Claiming Her SEAL (ASSIGNMENT: Caribbean Nights Book 1) (20 page)

It didn’t make any sense. Maybe it wasn’t supposed to.

“What are you saying? That I shouldn’t leave?”

With a smile, Rachel pulled Emma out of the flow of traffic and set her carry-on down on the tarmac. “That wasn’t what I said at all. But the fact that you interpreted it that way tells me you’ve already made up your mind.”

“What if I have?” Emma bit her lip. Craziness. It was sheer craziness to even talk like that. What would she stay for? Dex had blown her off. As he should have. Their fling was over, and he hadn’t sought her out to fall at her feet with a pretty speech about what came next.

Maybe this was part of proving her strength too—by taking a chance. A leap of faith. What if she stayed, and it didn’t work out? At least she’d have tried.

Which was crap. She wanted to be with Dex, day after day, in his bed, swimming in the ocean, laughing, loving. There was no way she’d stand for anything less. Sure, he might be hesitant, at first, but she always swayed him around to her way of thinking.

“I have made up my mind,” Emma said with a nod.

“Then I would say count me in.” Rachel grinned. “I already told you how much I loved it here. We’ll do it together.”

Agape, Emma stared at Rachel. She was saying she’d stay too. With Emma. Together. It was almost better than anything Emma could have imagined.

“You’re bringing this up now?” Emma swirled a hand over her shoulder to encompass the terminal at large, mostly so she wouldn’t smack Rachel with it. “Now that we’re already here and about to board? You couldn’t have mentioned that back at the resort?”

If she had, would Emma have still insisted they leave? She was standing on the edge of a precipice with no net, but she’d never felt more alive in that moment as she considered a few absolute truths—namely, that she’d never forgive herself if she left. The Caribbean represented a new lease on life that felt more right than anything Emma had experienced since surfacing in the Atlantic with her ex-fiancé still in the car below her treading feet.

Rachel shrugged. “That was then. This is now. I wasn’t totally convinced you had anything to stay for. But,” she nodded over Emma’s shoulder. “That pretty much sold me.”

Emma whirled to see Dex threading through a crush of passengers who had just disembarked from a different flight and had flooded the terminal. His head bobbed above the tourists, seeking, and then his gaze locked onto hers, and her heart fell completely out of rhythm.

He’d come for her.

Rooted to the spot, she watched him navigate, and his face twisted with aggravation when a local with a squirmy pig lost her grip as she crossed his path, blocking him. Patiently, he helped the woman resituate the pig, his lithe fingers closing around the porky little body without hesitation, and that was the moment when Emma’s heart spilled over in the most unrecoverable way.

How could you not fall in love with a man who rescued pigs?

She waited for him to push through the rest of the crowd because she couldn’t move if her life depended on it. And in a lot of ways, it did.

A burly security agent stopped Dex at the checkpoint, and she had a bad moment when she thought the uniformed officer wasn’t going to let him through. She dropped her carry-on bag, intending to rush to his side. But then Dex flashed her the most heartfelt smile and held up a boarding pass.

He’d bought a ticket for her flight.

He hadn’t just come after her, he’d planned to chase her all the way home.

“I hope you realize you have to name your firstborn after me,” Rachel murmured as Dex finally swept into Emma’s space and gathered her up in a fierce hug.

And then there was no more talking as she clung to him, breathing in his wonderful, settling salty scent that she couldn’t have ever exorcised from her brain. She saw that now. She would have gone home, and the ghost of James Riley would have followed her around incessantly.

He murmured her name into her hair and pulled back to search her face, his arms still wrapped so tightly around her torso she could hardly breathe. But who needed air?

“I couldn’t let you leave without saying a few things,” he said earnestly. “Then if you still want to get on your flight, I won’t stop you.”

“You’ll just come with me?” The paper boarding pass was still clutched in his hand, crinkling against her sundress.

He shook his head, his smile slipping. “The ticket is just window dressing so I could get through the gate. That’s part of the speech I had rehearsed. Explaining how I can’t live in a place like Boston again. It’s selfish of me to have come here with the sole purpose of begging you not to leave.”

Her chest filled so fast she saw stars. “You want me to stay?”

He nodded, his eyes on hers, so intense and full of hope. “I shouldn’t. I can’t promise you much. My business is still so new, and I work seventy hours a week sometimes. But I want to come home to you at the end of it and know that you’ll always be there.”

“Okay.”

He blinked. “Just like that? I didn’t even get to the part where I had all these bargains I was going to offer you.”

She let her own smile bloom as one tear worked its way loose. “What, like you were going to give me my choice of which side of the bed I wanted?”

“Sure.” But then he cupped her face and drew it upward, and his touch zinged through her as he spoke. “But that’s not the kind of bargain I meant. I don’t know what’s going to happen. I can’t promise I’ll get it right even after ten tries. But Emma, I can’t do this without you. Somehow in the middle of all of this, I fell for you. I shouldn’t have. But that doesn’t make it any less real.”

As she had only recently had a bit of a similar revelation, she nodded as a few more tears slipped out. “Same goes.”

In one of the most romantic moves Emma had ever experienced, Dex kissed away the tears. “So that’s the bargain. Stay and give me a chance. In return, I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure you’re happy. Whatever it takes to show you how I feel about you. Every day.”

“Oh, James.” She slid her own hands up to encompass his jaw, drawing him forward so she could touch her forehead to his. “The thing is, you make me happy. As long as you don’t ever take your hand away from my back as I’m jumping into the water, that’s the only thing I need.”

“I promise.” And then he kissed her for real, and she slid into it, wrapping James Riley around her like a blanket.

When he lifted his lips, he murmured, “I wasn’t kidding about not having much to offer. We’ve got some rough times ahead with Aqueous Adventures. Sure you want to stick around for a guy who can’t buy you all the things you deserve?”

“Sure you want a girl with no means of employment to stick around?” She chuckled. “This was supposed to be a vacation, not the start of a new life. I have nothing but myself and a suitcase.”

“I’ll take it. We’ll find something for you to do.” He smiled ruefully. “You’re not a lawyer by any chance, are you? Other than you staying, that would be about the best news I could get today. I’d even be happy if you knew a lawyer.”

“I do.” Emma smiled as his eyebrows shot up. “And you do too.”

Rachel waved. “You rang?”

“You’re a lawyer?” Dex asked, his shock evident, but then Emma had never mentioned it. Had never even thought of a reason to bring it up.

“Born and bred,” Rachel admitted. “My whole family. Trust me, I was looking for a good excuse to get out from under the oppression of being a junior partner in a firm where my older brothers were always going to get the best cases.”

“You’re staying too,” Dex announced decisively. “I hope.”

“I was planning on it.” Rachel picked up her carry-on. “Though I was kind of thinking I’d do nothing for a while. I’m guessing that’s not going to happen.”

Dex shook his head. “Not if you’re willing to take on a pro-bono case for some guys who need a boatload of help fighting a much better-funded corporation. And it’ll be a while until we can repay you.”

“Is one of them Evan?” Rachel nearly licked her lips as Dex smiled. “Because that would certainly sway my decision.”

“How about if we talk about it later?” Emma suggested. “I’d like to go home.”

The crystal-blue waters of the Caribbean ocean would be her view for the rest of her life. It settled over her with a peaceful sense of belonging.

“Just out of curiosity, where would that be?” Dex asked.

She didn’t have to think twice. “Wherever you are, James Riley. For as long as you’ll have me.”

And that’s when Emma took her first deep, cleansing breath as she broke the surface of her new life. It felt so good to finally be free.

S
unrise was Dex’s favorite moment of the day. Emma liked to sleep with the blinds open, and since their bedroom faced east, the first rays of dawn filtered through the window to highlight all the reasons why his life was a miracle he didn’t deserve.

But was holding on to at all costs. Because this woman in his bed, with her long blond hair all over her pillow and his too, had quickly become more vital to him than oxygen. Almost more vital than the ocean.

Her eyes blinked open, and she smiled slowly. “Hey, sailor. You better stop looking at me like that or today will, once again, not be the day I find a job.”

What, like it was his fault they’d spent all day in bed yesterday after Charlie had given him a rare day off? She was the one who’d gotten all handsy and naked and then taken him along for the ride.

“Looking at you like what?” he shot back defensively, because he had a feeling his heart was all over his face and he still didn’t know how to express the way he felt about her without sounding like a moron. “I have a surprise for you, and I was waiting for your lazy butt to wake up.”

She sat up, the covers dropping away from her gorgeous body to reveal the tiny little tank top she’d shrugged on last night despite his best efforts to strip it off and keep it off. “A surprise?”

Glee radiated from her eyes, and he wished the surprise had a little more oomph. At least enough to match the expectation written all over her expression. But he had to make do with what he had. “Get dressed. I want to show you something.”

Dressed meant a bikini and a knee-length sarong. Emma had slid right into his world as if she’d always been there, adopting an island mentality instantly, where flip-flops and wet hair were a welcome constant.

For his part, he’d slid into her. Emma made everything right. He couldn’t explain it, didn’t want to.

She followed him to the kitchen of the small bungalow that she cheerfully shared with Evan. Not once had she complained about the tiny bathroom, rattletrap pipes or surly company—his or Evan’s. Eventually they planned to find a different arrangement, but for now it was working.

Rachel had volunteered to move in with Evan if Dex happened to be worried about leaving the poor guy on his own. Dex still didn’t know if she’d been serious. For the time being, she was rooming with Anna, one of the girls who worked in the resort kitchen, but he wouldn’t put it past Rachel to end up Evan’s roommate before the man knew what hit him.

Since she was deep into learning the Bahamian legal system so she could take out Jared Anderson, Dex kept his mouth shut. Hell, if she found a way to stop ReefCo from buying Ilhota Rosa, Dex would gift wrap Evan and deliver him to her personally.

The cool sand lining the water at the edge of Town hadn’t been trampled by the many feet of Dex’s neighbors yet, lending to the feeling of the two of them being the only people in the world at that particular moment. Which was fine with him. He took Emma’s hand and led her out into the water until they were both ankle deep, surf rushing around their legs. To her credit, she didn’t even question it.

“I like the surprise so far,” she murmured. “You in the water is my favorite.”

“That’s not it.” Or more to the point, that wasn’t all of it. He tipped up her chin to kiss her, almost losing his balance as she enthusiastically jumped into it with her trademark eagerness. He pulled away with a laugh. “Oh, no, you don’t. Stop distracting me.”

She scowled without any real heat. “You started it.”

“Allow me to finish it.” With a flourish, he pulled the ring box out of his shorts’ pocket and flipped the lid. “Emma—”

Whatever he’d planned to say next clogged up in his throat, choking off his words, his air. Maybe part of his brain. How could he possibly explain to her what she meant to him?

Fantastic. The one and only time in his life that he’d proposed to a woman, and he couldn’t talk. What if she said no? What if her first fiancé had put her off marriage—

“Oh, Dex.” Her gaze flitted between the ring and his face as if she couldn’t soak either in long enough. Two tears splashed onto Emma’s cheeks. “Yes.”

That got his throat working. “I didn’t ask the question yet.”

“Doesn’t matter. There’s nothing you could ask of me that I’d say no to. Especially not if it involves me and you and the promise of forever.” Her brow furrowed. “That’s what this is, right?”

God willing.

Geez, his hands were shaking. What the hell was that? Nerves were not his thing. Couldn’t be, or he’d have accidentally shot the wrong target, and he’d never missed. A little freaked out, he plucked the ring from its velvet housing and held it up, wishing the diamond was bigger, flashier. Emma wouldn’t care, but he did.