by Kate Kinsley
Shit. I rolled over and looked at the clock. It was almost seven. Had I been lying here thinking all night? I’d probably dozed off at some point, but I had to get out of here if I was going to go, and it would be better if I didn’t have to say a long, complicated goodbye. It was kind of a dick move, but it had only been a day. She’d be okay. A pretty girl like her probably had lots of guys after her, and since my disappearing act would undoubtedly piss her off, she’d forget about me relatively quickly.
I slid out of bed quietly, without looking back, and gathered up my things in the dark since the curtains were drawn. I pulled on yesterday’s clothes, grabbed my phone and glanced back towards the bed one more time. Then I slipped out, hurrying back to my own room to pack and get ready for the shuttle that was leaving for the airport at nine.
Hopefully, Vivian wouldn’t wake up until I was gone.
Chapter Nine
Vivian
I knew I was alone the moment I woke up. I turned over in alarm and reached out my hand. The space beside me was cold, so Gunnar had been gone a while, and I sighed. I’d had a feeling he would do something like this. I wasn’t sure how I’d known, but my woman’s intuition was strong and I’d sensed Gunnar had been battling with himself all day yesterday.
I got out of bed and looked at the time. It was a little after eight and the shuttle to the airport was leaving at nine. Technically, I could catch him, force him to say goodbye to my face. But what would that accomplish? He was worried about the way he’d lashed out in his sleep and I understood that. I just wished he understood that I wasn’t afraid, that he hadn’t lashed out at me; he’d simply been having a nightmare. Taco and I had soothed him, woken him up and helped him relax enough to go back to sleep. Why he’d felt the need to sneak out was a mystery to me and I was a little sad as I washed my face and brushed my teeth.
Taco came into the bathroom and rubbed against my leg, whimpering a little.
“I know, boy, I miss him too.” I bent down to rub his head. “You need to go out, don’t you?”
I pulled on shorts and a T-shirt and attached Taco’s leash. I stuffed my phone in my pocket and slid my feet into sandals. I probably looked like death warmed over, but there was no one for me to impress anymore anyway.
“Morning, Vivian.” One of the guards waved.
“Hey, Axel?” I called to him. “Do you know where everyone is gathering to wait for the shuttle?”
“Sure. I’ll show you.”
I followed the muscular member of the Royal Protectors onto the elevator and down to a lower level where the garage was located.
“Thanks, Axel.” I waved before stepping out. Before I could get my bearings, Taco barked and broke away from me, racing off towards a group of people about fifty feet away.
Somehow, I knew where he was headed and shook my head as I followed, steeling myself for what hopefully wouldn’t be too awkward.
“What are you doing here, boy?” Gunnar squatted down to pet the exuberant puppy. Taco was beside himself with excitement, jumping and licking Gunnar’s face.
“Sorry.” I bent to reach for the leash to try to get Taco under control.
“It’s okay.” He met my gaze with what could only be described as equal parts guilt and happiness. “What are you doing here?”
“We came to say goodbye.”
“I thought it would be easier if we didn’t,” he said softly.
“I know. But somehow I wound up here anyway.”
We both got to our feet, our eyes locked, even as Taco jumped around our legs.
“Fly safe,” I whispered after a moment, tugging on the leash, trying to get Taco to calm down.
“Be well, Vivian.” Gunnar squeezed my arm and started moving away, but Taco started barking and pulling on the leash, straining to get to him.
“Come on, big guy, you have to cut it out,” Gunnar said, turning to him. “Okay?”
Taco sat on his haunches, holding up one paw, as if reaching for him.
Gunnar took it and rubbed the dog’s head. “It’s okay, Taco. Go with your mom.”
Taco whimpered.
“He needs to be with you,” I said softly, walking back over to him. I cleared my throat. “It’s obvious he’s chosen you and I think you need each other.”
“Honey, I can’t just take him…” Gunnar shook his head.
“Look at him. All he wants is you.” I managed a small smile. “Can you take him? I mean, where you live? Would you be able to care for him?”
“I…” He seemed to be at a loss for words. “Vivian, honey, I don’t want to take him from you. I know you love him and—”
“But you need him. And I think he needs you too.”
He reached down to pet Taco, instantly calming him, and I knelt down, wrapping my arms around Taco’s neck.
“You be a good boy for Gunnar, okay? He’s going to be your dad now.”
“You sure, Vivian?” Gunnar seemed flabbergasted.
“Yes. Absolutely.” I stood up and nodded. “I, um, I’m going to run up to my room and get his things—his bed, food and water bowls… Give me five minutes.” I turned and ran, getting away from him as quickly as I could because emotion was overwhelming me.
I hadn’t planned it, but the minute I said the words, that they needed each other, I knew they were true. I didn’t know the details of Gunnar’s demons, but they were there, and I’d seen firsthand how Taco soothed him in the aftermath of a nightmare. Even though Gunnar wasn’t willing to take what we’d discovered here in Limaj back home to our real lives, I was okay with letting him take Taco. I loved the sweet German shepherd, but he would be happier with Gunnar. I just knew it, even though I didn’t have proof.
I grabbed a garbage bag I’d seen under the bathroom counter and put his things in it after I’d wiped down his food and water bowls. Gunnar already had his leash and I pulled Taco’s two favorite toys out from under the bed. Then I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, steeling myself. It would be hard to walk away. From both of them, but I would because it was better for them. Whatever made Gunnar want to sneak out like a thief in the night had nothing to do with me. Not really. It was all his own shit. I recognized that because I had a lot of my own and it was something I’d done in the past. Sometimes it was just easier to run than push through, and maybe Gunnar just wasn’t ready.
I headed back down to the garage and Gunnar met me at the elevator.
“We should talk,” he said softly, his green eyes deep and dark as they bored into mine.
“We don’t have to,” I whispered. “I understand. You want to protect me from whatever it is that haunts you. And maybe Taco will help you heal faster. It’s okay.”
“Damn, baby.” He pulled me against him, his eyes never leaving mine. “I don’t want to leave you. I don’t. I’m just afraid… What if I hit you again? Look at your eye. What if next time it’s worse?”
“You’re going back to therapy. It’s going to be okay. The only time it would be a problem is if you were awake and hit me.”
“No.” He shook his head emphatically. “Me hitting you any time is—”
“You didn’t hit me,” I cried in exasperation. “You need to wrap your head around that. You had a nightmare and flailed in your sleep. It’s different.”
“Hey, guys.” Mom and Brad came out of the elevator with two family friends who were obviously leaving today.
“Morning.” Gunnar nodded at them.
“Are you going with him?” Mom asked me.
I shook my head. “I can’t. I’d have to fly home from New York and I’d have to miss even more work.”
“But you decided not to leave until Wednesday,” Mom said. “I’d think you’d want to spend those extra two days with Gunnar instead of here with us.” She looked at Brad. “Love is wasted on the young.”
I opened my mouth but nothing came out.
“I can help with your rent this month,” Brad told me, winking. “You took time off for the wedding and you had st
raight A’s last semester. Offer’s on the table. Safe travels, Gunnar.” He and Mom walked off and I dipped my head.
“Sorry,” I whispered to Gunnar.
He hesitated. “He’s right, you know.”
My head shot up. “He is? About what?”
“About spending the next two days together instead of apart.”
“You just said—”
“I know.” He ran a hand down his face. As if that helped him think or something. “I care about you, Viv. I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You won’t. There’s no evidence it would ever happen again and if it does, you can go back to therapy. Gunnar, it’s a nonissue for me.”
Our eyes locked and he leaned in to kiss me. “I’ll buy your ticket home from D.C. since that’s where you’ll fly out of. Come home with me, babe.”
I hesitated a fraction of a second. “I have to pack. Make them wait for me!”
Chapter Ten
Gunnar
Waking up next to Vivian the next morning made me smile. She was curled into my side and sleeping soundly. It was only seven o’clock but we’d gotten to bed early after a long day of travel. And I hadn’t had a nightmare. Taco had slept at the foot of the bed after we’d had a bunch of sex, and he was watching me curiously now. Calm and quiet, nothing like the rambunctious puppy of the last few days, he seemed to know he was home now. It was crazy.
“Hey, buddy, you have to go out?”
Woof!
His bark was soft, though, as if he was cognizant of the fact Vivian was still asleep.
“I’m awake,” she murmured.
“Go back to sleep,” I whispered. “I’ll take Taco out and then go grab some breakfast for us. Breakfast sandwiches sound good?”
“Coffee with cream and sugar,” she murmured after we discussed sandwiches.
“See you in a few.” I kissed the top of her head and got ready to go.
I let Taco do his business and then put him in my SUV as I headed towards Dunkin’ Donuts. I had a little whiplash with how fast things were happening, changing, and moving at warp speed. It felt good, though. Vivian made me happier than I’d been in a long time and I liked having her here with me.
I got back to my townhouse a little while later and found her in the kitchen. She turned with her hands on her hips, eyes narrowed. “Have you been cheating on me?” she demanded.
Since we could still measure how long we’d known each other in hours, I figured this wasn’t what it sounded like.
“As of around seven o’clock Saturday night, I can tell you with complete honesty, I have not cheated on you,” I said, unsnapping Taco’s leash and putting our food down.
“Then what are these?” she demanded, her eyes twinkling as she pulled a bag of Lindt chocolates out from behind her.
I’d gotten those for Christmas and forgotten about them, so I laughed. “Those were a gift from one of the assistants at the office,” I said.
“You’re not to chocolate kiss anyone else,” she said primly.
I snatched it out of her hand, tore it open and grabbed one of the little balls. I unwrapped the foil and promptly popped it in my mouth. “No chance in hell.” I pulled her to me and covered her mouth with mine.
We kissed until the chocolate had melted and I had a raging boner.
“Breakfast is getting cold,” I panted as she dropped to her knees in front of me.
“I’d rather have this anyway,” she murmured, sliding down my shorts.
Half an hour later, we sat down to a lukewarm breakfast as I warmed up our coffee in the microwave.
“We need to figure out how long you can stay,” I told her, “and then get your ticket. Once we do that, we can go to the grocery store ‘cause there isn’t much in the fridge.”
“Do you have to work this week?”
I nodded. “Tomorrow and Thursday, but I’m off Friday because I was planning to go fishing with the guys. I’ll tell them something came up if you can stay until then.”
“I can stay until Monday. I was supposed to work Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, but if I skip those three days, then I don’t have to work until Tuesday. I can leave Monday, if you want me that long.”
“Absolutely.” I put her coffee in front of her as I sank down next to her. “All right, I’ll get online to find you a flight after breakfast. Then we can figure out a grocery list of some kind.”
“Do you cook?” she asked slowly.
I arched a brow. “I take it you don’t?”
She grimaced. “I mean, little stuff. I’m not completely inept. I can boil pasta, fry eggs, stuff like that, but if you’re looking for full meals, I’m not great in the kitchen.”
“I cook plenty,” I said. “I can teach you a little beyond the basics, but this time of year I grill more than anything.”
“Perfect.”
We smiled at each other.
I reached across the table for her hand. “If we do this, there’s going to be a lot of travel involved in seeing each other,” I said. “Long weekends every other month or so. A little more sometimes, a little less others.”
“I’m busy with school and work,” she said. “Technically, I have enough credits to be a junior, but I still don’t have a major because I don’t know what I want to do. I have to figure that out sooner rather than later and hopefully I’ll graduate in eighteen months.”
“I have a little less than two years until I have to decide if I’m going to re-up or not.”
“You think you’ll leave the Marines?” she asked in surprise.
“I don’t know. If we get serious? I’d have to think about it, because even though lots of guys are married, I think it’s a hard life for the families. Always moving, sitting home while we’re deployed, always waiting to find out if we live or die… I love serving my country, but I could work in the private sector, the NSA, other forms of intelligence that don’t require regular deployments.”
“You could become a Royal Protector,” she said. “I bet Lennox would hook you up.”
“You want to move to Limaj?”
She shrugged. “If we were serious and thinking about marriage and stuff? Why not? I mean, both my sisters are there and I’m thinking I’m going to have at least one or two nieces or nephews by the time I graduate.”
I chuckled. “There’s that.”
“So we have a short-term plan with options,” she said. “I’m good with one day at a time.”
“Me too.”
Our eyes met and we shared a long, lingering look that spoke of promises and adventure and excitement.
Woof!
Taco didn’t like being left out and he jumped up, paws on my lap.
“No,” I said gently. “Down.”
He dropped down but looked up at me.
“Good boy. No jumping.” I pet him. “Go lie down, boy. We’re not going anywhere.”
Taco obligingly went and curled up in his bed.
“He’s happy here,” Vivian said softly.
“I’m happy having both of you here,” I responded.
“Me too.” Her eyes twinkled. “Do we have to do the grocery list now?”
“We don’t have to. Why?”
She stood up and slowly pulled off her T-shirt.
“We absolutely don’t have to go to the grocery store either. I grabbed her hand and we ran for the bedroom.
As we fell on the bed, I took a moment to look into her eyes. “I’m really looking forward to getting to know you better, Vivian.”
“Me too.”
I dipped my head to kiss her and from the living room we heard a soft “woof!”
“I think Taco’s looking forward to it too,” she whispered.
“That’s our boy.”
Thank you for reading Gunnar and Vivian’s story. If you’d like to know more about the Royal Protectors, or any of my other series, go to www.KatMizera.com/books
About Kat Mizera
USA Today Bestselling author Kat Mizera was born in Miami Bea
ch with a healthy dose of wanderlust. She's lived from coast to coast, and everywhere in between, but home is wherever her family is.
A devoted mom and wife to her wonderful and supportive husband (Kevin) and two amazing boys (Nick and Max), Kat loves to travel the globe with her adventurous, hockey loving family. Greece is at the top of that list. She hopes to one day retire there, spending her days writing books on the beach.
Kat is former freelance sports writer who now writes steamy hockey romance about her favorite fictional teams, the Las Vegas Sidewinders and the Alaska Blizzard. The library of novels she's penned also include sexy contemporary stories about baseball stars, alpha sex club owners, special forces heroes, rock stars and royalty. Regardless of genre, her books about bad boys with hearts of gold will steal your breath, rock your world and melt your heart.
Max & Milian
Max Weber preferred animals to humans any day of the week. So, when his K-9 partner Milian goes and finds himself a lady dog friend across the street, Max finds himself uncharted waters.
Both with his dog and with the super sexy Veterinarian that couldn’t seem to keep her own pesky little puppy on a leash.
Recently divorced, Chanel Dixon wanted a fresh start for herself, her practice, and her dog. However, her new beginnings didn’t include a sexy ex-Navy SEAL with an adorable dog who not only wouldn’t go away, but kept brining his owner around, making her feel things she’d been trying to avoid since she’d left her husband.
Only, Max was nothing like her ex and and both him and his dog were about to run away with her heart.
Chapter One
Max pulled up in front of his house in Windermere, Florida, a small town not far from Orlando. He lived in a cluster of homes on Lake Butler, though not the expensive ones right on the lake, but the ones across from the old church that had been turned into a restaurant.