NOCB 070 - Time Raiders - Delilah Devlin - The Warrior's Touch by Nocturne Page B

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    Caleb dropped Fari on her bunk with a growl. The flare she’d thrown of cardboard boxes stacked in the hallway had shredded the moment he’d stroked into her mouth. Thankfully, there hadn’t been anyone around to see them while he’d righted his clothing, then swooped her up into his arms.
    Her eyes still twinkled with laughter.
    Caleb narrowed his own while he bent to unlace his boots. “You think it’s funny. You’re the ranking soldier. Think they wouldn’t have written you up?”
    Her grin stretched across her face. “The General and I had a little talk before I came to see you. She made sure folks were busy elsewhere.”
    He cocked his head to the side. “Is she matchmaking?” With two kicks his boots flew toward the far wall.
    “She wouldn’t dare, but she does understand. Soldiers in the heat of battle and all…”
    Caleb shoved his pants down and stepped out of them. “Is that what this is? We’re just blowing off steam?”
    Fari’s smile dimmed. “It’s more than that. I think you know it.”
    Caleb pulled his T-shirt over his head, naked now, and frowning because she was still fully clothed. He caught one of her feet between his thighs and went to work on the laces of her boot. “I don’t want to be your furlough fling, Fari. I want more than that.”
    “I do too.” When both her boots were gone, she opened her pants and let him tug them off. Then she sat at the edge of the bed while he rucked up her shirt. Before her arms were free, he opened the clasp of her bra.
    With her arms raised and her head caught in her tee, Caleb pushed her down to the mattress and followed her down. “We should set some rules of engagement.”
    “Engagement?” she said, her voice muffled in the fabric. “That’s a dangerous word.”
    His hands cupped her breasts, thumbs strumming her spiked nipples. “Because you’d never consider an enlisted man as husband material?” Thinking maybe he wasn’t ready to hear her reply, he bent and drew one tip into his mouth and suckled.
    Fari’s sigh was audible. “I might consider it,” she said, laughter in her voice. “With the right man.”
    Might? Caleb rubbed her nipple with his tongue, then bit it.
    She gasped, then wrestled with her shirt, at last pulling it the rest of the way off and flinging it toward the floor. Her cheeks were rosy, but her brown eyes were soft when she met his gaze. “I know you’d rather keep this light, but I think we’re way past fun and games.”
    Caleb grunted. “Got me all figured out?”
    “I think I do. You’re afraid of dying and leaving someone behind to grieve. I am too. But there aren’t any guarantees in this life.”
    This wasn’t the conversation he wanted. Not right at this moment. He released her nipple but continued plucking it with his fingertips. “We have seven more months to survive,” he murmured. “Maybe we should have this little talk when we’re stateside again.”
    Fari stroked his hair with her fingers, lightly scratching his scalp, soothing him. His eyelids dipped.
    “I don’t want to wait, Caleb. I can’t keep the things I’m feeling inside to myself. Not when we’re like this. You flirted and teased all the while we were on the mission. You got me here. You can’t pull away now.”
    He snorted. “Wasn’t plannin’ on pullin’ away, sweetheart.”
    She pulled his hair. “You know what I mean. I’m in this for the long haul. If you’re not, you can stop what you’re doing right now.”
    Only one little two-letter word would stop him now. And he wasn’t a coward. If she needed to know where she stood with him, he’d play fair.
    His fingers pinched her nipple and released it. He scooted up her body and angled a knee between her legs, opening them. When he’d settled his body between her legs, he locked his gaze with hers. “Does it look like I’m not in deep, Fari? Do you really think I don’t realize something’s happening between us, sweetheart?”
    Her eyebrows