SEAL INVESTIGATIONS: A 5-Books SEAL Romance Series

by Lola Silverman

  Romero was busy with the lock. He wasn’t quite as skilled with a pick as Yates, but he could hold his own. Finally, Romero withdrew the picks and turned the lock. “Damn. It was already unlocked.”

  “Then I guess we’d better be ready,” Yates breathed. A chill ran down his spine and lifted the hair on the back of his neck.

  Romero pushed the door in, and both SEALs stepped inside the tiny space. It was close and dark. Then they saw a second room to the right. There was a thin ribbon of light visible beneath the doorway.

  Yates made a gesture, and Romero nodded. Both men moved toward the secondary area. Yates reached for the door. Neither he nor Romero had a gun. Not that they particularly needed a firearm to take someone down. Both men were just as deadly with their bare hands, but a gun always made things a little easier.

  “Don’t move, or I’ll blow your brains out.”

  The low, feminine voice was filled with venom. But it was familiar. Yates couldn’t help but feel relieved. “Tasha?”

  “Yates?”

  “Romero?”

  Cassidy shoved Yates aside as she flung herself into Romero’s arms. The two of them were immediately knee-deep in a reunion of sorts, leaving Yates and Tasha to talk—or something.

  “How?” Tasha stepped into the dim light of a desk lamp that pooled on the dirty, carpeted floor. “How did you ever find us?”

  “We’re not totally incompetent in such things,” Yates teased. “But man, it is good to see you.”

  “Were you worried?”

  He didn’t wait a second longer. Yates gave in to the urge to grab Tasha and drag her closer. He folded her into his arms and held her against his chest. His heart was hammering away behind his ribs, and he wondered if she could hear it, and if she would know that it was the sound of his relief at finding her safe.

  “I will always find you,” Yates told her softly. “Always.”

  TASHA WAS HAVING a hard time focusing on what was going on in the moment. She was too busy replaying that incredibly stirring reunion scene in her head over and over again. Yates had said he would always find her. What did it mean? Was he declaring himself to her? And how did she feel about that, anyway?

  The four of them were down at the harbor. They had passed a dozen or more boats already, but Tasha was headed toward the berth where she knew Johnny Dean kept his vessel. He had bragged so often and shown so many pictures to people around town that it wasn’t as if it was much of a secret.

  “So your theory is that Dean is planning to take off down the coast in this boat?” Yates asked, still holding her hand as he paced along beside her down the dock.

  “Yes. Don’t you think that makes sense, given the fact that you saw his apartment blown to pieces? I bet his office building goes up next. My question is whether or not he’s doing it, or is this Broker guy ordering it done?”

  “Either answer makes sense,” Yates mused.

  Tasha watched the expressions play out on his handsome face. Why couldn’t she focus on what was going on while he was around? It was like he scrambled her brains or something. All she could think about was how good it had felt to have him touch her. He’d made her absolutely wild only a few hours ago. She wanted it again. Truthfully, she wanted more. She wanted it all.

  “Let’s just be careful, shall we?” Cassidy said from behind them. “No more fireballs I hope?”

  “The office building was still standing when we left, wasn’t it?” Tasha pointed out. “Maybe Dean still thought Cassidy and I were waiting for his buddies to come pick us up. He kept telling us that someone was coming. He made it sound like it was one of the Broker’s men.”

  “He’s probably bluffing,” Tasha speculated. “But it’s possible that they told him something like that to make him vulnerable or keep him happy. Then they would just kill him when it became easier to do so.”

  “Or convenient,” Cassidy muttered. “That guy is a dick. Seriously.”

  “I still can’t believe he’s been following me and I haven’t noticed,” Yates said darkly. “I’m going to have to reevaluate my entire list of security measures.”

  “I’ve been thinking about that,” Tasha mused. “Dean is a smarmy piece of shit. Yes. But don’t underestimate his powers of snooping. The guy is a professional PI who specializes in digging up dirt. Look at the Broker’s organization. They hide in the shadows, but he caught them, right?”

  “True.” Tasha felt Yates squeeze her hand. “Thanks for cutting me some slack.”

  She felt her face flame red hot. “No problem.”

  YATES WAS AN honest man. He liked to believe that his brand of honesty extended to being honest with himself when it was called for. At the moment it was becoming necessary to admit to himself that he was absolutely head over heels for Tasha Campbell. The woman could have turned around and put a bullet in his gut, and he would have died with a goofy-ass smile on his face.

  Yates watched her rounded backside as she walked. She was round and curvy in all the right places. He couldn’t keep his mind on anything but her. His brain kept replaying the sight of her climaxing in his arms. He wanted more. He wanted to be inside her when she came. He wanted to feel the undulating contractions of her pussy as she milked his cock of everything he had to give her. Yates wanted…

  “Yates?”

  Oh shit. She was totally staring at him and pointing to a boat on their right. This must be Johnny Dean’s piece of crap vessel. Yates tried to focus his brain on what they were doing, but Tasha chose that moment to smile, and it completely distracted him. She had the prettiest smile. Her eyes would light up, and her entire face would glow, as if she had a secret and she was willing to share it with him.

  “Let’s go aboard, then,” Yates suggested absently. “The dickhead has to be around here somewhere, right?”

  “Isn’t it kind of weird that he kept absolutely no information about this case in his office?” Tasha wondered as she carefully navigated the ladder leading down onto the boat’s smooth, wooden deck.

  “Not really, if you consider the intense amount we found at his apartment.” It was Romero to point this out. Yates’s tongue was tied in knots. He couldn’t speak.

  “Hey,” Cassidy whispered, pointing to a window near the far end of the little boat’s cabin. “I think I see a light through there.”

  “That could be good and bad,” Romero said darkly. “Yates. You want me to go point?”

  “No. Tasha and I will go.” Yates gestured to Cassidy. “The two of you cover our backs. Don’t let anyone else on this boat. No need to get blown up or be surprised.”

  “Agreed,” Romero said with a terse nod.

  Yates felt Tasha right behind him. In fact, he could feel her presence like the warmth of the sun. It felt so very good. He walked on toward the light. They entered the shabby little cabin. The place was certainly utilitarian. There was a tiny galley, a little bunk, and almost nothing in the way of furniture. Then the two of them went through a very narrow passage into what was apparently the control room.

  “Oh my God,” Tasha whispered. “Is he dead?”

  Yates didn’t have to check to know, but he did, just to be thorough. He placed two fingers on the man’s carotid and felt nothing but cold, dry skin. “He’s dead.”

  Tasha boldly stepped toward Johnny Dean’s corpse. “Is there a bullet wound or something?”

  “Look at his neck.” Yates pointed to a little mark. “It looks like he was injected with something.”

  “Why?”

  “He was essentially blackmailing them into keeping him on their payroll. He got greedy, and they realized that they don’t have to keep him happy. Or they got everything they wanted from him. It’s seems like a bad day for everyone, but especially Johnny Dean.”

  “And what do we do now?” Tasha crowded up against him, resting her cheek on his upper arm and wrapping her arms around his body. “Should we call the authorities?”

  “No. We should get the hell off this boat before someone reali
zes we were here,” Yates said quickly. He didn’t know why, but he felt a sense of urgency that he couldn’t quite identify. “We need to hurry.”

  Yates grabbed Tasha’s hand and nearly dragged her behind him. They met up with Romero and Cassidy on the deck. Yates didn’t have to speak for Romero to catch a whiff of his strange fear. The other man started practically dragging Cassidy down the dock.

  “What is your problem?” Cassidy moaned. “Seriously. You two are acting insane!”

  That was when the boat blew up. The entire thing went sky high and exploded into a million fragments that littered the water and made a big wave, causing the surrounding boats to buck and shudder at their moorings.

  “Okay,” Cassidy whispered. “I’ll stop complaining about you being in such a hurry.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  “How did you know?” Tasha asked Yates once they were safely inside their hotel room. “How did you know that the ship was rigged?”

  He stared at her with a look so filled with intensity that she couldn’t hold his gaze for more than a few seconds. How did he always manage to discompose her so thoroughly? It was as if he had some sort of weird vibe that left her feeling exposed and vulnerable.

  “I suppose I didn’t.” He was speaking slowly. “But that was sort of the way it happened at his apartment. I was busy shoving photos and notes into my bag, and Romero was standing there. Then he asked if I smelled something. From there we realized that someone had left the burners on the gas stove going but not lit. The entire apartment was filled with natural gas. It had smelled so nasty when we’d walked in that neither of us had separated that gas smell from the other funk inside the place.”

  Tasha shivered. He could have died in there. She would have never seen him again. It would have been the end of anything that might have been. She was suddenly so very, very grateful for every single second she had with this man. Even if after tonight or after this investigation they were never together again.

  “What are you thinking?” he asked. “I can see that you’ve got something on your mind.”

  Tasha glanced around at the very beautiful and well-appointed hotel room. “How did we manage to get into a hotel like this one?” she wondered out loud. “We’re not far from Capitol Hill. The room rate has to be ridiculous!”

  Yates only shrugged. “We needed a way to disappear. This hotel, along with several others in this area, is willing to take cash.”

  “Cash.” She still marveled at the fact that Yates had paid cash for both this and the other adjoining room where Romero and Cassidy were holed up. “Who has that much cash on them? Ever?”

  “Someone who is used to having to grab a go bag at any moment and just leave.” Yates sounded a bit sad. Or really, there was no inflection in his voice, but she could sense that he didn’t like that fact about himself.

  “Well it’s a beautiful room,” Tasha murmured.

  The carpets were plush, and the bed was enormous and covered in down bedding and fluffy pillows. There was a little minibar, and a tiny writing desk with an old fashioned looking phone and a Tiffany lamp. It was Old World elegance and stank of money. Tasha had never been anywhere like this before.

  “I feel like I don’t belong in a place like this,” she commented suddenly. Her hand came up automatically to cover her mouth, and she wondered why she had been so silly as to voice that thought out loud. “I’m sorry. I’m not trying to be ungrateful.”

  “That’s all right,” Yates said quietly. “I understand. I don’t feel as if I belong in a place like this either.”

  “But you were brought up here. You lived in this area, attended nice schools, and eventually wound up in the Navy.” Tasha turned to stare at him. “What would ever make someone with your upbringing believe they didn’t deserve all of this?” She spread her arms out to encompass the whole room.

  He sighed. She watched his shoulders slump. His face was utterly unreadable, but for some reason Tasha got the feeling he was about to tell her something he would never divulge to just anyone.

  Yates walked to the window. He gazed out at the bright lights and the distant outline of the Washington Monument and all of the other elements of the skyline that had to be so familiar to him. Then he turned and gestured for her to come closer.

  “I didn’t mean to offend you,” Tasha whispered.

  He placed the tip of his index finger over her lips. “You didn’t offend me. I just want you to understand that growing up with money, or with privilege, means nothing when you have parents that don’t see you as anything but a commodity to be used for their own ends. They groomed me for politics, and when I didn’t choose that path, my father discarded me like yesterday’s trash. My father works there.” Yates made a gesture toward the Pentagon and the other public buildings. “And yet I never see him when I’m here. I never see him before I go. He wouldn’t take my phone call if I was on fire and needed someone to call the fire department.”

  “Yates, I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “I didn’t realize.”

  “I know.”

  YATES DID NOT want to talk about this. He just wanted to move on with the next part of his life. Or something. His stomach knotted when Tasha opened her mouth again. No doubt she would have something to say about the shameful fact that his family wanted nothing to do with him.

  “What’s your name?” she asked, her voice whisper soft. “I call you Yates because that’s what you called yourself on your online profile, and that’s even what Romero calls you. But that can’t be what your real name is.”

  “Breckin.” The word slipped out. It felt almost foreign.

  “Breckin.”

  Tasha said his name as though she were tasting it and finding it delectable. Her smile was… He didn’t know what her smile was right now. It was almost flirtatious. There was a promise in it. It was the sort of promise that sent the blood rushing to his groin. He nearly groaned at the sensation. Every nerve ending in his body was too sensitized. He had touched her, but had given himself nothing. He was unrequited and unsatisfied, and that was fine. It wasn’t about sating a momentary need. Not with Tasha.

  “Breckin?” She stood on tiptoe to whisper in his ear. “You made me come earlier. I don’t even know if it was today or yesterday.” Her low chuckle made everything south of his navel tighten. “And I want so badly to return the favor. Did you know that?”

  He managed to find the one word he needed. “No.”

  “Well, it’s true.” She pressed a kiss to his neck. He felt lightheaded. And then she whispered again. “I want to put your cock in my mouth, Breckin. I want to taste your skin and feel you come on my tongue. Can I please have that? Will you let me?”

  Would he let her? Yates felt his knees buckling then and there. He reached out and grabbed the back of a chair while managing to nod. At least, he thought he was nodding. He must have been, because Tasha knelt in front of him right there in the hotel room and unbuttoned and unzipped his pants.

  She was so damn bold. There was nothing shrinking or hesitant about her, and he fucking loved it! She pushed his cargo pants and his underwear down over his hips. Then she reached inside his pants and drew his cock out into her hot little hand. She stroked him a few times. He was mesmerized by the sight of her staring up at him with those big dark eyes as if there was no place in the world she’d rather be.

  Then she opened her mouth and used her tongue to lick him from the base of his shaft to the head of his cock. Yates groaned. It felt so good. Her tongue was soft and clever. She twirled it around the end and then teased the slit at the tip. He felt a bead of precum well to the surface. When she licked that right up, he nearly came then and there.

  His knees nearly buckled. He locked them and put his hands in the small of his back as though he were standing at parade rest. It was the only way to keep himself from completely losing it and falling on his ass.

  She began to lick him in earnest. Her tongue went up and down and around. She circled the base and then went lower
to give his balls some attention. Yates had never had a woman suck his balls. It was incredible. The heightened sensation made him clench his ass cheeks in an effort to stave off his release. He didn’t want to come yet. He didn’t want it to be over.

  She took both of his testicles into her mouth. Lightly sucking on them, she banded her hand around the base of his cock and squeezed until he was moaning with the sheer torturous pleasure. The woman was a minx! She jacked him off for a minute, stroking him and bringing him almost to the point of release. It was as if she could feel him getting close. He was actually panting.

  She released his balls and smiled up at him. “No, Breckin,” she told him. “You’re coming in my mouth or not at all.”

  “Yes!” he grunted. That was exactly what he wanted. “God, you spoil me, baby. You know that? Nobody knows what I like the way you do. Nobody!” He was spouting nonsense words, yet they were all true. He’d never had an experience like this in his life, and knew he’d never find this with any other woman, either. Tasha was unique in every single way.

  He was trembling. His legs were shaking, and every muscle in his body was taut with readiness. There was an orgasm building in the small of his back. He could feel it pulsing there, shooting tendrils of sensation down his legs and up through his torso until his head was thrumming with the powerful need to come.

  Then Tasha swallowed him whole. She put his cock in the back of her throat, grabbed his butt cheeks in her hands, and began to fuck him with her mouth. Yates watched in utter fascination as she bobbed her head up and down his shaft in a quick, steady rhythm that had him groaning, panting, and shivering as he waited just one second longer to spill his seed into her hot mouth.

  Then she lifted her eyes, meeting his gaze as she continued pleasuring him with her mouth. The sight was too much for Yates. He shouted and convulsed, spraying the inside of Tasha’s mouth with his essence and giving her everything he had and more.