Copyright 2011, Cerise DeLand
Published by Cerise DeLand
Copyright 2011 Cover Art by Nicole Austin
Editing and formatting by Wizards in Publishing
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the author.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
A LONG TIME COMIN'
A Toys-4-Us Book
By
Cerise DeLand
Smashwords Edition
Dedicated
To all who love a finger-scorching good romance
&
My colleagues in romance (and baaaaad getaways):
Nicole Austin, Samantha Cayto, Regina Carlysle, Desiree Holt, Allie Standifer and Brenna Zinn
This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should destroy this copy and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
A Long Time Comin’ by Cerise DeLand is a stand-alone book in the Toys-4-Us series
Chapter One
Two reasons why you must tempt John Ramos to be your lover? Quick! Remember those? Come on, woman!
Fidgeting, Caitlyn Hagerty spied Ram at the top of the escalator in the arrival terminal at San Antonio Airport and her heart skipped a beat. Two reasons, Cait! You know them. The first is no one else makes your heart melt and…
Ram grinned at her as he drew closer and Cait felt the punch in her gut that she always did when she first saw him on arrival home. Though he never declared it outright she knew he was Army, Delta Force, super-duper secret soldier, here today, gone tomorrow. But no matter what he was in his professional life, he remained her childhood friend and over the past few years, she had fallen crazy in love with him. Who knew when. She knew why though she’d never told him, never tried. Courage fled every time she began.
But not tonight.
She waved at him, eager to get her seduction of him started.
Are you nuts, girl?
No. Absolutely not. Her eyes scanned his massive terminator body and her own flooded with wet desire. He was a sight for her hungry eyes. Big, bold and confidant, Ram was an appropriate nickname for a man who dominated any room and always got what he wanted. Tonight, unlike his last R&R, he looked less like a skinhead gladiator and more like a scrumptious businessman whose hobby was bodybuilding. He had grown his black hair out so that it curled at his nape. He wore civilian clothes, too. Charcoal grey trousers, a crisp white shirt sans tie and a tailored black blazer that fit his broad shoulders like a caress.
And that is why, Cait, you can’t wait any longer to show him how you feel. That’s why you pledged to your gal pals, the Sassy Seven, that the next time Ram came home on leave you would strap on your cojones and tell him you wanted his toned bod in your bed!
“Because I cannot go on like this!” Finding no other man I want more has been a bitch! “And my friends are right. I’ll use the sex toys and seduce the man!”
Next to her, a woman who waited for another traveler raised a brow at her, then quickly stepped away.
Okay. So now I act a little loco.
Cait shoved her hands in her trouser pockets as she forced herself to meet the laughing, onyx gaze of the incredible hunk who rode down the escalator toward her. And lord, she couldn't help how her blood beat in her veins and how her pussy got all tingly just looking at the man who bounded down the last few steps, hauled her up in his arms and swung her around.
His lips, hot and firm, were on her ear, her cheek and, ever so briefly, on her own. ”Caitlyn, you are a sight for sore eyes. How are you, honey?”
”Great. Now that you're here.” She'd promised herself to be blunt with him this visit. No diplomacy. No hesitancy. No chummy Cait, best friend of his youngest sister. Just crazy-in-love-with-him woman. "And gee, do you look like hell!"
"This leave couldn't come soon enough for me.” His two big hands pressed her against him so hard, Cait got pictures in her mind of how fierce he'd be in bed. Her channel gushed in hot, juicy need. "Wedding or no wedding, I had to see you."
She pulled back in his arms and examined him. Old Tactful Cait would have chuckled at his last statement and brushed off the implication, but New Bold Cait took the opportunity to be honest. "I'm tickled you agreed to come early and ride with me out to Del Rio."
"Are you, babe?” he asked, searching her gaze for a split second and sending her curiosity into overdrive. "Good. If this wedding hadn't come right at this point, I would have flown down to see you anyway."
For a dose of home cooking and companionship, like before? She pushed aside the rush of frustration that could crush her hope that he’d want more from her than comfort food and chuckles. Still, she’d been his pal for most of her life—and she saw immediately that her mountain of a man looked like an exhausted one. She put her palm to his cheek, stood on tiptoes and kissed his mouth for a fraction longer than friendship allowed. “When did you last sleep?”
"On that bucket?” He tipped his head toward the terminal while his gaze wandered over her mouth. "An hour maybe.”
“Before that?” she persisted, remembering how he ran on will power and adrenalin. A wild man in Del Rio, captain of the football team, all-A student, president of the debate club. Heartthrob of any girl with half a brain and half an ounce of hormones. “When?”
“Yesterday. Two hours. Max.” He hooked an arm around her waist and lifted his chin toward the baggage carousel. "Here comes the luggage. Let's get my gear and head for your place, can we?"
"No tacos from Cartagena’s?” She offered the treat he always craved from the local drive-through Tex-Mex joint whenever he came to San Antonio from his latest Army post, wherever the hell that happened to be. "You are tired!"
“If I know you, you’ve made carne guisada for me at your place. ” He arched his long, slashing brows. “Am I right?”
“Wow, am I predictable,” she groused, hoping for this visit she could pull off surprising him. “Sure, I’ve got guisada and beer. Champagne, too.”
He whistled as they walked arm-in-arm toward the carousel. “Champagne? Big time bubbles. What are we celebrating?”
“Amanda’s wedding. Your dad’s recovery from the stroke.” My new enterprise, if I decide to take the Dallas offer of expanding my store. “And, of course, the return of the prodigal son.”
“Me? Hey, babe, I get here whenever I can.”
Three times in the past year. First, for your dad when he had the stroke. Then for your sister, when she had her engagement party. Now for her wedding. “I’ll take what I can get.”
He stared down at her, a stark question in his gaze. “I appreciate how easy you are with my erratic schedule. You know that.”
“No, I don’t.” She had known for ages that girl friends and wives of Special Ops had to be the most undemanding, tolerant bunch of woman this side of paradise. But she wanted him to say it out loud, if only to assure her that he realized what she did, if not why. “Tell me.”
“A lot of folks have a very tough time accepting that their friends in the service never know when they’ll be home again.”
She’d accepted that about him centuries ago. Where was his head? She had to learn. “Let’s be blunt, shall we?”
At her question, he knit his brows. “Go for it.”
“I know what you really do, Ram. Have no worries about my acceptance of that, okay?”
“Noted. Now I’ll lay my cards out.”
She girded herself for a blow. “Shoot.”
“I fly here to visit you. Not just my folks.” His handsome mouth twitched into a grim line. “When Dad had his stroke, you were a rock.”
A rock? Is that good or bad? “So I’m not just Amanda’s friend?” She held her breath.
“No,” he said with slow probe of her expression. “I rely on you.”
Reliable Caitlyn? How about sexy Caitlyn? Irresistible Caitlyn? “I’m more than dependable, Ram.”
He yanked her closer to his side and the feel of his steely body had her itching to put her hands all over him. “Damn straight. Prettier every time I see you.”
Yeah?
“Toned.” His gaze defined her shoulders as he squeezed her closer.
You noticed!
“What is your latest fitness craze? Yoga?”
“And Zumba,” she told him, a smile creeping around the edges of her mouth, knowing she was turning to putty in his hands. Seeing a black duffel tumble through the carousel opening, she took the opportunity to point at it and move out of his embrace. Getting too close to him always melted her mind. She needed her wits to seduce him. Better to stay on task here. “I can see you’ve been keeping in shape, too.”
A shadow darkened his features. “What can I say? Zumba’s not my thing.”
“No. Dancing is not your specialty. Working out in some part of hell is more like it. What was it this time? Sand? Snow?” She listed two climate types where he’d told her he’d been sent.
“Jungle.”
She cringed. “At least growing up in Del Rio prepped you for the heat.”
“Yeah, I understand heat,” he muttered as he strode forward. “What I don’t always get is the animals.”
He grabbed his bag. Irritated. Angry. But she knew his emotions were not directed at her. Something ate at him. Something big. Something he couldn’t suppress very well, despite more than ten years of training to keep things under wraps.
Alarmed at his brusque reaction, Cait examined his profile. Thick black curls, bronze tan, Roman nose, steely jaw, taut body. Yet she saw more. She saw finer details that painted a more vivid portrait of him. Clearly, he was a man tied up in knots. White tan lines etched concern around his eyes. His mouth firmed, while his mind worked at words, suppressing the urge to say more. But she knew he couldn’t. Wouldn’t. What he did in the Force, stayed in the Force. No exceptions. Ever.
Cait knew enough, had been through enough of his decompressions when he came home for R&R that she understood it was useless to question him. He’d say nothing. Absolutely nada. Just as he was bound to by law and duty. Not until he got into her condo, had a beer, food and a shower, would he begin to lose the tight, tough look of the trained, professional warrior.
She’d let him enjoy his homecoming. At least in the car. At least while he dove into his favorite beef dish and drank his Shiner. Then, when she insisted he take his shower and her king size bed—and not her smaller den pull-out, then she’d see if her plans for this weekend were wise or the biggest lark her foolish heart ever devised.
Then she’d know if the goodies she’d purchased on a wild whim at a sex toy party with her six buddies were a good investment—or a few pieces she’d throw away along with her hopes of loving John Ramos for one spectacular night.
*****
Ram leaned back, stretching his legs out as much as he could in her tiny British car and closed his eyes. Get a grip, Ram. Cait won’t love having a dry ass on her hands for five days. Shake this off and enjoy the woman, for chrissakes. She deserves it. And you promised yourself that this time with her would be different. This time, you’d play it not for friendship but for more. This time, you’d see if the voluptuous redhead with the heart of gold had any room in it for the man who couldn’t stay away from her.
His stomach lurched as he felt the little car weave and dodge. His eyes shot open.
“Idiot!” she called the driver in the next lane. “He should be home in bed at this hour, not out terrorizing normal people.”
Ram chuckled. Heading straight into town down the main highway from the airport at midnight, she drove on the nearly empty road just like she did at any hour. Like a racecar driver at the Indy 500. Running a hand through his hair, Ram folded his arms as she put another car in her dust. “I see you are still showing all the Tejanos in town that you own the city.”
She beamed at him, thoroughly enjoying his sarcasm. “I’m still good, right?”
He barked in laughter. “Better, sad to say. Thank god, you live where you work so you don’t have to drive often. The SAPD could retire off the tickets they’d write you.”
“I have to have some claim to fame.”
“What do you mean?”
She shrugged. “I’m so normal. That can be boring.”
“Who says?”
“I do.” She frowned as she checked her rearview mirror and put her blinker on to change lanes.
“Trust me, babe, you are not boring.”
“No? You told me I was reliable. How thrilling is that?”
His gaze on her plush lips, he fought for words to tell her just how gorgeous she was to him, inside and out. “To me? Very.”
She shot him a glance with disbelief and terror in her eyes.
Oh, hell, don’t scare her off before you’ve started! “I’ve known you since you came to the house for play dates with Amanda. How old were you? Three?”
“You never noticed me.”
“How could I not?” he questioned her with a baleful look. “I had to babysit you both! I know everything about you, Caitlyn Marie Hagerty.”
Her brows arched high, then she turned to stick her tongue out at him. “Prove it. Tell me why I’m not boring.”
“What is this?”
“Twenty questions,” she demanded, eyes darting from him to the road. “Twenty answers. Tell me why you don’t think I’m a bore.”
He ran a hand down his face. “You run your own shop.”