Read Online Forgive & Forget (Love in the Fleet) by Heather Ashby - Free Book Online

planted all around Hallie and Philip hoped he didn’t step on any more.
    “Look, Hallie, I know we just met but I am crazy about you. I hope you know I’d never do anything to hurt you. You tell me what you want me to do—or not do—and I’ll do it—or not do it.”
    Hallie reached out and stroked his cheek. “Thank you.”  
    After putting in a movie, Philip slipped his arm around her on the sofa. He was still mulling over her reaction to photographs when he felt fingers in his hair. Turning to her, he found her smile slow, mischievous, and totally breathtaking.
    “Sorry, but your curls are so tempting,” she said.
    “Well, if you get to do that, I get to play with the golden tendril.”
    “The what?”
    “This.” He reached up and pulled it from behind her ear. “This is the golden tendril and it drives me crazy.”
    “You don’t like it?”
    “I love it.” He curled and uncurled the lock of hair around his finger. “That’s why it drives me crazy.”
    He not only thought of Muslim women covering their hair but visions of military women in uniform came to him as well. How many times had he sat in boring staff meetings imagining himself letting down some female officer’s hair and then…Bound hair showed control, but unbound?
    Wait. Why was he even thinking of women in uniform when he had Hallie right here and the golden tendril between his fingers?
    And then they were kissing. Philip wasn’t sure who started it, but he wasn’t complaining. He wrapped his arms around her, and pulled her to him. Desire twisted in his gut as she returned his long, slow, deep, kisses, tongues searching, and finding.
    A tiny purr in her throat just about undid him. She was liquid in his arms, tasting him, threading her fingers through his hair, kissing him deeper. He had no idea what kind of trust issues she might have, but he was powerless over her kisses. Heat curled inside him, threatening his control. True, he kept getting mixed messages from her, but her mouth was so hot. If she wanted him to stop, he would. 
    And if she didn’t? He most definitely would not.
    Leaving her mouth, he worked his way down to her neck. He buried his face in the hollow of her throat where he could breathe in her essence. Her fingers played in his hair as he tasted her skin, under her jaw line and behind her ears. When Hallie moaned, liquid heat shot through him. He laid her gently down on the sofa and returned to her mouth, leading with his tongue.
    Lust chipped away at his ability to reason. His hand caressed her neck and slid down to her breasts. She shuddered and moaned, which kicked his pulse into overdrive. He cupped her breast, molding the fullness. Traced it. Over. Under. Around. First one. Then the other.
    He gently stroked the centers and felt her nipples tighten through her blouse. She made a noise and he stopped, but his hand stayed put. He only left her mouth long enough to whisper into it, “Okay?”  She made another noise, but it wasn’t a stopping noise.
    He deftly unbuttoned her top button. Then the next. And so on. He left her mouth to watch himself stroke her, her nipple puckering to his touch under purple lace. Hallie arched her back, meeting his hand. Unclasping the front hook of her lacey bra, her breasts spilled into his hands, slamming his heart into an even higher gear, something guttural in his throat. His thumbs scraped lightly over her nipples, gently fondling and stroking them. Her soft skin driving him wild.
    Philip’s mouth left a trail of kisses down her neck and worked its way to a taut nipple, which he bathed with his tongue. He buried his face between her breasts, certain he had died and gone to heaven.
    Then he kissed each goodbye, her nipples still shining wet from his mouth. Although he wasn’t sure if he was capable of speech, Philip brought his mouth to her ear. Without an ounce of coercion, he whispered, “Stay with me tonight. Let me love you.”
    No begging. No pleading. Just an