Heart of a SEAL

by Dixie Lee Brown

  She flipped on a lamp by the bed and pawed through a department store sack for something to sleep in, then changed her mind, grabbing a new toothbrush instead. There was barely enough room to turn around in the bathroom, but she managed to wash her face, brush her teeth and comb her hair without claustrophobia setting in. Her mind was a whirl of questions and regret. Luke was attracted to her—Sally had no doubt about that. And she couldn’t imagine anybody more right for her. So what was the problem? To find out, she’d have to put on her big-girl panties and have a grown-up conversation.

  Sally groaned, picturing the very small swaths of fabric she’d purchased for panties earlier in the day. I guess they’ll work just as well. She pulled her long-sleeved T-shirt off, unsnapped her bra and let it slide down her arms, then unbuttoned her jeans and kicked them off as she moved toward the bed. Luke’s duffel sat at the foot, and she plucked the same light blue, button-up shirt from its place at the top of the bag and slipped her arms in, letting it settle comfortably around her shoulders. Securing the front and smoothing her hair, which fell in waves down her back, Sally returned to the door and pulled it open, stepping into the front room just as Luke turned from the sink, a glass of wine in each hand.

  Her smile fell back in place and she held it, even when something unidentifiable flared in Luke’s eyes and a muscle flexed in his jaw.

  “Mind if I wear your shirt again?” She stepped toward him.

  His gaze swept over her body before he frowned and seemed to finally remember the wine he held. He offered her one of the glasses. “I don’t usually let women wear my shirts, but I’ll make an exception for you.”

  Sally accepted the wine, expecting a smile, a wink or, at the very least, his trademark grin. He’d told her this morning, in no uncertain terms, he appreciated how she looked in his shirt. In the bathroom at the motel, she’d felt the evidence of his arousal firsthand. Yet, he seemed almost annoyed with her now, his gaze wandering away as he brought the wineglass to his lips. Their banter, returning to the cabin, had been light and easy…intimate…exciting. Then, in the space of a kiss, everything had changed.

  For the first time in nearly twenty-four hours, Sally felt safe…because Luke was with her. Because he cared about her and Jen and had brought them to a place of refuge. At least for tonight, she could rest easier, and she’d wanted this night with Luke…for a very long time.

  The evidence of the miles that separated them was subtle, but Sally felt it in every nerve and synapse. Emotions tingled across her skin like small bursts of electricity, which was probably why she ignored her better judgment and reached out to touch Luke’s forearm. From the way he jumped, he must have felt it too.

  Dark eyes settled on her. With no way to read what he was thinking, Sally stepped into him, raising her lips to touch his, absorbing the heady taste of the merlot still lingering there.

  Luke responded, capturing her mouth with undisguised hunger…for a few seconds before his jaw tensed, and he quickly stepped away, walking toward the couch that sat in the middle of the room. Over his shoulder, his voice sounded dry and raspy. “Let’s sit down. We should talk.”

  Sally turned and watched him retreat. Great. What every girl wants to hear on her first real date. Let’s talk? At least she was starting to catch on—he did have something on his mind, and her heart told her she’d jumped in blind again, trusting him. With emotions racing to make a fool of her, she wasn’t entirely sure she wanted to hear what he had to say. Gone was the Luke who’d proposed to her earlier in the day, replaced by a man who apparently wasn’t comfortable even looking at her. Anger surfaced, and she shook her head. She set her glass on the counter and placed her hands on her hips. How was she going to get out of this one without having her heart shattered?

  When Luke reached the couch and turned, it was obvious he’d expected her to follow, and surprise widened his eyes for an instant. His glance dropped to where her hands sat at her waist, before his gaze met hers. “Sally…” Without taking his eyes from hers, he bent to place his wineglass on the coffee table in front of the couch. “Something wrong?” A tentative grin appeared but didn’t dim the caution in his eyes.

  Too little, too late. Sally drew a tired breath. “Seriously, Luke? Don’t you think we should start a relationship…before you break up with me?” A short laugh, shamefully close to hysteria, escaped her, and she dropped her gaze to the floor.

  “What are you—?” He took a step toward her.

  Quickly, Sally raised her hands, hoping to convince him to stay where he was. “You know what? It’s okay. For whatever reason, you’ve changed your mind about wanting to be with me. I don’t even want to know why. Let’s just be glad you realized it before we did something crazy.” She dropped her hands and backed away, turning and breaking into a jog, desperate to reach the bedroom before her tears betrayed her.

  One stride from the seclusion of the other room, Luke reached her, lifting her off her feet and pulling her against his muscled body. A heartbeat later, his arms cushioned her impact as they collided with the sturdy bedroom door.

  Giving her no time to collect her breath, Luke covered her mouth, his tongue demanding entry between her lips, effectively stopping any arguments she’d thought to voice. Her hands, pushing for space between them, soon fisted in his T-shirt to pull him closer as he branded her with his scorching kiss. He positioned his hips against her abdomen, and the full length of his arousal pinned her to the door. She reveled in his hard thickness and arched against him, causing a chain reaction of grinding bodies and groping hands.

  His mouth left hers to push the blue shirt far enough out of the way to bare one breast. He sucked the taut nipple between his teeth, scraping it teasingly. Sally hissed and reached for the waistband of his jeans, undid the button and threw open the zipper. Encased in the black cotton briefs he wore, his shaft pushed through the opening she’d made, and she gripped him through the fabric, her fingers barely able to meet as she squeezed.

  Luke tore his lips from her breast and regret marred his features. “Aw hell, babe. Let’s slow this down for a minute.” He gripped her elbows, took a step back and held her at arm’s length. “Where did you get the crazy idea I was breaking up with you?”

  In the grip of a lust more powerful than she’d ever imagined, Sally stared at him blankly for a moment, willing her brain to catch up. She shook her head, trying to remember anything that had transpired before the last two minutes. A self-conscious laugh escaped and brought a relieved smile from Luke.

  “Believe me, that’s the last thing on my mind.” He released one elbow and brushed the hair back from her eyes.

  “But you…you got all distant on me. You walked away.” She pointed at him accusingly. “You said we needed to talk. That’s never a good sign. I figured you finally realized what a bad deal you’d made.” Sally clung to his smile, savoring the love that shone from his eyes. “If you’re not looking for a way out of this, what do we need to talk about?”

  He cocked his head and looked into her eyes. “Babe, I told you how I feel about you. That wasn’t just some line I made up to get you in the sack. I don’t want out of this.”

  “What then?”

  Luke stepped closer. “After we left Daniel’s cabin tonight, I started thinking about the way I’ve been acting. Pressuring you. Wanting you to make a commitment you’re obviously not ready to make. Asking you to marry me. Buying condoms. Shit! That was a douchebag thing to do. Hell, it was only this morning you forgave me for my last stunt. I need to know you want this night together as much as I do. If you’re not ready, I’ll wait as long as it takes. That’s a promise.”

  Too good to be true—the words flashed on the screen of her mind in neon orange, a last-ditch warning that she fully intended to ignore. Sally caressed Luke’s cheek as she dismissed any remaining doubts about the man who held her heart in his hands. “But I do—I am. I don’t want to wait. I mean—pa
rt of me doesn’t even believe you’re here, much less that you want to stay. But I think I could get used to the idea.”

  Luke’s smile brought a sparkle to his eyes. “It’s about time you realized we’re meant to be.” He reached for her, lifting her against him until her shoulders were even with his and then wrapped himself around her until she couldn’t tell where she ended and he began.

  Despite the events of the past twenty-four hours and the hard truth that she might be on the run for the rest of her life, Sally couldn’t hold back an exultant laugh as she flung her arms around his neck. Truly free of regret for the first time in years, she leaned close to his ear. “I hope I live up to your overactive imagination.”

  He pulled back and met her gaze, all seriousness. “You’re so much more than I ever imagined.” His voice rasped and sent a shiver of anticipation through her as his lips captured hers, igniting a fire deep within her belly.

  Chapter Twelve

  Luke let her body slide down his, then scooped her up, one arm under her knees. She turned the knob on the bedroom door, and he carried her to the foot of the bed. Carefully, as warranted for the most precious cargo he’d ever carried, he set her on bare feet. His gaze swept over her. Damn, she was beautiful—and he’d never look at his blue shirt the same way again.

  His hands moved to the buttons and started undoing them one at a time. He could tell the instant she became nervous, uncertain. She took a step back.

  “Don’t move,” he whispered. “You wore this for me, didn’t you?”

  A faint nod accompanied her slight smile.

  Finishing the last of the buttons, Luke softly caressed the underside of one of her breasts, where the fabric had fallen open. “You do a number on me in that shirt—no doubt about it. But I’ve got a hunch this is nothing compared to what’s underneath.” He tugged on the shirttails teasingly. The lamp, near the head of the bed, provided just enough light to see desire darken her irises.

  Luke stepped toward her and, with a flick of his fingers at her shoulders, the shirt slid down her arms, landing in a blue mound of fabric behind her. He started to reach for her, then dropped his hands to his sides. Mesmerized, his gaze moved slowly over her, and the rightness of the moment amazed him. Perfection. Her long strands of wavy brown hair hugged the flawless innocence of her face, of which the focal point at the moment was her larger-than-usual, luminescent blue eyes. Surely she could see clear to his soul. Her small, rounded breasts and firm, flat stomach gave way to a tiny triangle of fabric—light blue—that barely hid her womanhood and disappeared between strong, shapely legs that Luke could almost feel wrapped around him.

  She was exquisite in a world that had stopped making sense.

  Sally took the step that separated them and tugged upward on the bottom of his T-shirt, her lips curved in a playful smile. “Your turn. I’m not going to be the only one in the room who’s naked.”

  She didn’t have to tell him more than once. He reached over his shoulder, grabbed a handful of shirt and peeled the garment off over his head and arms. Then he wadded it into a ball and, not caring where it landed, tossed it behind him. That brought a laugh from her, and he was just about to grab her in his arms and satisfy his burning need to touch her everywhere when she stopped him short.

  “Don’t move,” she said in a sexy whisper that froze him to the floor.

  Luke recognized his words of only a few minutes ago. She was turning the tables on him again, and hell if he wasn’t inclined to let her do any damn thing she wanted. Although, considering he’d been hard and ready for a while now, this would be an exercise in self-control. He took a slow, deep breath and fisted his hands as she placed hers on his chest.

  Sally skipped her fingers lightly over his pecs until his nipples peaked in eager anticipation, sending sharp pangs of need straight to his groin. She smiled in smug satisfaction when a groan tore from his throat. Any sign of humor disappeared, however, when she spotted his scar.

  Nearly dead center, just below his heart, the bullet wound still ached if he pushed himself too hard. And he’d done a lot of that while trying to regain his strength after the surgery that gave him back the use of his legs.

  Sally pressed her palm lightly over the scar, and he sensed her starting to pull back. Ignoring her directive to stay still, he tilted her head and gazed into her troubled eyes. Tears threatened, and he had no choice. He had to put a stop to this before she saw the rest of his body. The scar beneath her hand was only one of many. There’d be a time for full disclosure…but not tonight.

  He bent slowly and kissed her lips. Then he framed her face with his hands, capturing her complete attention. “Tonight, we’re looking ahead to our future. You, me and Jen. The past is behind us. It can’t hurt us anymore unless we let it.” He gently drew her hand away from his scar.

  Sally’s gaze flicked briefly to the rutted and pulled skin on his chest, then she firmed her jaw as she blinked away her sadness, and her fingers traced circles down his arms to his wrists. Her eyes shone with warmth and caring that lit up dark places within him—places that had known only emptiness for a long time.

  Small hands landed on his open waistband, and a mischievous grin took up residence on her full lips. “Aren’t you forgetting something?” She tugged his jeans down a couple of inches before she stroked teasingly around his engorged shaft, never touching him but managing to set every nerve on fire.

  “No, ma’am. I’d never forget something so…essential.” Luke pushed his jeans down below his knees and sat on the edge of the bed to unlace his boots, kick them off and jam his socks inside. Sally watched him intently as he stepped out of his jeans and briefs. Color flowed freely into her smooth cheeks when she grasped the narrow bands of lace at the top of her panties and stripped them down her legs, dropping them on the floor.

  The knowledge that she obviously wasn’t an expert in midnight trysts with men turned up the heat on his possessive nature. He wanted her all to himself when it came to shedding clothes. Her uncertainty appeared in her body language and her slight hesitation, yet she was willing to place herself in his hands. That meant the fucking world to him.

  He quickly reached for her and pulled her against him, pressing the full length of his erection into the softness of her belly. Covering her mouth with his, he kissed her hard until she was breathless and his restraint was stretched to the breaking point. “Sorry, babe. It’s been a while since…do you happen to know where those condoms ended up?” Luke moved around the side of the bed and began searching through store sacks.

  Sally kneed her way onto the bed and stretched on her side, bracing her head on one arm. “How long has it been?”

  He stopped and looked at her. “Well, not that this is appropriate first-time sex small talk, but…it was about a month before I met you.”

  She chuffed a laugh. “That’s not so long. Try ten years.”

  His first instinct was to laugh at the improbability of that statement, but the acute embarrassment that washed over Sally’s face told him she hadn’t just pulled that number out of the air for the sake of topping his. And she wasn’t talking about someone else. This was an incredibly personal confession. It was also too much of a coincidence that ten years would place her last sexual partner at about the time Jen was conceived. Even if he couldn’t feel her anguish from where he knelt, the SEALs had taught him to discount anything that resembled a coincidence.

  Luke had heard pieces of whispered conversation between Rachel and Sally, and he’d been the cause of their dialogue abruptly ending when they’d become aware of his presence. He’d had his suspicions about what they’d been discussing, but he’d respected Sally’s privacy…until now, but damned if he didn’t want to know what had happened to her that turned her off men for ten years.

  He renewed his efforts to find the elusive condoms, finally locating them at the bottom of one of the sacks, and tossing them on the nightst
and by the bed as he rose to his feet. Carefully composing his expression so Sally, hopefully, wouldn’t notice how much her admission had affected him, he climbed onto the bed beside her. He slipped his arm around her waist and laid her down amid the pillows with him, gently smoothing back the hair that had fallen into her eyes. “Let me get this straight. Ten years ago, you had sex so incredible you knew every other man in the world would suffer by comparison…so rather than damage their egos, you’ve just been waiting until I came along? Well…no pressure there.” Luke rubbed the back of his neck and let out a harsh breath.

  The sweet smile he’d hoped to evoke spread across her lips, and he kissed both corners of her mouth before moving to her ear. Oh, he’d given her a pass—a way out without having to explain herself and a situation that he suspected had been just the opposite of the scenario he described. The anger that still stirred in his belly correlated to whatever had happened to Sally, and he’d wager it hadn’t been good. Eventually, he’d find out what it was.

  Luke slid his hand up her side until he covered her breast, his palm rubbing over her pebbled nipple, the sensation hardening his shaft even more, and he pressed the throbbing member against her. A growl worked from his throat as he took her breast into his mouth, his tongue running back and forth across the swollen tip.

  Sally shivered in his arms, crooking her leg over his hip and pulling herself tighter. Luke guided her leg forward until he draped it over his shoulder, using it to push off and move his body down hers. Slowly, he kissed his way to her belly button, pausing to thrust his tongue in and out of the small cavity, a precursor to the hot, tight receptacle waiting for him only a few inches away. With an impatient snarl, he continued his exploration to the small rise of her stomach and then to the patch of hair that led to her folds. Her soft moans encouraged him as he cupped her delicious ass, pulling her toward him while he positioned himself between her thighs.