Burning For Nero (SEALs Going Hot) (7 page)

Peg shook her head, her eyes serious. “Not this way, you haven’t.”

“Peg. Please don’t probe. This thing with Tony is so new that I don’t want to talk about it. Let me live with it for a while.”
Let me discover the joy of being with him as more than a friend. Let me figure out if I can do that.

“I will, honey. I just want you to know that whatever you decide is good with us.”

Cass stared into her mother-in-law’s sea blue eyes. She had loved this woman as if she were her own mother. Loved the Commander as if he were her dad. Both her parents were gone, dying in a crash in her dad’s small jet when she was a senior in college. She would march a thousand miles before she ever hurt their feelings. “You…you talked about this with the Commander?”

“After we put Jon to bed last night, yes, we did.”

Cass caught her breath.

“We trust you to make good decisions. All of us are so close, so…intertwined. Have been for more than sixteen years.”

“I know. I feel the responsibility here not to blow this.”
That was one factor that held me back, made me consider my desire for Tony over and over again.

“You won’t. You’re too methodical. Too careful.”

Right.
Cass wanted to hoot in laughter.
You wouldn’t think I was so careful if you’d seen how I made love to Anthony Nero. I was a wild woman with few rational thoughts.

“Now get that rolling pin working, will you? If you let that dough get warm, it won’t spread for you.”

The faith Peg expressed in her judgment warmed her though, head to toe. “Yes, ma’am.”

Minutes later, Cass strolled out to the deck. Wiping her hands on a towel, she gazed out on the lawn where the Nero and Phillips men were completing the set up for the afternoon and evening. The two older men, Caesar and the Commander, directed the younger ones. Tony popped his head up now and then, securing joints on the tables. Ray’s two younger brothers, Paul and Jack, did the grunt work of dragging the carts of metal folding chairs to the tables and setting them up.

Tony saw her from yards away, paused and smiled at her with those luscious black eyes. Jon tugged at his hand, chattering about going swimming if she read his gestures correctly. Tony nodded, pointing him in her direction for permission. Jon scrambled up the steps of the deck.

“Can I go swimming? Can I? Can I?”

“Go put on your trunks.”

“Yippee!” Jon did windmills with his arms and raced inside.

When she looked up, Tony still had his gaze trained on her…and they promised seduction and satisfaction.

She shifted, her blood heating, roaring in her ears as she recalled his hands on her, his mouth, his tender kisses against her feminine folds. She suppressed a cry as her core pulsed.

He was so appealing. Where had her mind been the first time she’d met him?

Truth was, the first time she had looked at Tony, she liked his looks better than Ray’s. Tall, dark and handsome was her mantra, even with College Park guys she dated. But Ray, blond and dashing, was so charming, so persistent to get her to say yes to a date with him that she agreed. Never thinking it would amount to anything more than one event with Ray, she was shocked when he called her for another. She discarded the idea of dating Ray’s buddy. Tony had faded into the background and become merely Ray’s pal as Ray stepped up his campaign to date her.

She had had no idea she could fall in love with a Navy man. Didn’t even know what that implied for a lifestyle or her future. Her folks were real estate brokers, good at it, newly rich from it. When they died in that crash two months after she started dating Ray, she had been devastated and he had been oh so consoling. Driving to Maryland on weekends, attending the funeral with her even though she told him he didn’t have to, Ray had walked into her life in a substantive way.

He romanced her with flowers and sweet talk, the glamour of his appointment as a midshipman. Then, he aced all that by taking her home to meet his marvelous family and she fell right in with them. All white lace and calla lilies, she had married him in the Navy chapel the week he got his commission. In the next year, she learned how to be a military spouse, patient and patriotic, waiting alone in a tiny apartment in Tampa while he sailed the seven seas and she practiced being supportive and uncomplaining.

She hadn’t resented the demands on her. Not at first. Hadn’t her mother bolstered her dad? What Cass got in return for her support was a stable if solitary home life—and a huge extended family she saw once a year. The biggest boon was her friendship with other service wives who gave the same as she did and were darn proud of it. She had been proud to be Ray’s wife. But after two years based in Florida, the man she knew as a happy-go-lucky middie qualified for SEAL training in Coronado, California. After that, he became the hard ass SEAL she barely understood. StingRay suddenly personified his name.

He grew silent, brooding and touchy. His personality could change without warning, quickly and often. His temper was red, hot. His words were blue. She recoiled and objected to his tone. He would apologize.
The job
, he’d say
. Sorry, baby.
The verbal attacks—none were physical, thank heavens—became more frequent, even when he wasn’t fresh from a mission. Then he had no excuse to cover his outbursts. His drunks made matters worse. She refused to cover for him with his CO or to clean up his messes. When she stood up to him, he balked. Apologized. Promised to reform. And never did.

“Hey. You okay?” Tony stood in front of her on the deck, staring down at her.

“Yeah.” She snapped to. “Fine.”

“I’m finished here.” He was naked to the waist, perspiration dripping over his rippling perfection. Desire pooled in her mouth. “Jon wants to go swimming.”

“Okay with me. Just don’t let him dive. He wants to dive all the time. Ray introduced him to it and Jon goes too fast, barrels off the sides of pools. But the river? I’m scared of it.”

“I’ll take care of him, sweetheart.”

“Flippers and a board for him, too.”

“You got it.”

She smiled at him, gulping back the need to touch him, caress his lips. He looked so damn appealing, sweat beading down his temples, his deep brown eyes absorbing her.

“Why not come with us?” He let his brows do a little hootchy-kootchy dance.

“Trying to seduce me right here on the deck in front of god and country?”

He made an animal sound in the back of his throat. “Anyway I can get you, lady.”

“Tonight.”

He turned away, at an angle to her to squint out to the river, his mouth tight. “That a promise?”

“Are you up for it?” she teased.

He threw her a quelling look. “Up? You have to be kidding. I am up at the moment.”

She made a little squeaky sound of despair.

“What if I can’t wait, Cass?” he whispered so low she barely heard him.

She scanned the lawn, the prospect of having him inside her again making her head spin and her insides melt. “We have to. Too many people. Too much to do.”

“I have to make you come again.” He locked his gaze on hers. “Before tonight.”

She hooted, then stepped backward to the wall as he moved toward her. “If only!”

“Need me, huh?” He drifted so close she could feel his body heat.

She chuckled, her palm flat to his marvelous chest. “You can’t.”

He licked his lower lip. “Want to bet?”

“What? No. I—” She swallowed hard. The predator before her mesmerized her, consumed her. Paralyzed, unable to glance away to find out exactly who might be looking at them, she fought for sanity.

But he focused on her tits. Her nipples, to be precise. “Love your breasts. They’re getting hard as we speak. Need them in my mouth.”

She yelped. “Stop this. Someone will—”

“They’ve gone inside. And I’m remembering about how pretty in pink your pussy is when I eat you.” His bass voice slid over her like a bath of hot sticky syrup, making her insides sweat and swell. “I need to kiss that fat little clit of yours. Soon.”

She pushed against him to ward him off, seeking respite from the pulsing in her core. His words were addictive. His tone alluring. His pursuit of her oh-so endearing.

“You want me drinking up your cream. The boathouse. At one,” he said against her ear. Nipped her lobe.

“Stop!” She laughed, outrageously delighted, electric desire zinging through her. She was a fool for his charm.

“Be there.” He nailed her to the wall, driving two fingers up under the cuff of her shorts, past her wet panties and into her starving pussy. “Come for me now.”

Shuddering, she did as he asked. Pulsing around him, she bit her lip to keep from keening. She came and came—
oh, baby
—in a big mind-blow. And when he pulled out of her, she couldn’t tear her eyes away as he put his fingers in his mouth and sucked them dry. She whimpered. Helpless, she stood plastered to the wall.

“One o’clock.” He winked at her. “Don’t be late.”

Chapter Five

The kid was a natural. Wading into the river from the shore, Jon had been fearless. Yeah, he shivered in the cold water. Even Tony got a few goose bumps from the temperature. A Canadian storm last week had dropped the temperatures all the way down into the Delmarva, so this chill in the water was to be expected.

“Okay, one more lap around the edge of the dock here and then we go in,” he told the boy.

“No, no! I want to stay out, Tony! Look! Look how good I am.” The kid splashed around, floating on his back, his little red arm floaties helping him stay up.

“You’re gonna freeze, buddy. Can’t have your mom mad at me.”

“She won’t be mad.”

“This water is cold, man.”

“I’m big. See.” He did a strong kick and maneuvered out of Tony’s reach. “Mom likes you. She’ll let me if you do.”

“She likes me, huh?” Terrible to pump a child to reveal his mother’s secrets, but Tony was listening to his heart this weekend and he was liking it.

“Said you’re good.”

Even before I got her in the sack.
“Well, that’s nice.”

“She said you’re her friend.”

Got that right. Now if I can just be more than that, I’ll be a happy man.
“I have been for a long time.”

“And mine.” Jon let his floaties and his kickboard support him as he went quite still in the water. His eyes, so verdant like his mother’s, pleaded for more than a simple agreement.

“I’m that, too.” He reached out to cup the little boy’s chin. “I’ll always be your friend.”

“And visit me?” Tears dribbled down his little cheeks.

“Oh, Jon. Come here.” This sorrow Tony couldn’t bear. Hugging Jon tightly to his heart, he kissed the crown of his head. He loved this child who was his best friend’s son. He loved this boy who looked like a tiny replica of his mother, all blond hair and adoring green eyes. “I will visit you. I’m so sorry I didn’t. I was sick. Hurt, really.”

Jon’s little arms squeezed Tony as he spoke against his chest. “You’ll visit us? When we move. Can you?”

Travel was always a challenge for him. For any SEAL. Deployments had multiplied in the past four years as the president used special ops to take down terrorists in controlled situations. Stand-by for missions was more the norm than leave. His longest rest between ops had been these past two months since he’d injured his arm and hand. “I will do the best I can, Jon. You know my job is like your dad’s.”

The little boy leaned back in Tony’s arms and looked up at him. “But you won’t die.”

That socked the breath from him. “I take good care of myself. I—”

“Mommy says you won’t die.”

“Does she?”
As a mother’s reassurance to a grieving child, it was useful. But the biggest question was what if she ever turns out to be wrong?

“She says you’re too good to die.”

“I see.” He didn’t. But hell, he had no idea how to get out of this discussion. Death rates among SEALs were high. He knew the odds going in to any mission of surviving it. But how to reassure this child who had already paid for the loss of one SEAL that he wouldn’t grieve for the loss of another? Tony had no intention of paying the ultimate sacrifice, but his job was the most unpredictable one a man could choose. Anyone around him had to know that, accept it. To ask a child to do it was a tough order. “Time to go in, pal. You are shivering now.”

“Can we dive? From the dock?”

“Tomorrow. If you can swim from here in to shore now.”

“O-
kay
!” Jon wiggled in the water, then took off, his little arms and legs going like a mechanical toy.

****

Cass glanced at the clock on the dresser. Primed for Tony in body and soul, Cass stood up and paced the floor of the boathouse.

What in hell am I doing?

Getting laid. Very well. And often, too.

She snorted.

Clutching her arms, she shook her head, shocked at how she’d fallen into bed with Tony. How she’d responded to him over and over again. She had loved Ray when she married him. He had been the first man she’d gone to bed with and he’d been a gentle lover at first. But as years wore on, he grew to like his sex brief and silent. Missionary became his favorite do. Twice and done was his usual mode of operation. Suspecting he had affairs or one night stands, she’d wondered why. When she had asked him, he’d given her an occasional sixty-nine, but nothing like the passionate ballet of bodies she’d had with Tony in a bed, a chair and a shower stall.

Her eyes fell shut. Visions of Tony Nero in his ardor flooded her mind. The way his eyes lit, the way his hair fell over his brow, the way he talked to her, caressed her with a devotion that melted her heart and seared her mind. That kind of hunger, that sort of lust filled her with pride and an urge for more.

But more with him meant more of other kinds of intimacy. Lives intertwined.

A man in her life who consumed her. A military man like a SEAL did that to a woman. Filled her life, ordered it, shaped the hours and the days, the months until he was home and available to be hers. Could she live like that again? Could she even date Tony? Did she want him not just in the sack but in her daily life and her son’s? Did she have it in her heart to want Tony so badly that she could live with the rigors of the military life, the challenges of regular separation and the fear that in the crucible of those, Tony, too, might change as Ray had?