Teague (18 page)

They’d talk in the morning. Get things squared away so they knew where they stood.

But there were a lot of hours between now and tomorrow. And as Teague settled Sabrina on his bed, he intended to stay awake and pleasure this woman for every single one of them.

Sabrina woke up abruptly for a couple reasons. One, Bingo jumped on her and barked in her face. And secondly, she heard two men arguing.

Confused for a moment, she scrubbed at her eyes, glancing around the room and—

Her heart took off, beating so fast and hard that she felt faint. Sweat broke out across her brow and she gasped. She’d spent the night with Teague. The entire night. And they’d—oh, wow, they’d….Jesus, they’d done all sorts of things. Stuff she’d read about or heard about but had never had the balls to do.

Blushing hard, she rolled over with a groan. She could still smell him on the pillow. God, she could still smell the sex. Holy. The sex was everywhere. Like there’d been a sex-plosion in the room.

She squeezed her eyes shut and then bolted upright as the voices from downstairs got louder. Angrier.
Closer
.

Shit.

Scrambling from the bed with a sheet clutched to her chest, Sabrina searched the room frantically for her clothes. But of course there were no clothes to be found because she’d stripped them off like a professional stripper the night before and they were scattered all over the living room.
Idiot.

“Dammit,” she whispered, unsure of what to do. She ‘shushed’ her dog and after a few moments, tiptoed over to the door. Cracking it open a bit, she eased by it and paused. She could hear Teague and…

Jack Simon? What was he doing here?

“You’re not thinking this through, Teague,” Jack said, his voice loud and obviously angry.

Instantly concerned, Sabrina held her breath, thinking she should retreat but wanting to know what the hell was going on.

“There’s nothing to think through. It’s a done deal.” Teague’s response was very matter of fact, his voice calm.

“Dammit, Teague. Why the hell would you go back there? After what happened the first time? Do you have a fucking death wish? Most news agencies aren’t even allowing their journalists to travel in that country. That’s how dangerous it is.”

“This isn’t a sanctioned gig, Jack. I already told you that. I’m not filing a report or answering to anyone. This is for me.”

Jack swore a blue streak, and, heart in her throat, Sabrina inched forward. The Simon cottage had a massive great room and the bedrooms all opened to a landing that overlooked it. She peeked over the railing. Teague was in his boxers, arms folded across his chest. Every inch of him looked fierce and her heart twisted at the look in his eyes. It was one she’d never seen before.

It was cold and unrelenting, and so not like the man she knew.

Jack looked rough, as if he’d not had much sleep. With a couple days’ worth of stubble on his face and rumpled hair, he looked about as far removed from his normal persona as you could get. But the thing that caught Sabrina’s attention was the fact that not only did he look pissed off, he looked scared as hell.

“I think you’re being a selfish prick,” Jack bit out, taking a step toward his brother.

“Think whatever you want,” Teague replied. “I don’t need your permission to do this and I certainly don’t need the Simon family blessing either.”

“Don’t you give a shit about Mom? And Dad?”

“That’s a stupid thing to say,” Teague snapped. “Our mother, more than anyone, understands why I have to go.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Jack ran his hands through his hair. “Are you telling me that Mom knows you’re going back?”

“I called her yesterday. As soon as I got off the phone with Bowen.” Teague shrugged. “She knows. She knows everything.”

“Everything?” Jack asked roughly. “Does she know that Dallas is most likely dead? Does she know that this mission of yours to track him down his ghost is probably going to get you killed?”

Tears stung the backs of Sabrina’s eyes and she bit her lip in an effort to keep quiet. But she’d known, hadn’t she? That Teague was leaving her?

“Jack,” Teague warned, but his brother wasn’t having any of it.

“Did you tell Mom about the kid?”

“Don’t go there,” Teague warned, but his brother plunged on as if he hadn’t said a word.

“Did you tell her the whole story? Did you tell her what went down? What you had to do? Does she know what it cost you to make that call?”

Teague stared at his brother for a long time. So long that Sabrina’s legs cramped. Her throat was tight and her chest heavy. She didn’t want to hear any of this, and yet she couldn’t stop herself from listening.

Teague’s mouth was so tight that the skin around his lips was white and when he looked to the side—when he swiped at his eyes angrily—well, her heart broke. It broke into shards because in that moment, she realized that sometime over the last few weeks, she’d fallen for this man and she’d fallen hard.

“Like I said,” Teague answered, his voice dangerously low. “She knows everything. Every fucking thing that happened over there. She knows that I hesitated when I shouldn’t have. She knows that if I would have done the job I was there to do, then Dallas would be home with his wife and kids. She knows that’s why I have to go back.”

Jack shook his head and muttered. “You’re unbelievable. Can’t you think of your family and all the people you’re leaving behind instead of some fucked up crusade that makes no sense to anyone other than you? Don’t you care that when you’re away and we don’t hear from you for weeks or months, Mom can’t eat or sleep? Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”

There was silence then. A long period of silence that was so long it became a thing. It became a loud, hard, thing that pressed into Sabrina’s chest. She felt like screaming and maybe she would have except Bingo decided he’d had enough of the silent game and slipped out of Teague’s bedroom.

“Shit.” Sabrina lunged after the dog but the puppy was fast. It barked madly and flew down the stairs, not stopping until it was at Teague’s feet. It licked at his toes tail wagging happily before running to Jack and sniffing every inch of the man that he could reach.

“What the,” Jack sputtered. “Since when do you have a dog?”

Teague sighed, eyes moving upward. “It’s not mine.”

“Then whose is it?” Jack looked at his brother—who was looking up at Sabrina—and Jack turned toward the landing.

To say that Jack Simon looked shocked would be an understatement. He was shocked all right. Shocked, and as the moment wore on, his shock was replaced with something stronger. There was no more hiding.

“Hey Jack,” she said, voice way too bright for the situation. “Bingo belongs to me.” Sabrina hiked up her sheet. “I’ll just get dressed. Teague could you um…could you…”

Teague strode past his brother and gathered up her scattered clothes. He didn’t say a word as he headed up the stairs, but his body language spoke volumes. So did the continued silence and the intensity in his eyes. His fingers touched hers briefly when he handed over the pile of clothes. They were cold and he seemed so damned distant that a part of her wanted to take him in her arms and try to make things better.

But what was the point? Seemed as if the Teague she knew had already left and at this point she had no idea if he was coming back.

“I’ll make coffee,” Teague said after a few moments. “And then we should have that talk.”

“Sounds good,” she replied, trying her hardest to keep an even tone.

On wooden legs, she turned around and headed back to his room. The rumpled sheets and scattered pillows attested to an intense night of lovemaking. But the warmth was long gone.

God she was cold.

Teeth chattering, Sabrina got dressed, wishing she could just sneak out onto the patio and bypass dealing with everything, but one glance in the mirror told her that she needed to deal with this and move on, no matter how hard it was. She never wanted to see that look of hurt in her eyes again.

She exhaled and counted to ten.

She tried to tame her wild waves, but gave up when her fingers kept snagging on the tangles. And then she headed for the stairs.

Teague had found his pants from the night before though he’d not bothered with a shirt and her eyes strayed to the scars on his body.

“Sabrina.” That was Jack.

He folded her into his arms and for a moment, she took the time to enjoy the feel of his warmth and his genuine concern. When he pulled away, she attempted a smile and was happy that she was able to pull it off.

“Hey,” she said softly.

“So,” he said carefully, watching her closely. “You and Teague. That’s not something I saw coming.”

“It’s not what you think,” she replied carefully.

“Then what is it exactly?”

“What it is, is none of your business, Jack,” she said, taking a step back.

His eyes narrowed and slid from her to his brother. There was a warning there, but then it was already too late for that. She’d gone and done something stupid and now she was going to have to deal with the fall-out.

“Hey,” she said, eyes on Jack. “I’m good and that’s all that matters.” She turned and headed for the kitchen. Her muscles were so tight it was a wonder that she could walk properly, but she made the effort to appear as normal as possible.

Just get through this, she thought.

Sabrina grabbed a mug from the cupboard and after she prepared her cup of coffee, she turned around and pasted a smile on her face—one that she hope hid all the turmoil inside her.

“How long you staying Jack?” she asked brightly.

Jack was still watching her, and that made her uncomfortable. The man had always had a sixth sense about things. It was one of the reasons he was such a good politician. He could read people and he was damn good at it.

“I’ve got a meeting at six tonight in New York, so I’m heading back to the airport in a few hours.”

“Oh, quick trip then.”

He nodded and glared at his brother. “Yeah. All for nothing, I guess.”

“Well, I’ll leave you guys alone then. I’m sure there’s lot to catch up on. Pop over to see the kids before you go if you have time. They’ll be home in a few hours and I know they’d love to see you.”

Even Sabrina was impressed with how normal she sounded. How unaffected by everything she was. Her performance was almost Oscar-worthy.

“I will,” Jack replied, looking from her and to Teague. Jack’s brother leaned against the countertop, holding a mug of steaming coffee. There was no expression in his face. It was as if he’d already checked out.

Teague cleared his throat and set his mug down. He shoved his hands into the front pockets of his jeans and his dark eyes never left hers.

“I’ll see you later?” he asked, his voice low.

A heartbeat passed.

Sabrina nodded. “You know where I am.”

She called Bingo and the puppy ran after her, yipping happily at her heels as she walked across the driveway in careful, measured steps. She didn’t look back—she kept her gaze focused ahead.

Once inside her cottage, all of Sabrina’s bravado seeped out of her like air from a balloon. She exhaled and ran to the kitchen, tossing her coffee into the sink. She gasped. There was no air. God, she couldn’t breathe.

Clutching at the edge of the counter, her thoughts whirled and images attacked her mind, taunting her. Images of Teague and the time they’d shared these past few weeks. Scattered thoughts and images of a future she wanted. She hadn’t realized just how much she’d wanted it until this very moment.

Sabrina slammed her eyes shut and put her fist in her mouth so that the guttural scream inside her stayed exactly where it should be. Buried. And hopefully never heard again.

Teague waited until dark to walk over and see Sabrina. It took him that long to get his head straight on account that it had been one hell of a day. Jack had always managed to get under his skin because the man was relentless and could argue for hours.

The arguments he’d posed as to why Teague should stay on North American soil had been impressive. Yes the political unrest posed imminent danger for Americans. Yes Dallas most likely was dead. Yes, he might be a complete fucking moron to even entertain the idea of going back.

But all of that was for nothing because the one thing that Jack couldn’t understand was the one thing inside Teague that wouldn’t let him stay behind. And maybe it was the soldier in him, the Seal who’d had the backs of the men in his unit. Maybe it was the part of him that had seen too much death and destruction. Or maybe it was a fatal flaw in his genetic makeup, a gene that made him seek out danger with no thought to his own safety.

In the end, the reasons for it didn’t matter because the moment Bowen called Teague, he was done.

He had to go.

He paused at the bottom of the stairs leading to Sabrina’s house and stared up at the soft light that fell from her windows. It was early evening and the crickets were out in full force, singing their night song. He caught sight of a bat, swooping low across the upper deck, searching for mosquitos, and watched until it disappeared into the trees.

Other than the insects, it was quiet and he knew that the kids must be in bed or their excited babble and giggles would easily have echoed into the night. Sabrina was up there alone, waiting for him.

And God knows he needed to see her.

Teague climbed the stairs and just as he was about to knock, the door opened. He found himself staring down into a face that he knew he’d be thinking about every single night he was gone. It would haunt him. Comfort him. And hopefully it would be the very thing to bring him back.

Sabrina was in an old sweatshirt that was way too big on her and he was going to assume it belonged to her late husband. Fluffy pink slippers adorned her feet, and he found himself wishing he could see her multi colored toes.

“If it’s too late,” he began but stopped when she moved aside. Teague walked into the house and glanced around. “Kids in bed?”