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Sky sighed, moving her hand against his as he cupped her abdomen. “I thought she was going to cry. Did you see it? The tears in her eyes?”
“Yeah. I think his endearment really shook her in an unexpected, but good, way.”
“I think Alex finally reached inside her armor and held her very guarded heart in his caring and gentle hands for the first time.” Sky leaned over, kissing his thick biceps, feeling the muscles leap and tightened beneath her lips. “You know, Alex comes off as this simple farm boy, but beneath that exterior, there’s a man who has exquisite timing. I stood in awe of what he did earlier with Lauren.”
“What do you mean?” Cal asked, kissing the nape of her neck, feeling Sky arch suggestively against him.
“Think about this…,” and Sky scooted away just enough to study Cal’s craggy, shadowed expression. The moonlight moved silently across their bed, chasing away the darkness, replacing it with charcoal grays and luminous white instead. She saw Cal’s eyes were hooded, saw the fire in them, the need for her. “He told her in the middle of company. Lauren wasn’t going to confront him in front of us. Alex was able to tell her how he really felt, and Lauren had no defense. She couldn’t run. She couldn’t get angry. I think Alex is very much a fox beneath that good ole farm boy exterior of his.”
Chuckling, Cal slid his fingers through Sky’s hair, beginning to gently massage her scalp, which she loved. “He’d tell you he was a wolf in disguise. I saw him handle a bad situation in the villa. He’s a professional operator. My respect for him is solid.”
“Okay, he’s a wolf on the prowl, and he’s hunting Lauren.”
“Good luck to him,” Cal murmured, watching Sky’s eyes slowly close, her lips parting as he kneaded her scalp, feeling her turn into warm butter in his arms. “I think he’s in love with her. Has been from the moment he saw her across the room at Shield.”
Sky’s eyes flew open. “Really?”
Cal grinned. “What? A guy can’t have a hunch about someone when it comes to love. Is it always the woman who knows first?”
Sky smiled and outlined his broad shoulder, trailing her fingers down his upper arm, his flesh tightening, responding to her grazing fingertips. “I happen to agree with you. Lauren will be the last to know it, though.”
“Yeah, but she’s going to lose the battle and the war,” Cal promised her, catching her hand, opening her palm, licking it slowly and then kissing her flesh. He watched a fine tremble go through Sky. She was more than ready to love him. Cal had never felt so grateful. It was as if the old Sky, before the kidnapping, had returned. Tonight, was important to her, having the people she considered her loving family surround her and the baby she carried. And Cal had never more grateful to Lauren and Alex for stepping up to the plate and being there solidly for Sky. He owed them. Big time. Someway, Cal swore he would find a way to pay both of them back. They had helped give Sky the rest of her life back to her, whether they realized it or not.
Sighing, she relinquished her hand to Cal, the tiny electrical jolts flying up her fingers and into her wrist from his slow, sensual assault on her senses. “Lauren has been wounded much worse than me, Cal. I don’t know if she can overcome her fear, to reach out to Alex. I hope she does. He’s a wonderful man, so kind, patient and gentle.”
Cal slowly eased Sky onto her back, allowed her to reclaim her hand. “He’s Ukrainian, sweetheart. They don’t give up. Ever. Once he’s got an objective, he’s going to capture it. Lauren just doesn’t realize it yet,” and he gave her an amused look. “I’m far more familiar with Spetsnaz operators than she or you are. They draw the kind of man who doesn’t quit. He can be filled with bullet holes, but he’s still going to come after you until he bleeds out and dies. And Alex is like that, trust me.”
“I’ve never seen that side of him,” Sky admitted.
“He strategically blindsided Lauren this afternoon,” Cal told her smugly, rather proud of his friend. “That was pure black ops tactics we saw being played out in front of our eyes in our own living room. The man is a third dimensional chess master, trust me. He beat me at chess every time, tonight. And I’m damned good.”
“Is that why you looked like you did?” Sky accused, sliding her hand up his jaw, the stubble creating wild tingles through her sensitized palm.
“Yeah. Didn’t you feel the shift of energy around him before he spoke?”
“Well,” Sky stumbled, thinking back, “I felt something. I guess it felt like a laser sighted in on its quarry if you want to talk in sniper terms.”
“Exactly,” Cal praised, giving her an admiring look. “You felt it. You identified it. That’s how an operator does it: sights in. Focuses. Calculates windage and clicks. Just like a laser. And Lauren happened to be his target.” Cal murmured, smiling a little, “Alex was shooting out his love he holds for her. Embracing Lauren with that powerful focus he has at his disposal.”
“Ohhhhh,” Sky whispered, suddenly realizing something. “Is that why Lauren blushed? I’ve NEVER seen her blush! Or act so ODD!”
“She acted like a woman who suddenly understood that Alex was silently and invisibly embracing her with his heart and love, wanting her in every possible way.”
“You black ops people are spooky!” Sky accused, laughing. She sighed and moved sinuously against Cal, his erection pressing deeply into her belly.
“I’ve got my sights on YOU,” Cal growled, giving her a heated look. “I want you. More importantly? How are you feeling?”
She saw the concern in Cal’s eyes, drowning in the sable and gold of them. “Tonight is the first night since we’ve been back that I’m starving for you, Cal. It’s as if someone flipped a switch in me. Before, I felt nothing. I felt dead inside,” and Sky gave him apologetic look. “I felt bad… guilty… because I knew you wanted to make love with me, and I didn’t want to be touched.”
Cal kissed her worried brow. “It was shock, Sky. It turns everything off,” he explained, kissing her temple, inhaling her special womanly fragrance. “And as the shock recedes, parts of you start to come back online. You start feeling alive again, wanting to re-engage with life.”
“I wished you’d have told me that,” Sky grumped, pouting.
“I wish,” Cal said, looking down at her pointedly, “you’d have asked me about it. I might have saved you a lot of worry and guilt.”
Sky raised her brows and sighed. “I really need to learn to communicate better with you. You’re right…”
“Speaking of communicating,” and Cal cupped her cheek, holding her lambent gaze, “are you all right with me making love to you tonight? I know you were worried about hurting our baby.”
