Authors: Aliyah Burke
“Make yourselves at home. I have to do some business. Excuse me.” Slipping on her coat, she was gone,
jogging across the snow toward the large metal building.
Jeb immediately rose to follow and the men let him go. They would get to the bottom of this but that
small woman seemed to have a calming presence on him and they wanted that. Eight men walked outside of
her house and watched as a helicopter flew into view, carrying a large container beneath it.
“A little more, Charlie. A little more. Great, right there.” Dezarae was talking into the headset she
wore. As soon as the container hit the ground she scrambled up the ladder on the side and headed for the two
latches that attached it to the chopper. On the ground, Jeb swore and headed towards her at a run. “Got it,
Charlie, take ‘er up,” Dezarae yelled.
The chopper lifted higher and the cables were retracted as Jeb reached the container. “What the hell
are you doing? Get down from there!” Jeb demanded.
Sliding down quickly, Dezarae brushed past Jeb and headed for the chopper that landed in another
plowed area. Two men got out of the bird and waved at Dezarae, who hugged each of them.
“Hey, guys. Charlie, great to see you. David, ready?”
“I have been waiting for this day for a long time now,” David replied. He was a stocky man, dark
complexion and beautiful brown eyes.
“Well, she’s ready for you.” Side by side the two walked over towards the building and walked
inside a small door while the pilot opened the end of the container. Seconds later, a large metal door rose and
everyone there got to see Dezarae pull the cover off that cobalt-blue car.
Ten male mouths fell open. Even Jeb, who had seen it before, was still amazed. David walked all
around it in awe. “Dez, she’s gorgeous.”
Dezarae smiled. “She runs like a dream.”
The man seemed almost hesitant to touch his car. But he did and a grin crossed his face as he shook
his head and hugged her. “You’re amazing. Your daddy would be so proud.”
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“Thanks.” She held out the keys to him. “Here you are. Load her up.”
David climbed behind the wheel and turned over the engine, stroking the shifter as she purred to life
beneath him. Slowly he drove her on the slats into the container where he, Charlie, and Dezarae secured the
car in place after covering her back up.
As they shut and locked the container the two looked at her and smiled. “I can’t wait to take her out
on those roads. How does she handle?” David asked.
“Like a dream.”
“What kind of dream?” Dark brows arched.
“A wet dream. You are going to fall in love all over again,” Dezarae said with a laugh. “Oh, one
thing. Whatever kind of gas you were using…don’t. It was leaving deposits in the injectors. It was slowing
her down.”
“What would I do without you?” He kissed her cheek. “Money’s in your account.”
“Thanks David. Hey, Charlie, don’t I get a hug before you go flying out of here?” she yelled to the
man just about to get back in the chopper. He ran over to her, hugged and kissed her before dashing back and
climbing in behind the controls. “Go on, David, I’ll secure her. You get in.”
“Love ya, Babe,” he yelled over the noise of the helicopter.
Dezarae waved and climbed back on the container. Talking into her headset she directed Charlie
where to go so she could reattach the cables. Climbing down with ease, she waved as the chopper slowly
disappeared from sight, carrying with it the precious cargo of one cobalt-blue 1965 Aston Martin. Then she
went inside the shop and shut the outer bay door, coming out the small side one.
She was met by the shocked expressions of a group of men. With a heavy sigh, Dezarae tried for a
smile at the men who had come to take Jeb—Ross—away. “Let’s go back inside, Gentlemen.”
This time Dezarae elected to sit in a chair alone, but her stranger stood behind her. Protecting her.
“So, what are you all then, some kind of unit?” Her dark eyes moved over the seven men that sat in her living
room.
“A SEAL Team, Ma’am.” The huge blond said.
“SEALs, I’ve heard of them. Some of the best, right?” Dezarae asked. “Look, maybe I should let you
all talk alone. I have some paperwork to do.” She stood and looked at Jeb. “There’s the cobbler if everyone
wants to eat. And coffee, you know where everything is.” Dezarae slipped away to her office and shut the
door.
Jeb took the seat she had left and cast his gray eyes over the group. His head was really beginning to
hurt. The amount of images that flashed before him had increased tenfold as had names. He didn’t say a word
until he got to the Black man sitting on the couch. “Hondo?” The question came as he cocked his head to the
side.
“Aye, it’s me, Jeb.” the man answered with an easy smile. “When I told you to get me a vintage
Jaguar, I didn’t mean for you to go about it this way.”
“How did you find me?” Jeb asked, although he was pretty sure he knew the answer and his
headache was getting worse.
“Charmane. She called and said you never made it, never called,” Hondo said.
Big brown eyes filled his mind’s eye as the pain in his head exploded in a fiery ball. Grunting in
pain, he clamped his hands over his temples and bent forward over his knees. Jeb felt like he was going to be
sick.
“Ross, Ross! You okay?” the man closest to him asked.
Wincing from the pain as it receded; he touched the arm of the man next to him. “I’m fine, Ernst,
fine. Hey, man, sorry about earlier with the whole knife thing.” he answered in a faint slur.
“Meaning?” another member asked.
Gray eyes looked around at the now-familiar faces of his family, his team. “Meaning, Osten, I can
recognize each and every one of your ugly mugs.”
“Hoo-rah.” the remaining men said together.
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“I have to get to a phone and call Charmane,” Ross said as he smiled at his teammates. A smile that
faltered as he realized he was going to be leaving Dezarae.
At least I’m not married.
“So tell us about this woman who saved your keister.” Harrier said as he stood up and walked toward
the kitchen, “But I believe she said something about cobbler and coffee. I don’t know about some of you, but
my ass is still cold from lying in that snow.”
Ross made coffee for them all, totally oblivious to the knowing looks he was receiving. He had just
joined the team when they had gone to Belize to rescue Cade and his wife, Jayde. He remembered looking
strangely at the SEAL when he had made her a plate for breakfast and now he was utilizing her kitchen as if
he had every right to do so.
“Well?” Harrier asked as he ate a bite of the peach cobbler. “What’s she like?”
Gray eyes narrowed. “Dezarae is the most amazing woman I have ever met. And if you weren’t so in
love with Lex, I think I would be offended.”
Harrier smiled. “She is very beautiful.”
“Harrier,” the warning growl came to which Harrier just held up his hands. “Dezarae is the owner of
Phoenix Restorations and Rebuilds
. It was her daddy’s business and she took it over when he died,” Ross
explained.
“Jesus, that is this place?” Aidrian asked.
“It sure is, Hondo,” Ross said with a smile. He knew how much the ensign wanted an older-model
Jaguar. “She is working on three more cars plus her own Shelby Mustang. Maybe she will show them to
you.”
“Do you think she would mind?” the Irish-sounding Black man asked.
“I will ask her,” Ross said.
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“Oh, excuse me,” Dezarae’s voice fell gently over the eight men in her kitchen. “I just needed to
grab something.”
All the men looked at her and smiled. “This is wonderful cobbler, Ma’am,” one of the men said. She
smiled in response.
Ross moved to intercept her; his granite eyes searched her face. “Dez?” he questioned as his hand
settled on her arm, halting her.
The second his hand touched her, the rest of the room faded into nothingness. He was the only thing
she was able to focus on. The warmth she got from his gaze, the way it seemed he was searching into her
soul for answers that were only for him. With a shuddering breath, she removed his hand and asked him,
“What?”
“Are you okay?”
“Why wouldn’t I be, Johnny Reb? Of course I am.” She made sure there were no tears as she stepped
around him and walked to the fridge. “You are welcome to use my phone if you want to call Charmane,”
Dezarae said as she left the kitchen and walked back to her office.
“We need to get going, Ross. Make your call if you are going to, but there is another system coming
and we need to beat it,” Harrier said after a moment of silence.
“She thinks Charmane is my wife,” Ross explained as he walked to her phone.
“Why does she call you Johnny Reb?” Hondo asked.
“She saw the rebel flag on my chest under the anchor and chain,” he answered as he dialed
Charmane’s number.
Hanging up the phone, Ross was livid. That call hadn’t gone the way he had wanted at all. “Let me
just see if she will show y’all the cars and then we can go.” His steps were angry as he strode to her office.
A knock on the door surprised her. Dezarae was curled up on her chaise reading about her Mustang.
“It’s open, come on in,” she said quietly.
“Hey, Beautiful.” Those words reached her before the man saying them had entered fully.
“What do you need?” she asked without looking up, afraid her face might give away her true
feelings.
One lean hand plucked the book out of her hands and laid it to the side, his handsome face filling the
spot where her book had been. “I need you to listen to me.” He touched her cheek and frowned as she pulled
away.
“What about. You’re leaving, right?” Dezarae said.
“Yes, I’m leaving. I have to go.” He looked at her full mouth and remembered how it felt against his.
“The men would like to know if they could see the cars you are working on.”
“Of course. Just let me grab my coat.”
What the hell did you expect, Dez? Him to say he didn’t love
Charmane?
She moved off the chaise and slipped by him before he could say anything else.
Walking up to where the men were by the door, Dezarae said, “My Shelby is in through there. You
can go look at him and I will get my coat on and take you to the shop.”
“Thanks, Dezarae,” that blond man said again. They all filed out into her garage and as the door was
closing, she could hear the impressed oooh’s and ahhh’s from them.
“You’re welcome,” she whispered as she grabbed her coat, only to have it yanked away from her.
Jeb…no, his name was Ross. “What are you doing?” she asked.
“I need to tell you about Charmane,” he stated.
“I don’t require any explanations from you.”
Dropping her coat on the floor, he jerked her smaller body up against his hard one. “I want to tell
you about her,” he insisted.
Closing her eyes against his masculine scent, she just nodded. “Go ahead then.”
“Charmane is—” He was cut off by the door opening and the men filing back in, all of them looked
away from the way he was holding her flush to his body.
“I’m ready when you are, Gentlemen,” Dezarae forced out as she removed herself from Ross’s arms.
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One hour later she was saying goodbye to the seven members of the SEAL team who had come on a
rescue mission for one of their own. They had all climbed in the van and were waiting for her and Ross to
say their goodbyes.
Ross took a deep breath and ran his eyes over her body one last time, committing every curve to
memory. “I don’t really know what to say to you at a time like this,” he said in a low voice.
“I believe the word you are looking for is ‘goodbye,’” she joked.
“I don’t want to say goodbye to you.” One hand reached out toward her face, only to drop and grab
her coat at the last second to pull her in close. With a deep breath he inhaled her subtle scent.
“Come on, Johnny Reb, you have a van full of men waiting on you. Say it and get outta here.”
Dezarae rested her head against the hard planes of his chest.
I feel so safe in his embrace.
“Thank you for everything you did for me, Dezarae Phoenix Kerry,” he whispered as he hugged her
closer. “I’m gonna miss you.”
“Get outta here, Johnny Reb.” She was fighting back tears.
“Say my name, once.” His words begged and he didn’t care.
Pulling back so she could look up into his eyes she said, “Goodbye. Goodbye, Ross Connelly of the
United States Navy. Take care of yourself out there.” Dezarae took another step back.
Ross dropped his arms from around her at the sound of her saying his name.
It feels so right to have
her say what I now know to be my real name.
As she stepped further away, he seized her again.
One callused thumb pad wiped away the first tear that began to fall from her dark sexy eyes. “Please
don’t cry,” he pled. “You know that tears me up.” His voice was so soothing.
“Go, you have to go.”
“I know.” Ross looked over his shoulder at the men waiting in the van before he put his slate eyes
back on the face of the woman he wanted to love for the rest of their lives. “I will be back.”
“Sure you will.” Dezarae took his hand off her exposed skin. “Take care.” His eyes burned with a