Her Relentless SEAL (Midnight Delta Book 10)

by Caitlyn O'Leary

  Okay, now he was pissed. “If you put down my woman one more time, you won’t like the consequences. She shines like sunshine, and is pure as snow.”

  She opened her mouth to disagree, then closed it, then opened it again. “Your woman?”

  “Well, yes, why else would I be baring my soul? I told you. I was a deliberate ass to you in Tennessee so you’d hate me because I thought you’d end up being a target. Now I know it wasn’t true, and you can handle who I really am. Damn right, I’m claiming you.”

  “You’re claiming me?”

  “Have you turned into a parrot?”

  Evie’s eyes were wide as she stared up at him.

  “I think you have this all wrong, Handsome. If you’re under the mistaken impression I’m still pure as snow, then I’m claiming you.”

  “Thank, Jesus.” His head dipped, and he took her mouth, hard. He needed to possess this woman, make sure she knew that she belonged to him. She opened her mouth and welcomed his advance.

  Deep. Wet. Hot.

  Her kiss, her touch, her taste, sustained him.

  Made him whole.

  She whimpered. Dammit. What was he thinking? Not only was she not healed, she had just told him about a traumatic event. He was a bastard. He lifted his head.

  She grabbed his hair and tried to pull him back down.

  “Aiden, why did you stop?”

  “I’m not stopping, I’m slowing down.” He kissed her lightly, sweetly, lingering, on the lips.

  “Well don’t. Speed up.” He smiled and looked into her fevered brown eyes. He brushed back the hair from her temple.

  “Now that I know you’re mine, we have all the time in the world.”

  Her hands stopped threading through the hair at the back of his neck. “So you’re saying now isn’t the right time?”

  “I’m saying that you’re still healing.”

  It was as if a wall shut down on her features. One second she was Evie, all radiant and wanton, then she was stiff as a board. Lifeless.

  “Eva, where did you go?”

  “Let me up,” she said woodenly.

  Aiden thought through the last minute and realized his mistake. If he could, he’d have kicked his own ass. “Kitten, please, listen. I want you. This isn’t about your past.”

  “Let me up,” she repeated.

  “I thought after all of your revelations, and the fact that you’re still healing, that I’d be a bastard to take advantage of you at this moment. Just one more day. Can we wait until tomorrow night?”

  “Aiden, let me up. I’m begging you.” Finally some emotion. But the wrong kind. It was desperation.

  To hell with this. He heaved up, lifting them both off the couch in one motion.

  “Aiden. No.”

  He aimed for his bedroom, ignoring her protest. He’d fucked up enough.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Evie clung to Aiden’s arms. She knew where they were headed. Part of her wanted to protest, part of her wanted to bolt. Instead, she melted into his hold. This was where she wanted to be, even if he was only being nice.

  He opened the door at the end of the hall. She’d never been in his room. It was big and bold, just like the man. He put her put her down in such a way that she slid against his big body, and she realized in no uncertain terms he was just as enthusiastic about this as she was. He shut the door and locked it. Her breath hitched for just a moment. He saw it.

  “Do you want me to unlock the door?”

  For a second she had a vision of Bella wandering the hall. “Oh no, locked is good.”

  “Come here.” His voice was hoarse.

  She took the three steps to meet him. She looked up and up and up until her eyes met his glittering blue ones. “Are you absolutely sure? I don’t want to hurt you physically or emotionally.”

  She placed her hands on his chest. It was time to be brave. “I love you, Aiden, you could never frighten me.”

  He shuddered at her words. “You mean the world to me.” He took her right hand and kissed her palm. “I love you too, Kitten.”

  Her knees went weak. He caught her up in his arms and carried her to his bed.

  He came down with her and gathered her close.

  Why was he watching her so carefully? Would he please stop? But then she realized she was doing the same thing. This was important. This meant something. This meant everything.

  “Aiden?”

  “Yes, Eva?”

  “This is real? This is really going to happen? I wanted it back in Tennessee. I wanted it so bad.” She thought back to those kisses, where she thought things were leading...

  “Yes, Baby, this is real. It was real in Tennessee, I swear. I should never have left you.” She melted at his words. He brushed his fingertips across her collarbone. She shuddered. He traced a path to her left shoulder, and pushed the delicate cotton out of the way. He bent and kissed her there, even though the bruises had faded.

  “You’ve been driving me crazy. You haven’t been wearing a bra.”

  “The straps would have hurt my shoulder. Anyway, I don’t need one.” She paused. “You really noticed?”

  Aiden slowly peeled away her gauzy blouse, revealing her tank top. “Oh, I noticed.”

  She smiled. Then her smile turned hazy as he grazed the back of his hand over the tip of her breast. “God, do that again.”

  He turned his hand over, and cupped her, his thumb brushed across her nipple. She pushed against him, as she started to yank up her tank.

  “Let me,” he said.

  “You take off your shirt,” she demanded.

  He chuckled and levered off her.

  She watched in rapt fascination as he did that man thing where he reached behind his shoulders with one hand and pulled the t-shirt over the back of his head.

  Oh God.

  Oh God.

  Oh God.

  He looked better than she’d imagined. All that luscious muscle with golden chest hair sprinkled over it, arrowing downward over a powerfully ripped abdomen. She wasn’t even aware of a conscious decision to touch, but she saw her hands splayed against his chest, and felt all that warmth and power against her palms and she trembled with want.

  “Eva, are you listening?”

  “Are you talking?”

  He laughed.

  “This is going to be fun. We are on the same page. I need you to lift your arms.”

  “Oh. Oh yeah.” She flushed.

  “Hey, nothing to be embarrassed about. I feel the same way. I can’t wait to get this shirt off you.”

  She didn’t think it would be the same at all. She knew what was under the tank top. And she wasn’t a goddess, whereas he was a Greek god. But she wasn’t a coward. She lifted her arms, and he pulled off the tank. Damn, she shouldn’t have done that.

  “Dammit. Would you have a care?” he admonished.

  Then he sucked in a breath. “My God, you’re beautiful.”

  Well, what else would he say?

  “Lie back.”

  She must have taken too long because he guided her back down onto the bed.

  “So delicate, so feminine, I knew you would be the most beautiful woman I would ever have in my bed.” His eyes flickered between her face to her breasts and back up again.

  “I have to taste you.”

  She would die if he didn’t.

  The first touch of his lips shot through her like a bolt of electricity. So gentle, but so stunning, she could do nothing but hope to somehow to survive the most joyous moment of her life.

  At some point, Aiden must have looked up. “Baby!”

  “Don’t stop.”

  “You’re crying.”

  “It’s so much. So good. You like me. You love me. It’s everything.”

  His thumbs swept up the tears on her cheeks. “Don’t cry.”

  “These are happy tears.”

  “You’re breaking my heart.”

  She wrapped her arms around his neck. “I’m so happy. You make me
feel cherished.”

  “That’s exactly how I want you to feel.”

  She placed a kiss over his heart. “Killing me,” he said.

  “Make love to me.”

  He gave her a long look, then kissed her. Deep and wet.

  His fingers stroked down her stomach and touched the puckered skin where her stitches had been removed. He stilled. She pulled her head away. “Don’t think about it. Now is now.”

  So much feeling was in his eyes. “I almost lost you.”

  “You have me.”

  He moved downwards, trailing kisses until he could caress her abused flesh with his lips. It was as if he were trying to heal her.

  “Are you sure you’re ready for this?” he asked again.

  “So sure,” she breathed. When his hand worked down the elastic band of her linen pants, she sighed with contentment. He stood beside the bed and divested himself of his jeans and briefs. She stared at him. Everything about this man called to her. She reached out to grasp his cock.

  “No, if you do that I won’t be able to last.” He grimaced.

  “Show some willpower,” she said as her small hand glided over him. He chuckled, then grabbed her hand and kissed it, then knelt on the bed. He had her panties off in an instant. When he stroked a finger between her thighs, she bucked against his touch.

  “You’re so ready for me.”

  “God, yes. Please. Now.”

  He leaned over and opened his nightstand drawer and pulled out a condom. He tossed it on the pillow beside her head. She reached up to open it.

  “In a minute or ten.” He settled between her thighs, looking at her delicate flesh.

  He wouldn’t.

  It would be too much.

  His fingers touched her.

  His lips kissed her.

  His tongue caressed her.

  She shot off into space.

  “Eva?”

  She looked up, and his eyes were next to hers; he was grinning. Well, he had every right. He was lying on his back and his cock was sheathed. He pulled her on top of him and gave her a long, slow, sweet kiss. The man could kiss. Soon, she was straddling him. She knew he was worried about her injuries, but she didn’t know if she could do it this way. He saw her apprehension.

  “It’s just like riding a bike.”

  She snorted.

  He guided her movements, and ever so slowly she took him into her body. He supported her with one big hand on her bottom, and another on her tummy, his thumb brushed along the top of her sex. As the rhythm started his thumb moved and swirled in time with his thrusts. Up and down. She lost herself in a maelstrom of passion as she looked into the bluest eyes she’d ever seen.

  “I love you.”

  The words were said at the same time as they catapulted into bliss.

  ***

  Aiden woke up, sure that he’d heard something. He looked at Evie sleeping soundly in his arms. Now he was having dreams. He’d definitely heard a woman’s familiar voice. Maybe it was Trenda. He brushed a kiss on top of Evie’s hair, then slipped from the bed.

  He unlocked the bedroom door and padded down the hall. Trenda and Bella’s door was firmly closed, the other bedroom doors were open. He went around the house and checked the doors and windows to make sure everything was secure and the alarm was set. Not that he hadn’t done it already, but he felt like rechecking everything.

  He got two bottles of water out of the refrigerator and went back to his room. Evie was sitting up in bed.

  “Bad dream?” he asked.

  “The worst. You left the bed without waking me up,” she said as she waggled her fingers for a bottle. He smiled as he handed it to her.

  “I thought I heard Trenda, and I woke up.”

  “Was she up?”

  “No, I thought I heard her say, ‘It’s not finished. He’s coming.’ It was the weirdest thing. At first, I thought you said it, but you were asleep.”

  “That is weird.”

  “I swear I’ve heard the voice before.”

  “Maybe you were dreaming?”

  “Maybe,” he said dubiously.

  “Get back under the covers. I have an idea of what can take your mind off things.”

  Aiden peeled back the duvet and revealed her gleaming body. She was right, all thoughts of his dream fled his mind.

  ***

  Bella was all smiles the next morning, her temper tantrum completely forgotten. She was in the kitchen sitting on the counter watching her mother pour batter into the skillet.

  “Pretty!” she clapped.

  “Everybody gets special pancakes today. You get a smiley face,” Trenda told her daughter. She picked her up and put her on the floor. “Go help Aunt Evie set the table.”

  Aiden had already gone for a run and was now in his office taking a phone call. He’d said he’d be out in time for breakfast, so Evie set four places for breakfast.

  “I got a call from Maddie,” Trenda said from the kitchen.

  “Oh yeah? What did she have to say?”

  “She heard the news about Jim and Blake putting the hotel on the market. She wanted to know if I knew anything about it.”

  “What did you say?” Evie asked as she pulled the orange juice out of the refrigerator.

  “What could I say? I don’t know anything. I figured that your knight in shining armor probably had a talk with Jim and said get the hell out of town, but I can’t be sure of that, now can I?”

  Evie listened to the sizzle of bacon.

  “I helped,” Bella said as she folded the napkins and set them beside each of the plates.

  “Yes you did, Sweetie.” Evie looked at Trenda who was putting pancakes on two separate platters. “Yes, Aiden had a talk with them. I didn’t agree, and I think he went too far. He thought having them there would be a reminder to me.”

  “Baby Girl, it’s also a punishment to them for being...well...fill in the blanks with really nasty swear words. Jim needed to pay for what was done to you.”

  Evie opened her mouth to protest, and Trenda held up the tongs she was holding. “I don’t want to hear it. He got off easy. I didn’t hear about any broken bones. I didn’t hear about him dying. I just heard he’s selling his property and moving. Don’t expect me to feel bad for him.”

  “What about Blake?”

  “He’s chosen that bed to lie in.” Trenda flipped a pancake and took the bacon off the burner.

  “I like the way you think, Trenda,” Aiden said as he came into the room.

  “Shut up both of you. Blake was dragged to Turkey just like I was.”

  “Do I smell bacon?” Aiden asked.

  “You’re really going to say that and now transition to bacon?”

  “You asked me to shut up,” he said reasonably.

  Fuck, he was right.

  “Sit down, Aiden. I don’t want her appetite ruined. You I don’t worry about.”

  “Mama made pretty pancakes. I helped setted the table.” Bella beamed up at the tall man. He set her down in the booster seat that he had somehow arranged to have at his house. It was one more thing that made her heart melt.

  Evie sat down next to Aiden, and Trenda placed a platter of heart shaped pancakes between them. Aiden burst out laughing.

  “Seemed like the right occasion.” Trenda smiled. Damn, nothing got by her sister.

  “What, no red food coloring?” Evie asked.

  “Nope, couldn’t find any. However, I did make some raspberry syrup.”

  “I’ve died and gone to heaven,” Aiden said. He placed two pancakes on Evie’s plate then stacked three times as many on his.

  “I got a smiley face!” Bella said pointing to her plate.

  Soon they were all eating breakfast.

  She was going to miss them when they left. She looked up and saw that Trenda was smiling at her sadly. Damn, the woman was reading her mind again.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Evie hated to see her sister and niece leave. Drake had picked her up from Aide
n’s house, and Evie had gone with them to the airport. He might tower over his sisters, but there was no denying the family resemblance, and people stared as they hugged at security.

  “I’ll think about everything you’ve said,” Trenda promised her brother. Then she and Drake looked at Evie.

  “Don’t look at me, I’m undecided, too.” It was too damn much pressure. She didn’t have a home to go back to in Tennessee. As much as she loved her older sister, she didn’t want to live with her. The hotel was no longer an option. But she didn’t have a job in San Diego, so she didn’t know what she was going to do.

  “Oh, Baby Girl, I’m not trying to put pressure on you. You’re still recovering. But you will always have a home with me.”

  “And me,” Drake said quickly.

  And Aiden. He’d said so on numerous occasions, but she didn’t want to just move in because he thought she needed a place to stay. Moving from Tennessee to San Diego was a huge step. But she’d do it if he really meant it as the next step in their relationship. She loved him. She wanted to build a life with him, but was it too soon?

  “Evie?” She looked at Trenda.

  “Are you okay?”

  “I’m just going to miss you.”

  “That’s not it, but I’ll let it slide. You call me tonight.” God, nothing got by the woman. She plucked Bella out of her sister’s arms and blew a raspberry on the little girl’s neck.

  “I’m gonna ride on a plane!”

  “Yes, you are!”

  “I’m going to see the Aunt Owies!” Everybody laughed at her name for Chloe and Zoe.

  “Come on, Pumpkin, we’ve gotta go.” Trenda tried to take her daughter back, but Drake took her from Evie’s arms and threw her up in the air. People around the area smiled at Bella’s delighted laughter.

  “Who’s your favorite uncle?” he asked.

  “Uncle Dwake!”

  “God, I’m going to hate it when you learn how to say my name right,” he lamented.

  “Give me my daughter,” Trenda said sternly.

  Drake sighed.

  He cuddled Bella close one last time, then gave her over to Trenda and cupped the little girl’s head for one last kiss. “I love you, Bella. Take care of your mama for me.” Bella turned to her mother and patted her cheek.

  “I take care of her. I love her too.”