“That was pretty fucking incredible,” he said softly.
“It was. I think I’m going to be sore though.”
“Hell, I might too.”
She laughed before a twinge of anxiety tickled the back of her mind. “I’ve never gone to bed with anyone as fast as I have you,” she said. “I’m not a slut.”
He reached out and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “You realize that being a slut is perfectly fine, if that’s what a person wants to be. There’s nothing wrong with a healthy sexual appetite and the desire to feed it. That word is something that men assign to women—and women assign to themselves—in order to control their sexuality. Women can fuck a lot, just like men can, and there’s nothing at all wrong with it.”
The things he said surprised her sometimes. He made her think. “You’re right. But I’m Southern, raised by a good Baptist mama and daddy, and I feel like I have to explain myself. Right or wrong, I just thought you should know that I’ve never done this before. I always have to get to know somebody first.” She sighed. “Or maybe that was just living in Cedarville and knowing the whole town would know if I did something naughty. Maybe I’d have jumped Eric Davidson’s bones the first night we went out back in high school if I hadn’t been terrified the town would know and judge me.”
He turned on his side, skimmed his fingers over her ass, the dip in her back, up her spine. “When you started dating Travis, how long did you wait?”
Her stomach knotted. “It was a month.” And she hadn’t been ready then, but she’d let Travis talk her into it. The sex had been good. Not earth-shattering, but satisfying. She’d managed to come, and she’d thought that was all she could ask for.
“And you dated for five months, right?”
“Yes.”
“When did he start hitting you?”
“Not quite two months into the relationship. Mama was in the hospital then. The first time—” She bit her lip. Shook her head as anger surged hot inside her. Why hadn’t she reacted differently? “I was teasing him about the fact he didn’t like asparagus. It was so minor, nothing big, but I told him I was going to grind some up and put it in his breakfast smoothie and he’d never know. Just playing with him. He backhanded me.”
Ryan’s face reddened. “Jesus.”
She’d fallen to the floor, her cheek aching where he’d hit her. Her heart had ached more. “I was so shocked. I didn’t even cry. But Travis made a big show of apologizing, of telling me that he wasn’t himself, that he’d been under stress. It was all bullshit. He begged me to forgive him, told me he would never hurt me—and then we had sex. I didn’t want to, but…” Chloe’s eyes dropped closed. She hated this memory. Hated it. The shock and humiliation. The self-loathing. So much self-loathing.
Ryan tugged her into his arms. Wrapped his hard, warm body around hers. “It’s okay. You don’t have to tell me anything else.”
She clung to him, their naked bodies pressed tightly together. “He didn’t hit me again for about three weeks. I should have left, but Mama was sick and I let him convince me—again—that he didn’t mean it. After that, it started happening more regularly. By then he’d convinced me that no one would believe me, that my mama would think I was a liar because she loved him, and everybody would hate me if I said anything. He told me if I’d just do better, he wouldn’t have to discipline me so much.”
His arms tightened around her. “You have no idea how much I hate that motherfucker right now.”
“Not as much as I do.”
He kissed the top of her head. “No, probably not.”
Chloe burrowed her cheek against his chest. “I think it’s him,” she whispered hoarsely. “Threatening me. I didn’t think so before, because I thought his style was more direct and volatile, but now I think I was wrong. The man who waited two months to hit me, who waited another three weeks past that, who let me believe he was a nice guy for so long—well, that guy is patient and calculating. I was wrong to think he wasn’t.”
Fifteen
Ryan hated letting Chloe out of his sight. But he had no choice. He still had a job—a job that didn’t let him take unscheduled leaves of absence out of the blue—and so did she. They’d showered together at his place—a very memorable shower, of course—and she’d put on yesterday’s clothes before heading to her place to get a new outfit. There was no sign of any incursions at her home. Nothing in the mailbox, no picked locks or footprints anywhere.
“Pack a bag,” he told her. “So you can stay with me.”
She blinked at him for several seconds. “For how long?”
“A few days.”
She shook her head, swearing beneath her breath. “I didn’t want to feel like this again. Like I have to hide and keep looking over my shoulder. Like my life is not my own. Dammit!”
He went over and put a hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry, honey. It’s temporary. Just until we get some news on Travis.”
Her expressive eyes clouded with emotion but she finally nodded. “Okay.”
She moved around her room, stuffing clothes into a suitcase. Then she went into the bathroom and returned a few minutes later with another, smaller suitcase. He took it from her, took the other one too, and rolled them toward the door. “We can come back and get things if you need them.”
She looked around the house with the half-unpacked boxes and sighed. “I just wanted my own place again—a place I could decorate and make my own. I didn’t want to have to live in someone else’s space, with someone else’s things…”
“It’s temporary. Remember that.”
She cupped his jaw and warmth emanated from her touch, spreading through him like hot syrup. He had the urge to turn his face into her palm and kiss it, though he didn’t do it. It seemed like an emotional move and he didn’t want to give in to that.
“I don’t mean to seem ungrateful,” she said.
“I understand, Chloe. Really. You’re pissed because this is fucking with your life and you don’t know when it’s going to stop.”
“Yes. It’s been six months since I left Cedarville. I was starting to think I’d gotten away with it. That I was safe—but now I’m not sure anymore. And I hate that feeling.”
He hugged her close, pressed his mouth to her hair, inhaled her peachy shampoo. “Just a few more days. We’re going to find that fucker and make this go away. Promise.”
He followed her to work. She started two hours later than he did, but Viking gave him leeway to make sure she was safe. She parked behind the building and he parked too. Her eyebrows lifted in surprise when he got out of the truck.
“It’s okay, Ryan. You don’t have to go inside with me.”
“I think I do, babe. I want to see the place. Make sure I know where the exits and entrances are.”
“Um, I could tell you that.”
He frowned. “You don’t want me to go inside. Why?”
She closed her eyes. Her face was beet red. “Because JoJo is going to drool all over you, that’s why. And once you leave, her and Avery are going to ask me to tell them every single thing we did last night.”
He laughed. “So tell them.” He bent and kissed her neck, gave it a lick at the last second. “Give them every dirty detail and watch them squirm.”
She was still beet red. “Oh my God, no. Are you crazy? I’d die.”
He loved how deep her accent got when she was flustered. “Up to you. But just think how jealous they’d be.”
She put her hands to her cheeks. “You’re as bad as they are. Worse, you’re shameless. You want me to brag on your technique.”
He laughed. “Hell yeah I’m shameless.” He put his hands on her hips, drew her in close. “I want them to envy you because you’re hot and beautiful and you’ve got a man who gives you all the pleasure you desire.” He kissed her forehead. “Now take me inside and let me scope this place out.”
“Gah. Fine.”
“Kiss me first.”
She obliged him, then she wiped h
er fingers across his mouth. “Not your color of lipstick, Ryan.”
“Whatever color you’re wearing—that’s my color.”
She rolled her eyes, but it was playful. “Come on then, sexy beast.”
Chloe was going to spontaneously combust from embarrassment, but she led Ryan into the back door of Hair Affair and marched into the break room where she and Avery and JoJo stored their personal items and ate their meals together. There was a sink and cabinets along with the refrigerator, meaning it was also where they mixed colors and kept supplies. JoJo was already there, going through a cabinet. Her coffee was on the table along with a half-eaten Egg McMuffin. She looked up as Chloe walked in.
“Hey, girl—urk”
Chloe nearly laughed at the way JoJo’s mouth fell open. “JoJo, this is Ryan. Ryan, this is my friend JoJo.”
JoJo was busy melting in place. Her mouth dropped open but no sound came out. Ryan held out his hand. “Hey, JoJo. Nice to meet you.”
JoJo took his hand in slow-mo. Blinked rapidly. “Hi. Uh…. Hi.”
Chloe would have laughed but Avery walked in just then, breaking the awkward moment apart. “Hey—wow,” she said as she stopped inside the door.
“Avery, this is Ryan. Ryan, Avery owns the salon. And the house I just moved into.”
“Hi, Avery.” Ryan offered his hand and she took it.
“It’s so nice to meet you,” Avery replied, segueing into smooth hostess mode without a blip. “Thank you for helping Chloe out when the raccoon invaded the back porch.”
“Happy to do so, ma’am.”
Avery blushed. “Oh please, call me Avery.”
“Avery then. If you don’t mind, I want to take a look around. Entrances and exits, that kind of thing.”
“Sure, sure,” Avery said, waving her hand.
“Do you have a brother?” JoJo called as he started for the door. Chloe spun around and gave her a bug-eyed look. She shrugged.
Ryan shook his head. “No biological brothers. Plenty of SEAL brothers though.”
“Oh honey, one of those would do me just fine.”
Ryan grinned. “I’m sure he would, ma’am.”
When he was gone, Chloe popped her hands on her hips and glared. “JoJo, what the hell?”
JoJo laughed. “Honey, please. You probably couldn’t talk either when he opened his door—naked—and you can’t blame a girl for asking where she could find one of her own.”
Avery was laughing too. “Damn, Chloe. That is one fine man. I mean whoa. Tall, handsome—and those muscles. God, I nearly swooned.”
“Should have,” JoJo said. “He’d have probably caught you.”
Chloe rolled her eyes. “Oh my God, you two. I told him not to come inside, but he insisted. I knew y’all would tease me.”
“Oh girl, we are not teasing you,” JoJo said solemnly. “I’m jealous as fucking hell. The man is a god—and he knows how to find a clitoris according to you. Hell, even if he didn’t, I think I’d be willing to coach him. Wow.”
Chloe’s face was still on fire. But she suddenly started to laugh. Her life was a circus right now, with scary parts and hot parts and parts that made her happy and hopeful, and these two nuts were awestruck by the man poking around the salon. Her man. Maybe she just needed to enjoy it.
“Okay, fine. I got lucky. I don’t know how,” she said, hands in the air. “He’s gorgeous and he makes me scream—in a good way. I guess that’s nothing to complain about.”
“Uh, no,” JoJo said. “Definitely not.”
Avery was rolling her head back and forth in slow motion. “I’ve got Jimmy and even I’m jealous right now. Which means I’m going to feel guilty later, but whatever.”
Ryan walked back into the break room. “Baby, I’ve got to get to work,” he said, walking over to Chloe’s side and looping an arm around her. “If anybody comes inside who makes you uncomfortable, you slip back here and call me. If I don’t answer, call the cops. And ladies, don’t be afraid to alert the alarm company if you feel threatened. Better safe than sorry. Walk me out, baby.”
Chloe slipped into the long hallway that led to the back door with him. Right before the exit, he stopped and backed her into the wall, his hands cupping her cheeks, his hard body pressing her lightly but firmly to the solid structure behind her.
“I mean it, Chloe. Any question about somebody, you get the hell out. Lock yourself in the back. Call me or the cops. Don’t leave with anyone, don’t walk outside until I come back to follow you home again.”
Chloe shivered as she wrapped her fingers around his wrists. “You’re scaring me, Ryan.”
“Not trying to, baby. Just want you safe. It’s my job to be a little paranoid.” He kissed her quickly and thoroughly. “Stay inside. Don’t go out. Call me if anything happens.”
“I will.”
He kissed her again, then left her dazed and smiling stupidly. My man.
“This is what we’ve got,” Viking said. “It’s not much.”
Ryan watched the man onscreen as he passed the bank and entered the salon. The date stamp was yesterday. A few moments later he walked out again. His face was visible this time, but it wasn’t very clear. Tall, skinny, with long shaggy hair and a mustache. Cowboy boots, a plaid shirt, and jeans. He was also wearing some sort of big buckle like the kind you might win at a rodeo.
“Any idea who he is?”
“Not yet. Hacker and Bliss are running the facial recognition but so far there’s nothing. He’s not Travis James. Not Darrell Pruitt.”
“Somebody paid him to deliver that letter.”
“Yep, agreed. Which means he could be absolutely nobody and we’re wasting our time trying to find him.”
“Unless he’ll ID whoever paid him.”
“A possibility, especially if we pay him more.”
Ryan frowned. “Then I guess I’d better hope they didn’t pay him more than a couple of twenties.”
“We’ll all pitch in. It won’t be a problem. Did you forget that Money and Blade hooked up with millionaires?”
Ryan hadn’t forgotten it but damned if he ever wanted to ask his teammates for the kind of money he could never repay. Not that anybody had paid Skinny Cowboy that much to deliver a one word letter.
“Yeah, well I doubt we’re dealing with ransom-levels here.”
Viking grinned. “Me neither. Just wanted to point out that we’ve got resources.”
Ryan shoved a hand through his hair. It was getting longish for his tastes. He slicked it back and ignored it for the moment. “I guess we’ve had no luck finding Travis James in any fleabag motels, huh?”
“Not yet.”
Neo strode into Viking’s office. He looked kind of excited. “Hey, I found something.” He held up a piece of paper but he didn’t make a move to hand it over.
“Yeah? What is it?” Viking asked.
“A muster of militia leaders in Virginia. Two weeks from now.”
Viking snatched the paper. “Holy cow. It’s only a couple of hours away.” He pulled up his keyboard and started tapping on it. “Bet they’ll all be staying at this Bernie Green’s farm. Camping out on the property.”
Ryan’s gut churned with anger and determination. “Travis James could have come early and headed over this way to find Chloe first.”
“He could have. If so, he’s not staying at any local motels. Maybe he found a place on the route between Green’s farm and here though.” Viking tapped something on his keyboard. “Asking Hacker to expand the search.”
“I need to show Chloe the cowboy. In case he’s somebody from Cedarville who came up here with Travis.”
“Hacker already zipped the file over to your email.”
“Copy.”
Viking stood. “We still have to acknowledge that it might not be James. He might not be headed to this muster. And even if he is, I’m not sure how much we can do, Dirty. Messing with the militia is a bad idea.”
“Yeah, I know.” Not because they were afraid of th
e Travis Jameses of the world, but because those types tended not to be stable in the first place—plus they were already expecting a fight with the government. That was part of what brought them together in the first place. And since the military, aka Ryan and his teammates, represented the government, it was a bad situation all around. “I’ll be careful.”
“We aren’t going to let that asshole intimidate Chloe, but we’ve got to be cautious too.”
“Hey,” Neo said, “if he shows up at her house and then he just happens to connect with Dirty’s fist, that’s nothing to do with the militia.”
“Nope, nothing at all,” Viking agreed. “But let’s hope he doesn’t. I really don’t want to explain any of this to Ghost or Mendez.”
“Roger that,” Ryan said. The Deputy Commander and Commanding Officer were the best damned officers Ryan had ever worked for, but he sure didn’t want to get on their bad sides. He would for Chloe, though. Whatever it took to get Travis James out of her life for good.
Viking sighed. “I can tell by that look on your face that there’s a but in that acknowledgement of what I just said. Just be careful, Dirty. I’ll back you up to hell and beyond, but don’t make me regret it, okay?”
“Not planning to, boss.”
Neo shrugged. “Me neither. But if that asshole shows up and tries to hurt Chloe, I don’t think either of us can promise we’re going to be cautious.”
Viking put his hands in the air. “I didn’t hear that.”
Ryan grinned at Neo as they bumped fists. “For that, I’ll let you come to dinner the next time she cooks.”
Neo rolled his eyes. “Dude, she’s staying in our house. If I smell anything cooking in the kitchen, you don’t stand a chance of keeping me away.”
Chloe was just finishing up her last customer before lunch when Ryan walked through the front doors of the salon. He was carrying a bag from the diner down the street and smiling at her as he took a seat at the front of the salon in the waiting area.
JoJo passed by with the broom, sweeping up after her previous customer left. “Major hottie alert, girlfriends,” she murmured.
HOT SEAL Hero: HOT SEAL Team - Book 7 Page 13