“What’s that?”
“Grits.” He plopped on an extra tab of butter and stirred. Then scooped up a forkful and found himself a mouthful of heaven. He almost choked and grabbed his glass of water.
“Are you all right?”
“I’m fine,” he assured her.
“It’s the mush isn’t it? It tastes like wallpaper paste and it choked you.” Her brown eyes sparkled with mirth.
“Actually missy, I was thinking to myself I just found a mouthful of heaven, and then I remembered the other night when my mouth was filled with something much better.”
“Clint Archer you just be quiet.” She looked over her shoulder to make sure nobody was listening in on their conversation, and he laughed out loud. Teasing Lydia Hidalgo was pure joy.
“How was your conversation last night with your parents?”
“Mama actually sounded kind of relieved. I think having us all together has been stressful for her.”
Clint cut into his steak. It was cooked perfectly. “How was it stressful?”
“She was trying to be all things to all of us.” She hesitated and looked at him. “Can I be really honest?”
“I wish you would.”
“I’m mad at her too. I try not to show it, but she’s my mother, she can feel it.” Clint put down his knife and fork and grabbed her hand.
“Tell me about it.”
“She had to have known some of what was going on. I’m so mad at her, and I’m so disappointed in both of them.” She squeezed his hand hard and he let her.
“It’s understandable.”
“Do you know what almost happened to Beth? Do you? How dare they?” She covered her mouth and looked around the restaurant. Nobody was looking at them.
“Let it out Lydia.”
“No. I’ve said enough.” She sighed. “Anyway, that’s why I think it’s easier that I’m not around. Now she only has Papa to care for she is more relaxed.”
Clint did everything in his power to keep his countenance relaxed, but he wanted to beat the shit out of both of Lydia’s parents. Yeah he felt bad for Beth, but when he thought about what Lydia had gone through he was ready to kill. Finally he was ready to talk in a calm manner.
“How are your waffles?”
“I’ve never had pecan waffles before. These are fantastic.”
“Didn’t you talk to Beth too?”
“Yeah. She said the ranch was nice. She met Jack’s mother. She’s nice. I think she’s nervous around his step-father and step-brother.”
“How about Jack? Is she nervous around him?”
“No, she sounded like she was beginning to trust him a little. I was surprised.”
He watched as she swirled her bacon in the syrup and took a bite. It was so sexy the way she relished her food. Then she took a sip of milk, and was left with a trace of liquid on her upper lip. As she talked about her sister, all he could do was think about licking her lips, kissing her, sucking her tongue into his mouth.
“Don’t you think so?”
“What?” Clint shifted in his seat and looked down at his cold eggs. Damn, he hoped they didn’t have to walk out of here soon, he needed a few minutes to calm down. The waitress came over to top off the coffee.
“I’d ask if you if you didn’t like your food, but I think I know what the problem was, hun.” She gave Clint a wink and walked off.
“What’s she talking about?” Lydia asked.
“Our waitress figured out I was too busy staring at you to finish eating breakfast.”
Lydia looked down at Clint’s plate that was only halfway eaten and eyed him.
“You ordered too much food.”
“Baby, this is an appetizer. Give me your hand.” Lydia thrust out her arm, palm up and Clint grasped it between both of his. “Even though we’re going to make it to Tampa tonight and we could start staying at the safe house, I made reservations at a hotel overlooking the Bay.”
“You did?”
“I did. I thought you might like to have dinner on the balcony of our room and watch the water.”
She gave him a slow smile. “I would love that.”
Yep, he was definitely walking out of the diner with a hard-on.
****
It shouldn’t matter. It really shouldn’t matter. But it did. Lydia looked down into her suitcase and saw two more clean sleep shirts. More clean boring underwear. Another pair of clean jeans and a clean sweater, and the one really cute thing she had to wear, she was wearing!
She’d been hiding out in the bathroom for damn near an hour. Clint had to know something was up, but every time he knocked, she said she’d be out in ‘just a minute’.
She swiped at her eyes. Dammit. There’s no crying in football. Soccer. Whatever the fuck they called fucking FUTball in this country. Or was it baseball? She slammed her suitcase down onto the closed lid of the toilet.
“Lydia?”
“What?” she yelled. Then she winced. She didn’t want Clint to know he had been cuddling an irrational woman for the last three nights. Damn this recovery! But she wasn’t crazy. This was a big deal. She wanted to look really pretty. She wanted to wear something nice.
She took a big breath. What was it her friend from Memphis used to say? Suck it up, Buttercup. She looked in the mirror. Her hair and teeth were brushed. Her makeup was fresh. It was as good as it was going to get. Oh yeah, she needed to smile. She repaired the little bit of mascara that smeared from her runaway tear and opened the bathroom door, and found herself staring into the green fleece of Clint’s sweatshirt. His arm was leaning against the bathroom doorframe.
She bent back her neck and saw the concerned look on his face.
“You doing better, Baby?”
She worked hard to keep on the smile she had perfected in front of the mirror. “I’m fine. I’m sorry I worried you.”
“Not worried, just a little concerned. Sounded like you were ref’ing a game in there.”
“What?”
He tucked one unruly curl behind her ear. “You were talking about football and soccer and then baseball. I thought you might be trading me in for a professional athlete or something.”
Shit, did she say that out loud?
“Come with me. There’s something I want to do before dinner.” He ran his hand down her bare arm exposed by the yellow cotton sundress. He ushered her out of the room and into the hallway towards the elevator.
When they stepped onto the elevator, she looked around the six people with her, and told herself to get a grip. Yeah, there might be an outrageously dressed couple, but there was also a tired mother and father who obviously just been to the beach with their two little children. So she wasn’t totally out of place. Still…
Clint guided her out the elevator, through the lobby then outside to the promenade of shops that connected the hotel to three others. Twinkling lights dotted all the little potted palm trees, and people from all walks of life were peering in windows of the different stores.
The first one that caught Lydia’s eyes had crystal geodes. Holding the door open was a rock almost as tall as the two little boys who were crouched down in front of it. They were clearly fascinated with the purple amethyst crystal shattered across the inside, making it sparkle and glow.
“Dad, do all rocks look like this inside?” One of the boys asked the tall man standing next to him.
Lydia and Clint watched him give a relieved look when the clerk came over to explain about agates and geodes to the boys.
“So what did you want to do before dinner?” Lydia was relaxing now in the warm Florida air. It didn’t hurt that Clint was holding her hand and looking at her like she hung the moon.
“I thought we might look around in there.” He nodded at a woman’s boutique coming up on the left. It looked fun and flirty, just the type of place she would normally shop if she was still home in Mexico City. But there she had a part time job at a computer store repairing old motherboards, so she could afford things not covered
by her scholarship. Here in the United States she was broke.
“I think I just want to go back up to the room. I’m getting hungry.”
Clint looked around the walkway, and found an empty bench under a tree and pulled her over to it. Before she sat down, he brushed off the fallen leaves. She loved how considerate he was.
“Lydia, I’m more of the blunt type. I’m really not all that good at subterfuge. We have others on the team for that.” He wasn’t looking at her, he was looking at the hem of her dress. This couldn’t be good.
“Just tell me.”
“I called my sister, Jenny. Drake is out of town, and he’s the one I talk to when I need help understanding women. I mean women who matter.”
“Drake?” Lydia asked in an incredulous tone.
“Sure. He really understands women.”
“Drake Avery? The guy who’s even bigger than you who doesn’t know when to shut up? The one who’s constantly bossing Beth around in the jungle?” Clint was finally looking at her and he looked indignant.
“Yes, that Drake. Look, he says stupid shit, I get that. But he has three sisters. He loves them to distraction. He really understands the female mind.”
Lydia choked and gripped Clint’s bicep, she started laughing softly, and then it built until it was a full-fledged belly laugh.
“Hey.”
“You can’t really believe that Clint. Tell me you don’t really believe that. Please tell me you’re smarter than that.”
“He loves them.”
“I’m sure he does.” She dipped her head and let it drop onto his shoulder, feeling better than she had since they left their bed that morning. Then she stiffened and looked up at him.
“Wait just a damn minute. You’ve been reading me right, and we’ve been communicating fine for months. Clint, you’ve been the nerd-king to my dork-queen.”
“Until today. Today you lost your shit, and it wasn’t from being sick. I heard you in the bathroom. I heard how mad and sad you were and it scared the piss out of me.”
“So you wanted to call Drake, instead of talking to me, but had to settle for your sister?” Lydia tried to keep her tone calm and rational. She looked around to make sure no one could hear them, but everyone was oblivious to their conversation.
“Come here, Baby,” he opened his arms, and she gladly snuggled against him. He cupped her head and tucked it beneath his chin.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t do any of this to make you feel bad. I was trying to make you feel happy. I knew I needed some advice.”
Just listening to the beat of his heart helped her calm down and listen to his words. Finally he asked. “Is this a clothes thing? A money thing?”
She gulped. Tears once again stinging her eyes. She pressed her face harder against his neck. “So stupid. Someone tried to kill me. My father tried to kill himself. I don’t even know where my sister is. I’m such a spoiled brat. But I wanted to look pretty for you.” Oh God, here came the tears.
“Did you ever think it’s exactly because of those things that trying to get control of some little aspect of your life matters? Lydia, you haven’t been in charge of shit since they kidnapped you.” She absorbed his words and he was right.
“There’s two ways we can go about this.” He stroked his hand from the top of her head down to the curve of her waist, again and again. She softened against him, no longer caring who was watching.
“What are my choices?” She was hoping one of them included going back up to the room and skipping food. They had yet to make real love, and that’s what she wanted. Clint kept insisting she ‘rest’. And dammit considering how fast she fell asleep each night apparently he was right.
“What did you ask?” His breath tickled her ear.
“I asked what my choices were.”
“One, I give you my credit card and you go into the shop and buy whatever the hell your heart desires. Lucky for you I happen to have a very high limit with an excellent credit rating.” She giggled.
“It sounds like you’re trying to sell yourself to me.”
“Fuck yeah. I want you to know I’m a good bet.”
“Okay, that was option number one, what’s number two?”
“You fulfill a fantasy I have ever since I got off the phone with Jenny. I go into a shop with you, and you go into a dressing room and come out modelling outfit after outfit, making me so hard that by the time we get to the room we’ll have to eat dinner for breakfast.”
Clint’s heartbeat was no longer the slow and easy rhythm it had been, it sped up to match hers. She prayed they had lingerie at the shop and a discreet salesperson.
****
Clint carried the two shopping bags in one hand, and kept his other hand securely around Lydia. She damn near killed him at the boutique and it was wonderful. He saw a flirtatious side to her that was new. He expected this is how it would have been if they met in Mexico City.
The girl had moves! When she came out in a little red number, he damn near swallowed is tongue. The clerk found some sexy red heels to go with the dress, and the skirt hit her mid-thigh. Lydia explained this was a clubbing outfit. Clint wasn’t sure about her ever going out in public in the outfit, as least not without him there to warn off the riff-raff, but he loved seeing her eyes light up.
“I just couldn’t resist trying it on. This is not one I want to buy, this was a ‘torture Clint dress’,” she explained.
“It worked,” he said hoarsely. “It goes into the ‘buy’ pile.” She twisted and grabbed the price tag.
“Oh hell no. But I’m glad to see it worked.” She gave him a wicked smile and closed the curtain of the dressing room. He called over the salesperson.
“Jessica, can you make sure to wrap that up where Lydia can’t see it?”
“You’ve got it.” She winked at him. “The shoes too?”
“Of course.”
When he opened the door to their room, the scent of food hit them immediately. She looked at him curiously. His hand slid over the blue silk of her top that went with her new Capri pants.
“I called the hotel and arranged for dinner to be sent up while Jessica was ringing us up.”
Lydia went over to the balcony and saw there was a bottle of champagne chilling as well. “Just how much do Navy SEALS make?”
“I’m a saver. I rent a two bedroom apartment that isn’t much. Sometimes I do side computer consulting work. Want to see my bank statements?”
“If I do, I won’t have to ask, I’ll just hack into your bank.” He laughed as she lifted one of the lids from an entrée. “Geez Clint, how much food did you order?”
“I eat a lot. I wasn’t sure what you would like, so I ordered a variety. Trust me, whatever you don’t eat, I will.” He moved behind her, and tucked the fall of her hair over her left shoulder so he could kiss the right side of her neck. She shuddered.
She turned and slid her arms around his waist. “Keep doing that and we won’t eat.”
“Food first, we’re going to need our strength for what I have planned.” He pulled out the chair for her to sit down. He watched as she crossed her legs and he saw her painted toes in her new sandals.
Picking up her plate, he asked her what she wanted. He served her bruschetta, stuffed mushrooms, a piece of salmon, a couple of beef medallions and some potatoes.
“Clint, I’m holding you to your promise that you’ll finish what I can’t eat,” Lydia said as she started in on her meal. “I just wanted to taste everything, but there is no way I’ll finish all of this.”
“Trust me, I’ll make sure everything gets taken care of.” He poured some champagne and sat back in his chair. He couldn’t ever remember having had such a romantic night with a woman before. She was glowing, he had wanted to spoil her, to make her feel cherished, and seeing her look of delight convinced him he had succeeded. It was a heady experience.
“I want my dessert now.” Her voice felt like velvet across his skin. When he put his hand on the lid that covered t
he chocolate torte, she covered it with hers.
“That’s not the dessert I want. I want something a lot more rich and decadent than mere chocolate.”
“Thank fuck.” He pushed back his chair and it started to tip over, but he grabbed it before it fell. “Damn woman, you go to my head.”
She stood up a hell of a lot more gracefully than he had. She moved like a dancer. He imagined her dancing in that red dress and all the blood in his body rushed south of his belt buckle. He stood staring at her.
“Clint?”
He picked her up, cradling her like he wanted in the jungle, with one arm around her back, and his other under her knees. She fit him perfectly, and he wasn’t hurting her. She sighed and smiled.
“I love your strength. It saved me.” He walked taller as he moved them inside. He laid her down on the white down comforter of the king sized bed.
“Lydia, your strength has amazed me from the moment we met.” He looked at her carefully, and saw a hint of vulnerability beneath the excitement.
“We’re not going to do anything you don’t want to do tonight, you know that, don’t you, Baby?”
“I want everything.” She wiggled into a sitting position and unbuttoned the top button of his shirt, then the second, and the third. She splayed her hand inside, teasing his chest hair. “I love how warm you are.”
He stayed still as she finished unbuttoning his shirt, and then she nuzzled her cheek against his chest, breathing in deeply.
He grabbed a handful of her silky hair and brought it to his face and inhaled. The scent went straight to his cock. Everything about her was so intensely feminine. His hand brushed the zipper at the back of her top and he lowered it. He couldn’t wait to see which bra she was wearing. Lydia stiffened in his arms. He felt the scars.
“Shhh, I saw them the other night.”
“I–I know.” He thought it through. She’d been so tired. He’d been giving comfort as much as making love. Tonight was different.
“What do you need?” Was she going to be shy? Did she need the light off tonight? He’d do whatever this woman needed.
“It’s pretty ugly.” She was looking down at her hands resting on his chest. He tipped up her chin so she couldn’t fail to see and hear him.
Her Loyal Seal Page 9