Swift Strike (SEAL Team 14 Book 2) (22 page)

“L
ena! Wake up!”

Lena’s eyes snapped open. The room was completely dark and her legs were tangled up in bed sheets. In a bed that she didn’t remember climbing into. She shrank back when she realized that a man was standing in the doorway, stalking toward her.

“It’s okay, Lena. It’s me. You’re safe.”

Instantly, she breathed a sigh of relief. It was Jesse. God, she was a nervous wreck, even when she was asleep apparently.

“You were screaming.” Turning on a bedside lamp, he sat on the bed alongside her as she sat up her back against the headboard. For the first time, she noticed the handgun that he carried in his hand. He clicked the safety back on and placed it on the nightstand adjacent to the bed. “Jesus, you scared the hell out of me, babe.” Jesse squeezed her knee gently. A shiver ran up Lena’s spine at the warm touch against her cool, exposed legs. Apparently, sometime last night, he’d undressed her before putting her into bed.

“I’m sorry,” she said, bending over she pulled her legs up against her chest as her back rested against the headboard. “What time is it?”

“0600.” The blank stare on her face must have clued him in on her inability to translate military speak because he clarified, “Six o’clock in the morning.”

Judging by the blackness that engulfed the room, it looked like it was still nighttime. However, the small room was outfitted in floor-to-ceiling blackout curtains that prevented any light from seeping in. The blinds served a dual purpose, not only could light not enter into the room when it wasn’t wanted, but they also prevented anyone from seeing the occupants of the room.

“Have you been up all night?” He didn’t even need to answer that question. His eyes were bloodshot, his facial expression haggard to say the least, and more like a twelve o’clock shadow darkened his face. He needed to rest, he’d probably been up for days.

“I’m good. I’ve been up for longer,” he said.

“You should rest.”

He threw a weak smile her way at the suggestion. “Can you tell me what happened? Starting from when you were abducted from your house?” he asked.

“Yes,” she said, surprised that her voice sounded stronger than she felt. Exhaling a deep breath, she described how she’d been chased down, beaten, and ultimately stun gunned in her own home by some maniac. What little emotion that was left in her voice drained when she reiterated about how Hazel Eyes had taunted her with threats to harm both her and her family.

All the while, she saw Jesse clenching and unclenching his fists, his green eyes as dark and stormy as she had ever seen.

“Did any of them touch you? I mean, did they—”

“No, no, they didn’t rape me,” she interrupted him, knowing what he was asking her before he had finished his sentence. “He threatened to…to rape me if I didn’t follow through with meeting with my father.”

Reaching out to her, he hauled her into his arms. Closing his eyes, he rested his chin on top of her head.

“What am I going to do, Jesse? If I meet my father at the location they’ve listed, they will execute him. I’m sure of it.” She hesitated a moment before putting voice to one of his unspoken thoughts. “I think that this whole thing is about stealing the MX-R09. But if I don’t go, they will kill the rest of my family.”

Shivering she rubbed her hands up and down for warmth. Moving away from him, she stood up and started pacing back and forth across the room. “How could my father be involved in something like this? How could he do this to our family?”

“I don’t know, Lena. But we can’t rule anything out, your father obviously isn’t very discerning about who he chooses to do business with.”

“It’s just that never in a million years did I think that my father would be the type to consort with terrorists. Just the very thought of it makes me want to throw up.”

“Yeah, well, people change.”

“Sure, I know that people change,” she said. “But this much? God, I just wish I knew what to do.”

“Yeah, well. Don’t worry. We’re going to deal with this situation together.”

“I know that you say things are going to be okay,” she whispered, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed over her chest. “I know that you believe that. But how can things ever be okay again? My family will never be the same after this. If what Faizal said is true, my father is going to prison—that is if he isn’t killed outright. And my mother and brother—” she said, her voice finally breaking.

He stared at her, his eyes had tracked her uneasy movements across the room. Standing, he moved until he was standing only mere inches away from her.

“Look at me, Lena.”

Reluctantly lifting her gaze to meet his eyes, she was amazed at what she saw. Compassion, kindness, strength, and confidence all stared back at him from the deepest depths of those shining green pools.

“Everything is going to be okay. I’ve spoken with my commanding officer, he’s aware of what’s going on here. He’s going to be sending down some of my teammates to help out on this. We’re going to figure this out. I will protect you and we will save your mother and brother. You have my word.”

****

“Jesse, are you
still awake?”

Lena’s eyes strained in the darkness as she tried to make out the contours of Jesse’s face. She was supposed to meet her father in the next two days. Despite the progress they’d made in formulating a plan of action, she was practically jumping out of her skin and could not manage to drift off to sleep. At this point, she longed for some of those anti-anxiety tablets that Claire had forced down her gullet for weeks after the terrorist attack.

Lena had spent the last hour pacing around the room until Jesse had finally beckoned her to bed. Even in the safety of his arms, she still could not get any rest.

“Jesse?”

“Yeah, I’m up,” he mumbled, his voice thick with sleep. “What is it?”

Sighing, she snuggled closer to him, seeking out his warmth. “I just need you to tell me that everything is going to be fine. Everything
is
going to okay, isn’t it?”

He rolled over then, bringing her close enough to him that her head rested against his chest.

“Yes, it is. I know that you are scared, but things will turn out just fine. I promise you that. You do not have anything to worry about. I’m going to be right there with you.” And then he joked, “You know, my teammates and I may seem like a motley crew, but we’re actually very effective when it comes to carrying out our missions. I trust my team with my life, and most importantly, I trust them with your life.”

She was still emotionally raw after she had poured her heart out to Jesse by telling him AnSawar had planned for her father. It had been a huge step for her to have faith that Jesse and his team could save her and her family. But he had never lied to her before, and she knew that he would do his very best to keep her alive.

Lena was wary of telling anyone else besides Jesse about the scheduled meeting with her father, but she trusted Jesse. And he like he said, he trusted his team. That would have to be enough.

After transmitting the information to CO Mark Dewitt, the two men had discussed a very intricate plan involving a raid on her father’s house on Saturday. Mark Dewitt was going to compile a strike team of SEALs for the takedown. It was a risky, last-minute operation, but both he and Jesse agreed that it was their best chance to nail the key operatives for AnSawar, preventing them from unleashing another attack.

A few minutes passed by with Jesse soothingly stroking her back.

“Jesse?”

“Yeah, hun?”

“If you’re not able to…I mean, if I don’t make it out of the meeting, there’s something that I want you to know.”

“Hey, look at me,” he demanded, lifting her chin up so that she was staring directly into her eyes. “I promise you, no harm is going to come to you.”

“I know,” she whispered, the words lodging in her throat. “I know that you are going to do everything in your power to make sure that I’m not hurt. But Jesse, the unexpected happens all the time. And if I don’t make it out of there, I don’t want to die without you knowing how much I care about you.”

He swallowed, looking away from her for a second and then locking his eyes with hers. “I care about you too, Lena. Very much. And I am going to personally make sure that nothing happens to you. I’m going to make sure that you are safe.”

“I never thought…”

“You never thought what?” he prompted her after her voice trailed off into silence.

“I never thought that I would meet someone like you.”

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“You are just different from a lot of men that I have met. I feel like I’ve known you for a lot longer than I have. Not to mention that you have come to my rescue on two occasions now. Are you in the running to become a saint now or something?

He laughed. “Hey, let’s not start signing me up for sainthood. I have made plenty of mistakes before.”

“Well, it’s refreshing to know that sometimes when people change, they can change for the better.”

She kissed him then. It started out as a light peck on the side of his cheek. But like the first kiss that they’d shared together, that one peck quickly spiraled into a blazing hot kiss with tongue. They could very well on Saturday, and all she could think about was how much she wanted to feel him inside of her one more time.

Wrapping an arm around her, he lifted her on top of him to sit in his lap, straddling his waist. Pulling her head down, he brought his lips to hers for another kiss. One of his hands travelled down her back, down to her bottom and squeezed. Lena gasped.

“You are so beautiful,” he murmured against her lips. “So perfect.”

Lena found that when she was with Jesse she actually
did
feel gorgeous. She had never felt this uninhibited or more confident about her appearance than when she was with him. So what if she did not have huge boobs or a Kim Kardashian behind? When Jesse looked at her with half-lidded eyes, like he was doing right now, she felt like a sex goddess.

Her tongue mated hungrily with his as she ran her hands over his powerful chest. Pulling away from him, she kissed across his jaw line, and farther downward to kiss and lick his chest. Lowering herself even further down his body, she pulled off his boxer shorts.

He was already completely aroused, his hard length pressing against her. Reaching out, she grabbed the base of his penis and stroked him up and down. Taking him into her mouth, her tongue mimicked the licks that she had bestowed upon his chest moments earlier. She completely soul-sucked him until he was groaning and gasping for air.

Raising her head up with his hand, he rolled his body so that she was now shifted underneath him. It was her turn to gasp when he pulled off her shirt, and fastened his hungry mouth to her breast. He greedily suckled at her right breast while his hands played with her left nipple. By the time that he had finished with his ministrations, her nipples were rock-hard buds that advertised her yearning for him.

His hands travelled lower then, down to the soft blond curls that were now damp with her desire. She gasped when he ripped off the thin scrap of panties that she wore, dipping one long finger into her exposed vagina. Arching her back, she shifted her body lower, spreading her legs to provide him with easier access. Slipping a third finger inside of her, he stretched her, her muscles clamping tightly around his hand.

Her first orgasm took her by surprise, buffeting her upon wave after wave of sweet ecstasy. When she finally opened her eyes, he was watching her closely. His hands were on either side of her head and he held himself up off her body. Beads of sweat lined his upper brow.

Lowering his head, his tongue thrust deep inside of her mouth, demanding more from her, taking more from her. Sighing she pushed herself tightly against his body, her hips lifting off of the bed to fit against his lower body. And then, he pulled away.

“Shit.”

“What?” she asked while he held himself above her, motionless.

“I don’t have a condom with me. Again. Damn.” He sighed, a pained expression crossing his face.

“It’s okay,” she reassured him, wrapping her legs around his waist. And she realized that it really
was
okay. The thought of having unprotected sex with someone she had only known for a few weeks should have terrified her. But she wasn’t scared. Not about this. This felt right.

“Are you sure? I’ll try to pull out in time…I just want you so much.”

“I’m positive,” she said reassuring him. “I want you too.”

His mouth connected with hers again. His hands feverishly roamed all over her body and then with one hard thrust, he was inside of her. She forgot about everything as he stroked in and out of her. He was such an intimate part of her that she didn’t know where she ended and where he began.

Shuddering against him, her second climax rippled through her.

I love you. I love you.

She did love him. She’d never felt this way about any man before. She definitely hadn’t felt this way about Kevin. But thank God she did not say those words aloud. Or did she? The second time they have sex and she’s already declaring her love for him? No. He hadn’t heard her. If he had, he’d be halfway to San Diego by now.