Hers to Heal Read online

  “I…I want you in me. Now!”

  He moved on top and slowly entered her, his palms planted on either side of her head. “You’re mine. Tell me you’re mine.” He drove into her as her internal walls spasmed around him, milking him, and sending him on a trip through mindless pleasure.

  “I’m yours!” she breathed as her climax seemed to suck the air from her lungs.

  A surge of heat flooded down his spine and heated his balls before hot semen burst forth and fried his nerves, his brain, his damn cock. He was melted against her and, fuck, it was glorious.

  Many sweet moments later, Reece glanced over his shoulder as he shoved his foot into a boot. His woman was smiling in her sleep, her hand curled like a rosebud beneath her chin. God, she was turning him into a poetic chump. He brushed the golden hair from her face and kissed her forehead. She murmured his name and a sexy request he’d love to grant her. His pecker that ought to be bone tired from three trips to the blessed well of mindless orgasms twitched at the idea.

  He stood and snapped his shirt closed. A black-and-white paw shoved its way under the bedroom door followed by a dejected meow. The cat had sounding pitiful down to an art form. Reece opened the door and a furry blur streaked by, landing on the bed, sniffing the bedclothes and his mistress. “Get used to the smell of it, puffball. The odors of sex will be part of this house from now on.”

  He closed the door most of the way and checked in on Piper. The purple tulip she clasped had one petal left on it. He shook his head and smiled, trying his best to be quiet as he strode for the front door. He had magic suckers to stick in the ground in a few hours. Any sooner and Junebug’s pygmy goats would eat them. Nothing would ruin Piper’s magic surprise. He opened Gina’s front door, studied the green plastic grass, and pulled off a few strands.

  By the time Gina’s SUV eased toward the house at Eagle Ridge Ranch, the whole gang was waiting around the fire pit. ZQ, Junebug, Ashley, who looked more feminine today for some reason, JJ holding Nance in his lap loving on her the way he did, and Reece, camera in hand and eager for Piper to see what her magic jelly beans had produced. Small flames burned in the stone-lined circle to keep warm the old aluminum coffeepot Junebug had dragged out for the occasion.

  Reece was on his third cup. He’d been up to the wee hours gluing “requisitioned” plastic grass from Gina’s front door to the ends of the sucker sticks to look like roots. Puny, to be sure, but hey, they were magical roots.

  Gina, wearing red scrubs, got out of her vehicle a little slower than normal and Reece smiled. He could only imagine how sore some of her muscles were this morning. She yawned as she opened the back door for Piper, who bounded to the ground, her mouth already in gear. “Did my magic jelly beans sprout yet?” She ran like the wind toward them. “I couldn’t sleep last night, I was so excited.” As she whizzed past, Reece held up his camera, snapping a few shots of her and her beautiful mother.

  “Holy shit!” Piper’s little arms shot heavenward like a cheerleader’s.

  “Piper Morgan!” Gina admonished.

  Three SEALs nearly fell out of their chairs laughing at a six-year-old’s use of language, which, come to think of it, wasn’t so damn funny. Reece would have to talk to her about good and bad words…which meant—dammit to hell—he’d have to clean up his own act.

  Piper was too excited to care about her irritated mother. “I’ve got suckers! With cute faces on them!” Her little hands were clasped together at her chest when she aimed her cherub face toward him, her smile so wide you couldn’t have pried it off with a crowbar. ZQ was always bragging about the beauty of a Hill Country sunrise—and his former commander was right, they were stunning. But this child…this child he loved as if she were from his sperm, had a smile damn near as breathtaking.

  “Daddy, you were right, those purple jelly beans were magical. How…how do I pick them?”

  “According to the directions, you pull one out of the dirt at a time. Gently and straight up.” He hoped his glue job held.

  She stooped and gently removed a sucker, her little tongue tucked between her teeth. Once out of the ground, she held it up for all to see. “Look! It’s got a little root from the sucker stick to the jelly bean I planted.” She started jumping up and down with excitement. “Holy shit!”

  Gina glared at Reece over her shoulder. That was his cue to do something. Hell, he was no dumbass. He unhinged from the chair and ambled over to one excited little girl. He held his open hands together. “Lay your harvest here, Precious. Listen to me while I talk.”

  “Okay.” She gently laid the sucker, plastic root, and soiled jelly bean on his hands.

  “There are some things children can’t say. Things adults say.”

  She pulled out another sucker. “If kids can’t say it, then adults shouldn’t, either.”

  He glanced at Gina and she rolled her eyes.

  “Well, you’ve got a point there, but that’s not how the world works.” Think, man, think! This kid is no gullible child. “Ah…children can’t drive cars, but adults can.” He frantically thought of another difference. “Children can’t buy houses, but adults can. It’s against the law for children to drink alcohol, but not adults. And children can’t use bad words, even though some adults often do.”

  Brown eyes pierced his as she placed another sucker on his outstretched hands. “So you’re telling me I can’t say ‘holy shit’?”

  “That’s right. It upsets your momma and me.”

  “Aw hell, Daddy, I don’t want to do that!”

  Chapter 18

  “Reece, you’re going to have to watch your language around her. She wants to do whatever you do. That little girl adores you.” They held hands on their way to his room to start his physical therapy session. She tried to ignore how comfortable and reassuring it felt to have her hand encased in his.

  “Hey, that feeling goes both ways. Look, I didn’t realize I was swearing around her that much. I’ll be more careful.” He smiled at her. “Promise, baby.”

  Gina wasn’t appeased. This concerned her daughter, after all. “I can’t have her picking up bad habits. I’ve been thrown out of school as room mother. Next thing she’ll be in the principal’s office for cussing out the teacher. That kind of reputation might follow her all through school.”

  Not being allowed to help with her daughter’s class when they had parties and field trips still stung. It was a part of her child’s growing-up years she’d been looking forward to. Damn Piper’s tight-ass teacher, anyhow!

  Gina stormed into his room and he followed, locking the door behind them. “I told you I’d do my best to watch my language around her. I live up to my word.” He set his camera on the chest of drawers and shook his head. “You gotta admit, though, she was comical as hell.”

  Gina folded her arms and glared before she remembered that this man…this adorable, sexy, caring man had gone out of his way to do something very special for Piper. “Thank you for her magical jelly beans and their crop of lollipops. She won’t be able to talk about anything else for days.”

  He opened his arms and she walked into his embrace. “I thought you were going to skin me alive before I got my morning kiss.” His lips covered hers and his tongue swept inside her mouth, bringing the flavors of minty toothpaste and coffee. Reece Browning’s kisses had the power to empty her mind and make her core pulse with need. He already knew her responsive spots and plied them to both of their advantages.

  His lips and teeth found the erogenous zone beneath her ear. When her knees started to buckle, his arm tightened its hold around her. “Easy, baby. I’ve got you.” A hot, moist path of kisses traveled down her neck and across her collarbone to the top of her bra. Meanwhile the moisture of arousal nearly soaked her pretty new thong she’d worn today.

  Wait! When and how had he taken off the top to her scrubs? This guy could totally make her lose it. He bent her over his arm as he tongued and kissed the tops of her breasts.

  “Unhook this bra before I take
the fucking knife out of my boot.”

  “Pottie mouth.” She followed his orders, not that she was the type of woman to jump through hoops for a man, but he did magical things to her nipples. And she was no dummy.

  The palm of his hand skimmed her breasts and nipples, raising them to aching points before he circled one with his tongue and drew it into his mouth. Her clit pulsed. She needed him inside her. Craved the wonders of the release he could bring.

  “I…I’m supposed to be giving you physical therapy.”

  “It’s Saturday.” He licked her nipple. “Saturdays are for sexual therapy. And, baby, we’re about to get ours.” He slipped his hand under the elastic of her scrubs, shoved aside the swath of damp material, and homed in on her swollen, needy core. “You’re already wet for me and God knows I’m ready for you. Let me love you, sweetheart.” His thumb circled her clit and she was practically breathless with need.

  “Sit on the bed and toe off your sneakers, Gina.” He reached back with one hand and tugged his t-shirt over his head. Her shoes off, he kissed her again. Rough. Needy. “Lie back right where you are.”

  He jerked off her pants and black thong with red bows at the sides. He held the thong to his nose and inhaled. The heat of an uncomfortable blush slapped her cheeks. “Undo my zipper,” he ordered, his expression feral. She was surprised to find him commando and stroked his heaviness a few times. “Wrap those beautiful thighs around me. This is going to be fast and rough. Hell, it’s been hours. And fuck if you don’t need to see this side of me, too.”

  If he meant to scare her, he hadn’t. She was too aroused at this point. Besides, in her heart and soul, she trusted this man.

  “Promise you’ll tell me if I hurt you. Promise.”

  She nodded and he thrust into her with one hard slam. If she hadn’t been so aroused, his size would have been an issue, especially on her sore areas from their repeated lovemaking last night.

  He pistoned into her. “Fuck, baby! You are so damn tight and hot. Being inside you is like a motherfucking addictive drug.”

  He adjusted the angle of his hips and rubbed against a spot inside. Pleasure sweet and profound slipped through her like a hot knife cutting butter. The things this man could do to her.

  “How close are you?”—his question a pant as his finger found her swollen clit and circled it. She couldn’t speak, so replied by scouring his back with her nails. Her vagina began to spasm with her climax. “Yeah, love, fuck, yeah!” His head reared back, the muscles in his neck corded as he emptied himself into her.

  He lifted her and with a knee on the bed shifted them so they were side by side, as close as the rapid rate of their heartbeats. His face pressed to the crook of her neck. “I know this is not the time. Damn, I promised I’d wait until a romantic moment, but I can’t hold it in anymore. I love you. I love you, Gina. And if you don’t feel the same way about me, tell me now so I can walk away from this freight train of emotions raging through me.”

  She smiled. As if this man could walk away from anything dangerous or otherwise. “I love you, too, Reece.” She’d faced that fact days ago and keeping her emotions to herself hadn’t been easy, either.

  His head rose and warm eyes studied her face. “I also love Piper. I want you to be sure of that. I can’t explain it, but it’s as if I’ve been given this incredible precious gift where she’s concerned. We’ve spent almost her entire spring break together doing things on this ranch. Every moment burrowed her deeper in my heart.”

  His proclamation touched the center of her heart at exactly the place her love for Piper lived. “You don’t mind how she was conceived?” An ugly fact that needed to be aired before they could move on.

  His square bearded chin jutted. “I don’t give a damn if this makes sense to others or not. But she was conceived for me. That child is mine. I will lie, cheat, kill to protect her from her true beginnings. You’re mine and so is our little girl.” He kissed her. “I love you. I love the idea of the three of us together. Don’t you?”

  She cupped his cheek. “Yes, Tool Belt, I do. I love you for many reasons.” Kisses turned to touching. Touching required loss of all clothes so licking, biting, sucking, and kissing could be spread liberally across each other’s bodies. Sighs mingled with promises of love eternal and passionate praises and sensual moans of ecstasy as the rise and fall of a stronger, sweeter climax consumed them both.

  Once she regained the use of speech, Gina crossed her arms on his chest and propped her chin on them. What a wanton feeling to be naked and spread-eagle on top of such a muscular, gorgeous man—who loved her, by the way. “I called Doctor Raymond this morning. He’ll be able to see you Monday at nine.”

  His eyebrows dipped and his hands clasped her bottom. “Nine? That’s when we usually do therapy.”

  “Well, we can cut back on that. He wants to see you on Mondays and Thursdays. That will leave Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays for your physical therapy.” She kissed his stubborn chin. “We’ll save Saturday mornings for us.”

  This time his expressive eyebrows rose. “So I tell you I love you and then lose seeing you two days a week?”

  This could be a potential problem if he reneged on his promise to accept counseling for his night terrors and visions. Just how serious had he been when he said he’d see Dr. Raymond? She gently bit his nipple. “I thought this is what you wanted? To work on your PTSD. Don’t you want to spend every night with us?” She shifted and bit his other nipple. “Snuggled in bed with me all night long?”

  He bit her earlobe. “Well, when you put it like that.”

  —

  Earlier when they’d been waiting for Gina and Piper to arrive, ZQ had told Reece he wanted to meet with him after his therapy. He walked Gina out to her SUV, kissed her goodbye, and reminded her about the dance that night. “You know, we’ll probably stay late. I’ll be too worn out to drive all the way back here.” He backed her to the driver’s door and cupped her face, rubbing his thumb over her lips, swollen from all the kissing they’d done earlier. “I might have to spend the night.”

  “Pack your pajamas, Tool Belt.” She winked at him.

  He leaned in, his lips a hair’s width away from hers. “Baby, all I’ll wear to bed is a tool belt, chock-full of sexual tools.”

  She leaned her head back and laughed. He fought the primal urge to sink his teeth into her neck and mark her.

  “I’ll see you later. One more homebound patient and then I’ll head for the physical therapy clinic.” He opened the door for her and she slid in. “Love you, big guy.”

  “Love you, Blondie.”

  He watched her drive off and then jogged for the Old Man’s office. The door was open and he strode in. “Is now a good time for that talk you wanted to have?”

  ZQ glanced up from his computer. “Sure is. Close the door and lock it, will you? I don’t want to be interrupted. The magic jelly bean farmer is on a sugar high. She’s whizzed in and out of here twice already this morning. Not that I minded, but once we get deep into our talk, it won’t suit to have little ears hearing things.” He tapped a few keys and stood. “Want a drink? I’ve got water and sodas in the fridge.” He opened the door at the minibar.

  “I’ll take a soda.” A jagged branch of unease brushed across his spine. What was all this secrecy about? He sat on the same sofa he and Gina had shared the day Ashley had come to the ranch. ZQ handed him a can and folded himself onto another sofa, plunking his boots on the coffee table.

  He popped the top to his drink, took a long gulp, and waited. This was ZQ’s show.

  “What I’m going to talk to you about is in confidence. Strict confidence. Top secret.” The Old Man gave him the hardened expression he’d seen a few times before a tough mission when the commander revealed their target and objectives.

  “Yes, sir. You’ve got my undivided attention and oath. What’s up?” He sipped his soda, forcing it down a throat suddenly gone dry.

  ZQ opened his soda and drank. “Depending on
how you react to things and your answers to my questions, I may stop sharing top-secret information at any time. Is that clear?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  ZQ nodded. “When I retired, I had to go through a security debriefing based on the security clearance of my rank. SOP. Once that was over, the officers left but not before telling me to remain seated. Two different admirals and a man, whom I later found out was a top-ranking official in the CIA, entered the room.”

  CIA? Wasn’t this a hell of an interesting development? No wonder the Old Man had sworn him to secrecy. He brought the soda can to his mouth and nodded as a sign for ZQ to continue.

  “Talks began that lasted several hours.” He stopped talking and waited.

  Holy fuck! Had his commander done something wrong? No. He knew the man. Trusted him. “I was just asking myself if you had somehow gotten into trouble with the CIA.”

  ZQ pierced him with those dark eyes of his. “Your assessment?”

  He leaned his forearms on spread thighs. “I know you. Trust you without reserve. Bled under your command. We’re SEAL brothers. They were there to ask you for a favor, not to condemn you for some shit. That much I’m confident of.” He set the soda on the table. “So how much are you willing to share with me?”

  His commander crossed an ankle over a knee. “How long are you planning on staying in Warrior Falls?”

  Shit. He must have answered wrong. What the hell, it was the truth. He’d follow this man through the bowels of hell. Fuck, he already had. “Depends on Gina. We’re in love. I plan on asking her to marry me and adopt Piper.” He raised a finger. “That’s between the two of us for now. I haven’t proposed yet or talked about adoption, but I’ve made it clear how I feel about that little girl. She’s mine. So is Gina. Just not legally.”

  ZQ nodded. “Have you given any thought to seeing Doctor Raymond?”