An Honorable Seduction

by Brenda Jackson

  “Thanks for believing in me.”

  “You have Andrew’s blood in your veins. You could no more be a traitor to your country than he could. Considering all that happened, I’m glad Holloway remained in Key West when he could have left.”

  Swan sat up straight. “Wasn’t David on assignment?”

  “Not the entire time. His assignment officially ended when he sent that ink in to be analyzed and we discovered it was tainted. I told him that he no longer had to stay in the Keys since by then we knew you weren’t involved and we would take over the investigation from there.”

  “Then why did he stay?”

  “To protect you.”

  “He told you that?” she asked.

  “Yes. I remember the conversation like it was yesterday. I told him he could consider his job assignment complete and go home to Texas and enjoy the remainder of his leave. But he said he wanted to hang around Key West for a while.”

  Her godfather paused. “I asked him if the reason he wanted to stay was because he thought your life might be in danger. He said he felt that as long as Duggers and Jacinto didn’t know they were suspects, then no, your life wasn’t in any immediate danger. He informed me that the reason he wanted to stay was because you had come to mean a lot to him. I told him in that case how he spent the rest of his leave was his decision. And, Swan?”

  She drew in a deep breath. “Yes?”

  “As his commanding officer, I felt the need to remind him that although he was no longer on assignment, since the issue that had started with you was an ongoing investigation, he could not tell you anything.”

  When Swan didn’t reply, her godfather asked, “You’re still there, Swan?”

  “Yes, Godpop 2, I’m still here.”

  “Did you not know how Holloway felt about you?”

  “No. I thought I was just an assignment.”

  “You were at first and I’m glad you were. Otherwise you would be in jail wrongly accused of a crime you hadn’t committed. But on the flip side, I’m also glad that when you stopped being an assignment, Holloway had the insight to stay and look out for you because he cared for you.”

  Long after her telephone conversation with her godfather ended, Swan remained seated at her desk, leaning back in her chair and sitting in silence while thinking about what Candy, Jamila and her godfather had said.

  Some people never got betrayed, but she had been, a lot. William, Rafe, Horacio, Rosie, Georgianna and even Jamila. No one had been who she’d thought.

  She remembered David and replayed in her mind all the time she’d spent with him since that day he’d first walked into her shop.

  Was anything he’d told her true? Did he really come from a huge family? Was his mother even celebrating a birthday? Did he honestly have three sisters-in-law?

  One thing was for certain, both Candy and Jamila were right. David hadn’t pushed her into sleeping with him. In fact, Swan was the one who’d invited him to dinner at her place with the full intent of having sex with him.

  She got up from her desk and walked over to the window. She knew from Jamila that David had left the island with his friends after that first week, after he’d completed all the questioning by naval intelligence. Was he back home in Texas? Did his parents really own a medical supply company? What parts of what he’d told her were true and what parts were fabricated for his assignment?

  And why did she still love him so much it hurt...even when she didn’t want to love him? Even when she didn’t know how he felt about her? He might have told her godfather he cared for her but David hadn’t told her anything. Shouldn’t he have? But then, had she given him a chance to do so?

  The answer to that flashed in her mind quickly. No, she hadn’t.

  He had saved her life that night, swam across the ocean to do so, and then she’d told him she didn’t want to talk to him. And he had honored her wishes...for that one night. Then he had called her almost every single day since, and yet she had refused to take his calls.

  He hadn’t called today.

  Did that mean he’d given up and wouldn’t try contacting her again? Was she ready to put her heart on the line and contact him?

  She wasn’t sure. But what she was certain of was that they needed to do what they hadn’t done before. They needed to get to know each other. She needed to know which parts of what he’d told her about himself were true and which were false.

  She wanted to get to know the real David Holloway.

  Then what?

  Hadn’t she convinced herself she wanted no part of a man in the military? And what about her decision to never to get seriously involved in an interracial relationship like her parents had? Why did all of that no longer matter to her when she thought about her and David deciding to have a future together?

  Maybe that’s how love worked. It made you see the possible instead of the impossible. It made you want things you told yourself were not good for you because you were afraid to reach beyond your comfort zone.

  Taking a deep a cleansing breath, she decided to call David tonight before going to bed. She had no idea what she would say to him but the words would come.

  She doubted he would want to come back to the Keys anytime soon, so she would let him know she would come to him if he still wanted to talk. She would see what he said before asking Jamila if she could take care of the shop while Swan was gone. David might very well tell her that it was too late, that they had nothing to talk about. But there was a chance he would embrace her words. Embrace her.

  Her mood suddenly lightened, knowing that was a possibility.

  * * *

  Flipper entered the hotel room and tossed his luggage on the bed. Different hotel but same city. He had given Swan two weeks and now he was back. They needed to talk and clear up some things. She hadn’t accepted his calls, but now he was here and he wouldn’t be ignored.

  He shook his head when his cell phone rang. “Yes, Coop?”

  “Have you seen her yet?”

  “No, I just got here. In fact, I walked into my hotel room less than five minutes ago.”

  “Okay. And there’s another reason I called. Bristol is pregnant.”

  “Wow, man. Congratulations. I didn’t know you guys were trying.”

  Coop laughed. “We’re always trying. But seriously, we figured it was time Laramie had a playmate.”

  “Sounds good to me.”

  “I hope things work out with you and Swan, Flipper.”

  “I hope so, too.”

  “And do me a favor.”

  “What?”

  “For once, open up. Tell her how you feel. Don’t beat around the bush. You have a tendency to do that. Women love a man to get straight to the point and share their feelings. I hate to say it, bro, but you’re not good at doing that.”

  Coop was right, he wasn’t. “I never had to do that before. I’ve never truly loved a woman before Swan.”

  “I understand. But you do love her, so make sure she knows it. A woman has to believe she’s loved.”

  Flipper chuckled.

  “What’s so funny?” Coop asked him.

  “You’re giving relationship advice. Do you know how much like Mac you sound?”

  Coop chuckled as well. “You would have to point that out. I guess it comes with loving a woman.”

  “I guess so.”

  “No guess in it, remember it. Know it. Feel it. Take care and good luck.”

  After ending the call with Coop, it wasn’t long before Flipper got calls from Bane, Viper and Mac as well, all letting him know they hoped things worked out for Flipper and Swan. All giving him advice. They were married men who had the women they loved and they wanted him to have the woman he loved as well.

  He appreciated good friends who not only watched his back but who also cared about the condition of his heart
. They knew about the pain he had lodged there and it got worse every day he and Swan were apart.

  Flipper glanced at his watch. Swan’s store would be closing in less than an hour. He would give her time to get home and relax before paying her a visit. He refused to let her put things off any longer. They needed to talk.

  He loved her and it was damn time she knew it.

  Fifteen

  Swan had just poured a glass of wine to enjoy while sitting on the patio when she heard the knock at her door.

  She knew Candy had gone out to dinner with her family and Jamila had mentioned she would just stay in tonight and chill. Swan had invited Jamila to join her so maybe her cousin had changed her mind.

  Her cousin.

  That was taking a lot of getting used to but Swan knew her parents would want a family connection for them. Jamila was the only family Swan had and she appreciated their friendship more than ever.

  She reached the door and glanced through the peephole. Her heart nearly stopped.

  Was it really David? She blinked and looked again and saw it was really him. Back in Key West. And he was standing in front of her door looking like he always did, sexy as hell.

  Drawing in a deep breath, she removed the security lock and opened the door. “David? I thought you’d left the island.”

  “I had but I returned today. May I come in?”

  She nodded and stepped aside. The moment he passed her, she caught a whiff of his masculine scent, the same one she was convinced still lingered in her bedroom.

  Swan closed the door and stood to face him. He was standing in the middle of her living room wearing a pair of shorts and a sleeveless shirt with a huge picture of a dolphin. Flipper. Her gaze moved beyond the shirt to his face to find his laser-blue eyes staring at her.

  She cleared her throat. “I was about to sit out back and drink a glass of wine while enjoying the view. Would you like to have a beer and join me?”

  She could tell he was surprised by her invitation. She hadn’t bothered to ask why he was there.

  “Yes, I’d like that.”

  Moments later, they were sitting side by side on a bench that overlooked the beach. They had been sipping their drinks for a few moments when he said, “I told you that night two weeks ago that we needed to talk, Swan. I think we still do.”

  Yes, they did. She would let him go first. “Okay, I’m listening.”

  “I want you to do more than just listen, Swan. I want you to engage by asking questions, giving me feedback, and I would like to be able to do the same with you.”

  “Okay, that seems fair because I do have some questions for you.”

  “Ask away.”

  She took another sip of her drink. “You didn’t tell me you were a SEAL and I’d—”

  “I couldn’t tell you I was a SEAL, Swan,” he interrupted to say. “That’s why I lied and said I was no longer in the military.”

  “Yes, I know that now. I want to tell you, because of what happened to my father, I had made up my mind never to get serious about a military man...especially not a SEAL.”

  “Oh, I see.”

  She wouldn’t tell him yet that she’d changed her mind about that. “Is your mother’s birthday really next month and do you have four brothers?”

  “Yes. Everything I told you about my family is true. I never lied to you about anything pertaining to them. I just omitted some details and couldn’t elaborate on certain things.”

  She then put her wineglass down and turned toward him. “Why did you sleep with me, David, when I was just an assignment to you?”

  * * *

  Flipper knew this was the time of reckoning and what he told her would have an impact on their relationship for the rest of their days. He needed her to understand.

  “You were supposed to be an assignment, Swan. But honestly, I don’t think you ever were. From the moment I walked into your shop and saw you, a part of me knew I had to fight hard to be objective and do the job I’d been sent here to do.”

  He paused. “I tried to keep my attraction to you out of the picture but found it harder and harder to do. Each time I saw you while getting to know you, I fell deeper under your spell. It was hard pretending with you.”

  He decided to be totally honest with her. “Just so you know, that day you invited me to your place for dinner wasn’t my first time there. I’d been to your home without you knowing anything about it. But at the time, it was just a house I was checking out as part of an investigation. The day you invited me to dinner, I saw it through another pair of eyes. Yours. And for me, it then became your home.”

  She drew in a deep breath. “You invaded my privacy by letting yourself into my home, but that’s not why I’m upset. I accept that you had a job to do and I was your assignment but...”

  “But what?”

  “You still haven’t fully answered my question, David. Why did you make love to me?”

  David frowned, realizing that he hadn’t answered her question. His teammates often teased him about beating around the bush, sometimes providing too much context instead of just sticking with the facts.

  “The reason I made love to you, Swan, was because I desired you. Everything about you turned me on. Your looks, your scent, your walk...and then after our first kiss, it was your taste. Fighting my desire for you was no longer an option, although I tried being honorable enough not to seduce you.”

  “But then I seduced you,” she said quietly.

  He smiled. “No, I think that night we seduced each other. Everything we did was mutual.”

  “Yes, it was.” She took another sip of her wine. “I spoke with Godpop 2 today and he told me your assignment ended but you decided to stay. Why?”

  Okay, no beating around the bush this time, Flipper decided. “The reason is that by then I had fallen in love with you. In all honesty, in my heart you stopped being an assignment the first time I made love to you. I crossed the line of what was honorable, and I knew why. Because I felt you here, Swan,” he said, pointing to his heart. “I felt you here in a way I’ve never felt before. No woman has ever been here, Swan. But during the one time you shouldn’t have, you got there anyway.”

  “And now? How do you feel now?”

  He placed his beer bottle aside and turned toward her. “Now you are still in my heart. Even more so. I love you so much I ache on the inside when I’m not with you. I love you so much I think of you even at times I shouldn’t.”

  He reached out and took her hand in his. “Now I need to know, Swan, just how you feel about me.”

  * * *

  Swan felt the gentle tug on her hand and, surprising even herself, she moved to sit in his lap.

  When he wrapped his arms around her, she felt comfort flow through her. She turned in his lap to look down at him. He’d given her answers to all her questions, now she intended to give him answers to his.

  “I love you, David. I fought it at first. I didn’t know about you being present-day military, but I also had a problem...not with interracial dating...but with allowing anything to come of it. I saw how others saw my parents at times. Not as a beautiful couple in love but as an interracial couple in love. There should not have been a difference. I never wanted to deal with what they had to deal with in the name of love.”

  She paused. “But then I moved beyond thinking that way after I fell in love with you. Then I realized how my parents must have felt, believing nothing mattered but their love. Even if the world was against them, as long as they had each other, that’s what truly counted.”

  “So you do love me?” he asked her as if for clarity.

  Swan didn’t have a problem clarifying anything for him or anyone else. “Yes, I love you, David Flipper Holloway.” And then she lowered her mouth to his.

  Shivers of profound pleasure shot through every part of Swan’s body
when David slid his tongue into her mouth. Sensations bombarded her as she concentrated on his taste, his scent and the way he pulled her tongue into his mouth to mate with his. And when she felt his hands inch upward and slide beneath her top, his touch made her purr.

  Both his taste and his touch were awakening parts of her, making her feel alive in a way she hadn’t felt since the last time they’d been together. Here at her house. In her bed.

  When his fingers touched her bare breasts, using his fingertips to draw circles around her nipples, she oozed deeper into the kiss, almost feeling like melted butter in his arms.

  He slowly pulled his mouth from hers and looked at her. His blue eyes were sharp and filled with the same desire she felt. “Any reason why we can’t take this inside?”

  She wrapped her arms around his waist. “No, there’s no reason.”

  “Good.”

  And then standing with her in his arms, he carried her into the house.

  * * *

  “Just so you know, David, I didn’t ask you all my questions,” Swan said when he placed her on the bed.

  David glanced down at her. “You didn’t?”

  “No, but I can wait. None are more earth-shattering than this is going to be. And I need this.”

  He caressed the side of her face with his finger. “I need this, too. I know why I need it, tell me why you do.”

  She met his gaze and held it while she said, “I love the feel of you inside of me. I’ve never felt anything so right before. So pleasurable.” She smiled. “Do you know I retired my sex toy?”

  He chuckled. “That’s good to know.”

  “Um, not too much information?”

  “No. Nice to know what used to be my competition,” he said as he began removing her clothes. Lucky for him, she wasn’t wearing much. Just a top, shorts and a thong. Flipper had discovered outside earlier that she wasn’t wearing a bra. He’d noticed more than once that she liked her breasts being free and so did he.