wanted the man beneath her to enjoy it with Jake. He deserved to be happy.

  “I love you, Shel,” he growled, capturing her face, tilting her chin to just the right angle to kiss.

  A soften whisper slipped from her lips as she allowed Dakota to guide her mouth down upon his. “You are my life, my love, forever....”

  * * * * *

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  ISBN: 9781460315194

  Copyright © 2013 by Nauman Living Trust

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