Her Fierce SEAL: Midnight Delta Book 6 (17 page)

“I can’t wait, I need you.”  Her thumb glided over his tip, and he was close to losing it.

“Slow, I need this to last.  We only have one first time, lady, I want to savor it.” 

Her breath hitched, and she kissed his chin.  He brushed the arch of her brow and gazed into her eyes.  Then he stroked downward until he was once again cupping her breast, rolling her nipple to a swollen point.

“So good,” she sighed softly, was there pain in her sigh?  He bent, and took the crest in his mouth, holding her gently down on the bed, and forcing her to keep still for his ministrations. 

“Let me move.” 

“No.  It hurts you.”

“Staying still hurts more.”

She had so much to learn.  He squeezed, and she cried out.  “Just lie there and enjoy this.  I need to touch you, please you. I can’t stand the thought of you in pain.”  He tenderly clasped her delicate flesh, loving how her breath caught. 

“Again.”

He obliged, and then his thumb rasped over her nipple, again and again.  She made a small move, and he stopped.

“Finn?”

“You move, and I stop, that’s the game.”

“I don’t like that game.”  He softly grasped her nipple with his teeth, and she shrilled with pleasure as his tongue worked the nub.  The moment she moved he stopped.

“I.  Hate.  This.  Game.” 

“I don’t want you to be in pain.”

“There’s a part of me that is painfully achy.  Painfully empty.”  She smiled.  He licked her nipple one last time, and then kissed her beautiful smile.  She drew him in, he gloried in the closeness and realized she was right.  He found the wrapper, and she helped to get the protection in place, doubling the amount of time it took with four hands attempting the task. 

Their laughter filled the bedroom, then they looked at one another and realized the moment had finally come. 

“Finn?” her voice trembled.

“I have you.” Had it ever been more important?  He watched her languid expression of joy as he slowly slid home.  She tried to lift, but he held her still.  “Just squeeze baby.”  He felt her clutch, and sweat broke out all over his body. She gave him a dazed smile as she clenched in a sweet rhythm with his every thrust. 

“This is incredible,” she breathed.

“It’s you.  You take my breath away, lady.”  Faster, but still careful, he moved.  She gripped him tighter and made the sweetest sounds of passion.  Her nails dug into his ass, as she pushed upwards, and he thrust harder and faster, loving her tight pulsing. 

He watched as her eyes glazed over and she started to tremble.  He continued his loving strokes, and watched as she flew, then he followed.  When he came back to himself, he realized he had finally found redemption.

***

“F
inn, is that your phone?”

Finn felt like he was coming out of a drugged sleep.  When was the last time he had slept so deeply?  He couldn’t remember.  Angie was a warm blessing by his side, he was loathe to leave her.  What time was it?  His internal alarm said probably only nine in the evening.

“You must be starved.”

“I could eat.”  She reached down his body, and he grabbed her hand.  Their eyes met, and they laughed.

“Trying to get into trouble, Ms. Donatelli?”

“I could eat you with a spoon, Mr. Crandall.”  God, he needed to get out of bed and get her dinner. 

“Your phone?”

“I’ll get that.  But first, do you need help getting dressed?”

“I’ll manage.  You get your phone and the food.  I’ll take care of my clothes.”

Finn pulled on his jeans and checked out what they had that would be fast to cook, after throwing out the dinner.  He nuked yesterday’s burritos and whipped up a salad.  He got her the sweet tea she liked since she was still taking pain pills, then he checked his phone.  He recognized Drake’s number and figured he’d call him back tomorrow.

He watched Angie carefully all through dinner until she finally put down her silverware and looked at him. “What, do I have food in my teeth?”

“Huh?”

“You’re looking at me like I’m a bug under a microscope.  I thought I might have food in my teeth.” 

He gave her a sheepish grin.  “I just wanted to make sure you were moving okay.  I didn’t want you to be hurting.”

“You know you could try this really weird thing called asking.”

He flushed.  “Yeah, I guess I could.  Are you hurting?”

She laughed.  “A little, but I was kind of hoping for a replay anyway.  Can I tempt you?”

“Not if you’re hurting.”

She picked up her fork and starting quietly eating her food.

“Hey, I thought you said you were only hurting a little bit.  What’s wrong?”

“I think I shouldn’t have opened my big mouth in bed.”  He scrambled to keep up.  Dammit, from everything he knew about Angie, he should have known she would take his response as a rejection. 
And he damn well better not say it was him, and not her.  Time to man up, Crandall.

“Her name was Ginger.” 

Angie set down her fork and pushed her plate away.  “The woman who made love a four letter word for you.”

“Yeah, she didn’t really know the meaning of the word.  She used it to try and control me.”  Angie didn’t say anything, she just tilted her head for him to continue.  Finn swallowed.  “I got her pregnant,” he said baldly.

“Did
you
love
her
?”

“Not at all.  I’d only known her for a week.  The condom broke.”

“Damn, when was this?”

“It was while I was taking college courses.  She wanted to get married, and I agreed.  It was a stupid decision.  We didn’t even know each other, but I thought it was the right thing to do.  We got engaged, but she was the world’s biggest party girl.”

“Like how, Finn?” He could see Angie guessed the truth.

“I don’t think there were drugs involved, but she drank all of the time.  I tried to get her help.  I arranged an intervention with her family.  Nothing worked.”  Finn remembered Ginger’s rage. Angie got up and came around to his side of the table. 

She twirled her finger.  He moved his chair back, and she sat down on his lap and wrapped her arm around his neck.  “I need to be close to you before you tell me the rest.”

“I don’t know if I can,” he said hoarsely.

She sat there for a long time with her head resting on his chest.

“After the intervention, she told me she didn’t want to see me ever again.  I respected her wishes, to begin with, but I started calling after two weeks and leaving messages.  Three weeks after the intervention she called me.  I was at the base in Coronado.  It’s an hour from her apartment. It was raining.  She said she needed a ride.  I told her I’d be there and to wait for me,” his voice was thick with emotion. 

Angie cuddled closer.  “Finish it.”

“There was a wreck on the freeway.  I was late.  She was drunk again.  She left the apartment and slipped down the stairs and...and...” 

Angie squeezed him close.  “She lost the baby, didn’t she?”

“My son.  My son died.  I failed him.  I failed both of them.”

“Finn.”

He shook so hard, if she hadn't been holding on so tight, she might have fallen off his lap.  Dammit, he needed to get himself under control. 

“Finn, look at me,” she said as she cupped his cheek.  He’d never seen such soft midnight brown eyes in his life.  They shimmered with the tears he couldn’t shed.

“Angie,” he breathed.  “I don’t know what to do.”

“Your son knows you love him.”  He’d never taken a harder punch in his life.

“How?”

“He’s yours.  He’s a part of you.  He knows.  And you know something else?”

“What?” he was scared to ask.

“He loves you too.”

The tears started to fall, and somehow Angie managed to keep him from flying apart. 

––––––––

H
e looked at his phone again.  Another call from Drake.  He set it down.  He just wasn’t ready to talk to him yet.  He watched Angie’s sleeping form.  She really was a miracle.  Somehow telling her the story made him feel a little lighter. 

He knew he had to take her to the office again today.  There was something nagging at him, and he hoped to have figured out by the time she got home.  Hopefully, a run and a swim would help him work it out.

“Finn?”  He smiled.

“Yes?”

“It’s too early to be up.”

“The birds are singing.”

“What time is it?”

“Seven,” he answered as he went over to the bed.

“At least you’re dressed for bed.”  He looked down and realized he was still naked, and laughed.

“Got plans for me, do you?”

“Yep.”

She had held him until he had fallen asleep.  She always seemed to know what he needed.  He hesitated.

“You do the same for me.”

“What?”

“You give me what I need too.”

He looked at her in amazement.  “How did you know what I was thinking?”

“Now that you’re smiling, you’re starting to show your emotions on your face.  I’ve never felt so cared for in my entire life.  You’ve done that for me.” 

He crawled onto the bed, and rested over her, careful not to lay his weight on top of her.  “I love you, Angie.”  Her eyes glistened with tears.

“You do?”  It said something that she questioned him.

“I do.  I really do.”

“Thank you.”

“Ah, lady, thank you.”  He kissed her.

***

H
e had figured out what had been bothering him on mile seventeen.  It seemed to be his lucky mile.  He’d sent Clint an e-mail explaining everything that was going on with Dasha and the general so he would have the background on the situation prior to the call. 

He picked up Angie and brought her back to the apartment with an order of Dickie’s Bar-B-Que. 

“What’s so urgent?” she asked as they settled in front of the computer.

“I want to wait until we get Lydia and Clint on Skype.”

He pressed send, then Clint and Lydia’s faces filled the screen. 

“Finn!” Lydia’s smile almost broke her face, but the tears in her eyes almost broke his heart.

“Lydia Hidalgo and her fiancé Clint Archer, please meet Angie Donatelli.”

“I’ve read so much about you both.  It’s an honor,” Angie said leaning forward. 

“Lean back,” he admonished.  “She’s has a broken rib, and she needs to be careful,” he explained to everyone.

“I read over everything you sent.  It is absolutely unbelievable what Dasha has gone through,” Lydia said.

“Isn’t it?” Angie agreed.

“We have to find her baby.  I mean all the mother’s need to be reunited with their infants, but after I read what happened to Dasha in Odessa, I think she needs her daughter more than anyone else.”  Clint put his arm around Lydia.

“I think we can all agree on this, but that’s not why you wanted this little pow-wow, is it, Finn?” Clint asked.

“Nope, I think eventually, Vlad is going to dig out Sergei and Lou’s past relationship in the army.  I think we need to get Dasha and Sergei out of Austin.”

“But they feel so safe here,” Angie protested.

“Angie,” Finn admonished quietly.

“There are so many places we can stash them here in Austin, that they’ll be safe,” she suggested.

“Yeah, that’s why Lorna Jackson decided to leave Austin until the trial.  I’m not buying it,” Finn said, dismissing her idea.

“They can come to San Diego, or they can go to Jack’s parent’s ranch in San Antonio,” Lydia suggested.

“Both of those places are out.  The general will know that the girls who were abducted have been placed in both of those areas.  As a matter of fact, you need to shore up the security around those girls,” Finn directed.

“Already on it,” Clint clipped out.

“I’m going to call Declan and see if he has any place we can use,” Finn said.

“Who’s Declan?” Angie and Lydia asked simultaneously.

“You’ve been holding out on Lydia?” Finn asked Clint.

“It never came up,” Clint grumbled.  “Declan McAllister is a crap friend of Finn’s who has his sticky little fingers in a lot of classified government pies.  He’s former Army Military Intelligence Corp.  He’s retired.”

“So what does he do now?  How is he connected to Finn?  Why haven’t we tapped into his resources before?” Lydia demanded.

“He’s a founding member of the Shadow Alliance.  He’s a childhood friend of Finn’s.  And Finn has bounced our intelligence against Dec’s in the past, but he hasn’t had anything that we haven’t found out on our own.”

“He did feed us the information on Vlad Lutsenko because he’s an international political figure.  He’s also got a lot of inside information on the Russian and Ukrainian mob.  This is one of the cases he’s going to be on the forefront for data,” Finn explained.

“I call spousal foul that you haven’t told me.” Lydia pressed her finger into Clint’s chest.

“You can’t call spousal foul.  We’re not married.  Now, if you want that privilege, you should marry me now instead of making me wait, and I’ll remember to tell you every little thing.”

“What’s the Shadow Alliance?” Angie asked.

“It’s complicated,” Finn said.

“Yeah, I’ve never understood,” Clint piped in.

“Try to explain.  Is it something that’s legal?” Angie persisted.

“They use their powers for good.  I trust them implicitly.  They might get a little fuzzy with the rules of law, but they are always on the right side of justice,” Finn said.

“Sounds like people I would like,” Lydia said.

Damn good thing, since Declan certainly liked her, Finn thought to himself.

“So I’ll leave a message for Declan, and see what I can do to find housing for Dasha and Sergei.”

“He won’t answer?” Lydia asked.

“He hardly ever answers.  But he always gets back to me.” 

***

H
e and Angie were in bed.  He was sleeping soundly again when he heard the distinctive sound of an incoming Skype call. Angie muttered in her sleep, and he got up, grabbed his sweats, and closed the bedroom door as he hustled to the computer.  It was Declan.

“Where the fuck are you?”  He could see people all around him, men, women, and children bustling around.  A child around the age of four came up, sucking her thumb, and laid her head on Declan’s shoulder.  He put his arm around her and cuddled her close.