SEAL'd Perfection The Complete Collection: A Navy SEAL Romance (28 page)

2. Design is something I’ve always been interested in, and hey, it’s better than slinging fries for the rest of my life, right? Seriously though, there’s something soothing about the order of it, that everything has a place, and that it’s your job to find it. Maybe that’s weird…As for checking out your couch, if I remember correctly, that was your idea. But nice try. :)

3. I’m not entirely sure I should tell you this…but, hopefully it will make you laugh too…the last time I laughed my ass off was Friday actually. My next door neighbor informed me that the gossip hags in town all think you’re off on some kind of bender, or that you went on a bender, and then checked yourself into rehab. Which, I realize, is not funny, but if you’d seen Hilda’s face, I think you would have laughed too. She was freaked out cause she thought she was the reason we were together…or…whatever it is that we’re doing.

As for your questions, here goes:

1. You never talk about your family. Do you have siblings? Where do your parents live?

2. Since you asked about my job choice, I’ll ask yours. What made you start doing tattoos in the first place?

3. Do you think you want a family of your own someday?

I miss you. Come home soon.

Kat

I hesitated, reading it over again, tweaking things, wondering back and forth over my final question, and whether or not I should send it. It was pretty bold. But, it was burning a hole in me, not knowing, so I hit send and leaned back against the couch. I sipped my wine, refreshing my inbox every two minutes in between other tasks, but nothing else came through and eventually, I drifted into sleep on the couch, laptop still propped open next to me.

We were on the move. It was only a matter of time, days, maybe a week, before we would be back on solid land and going into enemy territory. This knowledge had everyone on edge, with heightened senses, and had kicked my obsessing and dreaming about Kat into new heights. I was scamming Kyle’s phone off him anytime he set it down, checking my email a dozen times a day, waiting for Kat’s reply. After three days, I was starting to panic that she’d accidentally written down the wrong email address, that maybe she’d missed a letter or number. Her handwriting was clear as day, but as paranoia set it, I studied it like some kind of handwriting analyst, wondering where I could have misinterpreted.

So, when Monday came and a message popped up, I couldn’t help but let out a holler so loud that half my bunkmates shouted and threw pillows at me in the dark. It was early, the sun hadn’t risen yet— not that we would have seen it if it had, locked in the berthing compartment in the middle of the ship. I slipped from my rack, exerting every ounce of self control to not open the message, until I’d dressed and gotten out of the room where my fellow team members were sleeping. I went down the narrow halls and didn’t stop till I got to the mess hall, where the cooks had just begun prepping breakfast. I made a cup of coffee for myself at the self serve station and hunkered down at a table to open Kat’s reply.

My face broke into a smile two lines in, and by the end, when she was telling me that the entire town thought I was some kind of junkie, I laughed out loud, drawing the attention of a group of officers passing through, their expressions puzzled as they stared at me laughing to myself in the corner. I saluted them before returning my attention to Kat’s email, reading it at least half a dozen times, before I pulled up the on screen keyboard to tap out a reply. I got halfway through before I noticed a small icon off to the side, a little green circle next to her name. I clicked on it and a small chat window popped up with her picture. The sight of her, even in the miniature window, took my breath away. She was so fucking beautiful. My mind replayed the last night together, the way we’d come together, so perfect and intense, had left me speechless, having never been with any woman like that.

I typed out a message: “Hey gorgeous, what are you doing awake?”

I hit send, and waited a few minutes, before deciding that she wasn’t really online, that she’d accidentally left her chat window up. I went back to the email, combating the disappointment, and was about to hit send, when the chat window flashed. I clicked back and saw she was in fact, there.

“Well, I was attempting to do homework, but something is distracting me…”

I laughed at the little icon shaking its finger at me, and typed back, “Can’t help myself.”

“I’m sure,” she replied. “What time is it there?”

“Almost six. I’m at the mess hall, working on a cup of Joe... Missing the diner’s coffee. Believe it or not, there aren’t any hot waitresses here.” I smirked when I hit send.

Seconds later, she replied, “Poor thing.”

“Yeah, I know. I’m a sad case. Thanks for the email, you made my morning. My whole month actually. I was beginning to think I had the wrong email addy.”

“I had Jax this weekend, so not a lot of down time. It was good though.”

I stilled, hating that she only got to see Jax once a week. I asked her about it and we exchanged a series of messages as she explained to me what had happened at the mediation, beyond what she’d shared in her email, and concluded with what her lawyer had told her about the upcoming trial. She also told me what Hannah, her ex’s new wife, had said.

“Man, talk about a mind fuck,” I said in response to the mistresses confession. I still had trouble believing there was a man alive that would betray Kat and leave her for another woman.
What an idiot
. I shook my head.

“It’s been a little crazy, for sure. Enough of all that, what’s going on over there?” She wrote back.

I looked around the interior of the ship. Grey and beige as far as the eye could see. It was like living in a very bland Cracker Jack box. I’d done it a dozen times before, not for as long as this mission was turning out to be, but life on a ship wasn’t new, and yet, it felt new. In the past, it had been an adventure, and I’d overlooked the cramped quarters and terrible food, because I was doing what I loved. Things had changed. I still loved being a SEAL, and didn’t regret my choice to be in the reserves, but somewhere along the way, my focus had shifted and my life wasn’t only my own anymore, a piece of me belonged with Kat.

“I can’t say too much,” I typed. “But, we’re on the move. After today, I’m not sure how much I’ll get to be online. But I’ll try my best every chance I get to write you.”

There was a long pause before the cursor indicated she was typing again, and I wondered what she was thinking.

“I understand,” she wrote at last.

“I miss you.”

“I miss you too.”

My heart swelled and a lump formed in my throat. “All right, back to these questions,” I started, needing to shift the topic before I lost it in the middle of the mess hall. “You wanted to know about my family. My parents live in Charlotte. My dad is a retired SEAL, he does woodworking now and sells his stuff at bazaars and fairs. My mom was a high school teacher for thirty-five years, English Lit, and spends most of her time dragging my dad out of his shop to go hiking. I have two brothers, younger, in college. We’re close, but don’t talk as often these days. I’m kinda a black sheep I guess. My dad was super proud when I joined the Navy, and even more when I became a SEAL, but when I got done and opened my tattoo shop…let’s just say, that didn’t go over too well. My parents are pretty conservative and don’t like my ink, and certainly don’t like the idea of me being a tattoo artist. My dad especially hates it, thinks I’m throwing away my life. My brothers don’t care what I do for a living, but they’re busy with their own lives.”

I paused before sending. It was odd to go into such detail about my family life. It wasn’t something I really shared with anyone else.

“I’m sorry they don’t see you for who you truly are, an amazing man,” Kat replied. “Did you move around a lot when you were younger?”

“Yeah, part of the military life. I guess that’s why I’m kind of a loner these days, I got used to change and moving.”

There was a long pause on Kat’s end, and for a moment I was afraid the internet connection had dropped out. After a few minutes, the cursor started moving again. “Where do you want to put down roots? Or is that not something you want?”

I quirked my lips, thinking about the third question in her email to me, about whether or not I saw myself having a family. “The truth?”

“Please.”

“Before meeting you, it wasn’t something I could picture. I only moved from Chicago because I needed to get out of the limelight for a while, a little hard to do when you’re on TV. I figured a small town was my best shot for a normal life. You know…minus the cameras that follow me around all day…”

“Why did you sign up to do the show if you don’t like cameras?”

“Ha! Great question…” I stopped typing, my fingers hovering over the keys. “When I started my business, I got some local press and when the studio came with an offer to be on TV, I was pretty deep in my party phase and didn’t really think it through. I saw dollar signs and fame and signed the contracts before I even asked anyone for advice. I don’t necessarily regret it, but it’s not what I want to do forever.”

“So what’s the plan then? Finish the contract and move back to Chicago?” Kat asked, and I imagined her questioning look, her green eyes wide, waiting for my answer.

“I’m not leaving, Kat. You don’t have to worry about me bailing out on you.”

“That’s good news,” she typed back.

I smiled, and looked up at the filter of people coming into the mess hall. I’d been so absorbed in writing back and forth with Kat that I hadn’t noticed the smells of breakfast flooding the room. Bacon frying, eggs cooking, burnt toast somewhere in the mix, and the over arcing smell of fresh coffee. Kyle came into the room and made a beeline to my table.

“Hey, asshole, what the hell did you wake us all up for this morning?” He demanded, sinking onto the opposite bench and swiping my coffee from me. “Neil and Baker are pissed! We had another half an hour.”

I rolled my eyes. “Seriously? It wasn’t like I set off a firecracker.”

“No, you just squealed like a girl getting a Valentine’s Day bouquet!”

I shoved his arm and snatched my coffee cup back. “Tell them to grow a pair! It’s not that big of a deal.”

Kyle looked down at the phone in my hands. “You done?”

“Two minutes,” I reluctantly replied. He nodded and popped up from the table to go get in line for food. I knew he wouldn’t stay pissed at me, but everyone was on edge and waking my bunkmates up at the crack of dawn hadn’t been smart. I typed in a quick message to Kat, telling her I had to go and promising her I’d email again before I started my day, and then signed off right as Kyle returned, holding two plates piled with food. He set one down in front of me, handed me a fork, and I knew all was forgiven.

He sucked down his food and reached for the phone. “Off to call the Mrs. I’ll give it back when I’m done, all right?”

I nodded and he left the table. I shoved the food around on my plate, my mind still with Kat, wondering if she would go to bed, or if she would wait up for my email. After forcing a few bites down, I went to hit the showers to pass time before I could get the phone back from Kyle and email Kat again.

Under the spray of hot water, my mind drifted to picturing Kat undressing for bed. I wondered if she slept naked when Jax wasn’t home. My mind conjured up her image, remembering how she had looked the night I told her about the deployment. She’d taken me to her bedroom and undressed slowly, exposing herself piece by piece until she stood before me, trembling slightly, completely naked. Every line, curve, and hollow was etched in my mind, and I began stroking my hard cock as I brought it all back, wishing it was her hand on me. Or her sweet, pouty mouth.

“Fuck,” I hissed, sputtering water from my lips.

Kat was perfection. The most gorgeous woman I’d ever seen. It wasn’t unusual for me to get attention for women. I’d always had a reputation and never had a shortage of willing partners. But, when I thought of Kat and the way we were together, it was impossible not to wonder how the hell I’d gotten so lucky to find her.

Her green eyes were haunting and deep, and I let my mind imagine her on her knees before me, teasing my cock with her lips, as she stared up at me with those emeralds, her lashes thick, her eyes dark with desire as she sucked and licked and stroked me.

I exploded minutes later, the fantasies of Kat too much to take. I rinsed off, missing her more than ever, and as I toweled off, decided to return the favor and write her a dirty message that would hopefully make her just as crazy as she made me.

As I waited for Jace’s email, I slipped in and out, trying to keep my eyes open, but exhaustion—mentally and physically—kept taking over, dragging me into a light sleep, laced with dreams and visions of Jace. After our chat, my heart ached for him stronger than it ever had before, and my body was on edge, wishing he was there to release me. Eventually, I pushed off of the couch and turned the laptop off, figuring he’d gotten busy and hadn’t had a chance to get back to me. I padded down the hall into my room and got ready for bed. When I climbed under the sheets, my hand grazed the soft edge of Jace’s leather jacket, and I snuggled it close, breathing in his scent that lingered inside. My body warmed as I held it close, imagining it as Jace, letting myself get lost in the memory of him.

As sleepy as I’d been on the couch, once in bed, my mind awakened and I spent half an hour tossing and turning trying to get comfortable enough to slip into sleep. Eventually, I gave up and went out to retrieve the laptop, telling myself that if I checked my email one more time, then I would be able to let it go and sleep. I got settled in bed and pulled up my inbox, waiting for the little arrow to stop spinning, and gasped when I saw a new message. My heart fluttered and then stopped completely at the subject line:
I wanna fuck you.

A delicious smile spread across my face as I clicked on the message and began to devour Jace’s naughty message: