Unbound Pursuit

by Lindsay McKenna

  “Well, I had to think of a honeymoon place where you could use your SEAL training. Scuba diving in the clear waters of Tahiti seemed like a fair trade. You’re letting me get married in my mom’s home country where I was born, and the town where her family is, so I wanted something of equal value that you’d enjoy, too.”

  “You’ve always been built like that,” Wyatt murmured, becoming serious as he searched her shining green gaze. “You’ve always been fair and thought of others. Sometimes, before yourself.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “And I appreciate that. I’ll teach you how to scuba dive, and yes, we’re gonna find some black pearls, for sure. I gotta find enough so a necklace can be made for you as a wedding gift from me to you.” Wyatt knew that black pearls were Tal’s favorite jewelry. They were some of the most expensive pearls in the world. She had a pair of black pearl earrings that her mother had gotten her when she was eighteen, a high school graduation gift, and Tal loved wearing them.

  “We’re very lucky,” Tal said. “Not many people find the love of their life, Wyatt.”

  “Well,” he said, grinning, “I had to chase you for years, woman, before you said yes. That wasn’t luck. That was pure Texas perseverance at its finest.”

  Tal giggled; she loved his boyish good humor. “Point taken. You’re right. I wasn’t an easy catch.”

  He settled her against him a little more so that he could absorb her face and expressions fully. Her head was tipped back on his shoulder and upper arm. “No, but you were worth the wait,” he told her, getting serious. “And we need to talk about what’s made you dive deep since the ambush. Are you ready to share it with me?” Sometimes, Wyatt had to prod Tal to come out of her shell. By nature, she was an introvert, a quiet deep thinker; she said little, handled responsibility like a champ, but he knew she needed to air her thoughts and feelings from time to time, too.

  “Well,” he said mischievously, “do I lay you on this blanket, strip you down, and tickle your ribs until you scream ‘uncle’ and give me what’s in your head and heart? Or not?” Wyatt had done this to her before. Tal was very ticklish, and they’d roll around with one another across the carpet in their living room, laughing until tears were running down their faces. He saw a glimmer come to her eyes, her mouth curving.

  “No . . . not today. You don’t have to tickle it out of me, cowboy.”

  “Well, I was kinda looking forward to that,” Wyatt murmured, gazing around their secluded and very private area. “I can picture your gorgeous body naked, lying on this blanket next to me.”

  “Hmm, well, we’ll see,” she said. “This ambush brought up all my fears of losing you, Wyatt,” Tal began, her voice low and emotional. “Your taking a bullet to your Kevlar just brings home the fact I could lose you in a heartbeat. Quite literally.” Her voice wavered for a moment. “It just brought up everything regarding Brian, and I was projecting those feelings on you and me.”

  “I could have handled that situation with you a lot better than I did,” Wyatt told her quietly, sliding strands of hair away from the side of her face. “And I figured your crying the other day had everything to do with that, but I wasn’t sure.” He saw the anguish come to her eyes over his statement, knowing he’d focused correctly on what the real issue was: the loss of a loved one.

  “I know you didn’t do it on purpose, Wyatt. I know you well enough, have known you long enough, to see that you don’t go around arbitrarily hurting people.”

  “But I hurt you.” He shook his head. “I’m so sorry about that, Tal. You’re the last person in the world I’d ever want to hurt.” He cupped her cheek, holding her gaze, which was glimmering with unshed tears. “Look, you and I both know there are no guarantees in life. We’ve lived on the edge of danger for nearly a decade. No one knows it better than we do, Tal. And maybe . . . maybe I should have done something else.”

  “What?” she asked huskily, wiping the tears from her eyes.

  “You know how hindsight is twenty-twenty? It’s always easy to see what I should have done after the fact.” He caressed her cheek with his thumb, staring deeply into her green eyes, which were fraught with grief, worry, and love. “Maybe if I’d been thinking about us and not just me, I’d have gone to you first and asked if you wanted me to go on that op with the DEA. But I didn’t do that, Tal. I just knee-jerked and went without thinking of how it might affect you, given your past and losing Brian in a gunfight, too.”

  Wyatt grimaced. “I’ve lived by myself since eighteen, and I’m thirty-one now. I’ve not had to take a partner into consideration when I had decisions to make. It’s not an excuse, mind you. All things being equal, I should have consulted you first. I shouldn’t have just assumed you’d be okay with me going on that op, because you weren’t. I screwed up with you big-time, and I’m feeling damned bad about it.”

  She rested her cheek in his open palm, closing her eyes, her heart tumbling with love for him. Feeling his regret, hearing it in his drawl, seeing the anguish in his gray eyes, helped her to come to terms with everything she’d been thinking deeply about. Opening her eyes, she looked up at him. “Wyatt, you’re not a mean person. That’s not in your bones. I never took your decisions in that light.”

  “But you’ve been thinking about them. I can see it and I can feel it.”

  “Yes, I’ve been plowing and sifting through everything. I wanted to understand why I was feeling like I was. I didn’t want to put all the blame on you. That’s not the kind of relationship I want with you. We’re both adults. I know this is a major crisis for me, more than for you, because it brings the past roaring back at me. This is my issue. Not yours. And I shouldn’t have gone overboard emotionally before carefully thinking through everything. I have a tendency to feel first and think second.” She quirked her lips and saw amusement in his dark gray gaze. “I should know better. I learned as an officer to put the feelings away and take a cold, hard, logical look at what’s really taking place. And also,” she sighed, “not make judgments one way or another until everything is on the table and can be properly sorted.”

  “That’s what snipers do best,” he agreed, moving his thumb tenderly across her temple, pushing a few more strands of her black hair behind her ear. “What did you eventually decide?”

  “That my personal experience, while important, was in the past,” she said. “That really, you or I could die at any moment. Silver could throw me off and I could hit the ground, crack my head open on a rock, and be dead. Or you could be driving the pickup truck to Van Horn and get T-boned by another truck and die.” She shook her head and muttered, “My issue got triggered by you going on that DEA op. It got exacerbated when you finally came clean about taking a heart shot to the Kevlar from a bullet fired at close range at you. It’s my wound, Wyatt. I didn’t realize how open it still was until this DEA ambush happened. There’s a lot more work that only I can do to heal it up.”

  He digested her logic and loved her even more, if that was possible. A woman who could think through her emotions was something that he’d always valued. He hadn’t always been able to find one, but Tal was the total package. “I don’t disagree with your findings about yourself,” he said, skimming her arm with his fingers, always wanting to touch her, let her know in a hundred different, daily ways how much he loved her. “From now on,” he told her gravely, “I’ll be talking to you first if I want to put myself in some kind of jeopardy.”

  She gave him a flat look. “As far as I’m concerned, Wyatt, your days of running on ops are really over. You spent a decade doing this. You’re going to marry me. Your priorities are shifting, and so are mine. I don’t want you out there on an op. I want you home, here”—she jabbed her index finger down at the blanket—“with me. Where you belong. And you and I will talk it over if I think I have to gallivant off somewhere to save the world. Fair enough?”

  The corner of his lip twitched and he held her dark, unforgiving stare. “Fair enough. More than fair. This DEA op was a teachable moment for both of us. It
helped us define what we do and don’t want in our lives and with one another. That’s as good as it gets. We’ll keep on talking and communicating, because that’s the most important part of any relationship. Staying together so you don’t fall apart.”

  She gave him a warning look. “You’re hanging up your op spurs, cowboy. Once and for all.”

  Amusement tinged his drawl. “Darlin’, for you, I’d turn this universe inside out. It’s a done deal. No more ops. You’re more important in my life than any mission.” He leaned down, taking her mouth, which was set in a stubborn line. Once Tal got the fur up on her neck, she didn’t back down until the situation was resolved. He liked her titanium backbone and the invisible set of balls she wore. Tal was the person he wanted with him in a gunfight. She’d always have his back. And he’d always have hers, too. As Wyatt felt her begin to melt beneath his coaxing lips, heard that little moan of pleasure deep in her throat, felt her arm coming around his shoulders, drawing him as close to her as possible, he lifted his mouth from hers, gazing into her barely opened eyes. “I love you, Tal Culver. Forever, darlin’ . . . forever . . .”

  THE BEGINNING . . .

  Don’t miss Lindsay McKenna’s next DELOS series novel,

  Hold On

  Available from Lindsay McKenna and Blue Turtle Publishing and wherever you buy eBooks!

  Turn the page for a sneak peek of Hold On!

  Excerpt from

  Hold On

  By the third day at the Kabul, Afghanistan orphanage, Army Sergeant Beau Gardner had been pleased to observe that Callie was less grumpy toward him. Between his rounds with Matt inside and outside the orphanage, he’d volunteered to help change diapers at the diaper station. He’d told Maggie, the owner of the charity, that he was good with babies and that if she wanted, he’d feed, bathe and diaper them if she wanted.

  Well! She jumped at his offer and he found himself in what they called “the baby room” when he wasn’t on his security walks. And by now, he was used to the rhythm of the busy, overcrowded orphanage.

  Beau was dealing with a three-month-old baby girl as her nine-year-old sister, Aliya, stood nearby looking on. She watched as he placed her tiny sister on the soft white blanket spread across the table where diapers were changed. He was busy talking to Aliya in Pashto, drawing her out, making her feel comfortable in his presence as he unpinned the soft cotton diaper from the gurgling baby girl. He smiled down at the little one, her green eyes wide with wonder as he gently removed the dirty diaper, dropping it in a nearby bucket of water and bleach. He’d also volunteered to clean dirty diapers and put them in the aging washing machine at the back of the orphanage, afterward.

  Callie McKinley peeked in through the open door, her attention caught by the low, soft conversation between Beau and nine-year-old Aliyah. It seemed impossible that a man of his height and size could move so delicately as he slipped a fresh diaper beneath the baby’s bottom. She had to admit it, just watching him made her heart turn over with emotions she hadn’t felt for a long time.

  Beau was truly a sight, she had to admit, with his tall, broad shoulders, his Kevlar vest over his long-sleeved blue tee. His jeans fit his body to perfection and Callie could no longer ignore it. But it was Beau’s low, crooning voice in that southern drawl of his that mesmerized both her and the baby. He was a Delta Force operator, a badass, yet he expertly pinned each side of the infant’s diaper into place with safety pins. He made sure her little crocheted booties were snug on each of her waving feet, brushed her black hair aside from her round face with his spare, calloused fingers.

  “Are you done?” she now asked, coming into the room. Callie leaned over, giving Aliya a warm hug.

  “Just about,” Beau murmured. He rearranged the baby’s wool pullover. “Cute little thing, isn’t she?” and slid one hand beneath the baby’s tiny neck and the other beneath her buttocks, lifting her up and handing her over to Callie.

  “She’s adorable,” Callie admitted, gently taking the baby. “I’m ready to bottle feed her, now.”

  Nodding, Beau said, “She’s all yours. I’ve got diapers to rinse out,” and he grinned, leaning down and picking up the tall plastic bucket filled to the brim with wet, dirty diapers.

  Callie laid the baby against her shoulder, patting her back gently. “You’ve done this a time or two, haven’t you?”

  “Told you before,” Beau said, smiling broadly, “I have two younger brothers, and my Ma put me to work as soon as I could handle a diaper, clean it, and replace it on my baby brothers. It wasn’t lost on her that I was good at it,” and he chuckled, moving past her and heading down the hall toward the laundry room.

  Callie frowned, sliding her hand comfortingly along the baby’s back. Ever since she’d snapped at him a few days ago, he’d acted as if she no longer existed. No more hungry, longing looks in her direction from him. No more flirting with her. Yet, Beau had made himself quite indispensable around here, just like Matt Culver, another Delta Force sergeant, had. They were good men and brave soldiers, and they cared about this place and the kids. It wasn’t a game to them, although Callie didn’t fool herself. Matt was here because he was attracted to Dara. Her sister was definitely falling for the Delta Force sergeant, too—she could see it. And Beau had showed up to court her.

  And now, Callie couldn’t still her curiosity about Beau Gardner. Any guy who could happily change a diaper got her attention!

  He had just finished placing the diapers in the washer when Beau felt someone enter the laundry room behind him. He turned, seeing Callie standing there, frowning at him, confusion in her expression.

  “What?” he teased. “Got another diaper job for me?” he asked as he straightened, turning on the machine.

  “Are you doing anything tonight after we get back to Bagram?” she surprised him by asking.

  At a momentary loss, Beau said, “No. Why?” He watched her move nervously from one foot to another. He stood there, hands at his sides, holding her clear, green gaze.

  “Would you like to join me for some beer and pizza tonight?”

  Well, hell, you could have knocked him over with a feather! Beau remained serious, trying not to let the surprise show in his face. He thought for sure after Callie had chewed him out days earlier, she wanted NOTHING to do with him. EVER. “Sure, I’d like that. Do you have a favorite place?”

  The Books of Delos

  Title: Last Chance (Prologue)

  Publish Date: July 15, 2015

  Learn more at: delos.lindsaymckenna.com/last-chance

  Title: Nowhere to Hide

  Publish Date: October 13, 2015

  Learn more at: delos.lindsaymckenna.com/nowhere-to-hide

  Title: Tangled Pursuit

  Publish Date: November 11, 2015

  Learn more at: delos.lindsaymckenna.com/tangled-pursuit

  Title: Forged in Fire

  Publish Date: December 3, 2015

  Learn more at: delos.lindsaymckenna.com/forged-in-fire

  Title: Broken Dreams

  Publish Date: January 2, 2016

  Learn more at: delos.lindsaymckenna.com/broken-dreams

  Title: Blind Sided

  Publish Date: June 5, 2016

  Learn more at: delos.lindsaymckenna.com/blind-sided

  Title: Secret Dream

  Publish Date: July 25, 2016

  Learn more at: delos.lindsaymckenna.com/secret-dream

  Title: Hold On

  Publish Date: August 3, 2016

  Learn more at: delos.lindsaymckenna.com/hold-on

  Title: Hold Me

  Publish Date: August 11, 2016

  Learn more at: delos.lindsaymckenna.com/hold-me

  Everything Delos!

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te

  Be sure to drop by the website dedicated to the Delos series at delos.lindsaymckenna.com. There will be new articles on characters, publishing schedule and information about each book written by Lindsay.

  Quote Books

  I love how the Internet has evolved. I had great fun create “quote books with text” which reminded me of an old fashioned comic book . . . lots of great color photos and a little text, which forms a “book” that tells you, the reader, a story. Let me know if you like these quote books because I think it’s a great way to add extra enjoyment with this series! Just go to my Delos Series website delos.lindsaymckenna.com, which features the books in the series.

  The individual downloadable quote books are located on the corresponding book pages. Please share with your reader friends!