He smiled. What a smart-ass. "Actually they were out. It's zebra."

She picked up the sandwich, brought it to her mouth, but stopped when she realized he was staring at her. "What?"

"I'm waiting for you to finish eating."

"Why?" He grinned and she turned completely red. "Oh."

"So hurry up."

"I can't eat with you staring at me. Talk or something."

"Well, when I started in the Navy I knew this guy-"

She cut him off by raising one finger. "No, and I mean no Navy stories. Ever."

"What's wrong with the Navy?"

"Nothing. It's military stories in general. Nothing makes me crazier than listening to a bunch of males sitting around talking about their goddamn military glory that always ends with something about a barhook giving them a happy ending."

"Okay then. Of course that doesn't leave much. I was in for fourteen years."

She finally took a bite of the sandwich and now spoke around a mouth full of food. "Come up with something. You're smart..." She looked him up and down. "Basically."

"Okay." He waited until she took another bite of food. "My sister tried to rip my throat out once."

He pounded on her back to prevent her from choking. Eventually she swallowed and glared at him. "Don't do that!"

"Sorry."

She took a gulp of soda and leveled those gray eyes at him. "You know, your sisters are real bitches."

"Yeah. I know."

She went back to eating and talking simultaneously. "The worst thing my sisters did was hold me down and spit on me."

Mace grimaced. "I think I'd rather have her rip my throat out."

"There's an upside to both."

Mace watched Dez eat. He examined her long neck and strong body. Her arms well defined, probably from handling those two stupid but huge dogs. He noticed faded, jagged scars on her shoulder. Without thinking, he ran his forefinger across the indented flesh. "Where did you get these?"

Dez shrugged. "Baby."

"A baby or your baby?"

Dez grinned around her sandwich. "Neither. The Baby. My first working dog. I was a dog handler in the Marines. Her name was misleading." Mace guessed so when he made out at least a dozen puncture wounds on and around her shoulder.

"A dog handler, huh? Were you any good?"

"Nope. I was one of the best."

"Yet who knew you were really a cat person at heart?"

"I'm not. I just tolerate you because you have exceptional thighs."

Mace laughed. "So what happened with Baby?"

Dez swallowed a mouthful of food. "I'd only been working her about two weeks or so. I was pretty terrified of her, but I didn't want to tell my sergeant because I didn't want him to think I was weak or something." She shrugged again. "One night I was putting Baby up in her run, I took this chewed up old ball from her...and she didn't seem to appreciate that much. Next thing I know, she had me by the arm and had dragged my ass into the run with her. Then I woke up in the hospital, covered in bandages."

"Jesus, Dez."

"It's the risk you take being a dog handler. You're gonna get bit."

"You were mauled."

"Samey-same, G. I."

"Did they put her down?"

"Nope. They blamed me. They were going to give her to another handler, but I wouldn't let 'em. I was determined to train her ass myself. The other handlers suggested I take her on a Nature Walk. I thought about it, but I just couldn't."

"A Nature Walk?"

"Don't ask." She took another bite and spoke around the food. "Anyway, when I was done, we were the tightest team out there. I could control her off-leash with hand signals alone. Of course, no one could get near me. She protected me like you wouldn't believe."

Mace touched the faded scars again and goose bumps broke out over her flesh. "What happened to her?"

"Typical military bullshit. They gave her to another handler. New C.O. hated me. Bad move, though."

"Why?"

"The next handler...she took his hand. Literally."

"Charming."

"Baby was all about the charm."

He stared at the one-third left to her sandwich. "You done yet?"

"God, you're pushy. I forgot how pushy you are."

"No. That's not pushy. But I can be pushy." He took the rest of her sandwich and shoved it in his mouth. He chewed. Swallowed. "Now are you done?"

Dez bit back a smile. Mace Llewellyn. Always a royal pain in the ass. Now her royal pain. So she might as well enjoy it-and him-while it lasted.

Dez slid off the stool and stood in front of him. Gold and beautiful, the man could completely change his molecular structure with a thought. How cool is that?

"I'm still hungry, Mace."

He sighed dramatically. "Fine. There's a bag of chips on the counter."

Dez shook her head while she undid his belt buckle. "Not good enough. I need a little more protein than that."

Mace took a deep breath, watching her closely. "Oh."

"That the best you can do, Llewellyn?"

"At the moment-yeah."

"I see." Dez unzipped his pants. As she dropped to her knees, she dragged his black jeans with her, unleashing that enormous dick. With the tip of her tongue, she licked off the small bit of pre-come already glistening on the head.

She glanced up. Mace had his arms stretched out across the counter, as if nailed to a cross. His eyes closed, his head leaning back. She smiled. Cocky bastard.

"These jeans new?"

His head snapped forward. "What?"

Such urgency flooded his voice, it took all her strength not to bust out laughing. "I said are these jeans new? They look new."

He swallowed. "Um...yeah...got them this morning."

"Locally?"

His fingers dug into the metal of her island countertop. Even his claws came out. "Yes."

"The sweater too?" She tugged on it. "It's nice. I like it."

He glared down at her. "You're killing me, Desiree."

"I know, baby."

"What do you want?"

"I want you to ask me-nicely."

"I don't ask."

"Cause you're a Llewellyn?"

"No. Cause I'm a cat."

"But I'm a-what was it? A dog person. And dogs beg for my attention. I want you to beg."

"I definitely don't beg."

"You will if you want my mouth around your dick anytime this millennium."

Dez leaned forward and let her tongue swirl around the head. Once. She pulled away, her eyes locking with his, and licked her lips.

With a deep and painful groan, Mace's head fell back again. Dez stifled a laugh.

"Ask me, Mace. Ask me nice."

There was a long pause, then she heard Mace's gruff voice talking to the ceiling. "Please, Dez, for the love of all that's holy-put my cock in your mouth and suck me as if your very life depended on it."

"See? That wasn't so hard, now was it, baby?"

Without waiting for him to answer, Dez opened her mouth and eased Mace's huge dick in until the tip hit the very back of her throat. She closed her lips around the engorged flesh and sucked. Hard.

Mace gave a catlike hiss, and Dez had the feeling her countertop was suffering some serious damage. Oh well. It came with the house.

She pulled back until only the head rested in her mouth. She laved it with her tongue, then sucked on it. With a sigh of pure enjoyment, she deep throated him again. She didn't know blow jobs could be so enjoyable. Her ex always made her feel like they were obligatory. The job requirement for being his wife.

It didn't feel that way with Mace, though. All she wanted from him at the moment was his pleasure. She stroked his dick with her mouth, sucking hard when she pulled back, licking when she went back down. She brought her hands up between his thighs and gently took hold of his balls. They were tight, and she knew he'd come soon. Normally, she'd pull away and finish him with her hand. But there was no way she was doing that. She wanted him to come in her mouth. She wanted to taste him in the back of her throat and know she brought him there.

His hands tunneled through her hair. He tugged, forcing her to look up into his face. Without releasing her grip on his dick, she did. He stared at her as if seeing her for the first time. Then his eyes closed, his body tightened, and with a kind of scary, kind of sexy roar, he came. She sucked and swallowed until she drained him dry.

Dez finally released her grip on his dick and that's when he yanked her to her feet by her hair. Startled, she barked out a curse, but it got lost in his mouth as he crushed her in a brutal kiss that made her entire body ache. She knew he tasted himself in her mouth, but that seemed to only fuel his lust.

Mace yanked the blanket off her body and pushed her toward the wall.

"I swear, Dez. The things you do to me."

Even in the wildest, dirtiest dreams he used to have while trapped in his bathroom, he never imagined that Dez would be this hot, this willing, this wild. She was much more than he ever hoped for. And she belonged to him.

Her hands moved along his shoulders and down his chest. Now that she knew he craved her affection, she never stopped touching him. Which is what he wanted. She pulled his sweater over his head and tossed it across the room while he toed off his boots and kicked his jeans after them.

Once naked, he forced her against the pantry door with his body. She gasped, and it rippled against his skin.

"Wait. Wait."

"What?" He didn't mean to growl that at her, but his need for her nearly overwhelmed him. And her naked body against his...damn.

"We used up the condoms last night."

"I'm a SEAL."

"And?"

He reached over to the counter, digging into one of the bags. He pulled out the box of condoms. "We are always prepared for every contingency."

She took the box. "I didn't even know they had boxes of fifty."

"That should last us a day or two."

Dez squeaked and tried to bolt past him. He caught her around the waist, pushing her back. "What are you doing?"

"Running for my life. Much more of this and I'll be walking like I've been in the rodeo."