A Hero's Pride Read online

  Tentatively she placed her small, tanned one into his.

  “Then let’s eat,” he said and guided her toward the door.

  They made their way to the pre-arranged dinner location. One of the helpful staff members guided them to the spot where their dinner would be served before leaving them alone. He hadn’t expected a table on a secluded part of the beach within a few feet of the water. Soft candles and colorful flowers sat at the center of the top-of-the-line setup.

  “This is so beautiful,” Kayla whispered. Her voice blanketed over him like melted caramel, her Latin accent thickened with her excitement.

  Kayla wanted to pinch herself but was afraid she’d scare off Ryan. Not only did he look good enough to eat, the man was a kissing god. He’d just grabbed her and started a brushfire. It had rushed down from her lips to her core and made her panties wet. She wiggled in her seat. Every time he gave her another of those heated looks, the throbbing between her thighs increased.

  She stared at the evening sky and sighed. When she glanced at him he was staring at her lips. They really needed to talk or someone was going to get attacked, and she had a feeling it would be him. As a form of distraction, she placed the napkin over her lap and fiddled with it, taking her sweet time before she glanced back up. It was a poor way to keep herself in the chair and stop her brain from imagining tearing off his shirt and checking out his naked body.

  “Sorry, this is new to me.” She gulped. “Did you have to be harassed into being here tonight too?” She joked, hoping the question would calm her racing heart, her throbbing sex, and his hungry glances.

  He chuckled. “Actually, I chose to be here. Didn’t you?”

  She licked her lips and scrunched her nose. “No. I mean, yes.” She rolled her eyes. “What I am trying to say is that I chose to be here, but I’ve never been on a blind date before…so this is kind of weird.”

  By the time she finished talking, she was feeling embarrassed and self-conscious. What in the world possessed her to tell him this was her first blind date?

  “Don’t worry. This is my first blind date too.” He licked his lips and stared at her mouth.

  Damn. He wasn’t making it any easier for her to stop thinking of sex. Lots of sex. With Thor-look-a-like Ryan. Her mind was clearly in the gutter.

  “Well, at least you don’t have a mother trying to set you up with half the male population in the U.S. and Europe.” She grimaced. “I had to agree to this, or my mother would have made me one of her surprise dinners where every eligible bachelor she knew just happened to attend.”

  He laughed. “My family hadn’t gone that far. And I would have had major problems with them if they’d thrown me a dinner with a bunch of men to choose from.”

  She giggled. “You know what I mean.”

  “I do, but I love the sound of your laugh.”

  “Thank you… So why did your family set you up on a blind date?”

  He shrugged. “They think I’ve been alone long enough.”

  “What do you think?”

  He pierced her with his gaze. The smile slid off his face, slowly. “I wouldn’t mind meeting someone I can start a relationship with. As long as she is understanding to some things about me that are…different.”

  She was about to ask what he meant when the waiter appeared and filled her wine glass again. She waited until he was gone before going back to the conversation.

  “So I understand you’re in the military?”

  Strings of soft lights turned on above their heads, giving a romantic glow to the evening. “I am.”

  That was it? Some conversation. “What do you do exactly?” She didn’t know anything particular about his position, only that he’d been in Afghanistan and had returned home injured.

  “I’m in the army. Special Forces.” He glanced away from her. She noticed a gloominess take over his face. “At least I used to be.”

  “So were you discharged?”

  “Not exactly.”

  She stared at his face. He clenched his jaw hard. She wondered why it bothered him to answer such simple questions.

  Curiosity. The worst of her personality traits made itself known. She had a hard time letting things go and tended to ask a million and one questions until she was satisfied she understood the situation. Her parents nicknamed her Snoopy because she just kept digging until she had found out everything she wanted on whatever interested her. “So what exactly was it?”

  “I’m out on medical leave.”

  Oh, yes. The injury that had brought him home. And she was about to start her inquisition. He would probably tell her off soon, but she was way too interested not to ask the stuff popping into her head. “So what happened?”

  He jerked back to face her. Was that anger in his eyes? No, it was something else. Distress?

  He gulped and looked at her straight in the eyes. “I lost my leg.”

  “Okay.”

  Did that mean he couldn’t have his same position? Special Ops sounded kind of…well kind of badass. But maybe just being able to walk didn’t mean he could do the job. Maybe he still wasn’t physically capable of doing the job anymore. “Sue did say that you had suffered an injury. But why can’t you go back? Did they find you mentally unstable?” She asked, bewildered. “Why couldn’t you do your job again?”

  He frowned. “No, I’m mentally stable. But as I said, I lost my leg.” Leaning forward on the table, he continued to stare her down. “I have a prosthetic on my right side from below my knee.”

  “Okay. So are prosthetics not allowed in the Special Forces?”

  “I don’t think in my team it would be. The group is under a lot of physical pressure so we needed to be in top physical shape.”

  “Wait, you don’t know?” She was surprised.

  “I’m pretty sure.” His voice firmed.

  “Pretty sure isn’t 100% sure.” She smiled.

  “I see what you’re trying to do, but really, it wouldn’t work.”

  “How do you know? Maybe it would. Maybe they’ll reconsider?”

  “Not the group I was with.” He did a slow roll of his shoulders. “I can’t go back.”

  “Okay, but I still don’t understand why not.” Kayla still didn’t understand what his problem was. “Have they been discriminating against you?” Fury filled her instantly.

  He shook his head, eyes wide as if in shock. “No. But it would be extremely difficult to go back to the team. I would have to do something different if I wanted to stay in the force. Things are much, much harder to do with a prosthetic.”

  “But not impossible.” It took her a moment to comprehend what was happening. He pitied himself, and that just wouldn’t do. “Do you realize how many people go through injuries every day, not just in the military but in the world in general?” Her accent thickened with each word. “I have been to Africa and South America and have seen men, women and children with missing limbs working hard in fields just to make a few cents to eat. Most of them can’t afford a prosthetic. They have to make do at living life with what they have left. And sometimes, they had very little to begin with” Sadness worked its way into her voice.

  He stared at her quietly. She wondered what was going through his mind. “You don’t seem to understand,” he ground out. A vein in the side of his cheek caught her attention when it quivered.

  “Bullshit.”

  Chapter Three

  “What?” Incredulity and annoyance covered his face. Too bad. Kayla had never been one to hold back.

  She waited for the waiter who had materialized out of nowhere to refill their glasses to leave. Once the server disappeared again, she continued where she’d left off. “I said that’s bullshit. You pity yourself.” Kayla saw that this big, sexy man was letting a physical condition stop him from living the life he wanted, and it bothered her. She didn’t know why she insisted, but his eyes spoke of pain and suffering. Her first impression of him was that he was a nice guy. That was not the norm in the men she dated. For
crying out loud he’d been in the war fighting for their country. So how could she allow him to continue living with so much insecurity?

  He shook his head. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  Wow. But she pushed some more. She became Kayla Santomas, child psychologist. “Oh, I most certainly do.”

  “What do you know about almost dying and losing a leg in the war?” His voice turned cool and somewhat distant.

  Kayla leaned forward, smiling softly at him like she did with the troubled, insecure children she counseled. “About war? I know nothing.” She admitted with a small shrug. Before he got a chance to say anything smug, she held up a hand and stopped him. “But about survival, I know everything. And you’re looking for excuses to withdraw from the rest of the world.” She placed her hand over his fisted one on the table.

  “I am not.” He gulped down half the glass of champagne, clearly uncomfortable. Unsure if she should continue or not, she decided to speak freely, damn the consequences. It looked to her like he needed to hear what she was saying. “Something tells me you’ve gotten stuck on the loss of your leg. So stuck that you probably haven’t even given thought to what other jobs you can do if you aren’t able to return to your previous position.”

  The flush of guilt on his face said it all. She felt a little bad that she was making him see things he may not be ready to. There was no backing down now. He was a strong man. He exuded power, strength, and authority. She saw command in his frame, his look, and the way he carried himself. Yes, he’d survived a physical hardship, but he needed to move on.

  He scowled. Something more than sexual interest shone in his eyes. “What do you do for a living, Kayla?”

  She let the question hang while they ordered their meal from the magic waiter who had reappeared again.

  “I’m a psychologist.” She grinned.

  Oh boy. Sparks lit his eyes, and he almost choked on his drink. He was clearly putting two and two together and coming up with six. Better clear up any misconceptions before her night of hot sex was messed up. And now that she’d been kissed by Ryan, there was no denying it, she wanted more than those breathtaking kisses from him. She wanted coma-inducing orgasms. “A child psychologist,” she added. “I specialize in children with deformities and terminal illnesses.”

  Ryan’s rising anger deflated faster than a popped balloon. For a moment he’d thought the entire night had been a sham, until she mentioned the full extent of her job. She’d given him the raw truth, and he hadn’t liked it. His interest spiked.

  “Children with deformities? Where do you practice?” Fascinated, he watched her sip the champagne and swipe her tongue over her lips. Every single hormone in his body had headed south. The single act of her licking her lips brought his mind back down to the gutter. All his thoughts centered on what he could get her to do with those full lips and that pink tongue. His cock jerked painfully, reminding him it had been too damn long since he had sex. He was sure he would end up with a hole in the crotch of his pants soon, sure he wanted to worship every part of her body like a gift from the gods. But he needed to relax so he could get to know her better. And he wanted to get to know her.

  “New York Holms.”

  One of the top line children’s clinics. Everyone had heard of that place. Beauty and brains. The combination only made her hotter in his eyes. They ate, and he continued to ask her about her job. He learned that she loved working with children and that her biggest passion was making sure her patients felt good about themselves no matter how they looked.

  “Why are you really here, Ryan?”

  Their gazes met. Several emotions rushed through him, until he finally settled into sincerity. “I was sent home severely injured. The loss of my leg, along with all the operations, did a number on me.” He shrugged and turned his face away from her. The fork clinked on the plate. She brought her hand back, curled it over his fist, and squeezed. A knot formed in his throat. “After months of therapy and getting the prosthetic, I noticed everyone looked at me differently. Like…like I wasn’t whole anymore.”

  It was weird to say the words, but liberating at the same time. He continued, feeling more confident when she kept a tight grip on his hand. “I’m still the same guy.” Heat rushed to his face. “There’s something else…”

  She raised her brows. “What else is there?” Her soft, sweet voice calmed his nerves, and her smile warmed him through the chill of opening up to someone else.

  “I had lost all interest in women.” She gave him a wide-eyed stare. “Not in the I-don’t-want-women-anymore sense, but more like I wasn’t interested in any of the ones I met.” Why was he telling her this? Because something about her made him want to be honest with her. Something told him she was special…trustworthy. “I thought something was damaged after the injuries that kept me from feeling…aroused.”

  Hell. Her eyes sparkled full of heat under those long, dark lashes. “Well, we both know that you weren’t.” She nibbled on her full bottom lip and glanced down at the table. “Damaged down there, that is,” she said, referring to his erection when he’d kissed her earlier.

  Arousal heated his blood. He didn’t want to wait anymore. Once she placed the spoon she’d been licking the sweet dessert off onto the plate, he stood and held out a hand to her.

  She dropped the napkin on the table, her eyes locked on his. For a tiny thing she had a tight grip. Desire lit her eyes. “Let’s go to my room.” The husky whisper increased the throbbing in his cock.

  A sense of urgency filled him. He needed to get her to the room right away. They rushed back toward the hotel. Quiet surrounded them, and pockets of darkness covered several thick trees. Unwilling to wait for a taste of her, he stopped some yards from the entrance and pushed her up against a tall oak.

  “Ryan, what are you—”

  He pressed his body into her much softer one, dipped his head, and kissed her. She moaned. A savage groan sounded in the back of his throat. He savored her taste, sweet and fresh. Like whipped cream over apple pie. Delicious.

  Her small hands gripped his shirt at the shoulders. She pulled him closer, rubbing her body sensuously over his. He trailed his hands down her back and squeezed her ass cheeks. She turned her head, but he just used the move to kiss her throat and collarbone.

  “Yessss.”

  He loved hearing the desperation in her voice. Her soft whimpers increased in volume and pushed him further out of control. He ground his cock into the juncture of her thighs. Fuck, she felt so good.

  “More, please.”

  It took some loud laughter from behind him to jolt him back to reality. What the hell was wrong with him? He was ready to tear at her panties and slide into her in clear view of anyone passing by.

  “What happened? Why’d you stop?”

  Her pulse fluttered wildly under his thumb. She breathed raggedly and ran her tongue over her swollen lips. Her eyes widened when she heard a couple pass them by.

  He cupped her cheek with a shaky hand. He’d never been as turned-on by a woman before. Everything about her drew him in and made him want her more. Her smile, her taste, her brazenness. “I want you.” Just saying the words made his cock twitch.

  “I want you too.” She whispered, leaned her face into his hand, and kissed his palm.

  They hurried the rest of the way into hotel. In the elevator he kissed her again, unwilling to wait the ride up to touch her. The ping of the doors opening separated them. A couple entered. Ryan and Kayla scurried to Kayla’s suite.

  Kayla rushed into the bedroom only to be hauled back and pressed against the hardwood of the door. Ryan’s big, unyielding body covered her. Her nipples pebbled tight, and her sex slickened in readiness. God, she wanted him so bad.

  He dropped his head, his lips fluttering over her mouth and tongue tracing her lips. A soft whimper escaped her. She lifted her hands to his blond hair and twined her fingers into the shaggy locks. Then she pulled his face so their lips could mesh in a hot, tongue-d
angling kiss that left her breathless. He released her lips, and she moved on to his scruffy, super-sexy chin.

  “Kayla, we need to slow down.” He groaned when she sucked on his jaw.

  “Slow later. Fast now,” she whispered between nibbles.

  “Works for me.”

  Gravity shifted, and she was lifted into his arms. He probably shouldn’t be hauling her anywhere considering she was no tiny thing. The last thing she wanted was to hurt him. But knowing about his insecurity after the loss of his leg, she curled her legs around his waist and held on. Seconds later he shifted toward the bed.

  Kayla dropped her legs as soon as he stopped walking. The back of her calves brushed the soft material of the bedding. He lowered the straps on her dress and bra, kissed her chest, and made his way down to her breasts. Waves of heat flowed through her veins like molten lava with each swipe of his tongue on her nipple. The dress skimmed her body on its descent to her feet and landed with a swoosh. The bra, which he’d unsnapped at her back without taking his lips off her chest, came off as well.

  He licked and laved the tight points. First he sucked one into his mouth, twirled his tongue on the sensitive tip, and grazed it with his teeth. Liquid fire dripped from her slit. Her pussy throbbed and grasped at the air. She needed him inside soon, or she would start begging. His big hands molded her flesh in his grip. Pinpricks of lust shot through her body and zeroed in on her crotch.

  Kayla traced the contours of his beefy body, down his muscular chest and to his trousers. She tugged on the material and opened his pants, his hot cock springing free. The pants slid down his legs. Curling a hand around his thick length, she gripped him tight.