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Besides all that, I’d learned my lesson from what my sister had gone through a few years ago when my team had been betrayed by someone on the inside. She’d been forced to go into hiding with the Silver Saints MC, who’d taken her in thanks to me calling in a favor with an old friend.
Eventually, we’d taken the traitor down, but not before Harlowe was almost killed. Granted, it had worked out in the end because she’d met her husband and made me an uncle. I couldn’t imagine that kind of luck would strike twice. And if something happened to Cora because of me...I honestly had no concept of what would happen other than to know my reaction would be nuclear.
So this was all we could have. At least until some motherfucker stepped in to do what I couldn’t, and I was forced to leave before I killed him. It crossed my mind to threaten away every male who looked at her twice. Would it be so bad for her to live her life single?
“Hey, Huntley.” Cora’s sweet voice broke through my thoughts and lit my soul with happiness. She beamed at me, and her dimples dug into her cheeks as they bloomed with pink. Her breathing increased a small amount, but it was enough to make her breasts jiggle enticingly.
Fuck, she’s gorgeous,I groaned in my head. I commanded my dick to lay low, but he ignored me and attempted to rise and salute the woman of my dreams.
“Hi, gingersnap.”
Cora giggled like she always did when I used the nickname, and the sound sent a pang in my heart and even more swelling in my leather pants.
This had to be the last time I saw her. I was leaving for a deployment soon, and I was determined to use that time to get control of myself and walk away from her. Just as I’d vowed every time I’d been on an operation since I met my ginger beauty.
1
Cora
It had been four long months since Huntley Reed had last come into the bank branch where I worked as a teller, and I’d been starting to wonder if I was ever going to see the handsome Naval officer again. The first time he’d come through my line to deposit a check, I’d stammered out my usual professional greeting because I was struggling with my body’s completely inappropriate reaction to him. My throat had gone dry as my gaze trailed up his tall body, taking in how the soft material of his shirt was stretched taut over his muscular chest, shoulders, and biceps. My fingers had itched to touch his short blond hair, and the knowing gleam in his hazel eyes had made my cheeks flame with embarrassment.
Over the past sixteen months, I’d gotten better at handling my attraction to Huntley. I’d even managed some flirtatious banter that I’d been hoping would lead to him asking me out on a date. Even though he flirted back, he’d never taken us past casual conversation. But then he’d up and disappeared—probably because he’d been deployed—and I’d started to wonder if the attraction had been completely one-sided. Maybe I’d read more into our conversations than what had really been going on. If he’d been able to walk away from me so easily without saying goodbye, then he couldn’t possibly have been drawn to me as much as I was to him.
It took almost all this time, but finally I’d convinced myself that I’d gotten over my feelings for him. But as soon as I spotted him through the glass windows that lined the front of the building, I realized how wrong I’d been. It turned out that the old adage was true—absence made the heart grow fonder. The attraction had only deepened during Huntley’s absence, and I found myself feeling even more tongue-tied than I had during our first meeting as he walked to the end of my line. My heart raced in my chest as I stammered my way through transactions for the three customers in front of him.
When it was his turn and there was only the teller line counter between us, my awareness of everyone else faded away until I felt as though it was just the two of us in the building. In a desperate attempt to keep things professional so I could protect my heart from this sexy man, I murmured, “Good morning, Mr. Reed. How can I help you today?”
Huntley’s head tilted to the side, and his hazel eyes drifted over my face before his gaze met mine. “I think we’re past using last names, no matter how long it’s been since we’ve last seen each other. Don’t you, Cora?”
No way could I keep my reaction to him in check. Not when just looking at his mouth while he said my name in his deep voice almost gave me a mini-orgasm. My voice was breathy as I replied, “Yes, I guess we are.”
His lips curved at the edges, and his smug little grin sent a shiver down my spine. “C’mon, now. Are you really going to leave me hanging like this?”
I knew what he was hinting at, but I wasn’t going to admit it. Not when he’d been gone for so long. I liked feeling as though he was the one who was second-guessing my interest in him for a change, even if I was fooling myself because my blush totally gave me away. Widening my eyes, I pasted an innocent expression on my face and asked, “I’m not sure what you mean?”
“Nice try, gingersnap. But we both know that you get exactly what I’m saying.” I felt a surge of triumph at the gleam of masculine approval in his hazel eyes, but that was nothing compared to having him use his nickname for me again. I’d been called so many horrible things growing up with red hair, but Huntley’s pet name more than made up for those experiences. I never thought the day would come when I’d laugh over anything having to do with my hair color, but I couldn’t help giggling each time Huntley called me gingersnap. “It’s been too long since I’ve heard you say my name.”
I leaned forward and whispered, “You’re the one who stayed away, Huntley.”
“Not by choice, Cora.” His eyes darkened to a brown hue as he gripped the edge of the counter separating us. His hold on the walnut surface was so hard that his knuckles turned white. “Trust me, I’ve tried to stop myself from driving clear across town to come to this branch. But I’ve failed over and over again.”
I was torn over how to feel about his confession. A part of me was thrilled he kept finding himself drawn to me, but I was also crushed to hear he’d been trying to resist the attraction between us. That was the side that won out as I straightened my spine and replied, “Seems to me like you did a bang-up job of it for the past four months.”
“I’ve only been back in town for forty-eight hours, and most of that time has been spent debriefing from my last mission.” He reached out and wrapped his fingers around my wrist, and my pulse skittered wildly as his thumb brushed over my skin. “Coming here to see you was the first thing I did after grabbing a shower, eating some decent food, and passing the fuck out because I was so damn tired.”
Whoa. That was one heck of a confession. All my doubts about misreading our interactions disappeared, replaced by a certainty that Huntley was just as attracted to me as I was to him. I was overwhelmed by a sense of relief and had to swallow down a lump in my throat before I could say, “I don’t understand. If you want to see me so badly, why have you been trying to stay away?”
“Because I’m no good for you, gingersnap.”
I would’ve thought he was just making up an excuse for not acting on the chemistry between us, except the words sounded as though they had been pulled from the depths of his soul. “Shouldn’t I be the one who gets to decide if I’m better off without you or not, Huntley?”
For a moment, I thought he was going to agree with me, but then a muscle jumped in his jaw as he seemed to shake off the impulse. “Not when you’re the one who’d get hurt if you were wrong.”
“Fine, if you don’t want to give me a chance, then I guess there’s nothing I can do about it.” I shook off his hold and snatched the check and deposit slip out of his other hand. Keeping my gaze on the computer screen in front of me, I focused on my breathing while I pulled up his account and went through the steps to process his transaction. It didn’t take me long, but I’d managed to pull myself mostly together by the time I was done. I didn’t look at him as I slid his receipt across the counter.
“Cora,” he sighed, crumpling the paper in his fist.
My head jerked up before he could say anything else. “If you’re not going to ask me on a date, then there’s nothing personal left for us to say. Have a nice day and thank you for your business.”
