best friend getting busy with his sister."Sheesh, Mark, it's only dinner.""And just where was he supposed to sleep tonight? He told me he'd be at my place tomorrow."Busted, she thought to herself. "He said he'd take the couch.""Yeah, right." Mark plopped down on said couch, angry and hurt that they'd been sneaking around behind his back. "How long has this been going on?"

"Honestly, Mark. This is the first time we've gotten together without your knowledge. We were going to wait a bit before we told anyone."

Mark looked up at his solemn friend. "You love her?"

Casey sucked in a breath, her eyes going scared, but Hal didn't hesitate.

"With all my heart."

Mark ran his hands over his face and through his hair, finally standing from the couch with a distracted

air.

"All right then. You treat her right, Hal, or you'll answer to me."

Hal only nodded as Casey's eyes went all gooey.

"I'm getting out of here. You stay here or go back to base. I don't want to see your sorry a.s.s for a while

until I come to terms with this."

Hal nodded again, his eyes dark. "You're still my best friend, Mark. I hope that won't change. But I can't fight the way I feel any longer."

Mark looked up at his friend as he neared the door. "How long have you been fighting it, Hal?"

"Since she turned eighteen." His eyes pinned her where she stood. "I finally admitted to myself on her

eighteenth birthday how much I wanted her, and I've been in h.e.l.l ever since."

"d.a.m.n." Mark paused with his hand on the doork.n.o.b. "You've been being n.o.ble all this time? You're

more of a m.a.s.o.c.h.i.s.t than I thought." He chuckled softly as he opened the door. "You're my best friend too, Hal. That won't change. But give me a bit to get used to this idea, okay? You broadsided me, dude."

They all laughed genuinely for the first time as he left, leaving them alone once more.

"Think we blew his mind?" Hal raised one eyebrow toward the closed door.

"No doubt about it. But he'll be okay in time. He took it better than I would have thought, actually."

CHAPTER SIX.

They ate their dinner in uncomfortable silence, each thinking of the scene with Mark. He was important to both of them in different ways and they didn't want to hurt him.

Hal knew this and felt a moment of regret for putting them all in this awkward position. He put down his napkin and pushed slightly away from the table.

"I'm sorry, Cas."

"Don't be. He had to realize I was grown up sooner or later. I think any man I chose would have garnered a similar reaction." She sighed and picked up her wine gla.s.s. "Actually, I think he was better off knowing it was you I chose to be with. At least he knows you inside and out. He can't object too hard because he knows you won't hurt me."

"Not on purpose, at least."

Hal ran a troubled hand through his hair, resting both elbows on his knees. He had to come clean with her-at least as much as he could. It wasn't easy to talk about what had occurred in Iraq, but maybe Jeff was right. Maybe he could talk to her and get some of this burden off his chest.

If she didn't run screaming from him, thinking he was certifiably insane first.

"No," she agreed quietly, sipping her wine. "You'd never hurt me on purpose."

"Cas, something did happen to me in Iraq. I can't tell you all of it. Not yet. It's hard for me to wrap my head around as it is."

She placed her gla.s.s down with finality and cast her understanding gaze at him. "Whatever it is, you can trust me, Hal. Tell me what you can. I'm here for you."

"You're going to think I'm nuts."

She tilted her head, her eyes narrowing. "Why?"

"We saw action, but that's not what has me so messed up. I mean, I've dealt with enemy before. That's my job. No problems there. But my unit went into the ruins of ancient Babylon before anyone else, Cas. Something happened there that freaked us out and changed us all." He shook his head and breathed deep. "If not for the changes, we all would've thought we'd had some kind of ma.s.s hallucination, but we each can do things now ... things that can't be explained."

He stood and started to pace.

"How do you think I stopped that car the other night? You saw that, right?"

Slowly she nodded. "I thought I imagined it, but you did stop it, didn't you?" She got to her feet, backing away slightly, probably without even realizing it.

Hal grimaced at her retreat, but nodded. "That's not all I can do. I suddenly have more strength than ten men, Cas, and it's freaking me out a little bit." He ran another hand through his hair, leaving it disheveled. "It's taken me some time to learn how much pressure to use. I was afraid to touch anything or anyone at first. I broke a lot of stuff. Metal stuff, Cas. Rifle barrels bent when I touched them and steel doork.n.o.bs came off in my hands."

"But you've been fine around Mark and me."

"I've spent months learning how to control this. Just like the rest of my men."

"They all have super strength?" Her voice was small, as if she was having trouble believing him and he didn't blame her one bit.

"No. Each of us was affected a bit differently. You met Jeff and Rick. Jeff can see the future." He laughed dryly. "And Rick was a good doctor before, but now he can heal using just his hands. It's completely insane. I've seen him lay his hand over a gunshot wound. The bullet just popped out and the skin knit together as if it never happened."

"You saw it?" Her voice was growing fainter as she sat back in her chair.

He shook his head. "I experienced it. I was shot in the chest, Cas, on our way out of Baghdad. I wasn't wearing my flack jacket and a sniper got me. I knew I was dead. But Rick put his hand on me and the next thing I knew, I was fine." He absently rubbed the spot over his heart where he'd been hit. "Not even a scar to show for it either. And then Jeff comes running in, asking how I am. He'd been clear across the compound and no one but Rick had seen me go down. Except Jeff. He saw it in his mind, moments before it happened, he said, but he'd been too far away to warn me. He tore across the camp on foot, hoping to reach me in time. Right then, we all knew we were in for a strange ride. The rest of the men started manifesting odd abilities soon thereafter."

"How did this happen? What changed you?" Her voice was a little stronger, her eyes telling him she was taking his story at face value for now.

"Look, Cas, it's obvious you already think I'm nuts. What say I just leave now and we pretend I never started this conversation?"

He made a move toward the door, but she jumped up from her chair and stopped him, moving close. So close he could smell her incredible perfume-some kind of exotic flower and soft, feminine woman. The scent was hers uniquely and it had haunted his dreams since she'd turned eighteen and he'd allowed himself to think of her as a woman.

"Not so fast, Hal." She put her hands on his shoulders. "I'm not letting you leave here like this. I'll admit," her eyes looked seriously up into his, "what you've told me seems a little strange, but I saw what you did with that car. You probably saved my life. I believe you. And your friend Jeff seemed to think this was meant to be. I know I've always wanted you right here, in my home, and in my bed, but I never dared dream-"

He cut her off with the simple expedient of placing his lips on hers. He couldn't be suave this time, with his emotions so close to a boil and his heart pounding nearly out of his chest. He kissed her as if there was no tomorrow, and perhaps for him, there wouldn't be. After he had Cas beneath him, he doubted he could ever go to another woman. He'd wanted her for so long, had been in love with her for years. To finally have her was a dream come true, but his life had just turned into a nightmare and he didn't want to pull her into it any further.

But he had to have her-if only just this once.

He pulled her with him toward her bedroom. He knew where it was. He got hot at the thought of her pale yellow comforter and sheets. He'd fantasized about them, especially of her naked on them, often enough since he'd peeked into her room the weekend before. The pale yellow and white design was close enough to her old couch fabric to work with all those fantasies he'd lived on while out in the field.

He wanted her there-in many varied ways.

Slowly, he pulled her little black dress up her long, long thighs and bared her to his gaze. She was wearing a lacy black garter belt and thong panties with a black lace bra that had his mouth watering. Her b.r.e.a.s.t.s were larger than even he'd imagined and her hips were gently curved, womanly in a way that made him want to hold on and never let go.

"Do you want this? Do you want me, Cas?" He slowed down long enough to ask, though his hands were trembling as he caressed the fabric of her dress, bunched under his hands. "Be sure."

She tugged the material out of his hands and pulled the dress over her head, throwing it somewhere behind him in a show of daring.

"I'm sure."

Her s.e.xy purr played over his senses, making his temperature rise even higher than it already was. He stepped back, taking her down with him, onto her bed. He started in on the hooks on her bra while she attacked the b.u.t.tons on his shirt. His hands were so big, he had a little trouble, and he growled in impatience.

When he finally had her bare, he just sat back for a moment and enjoyed the view. "You are the most beautiful woman I've ever seen, Cas." He reached out his big hands and cupped her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. "I think you were made just for me, a woman built to my exact specifications."

She laughed. "I take it you don't mind my um ... big b.r.e.a.s.t.s."

"Mind?" He looked at her as if she was crazy. "Where would you ever get that idea?"

"Well, I'm not exactly a fashion plate. I have to wear clothes that minimize these," she gestured toward her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, still cupped warmly in his big hands, "and I can't ever go without a bra."

He squeezed her nipples with his palms. "You can go braless around me anytime, Cas. I love big, natural t.i.ts on a woman." He felt her shiver at his use of the crude word. He leaned in and whispered in her ear, testing the theory. "You like that word? Or do you like it when I squeeze your nipples?" He pulled hard on her nipples, lifting her heavy b.r.e.a.s.t.s away from her body and toward him as she moaned. "Answer me, Cas. Answer me and I'll suck your t.i.ts nice and hard for you."

Yep, no doubt about it. She shivered when he used that word. She liked it when he talked dirty to her, probably about as much as he'd like it if she did the same for him. Well, he didn't mind at all. He was a soldier and he had a wide vocabulary of dirty words to share with her. He'd delight in teaching her each and every one of them, too.

"Answer me, Cas. Do you like it when I pinch your nipples?" He put his words into action, drawing out her nipples, tugging her b.r.e.a.s.t.s hard with his fingertips now.

"Yes!" she cried, shivering as he rolled her nipples between his calloused fingers. "I like it all."

"You have gorgeous t.i.ts, Cas. Just what I like." He leaned in and kissed her, rubbing her hard nipples with his hands a moment before he moved his lips down her neck, taking biting kisses out of her soft skin.

When he reached her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, he continued his biting kisses, tugging her nipples gently with his teeth until she keened a cry of pure pleasure that was music to his ears. He covered her hard peak then, fitting as much of her soft skin inside his mouth as he could while he sucked hard, swirling his tongue around the sensitive tip. She writhed in his arms and he chuckled. He was fast learning what she liked.

His hands roamed down her body, enjoying the curve of her waist and the flare of her feminine hips. He dragged the elastic of her panties away, ripping them in his haste to have her completely bare. Sitting up, he dragged his shirt off and then his pants and shorts. He wanted nothing between them.

Sitting back on his heels, he tugged one leg over his lap and settled between her thighs. "I would stay here forever if I could, Cas. I love your wet p.u.s.s.y, spread open before me, waiting for my fingers, my mouth, my c.o.c.k." He trailed one hand down, his fingers parting her neatly trimmed curls to follow the natural grooves of her, first down and then back up, pausing only to squeeze her c.l.i.t sharply between two of his ma.s.sive fingers while she yelped in pleasure. "You like that?" He repeated the squeeze, pleased to see the rush of moisture at her opening as he moved her legs wider apart. "I'm going to feast on your p.u.s.s.y, Cas. I'm going to lick your hole and suck your c.l.i.t while I finger f.u.c.k your g-spot. Does that sound good?"

She was writhing on the bed, her head moving back and forth. Her color was high, but she was with him every step of the way.

"You're trying to kill me," she panted, cracking a smile that lit her up from within as her eyes sought his shyly.

"But what a way to go, right?" He grinned at her as he plunged one thick finger into her tight channel. She blinked, but held his eyes as if unable to look away. He held his breath, hardly believing that he finally had Casey spread out beneath him, dancing to his tune. "You're so wet for me," he said just to watch her eyes light up. "I want a taste."

So saying, he lowered himself, scooting back a bit so he could lap his tongue from a.n.u.s to c.l.i.t and back again, taking a break in the middle to plunge his tongue where his finger had been only moments before. He thrust his tongue inside in an imitation of what he'd soon be doing with his c.o.c.k, f.u.c.king her with his face while she whimpered in ecstasy.

"You taste so good. Like sunshine and daffodils, like I remember." His breath rasped against her c.l.i.t as he spoke between licks, pausing to suck her c.l.i.t into his mouth, pleased when her control shattered and she came apart around his mouth. He licked her through it, lapping up the juices of her excitement, unable to ever get enough of the taste of her. "You were so beautiful when you let me eat you out in that upstairs bedroom at Mark's house." He rested his head against her tummy, the fingers of one hand playing in her p.u.s.s.y and the other tugging on her breast. "I think you got off on the fact that we could be discovered at any time. Do you like risky s.e.x, Cas?"

"No!" she fairly shouted, but he knew she was protesting a bit too much.

"Come on, Casey," he finger-f.u.c.ked her in earnest now, "admit it. You probably get off on elevator s.e.x too, right? Or maybe you like to do it at the beach, out in the waves, with people all around who might discover just why you're squealing so much? Just say the word, baby, 'cause you know I'm ready, willing and able to f.u.c.k you anywhere, anytime." He put two large fingers inside her now, gently at first, readying her for his ma.s.sive d.i.c.k. "Tell me the wildest place you've ever done it," he whispered, wanting her hot and ready for him.

"You're right," she admitted as he stroked in and out of her tight sheath. "I did it at the beach once when I was in school. But I haven't done anything like that since."

He growled. "You will. You'll do it with me anywhere and everywhere."

She moaned as he stroked faster. "Okay. But no elevators. They put cameras in them nowadays and I don't want to become an internet p.o.r.n star."

He laughed outright at that, taking his fingers away before settling between her thighs, letting his c.o.c.k just rest against her for the moment as he looked deep into her eyes.

"No elevators. I promise. Nowhere there might be a video record." He smoothed her hair back gently. "I agree. I don't want the guys in my unit paying to watch us f.u.c.k on some p.o.r.n site," he paused and a devilish light entered his eyes, "but I might let a few of them watch for free."

He felt her muscles clench around him and the wetness of her excitement against his c.o.c.k. No doubt about it, Casey was an adventurous soul, and she was all his.

"Do I need a condom?" He could tell his stark question hit her out of left field, distracting her from the objection she was formulating to his last shocking statement. "I don't have any kind of disease and I sure as h.e.l.l know you don't."

"How do you know that?" she asked saucily. "For all you know, I could have twenty lovers, all at the same time."

He moved his c.o.c.k against her slick center. "Nah. You're too tight to have had twenty c.o.c.ks in this p.u.s.s.y anytime in the last ten years." He enjoyed the scarlet blush his crude words brought to her cheeks. "I'm certainly not complaining," he clarified, teasing her. "There's nothing I like better than a tight c.u.n.t squeezing my d.i.c.k, and yours feels like its going to be a perfect fit. You may never get me to leave once I get inside you."

He'd never talked this much during s.e.x in his life, but it was easy to talk to Casey. It always had been. More, it was exciting to talk to her and coax out her wild side. She turned him on in so many ways.

"So get inside me already!" She moved against him, enticing him. "You don't need a condom. I'm safe."

Those words were music to his ears and he didn't wait any longer. He rose slightly and positioned himself, watching her eyes as he sunk down into her hot depths, making them one. He read the joy, the want and the very slight discomfort on her face as he joined them slowly. When he filled her completely, he rested there for a moment, letting her get used to his width and length, watching the discomfort fade from her eyes to be replaced with pure pa.s.sion. Then he moved.

He pumped slowly at first, spreading the slick moisture that welled up from within her to make his pa.s.sage easier. She was so hot and wet, so welcoming. He felt as if he'd truly come home. This p.u.s.s.y was his home. As was this woman.

"Harder, Hal. Go faster," she begged.