Building Ties (Military Romantic Suspense) (SEAL Team Heartbreakers Book 4) (18 page)

Brett felt like he’d just been sucker-punched in the gut. The Washington Post.
The Washington Post
wanted Tess. One second, two passed and he still couldn’t breathe. He cleared his throat and dragged air into his lungs.

“Jesus, Tess!” Fuck Taylor.
Why hadn’t she told him
?

‡

T
ess fought the
urge to glance at Brett through the glass that partitioned Taylor’s office from the rest of the newsroom. She could feel his eyes on her. She’d wanted acknowledgement for the job offer, but she’d wanted to share it with Brett first, before anyone else. She’d wanted to cushion the sharing with the reassurance that she wasn’t going to take the job.

Elgin Taylor had stolen both those things from her.

The shock on Brett’s face kept replaying through her mind, even as Taylor’s voice cut through the panic bubbling up from the pit of her stomach like lava. Brett was so pissed, so hurt because she hadn’t told him.

“When did they call you?” Taylor asked.

“A few days before Brett came home.”

“Why didn’t you say something?”

“Because I wanted time to think it over, and I really wanted to share it with my fiancée before I told anyone else.”

“You hadn’t told him yet?”

“Uh, no.” It was hard for her to keep the sarcasm and anger out of her voice. “He just got home from a war zone. He’s been acting as my body guard because some psycho blew up my car. I just wanted a couple of days to hold on to him, to be in the same fucking room with him.” Her composure slipped.

Taylor looked away. “I needed to know, Tess. If you leave, I have to be prepared to replace you.”

“I can’t leave. He’s a—” She caught herself before saying SEAL. “He’s in the Navy. He’s stationed here. I can’t live on one side of the continent while he’s on the other. I love him.” Just saying those words out loud to someone else carved them in stone for her. “If this is all you need, then I have to go. I have another interview in an hour or so, and I need to prepare.” And she needed to try and apologize to Brett.

“Shit,” Taylor breathed. “I’m sorry. I know that couldn’t have been an easy decision to make.”

Tears burned her eyes. “Are we done?”

“You’re one of my best, Tess. You
are
my best. I was upset about the idea of losing you.”

Now he wanted to suck up to her, after the damage was done. Tess jerked the door open. “I have to go.”

“I’ll call you if anything else comes in.”

She nodded once and stepped out. She scanned the room, looking for Brett. Where was he? Anxiety cramped her stomach and filtered its way up into her chest.

Seth Maxwell, one of the other reporters, brushed by her to go into Taylor’s office. “He’s in the break room,” he murmured. “Congratulations on the job, Tess.”

“Thank you.” She hurried between the desks to the narrow hall that led to the small kitchen area and bathrooms. The stark, utilitarian kitchen had a soft drink machine, a refrigerator, a microwave, and a sink. Two small tables with four chairs each provided a place to sit.

Brett leaned against the counter and dangled a plastic soft drink bottle between his index and middle fingers. He looked up when she came to the door.

She’d had an opportunity to tell him in bed the night before, in the car just a few minutes ago. She should have told him. Why was it so fucking hard for her to share herself? This was the man she was going to marry, was going to share her life with—forever.

When the silence stretched for five seconds, six, Brett finally broke it. “This is, like, every reporter’s dream job, isn’t it?”

She took a step into the room. “Not every reporter.”

“It’s the fucking
Washington Post
. It’s the paper that broke Watergate. The paper that covers all the politics and politicians in the country. This is…
huge.
”

“They didn’t get the story on Senator Welch using his influence to cut funding to certain military units because of his own personal agenda.”

“You’d be a secret weapon in their arsenal.”

She took another step closer to him. “Not so secret. Because I wrote about Welch’s personal loss and the influence he wielded because of it, every Congressman would be on guard against me before I ever asked them a question. They’d be wondering what I had uncovered in their lives that might smack of self-interest. The deck would be stacked against me. I wouldn’t have any sources who would be willing to share information with me like I’ve cultivated here. And I’d have to live in a place that has snow and bad weather five months out of the year.”

In the millisecond between Elgin Taylor announcing it to the newsroom and the look on Brett’s face, she’d made up her mind, and relinquished the job. She loved Brett. She wouldn’t leave him. And she couldn’t have both.

“But most important, I wouldn’t have you there. Or your family. Or my own. I’d be isolated and alone…and lonely for you.”

*

Relief stormed Brett’s
system, then just as quickly changed to concern. If she passed up this opportunity—it was the
Washington Freaking Post
! He swallowed again, his heart lodged somewhere between where it should be and his throat. “Are you sure this is what you want to do?” He couldn’t believe he was asking that. If she did want it, their lives would suddenly become unbelievably complicated. Could their relationship even survive living on two different coasts? They’d never see each other. That thought gave him another kick, and an ache settled in the pit of his stomach.

Tess crossed the space between them. She cupped his face and looked deep into his eyes. “I’m sure, Brett. Completely sure.”

A knot settled just beneath his collarbone. He leaned in to capture her lips, then pulled her in close, hugging her. He understood what kind of sacrifice this was. And he’d bragged to her about his own promotion—Jesus! His career was taking off while she had decided to take a huge hit so they could be together.

“Honey—” He ran his fingers beneath her hair, cradled the back of her head and held her as close as he could. Pain made his voice thick. “This offer is amazing. Now that I’ve gotten to see you in action, know more about what you do, how you do it, it isn’t surprising they want you, Tess. Any paper would be better for having you.”

There was stress in her tone when she quipped, “I’ll use that line on Mr. Taylor when I hit him up for a raise.”

Brett smiled, though the ache persisted. “I’m sorry, Tess.”

“It’s okay. I’m young. There’s time for me to do a lot of things with my career. This is just one of them. One I don’t want to pursue. I may write a book one day. Work for a magazine. Share a byline with my father like we did last time. That’s probably what inspired this offer.”

“I don’t think they’d have offered you a job on the strength of you sharing a byline with your father. It was your work that made this happen, honey. When did they call you?”

“A few days before you came home. I wanted to wait until you were here and we could discuss it before making a decision. I’ve been waiting for the right time to share it with you.”

“But we haven’t talked about it,” he said.

She remained silent for a moment, and her eyes dropped to his chest. “We don’t really need to, do we? We both know if I took the job there wouldn’t be any reason for us to get married. As much as I love you, and you me, there wouldn’t be any purpose behind a marriage if we never got to see each other or be together.” Her throat moved as she swallowed. She leaned against him and rested her head against his shoulder, more for comfort than in celebration. “I love you, Brett. I don’t want what we have to end. So, I’m telling them thanks for the offer, but no thanks.”

Heat raced into his face and left his ears burning. Her blunt assessment of the situation sounded distant, analytical, but beneath it there was pain and disappointment. Military spouses had to sacrifice so much. For the thousandth time he wondered why she was willing to surrender her ambitions and dreams to be with him when he was gone so much of the time.

Would those decisions come back to haunt them both later?

An insidious inner whisper broke in that offered him no comfort,
They always do.

His arms tightened around her. “I’m sorry, Tess.”

“I’m not. It’s a great honor, a feather in my cap that they wanted me, but I want you more, Brett.”

Had he not been a tough as nails Navy SEAL he’d be crying like a baby about now. “I know my job gets in the way, but you’re everything to me, Tess.”

“If I wasn’t certain of that, if I didn’t feel the same way about you, I’d give that job a shot.” She leaned back to look up at him. “You’re so much better at sharing your feelings than I am.”

“Honey—” He swallowed against the softball-sized knot in his throat. “I think you just did a damn fine job of it.”

‡

B
rett pulled the
car into the parking structure across the street from Brittain Development Group and Tess looked up from studying her notes. That Nicholas Brittain had agreed to meet with her had come as a surprise. Lawsuits had already been filed on behalf of both men who were killed in the accident, and the entire building site shut down until inspectors could analyze and discover what had caused the third floor section to collapse.

“You’re not planning to drop a bomb on this guy to see if he’ll go after you, too, are you?” Brett asked as they walked to the parking structure elevator.

“No, I’m just going to go for a positive piece and get a feel for this guy. He employs a lot of people. I’d hate to see his company go down because of what someone else has done.” Despite the sixty-five degree temps outside, the air felt damp and chilly inside the parking structure, so she pulled her cream-colored jacket closed and buttoned it at the waist.

“Or he could be responsible, Tess.”

“Yes, he could.” She looped a hand through his arm. “I’m trying to keep an open mind about everything and just get a feel for the players.”

Brett glanced at her. “Hard to do when you have everything Mary Stubben told you going through your head.”

“Yes, it is.” They paused at the elevator, and she pushed the down button. “It’s the hard part of being a reporter, keeping your opinion out of things and just reporting the facts.”

“Newspapers state their opinion all the time. That’s how presidents get elected,” Brett said.

“Well, this reporter tries to stay objective about stories. Not so much about the people involved.”

“Which was lucky for me.”

They’d been through so much already as a couple. Her life would have been so different without him. “You were so passionate about your innocence, I couldn’t write you off. And you were already carrying enough emotional weight without my adding to it.”

Brett pressed a kiss against her temple. “Lucky me.”

They walked across the street to the twenty-five story glass and concrete sky scrapper, headquarters for the Brittain Development Group. “They built this ten years ago and have been housed here ever since,” Tess said as they entered the facility and crossed a wide, blue-tiled foyer. The flooring reflected light, almost as though they were walking on glass all the way to an information desk. The space looked modern, bright and very impressive.