“We have to leave, but I’ll keep you safe,” he promised.
Unable to resist, he gently pushed some of her tousled hair away from her neck. Let his lips linger as he kissed her. With one arm wrapped securely around her slender waist, his other trailed lower, his hand cupping her sex. Her bare ass was perfectly on display in that sexy-as-fuck thong, and he wanted to curse at the God-awful timing of his SEAL team buddy’s arrival.
His fingers explored Emma’s sex teasingly, his knuckles running up and down her seam through the lace of her panties, and he enjoyed the little gasp of pleasure that escaped.
“Hunter,” she said breathlessly, “we have to go. Your friend is right outside.”
“He always did have bad timing,” Hunter agreed, pushing away her panties as he fingered her folds. Her silken arousal coated his fingers, making him groan, and he slid higher, focusing all of his attention on her clit.
His other hand cupped her breast, holding her to him, and her circled her swollen nub, enjoying the sight of his hand in her panties. He worked against her more quickly, murmuring into her ear, and she exploded, gasping in pleasure as he held her to him.
Reluctantly, he let her pull away. Enjoyed the flush of pleasure on her cheeks.
“My God, Hunter. I can’t even think straight when I’m around you.”
“That’s not a bad thing, gorgeous. I love hearing you cry out in pleasure.”
She gazed at him, her mouth partway open in surprise, and he imagined her taking him into her mouth. Kneeling before him while he ran his hands through all that silky hair, and pleasuring him until he spilled his seed.
Nope.
Not gonna happen right now.
He watched in fascination as she shimmied into her tight jeans. Turned toward him in her lace bra. He reluctantly handed her the cashmere sweater and ducked in for a quick kiss before he stuffed the rest of his belongings into his backpack.
“I can’t keep my hands off you,” he said. “This is going to be the damn longest flight in history.”
“What? Not a fan of the mile-high club?” she teased after she’d recovered from the orgasm he’d just given her, grabbing her own backpack.
“I’m 6’2”,” he muttered. “I’ve never seen that as a problem before, but trying to cram the two of us into a tiny little airplane bathroom? No matter how small you are, princess, it’s never gonna happen.”
“We’ll just have to wait until we’re in the States then.”
“It’s going to be one uncomfortable flight.”
Emma laughed. “Well at least we have a ride now,” she said. “I was beginning to wonder how we’d get to the airport anyway—we can’t exactly ring a taxi if we’re trying to sneak around, now can we?”
“Maybe not,” he said with a frown.
“What’s wrong?”
“Mason said this is all over the media.”
“Bloody hell,” she muttered. “So we can’t even sneak quietly out of the country?”
Hunter clenched his jaw. “We’ll see. I guess we’ll know more when we arrive at the airport. I’ll feel better when we’re back home.”
“Right. I’ll feel better when this entire incident is over.”
***
Emma glanced around in amazement as they walked down the ramp of the plane onto the tarmac the next morning, taking in the military planes lined up in neat rows and personnel in uniforms walking around. Hunter ducked down, saying he needed a quick word with someone, and hurried ahead of her. She watched him walk off, shoulders square, all business.
He certainly was a man used to being large and in charge, and my—how he’d done exactly that back in England.
She wanted to blush recalling the way he’d spread her legs wide, pinned her beneath him. She’d simply been his for the taking as he’d claimed her on the bed of the room they were staying in—and how she’d loved surrendering to him.
What exactly would happen now that they were here?
Hunter had insisted she stay with him, but it’s not like she’d come forever. They’d have a couple of weeks at best to get to know one another, and that would be it.
She’d go back to her life in London, and he’d go back to his career in the Navy. It was silly to pretend they meant anything to one another. She’d enjoy their time together now and then move on.
She’d never needed a serious relationship in the past, so there was no reason to wonder about one now. Not when an entire ocean separated them.
As she waited for Hunter to finish his conversation, she took a moment to simply stop and stare. The air blowing in from the nearby ocean was humid and warm—much more so than she expected in the Mid-Atlantic region of the U.S. The salty breeze blew through her hair, tousling it gently, and she closed her eyes briefly at the bright sun. Felt the warmth on her skin.
Someone had given her a U.S. Navy sweatshirt when they’d gotten onto a flight at Andrews Air Force Base after their jaunt across the pond, but she’d pulled it off the second she’d felt the warm sea air in Virginia.
It was the ocean of course, not a sea—they were right by the Atlantic.
Thousands of miles away from London—from home.
And thousands of miles away from the men tracking her.
Hunter grumbled beside her a minute later as they walked across the hangar toward the building. “I’ve got to come back to base after I drop you off,” he said. “I was hoping to get you settled in, but unfortunately, this can’t wait.”
“Oh, right. I understand.”
“I haven’t been home for weeks,” he muttered. “You don’t have anything with you—clothes, necessities. There’s no food at my place since I’ve been gone for so long. I’ll see if I can have someone bring over some stuff for you.”
“I know how to go shopping,” she protested. “I’ve traveled extensively all over the world—I think I can handle finding what I need here in the U.S. I hear that they even speak English here—drive on the wrong side of the road, perhaps, but—”
She was cut off as Hunter growled and swung her up into his arms, leaving her laughing. “What I really want,” he murmured quietly, “is to take you to bed. Not to head into base with the rest of my SEAL team.”
“That does sound better,” she agreed.
“And now that I’ve got you close,” he teased, the edges of his fingers slipping beneath the back of her sweater, “I don’t know if I can let you go.”
“Put me down!” she said, glancing around. “Everyone’s going to see us.”
Hunter chuckled and righted her on her feet.
“I have no idea how long the debrief will take. My entire team has to be there, but the other SEAL team that’s based out of Little Creek should be around. If not, they all have wives and girlfriends. I’m sure I can get one of them to drop off some things for you.”
“Hook, glad you made it back!” his SEAL team member Noah shouted out, walking toward them with a huge grin on his face. He was a couple of inches shorter than Hunter, but even bulkier. With his jet-black hair and massive muscles, Noah looked like he could intimate anyone. He grinned at Emma though.
“And I’ve heard so much about you,” he said.
“Save it,” Hunter snapped.
“Whoa,” Noah laughed, holding up his hands. “I figure any woman that can keep you in line is a good thing.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Emma said, extending her hand.
“If Hunter gives you any trouble, let me know,” Noah said, his dark eyes sparking with amusement as he shook her hand. “He may lead our SEAL team, but I can kick his ass if you need me to.”
“Wonderful,” Emma said. “With you and Mason around, it seems I don’t need Hunter at all.”
Hunter growled, pulling her toward him as Noah laughed.
“And speaking of Mason, where did he run off to anyway?” Emma asked.
Noah chuckled. “He got his girlfriend to meet him outside the gate—never seen a guy move so fast.”
“
I didn’t realize he even had a girlfriend,” Emma said.
“More like the flavor of the month,” Hunter explained. “He went out with her once her twice—guess he thought he could take her home before we have to be back on base.”
“Lovely,” Emma murmured sarcastically.
“I guess he wasn’t as lucky in London as you,” Noah joked. “He didn’t come back with a beautiful woman.”
“Well don’t I feel special,” Emma said.
“Just ignore him,” Hunter muttered.
Twenty minutes later, Hunter was grabbing both their backpacks from the trunk of Noah’s car as Emma stood in front of his townhouse. “Debrief is in an hour. I hate to leave you right away, but that’s life in the military sometimes. I’m lucky I had time to come back at all.”
“Really, there’s no need to worry,” Emma insisted. “I’m safe here, and I can certainly occupy myself while you’re gone.”
“Right. Well, I need to grab a quick shower and change. I’ll give you the brief tour of my place.”
Emma walked around Hunter’s townhouse, taking in the neat, modern kitchen and living room, then hesitating outside his bedroom. “You can stay here with me,” Hunter said, eyes heating. “I have a guest room, but I want you here in my bed.”
She blushed, pausing in the doorway.
“Hell, I wish I didn’t have to go back to base,” he groaned, crossing the room to her. He tipped her chin up and kissed her, then looked around ruefully. “I’d tell you to unpack, but I know you don’t have anything. I’ll give a buddy of mine a call—Ice. He’s the leader of another SEAL team that’s based out of Little Creek, but his wife Rebecca will get you sorted. Actually, they have a couple of kids, but she’ll send another wife or girlfriend of one of the men over if she can’t help.”
“All right,” she said, blowing out a breath as she sank down onto the edge of his bed.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, this is just all so overwhelming. I barely enough made it back to London, and now here I am—all the way on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. In your bedroom!”
“Now that, I don’t mind,” he said, crouching down in front of her to meet her gaze. His hand rested on her thigh, and he squeezed gently. “It’ll work out,” he said. “I’ll grab some clothes for you to change into. You can use the guest bathroom for now if you like. I need to take a quick shower, shave, and roll onto base, but there’s a large bathtub in the other bathroom. I don’t have any of that fancy rose-scented soap, but you can relax while I’m gone.”
“After that long flight, a bath does sound nice,” she agreed. “This jet lag has me really thrown off.”
“Go ahead and get started; I’ll grab some things. They say it’s best to stay up and get used to the time change, but if you want to rest, go ahead. Can’t promise I won’t wake you up when I get back though,” he said, winking as he stood up.
Emma padded down the hallway to the bathroom, seeing the dark circles under her eyes. Good heavens, she looked terrible. All this lack of sleep and moving around wasn’t exactly helping. A long bath was exactly what she needed.
Chapter 9
Hunter emerged from the shower and quickly toweled off, crossing the master bedroom toward his dresser. His reflection in the mirror showcased his bare torso—muscles, tats. Hell if pride hadn’t filled his chest as Emma had practically gawked at him.
He worked damn hard in training though and didn’t exactly mind the way she was attracted to him. His cock was half-hard just thinking about her, naked in the bath down the hall. He may have needed to be back on base ASAP, but a quickie suited him just fine.
Too bad she’d looked utterly exhausted though.
She’d been through a lot in a short amount of time and deserved some time to relax. Deserved more than a quick tumble between the sheets, too, he thought as he muttered a curse. He was used to charging into unknown situations, guns blazing. Deploying at a moment’s notice. She may love to travel, but she was certainly in over her head this time.
Grumbling as he pulled on some clothes, he gave Ice a quick call.
“Heard you ran into a little trouble in London,” Patrick said as he answered.
“That’s an understatement,” Hunter muttered. He heard kids screaming in the background and ran a hand over his jaw. Hell. How anyone had the patience for that, he’d never understand.
The noise quieted as he heard a door closing. “Just the kids,” Patrick said. “Don’t know if you heard yet, but we’re expecting another.”
Hunter chuckled. “Well hell. After hearing that, I bet you’re happy to deploy all the time.”
“Makes a difference when they’re your own kids, your own family that you’re leaving.”
“Yeah, I can imagine,” Hunter said. Patrick and Rebecca were married now, but when they’d first met, a stalker had been chasing after Rebecca. If anyone understood the situation of feeling helpless while someone was targeting your woman, it was Patrick.
And damn.
Since when was Emma his anyway?
“My CO said you ended up bringing the woman you were helping in London back with you,” Patrick said.
“Yep. That’s actually why I’m calling—I need a favor.”
Hunter explained the circumstances, and Patrick said Rebecca would drop by to give Emma a hand. A busy lawyer, Rebecca worked full-time while she and Patrick wrangled the kids on the weekend. She’d know exactly where to take Emma shopping to buy whatever clothes or other items she needed.
“I appreciate it,” Hunter said. “I’ve got to head into base, debrief, and Emma literally has nothing but the clothes on her back.”
“Give her my number,” Patrick instructed. “Just in case she needs anything. She may be safe here, but that doesn’t mean she’ll feel comfortable with you gone.”
“Thanks. Let’s catch up over drinks sometime.”
Patrick laughed. “I’m never at Anchors anymore,” he said, referring to the popular bar along the Virginia Beach strand.
“Didn’t think so,” Hunter said. “Thanks again.”
He hung up and finished gathering his things. Grabbing his backpack from the bed, he accidentally knocked Emma’s leather one to the floor. She’d left it open, and some of the contents spilled out. He bent down and began to pick up her belongings, frowning as he spotted a gold band on the ground.
Picking it up between his thumb and forefinger, he stared at it in confusion.
This wasn’t just any ring—and it’s not like Emma was carrying around lots of jewelry with her anyway. He turned it over, noticing it had definitely been worn for a while. There were a few tiny, small nicks and scratches in the metal—something a jeweler could buff out.
And it was small. Feminine.
The wedding band would fit perfectly on one of Emma’s slender fingers.
There weren’t many reasons men took of their wedding ring—except when they were picking up women.
And people who were divorced didn’t carry their wedding band around with them.
His stomach turned as he gazed at the gold band, feeling a sickening feeling rising inside him.
If there was one thing he couldn’t stand, it was a liar.
He’d slept with a married woman.
***
“I’m heading out!” Hunter shouted as Emma soaked in the bathtub. She jumped and looked toward the bathroom door, expecting him to come in, but heard the front door slamming behind him.
What in the world?
Scowling, she climbed out of the bathtub herself, sloshing water all over the bathroom floor as she grabbed one of the extra towels. Hunter had said he’d bring her some clothes to change into, but from the sounds of it, he’d left in a hurry.
She walked down the hall to his bedroom, clutching the oversized towel around herself.
Stopping in shock, she saw the contents of her backpack spilled on the floor. Her mobile without it’s SIM card was there, her charger, wallet, and the small gold weddi
ng band she wore she traveled.
The one she hadn’t needed for this trip, because she wasn’t alone—she was with Hunter.
Bloody hell.
Is that why he’d shouted and run out the front door?
Because he thought she was married?
She nearly jumped in fright when the doorbell rang a moment later, and looked out the bedroom window to see a car parked in the driveway of his townhome.
Sighing, she walked down the stairs wrapped in the towel.
“Can I help you?” she asked politely.
The pregnant woman standing there smiled, her brown hair blowing in the slight breeze. “My husband is a friend of Hunter’s—another SEAL, I’m afraid. I’m Rebecca,” she added, holding out her hand. “Hunter said you needed some things. I can see he meant that quite literally.”
Emma glanced down at the towel wrapped around her, laughing.
“Yes, I suppose I do. Come on in.”
“I brought over some of my own things for you to borrow if you like,” Rebecca said. “I can’t fit into them now, obviously.”
“When are you due?”
“Not for a while—I’m just showing much earlier this time. I can take you shopping if you like, but I thought you might like some things now if you needed a rest first.”
“Right, thank you.”
“You remind me of my sister-in-law,” Rebecca said with a laugh. “Apparently, she answered the door in a towel, too, and nearly gave the CO a heart attack.”
“The CO?”
“Commanding officer.”
“Right, I do recall Hunter mentioning that. So he and your husband are on the same SEAL team?”
“No,” Rebecca said. “Why don’t I let you go change, and then I can answer any questions you have. I’m sure this—all of this—is quite overwhelming.”
“Yes, that’d probably be best,” Emma laughed. “And ‘overwhelming’ is an understatement. I’ll be right back.”
She emerged a few minutes later in a pair of cut-off jeans and borrowed tee-shirt. “I’d offer you something to drink,” Emma said, “but apparently we don’t have anything. So, er, can I get you a glass of water?”
Tempted by a SEAL (Alpha SEALs Book 8) Page 10