by Dale Mayer
She whispered, “I forgot how good you were at this.”
“It’s not a case of me being good,” he said. “It’s a case of us being good together.”
She moaned as his fingers drifted lower, sliding into the curls at the apex of her thighs. She opened her thighs and whispered, “You know even just this much, to be back in your arms and to know we have this time together is—”
“It’s not just tonight,” Colton vowed. “I missed you all these years. I kept putting it off, saying it wasn’t the right time.”
“What makes you think this is the right time?” she asked, but she knew in her heart of hearts she wanted it to be.
“My theory is that fate had a hand in it,” he said. “It threw us back together so I could see if I really wanted what I’d lost so long ago.”
“And?”
“And the answer is yes,” he whispered, as he gently kissed her hip bone. When he shifted to taste the heart of her, his tongue doing crazy magical things, her hips lifted as she moaned, her body twisting under his caress. But he held her hips firm as he deepened the kiss and used his tongue as she’d never known before. When she came apart in his arms, she realized that had been his solution to avoid hurting her. She dragged him up close to her and whispered, “Now your turn.”
He shook his head. “You’re too injured.”
But she wasn’t taking no for an answer. She reached up with her thighs wrapped tight around his hips and started to ride the outside of his shaft. He shuddered and shifted so he was in a better position and then slowly entered her.
“Yes, … that’s exactly what I want,” she said.
“You might get hurt,” he said as he gently, ever-so-slowly entered her until he was seated deep inside her. She could feel him holding back. She reached up with her good arm, gently caressing his chest, his neck and his shoulders, her thumb stroking across his lips, and she whispered, “I want this all over again. I want everything you have to give me, so forget about my injury. Give it to me now.”
As he lost control, she wrapped her good arm around him to hold herself steady as he drove into her again and again, and unbelievably she could feel her body reacting with the same emotions and passion twisting deeper within her. Arching her body up against him, she cried out yet again. And with great joy and satisfaction she heard him roar above her as he reached his own climax before he slowly collapsed on her good side. When he lay there, gasping for breath, she whispered, “I knew you could figure it out.”
He chuckled. “It took a bit, but, yeah, we got it.” He kissed her and whispered, “Thank you.”
“For what?” she asked.
“For being you and for accepting me being me.”
She opened her eyes, wondering where that came from.
“We both needed time apart,” he said, “but now that we’ve had it, we both seem to have rekindled what we want, and, for that, I’m grateful.”
She kissed him gently. “Me too,” she said. “Now let’s not lose the opportunity to work together to have exactly what we both want for tomorrow, not just for tonight.”
“No, this isn’t just for tonight,” he said. “As far as I’m concerned, this is forever.” He lay down beside her, gently tucked her up into his arms and held her close.
With a smile and her heart full and her soul so much happier, she closed her eyes and fell back asleep. But this time she knew she’d sleep easy and rest well. Not only did she have everything to make her soul happy and her emotions full but her heart was smiling too.
Her body? Well, that would heal in good time. But it didn’t have to heal on its own. Now she could be with Colton and would know they were both reaching for something together.
Forever.
Epilogue
After two weeks in Greenland along with Colton, Troy Landry had finished up the training they had been trying to get done. Once the weather had cleared, their progress had improved rapidly, and now he was on his way back home again. First to Coronado base and then onto a US destroyer. And he was okay with that. He liked to spend as much time out on the water as he could. It was very different being a Navy SEAL on shore versus out on one of the big destroyers. He wasn’t sure what the mission was this time, but he was happy to be a part of it, no matter what was happening. He liked excitement; he liked action. But downtime would be nice too.
If any was coming his way.
Back in Coronado, he unpacked, then repacked his gear to be ready when the call came. Just as he moved his bag to the front door before heading down to the pier, he got a phone call.
“Change of orders,” Mason said in a clipped voice.
“Okay,” Troy said, quite used to having his schedule spin on a dime. “What are we doing instead?”
“Heading up to the coast of Alaska. An oil rig’s in trouble. Quite a few workers being rescued right now. A programmer friend of Tesla’s called in with an SOS on a suspected sabotage,” he said. “She’s still on board, as are a few others. Bad storms are coming in.”
“So, why are we still talking?” Troy said. “I figured you’d be out front already.”
“I am,” Mason said, his laugh dark. “I was hoping you’re on your way out to the pier.”
With the phone still in his hand, Troy took one last look around, shut off the lights, grabbed his bag and opened his front door. Locking it, he said, “I’m coming down the hallway toward you.”
“Good thing,” Mason said. “This one looks bad.”
“How many teams?”
“One six-man team,” Mason said.
Before they were done talking, Troy was out front, storing his duffel bag into the back of the navy jeep before taking the last vacant spot in the back seat. Lots of faces he knew and a couple he didn’t. He just smiled and said, “Good to go.” He slammed the door shut even as Mason pulled away from the curb. “Are we going incognito or is this with full military backing?”
“Always military backing,” Axel said from the front of the truck. “Just, in this case, we’re also talking a little bit of stealth.”
“Great,” Troy said. “And what’s our cover?”
“Two of us are part of the oil company, heading onto the rig itself,” Mason said, “and two will be on a nearby destroyer and will be coming in from the ocean. We’ll let them onto the rig, and they will be our eyes and ears in the shadows.”
“Oh, now that’s an interesting way to handle it,” Troy said. “And the other two?”
Mason shot him a look through the rearview mirror. “You and Axel will go on as deckhands.”
“Why are we new deckhands, if they’re trying to get everybody off because the oil rig is in danger?”
“Because they still need somebody to stay on board and hopefully stabilize it.”
“Surely they’re not taking the entire crew off, are they?”
“They’re trying to,” Mason said. “Nelson here and I will go in as part of the company. And unfortunately one of the actual company board members is coming with us.”
“Unfortunately?”
“It’s never a good idea to have civilians involved,” he said.
Troy sat back and nodded, agreeing fully. This started to sound like an interesting mission. “Loss of life?”
“They’re still checking. Four people are missing.”
“But not confirmed dead?”
Axel shook his head, as he twisted around to look at him. “No, none confirmed yet. Several were fished out of the arctic water already.”
“What’s it take? About twelve minutes for hypothermia up there?”
“If you’re lucky,” he said. “An arctic front is heading down, so the weather’ll get vicious.”
“My favorite kind of mission then,” Troy said with a laugh. “Maximum danger, potential for betrayal, chances of not coming home—all good.” He grinned, and the others laughed. Because, just like him, they’d all been there before. And, just like him, so far they’d been lucky and made it home. But, just like him,
they all knew many who hadn’t. Being part of the oil crew suited Troy just fine. He’d actually done a stint up on the oil rigs himself when he was eighteen, which may be why he’d been tagged for this. He looked over at Axel. “You ever been on a rig before?”
“Yeah,” Axel said. “A couple times.”
Troy wasn’t at all surprised at that. The men on this team had a wide and varied set of experiences. When they pulled into the base airport, without talking they headed for the plane already refueling.
One of the pilots stood there, glaring at them. “You’re late,” he said.
Troy lifted an eyebrow.
By the time they made the switch to a connecting flight to head to Alaska and then eventually landed on the destroyer, Troy would be tired and ready for either action or a break. This hurry-up-and-wait scenario was driving him crazy. They’d done as much research as they could, but, so far, it looked like it could be an accident, sabotage or somebody trying to make it look like sabotage to hide something else. He’d seen way too much betrayal in his life to not consider that as an option.
After several hours on the destroyer, they were called up on deck to climb into the helicopter heading to the oil rig platform. He and Axel were in oil-rig uniforms but were fully armed inside the coveralls and heavy jackets. Mason was there in a heavy parka, but he wore a suit, as was the stranger standing with them, looking uncomfortable. Presumably the board member.
Mason introduced them. “This is Gregor Stanovich, one of the board members, and the one who looks after this particular rig.” Mason motioned everybody toward the chopper.
Troy studied Gregor carefully and concluded he definitely looked like the paper-pushing kind. But Troy had been deceived before. He glanced at Axel to see him eyeing the stranger with the same harsh eye.
Not everybody was as quick to do this kind of work as they were. And it wasn’t that Gregor should be doing it. Everybody had a place in this world to do their own thing, but it was also important to know what capabilities somebody had.
By insisting on going into this nightmare, Gregor was putting himself in the midst of the fire. And that just meant Troy and his team would have to keep an eye on him, in case things went south.
Civilians tended not to listen; they tended to underestimate the danger, and they just didn’t see the traps as they headed toward them. Troy could only hope this was a case of a simple accident, but there was a reason his team had been called in. And it was rarely for a simple accident. Too often a “simple accident” ended up being something far worse.
From the helicopter, Troy watched the destroyer come into view below them. There was no sign of the oil rig in the distance. Which meant they still had quite a distance to go. He looked at Axel. “I wonder how close the destroyer is planning on getting.”
Axel nodded. “Nobody can handle the frigid water, no matter what kind of protective gear they’ve got.”
“Do we have a submersible down there?”
Axel shot him half a glance and said, “What do you think?”
“Do we know if it’s safe to land?” They both kept their voices low, looking out the window at the oil rig. There might have been an accident, but Troy wasn’t seeing anything to indicate just what that had been. “They said something about an explosion, some part of the rig collapsing and some fire.” He motioned down below. “I’m not seeing evidence of that.”
“It was inside, I believe,” Axel said, but his look was hard as he studied the rig they approached. “Stay alive,” he muttered.
Troy’s reaction was instinctive. “Always.”
This concludes Book 23 of SEALs of Honor: Colton.
Read about Troy: SEALs of Honor, Book 24
SEALs of Honor: Troy (Book #24)
When a friend of Tesla’s sends out an SOS on the lowdown on an oil rig in trouble, Troy has a good idea what he’s getting into. As far as he is concerned, the maximum danger, the potential for betrayal, and the chances of not coming home sounded like the right kind of job for him.
After all, he lived alone. So going into these situations with no family to worry about him made him the ideal candidate—until he meets someone at the oil rig who suddenly makes him see his future in a different life.
Berkley knew something dangerous was going on. No way this oil rig hadn’t been sabotaged. She’d requested to remain with the skeleton crew until her help arrived. And was surprised at the size of the team that showed up to assist her.
Who knew it would take all of them to get to the bottom of this mess and to keep them alive, as human nature and Mother Nature combined to take them all out.
Find Book 24 here!
To find out more visit Dale Mayer’s website.
Author’s Note
Thank you for reading Colton: SEALs of Honor, Book 23! If you enjoyed the book, please take a moment and leave a short review here.
Dear reader,
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Cheers,
Dale Mayer
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About the Author
Dale Mayer is a USA Today bestselling author best known for her Psychic Visions and Family Blood Ties series. Her contemporary romances are raw and full of passion and emotion (Second Chances, SKIN), her thrillers will keep you guessing (By Death series), and her romantic comedies will keep you giggling (It’s a Dog’s Life and Charmin Marvin Romantic Comedy series).
She honors the stories that come to her – and some of them are crazy and break all the rules and cross multiple genres!
To go with her fiction, she also writes nonfiction in many different fields with books available on resume writing, companion gardening and the US mortgage system. She has recently published her Career Essentials Series. All her books are available in print and ebook format.
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COLTON: SEALS OF HONOR, BOOK 23
Dale Mayer
Valley Publishing
Copyright © 2020
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
ISBN-13: 978-1-773363-42-4
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