Authors: Lindsay McKenna
His grin broadened. “I agree.” Seeing her become pensive, he squeezed her shoulders. “What are you thinking about?”
She sank into the warmth of his gaze. “That I’d like to marry you before Artemis Security is fully operational because once it is, our lives are going to be crazy. It’s going to take a good year to get all the wrinkles ironed out of the company and moving smoothly.”
“No disagreement there. They’re looking at next June for it to go live.”
“Yes.” She chewed on her lower lip, thinking. “There’s so much for us to get ready for, both at home and at work.”
“Uh, oh,” he muttered, “You’re going into worry-wart mode,” and he kissed the tip of her nose, amusement dancing in his eyes.
Grudgingly, Lia nodded. “What would you think of a March wedding next year, Cav?”
“Baby, you just name the date and I’ll be there.” He caressed her cheek. “I want you and your Mom, and of course, Dilara, to plan this. I’ll be there to support anything you want. Just don’t ask me to get involved in the planning, okay?”
A small smile flitted across her face. “All you want to do is show up at the altar. Is that it, big boy?”
Chuckling, Cav said, “Yep. I want you to have the wedding you’ve always dreamed of, Lia, nothing less. Why should I put my ideas about the wedding in there? I’ll be waiting for you at the end of that walk down the aisle.”
“Men!” she muttered, shaking her head, stifling another laugh. “I know Dilara will want to be involved in the planning stage, and so will my mom.”
Cav grinned. “I’ll bet your father is just like me. He’ll want nothing to do with it except to pay the bills.”
“You’re probably right,” she conceded, still smiling. “How about if you choose the flowers?”
“Baby,” he growled, kissing her brow, “I want you happy, so I want you to choose the flowers that mean the most to you.”
“But don’t you have a favorite flower?”
“The one in my arms right now,” he said gruffly, sliding his hand down her spine. “And I love the way you smell.”
“You’re hopeless, Jordan.”
“Thank you. I am. Now, can we segue to us? To the fact I can smell your sex scent? That’s its driving me crazy? And I need to do something about it or else?”
His erection was hard as warm steel against her belly, pressing insistently against her. “Promise me one thing, Cav?”
“Anything. Everything, sweet baby.”
She nearly swooned as he took her mouth, cherishing her, letting her know how much he really loved her.
Letting him know just how good a kisser he was, Lia surrendered to him again and again. When he finally left her mouth, her lower body was throbbing like a fire that had to be put out.
She saw him give her a boyish look and her heart flew open. “Promise me,” she said huskily, sliding her hand over his stubble cheek, “that we can have at least two children when the time’s right?”
His face crumpled with emotion, and tears filled his eyes for a moment. And then, they were gone. But his voice was rough with feeling when he answered,
“I want as many or as few children as you want, Lia. Each one will be special, with two very loving parents who want to do the best job they can of raising them right.”
“I’m going to be thirty soon,” she offered. “I don’t want to wait very long, Cav.”
Shrugging, he said, “You just name the time and place”
Laughing, she threw her arms around him in a deep, fierce hug. “Oh, I love you so much!” she whispered against his ear. “Those kids will be so spoiled, I can hardly wait to get started!”
The End
Don’t Miss Lindsay McKenna’s next DELOS series novel.
Tangled Pursuit
Coming to you in November 2015!
Only from Lindsay McKenna and Blue Turtle Publishing
Available where ever you buy books and eBooks!
Tangled Pursuit, Book 2, Delos Series
C
hief Wyatt Lockwood
kept his gaze averted but was still able to find Captain Talia Culver, who stood restively in the chow line. She was with her brother, Matt, and her sister, Alexa. He knew Matt well because they’d worked together on a number of black ops missions over the years. Alexa was an unknown simply because she was an Air Force pilot and he was a ground-pounder.
As he hungrily scooped up his second helping of six eggs, along with a tray piled high with bacon and toast, he smiled to himself. His “animals,” the other SEALs in his platoon, had their heads down, concentrating on wolfing down as much protein their empty stomachs could hold.
But he had other fish to fry. Namely, Tal. Damn, she was an Amazon-warrior knockout. Of course, he’d never tell her that. She’d get royally pissed off, turn on her heel, and leave him in a huff without another word. She was like that, quick to give him an icy glare. She didn’t have the time of day for him, which her body language had told him again and again—for three years, in fact.
He watched Tal and her sister, noting that Tal was taller than most women, although Alexa was only two inches shorter than her. Tal had a lean body that he found himself fantasizing about on far too many nights. Despite her height, she couldn’t have hidden her femininity if she tried.
Granted, out here in the badlands, women didn’t wear makeup or perfume—especially a sniper like Tal. The scent would carry on the wind, straight to the Taliban. They’d follow it and discover her hiding place. He couldn’t even think about what might happen after that.
Turning to his breakfast, he shoveled more eggs into his mouth, delighting in the line of sight he had on the woman he wanted in his bed—one way or another.
Wyatt had always danced away from serious, long-term relationships. Hell, he’d seen too many SEAL marriages fail horribly. A 90 percent divorce rate didn’t offer him the odds he’d need to even consider the idea, which was why he kept his hookups light and short-term.
He often told himself that he was doing women a favor by walking away in the morning. To lead a woman on by making her think there was hope for a serious relationship would be a dark falsehood. SEALs who were in love, he thought, had to lie to themselves about their odds of keeping a marriage together, given their brutal rotation cycle and the fact that they were often away from home for six months or more at a time. He wouldn’t put himself or a woman he wanted to love through that kind of minefield. Wyatt was always upfront with a woman who interested him—that it was for a night of sex, and that was it. If she agreed, they both walked away satisfied and happy the next morning.
Wyatt drank his coffee, watching Tal smile at Matt. He’d actually gotten to know Matt very well because SEALs and CAG/Delta Force often worked together on many overlapping HVT missions.
Because he liked the guy a lot, it only added to Tal’s appeal. After all, someone with as great a guy as Matt for a brother had to be pretty special herself. As the years rolled by, Wyatt counted Matt like a younger brother to him. They worked together often. The Delta Force sergeant was reliable, loyal, and guarded everyone’s back. That counted in Wyatt’s world. Plus, he liked Matt’s easygoing nature, which was a lot like his own. He often teased Matt that he was his twin but they’d been separated at birth and sent to a different family. Matt laughed and agreed.
Finishing off his eggs, Wyatt turned to the strawberry jam he’d dropped onto his aluminum tray. There was enough there to kill a horse, but Wyatt knew from experience that protein and sugar were two of a SEAL’s best friends when either going on an op or just coming off one.
Wyatt had been out for twelve exhausting days on a long direct-action mission, or DA, with seven other team members. They had all dropped at least ten pounds in weight, but now they were going to wolf down enough food to make up for it.
He watched an animated Tal tease her brother and sister and grinned as he saw her issue a rare smile in their direction. He liked her smile. She had an oval face, high cheekbones, and a strong, stubborn jawline. Yeah, she was stubborn, all right. Why wouldn’t she come down off that icy cliff she always sat on and at least be civil toward him?
Even with her long, black hair in a ponytail, she was all woman. Wyatt knew she pulled at least two sniper ops a month, even though she was in charge of her sniper unit here at Bagram. Tal wasn’t an officer who sat behind a desk; she needed to be out in the field with her people.
That was another thing he liked about her. And sometimes, he’d gotten lucky and run into Tal and her spotter, Jay Caldwell, out in the Hindu Kush. While Jay was cordial, Tal always seemed pissed off at him because his team was in her territory. He was running through her area, creating a disturbance, she said, messing up her hide, where she was camouflaged and couldn’t be seen by the enemy. Hell, there was nothing to disturb except rocks, brush, and those fucking goatherds.
She would sit in a chosen hide for days, even weeks, if necessary, with her .300 Win-Mag trained on that Af-Pak border, waiting for her HVT to show up. Yeah, she had patience to burn all right. Wyatt just wished she’d lose some of it where he was concerned.
Didn’t the woman ever get horny? Hungry for sex? God knew he did! But then, she was a woman, and her hormones were different from a man’s, although he did know plenty of women who liked having sex. Too bad Tal wasn’t more like them.
Wyatt had once heard Matt hint that there were two main reasons Tal wasn’t interested in him. First, he was enlisted and she was an officer. The UCMJ rules were very clear that it was taboo for men and women in those categories to get together. Of course, Wyatt never worried about that. SEALs had a hell of a reputation for breaking rules in the military and living to tell about it.
In fact, he knew plenty of officers and enlisted here on this base who would eagerly fraternize with one another. The key, of course, was keeping it hidden from a superior officer or individuals who might want to make trouble for the couple. If an officer was caught fraternizing with an enlisted, his or her career could go to hell pretty damn fast.
Maybe he could convince Tal Culver that he’d personally guarantee that no one on this base would ever find them out. He’d say whatever he had to in order to get her into bed. Then again, he’d have to get her to talk to him first, so the chances were slim to none that he’d have to bother with guarantees!
The other reason Matt had given him was cause for serious concern. He’d told Wyatt that Tal had lost the man she loved, a Marine sniper, six years ago. The couple had been deeply in love, Matt confided.
Wyatt had wanted to continue their conversation and was frustrated that he’d have to wait to learn more—if Matt was in the mood then to continue his confidences. Maybe she was still grieving. Wyatt had never been in love, so he didn’t understand someone having to work through years of grief.
The strangest thing was, he had a feeling—call it intuition—that deep down, Tal actually respected him. That was the thing about being a SEAL, working for years under life-and-death conditions. A SEAL’s intuition was so developed, it often flew off the charts. He’d seen intuition save a man’s life, and Wyatt’s psychic ability was damn near in the paranormal range. His platoon knew about his gift and always deferred to him on a DA when he told them to stop, that there was a Taliban ambush ahead of them. And he was never wrong.
He watched Tal lead the way from the chow line to the opposite end of the hall from where he and his team sat, and smiled. Yeah, she knew exactly where he was sitting and was going to avoid him big-time. Pushing the emptied tray away from him, he picked up his mug of coffee and finished it off. God, how he’d missed good, strong espresso. Six months without a sip of it had been starting to stress him out.
Wyatt watched Tal move between the tables. His body responded as he silently observed her. She had one of the nicest-shaped asses he’d ever seen on a woman. He could tell by the way she walked, the way her loose-fitting Marine outfit flowed over her hips, that she would be exciting to explore. His hands itched. Damn. He had it bad for his ice queen.
Yet, when Wyatt did manage to snag her attention and get a few words in before she’d turn on her heel, he detected genuine interest in her eyes. That gave him hope; he suspected she was attracted to him but would face a firing squad before admitting it.
Which was why he continued to pursue her. Sooner or later, he was going to wear that wild filly down.
Rising from the table, he told his men he’d see them back at HQ. Sauntering down one of the polished aisles, a drop holster on each thigh, his Ka-Bar strapped to his right calf, Wyatt ignored the curious looks from the civilians and soldiers. A SEAL stood out precisely because of what he wore.
He’d shucked down to his SEAL day uniform of a desert blouse and cammies, leaving his Kevlar vest and rifle back in his locker at HQ. Now he wished he’d at least showered, trimmed up his beard, and made himself look halfway presentable before flying into Tal’s face again.
On the other hand, her brother, Matt, looked just as dirty and grungy as he did, and she clearly wasn’t repelled by his close proximity. Maybe, Wyatt hoped, with her family here, she’d at least be polite and let him try to charm her.
Tal’s neck prickled with warning. Oh, damn! Her back was toward most of the chow hall, and she could see out the two windows on either side of them. Matt had said he’d bite the bullet and sit with his back to the window, a huge no-no in the black ops world, but he’d done it because Tal was there and she could see any threat or attack from the Taliban that might come their way. And Bagram had been hit many times before with mortars and hit squads who managed to get under the wire to do damage. It paid to remain constantly alert.
Alexa sat next to Matt, her fraternal twin, not caring too much one way or another where she sat. After all, she was an A-10 Warthog driver, flying in one of the most protected cockpits in the world. The Air Force didn’t have to work on the ground with the troops, Tal thought. Her red-haired combat-pilot sister, who radiated a dazzling, bright energy, never saw life and death up close, just through the sights and computers on board her Warthog. This was a huge difference between the air and ground war. Alexa used the Gatling gun on the nose of her A-10 and dropped serious ordinance on the enemy, often at very close range and well within reach of enemy gunfire. The A-10 pilots like Alexa were highly respected by the ground troops because of their ability to swoop down low level, well within range of enemy bullets, and attack the enemy, pushing them back to save their lives. A-10 drivers, regardless of gender, among the troops were regarded to have the biggest sets of balls in the Air Force because every time they flew, there was a helluva good chance they could get killed protecting those on the ground.