Page 51 of Loving a Warrior

He was guzzling another glass of water in the kitchen when Shane walked in from the direction of the bedroom, holding a checkbook in his hand. “Hey, how was your run?”

Matt grimaced. “Pathetic. Four miles and I feel like I’ve been trampled by a herd of buffalo.”

“You’ll get there.” Shane tossed his checkbook down and grabbed a Coke from the fridge. Matt traced his eyes over his torso-hugging white T-shirt and low-slung jeans. He was wearing a blue baseball cap backward and some mirrored sunglasses were hanging from the neckline of his shirt. Damn, he looked good enough to eat.

Matt cleared his throat. “What, uh, what’s the deal with you going forward? You said you’re starting First Phase back over at the beginning?”

“Unfortunately, yeah.” Shane leaned against the counter and crossed his legs at the ankle, Coke bottle clasped loosely between his fingers. “I’ll start in three weeks with the next class, which is in Indoc now. Until then I’m supposed to keep my fitness level up and help in the training center offices as needed.”

“In other words, you’ll be the instructors’ bitch.”

“Pretty much. But I can handle it. Besides, the delay will give me a chance to work on my O-course times.”

“That’s a very glass-half-full way to look at being a gofer for three weeks.”

Shrugging, Shane finished off his drink. “You and I both know they could’ve let me DOR without a backward glance. Instead, they found a way to keep me. No matter what, I’m not gonna complain.”

It was true. First Phase was a ruthless weeding-out process more than anything else. One sign of weakness and guys were history. If the instructor cadre had been willing to work with Shane, they obviously held him in high regard.

“Well, it’s gonna suck ass. Better you than me.”

Shane set the empty bottle on the counter and sauntered toward him, backing Matt up until he was pressed against the island. “By the weekends I’m gonna be really stressed out, you know,” he murmured, sliding his hands onto Matt’s hips. “I might need a lot of, er, stress relief.”

“Right.” Matt rolled his eyes even as he lifted his face. Shane’s lips were slightly cold from the Coke, and the contrast with his hot, wet tongue instantly ratcheted Matt’s desire to a fever pitch. Trapped between the counter and Shane’s hard, aroused body, Matt was drowning in sensory overload.

“Mmm.” He tipped his head back helplessly as Shane broke the kiss only to mouth along his throat. His stubble rasped lightly on Matt’s sensitive skin, that, along with the softness of his lips, driving Matt wild. Clutching on to his shoulders, he arched against him, unable to keep from whimpering a protest when Shane dropped one last kiss to the tip of his nose and reluctantly let his hands slide away.

“Not yet.” Shane ran the backs of his fingers along Matt’s cheek. “You just put your gorgeous self through a hell of a lot, so I can wait.”

“I can’t.” Matt smoothed his palms along Shane’s broad chest, reveling in being able to touch him freely at last. “I have a couple of hours…”

Shane captured his hands and squeezed them. “With everything I wanna do to you, we’d need more than a couple of hours. Plus you wouldn’t be able to walk for a week. I’m not that selfish.” Pressing one last kiss to Matt’s fingers, he let go of him and moved away, leaving Matt throbbing with arousal and an unexpected tenderness.

“Okay,” he rasped. “I guess I should get back to base and start organizing for the week, then. You need a ride somewhere first?”

“Shit.” Shane snatched up his checkbook and tucked it in his back pocket. “I’ve been talking to a local car dealership so I ran over there this morning to do a test drive on something I’ve had my eye on. Think I’m ready to make a deal. Do you mind dropping me off there?”

“Of course not.”

Matt went into the bedroom to grab his backpack, and when they pulled up in front of the dealership, Shane turned to face him. “Have a good week, okay? I guess I’ll see you…sometime.” He gave a what-can-you-do shrug, his eyes tinged with resignation.

Matt nodded, wrestling with a ridiculous urge to kiss him goodbye, right here in the cab of his truck. “Good luck. I don’t envy you. At all.”

“I’ll survive. You’re definitely giving me something to look forward to.”

With a wink Shane climbed out and ambled toward the entrance to the dealership, a man in a rumpled suit hurrying out to meet him.

After a moment Matt shoved the truck into gear and drove away, the taste of Coke and Shane still lingering on his lips.

Chapter Thirteen

“Okay, guys. Welcome back.” Bernson settled in against the desk, his arms crossed, as he looked over the eighteen Hell Week survivors.

His knees still aching and his bruises nowhere near healed, Matt was beyond relieved when they ended up spending all day in the classroom, delving deeper into the mechanics of hydrographic reconnaissance instead of getting wet and sandy. As the week wore on, classes on diving physics and compression tables were added to the curriculum.

Math had never been Matt’s strong suit. He found himself too busy with homework and practicals to spare a lot of thought to Shane, although he craned his neck for a glimpse of him every time he passed the training center offices.

Before he secured them on Friday, Bernson announced that Monday would bring a timed physics test. “Pass it or you’re history.”