Before she could answer though, Eden heard a rapid thumping start up in the room. His head turned as he looked around trying to pinpoint where the noise was coming from. Swinging back to Shylah it was almost like it was coming from her. Could she not hear it?
“Yes.” Confused for a moment, Eden had to think about what she was saying yes to. The date. Yes? As in she would go out with him. When her face suddenly widened to a smile, Eden’s groin tightened. This woman wasn’t just cute, she was stunning.
Pulling out his phone, Eden went into his contacts adding her name. “What’s your number, Shylah?”
Speaking like she was on autopilot, Shylah recited her number to Eden.
Typing the numbers into his phone, Eden then popped it back in his pocket before standing. “Great, you’ll have a missed call from me. Text me your address and I’ll pick you up at six.”
CHAPTER THREE
SHYLAH TRIED NOT to stare at Eden as she sat across from him at the Italian restaurant. Who was she kidding though, that was like asking a scientist not to stare at a two-headed dog. This was Eden. Sexy Navy SEAL Eden who had a twelve pack and biceps the size of tree trunks. She couldn’t believe she was sitting opposite him eating spaghetti right now. Shylah tried not to blink in case she woke up and realized this was in fact a dream.
“What are you thinking about right now? You look like you have a million thoughts running through your head.”
He was on to her. Shylah tried to stick close to the truth. “Just wondering why you asked me out.”
Eden raised his brows. “Why wouldn’t I ask you out?”
Come into my head, Eden, and you’ll find a hundred reasons, she thought. Instead of voicing them she shrugged. “You don’t know me.”
“That’s why we date, so I can find out who you are.”
Hmm, good answer. “I’m new. Technically, I could be anyone. I could be an undercover spy, sent to take down you and your team.”
Eden gave one of his half smiles that made the dimple in his cheek stand out. “I’ll take my chances.” Flutters in Shylah’s stomach started moving. “So, tell me who you are, Shylah.”
Who she was? She didn’t even know the answer to that.
“There’s not much to know, really. I’m not an undercover spy, in case you were wondering, but I would be a lot more interesting if I was. I’ve been a nurse for the last eight or so years and both my parents and little sister live in Michigan.”
“That’s a long way away.”
Shylah scoffed. “The other side of the world wouldn’t be far enough. My goal was to get as far away as possible.”
Eden’s brows shot up. Jeez, she probably sounded like a train wreck.
“Why?”
Just stopping herself from fidgeting with her napkin, Shylah tried to play off her family issues like they were no big deal. “Let’s just say they’re not the most supportive parents in the world. Like when I told them I wanted to be a nurse, my dad thought I was wasting my life on a mediocre career, whereas my mom questioned whether I’d even be able to get through the coursework. They like to bring people down. It’s been like a vacation being away from them.”
Eden nodded like Shylah had just answered a very important question. “It makes sense now.”
Confusion swirled in Shylah. “What?”
“Why you think you’re not worth taking on a date.”
A laugh escaped Shylah’s chest. “Just a date with you, Eden.” When Eden shot her an expression that said he didn’t understand, Shylah explained, “You’re like a solid ten in the hunk department. Navy SEAL, sexy as sin, abs hard enough to grate cheese. Whereas I… I mean you didn’t even notice me the first time you met me.”
Eden looked wounded for a moment. “I may not have noticed you at first, but now that I have, you’re the center of my vision.”
Shylah tried not to react but she felt all the blood rush to her face. Maybe she should blink a few times, this dream was getting too real. The slight smile on Eden’s face told Shylah that this time he knew what she was thinking.
“Finished?”
Shylah nodded as they both pushed away from the booth. Once out of the restaurant, Eden slipped his arm around Shylah’s waist. His warmth wrapped around her like a blanket. Looking up, she felt dwarfed by him. Giving herself a mental shake, Shylah looked ahead. Do not go falling for this man, Shylah. He is obviously too good to be true.
As they started walking, Shylah noticed they were heading in the wrong direction. “Your car’s back that way, Eden.”
“We’re going for a walk along the water.” Eden abruptly stopped and turned. “Unless you don’t want to. I can take you home.”
Did she want to go home? Did pigs fly?
“A walk along the water sounds nice.” Giving herself a mental pat on the back for sounding so calm when inside she was flipping out, Shylah continued walking alongside Eden. “So, what made you want to become a SEAL?”
Eden’s arm tightened for a nanosecond before relaxing again. “I had a brother. He was four years older than me. When he was twenty-one, he was shot and killed in a hold up at a grocery store.”
Shylah stopped walking. “Oh god, Eden, I’m so sorry.”
Lifting his gaze to above her head, Eden watched the ocean. “It killed me. It killed my family. We never recovered. The next day I withdrew my college applications and I enlisted. I told myself it was because I wanted to catch the bad guys in the world. Make them pay. I think I did it more to find the brotherhood that I lost though.”
Shylah’s heart bled for the teenage boy who lost his family. “Did you find it? The brotherhood you were looking for?”
The shadow across Eden’s face lifted and a laugh escaped his chest. Pulling her along with his hand holding hers, they continued to walk. “Oh yeah. There’s eight of us on the team. They’re my brothers even if we don’t share blood.”
Shylah felt relief that a positive had come from such a terrible event. “Tell me about them.”
“We each have a nickname for one another. There’s Luca, who we call Rocket because he’s so damn quick. Asher is known as Striker because he gets all the ladies, which believe it or not comes in handy on some missions. Mason is Eagle because he’s saved our asses more than once with his damn sixth sense. Wyatt is Jobs because he’s a genius with IT. Kye is Cage because he got himself stuck in a cage on a mission and we never let him forget it. Then there’s Oliver who we call Ax because that man is a damn good fighter.”
“Wow, to have seven brothers must be wonderful.” Shylah was never close to her sister but would have given anything to have someone that she could confide in.
How would she ever remember all those names though. “I’ll never remember all of them. Lucky I’m not part of the team and can use first names.”
“You can call them whatever you like, Shy.”
Warmth filtered through Shylah at the use of Shy for her name. Wanting to ask the obvious, Shylah hesitated before she gained the courage to ask, “You missed someone. What does the team call you?”
Eden’s eyes crinkled. “My name’s Hunter, because I’m the best at tracking and catching what I’m searching for.”
Shylah swallowed. Was she something that he wanted to catch? Too nervous to ask, Shylah just nodded.
As they continued down the beach, Eden’s thumb started to massage the inside of her wrist. Her heart rate went up a notch and she felt herself flush. Glancing up at Eden, she noticed a strange look cross his face. About to ask what it was, he saved her by speaking first.
“It’s so strange, today in medical after I asked you on a date, I swore I could hear your heart racing, and just now I heard the same pitter patter sound.”
Shylah frowned, not sure how to respond. No one could hear someone else’s heart beating. Could they?
Earlier today when he’d asked her on a date her heart had sped up then though. That was impossible. Wasn’t it? Then a thought hit her. She had seen the doctor using different drugs.
She’d almost forgotten about that with everything that had happened. They couldn’t be related, could they?
Feeling compelled to ask, Shylah kept her voice calm. “How are you finding the results from Project Arma?”
Eden stopped and looked down at Shylah. “Unbelievable. The guys and I were just saying today, we feel stronger, faster, and the recovery time after training is ridiculous. We don’t even feel like we’re doing much.”
Shylah’s brows pulled together. “How long have you been a part of the project?”
“About eight months.”
Was it possible that the doctor was using different drugs to the ones he was telling the SEALs about? Were those drugs then affecting more than their bodies ability to recover? Glancing back at Eden, his eyes were intently watching her.
“There you go again, off inside your own mind.” As Eden’s hand moved across Shylah’s cheek all thoughts other than him abandoned her. “I’ll have to make more effort to keep your mind on me, won’t I?”
As Eden’s head lowered to Shylah’s, the anticipation of his lips touching hers stole her breath. When his mouth finally reached hers a fierce sense of need filled her, and she draped her arms around Eden’s neck. Eden’s strong arms wrapped around Shylah’s waist and he deepened the kiss. As his tongue started massaging hers, shock waves of pleasure ran through her body. All she could feel was Eden. She craved him as she plastered her body closer to his.
Lowering his hands, Eden lifted Shylah up against him, never taking his lips from hers. He lifted Shylah like she weighed nothing. His strength only deepened the need she felt for him. Rubbing her body against his, she couldn’t get close enough. When Eden pulled his face back from hers, Shylah let out a whimper. Eden chuckled as he placed his forehead against hers.
“We need to stop, Shylah. Anyone could walk past.”
Eden was right, but she so didn’t want him to be. She felt like her body was on fire with need. Dropping her head to his shoulder, she tried to slow her breaths. “Okay.”
“Don’t think you’re getting away from me though. You and I are a thing now and I won’t be letting you go anytime soon.”
CHAPTER FOUR
SHYLAH COULDN’T HELP the spring in her step as she walked down the hall to start work that morning. It had been a week since she’d gone on her date with Eden and since then they’d gone on three more. Three! She thought she’d won the lottery with just one. It was hard to believe that in just seven days she had gone from stalker to almost girlfriend.
Each date, Shylah got deeper in with her feelings and they always ended with a mammoth make out session. Shylah felt hot just thinking about his hands and lips on her. So far though, they hadn’t gone much further. The thought that tonight could be the night made Shylah giddy with excitement. She craved him. It was like her body had a mind of its own around Eden and needed to be touching him. She still had to pinch herself that he actually liked her. Some dates she half expected someone to pop out from around the corner and tell her she was being punked.
Arriving outside medical, Shylah was about to push through the door when she heard shouting come from inside the room.
“Don’t you fucking tell me you’re not doing this anymore. We need results. This is the most successful batch so far but the only way to find out if better is possible is if we keep testing.”
She recognized Doctor Hoskin’s voice immediately. Was he talking about the recovery drugs? Evie was told they were a final product. Tried and tested. They weren’t testing new drugs on Eden and his friends, were they?
“Exactly, this is our most successful batch, so what’s the point in modifying the drug further? We both know what happened to soldiers who received previous versions of the trial drug. Most of them didn’t survive. I’m done risking the lives of soldiers and Navy SEALs who don’t know what’s really going on here. I don’t want any more deaths on my hands.”
Shylah’s hands became clammy. Risking the lives of Navy SEALs? Any more deaths? Shylah’s brain scrambled to understand what she was hearing.
A bang sounded in the room causing Shylah to jump.
“You listen here, Todd. You’re done when they say you’re done. You want to stop? Walk away? Do it and you’ll be dead by morning. There are powerful people behind this project who demand the best results. So, this is what’s going to happen. You’re going to go back to your lab, tweak the drugs again, and we’ll start the new version in a couple of months once it’s ready. I don’t care who has to fucking die for us to produce what we’re being paid to produce. Everyone is expendable here. Got it?”
Shylah stepped back from the door feeling a cold sweat forming. Turning, her legs started moving before her brain could catch up. The SEALs were being used to test experimental drugs without their consent? They were expendable? Eden was expendable?
Moving her legs faster, Shylah rounded the corner and hit something hard. Falling backward, she would have hit the ground if strong arms hadn’t wrapped around and caught her.
“Shylah?” Looking up at the sound of Eden’s voice, she saw the concern in his eyes. “What’s wrong? What happened?”
At her silence, Eden’s arms tensed around her before his gaze swung to above her head.
“It was that damn doctor, wasn’t it? Did he grab you again? I’m going to kill that fucker.”
The doctor’s words replayed in Shylah’s head. Everyone was expendable. They had no problem killing people to get to their end result. She couldn’t let Eden find out. They would kill him for sure. He would be a risk to exposing whatever cover-up they had going on here.
Smoothing her features as best she could, Shylah placed her hand on Eden’s arm. “I just left something in the car. I was nervous I’d be late to work because of it.”
She hoped he believed her. Prayed he didn’t hear the quiver in her voice.
Eden’s eyes scoured hers for a moment before touching a lock of hair on her face and pushing it back.
“Are you sure that’s all it is?” Lie. She had to lie. There was no other choice.
“Yes.” She said the word with as much conviction as she could muster. She needed him to believe her words.
“Do you want me to go grab whatever it is from the car for you so you’re not late?”
Shylah almost sagged in relief. He believed her.
“It’s okay, I’ll hurry. Thank you though. I’ll see you tonight.”
Reaching up, Shylah placed a kiss on Eden’s lips before she continued walking but this time at a slower pace.
Eden watched Shylah move down the hall. Something was wrong. She was hiding something from him. He had heard the quiver of fear in her voice and seen the hesitation before answering him.
“Ready to train, Hunter, or you gonna stand and watch her butt all day?”
Wrenching his gaze from Shylah’s retreating form, Eden turned to see Asher heading his way. His friend was slightly shorter than him but just as broad.
“Yeah, let’s go, and I can stare at her butt if I want to. It’s you that can’t.”
Asher turned his head in the direction Shylah had headed. “It’s such a nice butt though.”
Eden went to punch Asher but he dodged it just before it landed.
Chuckling, Asher and Eden started walking toward the training area. “How’s it going with the nurse anyway?”
“Her name’s Shylah, and great. She’s different from the other women I’ve dated. It’s easy with her. Almost too easy. I’m waiting for something to go wrong.”
Asher’s brows went up. “No shit. Well, I wouldn’t over think it. She seems good for you. I mean anyone who can stand being with you for more than an hour deserves a medal in my book.”
This time Eden’s punch to Asher’s shoulder landed but the laugh told Eden that no harm was done.
“Hey, watch it. I need that arm for training. The commander’s been hardcore lately, I can’t be out there with a dead arm.”
That wasn’t a lie. “Yeah, I don’t know what
’s gotten into him.”
Asher shrugged. “I think he’s seeing the results from us being here and wants to know what else we can do. See what our limits are.”
A thought crossed Eden’s mind. “Do you think the progress we’ve made has been too much? Some of our test results have been pretty unbelievable.”
Asher’s eyes met Eden’s. “It’s crossed my mind. The commander wanted us to be part of this program though and I trust him. I won’t question things unless he tells us to.”
Asher was right. The commander was like a father to them. He had been their leader since their team was assembled and they all trusted him with their lives.
Once they arrived at the training grounds, Eden realized Asher had been right to want to be in top form. The commander didn’t hold back, forcing them to push to their absolute limits.
After training, Eden got ready and left for Shylah’s.
Once he arrived, he knocked and waited to see his girl. At the sight of Shylah opening the door, Eden felt the blood rush from his body. This woman did things to him that he couldn’t understand.
Without waiting for a greeting or an invitation inside, Eden stepped into Shylah. Wrapping his arms around her, he pushed her back toward the wall, shutting the door with his foot. At the feel of her soft, womanly curves in his arms, Eden tried to force himself to pull back his basic instincts which was to take her right there and then.
As Shylah gasped at his hands on her body, Eden took advantage, deepening the kiss. A moan released from Shylah’s throat as she pushed her hands beneath Eden’s shirt. Her nails scraped against his bare skin making him so hard he was in physical pain. Placing his hands on her butt, he easily lifted her against his body and pressed himself further into her.
Eden needed her on a primal level. His body begged him to take her, but there was no way their first time was going to be like this. Shylah was different than the other women he’d dated. This needed to be different too.
Uncovering Project Arma Page 2