Her Next Breath (Uncharted SEALs Book 2) (10 page)
Read Her Next Breath (Uncharted SEALs Book 2) Online
Authors: Delilah Devlin
Tags: #Fiction, #military, #Romance
His brows furrowed. “I’m not asking you to do that.”
“Then what
are
you asking.”
Jackson raked a hand through his hair. “I’m fucking this up,” he muttered. “Deke was right, I should have rehearsed this.”
She stared, not understanding, until he reached into his front pocket and pulled out a small jeweler’s box.
Suri took a step back. If she was wrong about what was inside it, she was going to cry.
When she backed away again, he reached out and grabbed her hand. “Don’t run away. Not yet. You deserve better, but it’s been burning a hole in my pocket.” He went to one knee.
She shook her head. “Don’t.” She placed a hand on her chest; her heart was beating so hard she thought she might faint.
His expression grew taut, his jaw tightening until that sexy muscle jumped at the edge as he ground his teeth. He flipped open the box and turned it toward her.
The ring was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen. Little rainbow sparkles of color from the perfectly cut diamond at the center of a circle of smaller diamonds. Her breath held as she stared, and then her glance darted to his face.
He was waiting. But he still hadn’t asked.
“What do you want, Jackson?” she said, her voice thick due to the lump burning the back of her throat.
He cleared his throat. “Will you have me? Will you be my wife?”
She remembered staring out the cabin of the helicopter after he’d jumped to the ground. He’d turned and gazed at her with what she’d thought was regret darkening his eyes. She’d never felt more alone. “I can’t marry you unless you can promise me you’ll always be my family. You said you love me. You can’t ever take it back.”
Jackson took the ring from the box and slid it on her finger. “Same goes for you. No matter how mad you get, you can’t ever leave me.”
She stood staring at her hand then pushed her hair behind her ear and lifted her chin. “It wasn’t nice, dumping me in that helicopter.”
Jackson stood, gazing down at her. “Would you have gone if you had known I had to stay behind?”
She gave him a frown. “Why couldn’t I have remained? I would have stayed where I was put.”
“We were moving fast. The situation was too dangerous. After Guzman got to you…” He shook his head. “I never want to be that scared again.” He put his forehead against hers. “Just say yes, baby.”
So, she’d have to work on his communications skills. And he’d gone to a lot of trouble and expense to bring her the ring. She held up her hand. “One of your spook friends go through my jewelry box to find my ring size?”
His eyelids lowered half-way, and he gave her that sexy look she’d dreamed about too many nights. “Just put it down to a very good guess. Say yes.”
“You going to keep asking until you wear me down?”
His mouth twitched at the corners. “Is it working?”
Maybe he already smelled victory, or maybe the happiness she felt was written in her eyes. She stopped fighting. “Yes, Jackson. I’ll have you for my husband.”
He gripped her waist and twirled with her, and Suri laughed. Jackson had unlocked her heart.
*
Jackson bent over
Suri and kissed her shoulder. She lay sprawled on her stomach in much the same position she’d fallen asleep last night after he’d made love to her the second time.
They hadn’t made it out of the apartment, but he was determined she wouldn’t distract him again. A friend had lent him a beach house on Padre Island, and he wanted to spoil Suri a little this weekend. She deserved it. She’d said she would put up with him—’til death do they part. That those exact words had been spoken while she’d ridden him hard only made them that much more memorable.
He bit her earlobe. “Wake up. We have to leave. The drive to Padre will take hours.”
She groaned and pulled the pillow over her head.
Jackson smiled. He came over her, sliding a knee between her thighs and an arm beneath her hips. He lifted her to her knees, although her chest and head remained on the mattress and she made a sound like a snore.
He wasn’t fooled. One caress between her legs and he knew she was awake and aware, but if she wanted to play it like this, he was game.
He bent behind her and tongued her folds, stabbed the tip into her opening and swirled, then moved downward. His thumb found her clit first, and then his mouth, and he didn’t start softly. Instead, he suctioned on it, drawing so hard his cheeks hollowed.
“Oh fuck,” she said, coming up on her arms. “Jackson…oh!”
He nipped her and swirled his tongue upward, before rising to his knees and feeding his cock into her very wet pussy. He gave her lazy rolls of his hips, short, quick strokes, and then deeper, hooking glides.
Suri loved them all, pushing her luscious ass against him, murmuring how good it felt, how good she’d give it to him next time, if only he’d fuck her harder now.
Jackson smiled down at her, gripping the sides of her hips to bring her against him in a rhythm that would serve them both. Soon, they pounded together, and their gasps and groans echoed in her small bedroom.
When they both lay breathless, chest to chest, he pushed her hair away from her face and cupped her cheek. “I love you.”
Her smile was deep and curving, and the gesture wrinkled the sides of her pretty blue eyes. “When did you know?”
“Not sure. Maybe the second or third time you lifted your chin and told me in so many words to go to hell.”
Her gaze narrowed. “I never said that.”
“But you wanted to.”
She laughed. “I knew the moment the lights went on in that atrocious pink bedroom. There you were, so tall, and with black streaks on your cheeks, but your eyes were this pure silvery gray. It was lust at first sight.”
“Not love?”
“My instinct told me to trust you, Jackson. From that moment on, I was yours.”
He lifted her chin and kissed her, and then settled back on the bed again. “Padre. We’re going.”
And although he’d used his sternest voice, she laughed and lay with her leg over his hip, her hand over his heart, and her head resting on his shoulder.
He didn’t figure they’d move until the cupboards were bare and they had to find food. He thought of the moment when she’d counted down then sagged in Guzman’s arms.
He’d had one shot. And it had to count. The space of one breath to decide. Her next breath.
His whole body had been shaking when she flung herself into his arms. From that moment on, he’d been a man with a single mission—to love and honor her for the rest of his days. Their future was filled with uncertainties, but one truth was rock-solid—they’d found something real, something worth fighting for.
Suri rubbed a finger against his mouth. “What are you thinking about? You look a million miles away.”
Jackson sought her gaze and smiled. “Baby, I’m right here.”
If you enjoyed this Uncharted SEALs story, be sure to check out
Watch Over Me
and
Through Her Eyes
!
Also from the Uncharted SEALs series
Deke Warrick’s unsanctioned detail is to keep tabs on a congressman’s daughter while she vacations in the Caribbean. He’s determined to keep his distance from the beautiful Nicky Martir, but finds his limits tested when Nicky sets out to seduce him.
What seemed like a simple mission becomes deliciously complicated—and then dangerous, when she’s snatched from their hotel room.
(Read the excerpt below)
Ex-SEAL and expert sniper, Wolf Kinkaid, is taking a little downtime while he considers his options. Being wooed by two elite black ops groups, he’s enjoying Charter Group’s beach house while he considers his options. A loner by nature as well as occupation, he wonders if he’ll ever really connect to the people around him. Afraid his loner nature will sentence him to spending his life alone, he’s not sure he wants to continue looking down a scope, even if the pay’s good.
Bounty hunter Piper Ames loves the adrenaline rush she gets from her high-stakes hunts, but now, she has time on her hands as she waits for her collar to pop up his head so she can take him down. While she’s waiting, it doesn’t hurt that a big, buff, ex-military type is staying right next door. Not the least shy about going after what she wants, she’s surprised when he’s equally as aggressive. Their chemistry is off the charts, and the sex is the hottest she’s ever had.
While Wolf and Piper connect in the only way their independent natures allow, danger lurks. When her target comes, guns blazing, they have to pull together to make it out alive.
And while you wait for more Uncharted SEALs, try Delilah’s Adventure Girls, Inc. stories:
A pampered travel agent, roughing it at an anti-terrorist training school, escapes through the jungle with an undercover DEA agent when a drug lord mistakes her for a rival’s daughter.
Expecting an adrenaline-packed adventure, a travel agent finds more excitement than she can handle when she falls into bed with an ex-SEAL, and then into deep water, swimming with sharks when the yacht they’re sailing on is taken.
A travel agent visiting friends in the Bahamas is stranded on a desert island with a sexy ex-SEAL after their private pleasure cruise is interrupted by men who mistake her lover for a reclusive billionaire.
Delilah Devlin is a
New York Times
and
USA TODAY
bestselling author of erotica and erotic romance with a rapidly expanding reputation for writing deliciously edgy stories with complex characters. She has published over a hundred forty erotic stories in multiple genres and lengths, and she is published by Atria/Strebor, Avon, Berkley, Black Lace, Cleis Press, Ellora’s Cave, Grand Central, Harlequin Spice, HarperCollins: Mischief, Kensington, Montlake Romance, Running Press, and Samhain Publishing.
You can find Delilah all over the web:
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Through Her Eyes
A
fter showering and
shaving—Suri said Wolf had to spruce up because they were having a guest over—Wolf joined the guys outside to fulfill the manly task of cooking the meat.
All three of them were needed, Jax had told Suri, hand over his heart. “Swear, honey.”
“What? So one can hold the cook’s beer while he flips meat?”
“Yeah.”
Her brows wrinkled. “And what’s the third one do?”
“Watch for incoming.” Jax took a sip of beer while he watched his fiancée’s eyes narrow.
But Suri shook her head, and when she turned away, they all heard her soft chuckles.
“You’re marrying a keeper,” Deke said.
“Don’t I know it?”
The gate on the privacy fence that ran between the two houses and down to the water, swung open, and all three men trained their gazes on the woman who stepped into the yard.
Holy fuck.
Wolf’s mouth sagged, but he caught himself and snapped his jaw closed—although not fast enough to prevent Jax’s smirk.
The closer she drew, the less he cared that his friends were watching him watching her. She wore a figure-skimming white halter top and low-riding short-shorts. The tops of her breasts rounded in the heart-shaped opening, and he doubted any man staring at her chest didn’t imagine riding her cleavage. The view below was almost as enticing—a sleek, trim waist, golden skin, and those long, mouthwatering legs. Even her toes, the nails painted a bright red, were delectable. He’d never considered sucking toes particularly sexy. But, lord for the privilege of touching any part of the full package, he’d gladly swallow a little piggy.
An elbow dug into his side, and he aimed a quick glare at Jax.
“Tell her hello,” Jax said, whispering from the side of his mouth.
Fuck, he had to talk to the woman. As the sole bachelor, he stepped forward to greet her. “You must be Piper. I’m Wolf. My friends here are Deke and Jax.”
“So, which is which?” she asked, her eyebrows rising.
That sparkle of laughter in her green eyes caught him by surprise, and then he thought about what she’d said. She was making fun of his clumsiness. Not that he really minded, but now, he didn’t feel quite so nervous. She’d sent the first volley. Warfare, even a sexually based one, was something he could deal with. “Jax, Deke,” he said, rudely pointing toward his friends who were grinning.
They both offered their hands to shake.
An act he’d forgotten to do, and now the opportunity to touch her was lost. “Can I get you a beer?” he muttered.
“I’d love one.”
Glad for the escape, he left and strode toward the cooler which was set under the shade of the back door eaves. As he bent to draw two bottles from the cooler, he heard the back door slide open.