Building Ties (Military Romantic Suspense) (SEAL Team Heartbreakers Book 4) (14 page)

Though a lump settled in the pit of her stomach, she cupped his face and brushed her thumb along his cheekbone. “I think you’re going to look fantastic at the wedding in your dress whites with your new insignia. And I’ll love you just as much no matter what your rank.”

Brett’s lips brushed hers, then lingered just long enough to give her that buzz down below that melted her bones and made her want to groan. Tears burned her eyes, and she turned her cheek against his shoulder to hide them.

“It’ll mean more money. And maybe we can rent a house, so we’ll have room for you to have an office, someplace you can work without me underfoot.”

If only he wasn’t always thinking about how he could make up for his absences, how he could take care of her, it would be easier to be mad. “That would be good.” It wasn’t his fault her job offer had come at a time when his career was just getting back on track. But it still hurt.

“The lease will run out on my place in a couple of months. I can put my stuff in storage until we decide what we want to do.”

Her throat ached. “Sounds like a plan. You don’t think you’ll go stir crazy living in my small apartment with me?”

“Babe, I live with seven other guys, sometimes more, in close quarters, for days, sometimes weeks. This will be a cakewalk.”

Though she’d never felt less like doing it, Tess laughed. “I’ll remind you of those words when I’m manic over a story, pacing the room and constantly on the phone doing interviews.”

“It’s going to be fine. We’ll figure it out.”

But would she?

Brett stood and offered her a hand up.

They said their goodnights to Langley Marks and Trish, who were still busy gathering their three children’s paraphernalia. Tess hugged both Hawk and Zoe and thanked them for hosting Brett’s welcome home get-together.

“Any time,” Hawk said with a smile.

“I need to check the car, babe” Brett said, and slipped down the hall with Hawk to watch the evening’s videos to make sure no one had touched the vehicle.

“He’s trying to act cool about all this, but he’s worried about you.” Zoe lifted her heavy hazelnut-streaked hair from her shoulders and pulled it back into a tail with a scrunchy from the pocket of her jeans.

“Did he say something?” Tess asked.

Zoe shook her head. “He wouldn’t say it to me because he knows you’ll ask. He’ll say it to Hawk.”

“And you’ll get it out of Hawk?” Tess guessed.

Zoe flashed her a smile. “If it’s important.”

Tess fought off the urge to tear up. “You’re the best almost-sister-in-law a girl could have.”

Zoe laughed and hugged her. “We’ll soon be sisters. I already feel like we are.”

“Me, too.” She’d been a rock for Tess the whole time Brett had been gone. When the loneliness and worry had gotten to be too much, Zoe and her mom were there. Which added another special twist to the whole job/family thing. She adored Brett’s family.

When they finally walked out the door, the wind had settled down some, but there was a nip in the air. Tess tugged her heavy sweater closer while Brett opened the car door for her, then jogged around.

The silence settled between them for a few blocks.

“How many restaurants did you call while I was at the office today?” Tess asked.

“Ten. I got some more suggestions from Flash and Doc tonight. And Doc volunteered his back patio on the beach.”

Tess smiled. “Zoe volunteered their house. Said we could set it up buffet-style in the dining room and bring in more chairs. Or the back patio like tonight.”

“That’s my sister. But Doc’s holds a special meaning. It was there we first danced together.”

Surprised by his sentimentality, she blurted, “Guys aren’t supposed remember stuff like that.”

“I remember every moment. I wanted you so bad—I felt like I’d done a five-mile run full out and couldn’t catch my breath.”

In the blink of an eye the ache eased and she rested a hand on his thigh. “I thought you were dangerous to my heart.”

Brett grasped her hand and raised it to his lips. “Never dangerous, honey. I’d take better care of yours than I would my own.”

God, how had she ever managed to resist him back then? And she certainly couldn’t now. She laced their fingers and hung on all the way home.

*

Brett tried to
keep his mind off sex. Tess was still moving slowly, and she didn’t need any pressure from him in that direction. But the instant she’d rested her hand on his thigh he was ready. To keep his mind off that, he concentrated on scanning the parking lot until they reached the entryway.

Inside, he stood back and waited for her to unlock the apartment door.

“Let me go in first and check the place out, hon” He pulled out his Sig.

She shot him a surprised glance. “Okay.”

He halted inside the living room, every sense alive to movement or scent. Nothing triggered the prickly, hyper-alert feeling he usually got when he sensed danger. Before he allowed himself to relax, though, he did a quick walk-through, then returned to the living room. “It’s clear.”

Tess closed the door and locked it. “Did you really think they might make it inside the apartment complex?”

“I’d rather be safe than sorry.” He laid his Sig on the end table, shucked his jacket, and slouched on the couch.

Tess slipped off her heavy sweater and joined him there. “In case you haven’t noticed, it’s later.”

“Later?” he echoed.

“Yes, it’s later.”

Understanding shot his pulse into the stratosphere. “It is?” Jesus, he sounded so hopeful it was embarrassing.

Tess laughed. “Yes.”

“How does your back feel?” he asked. He wanted to make love with her, but he didn’t want it to be painful.

“My back is fine.”

She had that tone in her voice he loved, soft, breathy, and sexy as hell. He could almost get off just listening to her speak. Almost.

She ran her hand beneath his brown T-shirt and caressed his stomach and chest. Blood rushed south and he hardened.

His need level went from DEFCON 5 to 1 in a heartbeat as she swung her long leg over his and straddled his lap.

“I love you, Tess.”

She framed his face with her hands and looked into his eyes. “Every time you say it I want to tear up. I love you, too. More than words can say.” She kissed him. Her lips parted, and his tongue slipped forward to coax hers into playing. He lifted the hem of her sweater and ran questing hands up to cup her breasts. Her skin felt like silk, her breasts, still covered by the gauze, fit his hand perfectly, and her nipples went taut at his touch. Her hips moved against him in a way that made his body hum with anticipation.

Brett skimmed his lips along her throat, then her collarbone, just above the sweater’s neckline. “I love it when you do that lap dance thing, but I want to be in a nice bed stretched out with you so I can worship at the Tess shrine for a long, long time.”

She laughed and made short work of tugging his T-shirt upward and off. She ran her eyes over his chest and abdomen and focused on the bulge beneath his pants. “Your cammies pants aren’t working. They’re not hiding a thing.”

“You’re not the enemy, honey. As a SEAL I can’t surrender, but you could try to persuade me.”

She grinned. “I’ve missed you so much.” Her arms encircled his neck while she nibbled one of his earlobes.

Her warm breath sent shivers down the back of his neck. His erection strained against his zipper. He raised her sweater higher and pressed his abdomen against hers, relishing the feel of her bare skin against his. “Bed, Tess.” Now it was urgent.

“Okay.” Her grin was mischievous as she slipped off the couch and offered him her hand.

Careful of her back, Brett nestled her against his side as they kissed their way to the bedroom. He lost no time stripping off his clothes, and then stretched out to watch her disrobe. Tess turned on the bedside lamp, she preferred its softer light, and flipped off the overhead switch before wiggling free of her leggings and sweater. Her long legs and torso gave her body a sleek grace he never tired of admiring.

When she hooked her thumbs under the elastic of her panties Brett sat up. “Let me do that.”

*

She’d been shy
about letting him see her without her clothes because of the bruises, scratches and scrapes. But now, with him lying there naked, vulnerable, so completely aroused, all that dissolved. The tenderness and love she read in his face brought a knot of emotion to her throat and a wave of guilt. She needed to tell him about the job offer. But not now.

As he shifted above her and his lips found hers, her heart lifted to meet the soft, brief touch of his kiss. She reached for him, eager for his body to rest atop hers, and to experience the slow slide and friction of him moving inside her.

He rested his hand between her breasts, his touch warm through the gauze. He grazed her nipples with his fingertips while he skimmed his lips across her cheek. “We have to be careful of your back, but I want to be on top this first time.”

He positioned himself between her legs. His arousal pushed against her, but the barrier of her panties blocked his entry. She dragged air into lungs suddenly starved for oxygen and bit back a groan.

Though he avoided the bandages, Brett pressed warm, moist kisses along the edge of the gauze while he kneaded and caressed her breasts.

Then he went on to taste and touch his way down her stomach, almost tripping her over the edge before he ever reached the apex of her thighs. She caught her breath as his thumbs slipped under the crotch of her panties to part her nether lips. He blew against the fabric, his breath tickling, warming, arousing, making it impossible for her to stay still. She clutched the comforter beneath her. “Brett.” Had she ever been this aroused?

She hauled in a ragged breath of relief when he tugged her panties down and off. When he rubbed the head of his penis against her, she tilted her hips to urge him inside.

“God, Tess, I’m not going to last a nanosecond,” he breathed.

“I’m not either, come inside me.” She rotated her hips, forcing him deeper.

He sank into her with a sigh.

Tess caught her breath. The sensation of him filling her, sharing her body, was like finally being complete. It happened every time.

“God, honey. You feel so good.” His mouth caught hers for long, slow kisses. She caressed his back and curved her hands over his shoulders, holding him close.

The need to move captured them both. All the hunger of separation overwhelmed them. Tess forgot about her back, forgot everything but him. She cupped his hips and matched his rhythm. The harder he thrust, the wider she opened herself to him, taking him as deep as she could, until they were rocking against each other, fused as tightly together as they could get.

As he swelled and hardened even more, nearing his release, her own climax tumbled over her, projecting a wave of sensation out to her fingertips and toes.

Sensual tingles still lingered when she opened her eyes to look up at him. A slow, satisfied smile crossed his face. Still poised above her, he dropped his head to rest in the bend of her neck.

“Do you know how sexy the sounds you make are when we’re making love?” he asked. His lips caressed the soft spot behind her ear.

Heat flared in her face. “I don’t make any sounds, I’m too busy trying to catch my breath.” She ran a caressing hand over his bare, muscular buttocks. “You’re the noisy one.”

He laughed and started to ease away.

“Not yet.” Her arms tightened around him.

Tess ran her palms up his back and over the back of his head, feeling the texture of his close-cropped hair, then paused to knead the back of his neck.

“I’ll give you fifty years to stop that.” He groaned when her fingers discovered a particularly knotted muscle.

Tess smiled and kissed his cheek. A few minutes later, Brett eased out of her, and she sighed with regret as their bodies parted. She tugged the sheet up over them both. He lay behind her and pulled her in to spoon with him. Wrapped in his arms, she found security, completion, and so much more.

“It’s so good to be home,” Brett murmured, and within a few minutes, his breathing leveled out and he dozed off.