“I thought Preston had killed you or left you wounded somewhere.” She leaned back, tears trickling down her face. “You don’t know how happy I was to see you show up alive.”

“Ditto, sweetheart.” He crushed her lips with his, drawing the kiss out as long as they both had breath. When he finally raised his head, he cupped her cheeks in his palms. “I can’t seem to get enough of you.”

“It goes both ways, babe.” Her gaze traveled over him. “I’m so sorry your uniform got so messed up—Wyatt, you’re bleeding!” She tried to open his jacket, but he stopped her.

“I’m okay. The bullet only nicked me.”

“Yeah and you’re still bleeding.” She glanced down at Preston. “Is it true he was planning to blow up the building with everyone in it?”

Wyatt’s arm slipped around her waist. “Yes.”

Fiona glanced around the parking lot. “Are there charges positioned down here?”

“I got what I could find, but I’m not sure I got them all. We should get out of here, just in case.” Wyatt gripped her arm and led her toward the stairs.

Fiona dug her feet in, bringing him to a stop. “Are we going to leave him here?”

“There’s nothing we can do for him.”

She stared down at the man who’d tried to kill her and a lot of other people. “He must have been very unhappy.”

“I suspect PTSD.” His gaze captured hers. “It happens to the best of soldiers.”

She slipped an arm around Wyatt’s waist. “And that’s why you don’t want to stay.” Her words were a statement, not a question. “But you know, it doesn’t have to be that way. You don’t have to leave.”

“I can’t put you in harm’s way. Especially if the harm is in me.”

“But you can’t run from it. Wouldn’t you be better off working through your issues with someone who cares than going it alone?” She smiled. “Joe seems to have recovered nicely with his friend, Bacchus.”

“Are you volunteering to be my pet dog?” Wyatt grinned. “Sorry. Although you can wield a pretty wicked puppy-dog stare, you’re not a dog.” Gripping her hips, he pulled her against the hardness of his cock, straining against the fabric of his trousers. “You’re one hundred percent woman and what you did tonight was purely heroic.”

Color flew like pink flags in her cheeks. “No more than you did. Come on. Let’s get out of here. I have to get back to the guests before we have another international incident.” She poked a finger in his chest. “But you’re not off the hook, so don’t go disappearing on me. And we’re going to have the medical personnel look at that wound, whether you think you need it or not.”

Using his good arm, Wyatt popped a salute. “Yes, ma’am.”

Fiona sniffed and gave him a satisfied nod. “Let’s go, mister.”

A chuckle rose up his throat and escaped, echoing off the walls of the stairwell, all the way up to the ground floor.

Wyatt couldn’t believe his good luck getting to Preston before he could blow up the building, and to Fiona before Preston could kill her. Today just wasn’t their day to die.

Early the next morning, after answering hundreds of questions for the police and then helping to coordinate the relocation of all the guests to other hotels throughout the city of San Antonio, Fiona lay naked in the bed in her apartment, exhausted, but too wound up to fall to sleep.

“I asked my commander to put me in for a training assignment at Fort Sam Houston, at least for the next six months.” Wyatt emerged from the bathroom, strutting across the carpet naked from his toes to his very short haircut.

“And?” Fiona leaned up, her eyes wide, her breath hitched, waiting for his response.

“He gave me three months.”

She fell back against the pillows. “Is that all?”

With a nod, he dropped onto the sheets beside her and stretched his long body out, pulling hers against him, his cock nudging her sex. “If you’d known how hard I pushed him to get out of here, you’d understand why that was a big concession on his part.”

“And now?” Fiona kissed his beard-stubbled chin. “You don’t want to leave so soon?”

He bent to nuzzle the pulse beating at the base of her throat. “Not so much. I’ve barely had time to get to know San Antonio.”

She swatted at his uninjured arm, happy that he’d been correct that the bullet wound had only been superficial. Although it had ruined his uniform jacket. “Only San Antonio?”

“Oh yeah. And one hot, little redhead with a wicked elbow jab.” He cupped her chin and kissed her, urging her to part her teeth and let him slide in to caress her tongue with his.

Fiona was amazed that such a big, rough man could be so gentle. All hard angles and scars, he knew exactly what to say and where to touch her to make her body sing.

When he ended the kiss, his finger trailed down her arm until his palm caressed her hip. “Are you sure about this…you and me…all night?” He let go of a long breath. “What if my nightmares get violent? I don’t want to hurt you.”

Fiona leaned up on her elbow. “Positive. I’ll take my chances, since the rewards outweigh the danger.” She drew her finger down his chest. “And I know, deep down in that soldier’s heart of yours, that you’re a good man.”

“I can’t control my dreams.”

“Then I’ll help you. I’m a light sleeper anyway and if you get restless, I’ll move.”

“Promise me you will.” His finger tightened on her hips. “I could never forgive myself if I hurt you.”

She smiled down at him and ran her hand along his rough beard. “I won’t let you hurt me, so stop worrying and start loving me.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He rolled her onto her back and came up over her. “How about I begin my attack here?” Dropping low, he captured one of her nipples between his teeth and nibbled gently before sucking it fully into his mouth.

Fiona’s heart swelled and she arched up to offer him the full benefit of her breast. “Now you’re talking.”

He didn’t stop there, working his lips and tongued over the other breast before skimming across her ribs and lower to the mound of curls covering her sex. Pausing there, he parted her folds with the tips of his rough fingers and blew a warm stream of air over her heated center.

Too impatient to wait for it, Fiona gripped his ears and urged him down.

He settled between her legs and thrust his tongue into her channel, swirling around before coming up to lay siege to her clit.

Fiona cried out and surrendered to his attack, digging her heels into the mattress and rising up to press her pussy into his mouth.

One finger, then two and finally three entered her channel, another poked at the tight entrance to her anus. With his tongue teasing the nubbin packed full of exquisitely throbbing nerves, she shot to the heavens, screaming out his name. “Wyatt!”

His relentless pursuit wore away her will to live in a world without him and she rode the passionate wave to the pulsing end.

When she thought it couldn’t get any better, he climbed up her body, rolled on a condom and thrust his thickened shaft into her, sliding through her slick entrance until his balls bumped against her ass.

“Oh yes!” she shouted, not caring whether or not the neighbors could hear her.

The mattress bounced, the springs squeaked and the headboard rammed the wall more than once before they reached a shared climax to beat all climaxes and slowly drifted back to earth.

Without breaking their connection, he pulled her into his arms and held her.

Fiona trailed a finger across his chest, tweaking the hard brown nipples, loving how solid his chest felt beneath her fingertips. She tipped his chin down and brushed her lips across his.

“Umm. I could go for more of this.” Capturing his cheeks in between her palms, she deepened the kiss, sliding her tongue along the length of his, her thigh climbing up over his. “Got another condom?”

“Hell yeah.” He rolled on another in record time.

She pressed her pussy down over his shaft, stirring him back to full thickness.