Unbreakable SEAL

by J. M. Madden

  Unbreakable SEAL

  By

  J.M. Madden

  Copyright © 2014 by J.M. Madden

  Kindle Edition

  Cover Art by Melody Simmons

  Edited by Mary Yakovets

  This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it and purchase your own copy. Do not take part in piracy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Any logistical, technical, procedural or medical mistake in this book is truly my own.

  Dedication

  As always, I have to thank my husband. If he hadn’t allowed me to give the characters in my head the chance to run amok, I wouldn’t be here now. I truly love you. You are my very own happy ever after.

  To my semi-tolerant kids. Thank you. For staying outside when I needed you to, watching cartoons on a super low volume and bringing me icy diet-Cokes. I love you guys.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Dedication

  Acknowledgements

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Epilogue

  Other Books by the Author

  Connect with J.M. Madden

  About the Author

  Acknowledgements

  Bruce, you rock! I appreciate your time and effort in ensuring this book is as concise as possible.

  Donna and Robyn, awesome crit partners, I’m so lucky to have you. Thank you for taking time out of your crazy schedules to make sure Max and Lacey were as yummy as possible. Love you guys.

  Robinetta and Rebecca, this book would not have happened without your nursing input!!! Thank you so much!!!

  And to my other beta-readers, Mayas, Sandie, Karla, Susie, you guys rock! Thank you so much for the support.

  Mary, you kick my Comma-Queen ass, woman! But I appreciate it. Thank you!

  To our men and women in the military, thank you from the bottom of my heart. I wish I could take you all out to dinner and give you a great big hug, because you all deserve it. Thank you for serving this beautiful country!

  Readers, I hope you love Lacey and Max as much as the other characters in the Lost and Found series. Yes, DUNCAN’s book is coming!

  In a while…

  Chapter One

  ‡

  Max swept his hand down his arm, but the spiders kept coming. They’d grabbed onto him when he’d opened the door of the Starbucks. At first there had been only one, easily dismissed. Then they had begun to multiply, tracking little points of blood across his skin as their feet dug in. Clenching his jaw, he scraped his hand down his arm again, praying nobody had seen, but the blood remained. The spiders began to come faster.

  When they started to bite him it was aggravating more than anything, but as they started to dig deeper into his skin they became harder to ignore. His breaths began to speed up and he closed his eyes, counting in his head.

  The training he’d worked for all his life began to unravel. Glancing around from beneath his brows, he wondered if anyone could see what he did. There were only a few people in the shop, one of which stood behind him.

  As he stepped up to the counter it took everything he had to open his mouth to place his order, then count out money. The pain was excruciating. Even now he could feel the poison moving through his blood, sapping his energy. His traitorous body began to quake in an effort to combat the venom and his knees quivered, but he gulped in oxygen and straightened his spine.

  He gave the grinning teenager his name and moved aside for the person behind him to order. Allowing himself to rest a hand on the counter, he counted off the seconds as he waited for his coffee. As his name was called, he swiped his hand down his arm one more time but the spiders just shifted out of the way, then back. He grabbed the cup and all but raced out of the shop.

  As the cool ocean breeze brushed across his skin, the spiders began to multiply, then they began to crawl up his neck near his left ear. Goosebumps pebbled his skin and raised the hair on his nape. Lurching around the corner of the coffee shop, Max quivered with the restraint he was using to keep from freaking out. The cup dropped from his fingers and he turned to face the brick wall, planting his hands against the rough surface. The feel of the brick beneath his palms helped to center him, but the spiders continued their march, spreading poison as they did.

  Max knew he had to wait the hallucination out, but when a particularly vicious one sank its fangs into the tender skin behind his ear, he could hold out no longer. Smacking his hands all over his head and arms, he pounded the spiders away. They only moved. They didn’t leave. Panic gripped his throat in a vise and he could hardly breathe as he frantically tried to rid his skin of the infestation.

  One of the biggest spiders crawled down his back, sharp feet stabbing as it went along his backbone. Max thought it was leaving but instead it settled mid-back. The pain that came from the pinchers digging into his spine was excruciating and he fell to his knees in agony.

  Lacey knew that her crazy instincts were going to be the death of her one of these days, but she followed her gut and the tall military man. The guy had drawn her attention as soon as she’d seen him. Actually, his ass had. Tight, luscious buns encased in khaki shorts always drew her eye. His muscular bearing screamed military, but the unkempt dark hair and stubbled jaw kind of threw her off. Former military, maybe? SEAL?

  The guy seemed familiar to her. Maybe she’d seen him at the clinic.

  Then her senses sharpened and she’d begun to watch all of him. When he swept his square hand down his muscular forearm the first time, she’d thought nothing of it. The second time had drawn her eyes. The third had made her frown. She realized that there was a subtle shaking moving through the man’s body. As he’d placed his order and moved to lean on the counter, she waited to see what he would do.

  As soon as the barista handed over the cup, he shoved through the door of the coffee shop. Her nurse senses jangling, she followed him out of the building, catching sight of his perfect ass turning the corner of the building. Without hesitation she followed him.

  The poor guy had dropped the cup of coffee and was braced facing the wall. His fingers flexed against the brick and his arms strained. When he arched and cried out, then began swiping his palms down his arms, she moved forward. Lacey didn’t see anything, but he was acting as if he’d walked into a swarm of bees. Her eyes scanned for anything that would make him act like that, but she couldn’t see anything.

  Knowing from experience that if she reached out to touch him she risked her life, she stopped a few feet away. “Sir, I need you to look at me. Whatever it is you think is attacking you isn’t there. I promise you. Can you look at me?”

  It only took a moment for him to look at her, but it seemed ever so much longer as she watched him strike himself over and over again. Obviously he felt it was the only way to rid himself of whatever he thought was after him. She continued to speak to him in the calm voice she’d used on many frantic patients until his movements began to slow.

  “Hey, buddy, I know you can fight it off. Can you
look at me?”

  His dark head lifted and fierce, brilliant, yellow-gold eyes latched onto hers. Lacey felt like she’d just landed on a lunch order. She smiled at him as reassuringly as she could, then dared to step forward. She reached out a hand but he jerked away.

  “No,” he snapped, deep voice taut with strain. “They’ll get you.”

  Lacey pressed forward, hand outstretched. “There’s nothing there, I promise you.”

  She rested her hand on his quivering arm and ran it down his skin to clasp his broad wrist. His frantic gaze followed her movement, then he turned to her and looked her arm up and down. Blinking, he shook his head, then held his own arms out in front of himself. When he lifted his eyes to her, she knew the hallucination was gone.

  She tried to put all the reassurance she could into the smile she directed at his dazed expression.

  “What did you see?” she asked.

  “Spiders,” he gritted out. “Stabbing at my skin as they crawled up my body.”

  Holding his arms out again, he skimmed his palms down their length, as if brushing away the experience.

  Lacey realized as she stood there that his eyes still seemed a little dazed. Was that normal?

  She held out her hand. “Lacey Adams.”

  The man straightened and clasped her hand. “Maxwell Tate. Thank you.”

  Lacey gasped as he tugged her into his hard arms, then allowed herself to be bear hugged. She expected to be released quickly, but instead he held on, as if he needed the contact. The man smelled incredibly good, as if he’d just rolled in laundry softener. Relaxing, she allowed him to take what comfort he needed from her. She’d actually been hugged many times like this, as if she were the last lifeline in the world. She looped her arms around his waist and rubbed his back. He would let her go when he was able.

  When she felt his nose nuzzle into her loose hair, sudden shivers danced down her spine and the tenor of the hold changed. She became aware of how solid his arms felt around her. Muscular pecs rested just above her breasts and he was curled over her to accommodate his size. Heavy thighs pressed directly against hers.

  When he eased back, she thought he was releasing her, but instead he shifted his strong hands to cup her jaw. Before she could breathe out a question or protest, his head lowered and his mouth settled against hers.

  Lacey’s normally level-headed brain short circuited as his soft, full lips began to move over hers. The stubbly hair around his mouth tickled, but arousal surged through her body and she opened her mouth when his tongue glided over the seal of her lips. Damn. It had been an embarrassingly long time since she’d been kissed like this. Against her better judgment, she leaned into him, tilting her head.

  The man groaned at her compliance and one of his arms wrapped around her arched back, clutching her tight. He shifted forward until their hips were more tightly aligned and she could feel exactly how much he was enjoying their kiss.

  Then he jerked away.

  Lacey blinked, shocked at the sudden loss. Her heart was thudding with anticipation, then suddenly bereft. She looked up and the guy was looking at her as if he didn’t know who she was. Well, he didn’t actually, but he’d instigated the kiss. Why was he looking at her as if she’d been the one to grab him?

  He frowned down at her for several long seconds before his eyes cleared. “I’m sorry, do I know you?”

  Surprise had her mouth falling open inelegantly. She cleared her throat. “Uh, no, not really.” But as she looked at him, that sense of familiarity nagged at her again. “I’m an RN with Dr. Petrovic’s office. Maybe I’ve seen you there?”

  The man squinted. “Can’t remember right this second.”

  Lacey eased back, straightening her purple t-shirt. “I thought you might need some help.”

  His eyes hardened and a shift settled over his body. Though he didn’t move, tension saturated the air. “I’m fine now.” His cold gaze drifted over her lips, then skimmed down her body. “Thank you for the help.”

  Lacey Adams seldom was at a loss for words, but as she watched the scrumptious man walk away, it was all she could do not to breathe fire. Of all the rude insinuations she’d ever been slammed with, that had to top the list as the most reprehensible. And she had a huge list. Hell, she’d worked at Walter Reed for years, caring for some of the most wounded warriors to come home. Some of the things she’d seen and heard would peel the paint off a car. She’d had one guy whose answer to everything was ‘fuck you’, but she’d even gotten along with him eventually. Still talked to him occasionally. And she’d done it because she’d genuinely loved doing her job. In spite of the hurtful things the men said, for the most part they needed the help and care.

  And that’s what she needed to remember. He didn’t seem to know what he was doing. If he were in his right mind, he never would have said something so hurtful. She hoped so, anyway.

  Lacey turned back toward the front of the store. She passed his drooling coffee cup and in a fit of aggravation kicked it across the alley, spattering coffee on her white tennis shoes. The little outburst felt good but guilt overwhelmed her as she stepped onto the sidewalk. Cursing her inner goody-two-shoes, she stomped back, picked up the cup, and dropped it into the trash before she went inside the store for her coffee.

  Now she really needed it.

  Once she had a few minutes to think about things and get over her outraged hurt, Lacey realized the guy needed help. It was obvious to her he’d been dealing with a serious hallucination when she found him. What would he have done if she hadn’t intervened?

  Concerned, she called Anna, the receptionist from the office. Though it was a Saturday, she knew Anna would remember a guy like him. The younger woman was always on the look out for bangin’ hot guys, as she liked to call them.

  She picked up on the first ring, sounding out of breath. “Hey, Lacey. What’s up?”

  Her voice sounded rushed and Lacey wondered if she’d interrupted something important. “Sorry to bother you at home, Anna, but do you remember a patient by the name of Maxwell Tate?”

  Anna was humming on the other end of the line, as if someone else was drawing her attention. “Uh, I can’t think of one right now. If I do I’ll let you know. Okay?”

  And she hung up.

  Lacey grinned, knowing that Anna would have a juicy tale when she came into work on Monday.

  As she walked down the street toward her apartment, basking in the glorious Virginia spring, she wondered if she would ever see the man again.

  Chapter Two

  ‡

  Max thought he was having another damn hallucination. Two in the same day was not a stretch.

  And what were the chances that she lived in his apartment complex? The girl woman that had kissed him stood at the bank of mailboxes at the end of the line of apartments. Her thick dark brown hair was drawn back into a tight ponytail, blowing over her shoulder as she dug in one of the boxes. His bleary eyes traced down her back, settled on her heart-shaped ass, then drifted down her lean legs. His body stirred for the second time that day. Damn. She’d caused the first spark of interest, too.

  When he’d opened his eyes and found her in his arms, confusion and embarrassment had swamped him because he didn’t remember how he’d gotten there. He’d lashed out. Yes, he realized he’d kissed her, but it was easier to shift the blame.

  Guilt nagged at him. She hadn’t deserved that. He’d been the one in the wrong. Before he could talk himself out of it, he walked forward, catching her attention.

  Her bright blue eyes widened under her thick bangs and her mouth fell open a little. Slamming the door of her mailbox shut, she turned to face him, arms crossed beneath her substantial breasts. Max was momentarily sidetracked as he caught the size of her…attributes. How the fuck had he forgotten the feel of those pressed against him?

  When he looked up, she was glaring daggers at him. Hell, not so slick anymore, Tate. He’d just been caught. Royally. “Sorry about earlier,” he forced out. “It was
n’t your fault.” He tried to give her a smile, but his mouth only twisted. Trying to salvage some of his pride he turned to walk away, but she followed.

  “Hey, wait a minute! Mr. Tate!”

  He turned back to her, waiting.

  “Do you live here or are you stalking me?”

  It was his turn to be confused. “I live here. On the fourth floor. Why?”

  She shook her head. “You just looked familiar to me is all.” Her eyes had softened. “I appreciate the apology. But I think you need to see someone…”

  Laughing sharply, he turned away again. “Thanks for the advice,” he tossed over his shoulder before he took off at a jog. He refused to think he was running away from an issue.

  She hollered something behind him, but he couldn’t quite make out the words as he pounded down the line of cars and up the stairs to his door. When he pushed it open, he realized he was a little out of breath. Seriously? He’d jogged maybe a quarter mile and he was out of breath? He’d never hear the end of that shit…Then he remembered. Nobody would be giving him shit again for not performing up to par.

  The woman thought he needed to see someone. That was just hilarious. Who had he not seen in the past five months? Doctor after doctor, scrip after scrip. They’d rather shove pills at him than try to fix what was broken. But he was okay with that, really. He looked at the time. It was early, but he could take a couple now.

  Crossing to the fridge, he looked at the calendar on the door. It took him longer than it should have to realize he was looking at the wrong month and he rubbed his temples in aggravation. How the hell had he lost so much time?

  Forcing his eyes to focus on the calendar again, his eyes drifted to the line of previous months along the bottom. Unerringly, his eyes found February 22nd. The night his world fell apart on a beach in Yemen.