Contract with a SEAL (Special Ops: Homefront Book 3) (6 page)

One hand moved to the back of her neck,
kneading the calloused pads of his strong fingers into her hair just as she
felt his tongue slip inside her mouth. Gently, he swept it across her teeth as
she opened completely to him, wanting to devour him—to be devoured by him.
His other hand touched her cheek and she moaned, even with his lips still
melded with hers. She opened her lips more, brazenly, wanting desperately to
feel more of him as a molten heat pooled inside her below her belly.

Tracing the back of her neck downward to her
spine, he pulled her tightly against him so that she could feel just how badly he
wanted her. The hard ridge of his arousal ignited her further and she pressed
herself against him, aching for the pressure and dying for release. Tentatively,
she moved her hands to his back, feeling his taut muscles as they moved when he
pulled her closer, his hands moving upwards along her sides, thumbs barely
tracing the outer curve of her breasts.

She’d give anything to be with this man
right now, she realized. She was putty in his able hands, aching to be molded
into any shape he desired. Take me to your bedroom, she thought, the words
nearly escaping her lips when she suddenly felt his lips leave hers.

His grin full of confidence, he looked
down at her half-shut eyes. At least six inches taller than her, he towered
over her in the most dominating way, and all she wanted was to be lifted off
the hardwood and carried to his bed without further delay.

Stepping back a few inches, she felt the
chill of air hit her chest where he was no longer pressed against her.

“Does that work?” he asked.

She swallowed, moving her hands back to
the counter behind her to steady herself. “Yes, I think that works very well.”

Her eyes popped open wider at the sound
of the doorbell. The caterer, she imagined. He strode, seemingly completely
unaffected by the kiss, out of the kitchen.

This was going to be a long night.

***

She shouldn’t have had such a good time,
Vi pondered as she heard Joe shut the door on the last of the guests just shy
of midnight.

Vi had never been a social animal. That
was more Lacey’s territory. But the hundred and fifty or so people who had
filtered into Joe’s house over the course of the night had been such a
welcoming crowd—so unlike many of the backstabbing, ladder-climbing people
who filled Vi’s normal social circles.

There were no ulterior motives in this group.
No posturing. No pretenses. Just a few harmless gossips, scattered here and
there, who she could see busy at work texting something immediately after Vi
had made her first appearance at Joe’s side.

Vi imagined the words “Joe Shey is taken”
were probably being tapped out on the phones. And she predicted, as the news
spread, a collective sob would ring out from every single woman within a twenty-mile
radius of Little Creek.

She couldn’t blame any of them, she
thought as he stepped toward her and, lifting her off the ground, spun her
around 360 degrees.

“You were amazing,” he said, a triumphant
glimmer in his eyes.

“I was no such thing.”

“You were. They all loved you. You made
my life a whole lot easier for these last weeks here. You have no idea how
uncomfortable things can get. Something about the holidays makes everyone want
to set me up.”

Vi grinned. “Yeah, but now if you meet
someone special, she’ll think you’re cheating on me if you make a move.”

“Haven’t got the time for it. In four
weeks, I’ll be headed to the Philippines. Besides, who could top Vi Owens?”

Vi’s chin went slack. “The Philippines?”

“Yeah, I’m commanding the Joint Special
Operations Task Force based there.”

Vi gave herself a mental shake. So what? She
had known he was going. But somehow she had pictured him moving to Florida or
California. Not to the other side of the world.

A hint of worry grating at the confines
of her belly, she watched him lift a bottle of champagne to the light. Seeing
that there was a small amount left, he pulled two flutes from the cabinet and
filled them. He extended a flute to her and raised his in a toast. “To the best
fake date I’ve ever had.” Smiling, he cocked his head slightly. “Actually the
only fake date I’ve ever had.”

“Just don’t forget about next week,” she
reminded him before taking a sip.

“Of course. I got my dress blues cleaned,
pressed, and waiting in my room.”

Drawn to the warm glow, Vi sat in front
of the dwindling fire in the fireplace and let the champagne sooth her raw
throat as she drank. She hadn’t talked this much at a party in ages, and thought
it surprising how many people wanted to talk finances with her. “I can’t
believe how many people tolerated me droning on about stocks and funds.”

“You weren’t droning on at all. You talk
about investing in an approachable way. You should be teaching, not sitting in
front of a camera interviewing shifty CEOs.”

Vi kicked off her shoes, and resisted the
urge to peel the stockings from her legs. “That’s kind of what I used to
picture myself doing. Not teaching so much, but helping people manage their
money.”

Joe sat beside her, stretching his long
legs out on the coffee table in front of them. “So why aren’t you?”

“What? You mean working as an investment
counselor or something?”

“Or something.”

 “One thing led to another.” She
shrugged. “When I was in New York working for a brokerage house, CNBC needed my
boss to go on the air and talk about the way some funds were performing. He got
sick last minute, so they put me on instead. I guess I did all right because my
phone kept ringing after that. Eventually, I got offered a network job.”

“And that’s how you ended up in Atlanta.”

“That, and Josh. He was based out of
Atlanta, so when we started dating while I was in New York, it sort of seemed
like the right move.”

“Did you like it down there?”

She tossed her shoulders up carelessly. “It
was fine. I wasn’t exactly there long, so when the marriage broke up I didn’t
have anything tying me down. It felt good to leave. Too many bad memories.” Or one
specific memory… of finding Josh getting a blowjob in his Z car in the company
parking lot.

“Can’t say I blame you there. That was
the one good thing about the Navy moving me around so much. It’s not like I had
to relive my failed marriages by staying in the same towns.”

Vi stared a moment at Joe, unable to
fathom how anyone could have let him slip through her fingers. He was tough,
yes, and probably a brutal commander. But there was another side of him that
was endearing.

Glancing at the tree, lit up like an
image on a holiday card, she recalled the sight of him that evening showing up
at the front door in a Santa suit for the teams’ children. With a huge sack on
his back, the hardened SEAL commander doled out presents for hordes of
jubilant, runny-nosed kids, passing out enough packages for every one of them. Later,
Joe had shrugged it off to her as though it was nothing, saying how he had stolen
their dads from them last Christmas, so a few presents was the least he could
do.

“How could they have left you, Joe?” The
question slipped out before she could stop it.

Joe tossed his head back onto the sofa
pillows and laughed. “Now, don’t go making me out to be something better than
what I am, Vi. I deserved each one of those divorces.”

“Did you cheat?” she asked, thinking of
her own ex-husband.

His brow furrowed. “God, no. I’d never
cheat on a woman.” The low flames of the fire reflected in his thoughtful eyes
as he watched the embers falling from the logs. “Well, maybe I did cheat. I put
the Navy first. I didn’t spend enough time trying to make it work. I’m ready to
fight for my country at a moment’s notice. But did I really fight for them?”

“I have a hard time believing you were
entirely to blame.”

“Well, the first time, I’ll admit, it was
both of us. We were two hormone-driven lunatics. We got married too
early—right after I graduated from the Academy. She had decided our
marriage was a mistake by the time I got back from my first deployment
overseas, before the SEALs. And I didn’t argue with her. Maybe I should have,
though.” Finishing off the last of his champagne, he set it on the table in
front of him. “The second time, she cheated on me while I was away on my first
SEAL mission.”

“Ouch.”

“Yeah. ‘Welcome home, honey. Sorry I
replaced you, but someone’s gotta mow the grass while you’re away.’” He
shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe the stress was too much for her. It’s hard not
knowing where your husband is or what he’s doing.”

“Yeah. Just ask Lacey or Maeve. But
they’re not cheating. Most women don’t, you know.”

“Guess I just chose poorly.”

Vi smiled. “Well, I’m not as nice as you
are. I blame him entirely. I caught him with someone, and then he pretty much
confessed that he’d been cheating on me since a week after we got back from our
honeymoon.”

“Honeymoon’s over, huh?”

“Indeed. He thought he was pretty noble
confessing it all, too—but he only did because I threw his prize comic
book collection on the Weber and stood there with my hand on the igniter till
he told all.”

“Well done. Although I probably would
have set them on fire after the confession.”

Vi’s eyes widened. “Hell no, we lived in
a community property state. Half those mint condition X-Men comics were mine by
law, and I sold them on eBay for more than I dreamed possible. Amazing what
people will fork over for those.”

“Level-headed, even under duress. You’d
do well in the military, Vi,” Joe remarked. “Are you sure he’ll be there
Saturday? It’s a long ways from Atlanta.”

“He’ll be there. Anyone who is anyone
will be there. He wouldn’t miss it even if he thought I was attending heavily
armed—which, considering my date, isn’t too far from the truth. He lives
for these kinds of events.”

 “You’ll have to point him out to me
at the dinner that night so I can give him my deadly SEAL stare. ”

Vi grinned at the notion. “Can’t wait.”

“I booked a suite at the same hotel where
the event is. That way we can spread out our things and get ready there. Are
you heading back to Annapolis after?”

“Yes. It’s not that far of a drive,” she
said quickly. It was one thing to resist Joe knowing that they’d have separate
bedrooms. But squeezed into a hotel suite without pouncing the man would be
sheer torture. Now that she had experienced how a SEAL CO kisses, she was
profoundly interested to see what other hidden talents lay beneath all that
honed muscle.

“Well, it’s got a sofa bed just in case.”
He shot her a look. “I know how you hold your liquor.”

Vi laughed, sinking further into the
sofa. Her head settled against his shoulder so naturally that she didn’t even
have the interest in fighting it. “You’re not forking over money for a hotel
just to sleep on a sofa bed.”

“Vi, I’ve slept in blown-up buildings
before. A sofa bed sounds like the height of luxury to a guy like me.”

Her brow arched. “Is that what it’s going
to be like for you on this next job? More blown-up buildings?”

She watched his immense chest rise and
fall as he sighed. “Probably will be deadly dull. No action, and I’ll come home
twenty pounds heavier.”

“Now, why do I not believe you?”

“Because you’re as smart as you are
sexy.”

Her lips curved upward. “You think I’m sexy?”

“Vi, if I weren’t shipping out, we
wouldn’t be just sitting talking on this couch.”

As her body leaned against him, she
savored the feel of her cheek resting against his shoulder. “Well, thank God. I
was afraid I had lost my touch.”

Stooping to reach the cord, Joe plugged
the Christmas tree lights into the wall. Sure, it was morning and he could
barely see them sparkle against the bright sunrise streaming through the
windows. But he put so much work into dressing up his place, he may as well
enjoy it in the little time he had left to share with Vi here.

He imagined she’d sleep in. They were up
till two a.m. talking last night. He’d have slept in too, if his brain wasn’t
used to snapping to attention before the light of dawn every morning.

The coffeemaker sizzled as the water
heated, making him long for a cup. He really should get one of those Keurig
things his sister had. Coffee in a minute or less sounded pretty damn good to
him right now. Opening the refrigerator, he noticed it was packed solid with
leftovers from the night before. He might have gone overboard on the catering
order, but you could never tell how much people were going to eat, especially
when it came to feeding a bunch of SEALs.

But what did he have that resembled
breakfast food? He hadn’t thought much past last night, even with Vi as a
guest. He had plenty of protein powder, frozen fruit, and peanut butter for the
daily breakfast smoothie he always downed in the morning. It tasted good to
him, but he somehow doubted that Vi was a protein shake kind of woman.

Pretty inconsiderate of him, really, to
overlook this—and he wondered a moment if he could run to the commissary
and back to pick up some food before she woke up.

“I hope you made extra for me.”

He heard her soft voice as she emerged from
the hallway. She wore pajama pants and a white t-shirt. A completely innocuous
clothing choice, so why did he feel his body reacting in the most primal way? It
was difficult enough sleeping a few feet away from her separated only by two
thin layers of drywall and some 2 x 4s. Maybe he should offer her an oversized
Navy sweatshirt to cover those tempting curves, at least till she walked out
the door.

“I did. Do you take cream in it?” he
asked, at least happy to have that to offer her this morning.

“Yes, and sugar. Thanks.”

Damn, she was a sight in the morning, her
hair all disheveled and not a hint of makeup on. He liked that in a woman, and
was surprised as hell to discover she seemed as comfortable in her bare,
beautiful face as in the cake makeup, false eyelashes, and fuck-me-red lipstick
they make all the women on those financial networks wear.

It was ridiculous, really. All the men on
those TV programs rated a 5 or 6, but the women, no matter how much they knew their
stuff, all had to be 10s.

They were finance shows, not the Playboy
channel.

“I’ve got little to offer you for
breakfast this morning,” Joe confessed. “I was so focused on getting stocked up
for the party last night, I didn’t even consider what came afterward. How about
we go out?”

Eagerly, Vi reached for the cup Joe
extended in his hand. “Coffee before words, Joe.” She sipped, and the caffeine
seemed to take effect almost immediately as her eyes brightened and she
murmured something resembling a thank you.

She glanced at the clock. “6:00. Do you
ever sleep in, Captain Shey?”

“I did sleep in. Normally I’m up at 4:30
for PT.”

“Every morning?”

“How can I ask my team to do the same, if
I’m not willing to?”

Vi groaned in response, but took a long
look at his torso in a t-shirt that might, just might, have shrunk in the dryer.
Was he imagining things, or was there a glimmer of appreciation for his morning
workouts?

He cleared his throat. “There’s a little
diner just off base that has a killer omelet.”

“I’m really fine. I don’t need anything.”

“You’re eating something, Vi. I’m not
letting you drive home on an empty stomach.”

“I can pick up something on the road.”

“No way. There are tons of places around
here. We could get something at a restaurant on the boardwalk. The beach isn’t
crowded this time of year. Or there’s a few places in Williamsburg my sister
loves when she comes to visit.”

“Williamsburg.” Eyes drifting, her voice
was barely a whisper. “You mean, Colonial Williamsburg?”

“Yep.”

“I didn’t know it was around here.”

“You don’t pass it if you come down from
Annapolis along the shore. Interested? It’s nice now. Done up for the holidays,
and it’s on the way home for you, if you head north on I-64 and I-95 toward DC this
time.”

“No, really.” Vi stared into the
distance.

“You look like you’re a world away right
now, Vi.”

She flashed a brief smile his way. “Oh,
sorry. Just remembering. That was our eighth grade trip in school. I had really
wanted to go.”

“But you didn’t?”

She shook her head, sliding onto a stool
at the counter. “No. Lacey did. Said it was fun.”

“Why didn’t you go if your sister did?”

“My parents said we could either go on
the trip, or have the cash they would have spent on it. They were always doing
that. With birthday parties, Christmas gifts, sleep-away camp, all that. They
didn’t mind getting us things, but always wanted to give us the option to save
the money.”

Joe reached for her cup to give her a
refill. “So, you took the cash.”

“I always did. I thought it would impress
them. And I was right. They worked in investments, so they were proud of me
when I did things like that. In fact, I took some of that money and bought
stock in a little company called Apple.” Her eyes gleamed.

“A little company, huh?”

Vi laughed. “How do you think I paid for
four years at Columbia University, and a down payment on a condo in Manhattan?”

“I’ll bet you never regretted skipping
the trip,” Joe said, refilling Vi’s coffee.

“Actually I did. Every day of my life.”
Vi reached for the cream. “Looking back, I feel like I missed out on so much.”

“Why were you so anxious to impress
them?”

Taking a sip, she looked up at him from
behind the steamy cup. “I was adopted. Did you know that?”

Joe gave a quick nod. “I confess, I did a
little reading up on you after the wedding. I was kind of curious as to what
makes Vi Owens tick.”

“More likely, from the way I acted that
night, you were curious about what made me drink like a lush.”

Joe laughed. “Maybe a little.”

“Yeah. Well, so anyway, Lacey was their
biological daughter, and she was always so much like them. I looked so
different. I always felt awkward in the family, like an outsider. But I figured
out at a young age that even if I couldn’t
look
like my parents, I could
act like them. And since they both worked in the investments field, that was
how I did it.”

Turning his back to her to put the
creamer back in the fridge, Joe frowned, imagining a much younger Vi so willing
to deprive herself from the things she wanted to impress her parents. He felt a
pinch in his chest—proof that even though his men might say their CO
didn’t have a heart, it most certainly was there.

He shut the fridge decisively. “That does
it, then. We’re going to Colonial Williamsburg for breakfast. Let’s spend the
day there. It’s really pretty nice. I took my nephew there last year when he
came to visit when I was home in between missions.”

Vi looked like she might resist.

He touched her hand, and was almost
knocked out by the need to hold her hand a little tighter, a little more
possessively. “Live a little. What’s the difference if you get home today at
lunch or later this afternoon?”

Vi narrowed her eyes, gazing into her
coffee mug. Lifting her head, a grin crept slowly up her face. “Not a damn bit
of difference. You’re right. Let’s go.”

Sipping the last of her coffee, she
headed straight into the bathroom for a shower. Joe did the same, assuming that
he’d be waiting at least an hour after he was ready. In his experience, women
took too long to prepare themselves for the day.

But if it had been a race, Joe would have
barely made it to the finish line first. Apparently, outside of her work
environment, Vi wasn’t the kind of woman to spend countless hours in front of
the mirror trying to transform into what society told her she was supposed to
look like. Instead, she slipped her hair into a ponytail, donned some jeans and
a sweater, and was ready to go.

He could get used to spending the morning
with someone like this. Joe had always thought it such a waste of time to spend
time primping in the morning. Maybe that was the SEAL in him. Always on call,
he had to enjoy every moment he could stateside, and never wanted to spend it
standing outside of a bathroom waiting for a perfectly coiffed woman to emerge
through the door.

Driving behind him, Vi followed Joe to Colonial
Williamsburg, a restored 18th-century Revolutionary town, where history is
reenacted by scores of costumed actors. Travelling in separate cars would slice
about an hour of time off her drive later in the day, but Joe had to admit, he
missed not being able to talk to her on the car ride up.

What was it about her that was so
intriguing to him? There was no questioning her looks—but there were
plenty of gorgeous women in the world. Why did this one in particular have him
wishing she could stay longer playing house with him in Little Creek? Vi was
like a nicely wrapped gift at Christmas, all done up in colorful paper and
fancy bows. It looked lovely, but the most interesting part was inside the box,
something that didn’t even slightly resemble the shiny exterior.

She slid into a parking space next to
him, and he opened her door, his blood stirring to the sight of her long legs
stepping out of the car.

“I have a tavern in mind for breakfast. My
nephew and I had lunch there when we visited. All the servers are actors playing
Colonial characters. They sing, talk about the war with Great Britain, that
sort of thing.”

Vi grimaced. “That might be a bit much
for this hour of the morning.”

Joe gave her a warning gaze. “I’m trying
to recreate your eighth grade trip, Vi.”

She laughed. “Ah, well, in that case, it
definitely sounds like a place I would have loved back then.”

Granted, it wasn’t the kind of place he’d
normally take a woman. It usually served him better to take women someplace along
the boardwalk in Virginia Beach. A place with candlelight and a view of the
water, which would make for an easy segue into a conversation about the Navy
and life as a SEAL CO, topics which invariably led to an easy score… if he was
still intrigued by the woman after an hour or two of conversation.

And he’d never take a woman for breakfast.
That was generally a meal he preferred to eat alone, after a good workout and
hot shower—sometimes the only time of the day when someone wasn’t calling
him on his cell or knocking on his office door.

But it’s not like this was a date, he
reminded himself. And if it were, Joe was surprised to admit that he’d happily
settle for breakfast at a venue more suitable for families with children, if it
brought a smile to Vi’s face.

After breakfast, they watched Thomas
Jefferson rally a crowd, and then followed behind the fife and drum parade
before catching a ride in a horse-drawn carriage. By the time the cannons were
set off that afternoon, Vi had transformed into the consummate tourist,
stopping in every shop she could, picking up things for Abigail.

After having high tea in one of the
taverns—God help him if his teams found out he’d had high tea—they
made their way back to the parking lot. Joe loaded her shopping bags into her
car, and opened her door for her.

“Joe, I had so much fun.” Shaking her
head, she almost seemed to disbelieve it. Her cheeks were pink from the winter
chill in the air and, even with only a few hours sleep, her eyes sparkled. “Thanks
so much for taking me here.”

Leaning in slightly when a brisk breeze
blew, she stole a bit of his body heat against the winter’s wind. With his face
so close to hers, he wondered a moment if he should kiss her goodbye. What was
customary in a situation like this? For a so-called fake date, the pull between
them was impossible to deny. But an email flashed in his mind’s eye.

Orders. Philippines. PCS in four weeks.
Oh,
yeah.

He couldn’t break her heart, tossing her
like live grenade when his time here was up. He couldn’t lead her on. Relationships
generally turned sour after the woman realized that a few emails and Skypes
weren’t enough to keep her warm at night while he was away. And with only four
weeks before he left, they barely had time to get the engine warmed up

Leaning in, he indulged slightly,
brushing a light kiss against her cheek. She smelled like pine and
cinnamon—must have picked up the scent among all the holiday décor in
those old, restored buildings. The smell had never been more alluring.

Reluctantly pulling his lips from her
cheek, he took her face gently in his hands. “It was my pleasure. And Vi? Promise
me that you won’t spend one more moment of your life depriving yourself of
something you want to please someone else.”