Code Name: Luminous (4 page)

“No, God no, not at all.
I don’t want you to get hurt because of me.”

His brows popped and a silly grin crossed his
firm, full lips. “I do dangerous for a living. Watching over you is an easy
assignment.”

Assignment?
Of course that’s how he saw
her. Her adolescent daydreams of the handsome SEAL had created a romance good
enough for bookstore shelves. SEALs were realists.
Military
men.
Tony would watch her until Admiral Austen changed his orders. He
hadn’t shunted Ed out the door because he’d been flirting; he did it because
he’d been charged with her protection.

“Sorry, I guess that must have been a little
overwhelming meeting everyone like that,” Tony said.

“They seem very—capable.”

He chuckled. “Yeah, I’d bet my life on it.”

“How long have you been a SEAL?”

“Eleven years. Mace and I went through BUD/S
together.”

“What’s that?”

“Basic Underwater Demolitions
training.
Tough, but we both made it.”

Lumin’s heart seesawed a little. His eyes,
filled with intelligence, centered on her as he spoke. He wasn’t as large as
Mace or the admiral; instead he had a lean, taut physique. She could imagine
him being a strong swimmer. “Nina said Mace is a sniper, and Kate told me Fox
is a senior Frogman, whatever that is. What do you do?”

Tony surveyed her for a moment,
then
explained. “I’m a heavy weapons specialist and Lead
Breacher
.”

She raised her brows, not understanding.

“I go in first. That means I clear a path,
sometimes using explosives. Basically, I’m a specialist on all mechanical and
explosive entry issues.”

“That sounds dangerous.” Her blood chilled a
little to think Tony was always the first to face danger.

Tony’s gaze dropped to the table.

“It’s very dangerous, isn’t it?”

“Hazard of the job for any
SEAL.”
Tony laid an inquisitive look on her.
“Walking on a thin pole dangling mid-air doesn’t seem very safe to me.”

She shrugged. “It’s second nature.”

“Have you ever been hurt?”

“Once, when I was younger.
Youthful exuberance.
Broke
my arm.
Nothing serious.”

“Think I like the idea of you being a lawyer.
It’s safer.”

A niggle of nervous excitement erupted in her
belly. “Mace mentioned deployment. What does that mean?”

“Means we’re on the road for seven months,
give or take.”

“Away from home?”
She was surprised by that. “How many times do you get to come
home during that time?”

He shifted in his chair.
“Never.
We stay out until the deployment is finished.”

“How do Kayla, Nina, and the other wives
handle that?”

Tony’s gaze darted toward the children’s park
that lay next to his patio. “It’s not easy. Their kids grow up without a dad.
We—they—miss all the important milestones. The wives are pretty tight. While a
team is on deployment, often another team who is home will help out.” Tony
shrugged. “Lots of single SEALs because of the life we live.”

Lumin read something in his eyes, but she
wasn’t sure what it was. He probably had plenty of girlfriends, not just one.
“What will you do after?”

“After what?” he asked.

“After being a SEAL.”

His brows rose as if he’d never considered it.
“Haven’t thought that far ahead.”

Tony’s cell rumbled on the tabletop. He picked
it up, read the text, then put it down.

“Aren’t you going to answer that?”

“No, I’m going to clean up the mess the kids
made in my place.” He left the table and she couldn’t help herself. With a
quick shoulder check, she fingered his phone so she could peek at the text.

Are
ya
home yet, baby? My wet girly
parts miss you.

“Whoa,” she exclaimed.

Tony appeared and snapped up his phone. Guess
he wasn’t lacking in the girlfriend department. If that was the type of girl he
was used to, he wouldn’t be interested in her. She gawked up at him even though
her cheeks heated with embarrassment. “I’ll help you clean up,” she said, and
hurriedly brushed past him picking up plates on her way to the kitchen, but she
didn’t miss him mutter, “Damn” under his breath.

* * * *

After Tony changed the sheets on his bed,
knowing he would give it to Lumin, he returned to the living room. Once again
she’d disappeared, and he wished like hell she’d stop doing that because it put
his pulse into high gear. She wasn’t on the patio, and it leaped into overdrive
until he spotted her. “What the hell!”

Lumin had wandered into the kid’s playground.
He watched as she balanced on the horizontal crossbeam of the swing set, twenty
feet in the air. Under the moonlight, her blonde hair shimmered. Her parents
had named her correctly; she was luminous.

He rested his forearms on the railing and
watched. Almost mystical, her slender frame gracefully stepped with precision,
forward two steps, and then backwards. Maybe she needed the thrill. He could
understand that. She’d shocked him asking what he’d do after being a SEAL. Was
there such a thing? Once you’ve been a SEAL, everything else paled. He wasn’t
a nine to five
kinda
guy
. Nothing
would change that. Disappointment swelled in his chest. The guy who would catch
Lumin would be a regular Joe. Her husband would come home every night thinking
how fuckin’ lucky he was to have her. Tony tried to shake the thought from his
head, but it refused to leave.

Placing a hand on the railing, he jumped it
and strolled to stand at the base of the swing set. “I’d say you’d better come
down or you’ll get hurt, but I know otherwise.” He tensed, when she leaned over
and then did a perfect walk-over like an Olympic gymnast on a balance beam.
“Okay, that
kinda
bugs me.”

Her sweet laughter fell on him like stardust
and covered him in something warm and dreamy. Nina had ramped up his emotions
and she’d always have a special place in his heart, but this woman intrigued
him as well as made him nervous. Lumin reminded him of a butterfly that flitted
between flowers, never landing for long.
Kind of like Tinker
Bell
.
“I hope you don’t do
that on top of the Stratosphere every night.”

Lumin spread her filly-like legs, grabbed the
bar with both hands and rolled forward. Tony sprung into action, and gripped
her around the hips as she dangled by her arms. She let go and slid down his
body; with every inch, sparks ignited inside him. When her feet touched the
ground he wasn’t ready to release her, even though she leaned away.

“Sorry, it’s a SEAL’s nature to come to the
rescue,” he said quietly, staring into her tropical-blue eyes. Long lashes
whisked her cheeks when she blinked. Being this close to her stroked past
temptation by a football field length and fell into the “must have” category.
He wanted to touch her perfect, fair skin and graze his finger along her
delicate features. Everything about her waved a red flag at him.

“Did you answer your text?” she asked.

Talk about putting his fire out. “I guess that
made me look like a man-whore, didn’t it?”

“A little.”

Was he going to try and convince her he
wasn’t, because it would be a lie? Changing the subject would be the same as
admitting he was. SEALs often avoided a straight answer, but mostly to protect
their identity. He didn’t want to lie to her.
Damn, damn, damn
.

“Everyone has a past, right?
Doesn’t mean the future plays the same hand.”
When all else
failed, euphemisms worked. He did it all the time to the squad when things got
too tense. Staring into her pretty features, tense wouldn’t be the right word.
Dumbfounded might come close. Would she let him kiss her? Should he ask? He
never asked. What—was he fifteen? She nibbled on her lower lip, and the
afterburners on his lust ignited.
Sweet.
Sincere.
Smart…how
many ‘s’
adjectives could he come up with? Single? Was she? She would have run to her
boyfriend if she had one.

“I think your past is a little more colorful
than mine. Maybe you should answer her text, Tony. It’s the polite thing to
do.”

Hope winked out of existence and he released
her, feeling like a teenager rebuked. He cleared his throat. “Technically
you’re part of a mission, or you could be, and we don’t get involved with
people we’re meant to rescue.”

“I don’t expect dinner and a movie. I don’t
need to be rescued. I just need a little guidance. By tomorrow I’ll be out of
your hair.”

Lumin spoke intelligently, but seemed so damn
innocent for some reason. Not likely. She worked in Las Vegas.
City of sin.

“What?”
Leaving?
She wanted to leave?
He shook his head as she sprung onto the kid’s
merry-go-round. “You can’t go,” he said, watching her step with bare feet
across the beams that sectioned the platform into pie-shaped pieces.

“You know the whole story now. I’m sure your
admiral will do something about it. You don’t need me for anything.”

He slowly palmed the beams of the round
platform hoping to bring her closer, but she jumped from bar to bar as he
turned it. The only way to reach her was to climb onboard. He gave the child’s
ride a push before he leaped on. With her willowy arms outstretched, she
balanced on the small bar and bowed low before him like a lady from the 1500s.
He couldn’t help but smile at her performance.

“I am but the messenger, sir,” she said with a
British drawl.

“Not a ‘sir.’” He vaulted over the beams
quickly, catching her around the hips and snatching her from her perch. For the
second time in five minutes she was in his arms. “Stop that. You make me
nervous.”

“I thought SEALs were brave men who remained
calm in the face of danger,” she teased.

“No, we pray we don’t get our asses shot off,
and use our training to make sure it doesn’t happen.”

Her dainty hands rested on his shoulders.
Following the sway of her tiny waist and gently palming her hips had his
thoughts jumping to this position without their clothes, and the ache in his
groin intensified.

With a quick swivel and a hop, she leaped onto
the bar once again. “Up you go,” she said, gently tugging on his hand.

“What? You want me to stand on that?”

The ride spun in slow circles. Crazy, but he
found his footing and rose with a few jerky movements. It seemed easy enough,
but she was still holding his hand. When she released him he lost his
equilibrium, or maybe that was just the effect she had on him.

“Stay there,” she said, and jumped to the ground.
Placing her hands on the bar, she pushed to make it go faster,
then
jumped back on the ride.

“Woman, are you crazy?” His arms twirled to
keep himself upright.

“Crazy is going on dangerous missions and
putting your life on the line,” she said, reaching for his hand. “Walk.”

“The Admiral is going to be pissed if I fall
and break an arm.”

“Head up,” she instructed.

He did as she said.

“Now close your eyes.”

“No way.”

“Try it,” she urged.

He closed his eyes and felt himself lose his
balance. She gripped his hand, and he found balance again.

“Put your concentration on what isn’t in
motion,” she said. She hopped to the platform and her hands circled each of his
thighs. “You and I. Everything around us
is
moving,
but we are the center. We are balanced.”

It was the strangest thing. He closed his eyes
and realized she was right, and the feeling he was going to fall evaporated.

“Where did you learn that?” he asked as the
ride stopped spinning and he eased himself down to stand in front of her.

“My mother.
It was one of my first lessons as an aerialist.”

“My mother worked at a bar and brought a
different guy home every night.” The small smile she wore disintegrated, and he
wished he hadn’t said it.

“I’m sorry.”

His hand rose to touch her cheek, and he
couldn’t help but wonder how many men had the honor of having her in their
arms. “Don’t be. It taught me to be self-sufficient. I had to figure things out
on my own.”

Before he could touch her face, she
intercepted his hand and drew it to his side. “That sounds lonely.”

He didn’t have the best start in life, but it
made him tough, and he needed that when he faced the challenges his profession
brought. “It gave me good instincts, and those instincts are telling me you’re
not going anywhere.”