I strained my ears until I heard it again and was on my feet and at the bedroom door before my next breath.
I should’ve looked in on her when I came in but told myself to avoid the temptation. I pushed the door open gently.
There was a swath of moonlight across her face, the covers were down around her ankles and she tossed and turned as she moaned in her sleep.
I moved across the room and stood at the side of the bed looking down at her not quite sure what I should do. I couldn’t believe I was afraid to get into bed with her to offer comfort.
When she made another one of those frightened noises the decision was made. I got in behind her and pulled her into my arms.
“Shh, it’s okay I’m here.”
“Devon?”
“Yeah baby it’s me go back to sleep.” She rooted around on my chest until she found a place for her head.
I stayed stiff for the first five minutes, literally, until I grew too tired and my body just relaxed into the mattress; it took my cock a little longer to figure out he wasn’t getting any play and give me a fucking break.
The sun on my face woke me hours later. I felt her weight on my chest before my eyes came fully open. I came wide-awake when I remembered where I was and got a surprise.
She had her hands folded under her chin and was staring up at me. I didn’t think, just wrapped my hand in her unruly hair and pulled her up my chest.
I wasn’t expecting the jolt to the system when my lips covered hers. Or the way she melted into me. I rolled, putting her beneath me and deepened the kiss.
I damn near ate her face off. The one time I needed to go easy I couldn’t. Her taste was electrifying. And the way she clutched at me with her little hands and pressed herself against me had me pushing her harder into the bed.
I eased her legs open with my hand and settled between her thighs, rubbing my morning wood into her soft flesh until I felt my cock start to leak pre-cum.
Before I knew it I was dry humping her and the only thing keeping her safe were my sweats and her panties.
I pulled my tongue out of her mouth and tried easing away but she let me know she wasn’t done with me by pulling my mouth back down to hers.
She made the cutest little sounds as she rubbed herself against me and when she dug her nails into my shoulders and ground herself against me I realized I’d taken her too far.
I came fully awake just when I was about to cum in my damn pants and looked down at her in amazement.
I jumped away from her so fast I almost fell on my ass. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have done that.” The look on her face was one of shock and…hurt?
When she flew off the bed and ran into the bathroom I didn’t go after her. I needed time to calm down before I went anywhere near her again.
She was in there for a long time but I didn’t think anything of it, but guessing that I’d embarrassed her I grabbed some clothes and headed up to the main house to grab a quick shower and get my shit together.
I should’ve known something was up from the freeze out I received when I joined the others for breakfast later.
“Where’s Ariel?” I think I heard a mumbled ‘like you care’ from Dani before there was a general exodus of women from the table.
“Dude what the fuck did you do?” I looked at Ty like he was stupid. “What, I just got here.”
“Yeah but the women are pissed.”
A little shadow appeared at my side and I looked down at Catalina who was tugging at my arm. “You made Ariel cry and now she’s sad because she’s not an aunty and you don’t like her.”
“What?” I looked at her father for an interpretation. Sixteen grown men were all ears. My mind was still stuck on Ariel and cry.
“Mengele come here.” She practically danced over to her dad. She’d be the cutest little thing if not for that gleam in her eye; the shit was almost scary.
“Were you snooping again?” She looked around sharply and her little body got stiff. “What daddy where? Oh you mean now. No daddy I was just listening they weren’t trying to be secret or anything so it wasn’t snooping.”
“And what did you hear?” Again everyone was all ears. She played with the buttons on his shirt and looked at her nails, everything but answer him, and when she did it was a question straight out of left field.
“Daddy don’t you like me?”
“What, what kinda question is that? Who told you I don’t love you? You’re my kid of course I love you.” Picture Lyon in a panic.
“But you always call me Mengele.”
“Yeah and?”
“He wasn’t a very nice person daddy. How would you like it if I called you Hitler? You do act a bit like him you know.”
“What the fuck?” He studied her like you would a snake about to strike.
“You playing me?”
“Daddy you said the bad word again.” She held out her palm. “Nice try Mengele start talking.” She did some fidgeting from leg to leg, tugged at the bottom of her shorts and swung her little body from side to side all before peeping around at all of us.
“Welllllll. Ariel came running, mommy asked her what’s wrong?” She twirled her eyes up like she was thinking really hard.
“Uncle Devon doesn’t like her. Aunty Gaby’s gonna kill uncle Devon annnndd aunty Cierra and aunty Kelly have a plan.”
“You get anything outta that Dev?” Lyon dismissed her and she went scurrying into the house probably to eavesdrop on the women.
“Yeah, I get it.”
“So what did you do and you better have a way to fix it because I’m not too jazzed about my woman giving me the cold shoulder because of one of you fuck-ups.”
“Suck it Ty.” I put down the coffee cup and rested my head in my hands. I wanted to go find her and explain but what was I going to say?
That I’m afraid, that I don’t know how long I’ll have her once the threat was eliminated and her father decided he wanted her back?
“What’s the problem Devon?”
“There’s no problem Cord.” I gave him the shut the hell up look. No way am I having this discussion in front of everyone.
“You might as well tell us bro the women are gonna gab anyway.”
“Fine, I kissed her okay.” I ran my hands down my face and removed them when there was nothing but silence coming from around the table.
“And?” Quinn shrugged his shoulders.
“And what? I shouldn’t have.”
“Oh shit you didn’t tell her that did you?”
“No, I said… I told her I was sorry. Can we drop this now? I need to go see her, make sure she’s okay.”
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you. Give the women time to work their magic and let her calm down.”
“No Zak I have to talk to her.” I got up and left the table before anyone else tried to talk me out of it.
I heard music coming from the exercise room and was surprised to find the door locked. I knocked hard until Dani opened the door.
“What the hell Dani, what’s that look for?”
“Nothing, what do you want?”
“Ariel, I need to see her.”
“Not now we’re exercising.” She slammed the door in my face.
I walked back outside where the others were still sitting. “Well?”
“Con your woman slammed the door in my face.”
“Told you. Look, just give them some time to rake you over the coals a bit and then you can try again.”
Since when is Zak a damn authority on women? He bosses Vanessa around like a damn drill sergeant and sure as fuck he wouldn’t let her hide herself away from him because she was mad.
I said as much to the table at large because they were all guilty of the same shit. “Yeah, but they’re our women, we have that right.”
“What the fuck does that mean Cord she’s… what the fuck are you, women?” I stormed off not knowing what the fuck.
It was killing me that I couldn’t see her
. That she thought I was trying to hurt her and I wasn’t allowed to reassure her. I gave serious thought to breaking down the damn door and hauling her out.
“Dev wait up.”
“Not now Quinn.” I kept heading down to the beach with him hot on my heels.
“What’s going on with you?”
“Nothing, I shouldn’t have kissed her, her life’s already fucked as it is.”
“Devon do you like this girl yes or no?”
“Of course I like her, what’s not to like? But I’m not for her. I can never have something that sweet and soft. I’ll only end up destroying her life more than that asshole already has.”
“How do you know that? And better yet answer me this. If not her, who? I’ve seen the way you look at her and she looks at you. Can you give her up to someone else?”
“What if I don’t have a choice? What about after we take care of Khalil and her father decides he’s going to take her back?”
“So what if he wants that, she’s an adult, this is America. If you want the girl Dev for fuck sake take her. I know you, if you let her go this is never going to happen for you again, think about that.”
“Think about her with someone… whoa-whoa-whoa, take it easy brother.” He stepped back when I rounded on him.
“Don’t say that.”
“See, that’s what I’m talking about. You can’t even bring yourself to imagine it. What do you think is going to happen if you let her go?”
“I can’t Quinn, she’s too good for me.” I jogged away before he could say anything else.
45
Devon
She’s not talking to me, well that’s not exactly true. She did say ‘I’m okay Devon you don’t have to worry about me’ before disappearing behind the bedroom door and shutting me out.
If I didn’t have to hunt down the madman that was after her I would’ve taken the time to explain to her but time was of the essence.
It hurt like fuck that she wouldn’t even sit next to me at lunch and then again at dinner, but it was for the best.
The next day things were a little less stressed. She was back to smiling, but at everyone else but me, and the women were all in a flutter because of some party they were planning, so I was spared the dirty looks.
“Okay my source tells me your guy is indeed in Doha but I don’t have eyes on him yet. It might take a couple days so why don’t we spend some time with our women before they mutiny. I think Devon set off some kinda storm and now all our asses are on the line.”
“Thanks for putting that shit on me Mancini but you freaks were in trouble long before I came along.” We were heading out of the room after another long day, but we were getting closer to the mark.
“So, have you thought of what I said?”
“Leave it Quinn, that shit can only lead to nowhere.”
While the rest of them went in search of their women I headed outside and made my way to the water.
I threw myself in after skimming down to my shorts and tried to out swim my thoughts.
QUINN
Hardheaded son of a bitch! It’s been two days since that little dust up and shit hasn’t changed. That first day we got caught up in the hunt for Khalil, so it wasn’t that bad.
Now the other women seem to think that we’re all responsible or some shit and so we were getting the big freeze as well.
Kelly tried that shit the first day until I set her ass straight. After we got the last update on Khalil and were now just waiting for the ‘go’, I had some time to spend with my girl.
The women were planning a party, but Mancini had convinced us guys that it was safe to go into the neighboring town for a night out.
After Lo checked and rechecked the location he finally gave the go ahead and the women were at least smiling at us again.
Plans were made for that coming Saturday which was two days away, so for now we had two days to sit back and relax.
I woke up the next morning with the sun in my eyes and a warm body draped across my chest. Now that my mind wasn’t filled with that other shit, I could think of nothing else but her.
I looked down at her sleeping face and wondered again how she came to be. I relived in the next few minutes the day leading up to the night we met.
How I felt her, and how even though I’ve had to neglect her these last few days that bond has been growing stronger.
When we have to spend hours apart, I check the monitor that Mancini keeps running in the background every few minutes just for a look at her.
And as of last night I have to make sure she never learns that her father and his cohorts offed a United States general.
I didn’t want to think about that now though, I just wanted her. I brushed her hair back from her face and kissed her forehead softly.
“I love you.” I whispered the words too softly for her to hear. Not because I didn’t want her to know, but because I wasn’t ready for her to wake up.
Last night we talked late into the night and I learned about the precocious little girl she’d been. She painted a picture of a happy childhood with two loving parents who doted on her.
I learned that she was a feisty little thing with a beautiful heart. But best of all, I learned that thanks to my sisters and the few hours I’ve been able to devote to her since we met, that she loved me too; and that she was afraid.
I tried explaining my gift to her without sounding like an ass, and instead of looking at me with scorn or disbelief as I might’ve expected, she got the biggest smile on her face.
When she tackled me back on the bed and peppered my face with kisses something inside me opened up and gave her another piece of me.
She said that somehow knowing that made her feel less stupid and also gave her peace of mind. It was so contrary to what I expected I’d ended up putting her on her back and sliding into her.
Now I laid there holding her and it felt like I’d been doing it forever. I pulled her fully onto my chest and kissed her awake.
I pushed her hips down and slid into her before she came fully awake with our lips fused together. I held her head in one hand and used the other to push her on and off my cock by her beautiful ass.
“Those women are up to something.” Lyon waved his beer bottle in the general direction of the side of the room where the women had congregated.
“What’re they doing? They’re just talking as far as I can see.” I was still feeling mellow from my shower with Kelly before we left the island.
“My wife is nervous.”
“Maybe she’s just worried about the kids.” No one had been happy about leaving the kids behind with some of the staff and more than half the security detail, but Mancini went above and beyond to reassure us.
“Nope, she knows better. She knows I wouldn’t leave our kids if I didn’t think they were safe, no. That’s not her I’m worried about the kids look. That’s her ‘what’s Colton going to do to me when he finds out?’ look.
Everyone laughed but I knew we were all on alert now. It’s true the women had been acting kinda squirrely since we got here, but they’d promised to behave so I wasn’t too worried. Plus I knew if something was gonna go wrong I would’ve felt it.
The conversation was light for once, though the mood was still the same. Mancini had the whole place covered inside and out and we were trained to see danger, but not one of us let our guards down because of the women who were beginning to make me twitchy.
“What do you think they’re up to?” I asked Dev out the side of my mouth.
“How the fuck would I know? Ariel won’t even look at me let alone talk, so I don’t have a fucking clue.”
“Whoa bro, so why don’t you talk to her?” I stepped back from the look he threw me. “Just a suggestion brother.”
I smirked over his shoulder at Tyler who was acting the damn fool and tried not to laugh because he was rolling his eyes behind Dev’s back the way I’d seen Dani or Gaby do with their men.
I didn’t pay too much
attention when I heard the women hooting and hollering, they’re always carrying on about something and it being their first time out anywhere I’m sure they were ready to cut loose.
The tempo of the music changed from some slow island melody to something a bit more upbeat. “Dev?” What the fuck’s wrong with him now?
He’d gone from a relaxed pose to standing on guard, kinda like when a dog’s hair stands up on its back. His gaze was focused somewhere over my shoulder in the general direction of the women and I turned to look to see what could possibly have his panties in a twist.
“Oh shit!” Ariel was in the middle of the dance floor and the others were egging her on. I don’t know what you’d call what it was that she was doing, but I know for damn sure if I ever saw Kelly do that shit I’d wring her fucking neck.
It wasn’t the dance though that was the problem. It was the eyes of the men, some of whom had got closer that sent shit to a whole other place. Devon fucking lost it.
DEVON
“What the fuck?”
“Oh shit, Quinn get your boy.” Ty moved to cut me off even as Logan called out that order.
“Move Ty.” I pushed him aside and went for her. I damn near knocked one of the women over in my haste, “sorry Ginger,” I steadied her with my hands but my eyes never left Ariel.
“What the hell are you doing?” I grabbed her arm and started to drag her ass outta there.”
“Release me!” She might not know she’s a princess but she had that shit down. Too bad I ignored her.
“No, you’re coming with me. Outta the way asshole.” Some enterprising stander-by decided to get brave. My brothers were already in motion so I changed direction.
I stopped short of dragging her outside because of the lingering danger and pulled her into the first dark corner I found.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” I totally ignored the voice in my head that told me to pull back. I wasn’t swayed by her wide-eyed look; she wasn’t looking that fucking innocent two minutes ago.
SEAL Team Seven Books 6&7 Quinn and Devon Page 29