A Wicked Persuasion. Karen Foley

when the power went out. I didn’t want you to be frightened, so I ran over. The backup generators should—” There was an audible click, then a buzz of electricity, and the emergency lights over the doors snapped on, illuminating the bathroom in an eerie red glow. “Kick in any second,” Chase finished, his voice trailing off as he got a good look at Kate.

      As lights went, they weren’t much, but they were more than sufficient for him to see that she wore nothing but a pair of underpants and a bra, and his mouth went dry at the sight. He’d been right about one thing—she had curves in all the right places. Her hips flared out from a narrow waist, and her legs were slim and supple.

      “Oh, my God,” she breathed, her eyes widening as they traveled over him. For just an instant, Chase saw female appreciation and raw hunger in her expression, and in the next instant she spun away to snatch a towel from the nearby sink and hold it against her. “I’m fine, really,” she said over her shoulder. “You can go now and—and put some clothes on.”

      Chase stood there for a moment, dumbstruck. Despite the fact that he’d already seen her partially nude and knew she had a gorgeous shape, he was blown away by the entire package. Even her back was lovely, and he took a second to admire the elegant line of her spine and the deep curves of her waist. Her rear was luscious and rounded, and he had an instant image of himself cupping her cheeks in his hands and driving himself into her warmth as she straddled his hips. Then he gave himself a mental shake. He was losing it, big-time.

      “I’ll see you in a few minutes,” he muttered, and returned to the men’s side of the shower facilities, his head still reeling.

      For as long as Chase could recall, women had been attracted to him and his identical twin, Chance. But where Chance had welcomed every feminine advance and had been considered something of a player, Chase had been completely focused on his future as a Special Ops commando. He’d known from an early age that he wanted to join the elite unit, and nothing—not even a pretty face and a curvy body—could deter him from that path. He’d had girlfriends, but none of them had been more important to him than achieving his goal.

      In fact, looking back, he realized he’d deliberately kept women at a distance because he’d known his dedication to the Army would prevent him from committing himself fully to a relationship. But right now, with his body aroused from just seeing her, he thought he would gladly trade his entire freaking career for just one night with Kate Fitzgerald.

      Yeah, he’d definitely lost it.

      Pulling on a clean uniform, Chase stuffed his dirty gear into his backpack, telling himself that he’d have no problem facing Kate. He’d seen plenty of women with less clothing on than the scraps of fabric she’d been wearing, and he’d never been so overcome by lust that he’d lost his self-control. He’d just keep it professional and act like he hadn’t seen anything. Like he hadn’t cupped and caressed her breasts less than twenty-four hours earlier. Like he had no idea how her nipple felt in his mouth, against his tongue, or how her small sounds of pleasure drove him crazy.

      Yeah, right.

      Bracing himself, he stepped outside. Rain was just beginning to fall in big, fat drops, and the sky flashed with lightning mere seconds before a roll of thunder caused the ground to tremble beneath his boots. He pulled a small flashlight out of his backpack and flicked it on, not because he couldn’t find his way back, or because he couldn’t see in the dark, but because he knew it would give Kate a sense of security. Standing just outside the door to the women’s showers, he called her name.

      She came out immediately, although Chase didn’t miss how she avoided his eyes, concentrating instead on adjusting her bag over her shoulder. But when the first raindrops hit her face, she blinked in surprise and lifted a hand to catch several.

      “Wow, this storm is moving in fast,” she observed.

      “They usually do out here,” Chase replied. “We’d better hurry, or we’ll find ourselves soaked to the skin before we reach your tent. Here, let me take your bag.”

      Ignoring her protests, he took the shoulder bag from her and slid a hand beneath her elbow. He sensed her surprise, but she didn’t try to pull away. The rain was coming down in sheeting torrents now, mixing with the dusty road and creating mud that had the consistency of peanut butter. It sucked at his feet with every step, and if it weren’t for the fact that his boots were laced up over his ankles, they might have been pulled free.

      Kate wasn’t so lucky.

      She gave a small cry of distress and stumbled heavily, pulling Chase to an abrupt halt. He steadied her as she leaned her weight against him and balanced herself on one foot. Swiping the water from his face, Chase looked down to see one of her slip-on shoes buried in the muck. He pulled it free, and she grimaced as she pushed her foot back into it.

      “So much for that shower,” she shouted.

      Chase peered up at the sky. “Yeah, well, you don’t know the meaning of the word shower until you’ve experienced a desert storm. This is just going to get worse. C’mon.”

      But no sooner did they take another step, than Kate’s other shoe became stuck in the mud. Chase flicked his light over the ground, seeing the water pooling quickly around Kate’s foot. She could put the shoe back on, but he already knew they’d be retrieving her footwear from the mud with every step she took. The way he saw it, they had two choices: she could go barefoot all the way back to her sleeping quarters, or he could carry her. He told himself firmly that the thought of holding her in his arms for the five-minute trek did not send his pulse into overdrive.

      “Okay, listen,” he said, using his best authoritative voice, “I’m going to carry you back to the tent, otherwise we’ll be playing hop-along the whole way.”

      She stared up at him, and in the beam from the flashlight, her lashes were spiky with moisture, and rivulets of water streamed down her face and slicked her hair to her scalp. She blinked furiously.

      “You can’t carry me,” she protested. “First of all, I weigh a ton, and second of all, it’s not necessary. I’ll just go barefoot.”

      “No, that’s not an option,” he said briskly. “The road is loaded with stones and potholes. If you don’t end up with a serious laceration, you could twist an ankle. Just let me carry you. You don’t weigh a ton, trust me. I carry seventy pounds of equipment on my back whenever I’m in the field.”

      She gave him a tolerant look. “I weigh a little more than seventy pounds.”

      Chase handed her the shoulder bag. “Here, carry this. Now put your arms around my neck.”

      A brilliant flash of lightning, followed by a low boom of thunder, caused her to clutch his arm, and Chase took advantage of her startled reaction, bending down to slide an arm behind her knees. He lifted her effortlessly, and the thought flashed through his head that she really didn’t weigh much more than seventy pounds. She turned her face into his neck as he strode along the muddy road, and even with the rain lashing against his face, he could smell her soap and shampoo. Her breath came in warm pants against his skin, and he arrived at her tent much too quickly. He set her down just inside the entrance.

      “I lost my shoe back there,” she said.

      Chase looked down at her bare, mud-covered foot. “I’ll go back and get it,” he offered. “Here, take my flashlight. The power’s out, so the lights won’t work in here. There’s bottled water and some towels at the back of the tent that you can use to clean up.”

      “What about you?” she asked. “How will you see anything?”

      He pulled out a second, smaller flashlight from a pocket on his camo pants. “Always ready,” he said with a quick grin. “I’ll be right back.”

      She nodded, swiping moisture from her face. “Okay, thanks.”

      Chase sprinted back the way they had come until he found her shoe. It was a flat-soled, cloth shoe that might have been blue or purple, but right now it was coated in a thick, yellowish mud. Wiping