Operation: Endeavor (When The Mission Ends) Read online

  He’d been home two weeks, and already his siblings were kicking him out of the house. He ignored the sweat dripping off his body as he thought about the scene he’d just left at Cassie’s house. It was time for him to find his own place to live. Maybe if he gave Chris a little bit of space to find himself again, then he would begin to heal faster.

  He also needed to figure out what he was going to do for the rest of his life. He’d planned to make a career out of the Air Force, but when they’d found Chris six months after he’d ‘died’, Colton knew that Chris was going to need his help with his recovery. Luckily, he’d served his time so he had the option of separating. The situation with Chris allowed the process to go easier than normal. He’d been a good officer so he was widely respected, which helped clear the way for his separation paperwork to move faster through the system. So he’d separated from the Air Force and left a career which had been shaping up to be a successful one. Luckily, he’d been too busy in his career to do much besides work, so he had some money saved and had a little bit of time to figure it all out.

  He moved to the leg press machine and ratcheted up the weight. It was different working out at the Fitness Center on campus. He glanced around at all the young coeds. When had he gotten old? The sad thing was most of these students had a better idea than he did about what they were going to do for a career.

  In the Air Force, he’d flown Hercules C-130’s for Special Operations forces. He could fly low-altitude, high-risk missions with people shooting at him, but that didn’t translate well into life in West Texas. Last time he checked there wasn’t a whole lot of combat flying out here. Regardless, he wasn’t ready to give up flying, so he needed to go check out the local airport soon.

  He moved to add more weight to the machine and was surprised to find himself staring straight into gorgeous jade green eyes filled with concern. He quickly pulled out his ear buds. He hadn’t even known she was standing there. So much for his combat-readiness. He looked at her warily with his heart pounding much faster than it had been just moments before.

  Penelope Pruitt was one of Cassie’s friends since her college days. Colton didn’t know her very well except that she was blond, beautiful, and flighty as a butterfly. From what he’d seen, she was the modern age equivalent to a flower-child. A flower child who looked damn good in her low-riding yoga pants. She had a natural beauty that showed through even when glistening through the sweat from her own workout. He tried to ignore the alluring bead of sweat that dripped down the side of her neck. He needed a distraction, but she wasn’t the kind that he needed right now.

  * * *

  Penelope had watched Colton through the workout room windows while she finished teaching her yoga class. He’d easily been pounding weights for over an hour and from what she could tell, he didn’t have any intention of stopping anytime soon. No wonder the guy was so cut.

  After her class filed out, Penelope walked over to Colton, who was dressed in jeans and a plain black t-shirt that hugged every hard plane of his very impressive muscles. He wasn’t dressed for a workout, but he lifted like he planned to stay the rest of the day. She’d lay good odds he had another fight with Chris, especially given the bruise forming on his cheek. From everything Cassie told her, things were really tense between the two brothers. All she knew was this guy needed to relax and his current method wasn’t doing it for him.

  As she mused and watched him from behind the weight stack, he became aware she stood there. He pulled his ear buds out and stood abruptly. Jeebers, this guy was huge. It wasn’t just the fact he was built of solid muscle. At 5’9”, she wasn’t exactly short, but he towered above her. She craned her neck up to look at him.

  Surprise and wariness flared through his eyes. “Hi, Penelope. I didn’t see you.”

  “Hey, Colton. You’ve been working out pretty hard.” She leaned her head toward the weight bench as he nodded. She stepped back and looked him up and down. After lifting for so long, his muscles were literally bulging at the seams of his tee. His sweat made the shirt cling in all the other areas where it wasn’t straining. He made for a very impressive picture for men’s fitness, if you could ignore the lines of fatigue around his eyes and face, the tenseness of his shoulders, and the general tautness of his neck.

  “What are you doing?” He looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

  She ignored his question and grabbed hold of his arm. “Lifting weights isn’t helping you. Come with me.”

  She dragged him into one of the workout rooms and pulled two rolled-up mats from a bin in the corner. When she spread them out on the floor, he held up his hands in protest. “Wait, what are y—”

  “Listen, I can tell by watching you that your stress levels are maxed out. You’re trying to work off your frustration, but at this point, all you’re doing is giving yourself muscle fatigue. Give me fifteen minutes and I promise you more stress relief than you’d get from lifting weights all day.”

  Colton looked from the mats to her suspiciously. “What are you going to do?”

  “We’re going to do some yoga.”

  Colton shook his head and eyed the door to make a retreat.

  “Don’t tell me you’re one of those guys who’s too much of a manly man to do yoga.” She crossed her arms over her chest and raised her eyebrows.

  “No, of course not. I just don’t think—”

  “Good. The point is not to think.”

  He muttered under his breath, “Something you’re very good at.”

  Penelope stuck her tongue out and glared at him. She had to remember he was stressed out. It was her job, albeit self-appointed right now, to help him release some of that stress. On a normal day, Colton was uptight. As tightly wound as he was right now, he was in danger of a mental and physical breakdown.

  “Colton, fifteen minutes is all I’m asking for. Give me that and if you hate it I’ll never bother you again. I promise.” She leaned toward him, trying not to get lost within his wary, navy blue eyes.

  Colton gave a short nod. “Okay, you have fifteen minutes to do what you want.”

  She gave him a flirtatious smile and a long, lingering look up and down his hard body. “Hmm, what I want? Now that has possibilities, but unfortunately not what I had in mind when I dragged you in here. That’s a relaxation technique of a different sort. Besides, I don’t think fifteen minutes would be long enough.” She shook her head to dispel the notion, but already the ideas tumbling through her head sent tingles throughout her body.

  His eyes had darkened as she rambled and now he looked at her like she was going to be his next meal. Okay, so no flirting with the dark, moody guy especially when he was in this kind of mood. Normally, she would be all over that with a guy who looked like this, but she knew enough about Colton to know that wasn’t a good idea. Dark and moody were not her idea of a good time. She needed to refocus. Penelope turned on the sound system to slow methodical instrumental music before joining him on the mats.

  “First, we need to regulate your breathing. Breathing methodically is just as important as the physical movements. As you breathe in and out, center yourself. Use the movements and the air moving in and out to calm your soul and your body.” He gave a short nod, watching her closely.

  They faced one another on their mats. “All yoga starts at what is called the Mountain Pose. Stand with your legs and feet together, shoulders back, abs tight, head facing straight forward. The goal here is to get your spine in complete alignment and concentrate on your breathing.”

  As Colton stood, Penelope stepped closer to him. “Good,” she said and adjusted his body slightly with a gentle nudge against his ass, and at the same time she pushed his abs. A spark of electricity arced up her fingertips through her arm. His muscles contracted under her fingertips like he’d felt the same jolt. She glanced up sharply at his face. His eyes were dark and intense and his breathing had grown more erratic. She ignored her own pounding pulse and continued to instruct him.

  “You need to concentr
ate on your breathing.” She concentrated on his lips which were firm and enticing. They were parted slightly as he breathed. She’d love nothing more than to take a little bite from them before she worked her way around his neck, lapping at the sweat that beckoned there. The spice of Colton wafted toward her, a scent that drew her in. She wanted more. “Breathe in slowly through your nose. Good. Now release just as slowly through your mouth. Good.” As she focused in on those gorgeous lips, Penelope fell down a dark hole of desire. “That’s good. Just continue doing that for a count of five breaths.” Penelope realized that her own breathing was out of synch at the same time she also realized her palm still rested on his hard abs, where she could feel his muscles bunching and clenching. Penelope snatched her hand away and fled back to the safety of her own mat.

  She gave herself a mental shake as the vibrations of desire worked their way through her body. What was she thinking? Oh my God, this was Colton, Cassie’s uptight older brother. A man who was about as far away from her type as you could get.

  It was time to find her own center. She concentrated on breathing through the yoga pose with him, closing her eyes as she did so. Three breaths later she was more in control.

  “Good. Now we’re going to move through some of the other poses. I’ll do them for you first and then I’ll help you as you get your form correct.” He gave another quick nod, all his focus on her and what she told him.

  “First, place your palms together at your chest, breathe in and circle your arms out until they are stretched out above you. Reach over and touch your toes, keeping your back as flat as possible, exhaling as you go down. Hold this pose for the count of five and then walk your hands out until you are in Downward Facing Dog position. Hold and breathe, feeling the pull through the backs of your thighs and buttocks.”

  As Colton watched her move through the slow poses, he groaned internally. He was definitely feeling something pull, but he it wasn’t his thigh muscles. For the first time since he’d gotten to the gym, he was glad that he was wearing jeans because the thick denim helped hide his growing erection. With her bent over like that, her toned ass up in the air, he could think of several things he’d like to do with these yoga poses.

  Maybe yoga wasn’t so bad after all.

  “Now lower down into plank position, being sure to keep your body as straight as possible as you hover. Hold the position and then lower into Chaturanga, as you transition into Cobra. Remember to breathe slowly the entire time as you move through the poses. Move back into Plank, back into Downward Facing Dog. Walk your hands back and end with a Sun Salutation.”

  She stopped moving and looked over at him, completely oblivious to the way he’d been ogling her body as she sensuously moved through the poses. “Now let’s have you try it.”

  “Okay.” Colton’s voice sounded gruff as he worked to follow the positions she’d just showed him. As he moved, she gently corrected him with a nudge here and a touch there. The feathery guiding touches were driving him insane as lust pounded through his system. As he moved to fold down to touch his toes, his jeans were suddenly even more of a constricting issue. Not only was he sporting a hard-on which would make this position difficult, but the tightness of the jeans made it next to impossible.

  Penelope noticed his difficulty although, because of his folded position, she missed the real issue that Colton had. She laughed lightly. “Sorry, yoga isn’t meant to be done in jeans.”

  Colton just frowned and concentrated on the moves. “Don’t worry about it. Obviously, I wasn’t thinking ahead when I came over here today.” He continued working through the poses, surprised at how heavy he was breathing and how much effort they really took. Penelope made them look effortless, but they were much harder to do than they looked.

  They flowed together through the sequence several more times before Penelope finally stopped them. “I think you’ve had enough for today. What do you think about yoga now?”

  Colton thought through the muscles of his body and was surprised to realize that he was much looser and more relaxed than he’d been before… with one glaring exception. “You’re right. That helped.”

  Penelope laughed. It was a light melodious sound that reverberated all the way through his gut. “You don’t have to sound so shocked about it. Every once in a while, someone else is right, even me.” She rolled up the mats and turned off the radio.

  Colton watched her as she moved and was suddenly aware of the graceful flow to her body he’d never noticed before. In fact there was a lot about her he’d never noticed before. Normally she wore her naturally wavy honey blond hair down, but today she had it in two braids. With the sprinkling of freckles across her nose, it made her look very young. He didn’t even know exactly how old she was although he’d guess her to be close to Cassie’s age since they were friends.

  He rubbed the back of his neck. He needed to get laid if he was becoming tempted by Cassie’s flighty friend. Normally people like her simply annoyed him. He couldn’t respect a person who moved through life like it was one big party and Penelope was definitely all about the fun in life.

  Honestly, that was probably his problem. He hadn’t had any fun since divorcing his ex-wife Dianna, two years before.

  Since then, he’d simply been too busy with work and finding a bedmate had required too much effort. His body was telling him that it was probably time to make that effort again. He could agree, but that person needed to be someone besides Penelope.

  They walked out of the fitness center together, but when they stepped out the door, Penelope cursed, “Damn.”

  Colton looked across the sheets of rain coming down. It didn’t rain often in West Texas, but when it did, it came in torrents. It was a good thing he was driving Chris’s truck and not his motorcycle.

  Penelope shrugged and pulled the hood up on her sweatshirt. “I guess I won’t melt.” She gave him a quick wave. “See you later, Colton.”

  She started off into the rain away from the parking lot before he grabbed her arm and pulled her back under the eave of the building. “Wait, don’t you have a car?”

  She shook her head. “No, it was a nice morning, so I walked.”

  “Let me give you a ride home.”

  Her eyes brightened at the offer. “Thanks, I’d appreciate that. It’s not far. I live in those new lofts they built on the other side of campus.” Colton nodded that he knew where she was talking about.

  As they approached the big black truck, she said, “This is Chris’s isn’t it?”

  Colton nodded. “I usually drive a motorcycle, so I’ve been using his truck to get him to his appointments.”

  As he drove, he could feel her eyes on him periodically. He knew she was thinking something through, but she didn’t say anything more until they arrived at her building. That was fine with him. He didn’t want to talk about the situation with his siblings.

  “Colton, do you want to come up for some coffee or tea, or maybe even a beer? I know things are stressful at Cassie’s. I get the idea you still aren’t as de-stressed as you need to be. Why don’t you come up and relax for a while? We can just hang out and relax, I promise.”

  Colton looked at her for a moment contemplating her offer. She was right. He wasn’t ready to head back to Cassie’s yet. “I’d like that. Thanks Penelope.”

  Entering her loft, Colton whistled low and looked around the spacious apartment. “This is nice.”

  “Thanks. Make yourself at home. There’s beer in the fridge. Help yourself to whatever you want.” She waved her hand toward the kitchen as she continued walking through the apartment. “I’m gonna go change out of my sweaty clothes. I’ll be right back.”

  Colton grabbed a beer and looked around the loft more seriously. Based upon Penelope’s personality, he would have expected her place to be filled with lots of thrift shop castoffs, but that’s not what he saw at all. Throughout the loft, the floors were a rich worn mahogany and Penelope had done her best to set them off. A mix of antiques flanked warm
traditional pieces. The couches were slipcovered in white canvas, but touches of Penelope were there with a startling bouquet of vibrant throw pillows. The art on the walls ranged from modern to impressionistic and all of it was colorful and full of life.

  Not surprisingly, since Penelope ran a bookstore, there was an entire exposed brick wall with bookshelves overflowing with books. Colton stepped over to those to peruse the titles. She had all the expected bestsellers and popular authors. There was also a section of larger paperbacks that looked more worn than the others, which made him curious. He picked up one to thumb through it and was surprised to find some heavy-duty erotica. He was so caught up reading it he didn’t hear Penelope come back into the room.

  Penelope leaned down in front of Colton, tilting the book so she could see the title. “Hmm, Shayla Black’s Surrender to Me.” Colton could feel his cheeks heat in embarrassment. She quirked an eyebrow at him, enjoying his discomfort. “I could see you as a Dom.” She nodded as she walked into the kitchen area to grab her own beer. Suddenly the blood that had been suffusing Colton’s cheeks rushed to other areas as he had a flash of Penelope tied up, naked, and doing his bidding.

  Colton hastily re-shelved the book, cleared his throat, and moved to change the subject. “I really like your place. You’ve done a nice job with it.”

  Penelope gave him a soft smile. “Thanks. This is my oasis and I love it. I was lucky to sign a lease while they were still constructing the building. The risk turned out to be worth it.”

  Colton nodded as he looked around again. “Do you know if there are any units open?”

  Penelope shook her head. “No, and I’ve heard the waiting list is really long to get one. Like I said, I was lucky.” She looked at him seriously as if pondering something, and became distracted by the swelling on the side of his face. “Does that hurt?” She gently reached up and placed her fingers, cold from grasping the beer bottle, against the bruise.