“Well, it may have more to do with your change of clothes and makeup. You look a little more alive, don’t you think?”
Luke saw me for me without all of that. She allowed the thought to slip to the front of her mind before scolding herself for it.
Almost a month had gone by since she’d seen him.
It had been four weeks of sulking while simultaneously being excited about her future film with her dad. Harrison’s studio would be supporting the project, and they had an expected release date for 2020.
She’d spent three years hiding only to end up right back where she’d started, but maybe she’d needed that time away to figure out who she was and who she wanted to be.
“Are you ever going to tell me what happened when we were on break that led to”—she waved her hand in the air—“the new you?” She smirked. “I mean, the old you?”
“Don’t you need to be with the crew getting dressed?” Eva arched a brow, hoping her friend would back off.
“I’m not filming today, and you know that, brat. By the way, I know all of your secrets. What is it that you’re keeping from me?” Her arms crossed, as if she could intimidate her.
Yeah, well, she’d been surrounded by Navy SEALs and men who wanted to kill her, so an actress wouldn’t be knocking her off her game anytime soon.
“Nothing happened.” She blew a loose strand of hair off her face and lifted her sunglasses for a brief moment to catch Jayme’s eyes. It was cool outside, but still sunny.
They had started filming at Virginia Beach last week, trying to keep the show as authentic as possible. The U.S. Naval Special Warfare Command was located at Dam Neck, one mile from where Eva sat. Being so close to real SEALs was a harsh reminder of the SEAL she missed.
“Of course something happened.” Her fingernails tapped at her pink lips. “At least tell me when you’re bringing me to California so I can see Harrison.”
“Harrison doesn’t date actresses. Even wonderful ones like you.”
“Dumb rule.”
“Keeps him honest,” she said and grinned. “Now—”
“Holy shit. Who is that guy talking to the guard?” Jayme’s mouth fell open as she shielded her eyes like a visor. “Did we hire a new guy for the show? He sure as hell looks the part. He has the look of a SEAL.” A flash of excitement buzzed in her eyes. A new conquest.
Eva looked over her shoulder, and her heart stuttered in her chest.
Luke.
My Luke.
What the hell?
A tremor of fear shot down her spine. If he was here, did that mean she was in danger again? Why else would he be on set? She hadn’t seen him since she’d slammed the bathroom door in his face in Monaco—a regret that filled her every day because she hated how things had ended.
Maybe she had a second chance to say goodbye now?
Goodbye: such a painstakingly horrible word.
He was wearing shades, but she could still feel his gaze burning straight toward her as his lips stopped moving.
God, he looked so sexy in his jeans and dark brown leather jacket.
“He’s mine. I have dibs,” Jayme announced as Luke headed toward them.
Eva turned back toward her friend and slipped off her sunglasses. Her heart was a slow drum beat now. It was amazing how everything seemed to slow in a moment like this—a moment when your world spins on its axis and you can’t tell which way is up.
“He says he knows you,” the guard said from behind.
“Oh yeah, he knows me,” Jayme said with a hint of sexy curled around every one of her words. She played with her blonde tendrils and sunk her teeth into her lip.
“Eva,” the guard responded, and Jayme’s eyes flicked to her, widening in astonishment.
I can do this. She tightened her hand around her glasses at her side as she stood and turned. “Yeah, I know him.” She tried to hide the breathy tone of surprise in her voice.
“Next time, Eva, let me know if we’ll be getting a visitor.” The guard eyed Luke and then shook his head and walked away.
“I’m Jayme.”
Luke kept his focus on Eva despite Jayme’s extended hand.
“Is something wrong?” Eva cut straight to the point, her heart rate now increasing with Luke only two feet away.
His gaze moved to Jayme, and he said, “Can we have a minute?”
“Oh, sure.” She pressed a hand to Eva’s shoulder. “You know where to find me if you need me.”
Luke removed his sunglasses and held them at his side, and she crossed her arms as if she could shield herself from the heat of his stare. “What are you doing here? How’d you know I was in Virginia?”
“We need to talk.” The pinch of his brows and the set of his jaw had her taking a step back.
“Am I in danger?”
His mouth tightened and he shook his head.
“Is someone I know in trouble?”
“No.”
“Then I can’t think of anything we have to talk about.” She wanted to look away. Hell, she wanted to run away. But she couldn’t seem to get herself to move. She’d been fantasizing about this moment as if her life were a movie.
But, as he loved to point out to her, this was real life, and in real life, not everyone got their happily ever after.
“We need to talk.”
Her shoulders slumped forward. “Fine, but not here.” She couldn’t stop herself from giving in. “We’re about to start shooting. My rental? Seven?”
He gave a stiff nod. “That works.”
“I assume you know where I’m staying since you found me here?”
The gentle curve of his lips into a smile had her stomach dropping.
“Okay, then. You, uh, should go.”
He stayed before her, quietly holding her eyes, creating a strong ache in her chest—a tight grip around her heart.
“Goodbye,” she said, hating her use of the word, but still too confused to know what to do.
“See you soon.” He finally turned, stealing one last glimpse at her before exiting, and it took all her strength not to buckle to her knees.
“Holy mother of all things—”
“Jayme.” Eva pivoted at the sound of her voice and clutched her friend’s arms for balance. “You’re not supposed to be here.”
“I was hanging around. I couldn’t miss an epic kiss.” She huffed. “Uh, why wasn’t there an epic kiss?”
Her eyelids tightened at the memory of Luke’s mouth on hers. “Because there never can be. We can’t be together.”
“But you want to be, don’t you?”
“I-I don’t know.”
Chapter Thirty
He swallowed his heart, which had found its way into his throat at the sound of Eva’s front door opening. He rose, tucking his hands in his pockets like a nervous kid, like the time he’d asked a girl to junior prom.
“When I said seven, I meant you could meet me outside.” Her brows rose and fell as she tossed her keys on the kitchen counter and moved with slow steps further inside. “I’d ask you how you got in here,” she said softly while stopping a few feet away, “but I should know better than to waste such a question.” Her lips twitched at the edges, as if she wanted to smile, but resisted.
“Sorry to bust in here on you, but I didn’t want to take a chance that a door would come between us this time.”
She peeled off her jacket and flung it onto the little two-person kitchen table off to the side. “And what is it that you came here to say?” Arms crossed her chest as she attempted to hold her ground, but he knew her legs had the same tremble as her bottom lip. “Is it a coincidence we’re in Virginia together?”
“No. I would’ve come sooner, but I’ve been out of the country.”
“Oh. Another mission?”
“Yeah.” He filled his cheeks with air. He’d come all this way and spent the last ten hours finding the right words, only to lose them all. “You’re Everly again, huh?” he asked, ditching his script.
“I still go by Eva. Always have.” Her gaze flicked up for a moment in thought. “But yeah, I’m me again.”
“Well, if you’re happy—”
“Oh yeah, I’m like the cherry on top of a sundae. I’m perfect. Really happy.” Her voice strained as her chest slowly lifted and fell.
“Good.” He removed his hands from his denim pockets and wrapped one around the nape of his neck. “So, uh, did I ever say thank you—you know, for everything you did? Most people wouldn’t have handled the situation how you did. It takes a lot of courage and—”
“That’s why you’re here?” She crossed the short space between them and elevated her chin, her arms falling like weights at her sides. “You’re here to give me a pat on the back and a job-well-done speech?” A lash of anger bit into her words, but he could take it.
He deserved it, in his mind.
“Why wait a month to tell me this? Why not just send an email?” She started to turn, but he captured her wrist and spun her around.
Her eyes dropped to his fingers wrapped over the silk of her sleeve, and he could feel her body heat beneath his palm despite the material. She slowly dragged her hazel irises up to find his, and he knew she’d see what he felt on the inside.
“What do you really want?” The velvety rasp from her lips had his muscles tensing.
“I can’t stop thinking about you,” he admitted, not letting go of her arm because he’d craved nothing else for the last four weeks but being near her.
She turned her cheek, her eyes falling to the carpet. “Has anything changed? No. You’re still you.” Her eyes darkened when they touched his. “And now to make it worse, I’m me again. I’m in the spotlight, and so—”
“I know, and now I hold even more responsibility at work.”
She faked a quick laugh and attempted to pull away from him, but damned if he would lose his hold of her.
“Luke,” she seethed, and he finally released his grasp. She whirled around and stalked toward the sliding glass doors that looked out onto the beach.
“I was hoping to take you out for a cup of coffee. If you don’t hate me when your drink is done, we can upgrade to dinner. That’s how first dates go these days, right? I’m out of practice.”
Her palms landed on the door, and she bowed her head, touching the glass. “Why are you doing this? Haven’t you done enough? Have you really come here to hurt me?”
“I’m not here to hurt you.”
She lifted her head and looked back at him. “But that’s what will happen when you leave, when you disappear from my life,” she said, emotion cracking through now.
He rubbed at the ache in his chest. “Ninety percent.”
“What?”
He angled his head and swallowed a gulp of air. “That’s the divorce rate for first marriages as a SEAL, especially guys from DEVGRU. Well, according to Google.”
“And were you part of Team Six?” Her eyes thinned, the familiar curiosity he loved about her bubbling there.
He took a hesitant step her way and gave a quick lift of the chin to say yes.
“It’s like the spouses are serving, too, I guess,” she whispered.
A fist tightened in his core.
“If you have the guts to do what you do, then you have to let the people in your life decide if they have what it takes, too.”
He dropped his head but remained quiet.
“If they understand the risks and the challenges, you need to let them make the choice for themselves. You can’t make it for them. And that’s what you’ve done with your rule, not just for you, but for your team.”
“I know.” He swallowed. “My life has been classified for as long as I can remember, and I’ve never been able to share who I am with anyone not in the same boat as me.”
“So why are you doing it now?”
“Because you’re not just anyone.”
Her eyes fell shut, her lower lip quivering.
“But . . .” He needed her to know the gritty details before he could continue. He knew Eva understood the dangers for her—but did she fully grasp everything? “When my teammate died two years ago—the only married guy—his wife witnessed his beheading online. I felt responsible for his death because I’d sent him alone on the op.”
It’d been Will’s call, but what if Luke had said no? Now that he knew Will was a traitor, it had him second-guessing every op he’d ever been on.
“We buried an empty casket. Never recovered the body. Still haven’t found his killer. His wife, well, I’m not sure if she’ll ever be able to move on, and that’s on me.”
She opened her eyes and reached for his forearm, the gesture causing his lids to lower lazily toward her polished nails. “That’s not your fault.”
“Asher was his replacement. I think it’s put a chip on his shoulder, knowing he had to fill one of my best friends’ shoes. What I’m trying to say is what we do is hard. Really fucking hard, but I think it’s harder on the people we care about.” He looked up.
Her mouth rounded, but she didn’t say anything.
“Would you come outside with me?”
“On the beach?”
“Yeah.”
“Um, okay.” She pointed to the glass door. “We can go out that way.”
“I know.” He shook his head. “How do you think I got in?” He grabbed her coat and helped her slide it on before opening the door. “You need to upgrade your security while you’re here.”
“It’s a rental.”
“And it’s your life,” he said while shrugging on his jacket and stepping back to let her exit first.
“And it’s a nice place, by the way.” He reached for her hand once they stepped out onto the sand, and she took it, which dispelled some of the concern he had that she’d forgive him.
“A perk of being Everly again.” She peered at him and smiled, and he tightened his grasp on her palm, guiding her closer to the beach.
The sun was slipping from the sky, casting a sheet of orange light across the surface of the water. “The water always calms me. Same for a lot of my buddies. Maybe it’s because we’ve had to learn to operate in it—I don’t know, but something about it helps me think.”
“Yeah? You have a lot on your mind?”
“Just one thing.” They edged closer, the crest of the waves drawing his eye.
“And what’s that?”
“I’m thinking you already know.” He shifted to face her, repositioning their bodies so he could maintain his grasp on her hand.
“Maybe a girl needs to hear the words.”
He gulped. “You want to hear them?”
“More than anything.”
He squeezed her hand. “I have seven days off before I go back to work, and I was kind of hoping we could spend that time together to help you decide if I’m someone you possibly—”
“I don’t need seven days to know.” She reached for his cheek and brushed the back of her hand over his clean-shaven jaw. “I’m afraid of losing you though. So, I need to know you’re not going to disappear on me again.” A light smile touched her lips. “Aside from missions to save the world, of course.” Liquid pooled at the corners of her eyes.
He shifted his face so his lips could brush against the back of her hand. “I’ll make the promise under one condition.”
“Yeah?”
“Did you bring any fuzzy socks with you to Virginia?”
She arched a questioning brow.
“I’ve been dying to see you dance around in them. Hell, I haven’t been able to get the thought out of my head since you mentioned it.”
She cry-laughed. “Really?”
“Well, yeah, but I’d prefer you to be in the socks and nothing else.”
“What happened to the coffee?”
He clenched his teeth, fighting the desire to grab hold of her and kiss her. “If you insist, but I’d really like to—”
Her lips swallowed his words, and the sweet taste of her tongue in his mouth had him groa
ning as he lifted her into his arms.
“Thank you,” she cried against his lips a moment later.
“For what?” He kept his hold on her but leaned back to find her eyes.
“For not being an idiot and making me wait until I was old and gray to come to your senses.”
He laughed and brushed his lips over her cheek and found her ear. “You make me crazy; you know that, right?”
She arched against him as if in desperate need, mirroring his own desires.
“What made you come to your senses?” She ran her fingers through his hair, and he slowly guided her feet to the sand.
“All this time I had worried that caring and worrying about you would take my mind off missions and put my team at risk, but in the last four weeks I discovered the opposite. Missing you is so much more dangerous. I couldn’t think straight this last month.”
Her arms looped around his neck, and she pulled herself against him. “I’ve actually been able to write a lot with you gone.”
“Really? So, you want me to leave?”
“Don’t you know writers tend to get creative inspiration from heartache?” She pressed a quick kiss to his lips.
“So, which would you prefer?”
“Mm. No competition.” Her lip wedged between her teeth, and he wanted to taste the flavor of her gloss again. “Happiness all day long.”
“Are you sure?”
Her mouth swept close to his, and he could feel her soft breath dance across his skin. “I’m prepared to show you just how sure I am.” She smiled and he kissed the crook of her lips.
“And are you really going to throw out your rules for me?”
“Honey, the second we met, they went out the fucking window; I just didn’t know it yet.”
She laughed. “What do we do now, Skywalker?”
“Socks, and only socks, Hollywood.”
Her gaze darted to the sand as if a moment of indecision had seized her, and it had his heart folding.
“What’s wrong?”
“I’m going to be shooting a movie with my dad, and now that I’m Everly—what does that mean for you . . . for us?”
Relief struck him. This he could handle. “I’d be happy to take on an alias. How about Luke Cross?”
Finding His Mark (Stealth Ops Book 1) Page 22