“Down,” Fredo yelled as part of their cover was gone. He kicked Sonny again in the face, and this time, the man fell unconscious. Fredo immediately trained the rifle on the two guardsmen. Kyle and T.J. appeared from the opposite side of the opening, both yelling, “Drop it.”
Seeing their friends completely disabled, they quickly made the decision to cooperate and take their chances, rather than starting a gun battle. As their rifles dropped to the ground below, Fredo felt the tension completely leave his body. He was left with a sense of peace and calm he hadn’t felt since that day back at the hospital when Mia had visited him.
And fuck it, yeah. He was rock hard again.
Chapter 11
‡
RIVERTON WAS NOT happy when he and several other detectives, as well as a number of regular uniformed policemen arrived after getting the 911 calls. The huge SWAT Team vehicle completely blocked the entrance to the complex. Two ambulances and a fire truck also converged on the scene. Some news crews had also found the complex, and there was a helicopter overhead broadcasting live shots. Speculation was rampant, some even calling it a terrorist cell broken up by the project organizers. Riverton was busy making communications. The Feds were still on their way, which meant San Diego P.D. was bearing the brunt of the costs.
A handful of gang-affiliated youths were arrested inside, all of them younger than twenty. Sonny Alvarez was taken into custody and escorted to the medical center where Fredo had been just days before. There were mountains of evidence to collect, catalog, and haul away. Neighbors and curious onlookers had to be kept at bay.
Riverton wouldn’t look at Fredo. He wouldn’t say more than two words to anybody. Finally, Fredo asked him.
“You got the bad guys. Caught them with all their stuff,” Fredo reminded him. “The good guys won, for a change, Clark.”
“You’re not to interfere. You’re a fuckin’ SEAL. Stay off my lawn!” Riverton looked like he was going to burst a blood vessel. Fredo didn’t understand the intensity of his fury.
“I don’t get it. Please clue me in.”
“I’m gonna have my ass handed to me. You don’t make the Feds look bad, Fredo. You make nice; you take their resources. Our county now has to pay for all this shit,” he said as he waved his arm over the beehive of activity. “You just couldn’t stop yourselves from interfering.”
“Fuck no, not after what they did to Julio. Not after what they were planning on doing to what was left of the neighborhood.”
“You stupid macho kids. You gonna be around for the trial or will you be half way around the other side of the earth? Some defense attorney’s going to have a field day,” Riverton said, his face beet-red.
Fredo rolled his shoulders and puckered his lip with a frown. “Not what I do. That’s your department, Clark.” He knew they had evidence—too much evidence, in fact. They’d toured the complex and found black hoodies, spray paint, and items stolen from the school.
He figured Riverton just wasn’t going to get to the same page, so Fredo retreated to the company of his brothers on the Team, where the mood was considerably more jovial.
Armando grabbed Fredo’s arm. “You better get hold of Mia. She’s going into full-tilt panic mode. She and my mom have been on the phone non-stop, watching the news and everything.”
“I got it.”
Fredo was able to get signed out, and before he left, he gave a hearty thanks to the guys who had helped him. The rescue and fire crews were enjoying doing some smack talk with the SEALs. Normally, Fredo would kick back and wear some accolades like beads in New Orleans, but now, he had another mission to run.
Her cell phone was going straight to voicemail. Mia was continually forgetting to charge her phone then forgetting where she put it, sometimes going two days without it.
Fredo stopped by his favorite florist and bought some deep red roses. He wanted a shower, but didn’t want to keep her waiting.
He felt himself getting teary-eyed. Maybe he should not even tell her about the testing, but he tossed that idea out the window. She’d see right through him.
He remembered what Coop had told him way back on the day he’d been to the doctor.
Let the woman decide.
Hell, she could do anything she wanted with him. She could put him chained in a holding cell for all he cared. If it made her happy, he was all for it. But this, this one thing she wanted, he couldn’t do for her. He mentally told himself, whatever her reaction, he’d love that too about her. She’d be disappointed; he knew she would, but he’d love her even more for it.
Before he got to the house he got a call from Dr. Patterson.
“Hope this is good news.” Fredo said. He noticed the little soreness in his chest was not present any longer.
“Very good news, and I’m calling you before I call his mom. Julio’s got feeling in one foot. Still not out of the woods, and we have to get that slug, but I’d say this is about the best sign we’ve had. We can work with it.”
Fredo wanted to kiss the doctor through the phone.
“Well, you go enjoy your evening. Just thought you’d like to know.”
“Thanks, doc.”
“And thanks for helping with the cleanup today. It’s all over the news.”
HE RANG THE doorbell instead of using his key and stood to attention with the roses at his chest. The door swung open. Her beautiful face was framed in curls cascading down over her shoulders. He could barely see part of one large golden hoop earring brushing against the fine texture of her long, flawless neck.
The spark and fire that was Mia, even when she was calling him names and insulting him, was there in her eyes, as it always was. But today, she was filled with relief, as well. Her abundant lips colored in red smiled at the sight of him. She looked straight back at him before she acknowledged the roses. Like she knew Fredo by his heart and not by the wrapper he came in.
“Mi amore. Oh, thank God you are safe.” She slammed into his arms, crushing the roses, but he didn’t care. He allowed her to pull him to her, hold him. He found peace in her scent, and the warmth of her soft body. He whispered in her ear how much he loved her. He didn’t want to cry, so he kept holding her until he could compose himself.
Her red fingernails pawed over his back as her breathing grew deep, and he could smell her arousal. It would always be this way, coming home to Mia. Whenever they were apart, there was a celebration of epic proportions when he returned, that almost, but not quite, made the parting worth it.
“You are so bad not to call me.”
“Where is your cell phone, Mia?”
“I lost it about two hours ago.” She pulled herself away from him, slammed the door shut at her back, and grabbed his hand. She flicked her long hair up over her neck and then let it drop.
“How could I have called you? I tried. I really did.”
“You need to try harder, Fredo,” she said over her shoulder.
And, oh baby, yes, he was harder already.
“Punish me, if you like, but I am yours for the next twenty-four hours, Mia. You can do with me whatever you like, and I won’t complain.” He was mesmerized by the sight of her tight ass swaying back and forth. He liked her exaggerated moves for his behalf. She peeled off the cobwebs from his dark brooding nature with the way she manipulated him, and he so willingly took it. She was, and would forever be, his wild child.
“Wait!” She suddenly stopped, and he ran into her backside. “The roses. You brought roses.”
“Yes, my love, but they’re all over the floor by the front door. We smashed them.”
“Then they are the best, all fragrant and moist!” She winked at him and licked her lips, and Fredo nearly came to his knees. She ran back to the living room and picked up the bouquet, with most of the roses hanging their heads, broken at their delicate necks.
Fredo frowned at the ruined bouquet.
“I read in one of my books where the hero and the heroine crashed into each other, and she was carrying a huge
bouquet of red roses, and they fell all over them. Their first touch. He fell in love with her right then and there.”
He was all in. “Yes! I’ve fallen in love with you, Mia. I fell in love with you again, just now. These roses are magic,” he said as he stepped to her. He saw in her eyes that she was game for a little foreplay. Although he wanted inside her peach so bad, he could withstand a few moments of play, especially if it heightened her pleasure.
Mia acknowledged his idea silently with a smile, and then a kiss. She pulled away when he went deeper. Shedding their clothes, they frolicked down the hallway to the bedroom. He didn’t feel as graceful as she looked, bending over so he could watch her jeans slide down her smooth ass. Mia removed her bra and pulled her hair up over her head, giving him that sideways sultry look before she licked her lips.
She handed him half of the roses. “Come, we must prepare the bed, yes?”
Well, of course! Absolutely!
Grabbing the bobbing heads of the fragrant roses, she yanked and beheaded each one, throwing the long green stems over the bed and away from them. Her delicate fingers crushed the petals nearly to the point of squeezing liquid from them. She sprinkled the gloriously scented red petals over the mattress. He was standing before her, naked, with a hard-on the size of the Chrysler Building. But he had forgotten to do his part with the roses.
“Fredo, you have a one-track mind. Shame on you.” She put her finger in her mouth and returned a coy expression.
His heart was light. He loved watching her do anything, especially when she got in one of her playful moods like today, welcoming him home to her open arms, and smothering him with her free spirit and lightness of being. He even liked watching her sleep, brushing her hair, and helping her do the dishes in the kitchen sink and getting water everywhere.
How could he have been so lucky? He felt unworthy of the reward of being permanently mated to the one thing he was truly addicted to and could never get enough of: Mia.
She crawled up on the bed, lay on her back, filled her palms with petals, and sprinkled them all over her body.
He dropped the roses at his feet, climbed up on the bed and let his fingers travel up her smooth thigh. Mia arched up, her breasts looking luscious with petals falling from her nipples and into the cavity at her belly button. He explored the pink flesh between her legs. Mia let out the most luscious moan he’d ever heard in his life when she spread her knees and gave him deeper access.
Kneeling before her writhing body, he bent over, lapping her arousal and savoring every drop of her wonderful elixir. He played with her little bud, chasing it around with his tongue, letting it be elusive like the woman who played with his soul every day. He brushed the bunch of petals over her smooth abdomen, around both breasts, and up under her chin and around her neck. He was nearly on top of her now. She gave him the needy look he dreamt about when he was overseas and missing her the most. Her arms were lying against the white cotton pillowcase, her red fingernails toying with her curls.
He kissed her neck below her ear, a place he knew was her favorite spot.
“You bring new meaning to the word homecoming, my love.”
“Ah, Fredo. We will love each other’s bodies forever, won’t we?”
He hesitated, faltering on her words a bit, not quite sure where it was leading.
“Of course. Forever and ever.”
“We are good for each other, Fredo, aren’t we?”
“Yes, my love. We are the best.” He brushed a petal over her cheek, up around the side of her eye, and across her forehead.
She moved her palms to his butt cheeks, bent her knees, and arched herself to receive him. Her fingers deftly encircled his cock as she rubbed his tip over the fleshy petals of her sex and then pressed him inside her.
“This,” she said in a hiss, “is what I live for.”
“Mia. Beautiful Mia. You are everything to me.” The heady aroma of the crushed blossoms filled his nostrils as he pressed his lips against hers and felt her melt into him.
They traded slow kisses and nibbles, tasted each other in a long, slow love-making session that wasn’t urgent. He let her orgasm build, watching her for little signs of things she liked. Having this exquisite creature explore and taste him was nearly more than he could handle. She pushed and pulled him to pick up the rhythm until she was pressed against him, holding herself and then letting herself go. Against her warm insides, he gave her what he could. He filled her with his seed.
And no one needed to know they had dented foreheads and didn’t move. It would remain, as long as it could be, Fredo’s secret.
* * *
Continue reading the first novella in the SEAL Brotherhood Series…
SEAL Encounter
SEAL Brotherhood
Novella 0.5
Sharon Hamilton
Chapter 1
‡
HER LEGS WERE as long and slender as he liked them, reaching all the way to Heaven. Just a hint of muscle. Special Operator Chief Kyle Lansdowne, LPO for SEAL Team 3, watched her maneuver between travelers in Terminal 3 at the San Francisco airport. She lithely dodged passengers and rolling luggage, searching for something.
Well, he did have a few minutes before he had to board that big plane home.
He tilted his head to the side, leaned against a concrete pillar and watched her from that angle.
Even nicer. She’d be a good swimmer, he thought.
He could also imagine those legs wrapped around his waist as he pumped her in a bed smelling of lavender and gardenia. Maybe she’d still have on remnants of some expensive underwear. She’d arch, and he’d have her breasts overflowing in his palms, as he’d bend down to kiss them. She’d have pink toes, he mused. Maybe a French manicure.
Where are you going, little angel?
She must not be from around here. But then, how would he know? He wasn’t either. She turned her head from side to side, her blonde locks gracefully brushing against the tops of her creamy white shoulders and smooth muscles of her upper back. He could imagine her naked with that hair cascading down places he would love to kiss.
He licked his lips. He saw her all pink and naked. Was dying to see her face.
Heaven help me, I’m lost.
If he could get close enough, perhaps her proximity would send a gentle wafting of pheromones and perfume his way and make him forget he was in an airport, waiting to go home to the base at Coronado. With a shiver, he imagined her scent.
Yeah, he was all in. Any minute now he’d miss his plane and just go find her. He stiffened, prepared to go on his quest. He aimed his body like a drone for a brisk walk in her direction. Target in sight. Capture imminent.
“You need a couple more days decompression, Lanny.” The voice of his Team 3 medic stopped Kyle’s forward motion. Calvin “Coop” Cooper had once again interrupted his reverie. He looked up at the 6’4” SEAL and then back into the crowded promenade.
She was gone.
“Damn,” Kyle whispered.
He’d told himself every day of his deployment in Afghanistan that he wouldn’t waste so much time dodging and then searching for the fairer sex. He needed some female companionship like never before. Could a team guy have that internal clock-ticking thing women talked about on those stupid shows? A clock that wasn’t attached to a timed IED?
“I saw her first,” Coop said.
Kyle grunted, but continued to scan the terminal.
Coop added, “But she wasn’t looking at anybody. She doesn’t flirt. I tried.”
Kyle looked up into Coop’s crystalline eyes. The SEAL continued, “You’ll have to catch her when she least expects it.” Coop was suppressing a grin by pursing his lips, but his eyes gave him away. About to burst into a smile in spite of himself.
Coop liked to tease him about not making the rounds at the SEAL bars in San Diego. That’s how he earned one of his nicknames, Landrover, shortened to Lanny. They also called him Landmine because things tended to explode when he arrived
on scene, stateside or otherwise. The nickname he hated the most was Lamb Chop because he thought it sounded like a guy with peach fuzz instead of a beard. People who called him that had to know him well, or they’d earn a proper decking.
He didn’t go cruising for sex like Cooper, Fredo and Armando did. So did most of the other guys on his squad. Some went for the booze, some, like Cooper, for the babes. Kyle always preferred to keep to himself. Or just hang privately with one or two other guys from the community.
“Coop, how the hell did you get to be such an expert on women? You spent your whole life under a tractor.” Kyle tilted his head and squinted at the Nebraska-farm boy-turned-SEAL.
Coop gave one of his famous smiles, exposing his perfect white teeth.
“I know about the equipment and how to make it purr. I know where to put the oil and where to put the grease.” He winked.
Kyle searched the crowd again without finding her. He halfway expected to pick up her scent. “You must have seen those legs,” he said without looking up at Cooper.
“I did indeed,” Coop returned. He joined the scanning, continuing to stand right next to his chief.
“Makes me glad we’re back in the U.S. of A.,” Kyle started. “Was hoping she’d be some kind of grateful and welcome me home. Properly.”
Cooper chuckled. “That would be something,” he said. “Well, I’m off to join Fredo in the bar. Wanna come?”
“You don’t drink, Coop.”
“I didn’t say I was gonna drink. I said I was gonna join Fredo in the bar. And make sure he made the plane.”
“Good idea. I’ll be along shortly.” Kyle was still staring into the crowd. He thought perhaps he’d caught a glimpse of her shiny straight blonde hair.
“Do I have to worry about you?” Coop asked. He sighed when he got no answer. “Okay then. Later.” He leaned into Kyle with a conspiratorial whisper, “I’d get your tongue off the floor. No telling what kind of germs there.”
Fredo's Dream: SEAL Brotherhood: Fredo Page 27