The Marine Makes His Match Read online

  Once that was in place, he came back to her and that hunger had its day. Mouths met and cavorted in abandon until he rediscovered her breasts with a new concentration. Meanwhile, he sent his hand south again where he worked her into such a frenzy that her legs spread apart in shameless invitation.

  He rose over her then, coming into her in one sleek movement that felt so good it brought a tiny sound of primal delight from her throat.

  But as he embedded himself deeply into her and she reveled in the weight of him on top of her, she also realized he was bracing his weight on only his good arm.

  He was strong and possibly he could have maintained that position but she didn’t want him to try. So she wrapped one leg around him and gave him a little nudge.

  Sutter got the idea and laughed. “You don’t think I’m up to this?” he said with a challenge that revealed no doubt on his part.

  Kinsey flexed around him and answered like a tough guy, “I just don’t want to hurt you.”

  He laughed even more at that but rolled her until he was lying flat on the mattress and it was her on top of him instead.

  She kissed him once more then, sending her tongue to brazenly play with his while she slid slightly up and then down again. Several times. Using her whole body to further woo his.

  Both of his hands went to her hips, holding her firmly to him as he pushed up into her, then pulled slightly away as he helped her meet and match him.

  It was all slow at first, like the most sensual of dances. Slow enough to revel in each well-designed thrust and retreat.

  Until passion began to grow and speed things up.

  Faster and faster, deeper into her he came, while Kinsey clung to him with her thigh muscles that stayed tight around him.

  Faster still he went. And if there was any weakness in his injured arm she couldn’t tell as both hands gripped her behind and guided her into an explosion of bliss.

  Climax must have hit him at the same time because she felt his entire body go rigid and tense. And for one extended, exquisite moment they just rode it together to an end that came inch by inch until they were both completely depleted.

  For a while they stayed like that, catching their breath, him inside of her in a way she never wanted to lose.

  Weak and spent, it felt to Kinsey as if their bodies completed each other and she marveled not only at the force of what had just happened, but at how flawlessly they fit together.

  Apparently small talk was not the only thing they were good at...

  Then Sutter rallied and rolled again so that they were both on their sides, nestling her into the protective cove of his big body and kissing the top of her head.

  “Is your shoulder okay?” Kinsey asked him, serious now, her forehead between his pecs.

  “I am feeling no pain,” he assured with a rumble of a laugh deep in his chest. “How about you?”

  “A few broken bones but that’s all,” she said casually.

  “You’re kidding, right?”

  She laughed. “Yes, I’m kidding. I’m fine.”

  “That’s it? Just fine?” He pretended disappointment when she knew he knew full well just how amazing it had been for her.

  “Just fine,” she lied aloofly. “Maybe you’ll try harder next time.”

  He laughed confidently, hugged her tight and let go of her to disappear into the bathroom for a moment before he returned to drop wearily onto the bed beside her again.

  Then he pulled her to his side where she could use his chest as a pillow and raise one of her thighs across his.

  “Give me a half-hour nap and I’ll see what I can do,” he said then.

  “Shall I set a timer?”

  He moved her thigh higher. “I think this’ll do.”

  It likely would since she could feel him already responding.

  Then, in a quiet voice, clear of all humor, he said, “What’re you doin’ to me, Kinsey Madison...you’re kind of rocking my world...”

  “Sorry?” she said, not sure what he meant.

  “I definitely will be when I have to let go of you and leave this bed,” he answered thickly, obviously drifting off.

  But he will let go and leave this bed, she emphasized to herself. Because no matter how fantastic it had been, this was only a flash-in-the-pan thing for him.

  He wasn’t what she needed, and he never would be. And that was why tomorrow she would set the wheels in motion with the Camdens for herself.

  But at that moment, against his naked body, one of his arms wrapped around her, his other hand on her bare thigh to hold it to him, Kinsey knew there was going to be more yet tonight.

  And that was all she cared about right then.

  Chapter Ten

  Sutter watched Kinsey walk up to the front door of the Camden family home at four o’clock Monday afternoon. She’d called GiGi this morning asking to meet with her and that was the time the older woman had set.

  He went on watching as Kinsey stood facing that door for a while without knocking or ringing the bell. She was visibly nervous and everything in him screamed for him to help her, to rescue her, to at least be by her side.

  But that wasn’t what she’d asked him to do, so he just sat behind the wheel of his SUV, hating the feeling of helplessness it gave him.

  Twice Kinsey raised her finger to the doorbell but hesitated. Then he saw her square her shoulders and do it on the third try.

  “Come through for her, GiGi,” he said, hoping for the best. But not expecting it.

  The Camdens were good people but this wasn’t going to be an easy thing for any of them to hear. Or to accept.

  The front door opened and he saw the older woman greet Kinsey with a cautious smile. She looked uncertain and leery. But what else could she be with a request for a private meeting from someone she barely knew? Especially considering that the Camdens’ position of wealth and power coupled with their history had brought a lot of dangerous things out of the woodwork at various points in the past.

  As Sutter continued to watch, GiGi stepped aside and Kinsey went in. The door closed behind her. And Sutter’s tension level went up another notch. He was fond of all of the Camdens but no one among them better hurt her...

  He sighed, feeling strongly as if he should be in there with her. But difficult for him or not, he had to honor her determination to do this on her own and just be there for her when she came out.

  And he would be there for her, no matter what the results of this meeting might be.

  At least he would be for today and for a while.

  But then what?

  Then he wouldn’t be.

  And something about that made his gut wrench like nothing in his life ever had.

  From what he’d come to know of Kinsey, she was always there for everyone else. For her family again and again. For the family of that doctor she’d been engaged to. For the Tellers, the last family she’d cared for, including their granddaughter who—according to Livi—Kinsey had doted on, helping and encouraging the grieving little girl who had just lost her parents even though that hadn’t been part of her job.

  He had no doubt that Kinsey was there in any way she could be for any patient she took on and certainly she’d come through big-time for him and the colonel and even for Jack.

  But he hadn’t heard a thing about anyone ever being there or coming through for her.

  So it was no wonder that she was searching for that in the Camdens.

  It was no wonder that when it came to choosing a partner in her life, she didn’t want yet another person who wouldn’t be there for her.

  Like him.

  And since he wasn’t sure the Camdens would come through for Kinsey, he knew he should be hoping she’d find a good man who would. A steady, dependable nine-to-fiver. Someon
e who would love her and care for her and give her everything she wanted and needed and deserved.

  But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t make himself hope for that and it caused him to wonder what it said about him. What the hell kind of a person was he if he couldn’t wish for her the one thing she most deserved?

  The answer to that was that he was the kind of person who wanted her for himself. Who couldn’t stand the thought of her with someone else. With anyone else.

  And last night had only made it worse.

  Last night and this morning when he’d wanted so badly to just hang on to her and never let go.

  He couldn’t recall a time when he’d ever felt this possessive. He’d lived too transient a life for that. So this was a new—and not really welcome—feeling for him.

  But it went along with a lot of other new feelings he’d found himself having. All of them in regards to Kinsey.

  She was just so great. Smart and funny, accomplished, strong and independent, caring and tolerant and...well, she was the whole package. And so beautiful he could hardly keep his eyes off her. Not to mention, so sexy he hadn’t been able to keep his hands off her.

  And she just had a way about her. Not pushy or insistent or naggy or judgmental or guilt inducing, but still somehow getting the job done.

  A way about her that had even influenced the colonel to be a gentler, more cooperative version of herself. A way about her that had not only accomplished what he’d needed accomplished, but had also eased tensions between him and his mother. A way that had made things seem more like when his father had been there to act as a buffer.

  And they were just so damn good together, he acknowledged. Even as dog trainers, working and playing with Jack—double-teaming the puppy had actually made some strides with the terrier that Sutter hadn’t been making on his own. Enough so that the colonel was beginning to like the dog.

  They were definitely good at just being alone, when Kinsey helped him see things—like the colonel’s relationship with Sol—in a better light. When she softened his own rough edges and showed him a better perspective to view a lot of things through. When she showed him more subtle methods of achieving what he was after. When time flew and he never wanted it to end and when it did, he felt as if there was an emptiness left behind that wasn’t filled again until she was back.

  And certainly they were good together when they were in bed. Making love to her had been so much better than sex had ever been before that it had almost been a whole different experience. Something that had had a new, unique element to it, a deeper sense of closeness, of connection, somehow, that had made it more...

  Wow, just more of everything. More explosive and mind-blowing and satisfying in a way that he was having trouble imagining not having as a part of his life from now on.

  Oh, hell, who was he kidding? He was having trouble picturing any part of his life now without her in it.

  “Damn you, Beau!” he muttered out loud as it occurred to him that his cousin had predicted this. They’d even bet a hundred dollars on it.

  He’d believed that Beau was wrong to think that he wouldn’t be able to enjoy some time with Kinsey and move on as usual. But now he was coming to realize that Beau was right. When feelings like he was having for Kinsey started up, they made things veer off course.

  They made it so that having her only here and now, being with her here and now with the knowledge that he’d soon have to leave her behind, wasn’t going to be enough.

  But if he wanted to have some kind of future with her, what was he going to be? Just someone else on the long list of men who were in and out of her life?

  He didn’t think she’d accept that. And even if he could convince her, he didn’t think that life would make her happy.

  It was long past due for her to have what she wanted.

  And he wanted to be the one who gave it to her.

  But how was he going to do that when he hadn’t changed his mind about marriage? A woman or the marines, but not both—that’s how it was for him.

  And that was actually how it was for Kinsey, too.

  So it was Kinsey or the marines...

  That realization—and the fact that he was even entertaining the thought of Kinsey over the marines—hit him harder than the sniper’s bullet.

  His first reaction was to do what he always did—he straightened his posture and told himself in no uncertain terms that he was a marine, that that’s all he’d ever wanted to be, that that’s all he ever would be.

  But for the first time in his life, he wasn’t feeling it. Not if being a marine meant no Kinsey.

  And that was when he began to think the unthinkable.

  He thought about Beau having left the marines. About the fact that his cousin had served honorably and dutifully and had moved on to a different life afterward—a life of happiness that Sutter could suddenly see as a reward Beau had earned with his service to his country.

  He thought about Beau having a woman he was crazy about. A baby. The chance for even more family. And how none of that shadowed the good Beau had done as a marine or how well he’d served. How none of that took away the contribution he’d made.

  He thought about having what Beau had now—and having it with Kinsey.

  And the longer he sat with those thoughts, the more he surprised himself by beginning to feel as if the time might have come to do what his cousin had done and take a step onto a new track.

  But who was he if he wasn’t a marine?

  What would he do?

  The answer came to him in a flash. As a lieutenant colonel, he was responsible for the people under his command. He’d thought that responsibility ended when they finished their periods of service. He’d always assumed that he was sending them back to honor and respect and lives that compensated them for their sacrifices in defending their country.

  Now he wasn’t so sure.

  In fact, now he’d learned that in too many instances he was sending them home to hardship.

  Okay, sure, he’d known there would be hardship for the wounded—whether the wound was physical or mental. But he’d also known that he was handing his responsibilities to the injured over to medical personnel who took up the reins.

  But the rest?

  Trouble finding or getting jobs? Financial and credit problems? Housing issues? Needing aid and assistance and counseling to get them back to being functioning, successful civilians? It was no easy road for too many of them.

  And now he felt as if maybe his responsibility could be just as honorably performed if he took care of these people not when they were overseas, but when they were discharged.

  If he was actually here to train and guide and lead and protect his people on the home front the way he would do as their commanding officer anywhere else in the world, he could still provide a valuable service.

  And thinking about it now, he could easily imagine himself in that role, possibly working with Beau or in the job with Louise Turner’s son.

  But even if it was a worthy and worthwhile task, it was still a lot for him to come to grips with and he waited for something to tell him he’d lost his mind to even consider leaving the marines.

  It didn’t come, though.

  What did come was the knowledge that the colonel wouldn’t like it. She hadn’t liked it when Beau left the corps. She’d like it even less if he did.

  But the more Sutter thought about it, the more right it felt to him.

  And if he changed his path and took responsibility for marines and other vets in the private sector, it would free the way to try for a real, lasting relationship with Kinsey...

  Kinsey, who appeared in the Camdens’ doorway just then.

  There was no sign of GiGi or anyone else seeing her out. There was just Kinsey stepping outside and closing the door behin
d her.

  Sutter opened his car door and got out.

  Her meeting with GiGi couldn’t have gone well because her expression was too solemn and forlorn, and her big blue eyes were wide as she blinked repeatedly, clearly trying to hold back tears.

  “You don’t look like you’re walking on air,” he said quietly as she drew near.

  “We should go,” was her only response, short and to the point as she went to the passenger side and got in.

  Sutter returned to the driver’s side and started the engine, not pressuring her to tell him what went on until he’d driven around the huge center fountain in the front courtyard and was out onto Gaylord Street again.

  Then he glanced at her and said, “How’d it go?”

  She shook her head. “Not great. I made a copy of my mother’s letter to my brothers and me and gave that to GiGi to explain why I was there. She read it and it was weird—I actually saw the color drain out of her face as she went along. By the time she’d finished the letter she looked like she’d aged about ten years right before my eyes.”

  Sutter nodded. “And then what?”

  “I think she was in shock. I started to worry that she was going to have a heart attack or stroke or something. The times I’ve seen her she’s seemed so strong and healthy and youthful—years younger than her actual age. But by the time she’d read the letter she didn’t look that way anymore, and I started to think maybe I shouldn’t have just laid it on her, alone, like that.”

  Sutter could hear the alarm in her voice and he was beginning to feel some of it himself. He was fond of GiGi Camden. “Did you call someone? Her husband, Jonah? Margaret or Louie?”

  “No. I asked her if I could get her a glass of water but she kind of rallied then. And...well...she didn’t get hostile, but there was kind of a scary light in her eyes and she got all formal and stiff and her chin went in the air. She can be a little formidable—I think she could give the colonel a run for her money in that department.”

  Sutter nodded, knowing that side of GiGi, too, having seen it a time or two when he and Beau had gotten into trouble growing up.