Pushing the Limit Read Online Free PDF

of weeks before someone came,” she said.
    “Normally it would take that long, maybe longer. Usually there is a whole process to go through before we set boots on the ground. But I have an Iraqi visa, and I was in Kuala Lumpur at a conference, so they just diverted me here on the way back.”
    “You’ve been to Iraq before?” Her fingers slid around the glass, barely touching it, and he felt it as if she were tracing those designs on his skin. His dick twitched in his pants.
Really?
Shit, he hadn’t slept for thirty hours and he was still interested?
    “Of course. We had a war here not so long ago. You?”
    “Once before. I was part of a dig close to Ur, southeast of here.”
    “I know Ur. The ziggurat, right?” He remembered the huge stepped pyramid-like building outside the town of Nasiriyah.
    She grinned. “Wow, a soldier who knows the ziggurat. Beautiful isn’t it?”
    “I’m an airman,” he said, “And yes, it was. Agatha Christie wrote some of her books there, right? While her husband excavated?” He swore her face fell a little when he said he was an airman. Strange. Most women heard that and thought “fighter pilot.” He’d gotten a lot of ass because of
Top Gun
.
    “Yes, she did,” she replied absently.
    He steadied her hand that was now tapping on the table by placing his on top of it. “Are you okay?” Her skin was velvet under his fingers. He wanted to relive that night in the garden, her wet body driving him crazy. He thanked God he’d been given this second chance to possess her, to close the deal once and for all. The opportunity to get her out of his system, because hell, had she been in his system since he’d met her.
    “I’m fine. Just tired.” She looked up and smiled. “I am happy to see you, though. How long are you planning on staying?”
    “Depends. Maybe just tonight. I need to send details of the”—he looked around—“apple, back to HQ.”
    “Apple?”
    “First thing that came to mind. Maybe something to do with how tempting you look to me.” Did he just say that? Well, she was tempting, all looking like she just got out of bed, messily braided blond hair and sweatshirt with a neck just baggy enough to allow him sight of a pristine-white bra strap.
So she did wear a bra sometimes
. She looked innocent, and he knew she was anything but. Still, he wanted to corrupt her in the worst way. Her angelic looks just made him want her more.
    Her eyelids lowered a fraction as she held his gaze. He loved that she didn’t demure, or deny, his attraction. Try to negate the compliment the way women sometimes did.
    “Do you want to… come up and see my apple?” she asked with a barely perceptible wink. Her mouth twitched as if she was hiding a smile.
    “Yes. Yes, I really would.”
    “I’m in room twenty-three. Give me a few minutes, okay?”
    “Yes, ma’am.” He checked the time as he watched her leave the bar. As soon as she was out of sight, he pushed away his beer and stretched his arms above his head. He stood and went over to read a bulletin board by the doors. These remote hotels that mainly catered to foreign travelers were almost like hostels: people putting up notices for travel companions, recommendations for restaurant excursions, notes for guests. It was nice to have a sense of community when you were so far from home. It actually amazed him that visitors were traveling here so soon after the war.
    He realized his foot was tapping impatiently, and he checked the time again. Three minutes. He decided to leave it another two minutes so the people in the bar would not notice they’d left together. No one needed gossip in a hotel like this.
    As soon as those minutes had passed, he strode to the stairwell. The hotel was situated on just two levels: the main reception floor, where the bar and restaurant was, and the upstairs, where all the rooms were. He passed his own room, checking the handle to make sure it was still locked without breaking stride.
    The door