He brushed a kiss at the edge of her lips, rosier after his harsh kiss. “There’s no one else, Marg. I can’t give you a mansion or the things you’re used to. Your star is rising. Hooking up with me might make it fall.”
Her lids closed. “Pat, modeling is a way to pay the bills. I don’t know why everyone keeps looking at my future and think they know what I want, but I’ll be the one to decide how far I want to go and how long I want to stay in the industry.”
She mollified him. Marg didn’t have sparkling dreams blotting out her good sense.
“Stop,” she said, watching him closely. “You think too much. Say it out loud.”
Sliding a long, warm kiss across her lips, ending with a quick, gentle bite, he said, “If you knew what I was thinking, we’d be back in that lodge.”
“But instead, you’re going to be all noble and make me wait, aren’t you?”
He grinned, the first real smile he’d had in months. “Probably.” He bit her shoulder just below the helmet, his hands sliding dangerously close to the fullness of her breasts. “I’ve learned patience is an art. How else can I make sure I find my target?”
A wicked grin pulled at her lips. With a sensual cadence, she whispered. “It should be easy to see, it’s dripping wet and aching to have you.”
Pat took a step away and rammed his hands in his jean pockets to adjust himself. First part of the ride was going to be damn uncomfortable.
This woman surprised him every time they hooked up. She appeared so sweet, so beautiful and graceful, but inside of her lurked something he wanted, and wanted bad. More than making love to her, more than appreciating her beauty, she offered something more important than anything else, a chance to prove himself. He wasn’t like his father. He’d never be an unfaithful drunk. For that reason, he kept a rigid control on every move he made. Every action. Every decision.
Marg pegged him right. He spent a lot of time in his own mind, his personal code of conduct strict and unwavering. It’s why he needed to be a SEAL. He needed the Navy as much as they needed him.
“Pat?” Marg waved her hand. “Earth to Patrick.”
He coursed her body with a gaze and then shoved his helmet over his head and mounted the bike.
“You okay?” she asked.
He nodded and started the bike. When she gave a little whoot of excitement, he grinned and turned his head. “Ready to ride?”
She wrapped her arms around his body, and his internal temperature jumped ten degrees.
“Go fast,” she trilled.
“No, Marg.”
She squeezed him. “Yes, Pat, go fast. Really, really fast.”
He chuckled and shook his head.
“Do it,” she yelled. She might come from a classy family, but the wildness in her wanted out.
“Hang on tight.”
“I won’t let go.” She cinched her arms around his waist.
Patrick’s jaw stretched with a smile. No matter what he could or couldn’t offer her, he hoped she’d never let go.
Torqueing the gears, they shot down the road taking corners with a deep lean, their bodies like one.
Chapter Thirty-Two
“You gonna just stand there, or help her?” Thane asked, stopping beside Pat to watch Marg argue with her small tent.
The tent looked like it currently had the advantage.
Pat grinned. They stood, arms crossed, shaking their heads. “She told me to back off when I offered to help.”
“In woman speak that means, I need help,” Thane said.
“Not when it comes to Marg.”
Strong winds blew onshore as the sun hung in the five pm sky. The tide rolled a hundred feet offshore and the beach looked like a small city with a line of tents and trailers camped end to end. Each trailer had at least a couple Quads patiently waiting to be set free on the dunes behind them. Pat intended on renting a couple for him and Marg tomorrow.
Their stop in San Bernardino only lasted fifteen minutes. The garage said they could fix the Mercedes and she’d have it back in a week. He’d make sure to go with her when she picked it up. He didn’t want her getting ripped off.
“Nice view,” Thane said as Marg bent over. Her gorgeous ass globed like two perfect moons concealed by her shorts, topped with her man-shattering legs.
“Plenty of women that way,” he said, pointing. “You didn’t want her. Your time limit is up.”
Thane popped a brow. “Sounds like you’ve finally come to your sen…”
Thane cracked up and Pat broke out laughing as a gust of wind blew in and turned her tent into a kite. Marg ran down the beach chasing the runaway abode.
“Looks like a damsel in distress.” Thane nudged him. “Looks like an opportunity to me.”
“I’ll let her tough it out a little more, then she won’t yell at me for helping.” He scuffed the sand with his bare foot.
“She’s pretty sweet,” Thane said, and then raised his hands in defense. “I’m just saying.”
“You’d know, wouldn’t ya?”
“Hey, she’s a great gal, but I told ya, I’m not interested in permanent.” Thane didn’t often look embarrassed. “It was a one-night stand.” He cleared his throat and muttered, “One helluva one night stand.”
“Don’t rub it in, asshole.” Pat paused to reflect what his mind couldn’t erase. “And what if I’m sloppy seconds?”
Thane gripped his neck. “Bullshit. You don’t wanna hear this, but I’ll say it anyway. I’m never going to forget being with her. That’s the truth. Live with it. But when she looked at me the first time, it was inquisitiveness. When she looked at you, her world collapsed to just you, like a nuclear atom. That means something, buddy.”
He didn’t know whether to believe that or not.
Two young women wandered down the beach flaunting flat stomachs and bikinis. “Think it’s time for me to make some new friends,” Thane said.
The girls stopped and waited for Thane. He dove in like they were old friends, wrapping a muscled arm around each of them. The girls were laughing within seconds. Score!
Pat watched Marg drag her tent back to its starting point. Plenty of women lay on the beach soaking in the last rays of the day or strolled by trolling for guys like Thane, but Marg was a beacon to him.
He jogged out and met her at the edge of the tide line. “Need a hand, ma’am?”
She swept her hair from her face and held it back. “Have a good laugh?”
“Actually, yes.” He bit his top lip to stop from laughing. The woman was so far past adorable when she got angry he considered poking a few of her buttons to see it again.
“Good, now I’m going to do it again and do it right this time.”
He grabbed the tent from her, popped the rods and folded it into a ball to tuck under one arm. “How about you give in,”—pulling her tight to his chest—“and spend the night in my arms.”
“Are you going to be a gentleman?”
He stepped back and cocked his head to one side. His eyes rove across her bikini top, down her stomach, appreciated her below the bellybutton shorts and her long legs. “Is that what you want?”
“Hungry?” she asked, her voice dropping in tone. “Smells like dinner is almost ready.”
“For food? No.” He leaned in and nibbled his way across her desirable mouth. “I have another idea. Make an all-night buffet out of you. Maybe all day tomorrow, although I did have plans to take you out on the dunes.”
He placed a gentle hand to guide her back toward the line of tents. His being one of them.
Long ago, his father had tried to quit drinking and stay around the house. He got the idea they should have a vacation, and they went camping in Utah. The trip had been a bust because his dad couldn’t stop flirting with the married woman in the site next to them. In those days, his mother still hoped her husband would act like one and she’d spent the week with teary eyes, but said nothing.
He would never do that to Marg. Did commitment lead to tearing each other’s h
earts out? The mundane idea of family life edged him toward a dark part of his mind where he kept his fear that he might just be a shade of his old man.
“Cobbs!” His lieutenant shouted, and Patrick breathed out a slow impatient breath. They’d almost reached his tent. Answering would delay his actions. He’d held off too long already.
“Sir?”
“Lydia has dinner ready. Bring Marg and yourself over here.”
He darted a look at Marg, who sported a grin.
“You don’t think he did that on purpose, do you?” she asked.
“He did.” Pat wrapped an arm around her waist, and they aimed for the Reddings’ trailer.
“Does that mean he thinks you’re a womanizing wolf, or is my virtue in question?”
Pat grinned. “Unless he plans on standing in front of my tent all night with a side arm, he’s lost the battle.”
With a sensual grin, she leaned against him, her breasts made his mouth water and created an endless throb in his pants. “Apparently SEALs have extraordinary patience.”
“When required.” He turned Marg and pulled her tight, soaking in her beauty. “Some things are worth waiting for.” Pat reveled in the feeling of being this close to her. “Why didn’t you move on?”
Marg brushed her cheek against his. “To what?”
“The guys stacked like cordwood waiting to look in your eyes.”
“Because I don’t want them,” she said, her voice a little breathless.
There were too many unknowns. In this job. In life. Fate. The only thing he could be sure of was how much he wanted her, but would she want him if he told her what happened in Columbia?
A stern call broke their kiss. “It’s getting cold!” Red glared at them.
“Be right there, Lieutenant.”
* * * *
Red jerked his head to indicate Pat should follow him. The fire burned and the large crowd sitting around were sated and lazy after dinner.
Pat followed. “Sir?”
“Take a walk,” Red suggested, but voiced like a command.
He strolled at Red’s pace down the beach draped in small lights from all the campers. Fires threw sparks into the air, the crackle joining laughter and stories to warm the night. From the water it must have looked like an array of dancing lights. Red aimed toward the water’s edge. Pat remained silent, walking and waiting.
“Lydia and I met when we were twenty. Like you, I’d just finished my qualification training. I couldn’t take my eyes off that woman.”
Red knew Pat’s father was a loser for many years. Pat had doubts his dad could maintain sobriety, but for now, he was on the right track. Stuck in a hidey hole for hours lead to hushed conversation to avoid going nuts from silence. The team guys shared a lot.
“First time we made out, Lydia got pregnant. I did the right thing and as you can see, we kept doing it.”
“Yes, sir,” he said, thinking this was an unexpected father-son talk.
Redding had sat both he and Thane down for four hours after Kit was shot. They conducted their own Critical Incident Stress review. Fortunately, Redding arrived in time to hear and see that Harper was going to kill Thane. He’d acted on instinct, but instead of just wounding him like Pat intended on doing, Redding made the kill shot to his head. At least that’s what the official record stated. Redding took command. He took care of the inquiries. He took care of the brass. He tried his best to keep the incident as low key as possible and he said it was for the good of all involved, including Kit.
Red waded through the surf in his bare feet. “We’re away too much to deserve a family, but women like Lydia make it worthwhile. I love coming home to her, except this time.”
Pat stopped in his tracks. Red took a few more paces. “You have a good head on your shoulders, Cobbs. You’re going to have a long career if you choose.”
He was still stuck on his lieutenant’s last remark. “Why?” he asked. Red could explain his strange comment or take the easy way out and stray off into life in the Navy.
Red gazed out into the night and shook his head. “I have been faithful to my wife all these years. I don’t know why I did it.”
A chill ran through his spine. “Sir?”
During the two day stop-over in Tokyo, they’d all let go of the tension. Red had been with them, at least to start. They’d had plenty of company and opportunity, holing up at a bar. There had been a group of army nurses waiting to be transported back stateside. A tall, lanky brunette, graceful with big blue eyes had spent time with Red. In public, they talked about the rising problems in the Middle East and where she had been stationed, but Pat had sensed something else brewed between his lieutenant and the nurse.
“The nurse?” he asked.
Red turned, his eyes downcast and nodded. “Lydia is all I need. I have no excuse other than weakness and alcohol.”
“Lieutenant, some things are left in the closet for a reason. Why bring it up now? You can’t take it back. You’ll never do it again. Bury it.” He would never say those words to his father, but he knew Red. The man had more moral fiber in him than the entire team sewn together. If Red said he wouldn’t do it again, he meant it.
“We couldn’t stop.” Red shot a guilt-ridden glance his way. “I keep asking myself if it was just unleashing the mission, getting it out of me, but it wasn’t. I wanted that woman again and again.”
“I know about being unfaithful, sir, but it’s not like you’re having an affair. Are you?”
“No. But it’s eating away at me,” Red said quietly. “I deceived Lydia, and it will gnaw me to the bone.”
As if fate wanted a particular outcome, Lydia appeared from the darkness. “Hey, sailors, this a top secret convo?” she teased. “You’ve had weeks to talk shop.”
Pat cleared his throat and took a step back. “No, ma’am. Think I’ll head back and find Marg.”
As he put distance between them, he let out a silent prayer when Red said, “Honey, I have something I have to tell you.”
They were the same words he would be echoing very soon to Marg.
* * * *
Pat retraced his steps, but when he reached the campfire, Marg was gone. The balmy summer evening brought warm winds. His eyes searched the shore and then as if she’d turned on a beacon, he knew where she was. His heart sped up. His breathing shallowed.
Soft sand squeezed between his toes as he made his way toward his tent. He lingered for a moment before going inside. He’d wasted too much damn time on doubt, and he slowly unzipped the flap.
His shaft snapped to attention to see Marg kneeling, her gorgeous body arched straight as she pulled her hair into a messy mop on top of her head. She was amazing. So fucking amazing. And he didn’t know why she bothered to gather her locks in a bundle when it looked so beautiful flowing freely around her face.
Seeing him, she stilled. He’d never forget this vision. Never.
He zipped the flap of the tent closed and knelt in front her. With a delicate brush, he removed a stray strand of silky hair from her cheek. “I want to tell you how incredibly beautiful you are, but I think that’s something you’ve heard so much, it doesn’t mean anything anymore.”
Marg bit her top lip. Then slowly nodded, staring into his eyes.
Gripping the hem of his t-shirt, he pulled it over his head and flung it toward the edge of the tent. He gently wrapped his hand over her wrist, and pressed her palm to his chest. “You’ve teased me about being more silent than I am verbose. I wish I could put into words what’s happened in here since I saw you the first time.” Her delicate fingers covered his heart. “I asked nothing, but you offered kindness and patience. Maybe—I couldn’t believe a girl like you could see anything in a guy from City Heights.”
“Patrick—”
“You need to hear what I have to say because I’m only going to admit it once, and then I won’t be looking backward. And I’ll accept the consequences.”
She nodded for him to continue, her brow wrinkling
with confusion.
“I regret hurting you. Regret—letting doubt control my words instead of my gut instinct, which was to fall in love with you, but I don’t leap without thinking. I never have. I never will. I don’t make a decision without weighing the options. That won’t change. But when I do have something to say, I’ll say it.” He bowed his head and closed his eyes. “I’m not allowed to share much of my missions with you.”
“National security,” she said quietly, and watched him intently.
“Yeah, but I can’t—” He seamed his lips for a moment. “I need to tell you something. Something that happened in Columbia.”
Her eyes shuttered closed and Marg’s long lashes brushed her cheeks. “About Kit?”
He clutched both her hands in his and gazed directly into her eyes. “Secrets will be part of my life, but I can’t keep this one from you. The report on Kit’s death which has been discreetly filed says there was an altercation between him and Thane. Under great duress, which often happens during contact with enemy combatants, men become confused.”
Pat let out a strained breath while Marg held hers, her forehead taut. Her gaze glued to him.
“Go on,” she said quietly.
“Thane’s life was in danger. Immediate action was required. Red was there too. There were two shots fired at Kit. The official report says Lt. Darren Redding fired the lethal shot to save Thane’s life.”
“But it wasn’t him,” she said, her voice barely a squeak.
“No. It was mine. I was only going to wound him, but in the last second I changed my aim.”
“I won’t ask why,” she said, and cupped his jaw.
He shook his head. “You don’t have to, Marg, because I’m going to tell you why. I haven’t loved a lot of people in my life. But I love Thane Austen like a brother. I love you, and in that very last second—the miniscule moment between good sense, emotion, and decision—I knew Kit would eventually kill someone. If it wasn’t Thane, then it could be you, or someone else. For totally selfish reasons, I murdered a man. Worse. My peer.”
Marg sat back on her haunches, her fingers forked together in her lap. “Kit was going to kill Thane?”
Code Name: Forever & Ever (A Warrior's Challenge series Book 5) Page 36