Chapter Four
"Oh, man,"I shivered, the second we reached the sidewalk. "I keep forgetting how cold it is here." I shoved my hands in mypockets.
"Little different from San Diego?" heteased.
"In so many ways." And I'd thought I'd miss it - the routine of my days, the friends I'd made there. I'd felt like moving back to be closer to my family would be a big sacrifice. Suddenly, I was thinking it was the best move I could have made. "But not all of them are bad. I just need to invest in gloves. And ahat."
"My Gran might have a shawl you couldborrow."
I hip-checked him, not even thinking about the difference in our respective heights and muscle mass until after the fact, but it didn't even make him stagger. Cal was solid, mind andbody.
"Hey, watch it,Ashley." He grinned at me, his smile a white slash in the dim light from the nearby lampposts. "Don't be a wimp. You grew up around here!Andyou're some kind of badass operative. This isnothing."
He was right. Compared to the training the Navy had provided, and even the blizzards I'd weathered as a kid, thiswasnothing. But I enjoyed Cal teasing me a hell of alot.
"I can see my breath," Iwhined.
He stepped closer and put his hand around my back, pulling me against him. I loved the firm weight of his arm resting on my waist. "Better?"
"A little," I sighed. "But it's my face that'scold."
He stopped without warning just outside the bank and turned me so that I was pressed up against the brick wall. "Poor baby," he breathed, stepping in closer so that our chests were almost touching. He lifted his hands to my cheeks. "Let me warmyou."
His skin felt like heaven - hot as an oven - but it was the look on his face that warmed me from the inside. And it took no thought at all for me to lower my head so that our lips were nearlytouching.
"That's a bit better," Iwhispered.
"But it's notenough?"
I shook my head wordlessly. It wasn't. I didn't think it ever wouldbe.
And then he pressed his smiling lips againstmine.
I’d kissed a lot of guys. Boys I grew up with, and men I’d served with. Shirtless hotties in skanky backrooms with dance music blasting, and awkward randos I’d found on hookup apps. I couldn't have given you an accurate count if you paidme.
But at that moment, on that frosty sidewalk in the near-perfect winter silence of a February night, every other guy I'd ever touched lips with was erased in a single moment, and I knew exactly how manyrealkisses I'd had: one. Because this was unlike anything I'd everexperienced.
I know it's weird to describe things in a negative. The sun isn't the un-moon. A woman isn't a non-man. Gay isn't not-straight. Still, what moved me most about this kiss was what itwasn't.
There was no hesitation, not even for a second, as he pressed his mouth to mine. No overthinking as my lips parted and our tongues tangled. No momentary question of which way I should lean and whether my breath was fine. None of the internal cataloging of the guy's scent or the firmness of his fingers. No awkward worrying about next steps, and how the sex would be, and whether the man I was kissing would be cool with the kind Ipreferred.
There was just me, and him, and the absolute, instinctive knowledge that I could trust him to be exactly who Ineeded.
I was Master Chief Ashley Martin, US Navy SEALs. The tallest, heaviest guy in my division. I was my mother's oldest son, and my siblings' problem-solver. And still, I put myself entirely into the strong, capable hands of the man in front of me withoutwavering.
He slipped his hands around my neck, pushing us more firmly together, and I lifted my hands from where they'd been resting on his hips to slide under the back of his sweater. I felt him shudder and lean into me as I explored his smooth skin, and I chose to believe it was because of the heat between us, rather than my cold hands. I moaned as my cock - which had been primed from the second I'd seen Cal walk into the restaurant, gorgeous and angry - rubbed against his hardabdomen.
He pulled back, but I wasn't ready to let him go - to let this feeling go. I ducked my head to chase after him, and he kissed me again, light andreassuring.
"Let's get you home and fed," he said, rubbing his hand down my chest. "I'll find something for you toeat."
His eyes were shining up at me like there was nothing in the entire world he'd rather do. So I nodded and wrapped my arm around his shoulder as we resumed our watch. I loved the way he fit against me, compact and sturdy.Perfect.
"I could have eaten at Burger Geek," Iremarked.
Cal hummed quietly. "Nope."
"Honestly. Wouldn't be the first time I'd made do with fries and a salad." It was true, but my stomach grumbled at thethought.
