Six Minutes to Midnight

by Elle James

  “You don’t think so?”

  “I wouldn’t know,” T-Mac said. “We haven’t known each other for very long.”

  “Speaking from my experience,” Harm said, “it doesn’t take long to fall in love. Sometimes you just know she’s the one.”

  “Like you and Talia?” T-Mac asked.

  “Yeah. Like me and Talia.” Harm smiled as he stared at the helicopter. He was probably seeing Talia, the petite beauty with the black hair and blue eyes, not the smooth gray hulks of Black Hawk helicopters.

  T-Mac shook his head. “How do you know?”

  “At first, I didn’t recognize it, but the more I was around her, the more I wanted to be around her. And then when we were apart, all I could do was think about her.”

  That’s not me. T-Mac refused to believe that was what he was feeling about Kinsley. Yeah, he’d seen her around camp. And he’d fantasized about getting to know her better, even how it would be to kiss her. But love?

  Oh, hell no.

  But, like Harm, he couldn’t stop thinking about her and counted the minutes until he could see her again.

  What was wrong with him? He did not need a woman in his life, despite what his buddies thought.

  He turned away from the choppers. “We should go prepare.”

  Harm touched T-Mac’s arm. “Falling for a woman is not a bad thing.”

  “I wouldn’t know,” T-Mac insisted.

  “It doesn’t make you weaker,” Harm continued. “In fact, it makes me stronger, more determined to do the right thing and be a better person. The kind of person Talia would want to be with.”

  “Well, that certainly isn’t me. Not with Kinsley. I told her I didn’t want her to be on the next mission.”

  Harm’s eyebrows shot up. “Kinsley?”

  “Specialist Anderson,” T-Mac corrected.

  “That’s why she looked mad enough to spit nails.” Harm chuckled.

  “Yeah.” T-Mac started walking again. “She sure as hell doesn’t want to be with me now.”

  “An apology goes a long way to smoothing a woman’s feathers,” Harm advised.

  T-Mac shot a horrified glance his buddy’s way. “Apologize? I’m not sorry I told her that. She’s one hundred percent a distraction on a mission.”

  “Maybe for you, since you’re into her.”

  “I’m not into her.” He couldn’t be. It made no sense.

  “No? Then why did you spend the night at her bedside, holding her hand?” Harm raised an eyebrow. “And don’t say you’d have done the same for one of us.”

  T-Mac opened his mouth to tell Harm that holding Kinsley’s hand didn’t mean anything, but he knew it would be a big fat lie. So he closed his mouth, sealed his lips in a thin, tight line and stepped out smartly for his quarters.

  Harm jogged to catch up. “You can run, buddy, but you can’t hide from the truth.”

  T-Mac came to an abrupt halt.

  Harm ran into him.

  “Let’s get this straight.” T-Mac turned and poked a finger into Harm’s chest. “I’m not into Kinsley. We’re not together. She’s just an army puke with a dog. Nothing more. Period. The end.”

  Harm stared into T-Mac’s eyes and then burst into laughter. “Damn, dude, you’ve got it really bad for the woman.”

  T-Mac balled his fists and cocked his arms.

  The smile left Harm’s face and he held up his hands. “Hey, remember me? I’m on your side.”

  Still ready to hit someone, T-Mac kept his fists up.

  “All right. I’ll stop razzing you.” Harm dropped his hands and tipped his head toward the living quarters. “We’d better get ready. Who knows when we’ll get the call?” He stepped out.

  For a long moment, T-Mac stood with his hands up, jaw clenched and anger simmering. Finally, he let go of the breath he’d been holding and turned to follow his friend.

  They were almost to the living units when T-Mac spoke again, as if they hadn’t ended the conversation. “It doesn’t matter anyway.”

  “What?” Harm asked.

  “Nothing could ever come of something between us.”

  “Between who?” Harm grinned and jerked his thumb between T-Mac and himself. “You and me? You’re right. I’m taken.”

  “Shut up. You know who I’m talking about.”

  Harm nodded. “Yeah, but I also know things have a way of working out.”

  “Like Talia’s resort burning down so she’s forced to move back to the States to be with you? Or Marly’s airplane blowing up so she can move back to the States and be with Pitbull?”

  With a frown, Harm kicked at a rock. “When you put it like that, it sounds bad. But maybe there’s something to fate.”

  “I don’t wish anything ill on Kinsley or Agar. They’ve worked hard for what they do. If I was interested in Kinsley—which I’m not—I couldn’t ask her to give up her career to follow me around. Nor would I want to give up my career to follow her. So it doesn’t matter. Nothing could ever come of a relationship between me and Kinsley.”

  With a shrug, Harm opened the door to the quarters they shared and held it for T-Mac to enter. “All I know is, you never know.”

  T-Mac snorted. “Sounds like double-talk to me.”

  “Maybe. Maybe not. Just wait and see. If she’s worth it, you’ll find a way.”

  T-Mac went to work preparing for the next mission, not knowing what it would be, where they would go or how he’d make it through the tough times and keep Kinsley out of the line of fire. One thing he did know, but wouldn’t admit to Harm or anyone else, was that Kinsley was definitely worth the trouble. She was brave, loyal and beautiful.

  He cleaned his M4A1 rifle and his nine-millimeter handgun. Then he spent time sharpening his Ka-Bar knife and checking his communications equipment. When he was finished, he stood, stretched and asked, “Ready to hit the chow hall?”

  Harm nodded. “Give me a minute to lay out my gear.”

  While Harm set out his body armor, helmet and night-vision goggles, T-Mac did the same.

  By the time they finished, T-Mac’s belly rumbled.

  They left their quarters and walked toward the dining facility.

  As T-Mac passed Kinsley’s unit, he noticed a package sitting on the ground directly in front of her door. Wrapped in brown paper, it looked like something the postmaster might have delivered. Except the camp postmaster didn’t make deliveries.

  At that moment, Kinsley opened the door.

  Agar started to step out on the ground and stopped. He sniffed the package once and lay down, blocking Kinsley’s exit, his tongue hanging out, his gaze seeking her.

  Kinsley nearly tripped over the dog, expecting him to exit. When he didn’t, she looked past him to the package, her brow furrowing. She hesitated and stepped back into the unit. “Good boy, Agar. Good boy.”

  T-Mac stared from the dog to the package and back again. “Did you place that package there?” he asked.

  Kinsley’s gaze locked with T-Mac’s, her eyes going wide. “I was going to ask you the same question.”

  “Don’t bother.” T-Mac turned to his friend. “Harm, get back to the command center and report a potential bomb located inside the perimeter.”

  Harm nodded. “On it.” He turned and ran back in the direction from which they’d come.

  “Is Agar ever wrong?” T-Mac asked.

  Kinsley shook her head. “He tests out at one hundred percent, even with trace amounts of explosives in the decoy.”

  “Can you step around it?” T-Mac asked.

  “Probably?”

  T-Mac moved closer to the package and held out his arms. “You can lean on my shoulders and I can help you out.”

  “No,” she said.

  With a frown, T-Mac dropped his arms. “No, you can’t? Or no, you won’t?”
/>
  “No, I won’t leave Agar.” Her lips pressed into a straight line.

  “Step back—I’m coming to you.”

  Her eyes widened. “No! You can’t. What if it explodes?”

  “Then we’ll go together.” He winked. “Won’t that be romantic or something?”

  “Are you insane?” She held up her hands. “I’m going inside the unit and closing the door. Let me know when the unexploded-ordnance guys are done.” She backed up a step, held the door wide and called to Agar to follow.

  Agar rose and entered the unit, trotting past Kinsley.

  When Kinsley stepped back and started to close the door, T-Mac made his move. He took a giant step over the package and fell through the door frame.

  “What the—” Kinsley said as he caught her around the waist and took her to the ground with him.

  With his foot, T-Mac kicked the door shut behind him and covered Kinsley’s body with his own.

  He waited for several long minutes, trying to shield Kinsley from the shrapnel sure to pepper their bodies should the package explode.

  After three minutes passed, Kinsley stirred beneath him. “T-Mac,” she said, her voice barely a whisper.

  “Yes?”

  “What are you doing?” Kinsley breathed.

  “Saving your life.”

  “Is that what this is?” Her breathing came in short, shallow gasps.

  “Of course.”

  “Sweetheart, you’re killing me,” she wheezed.

  Sweetheart? Had she really called him sweetheart? His chest swelled and warmth spread throughout his body from every point of contact with hers. Which was practically everywhere. All that warmth pooled low in his groin. And his body reacted to the heat and he grew hard.

  “T-Mac?” Kinsley said.

  “Mmm,” he murmured.

  “I can’t breathe,” she whispered.

  Immediately, he rose up on his elbows, giving her chest the space she needed to take a deep breath and fill her lungs. “Sorry.”

  “It’s okay. I didn’t die.” She chuckled. “And the package didn’t explode.”

  “No. But we don’t know if it will. What if whoever put it there can trigger it to explode at any time?”

  “I would think he would have triggered it when I opened the door.”

  “Maybe, or maybe he’s waiting for a bigger crowd. In which case you won’t be safe until the ordnance-disposal guys arrive.”

  “We can’t lie here for that long,” she said, her voice all practical but still a little breathless.

  T-Mac refused to move. He couldn’t risk leaving her exposed. “What does it hurt to stay put for a little longer?”

  “I don’t want you to shield my body with yours. The navy put a lot of training into you.”

  “And the army put a lot of training into you and Agar. Speaking of which...can you get him to lie down in case the explosives go off? I’d hate for either one of you to be injured.”

  “Agar, lie down,” she commanded.

  The dog dropped to his belly beside Kinsley.

  She stared up into T-Mac’s eyes. “So, does this mean you care?”

  T-Mac frowned. “Only because my commander put me in charge of making sure you’re okay.”

  “Really?” She tilted her head. “That’s the only reason?”

  “Of course.”

  Her pretty, peach-pink lips twisted. “Your commander tasked you with that responsibility during our last mission,” Kinsley pointed out. “We’re not on that mission now.”

  “I take my responsibilities seriously,” T-Mac argued, refusing to admit that he probably would have protected her even if his commander hadn’t tasked him with the job. Something about Kinsley drew him, and like a moth to the flame, he couldn’t resist. And like that moth, he figured he’d eventually be burned in some way or another. Navy SEALs, by the nature of their work, were doomed in the relationship department.

  But at that moment, when they faced the possibility of being blown to bits, he stared down into her face, his gaze zeroing in on her pouty lips.

  And he couldn’t resist.

  He leaned down, his mouth hovering over hers. “I take my responsibilities very seriously,” he repeated.

  “T-Mac?” Kinsley’s breath warmed his mouth. “Are you going to kiss me?”

  He nodded. “Yup. Do you have a problem with that?”

  “Yes,” she said, her voice a hot puff of air against his lips. “You’re taking too long.”

  He claimed her mouth in a long, hard kiss that shook him to his very core. She wrapped her arms around his neck, her fingers threading into the hair at the back of his neck and pulling him closer.

  When he ran his tongue across the seam of her lips, she opened to him.

  He dove in, deepening the kiss, sliding his tongue along hers in a warm, wet caress, one he never wanted to end.

  Kinsley wrapped her calf around his and pushed her hips up, making him even harder.

  By the time he raised his head, his body was on fire and he couldn’t get enough of her.

  He rested his forehead against hers and dragged in air. “What the hell just happened?”

  Kinsley chuckled and her breath hitched. “You tell me.”

  T-Mac brushed his lips across hers in a feather-light kiss. He couldn’t get over how soft they were, or that she tasted of mint.

  Agar crawled forward and laid his head on Kinsley’s shoulder.

  Laughter bubbled up in T-Mac’s chest. Despite the fact there was a bomb outside the container unit, he’d never felt so light. All because he’d kissed Kinsley.

  “T-Mac?” Harm’s voice called to him from outside the container. “Are you two in there?”

  “If we’re really quiet, do you think they’ll go away?” Kinsley asked.

  T-Mac liked that she could joke when the circumstances could go south quickly. “I doubt it.”

  “Well, damn.” She cupped his cheeks between her palms, leaned her head up and pressed a hard kiss to his mouth. “Then you’d better answer.”

  He drew in a deep breath, every movement reminding him he was lying on top of a female with curves in all the right places. “We’re in here,” T-Mac called out.

  “Hang tight,” Harm said. “The EOD guys are going to remove the package. Stay down.”

  “Will do,” T-Mac said, his gaze never moving from Kinsley’s.

  “I don’t like that you’re not wearing body armor,” she said.

  “I’m liking that I’m not. A little too much.” His shaft pressed into her pelvis. He shifted his body to ease the pressure.

  Kinsley’s eyes flared and her hips rose as if seeking to reestablish the connection. Then she dropped her bottom back to the floor. “You should probably move.” Her voice sounded as if she’d been running, her chest rising and falling in shallow breaths.

  “Sorry, sweetheart,” T-Mac said. “I’m not moving until the danger’s over.”

  “I’m not sure where it’s most dangerous...outside my door, or in here.” She held his gaze.

  “Specialist Anderson, are you afraid of me?” he asked, his tone deep, his body humming with a rush of heat.

  “No, Petty Officer McGuire.” Her gaze shifted from his eyes to his lips. “I’m afraid of me.”

  Chapter Seven

  Lying sandwiched between the hard metal floor of the container unit and the muscular planes of T-Mac’s chest, torso, hips and thighs, Kinsley could barely breathe. And it had nothing to do with T-Mac crushing her chest. He’d removed his weight, balancing over her on his arms.

  The man stole her breath away by his sheer alpha maleness.

  He could have run away from the package of explosives on her doorstep and left her and Agar to whatever happened.

  But he hadn’t. He’d sacrificed his own safe
ty to protect her.

  Kinsley’s estimation of the man increased tenfold. Hell, he’d already proven he could rescue her from tight situations.

  But when he’d kissed her...

  Sweet, sweet heaven. He’d changed everything in just that one meeting of their lips.

  Now she couldn’t stop thinking about him and really wished he’d kiss her again.

  He lowered his head, his gaze shifting from her eyes to her lips. “This could get us in trouble.”

  “Big trouble,” she whispered, her lips tingling in anticipation of his.

  “Hang in there, T-Mac. They’re moving the package now.” Harm’s muffled shout reached her through the walls of her quarters.

  They had only seconds to live if the explosives detonated. Or seconds to kiss if they didn’t.

  Kinsley didn’t want to die without just one more...

  She reached up, her hand circling the back of T-Mac’s head, and pulled him down to her mouth.

  She’d never felt so empowered and yet vulnerable as she did in that one desperate kiss.

  “They’re gone!” Harm shouted.

  The rattle of the doorknob alerted Kinsley to impending danger. She planted her hands on T-Mac’s chest and shoved him over.

  He went willingly, springing to his feet just as the door swung open.

  “EOD saved the day,” Harm said.

  T-Mac reached out a hand. Kinsley placed hers in his and let him bring her to her feet to face T-Mac’s friend.

  “Are you all right?” Harm asked, his gaze slipping over her face and narrowing in on her lips.

  She nodded, her cheeks heating. Could he tell she’d just been kissed? Kinsley fought the urge to press her palms to her cheeks and further incriminate herself. No one had seen what had happened between her and T-Mac. No one had to know. She didn’t need an Article 15 on her record. She could lose her position as a dog handler.

  Command Order number one when deployed was No Fraternization.

  And she’d just fraternized.

  She shot a glace toward T-Mac. His gaze was on her, making her entire body burn with desire. What was it about this man that made her feel completely out of control?

  “What was in the package?” T-Mac asked.