Never Surrender. Lindsay McKenna

that patient, heated grin and eased her gently back down on the bed, making her wait.

      Leaning down, he rasped near her ear, “Now...how do you want me, baby? Just tell me. I’m yours....”

      Moaning, Bay gripped his hips urgently, crying out, “I need you...please, Gabe, I ache so much I hurt...please...”

      He nodded, spreading her thighs, his erection at her wet entrance, barely brushing her, seeing her eyes shutter close. Her hips bucked upward to capture him. She sucked him deep into her. A groan ripped through Gabe as he arched forward, his body straining as she pulled him even deeper into her core. He kept steel control over himself, swam into that shocking, heated pleasure of sheathing into her. Bay was first. Always. Forever.

      Gabe watched her eyes go wild with yearning, her hands grasping his hips, pushing herself against him in a begging gesture. He smiled and captured her lips. Her ragged breath exploded into his mouth, and he drank it down, drank from her lips, drunk with the heat streaking through his body, hardening him even more, wanting to thrust so deeply they’d never be able to untangle themselves from one another when it was all over.

      Bay gasped wildly, then moved her tongue into his mouth at the same time he’d thrust forward deeply into hers. As she shut her eyes, he could feel her orgasm building, empowering her even more. He thrust his hips at just the right angle to give her intense, jolting pleasure.

      Suddenly, a serrated cry spilled from her lips, and Bay threw back her head, spine arching upward. Gabe’s large hand slipped beneath her hips, holding her just the right way, increasing the pressure times ten. Her cries grew stronger with each powerful rippling orgasm as it tore through her. The tide surged through her in invisible, violent waves. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t gasp, captured in the storm of her body releasing fully and completely. And then, she collapsed, breathing hard against the bed, her body shuddering and her limbs suddenly going weak, barely able to move.

      Then and only then did Gabe release the steel control over himself. He swam in the heat and slickness of her gift to him. He could do no less for Bay, surging into her soft, accommodating body that so tightly surrounded him. The heat seized him, and he could feel the glovelike tightening pushing his hungry body into overdrive. His lips lifted away from his teeth as he pumped relentlessly, hungrily, into her. His release exploded out of him. Beads of sweat popped out across his brow, his eyes tightly shut as he rode that hot, fiery explosion hurtling down through him. He had no idea how long it lasted, but it was a damn long time. Finally, Gabe collapsed on top of Bay, fighting to keep his full weight off her.

      “Come here,” he said, his voice rough. He didn’t want to leave her body just yet, and he pulled Bay against him, his one leg between hers so they could remain coupled. “I love you, baby. God, I love you,” Gabe whispered against her lips, taking her gently this time, with all the tenderness he possessed as a man. Tonight was her night. Tonight, he wanted to love Bay with every cell he had in his body, make her his.

      * * *

      THEY REMAINED TOGETHER in every way, Bay’s head resting tiredly on Gabe’s massive chest, her arm limp across his torso. She dozed with him. The clock read three in the morning when Bay drowsily awoke, still in Gabe’s arms. He stirred, sensing her coming awake. Taking her to his side, he nestled her against him, tucking her in, his arm sliding around her shoulders. He kissed her brow. Her hands grazed his chest, her fingers tangling in his soft hair. His skin grew taut, muscles reacting to her gliding touch.

      “Mmm,” Bay said, pulling back just enough to catch his sleepy gaze. “That was world-class, Griffin. You continually surprise the pants off me.”

      He chuckled darkly and raised his hands, tunneling his fingers through that soft, curled mass of hair across her shoulder. “I like surprising any pair of pants off you. You look damn good naked.”

      “That was a Hill expression,” she said archly, leaning up on her elbow and placing a kiss on his smiling mouth. A mouth that knew how to take her to the rim of the universe and back. Bay absorbed the tenderness burning in his eyes and rested her brow against his. “I just don’t want this night to end, Gabe.”

      He sighed and moved his hand across her shoulder. “It will, baby, but you can always take it with you. Remember it and us in the quiet moments over there in Afghanistan.” Not that there would be many.

      Bay didn’t want to discuss leaving. “I want to talk to you about our wedding.”

      Gabe woke up a little more. The seriousness in Bay’s softened expression forced him awake. “Sure.”

      She traced invisible patterns across his upper chest with her finger. “Our wedding is something positive. And right now, that’s all I want in my life, Gabe.”

      Nodding, he understood. “Is this about your Grandma’s dress you want to wear?” A UPS box sent by her mother, Poppy, had arrived the third day she’d been with him. Inside the box was a long, cream-colored lacy wedding dress her grandmother had worn. Bay fiercely loved her Grandmother Lilac. He remembered watching tears come to Bay’s eyes as she’d gently removed the old but beautiful dress from the box. The sadness in her eyes over the loss of her grandmother had touched him. Lilac had died when she was seventeen years old. Bay had wanted to wear her grandmother’s dress for their wedding. Gabe wished his family had had that same closeness.

      Bay stirred, kissed the damp column of his neck. “Mmm, yes. Do you mind?”

      “Of course not,” he whispered, moving his fingers through the soft strands of her curly hair. “I want you happy, baby. I want you to plan that wedding at your mother’s cabin.”

      She smiled a little, nuzzling his jaw and placing a slow kiss to his sandpapery flesh. Her body glowed hot, and her womb felt as if it contained deep, simmering coals. Pleasurable, subtle heat was still radiating throughout her. Bay couldn’t get enough of Gabe. She moved her hips, watching his length already hardening once more. He was so incredibly masculine, so incredibly tender with her, making her body sing. Her mouth was dry, and she swallowed. “I already promised Grace and Mama that we’d work out all the details in emails. Mama has Skype, so I can talk to her directly sometimes, when I can.”

      “Good,” he murmured, inhaling her womanly scent, the fragrance that was only her. Bay fed his soul. Gabe knew she wanted to take part in the wedding plans, no matter if she was in Afghanistan or not. He cupped her shoulder and looked deeply into her eyes. “Listen, you can’t give yourself away over there this time, Bay. When you were with our team, I finally realized you were burning the candle at both ends, working seventeen hours a day helping others medically. It was taking a toll on you, baby.”

      Bay felt so utterly satisfied. Closing her eyes, she sensed sleep stalking her again. A good kind of lethargy after a great lovemaking session. “I know...”

      “Promise me that you will give yourself the time you need?”

      “Yes, I promise, Gabe....”

      His dark brows moved downward. “Bay, this is important. You can’t give yourself away over there this time. You’re a damned good combat medic, but you’re human and you need downtime, rest and plenty of sleep. Please?”

      Hearing the urgency, the concern in his deep voice washing across her, she whispered, “I want to come home to you, Gabe. I’m not going to do anything stupid like I did when we were at Camp Bravo the last year. I learned my lesson, my beloved.”

      My beloved. Every time she whispered that endearment to him, Gabe felt it go straight to his wounded heart. And every time, it healed another piece of him. Kissing her damp brow, her hair utterly mussed and beautiful around her face, he said, “Okay. I’m taking you at your word.”

      “You worry too much,” Bay slurred, feeling sleep enfold her. “I want to come home to you. You’re my life, Gabe. Believe that if you don’t believe anything else.”

      * * *

      “I’VE GOT TO LEAVE,” Bay whispered, choking on the words, holding on to Gabe’s strong, scarred fingers. She stood near Security at the airport, her ruck over