Night with a Seal (Hot SEALs #1) (6 page)

Ali lifted her head in time to see him pad, naked and gorgeous, across the carpeted floor toward the bathroom door. She’d expected to see his hot tight little butt cheeks, and she wasn’t at all surprised by the wide expanse of his back muscles that narrowed to his waist. What was a shock was the tattooed set of angel wings that covered the skin from his shoulders nearly all the way down to the dimples on his lower back.

She wanted to ask him about them. Wanted to trace the ink with her finger as he stretched out nude next to her in bed. Craved him over her, inside her, while she raked her nails down his back. Instead, she decided to cover up her own nakedness.

What to put on was the question. Not her clothes from that day. It was late enough she could put on her pajamas, but that might look as if she assumed he would crawl into bed with her for the night, which she had a feeling could force him out the door even more quickly.

Deciding that a T-shirt and the shorts made out of sweatpants material that she wore on the treadmill would look comfortable and casual without setting any expectations, she yanked open drawers and pulled the items on. One glance in the mirror told her that her hair was a mess. She tugged at the elastic band holding it up and it tumbled to her shoulders. She fluffed it as best she could, turning just as Jon emerged from the bathroom.

For a loss at what to talk about after what she’d just done with a man she didn’t know all that much about, she said, “Nice tattoo.”

“Thanks.” A crooked grin tipped up the corner of his mouth. “Just don’t let it fool you. I’m no angel.”

“I wouldn’t assume that for a moment.” She forced a smile as she stood awkwardly next to the dresser while he bent to retrieve his underwear.

When he reached for his shorts next, she was pretty sure he was leaving. They’d already gotten what they’d both wanted. She had work in the morning. He probably had some SEAL duties early too. Why would he stay?

All of those good reasons still didn’t make her wish he would stay any less, proving she wasn’t wired to do one-night stands. She was an all-or-nothing kind of gal. Given Jon’s profession and imminent deployment it was clear that if those were the only two choices she was going to end up with nothing.

But like he’d said, at least they had the memories. His to keep him occupied during what she assumed would be a long sexless deployment. Hers to console herself with during her own lonely nights.

While she’d pondered the situation, he’d finished getting dressed. He glanced her direction as he slid the end of his belt through the buckle. “Walk me to the door?”

With her heart pounding harder at the thought of saying goodbye than it had before their sexual encounter, Ali forced herself to sound casual as she said, “Sure.”

He led the way back to the front door, glancing at the back of the house along the way. “About that back entrance . . . If you go to the hardware store and pick up a chain, you can install it pretty easily yourself. Or call Rick. I’m sure he’d help you.”

This was the kind of talk she could get from the guy working at the hardware store. It wasn’t what she wanted during the last moments she would spend with the man who’d just been inside her.

Though it was sweet that he was concerned for her safety. “Okay. Thanks.”

Jon turned to face her fully. “I’m going to be gone very soon and for a long time.”

She read between the lines. He was telling her not to expect a post-coital phone call before he left. “I know.”

“It’s fighting season over there. I can’t afford to be distracted.”

And now he was saying, in his roundabout way, for her not to expect an email or letter while he was gone either. “I understand.”

“And even when I’m home, the schedule, the hours, the demands are insane. It’s the kind of shit that breaks up marriages.”

Jeez. She got it. Most men would probably just say goodbye and disappear. She didn’t know if she respected him more or less after this run of preemptive excuses.

“Jon, I knew what I was getting into when I invited you in.” She managed a smile and tried to lighten the mood with a joke. “I mean, before you broke in.”

He didn’t laugh, but instead shook his head. He surprised her when he reached up and cupped her face with both palms. His gaze was intense as it met and held hers. “I’m screwing this up badly. What I’m trying to say is, Ali, you’re the kind of woman who could easily be a distraction if I let you.”

That wasn’t what she’d expected. She managed to say, “Oh.”

“If I want to come home alive, I can’t let you.” His words as much as his touch sent a flood of warmth through her heart, just when she should be locking that organ down tight before it got broken by this man who was telling her he was going away and she’d never hear from him again.

His lips covered hers before she was forced to come up with a response she didn’t have, and she was relieved.

Getting lost in his kiss was too easy considering this was goodbye forever. She tried to memorize every nuance of this last moment they’d have together. The feel of his hands on her. The intensity of his tongue plunging against hers. Even the rough scrape of his stubble against the skin surrounding her lips.

He was hard again. She felt it pressing against her. It was all she could do to stop herself from reaching for him. From unzipping those shorts.

To hell with it. If this was to be the last time she saw him, she wasn’t going to deny herself anything. Ali reached between them and stroked his length through his shorts. A groan rumbled through him.

Encouraged, she eased the zipper down. Her hand was small enough she could slip it through the opening. He stiffened as she maneuvered his erection free of his underwear and out through the open fly, all without taking his shorts off.

With the full hard length of him exposed, she went down onto her knees. Glancing up, she saw him watching her as she slid him between her lips. His nostrils flared as his eyes narrowed but never left her face.

After his goodbye speech, she half expected him to stop her. He didn’t. Instead, he slid his fingers through her hair. His hands remained on her, bracing her head as he stroked in and out of her mouth.

Nope, he definitely wasn’t fighting this and she was happy to provide one more memory. Maybe this would make it a little bit harder, make him regret it a tad bit more, as he worked to force her out of his mind.

Ali wanted to be his biggest distraction—sad but true given what he’d said about having to block out everything if he wanted to come home alive.

To up the ante even more, she locked her gaze on his, not breaking contact as he plunged so deep she felt him in the back of her throat and had to fight her gag reflex. She was determined to be unforgettable, and he wasn’t arguing with her.

A frown creased his brow. His chest rose and fell as his breathing sped. She added a hand to the mix, working him double time. She tasted the prelude to his orgasm before he held her head and thrust deep. With a loud groan, he emptied himself into the back of her throat.

She felt the shudder run through him as the throbbing slowed to a stop. He pulled out of her mouth. “I’m sorry.”

“For what?” She stood.

“I had no intention of letting that go so far.”

“I had no intention of stopping until it did.”

He laughed and shook his head. “You’re making it hard to leave, you know.”

That was her plan. Ali cocked a brow. “Am I? Sorry.” She wasn’t sorry one little bit.

Jon drew in a breath and backed her against the door. He dropped his forehead to hers. “I had a good day. Not just this part, but all of it.”

“Me too. Even shucking the corn.”

“Yeah, even that.” A smile bowed his lips before it disappeared as he said, “I’m going to go now.”

“Okay.” She noticed he wasn’t moving yet. After another intake of breath, he kissed her forehead and pushed away. She moved so he could reach the doorknob and open the door.

Standing in the opening, he glanced back at her. She waited for him to say something.
Good-bye
.
Thanks for the blow job
. Something. Anything. Instead he tipped his head in a small nod, stepped outside and pulled the door closed behind him.

That was it then. In less than an hour this man had captured her heart, loved her and then left her.

It had to be the quickest beginning, middle and ending to a romance in the history of the world.

CHAPTER 6

Ali’s phone rang not two minutes after the door had closed behind Jon. The read-out said
Darci
. She grabbed it and hit to answer, not bothering with hello. “Are you stalking me?”

“No, why?” Darci sounded confused.

“Nothing.” Ali dismissed her delusion that Darci could have known that Jon had just left. “What’s going on?”

“I just wanted to make sure you got home safe.”

Bullshit
. “No, you wanted to see if he was still here.”

“Um, maybe. So is he?” Darci sounded absolutely bubbly over the possibility.

“Sorry to disappoint you, but no.” No one was more disappointed about that fact than Ali herself.

“Bummer. Did you at least get to talk a bit?”

Before she could stop it, a burst of a bitter laugh that would tell Darci more than Ali was willing to let out shot from between her lips. “Yeah, we talked.”

“All right, something happened. I know you too well so don’t try to lie. Tell me.”

Darci was right. They did know each other too well. Besides that, Ali was a crappy liar. “Well, I took your advice.”

“What advice?”

“To have a fling.”

“What?” Her friend’s voice rose a good octave higher than usual.

“Yup. We had sex.” More than once. Well, actually one and a half times if she counted the parting blow job on the floor by the front door. Jeez, what the hell had gotten into her? “Remember, you promised not to judge.”

“I’m not judging. I’m just surprised. And what the hell? How are you done and he’s gone already? Oh my God.” The volume of Darci’s voice dropped low. “Is Jon one of those quick-on-the-trigger guys?”

She laughed. “No. He’s one of those get-out-quick-afterward kind of guys.”

“Aw, Ali. I’m so sorry. I never thought—”

“No, it’s okay. Don’t be sorry. It’s not your fault. I knew what it was going in. He’s leaving the country. We discussed it and agreed that this was just a one-time thing. No communications. No repeats.” God, laying it out for Darci made Ali feel even worse about the whole thing.

“What a bastard. No communications, my ass. He knows very well that they have email over there. Hell, they can even call on the phone or get on video chat. I had no idea he was such an ass—”

“No, really. It wasn’t like that. We both agreed this was best.” And now Ali was defending him, when actually, she’d like to agree with Darci.

Yes, Ali had agreed to a one-night stand because he was deploying, but saying she could do it didn’t mean she actually believed that’s what tonight would be. Somewhere in the back of her brain where the little girl who believed in fairy tales and happy endings still lived, she’d hoped it would turn out to be more.

“It’s still shitty of him to run out the door, in my opinion. He could have at least stayed the night.”

Didn’t she know it. “It’s better this way. I have to work tomorrow and I’m tired. I think all the sun got to me so I’m going to head to bed. I’ll see you in the morning?”

“Okay. And Ali?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m sorry I pushed you at Jon.”

Her too. Ali drew in a breath and let it out in a sigh. “Goodnight.”

~ * ~

Jon’s phone buzzed in the pocket of his uniform pants. He knew it wasn’t command calling him in because that summons had already come, hence the reason he was driving to base at twenty-one hundred on a holiday.

The colored burst of Fourth of July fireworks from somewhere in the distance rising above the trees caught his attention as he steered with one hand and reached into his pocket for the phone with the other.

Rick’s name was on the display. He punched the button to answer. “Dude. What’s up?”

“Good question. That’s what I wanted to ask you.”

How could Rick know the team had been recalled to deploy tonight? He was supposed to be out of the loop. Christ, operational security was becoming an absolute joke.