by KB Winters
“Jace, stop looking at me like that,” Kat insisted.
I snaked my arm around her waist and pulled her closer, no longer caring what anyone thought. “I just want you to be happy.”
She backed away, out of my reach. “I’ll be happy when Jax is back home,” she replied softly, her voice breaking off as she choked up again.
“I know.” I pulled my arm back, dropping my hands to the table, trying not to let it bother me that she’d rebuffed me. “What time is your meeting?”
She glanced behind her at the large clock on the wall. “Half an hour. I should get going. I don’t know how long it’ll take. Do you want to come over for dinner tomorrow night?”
Her invitation brought a smile to my face, and I hated that I had to decline. “I would love to, but I’ll be out of town all weekend.” She cocked an eyebrow at me. “I have reserve weekend with the Navy. I’m still in the reserves and they have me training new recruits all weekend. Whipping them into boot camp shape,” I explained, flashing a wicked smile. Although I hated the idea of being away from Kat all weekend, I knew that it was bound to be a good time. Scaring the shit out of new recruits with stories of the horrors awaiting them at boot camp was always a good time.
“Those poor kids,” Kat teased, her genuine smile back in place. “When will you get back?”
I resisted the urge to smack her ass. “Sunday night.”
“Well, I think that would give me time to plan something. Besides, I’ll need a distraction from what waits Monday morning,” she said, her smile fading.
“Okay, you got a date little lady.”
She frowned at me but couldn’t hold it, and a smile broke through. “It’s not a date, just dinner.”
I rose from my seat and leaning close, growled in her ear, “You remember what happened last time we had a ‘just dinner’?”
She blushed and after dropping a twenty on the table. I walked out of the diner, stopping at the front door to look back in time to catch her checking out my ass. Realizing she’d been caught ogling, she huffed and stalked off to the kitchen.
I laughed all the way across the street back to the shop.
* * * *
As promised, I spent Friday night driving to the reserve base near Chicago, and all day Saturday torturing the new Navy recruits, running them ragged with drill after drill. When Saturday night rolled around, I finally let them go to the mess hall to get some chow. I followed behind the group, but halfway to the hall, decided against dinner, and went to the adjoining building where the weight room was located to get in my own workout. I’d been running all day, but found myself buzzing with unspent energy. The weight room was almost deserted, so I popped in my ear buds and went to work, putting myself through a rigorous workout.
When my body was finally exhausted, I sat down heavily on a bench and toweled myself off, letting my mind drift back to Kat. I was tempted to call her and ask how the meeting had gone, but knew that hearing her voice would only make me miss her more. I also didn’t want her to think I was really calling to find out the cost since I’d be the one footing the bill. It wasn’t about the money, not even a little bit, but Kat somehow managed to misinterpret things when it came to the whole money issue and I didn’t want to risk her backing out of the deal, not when I was finally feeling more relaxed and able to actually do some good.
Even if it had brought some new questions and challenges to the surface.
We’d entered new territory, and although I knew I wanted Kat in my life, and preferably in a romantic role, I had no idea what that truly meant in the long run. Since getting out of my time in active duty, I hadn’t entertained the idea of settling down, and figured that my time in the small town would be a limited-time thing, long enough for me to get my head together, and then I’d go back to Chicago where I could reboot my business there.
But Kat wouldn’t follow me to Chicago. Especially if things went south with the baby.
On the other hand, I wasn’t sure I could do the whole small town thing for the rest of my life.
I was still turning all the options over in my mind, sitting on the weight bench, when a familiar voice called over to me, “Hey, Winslow.”
I looked up to see my friend, Petty Officer Kyle Brown, standing in the doorway. “Hey man.”
“Don’t tell me you overdid those supplements again,” he groaned. “I came in earlier and you didn’t even see me. You looked straight up, outta your mind in here.”
I laughed. I’d gone a little nuts once after using some performance pills and smoked everyone in the gym, but in the process, nearly gave myself a heart attack. It’d become a running gag once everyone was clear that I’d be okay after a visit to the medical unit. “Naw, man. Just burning off some energy. It’s been a while since my last workout.”
“Yeah, yeah, too busy being all famous and shit,” Kyle said, a big goofy grin on his face.
The guys in my crew thought it was hilarious that I was some reality star, and I never got a moments peace about it. I shrugged most of it off, especially from Kyle. We’d been buddies long enough to know that he really thought it was pretty badass. I’d done ninety percent of the ink on his body over the past few years.
“All jokes aside, man. What’s going on? I heard those new boots were still walking when you got done with them. You losing your touch?”
I shook my head. “Naw, man, just got a lot on my mind, I guess.”
“Anything you wanna talk about, man?” Kyle asked, sitting down roughly on the bench across from me.
I was ready to brush it off and hit the showers, but changed my mind, mid-thought, and stared over at Kyle and the silver ring on his finger. “How’d you know when it was time to settle down?”
Kyle snapped to attention. “Fuck, man, you’ve got woman problems?”
“No, man. Not problems. I’m just asking. How did you know when you were ready?”
Kyle laughed. “Well, when the pregnancy test turned up, I figured it was sink or swim.”
Kyle had two little kids now, a daughter and a son, both under two, and although he joked around that he only married his wife, Leah, because she got knocked up, the guys closest to him knew he’d been long gone way before that point. “Come on, how did you really know?”
Kyle leaned forward, bracing his arms on his thighs and looked at me intently. “I couldn’t imagine being without her, you know. It’s so fuckin’ cheesy, but I couldn’t get enough, and I wanted her with me all the time. You know, this life is crazy, especially doing what we do, and she was the thing that grounded me and made me see what’s really important. Family, love, you know, all that cheesy shit.”
“All right, all right, well if I’d known you were gonna go all afternoon special on me,” I teased, smiling at him, not letting on how much his words sunk in.
“Yeah yeah, I know, I’m whipped, whatever.” He laughed and heaved off the bench to set up some weight on the bar.
“No, man, actually, I think that’s awesome.” I stood up and clapped him on the shoulder. “I’m gonna hit the showers, have a good one.”
“Take it easy brother. Oh, and by the way, I’m supposed to tell you that Master Chief Jenkins was looking for you,” he called after me.
I paused at the door to the locker room, my brow raised, wondering what on earth the Master Chief would need me for, but decided to make it a point to go find out once I showered.
Chapter Ten — Kat
“You know what it feels like? It feels like I can breathe again,” I told Jace, ending my synopsis of the video call with Kirk Folger. The call couldn’t have gone any better. He’d arrived on the call, dressed in a power suit, with laser sharp precision as we ran through the details of my case. He’d clearly done his homework, and as promised, was prepared to go to war against Mitch’s team of sharks. His confidence had transferred to me—and for the first time—I was beginning to see a beacon of hope.
“You know what the best part is?” I asked, turning to Jace who was
sitting at the small dining table while I cooked dinner. He looked up at my question, but there was something else tugging at his mind for attention. He’d said he was tired from the long drive home and I’d left it alone, but looking at the hollowness to his eyes had me wondering if there wasn’t something else going on. “Are you sure you’re okay?” I asked, putting aside the conversation with the superstar lawyer.
He brought his eyes back to mine, and nodded, giving me a weak smile. “Yeah, just tired. Long weekend. I’m really glad the meeting went well, Kat.”
I considered him a moment longer, trying to figure out how to get to the truth without harassing him. I always hated when people dug into me, and tried to avoid doing it to others, but there was something he wasn’t telling me, and it was hard to carry on with the conversation as if everything was normal. Especially with the distinct feeling in my gut that something was off. I stirred the pot of pasta on the stove.
“What’s the best part?” Jace prompted. “You were starting to say…”
A zing of happiness went through me. “Right! The best part is going to be watching Mitch’s lawyers’ faces, and then his face, when they see me walk into the mediation with Folger on my side. He’s so important and powerful looking! His demeanor—his briefcase and the best part is…he’s not intimidated, he’s intimidating! It’s gonna be awesome!”
Jace laughed and stood to join me at the stove. “That’s great. Is there anything I can do to help with dinner?”
I shook my head. “I’ve got it. Almost done, I promise. Sit, sit, sit.”
He went back to the table and took a long pull from the beer bottle I’d given him when he’d first sat down. I finished the dinner and got everything ready, and asked Jace about the show, a topic he didn’t seem too interested in talking about beyond saying it would be over in two weeks.
“Listen, Jace, before we start, I have something I want to say,” I said, placing two plates on the table. I sat down in the chair next to him, our knees touching under the table for a moment as I fidgeted. “I don’t want things to be weird between us because of what happened the other day…in the storage room. So, if you’re mad or upset about that, I’m sorry. I know I was kind of an ice queen afterwards, and Friday, and I didn’t mean to be. It’s just, the whole thing surprised me and I guess…I’m still sorting out what I want.”
Instead of looking relieved, as I’d expected, Jace’s face shifted, getting even darker.
“There’s something I need to tell you too.” He paused, looking down at the table and my heart raced faster.
“About Thursday?” I dared to ask.
“No, but it will definitely affect things between us,” he said.
I toyed with the edge of the napkin in my lap and tried to keep my mind in check as it threatened to start running away. “What is it? Just say it.”
His expression was dark, and somehow twisted, wrenching my heart as my mind broke free and started racing through a list of possibilities of whatever he was about to tell me. Was he going to tell me he couldn’t afford to hire the lawyer? That he couldn’t let me borrow the money after all? Panic came at me in waves with the rapid rise and fall of my chest. If he couldn’t afford the lawyer he would have said something before now. That couldn’t be it. Was he sick? Did it have something to do with his show? “Jace, please.”
“I was going to wait till after dinner, but you need to know…” He took a deep breath. “I got some news, this weekend.”
My heart and mind screeched to a halt, a new, even darker thought taking hold.
He reached over and stroked a strand of my hair, running it through his fingers before tucking it behind my ear.
“At training?” I asked, stalling, not wanting to hear what I feared he would say next.
“Yeah. Kat, there’s not a good way to say it, so I’ll just,” he hesitated, and then blurted out, “They’re sending my team out. Back into the field for a mission.”
I pressed my eyes closed, absorbing the blow. “What? You’re leaving? Why? How long?”
He took my hands and stared down at them for a long minute. “I can’t really give you the details of the mission. But, there’s a terrorist group that have taken a group of journalists hostage. The White House has received video threats that give a list of demands in exchange for their lives. The gist of it being that for every week that their demands go unmet, they’ll execute a hostage. My team has been assigned to go in and retrieve the hostages and take out the threat.”
My hand ripped from his and flew to my mouth to cover a sharp gasp. I shook my head violently. “No. Jace, no. You can’t…that’s…oh my God. That’s so awful!”
He pulled my chair closer to him and reached over, taking me into his arms. I lifted up, out of my chair, and sat on his lap as he held me tightly to his chest. My eyes were dry, too stunned at his news to fully process the emotions swirling through me. “How long are you going to be gone?” I asked, my words muffled by Jace’s shirt.
“I don’t know. It could be a few weeks, few months. Maybe longer.”
I couldn’t speak—my mind had turned into a jumbled mess of thoughts. What about the trial? What about his show? And the shop? What was it going to be like not seeing him every day at three for lunch? Would I be able to talk to him? What if he came back and went off the rails like before? Would he even care about me anymore? Would he be the same? Feel the same? What if he didn’t…no—I couldn’t let myself go there.
“Kat, I’ll come back, I promise,” he whispered into my ear, as though reading my thoughts.
I nodded against his chest, clinging to his words like they were a promise. “When do you leave?”
He paused and my heart braced itself for his answer. “Tomorrow. We have to fly to Virginia to meet with the CIA task force that’s been communicating with the terrorists and get our marching orders.”
I shuddered at the thought of saying goodbye and for a moment, let myself marvel at how attached to him I’d become. It wasn’t about Jax, or the trial and the money, or even the sinfully hot sex. I would just miss Jace. I’d miss him.
“How is this even happening?” I asked. “I thought you weren’t a SEAL anymore?”
He smiled sadly. “Once a SEAL, always a SEAL. I’m technically not out, I went into reserves. I guess I wasn’t ready to completely say goodbye. My team is the one that got called up, so that means I’m on deck.”
I nodded and bit my lip to keep the rest of my half a dozen questions from bubbling out. Jace was obviously just as destroyed by the news as I was, and I knew peppering him with questions wouldn’t be the best way to spend his last night in town.
I ran my hands up his chest, committing every muscle outline to memory, tearing up as I wondered when I would be able to be held like this again. I met his blue eyes that were dark, clouded with emotion, as he looked down at me. I slid my hand up his neck, and placed it on the side of his face, cradling his strong jaw in my palm. “Will you stay here tonight?” I whispered.
He kissed me gently, emotions pouring between us as we clung together for dear life. When his lips broke away from mine, we rested our foreheads together, drinking in the moment. Without another word, I took him by the hand, and led him to my bedroom, needing to be with him, as close as we could possibly get.
Because, in the morning, he’d be gone.
Continued in SEAL’d Perfection Book 4!
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Roc Hard
I never thought I’d fall for the billionaire, but his cool-blue eyes and sexy swagger drew me to him like a moth to a flame. Okay, inferno.
He was my first and so far, had been my last—my only.
Once I found out I’d been played, I high tailed it out of there and moved as far away as I could. He didn’t n
eed to know. I didn’t need him, or his money.
Jerk.
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Acknowledgments
Thank you! I love you all and thank you for making my books a success!! I appreciate each and every one of you.
Thanks to all of my beta readers, street teamers, ARC readers and Facebook fans. Y’all are THE BEST!
And a huge very special thanks to my wonderful PA! Without you, I’d be a *hot mess! I’m still a hot mess, but without your keen sense of organization and skills, I’d be a burny fiery inferno of hot mess!! Thank you!
And a very special thanks to my editors (who sometimes have to work all through the night! *See HOT MESS above!) Thank you for making my words make sense.