A SEAL at Heart

by Anne Elizabeth

  “Jack, I, uh, well, we could go to…” She didn’t know what to say to him. Actually, she did kind of hate the apartment, because she couldn’t find any evidence that he’d settled here, made this place his home. What message did it convey if a man never put a nail in the wall? For her, a quiet place of her own was crucial. Somewhere she could let her hair down, take her makeup off, be in her own head without interference, or just plain walk around without clothes. All that was vitally important.

  “Give it a chance, okay?” he said with a frown, standing in the doorway. “It’s not a palace, but it’s where I live.”

  “Sure,” she replied. Her quick smile to reassure him was blocked by the bag of frozen peas. She gave up on comforting him, or even mitigating her faux pas. Instead she concentrated on healing herself.

  “You won’t find any dust,” he joked.

  “Yeah, I remember the Navy is very spick-and-span.” The kitchen had white cabinets, white walls, and a white linoleum floor. The rest of the apartment was off-white or beige. The furniture looked like it had come with the unit: glass table with bamboo chairs, a beige couch, glass coffee table and two matching chairs. All the surfaces were empty. Not even a speck of dust was present.

  Huh, maybe men don’t nest.

  Searching for a sign that he actually was living there and this wasn’t some elaborate hoax, she went into the bedroom, and there she found evidence of the man. Stacked along a whole wall was gear: fins, masks, oxygen tanks, scuba suits, surfboard, cross-country and downhill skis, parachute, gloves, cases that looked like they held guns and ammo, books, and a ton more stuff.

  The closet stood wide open. Lining the floor was a shoe holder with highly polished shoes. On the racks were uniforms, seven shirts—from Hawaiian to button-down—and two formal suits, all in clear dry-cleaning bags. Were those hangers an exact distance apart?

  Crap! She and Jack were very different. He was a neat freak and she had clean clothes piled next to her dresser to be worn, put away, or just stepped over. He’d even put their discarded clothing in a stack.

  Taking herself into his bathroom, she noted his toiletries: moisturizing shampoo, shaving cream, razor, deodorant, Tylenol, and baby oil were lined up on a small plastic tray with an ornate sailboat underneath it. Nothing was in the medicine cabinet, and only toilet paper and bathroom cleaner were stashed underneath the sink.

  Towels and washcloths were folded neatly and stacked in a wicker stand next to the shower. The place was spotless.

  “Do you sleep here every night?” she asked, not believing anyone could be this neat.

  “Pretty much. Do you always snoop in people’s bedrooms and bathrooms?” he quipped back with a smile on his lips.

  “I just needed to make sure you’re not Clark Kent and this is your supersecret identity,” she laughed.

  “I admit it. I’m Batman.” He answered.

  “Wrong comic universe. You’d have to have a bat cave. Seriously though, I’m looking for signs of life.” The words popped out of her mouth before she realized she’d spoken them aloud. For a second he looked shocked and somewhat taken aback. Wounded. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be so…”

  “Critical. Callous. Harsh,” he said, completing her sentence. “What are you looking for?”

  “You.” Her comment was definitive.

  Pushing past him, she walked out of the bathroom and sat on his bed. He stood in the doorway, staring at her.

  She laid the peas on the nightstand and then pointed to the pile on the floor. “This looks and feels like you. The rest of this place is blank. Empty. None of your personality resides anywhere but here.”

  “It’s a rental.” He shrugged. “Besides, I only come here for quiet, and to sleep. Nothing else happens here. Well, rarely happens here.”

  “Do you even have food in your refrigerator?” she asked, seeking further insight into the tacit walls that Jack built to make his boundaries. The protection it provided and convenience was obviously created from necessity, a type of self-preservation. The military shuffled its soldiers all over the world, and it rarely made sense to get attached. She knew this fact from personal experience, but she had never seen someone with such overt behaviors.

  Also, the arm’s-length factor was common in many people who trained themselves to live only a portion of their lives at a time. Jack obviously existed as a single label to fulfill his work. He was a SEAL, and that was his only definition of himself. Psychologically and physically, it wasn’t healthy. This kind of focus usually meant that there were emotional factors held at bay. Few were eager to confront the reason they wanted to live only one part of their life, because if things were rolling along harmoniously, why bother? A compartmentalized life cannot last forever, and Jack would eventually need to expand beyond his professional box. “Yes. Please note the frozen peas.” He nodded in the direction of the nightstand.

  Her gaze swept up his rock-hard body. How many unknown areas do you have hidden away, Jack?

  He rolled his eyes. The silence must have gotten to him. “Give me a break, Laurie. I’m on the road most of the year. There’s frozen vegetables, a couple steaks, and soup, dried fruit and cereal in the cabinet, and beer in the fridge. What else do I need?”

  “Nothing,” she said. Me! Shut up, brain.

  “Man, I can’t believe I’m allowing myself to feel like a dork because I didn’t buy a plant or pin an Eagles poster to the wall.” He sat down next to her. The bed sank and her body shifted toward him.

  Her nostrils flared. The scent of his skin and the heat from his body were drawing her closer. The urge to kiss him and feel his muscles tense beneath her fingers was making her wet.

  He was looking at her with those terminally gorgeous eyes, and her objections were quickly flowing away.

  “Laurie, it’s difficult being this close to you, and not… kissing you, touching you, and feeling you exploring me.”

  Her mouth was moving closer to his. There was no way she could keep her distance. What the hell was she going to do? An antisex shot had not been manufactured that would make her immune to his chemistry.

  “Yes,” he said before their lips locked together.

  “Ouch!” she exclaimed, pulling back from him.

  “Your jaw?” he asked, looking embarrassed. “I’m really sorry.”

  “Which one of you hit me?” Laurie finally asked.

  “Gich. I pulled back. Your body weight on his arm set him off balance. It was sort of too late.” He looked sheepishly at her. “My apology is still valid, though.”

  “Yeah, okay. That was a ‘pulled punch’… damn.” She watched him draw a bottle out of his pocket.

  “This is Vicodin. I’ve gotten punched in the jaw plenty of times, and this is good stuff. I’m not much on pills, so there’s a lot of it.”

  Normally, she wouldn’t have taken it, but she needed something to take the edge off. She swallowed two pills dry. It wasn’t long before the drug’s effects started to make her feel better. “Let’s try that kiss again.”

  Their lips met. Her jaw ached only moderately, and then abruptly the pain was gone. All she felt was his tenderness and the beginnings of her own hunger.

  The kiss transported her, taking her on a magical journey that ignited her senses. She drew her body on top of his. They rolled on the bed—kissing and mashing their bodies together like teenagers.

  She suckled his fingers, tonguing the palm of his hand until his mouth opened, and then laid tiny licks along the tender flesh of his wrist, his elbow, and inside his arm. Jack tasted of soap, a faint hint of salt water, and himself, such a clearly definable sexy male musk, too.

  Thankfully, there was no rush. Not even a tick of time to push them along. Nothing was claiming their attention besides each other.

  She took advantage of it and him, planning to explore every part of him from the tops of his ears to the soft spots between his toes with gentle caressing strokes. She didn’t get the chance.

  Jack had othe
r designs and he took the lead, teasing his fingers along her skin—not quite tickling and still not satisfying her.

  “Jack.”

  “What?” he gasped, apparently surprised and intrigued at her frustrated stare. “Did I do something wrong?

  “Gich taught me to wrestle for my sixth birthday.” She hooked a leg, shifted her hips, and flipped him on his back. Pushing his arms over his head, she pinned him. “I’m good. Very good. So, get to work, or let me play.”

  “I have no doubt Gich did a great job, but… ah,” he said as his hands played over her skin. She arched as he cupped her breasts. Then she leaned down and kissed him. “Could we keep his name out of our more intimate discussions?”

  Their tongues dueled.

  “It’s a bit of a mood killer.”

  Wiggling her hips on his rather exposed body, she felt his cock stir. “Aye, aye, sir.”

  “I am enlisted. There’s no officer here,” he said before leaning up and capturing her lips. “Get it right.”

  She smiled as his hands settled on her hips, urging her back a few more inches. She could feel his cock moving against her, but she wasn’t ready to give in to the temptation yet. There was a lot more exploring to do.

  Slipping out of his grasp, she padded barefoot into the bathroom and found the baby oil. Turning the water on hot, she put the bottle underneath and felt it quickly grow warm. When it was as hot as the water could make it, she grabbed a towel and sprinted back to the bed.

  Jack was still lying sprawled on top of the bed. His eyes crinkled when he saw the oil.

  “Don’t look at me like that. You’re going to have to work for your satisfaction, too.”

  “Hey, I’m ready. I don’t walk from a challenge,” he said. The comment sat well in her gut. She knew he was the step-up type—most SEALs were.

  At this moment, Jack was lying buck naked on a bed, reaching his arms out to touch her, hold her, and make love to her. What woman could deny that invitation?

  Uncapping the bottle of warmed baby oil, she drizzled it along his chest and stomach. Then she abandoned the bottle for those welcoming arms.

  Her body slid along his as she fit herself against him. His lips locked to hers as they rolled around the bed, rubbing the oil back and forth onto each other. Strong fingers rubbed the slippery stuff deeply into her skin before moving to her sensitive areas.

  She relinquished control and allowed him to lay her on her back. Watching him lift her arms above her head, she relaxed back into the pillows and enjoyed his caress of her neck, her shoulders, her arms, and finally her breasts.

  Her back arched off the bed. His tongue teased the sensitive tip and then his lips wrapped themselves around her nipple and he began to suckle… hard then gentle, fast and then oh, so slowly. Watching her reaction until she was on the verge of coming, he released the tortured flesh and moved to her other breast.

  As his lips rained tender kisses along the tip and areola, his fingers caressed a path downward. Her legs opened to him, wanting him to touch her. Strong fingers tenderly parted her vaginal lips and then landed squarely on her clit, stroking firmly and rhythmically. Pleasure and heat flooded her body.

  Laurie could barely contain herself as she lay under him. She bucked against him, wanting to move more, but his weight and strength kept her pinned to the spot.

  “Cum for me, Laurie. Cum with me holding you tight.” His words poured over her like a life-giving elixir, and she blossomed, giving into his breathy wish.

  The climax built—one layer after another—and still his fingers worked her, forcing her body to climb higher. When she couldn’t stand the rubbing, his movement, everything, for another second, her body tightened and she came, screaming his name. “Jack!”

  His fingers stopped moving against her clit and instead pushed inside of her, catching the intense splash of warmth. He lifted it to his mouth and tasted her essence. “Sweet and savory, like you.”

  She shivered as her body gave another mini climax and then she wrapped herself tightly around him. Drawing him closer, she drew in the intoxicating smell of his spicy masculine warmth and then began nibbling on his ear.

  “What’s that, that thing you’re doing?” he asked.

  “What do you think it feels like?” she inquired, smiling as she ran her tongue along the top of his ear and then suckled the lobe.

  “I, uh, like that,” he said softly. His voice was low and the tones drenched her senses like dark melted chocolate. “You’re so sexy!” His hands played over her skin—intimately stroking and rubbing her back.

  “Thought you might like it,” she replied as she continued to tease his ear before moving to the nape of his neck. Licking under his jaw, she lingered on his chin and then kissed him. The rest of the night could have been spent delving between those well-rounded lips and dueling with his devilish tongue, but she needed sex, to feel the length of him pulsing in and out of her.

  She was going to make it unforgettable for him. “Can you get on your back?” As she whispered, she blew tiny puffs of breath along the rim of his ear.

  The earlier enthusiastic romp had brought them teetering on the edge of the bed. It probably was not the ideal place for seduction. Should I say something or just move? Why are the beginnings of a relationship so awkward?

  Jack must have been reading her mind. “Yes, ma’am,” he replied, lifting her in his arms and moving her back to the center of the bed, and laying himself next to her. “I’m ready. Are you?”

  “I’m a woman, Jack. There’s nothing you can do to shock me.” Her smug words brought a gleam in his eye. Ah, challenging a Navy SEAL was like dangling bloody bait before a shark. Someone or something was about to be devoured. Though she wanted to be in charge right now.

  Turning the reading light on, she adjusted the neck of the lamp, shining the bulb on her body. Then she kneeled over him. Shadows danced on the walls. Their lovemaking was performance art.

  Her goal was enlightenment. She wanted them to see each other, the pleasure and the wanting and the needing of these stolen moments.

  Her hands played over his skin, tracing the valleys and peaks of his muscles. He watched her, his entire SEAL focus on her. She could feel the force of his heat and the depth of want and desire coming from his gaze.

  Repeating the pattern with her mouth and tongue had him moving into the motion of her lips. As much as she adored those big biceps and the rock-hard six-pack of his stomach, she wanted his cock deep inside of her. First, in her mouth, and then she wanted to ride him as if she were surfing a wave.

  Teasing the fragile skin around his cock, she let her hair sweep over him again and again without actually taking him into her mouth. The heady smell of him was intoxicating, and she had an overwhelming urge to lick up the beads of precum, those charmingly salty tears of pure male essence, but she had another plan in mind for him right now.

  Pressing between his cock and bottom, she found a spot that could bring more tears weeping. Sucking first one ball and then the other, she rotated back and forth until he was begging her to touch him.

  Hands reached for her and she batted them away. Finally, deciding she had gone far enough, she looked at the engorged cock. It was almost purple with want.

  Crawling on top of him, she lowered herself slowly onto his throbbing member. His cock stretched her as it slid into her warmth. When she was completely seated, she had to pause—the length and breadth of him was almost too much at this angle, and yet she couldn’t bear to lift up and let him go.

  Slowly, she rocked forward. Sensations waylaid her, pleasure spikes that had her reaching for some kind of stability.

  Her flailing hands found his open waiting ones, and her eyes locked onto his gaze. They began to move, together, just rocking back and forth gently. The electricity grew, spiking in her like bolts of lightning.

  Her climax caught her by surprise, making her cry out. Her body posted on Jack’s cock—up and down—drinking in his heady masculine seed, and before sh
e could finish, his hands caught her hips.

  “Please,” he said softly. The look in his eyes was pure need.

  She couldn’t speak through the haze of pleasure. She nodded her head.

  Instantly the rhythm changed to one of long deep penetrating strokes. Her body came again and again as he found the beat that worked. Their bodies slapped together as the friction built, the wet splash growing thicker until it felt as if her body were coming apart. The edge of pain and pleasure mixing together—where one minute it hurt and the next it was sheer inexplicable joy. Just when she was about to tell him she couldn’t take anymore, his body spent its final drops.

  His shout was loud and harsh as his hips ground into hers. Laurie’s body felt as if it had blown apart and the pieces, along with her ability for conscious thought, were floating in space. Never in her life had she imagined such a feeling existed.

  Jack lifted her hips and withdrew his cock before he laid her gently next to him. Then he pulled the edges of the comforter over them, cuddling her close.

  Light snores that were already coming from his mouth made her grin. The sound was comfortable, and even her aching jaw couldn’t distract her from sleep.

  Relaxation invaded her mind’s wanderings. The whole world slipped away into a blissful and very peaceful darkness.

  ***

  Laurie’s legs felt like limp spaghetti as she tried unsuccessfully to stand on them. She landed on the floor, toppling several stacks of books in the process.

  A head popped over the edge of the bed. Jack grinned at her. “Are you okay?”

  Heat bloomed in her face. “Yep. My jaw is starting to ache again, but nothing else is hurt.” She laughed at herself, then grabbed a book off the floor and looked at the title, The Art of War, by Sun Tzu. Grabbing another book, she read the title aloud. “Team of Rivals. Isn’t this a biography of Abraham Lincoln?”

  He rolled onto his back and looked at her upside down. “Yeah, I’m a biography hound, especially for philosophers, political or military leaders, and inventors. I like to read about the way people outthink others, using quickness of mind or other resources.” As she stretched her arms farther, she dislodged a stack of boxes.