Building Ties (Military Romantic Suspense) (SEAL Team Heartbreakers Book 4) (21 page)

“You were supposed to wait until I came in for you, Tess.”

“Screw that. What took you so long? Weren’t you gone longer this time?”

“I had to wait for a couple of customers to maneuver out of their parking spaces before I could back out.”

Her breathing was coming in gasps and she tossed her purse onto the floor at her feet and folded her arms across waist.

Concern tightened Brett’s features. He rested his hand on her linen-covered thigh just above her knee and gave her leg a reassuring squeeze. “Easy, honey. I’m fine. You’re fine.”

With her heart racing out of control, it was hard to get a full breath. Was she having a panic attack? She gripped his wrist and held on, because touching him seemed to help.

Brett pulled away from the curb and drove in aimless circles. The motion of the car seemed comforting, and eventually she calmed.

“Why don’t you put your seat back and just relax until we get to the apartment?”

She did as he suggested, because she needed to lean on him right now, to feel coddled and safe. To just look at him and know he was safe, too. By the time he parked in the lot reserved for residents at his apartment complex she was drowsy.

“How ’bout that nap, meatball?” he asked, his smile endearing and tender.

“I don’t think I’m so far gone you’ll have to roll me into the building,” she teased, offering him a smile. “I’m sorry I got so out of control.”

Brett shook his head and released his seat belt so he could reach across the console and tuck her hair behind her ear. “I’ve walked in your shoes, Tess. You have to cut yourself some slack. Nobody expects you to jump through hoops four days after—being knocked off your feet. Not even Taylor. Okay?”

She understood why he avoided saying “after your car blew up,” and appreciated his attempt to steer away from the visual that popped into her head every time she thought about it. She laid a hand against his cheek, then ran a thumb over his lips.

He pressed a kiss against it.

“Why do you suppose they make cars with this damn console thing now?” she asked.

Brett’s eyes lit with humor. “I think to cut down on teen pregnancy. It definitely puts a cramp in trying to make out in the front seat.”

With a sigh she sat up and readjusted the seat. Her phone rang and she fished it out of her bag and answered.

Brett got out of the car and gathered the carry-out bags from the back seat.

Mrs. Delgado sounded breathless, excited. “The new lawyer says he may be able to get Daniel out.”

“I’m happy for you, Mrs. Delgado.”

“Daniel has agreed to speak with you, and his lawyer has approved it.”

“Will he be with Daniel when I come to speak with him?”

“Yes. He didn’t want Daniel answering questions without him.”

“That’s fine. It’s always a good idea for Daniel to be protected, no matter whom he’s talking to. Because he’s a juvenile, you’ll have to sign forms allowing me to interview him there at the facility.”

“I have already done so, and Mr. Niles has set up the interview. He said he could come to the prison at five o’clock Thursday.”

“Okay, I’ll fill out my paperwork as soon as I get to a computer and then drop it by the facility. With you and your lawyer both submitting paperwork, I’m sure there won’t be any issues.”

“Thank you, Ms. Kelly. Thank you very much.”

Brett opened her door but leaned against the side of the car and waited.

“You’re welcome. I’m glad Daniel has better representation.”

She hung up, collected her tote and stepped out of the car. “Daniel has agreed to talk to me with his lawyer on Thursday at five.” She shoved the door closed.

Brett hit the key fob to lock the car. “The same lawyer who tried to get him to confess and make a deal?”

“No. The one I suggested to Mrs. Delgado.”

He nodded. “So you’ve bought into his innocence?”

“Not yet. I want to talk to him face to face. And I’m going to check out his arms and see if he has any tattoos first. Rosalie said the man who held her at gunpoint had a tattoo on the inside of his arm between his wrist and elbow. But by now his lawyer has had time to read the witness statements, so Daniel may be out before I can interview him.”

“I’d prefer you interview him outside of Metropolitan Correctional. Just the thought of you behind bars with a bunch of criminals has all my protective instincts going into hyper drive.”

Tess looped her arm through his and ignored the butt of his gun pressing into her shoulder as she leaned into him. “If he’s free, and his mom and brother are present while I interview him, if he does have something to hide, it won’t come out. Interviewing him at the facility will work better for me. Should I take one of those?” she asked, indicating the takeout bags.

“This one.” He handed her the one that would free his right hand, the one he needed to draw his Sig. They walked toward the apartment building. “Come to think of it, maybe you’d be safer there at the facility. Having you in the room with Miguel Delgado—” He shook his head.

The apartment smelled musty, and Brett opened the sliding glass doors and turned on the ceiling fan to help the air circulate.

“I stripped the bed before I left. I’ll have to make it before we climb in. While you put away the food, I’ll take care of it.”

“Okay.”

“Stay away from the balcony, Tess.”

“Okay.” Anger tangled the excellent food she’d eaten earlier into a tight ball. The attack—and it had been an attack, physically and emotionally—had disrupted their lives long enough. It had been four days and the hypervigilance they’d been forced to maintain was getting old. How did Brett live like this for months at a time?

She put away the food and joined him in the bedroom. The corners of the sheets were as tautly aligned as any hospital bed. He spread a lightweight blanket over them.

“If ever you retire from being a SEAL, they’d hire you in a New York minute to make beds at Scribe Mercy or Balboa Hospital.”

Brett chuckled. “First thing you learn in training, besides to jump to attention and salute, is to make your bunk.”

“It looks good enough to sleep in.” Tess slipped off her shoes. While Brett put pillowcases on the pillows she slowly and methodically shed her clothes. She hung her jacket on the bedroom doorknob, folded the rest, and placed them on one side of the dresser. Dressed in nothing but a camisole and a thong, she slid onto the blanket face down.

“Jesus, Tess,” Brett breathed behind her.

She looked over her shoulder to find him bailing out of his clothes like they were on fire. She laughed, then caught her breath as, completely naked, he crawled up on the bed. Dear God. Every inch of him, muscular, lean, and conditioned from physical training, looked masculine and fit, and so damn sexy heat flared in her face and worked its way down her body. He nuzzled one cheek of her ass, then gave the other a quick nip. She gasped and ran her hand over his head and turned to loop her arm around his neck as he eased down beside her, allowing every inch of his bare skin to rub against her.

Laying a hand against her bare backside, he tugged her in close against him, his arousal an adamant pressure against her stomach.

“How can you think about sex after all the food you ate?”

“I’m a guy. I think about sex every thirty seconds.” He nuzzled her neck and his hand slid beneath her camisole to find her breast.

She laughed again. His fingers toying with her nipple and titillating sensations trailed down her body. There was something to be said about having to go braless, injuries or no injuries.

He pulled back to flash her a smile. “I think you may have the most beautiful ass on the planet.”

He plucked and toyed with her nipple until it tightened. Rivulets of sensation ebbed and flowed from her breast to more intimate areas of her body.

“I thought that was reserved for J-Lo or someone.” Her voice sounded wispy and soft. She swallowed.

“Only because the world hasn’t seen yours.” His touch trailed down her side and he caressed said ass in such a way her breathing grew uneven. His lips covered hers and their tongues meshed. A sweet, sweeping wave of tenderness and love tumbled through her. Everything he’d done for her, for them, during the course of the day, every loving look, every patient word came back. She fought the urge to weep and held him as tight and close as she could.

Tess groaned when his fingers slipped beneath the thong’s ribbon of fabric and followed it to her moist, aching core. He circled the opening with the tip of one digit, teasing her, tempting her, entering her just enough to drive her crazy with need.

She slipped a hand between them to cup his balls and gently kneaded and caressed them. Brett hummed beneath the kiss and parted his legs. Sliding down, she traced his collarbones with her lips and tasted the warmth of his skin with her tongue. She pressed soft, moist kisses down his chest and followed the thin line of hair down the center of his stomach with a fingertip. She grasped the taut shaft of his erection and stroked it. His muscles tensed and relaxed with the up and down movement of her hand.

She raked her gaze up his body to his face to find him watching her, his blue eyes almost iridescent with heat. Her gaze met his face as she touched the bulbous head with her tongue then laved it, relishing the salty taste of the fluid that beaded there. When she lowered her mouth over him, taking in as much as she could, and sucked, he dropped his head back on the pillow and made a choked sound of pleasure that shot her own arousal higher. She settled into a rhythm, tempting him, teasing as she nipped, licked and sucked. With every thrust of his hips, her own need grew.

His fingers tangled in her hair and he sounded out of breath when he said, “Come up here baby, I want to be inside you when I go off.”

She was more than ready for him. She trembled as she shimmied out of the thong. When he lay between her legs and rose above her, she reached down to guide him home. “Now, please now.”

With one quick thrust he became a part of her. They both caught their breath. “God, Tess. You’ve got me so ready.”

The heat and hardness of him inside her was nearly enough all by itself. Brett thrust deep once, twice, an intent look of concentration on his face, as he tried to beat back his own release before he fell into a rhythm laced with desperation. The drag and flow of his movements hit the spot deep inside her that drove her pleasure to a peak. Her pulse thundered in her ears, and her breathing went ragged. When they tumbled over the edge together, the feeling was so intense she cried out.

For a time the uneven rasp of their breathing was the only sound in the room. “I love you, Tess.” He never failed to say it, and she had the same breath-catching response every time.

Brett rolled to lie beside her and turned on his side to rest a hand on her stomach. Drawn to him like a magnet, Tess turned onto her side to face him. She cupped his cheek and her thumb moved over the light brown beard stubble shadowing his chin.

Those few moments of panicky fear at the restaurant came back to haunt her. “I want you to promise me something.”

“So you’ve buttered me up with mind-blowing sex so you could talk me into something?” he teased.

She grimaced. “No, it’s just…I don’t want you trying to get between me and a bullet, Brett.” Tears blurred her vision. “I’d never be able to recover from it if something happened to you because of me.”

His smile died and he remained silent for a moment, his eyes, so alight with passion moments before, turning dark. “I can’t promise that. If I didn’t do everything in my power to protect you, I couldn’t—” He threw up a hand and shook his head. “I can’t make that kind of promise.”

Tears ran across her face onto the pillowcase, and she turned into it.

Brett stroked her hair, her back. “Nothing’s going to happen to either one of us, honey. The FBI will find out who the hell fucked with your car and we’ll move on from this.”

When she had herself under control again she wiped her face with the edge of the blanket. “From now on we go to and from the car together. Not knowing if you were okay at the restaurant—”

“Okay. We’ll figure something out.”

The tight knot of anxiety that had twisted beneath her rib cage eased. She nodded.

He tucked a long strand of hair behind her ear. “As long as we’re discussing things, I want you to do something for us both.”

“What?”

“I want you to go to Washington and check out the job, Tess. If you don’t, you’ll always have regrets. And if you decide you want to try it, we’ll figure out a way to work things out.”

She shook her head. “I’ve made my decision, Brett.”

“I don’t want to be the reason you’ve settled for less when you can have more. Part of loving someone is looking out for their happiness. I can make you happy when we’re together like this, but when I’m not—you have to make your own happiness. If Washington might be part of that, then you need to at least look at it more closely so you’ll know for certain.”

“But I love you.” She read the struggle in his face, and a deep, heart-wrenching ache of love filled her.

His throat worked as he swallowed, and for the first time she thought he might lose his composure. “If I wasn’t certain of that, I wouldn’t be encouraging you to do this.”

“I have to think about it.” Tess scooted in close to him and lay her head on his shoulder. Giving it consideration was more telling than she wanted to admit. It was some time before she could close her eyes and relax.

*