HOT SEAL Lover (HOT SEAL Team - Book 2) (19 page)

“
I
s he going to live
?”

Christina couldn’t stop shaking. Her body simply would not take the cues to stop. She was dressed now, so she wasn’t cold. And she was free, so she wasn’t afraid for her life.

But she was afraid for Remy. He’d been brought to the hospital over an hour ago and there’d been no word since. The SEALs in the waiting room with her exchanged looks before Viking, who’d arrived shortly after they’d reached the hospital, said, “Remy’s tough. We have to wait and see.”

Remy’s entire team was here, and they all kept saying he was tough. But that wasn’t the answer she wanted, so she kept trembling and praying and trying not to lose her shit.

The doors to the waiting room blasted open just then and Matt came striding in, Evie on his heels. Christina got to her feet and stumbled toward him. He wrapped her in a hug, and she started to sob.

“Honey,” her brother said. “It’s okay. You’re okay.”

“B-b-but Remy’s not,” she wailed.

Evie joined the hug, enveloping her from the other side. The three of them stood that way for a long minute, Christina crying and Matt and Evie just holding on.

Oh how she loved these two.

But she also loved Remy. She knew that now. Stupid, stupid, stupid idiot not to realize that’s what she felt for him. It took watching him drop after taking a bullet for her to know that she loved him like she’d never loved any other man. He was her other half, the missing piece that made her feel complete.

And she might lose him before she ever got to tell him that. Why hadn’t she told him before he’d passed out from the blood loss and shock? That thought only made her cry harder.

Matt steered her over to the chairs and sat her down in one. Evie dropped beside her and took her hand. “Do you need anything, sweetie? Something to drink or eat?”

“No,” she whispered past the razor blades in her throat. “Nothing.”

She looked at the men gathered there, her heart aching so hard. They would blame her for this. And why not? She blamed herself. She could have done more to make sure Ben didn’t hurt anyone. If she’d only realized that he wasn’t himself anymore, that he’d lost any semblance of reality he’d once known. Something in his head had twisted irrevocably.

She didn’t know what had happened to him after the ambulance came for Remy, and she didn’t really care. Not right now. Whatever it was, she hoped he spent a very long time in prison.

The doors opened and a surgeon came out. He was wearing green scrubs, but that’s not what caught her attention. It was the smile on his face that made her heart soar with hope.

“Who’s here with Remy Marchand?”

“We are,” Viking said, indicating the whole group.

The surgeon looked at them all and then cleared his throat, choosing Viking to address his remarks to since he seemed to be the leader in that moment.

“We expect a full recovery. The bullet passed between two ribs and…”

Christina didn’t hear what else the doctor said. Her brain swam and blackness crept into the edges of her vision. She must have made a noise because Evie patted her back.

“It’s okay, sweetie. He’s going to be all right.”

“Oh God,” Christina said, pressing her hand to her mouth to prevent a wail from escaping. Heaven help her, she was as uncontrollable as Penny had been back in Qu’rim. “I want to see him.”

She didn’t remember standing, but she was. Standing and facing the doctor, her hands clenching at her sides. She had to see him right this minute or she would burst.

“I’m sorry, ma’am, but no visitors tonight. If you come back tomorrow—”

“Mattie,” she said, turning to her brother. “Do something. Please.”

“Chrissy—”

“No,
do
something. Call someone. I’m not leaving here.”

“Honey, we aren’t next of kin. Mrs. Doucet can’t do anything,” he said, referring to the Girard family lawyer. They had a lot of lawyers working for Girard Oil, but Mrs. Doucet was the best. She looked like someone’s idea of a Hallmark Channel–movie grandmother, but the woman was a shark.

And to hear she couldn’t do anything? That made Christina want to crumple. Except that she couldn’t. She had to fight for her right to see the man she loved.

“Baby,” Evie said, sliding into view. “You have other people you can call. The colonel, or even Garrett Spencer.”

Christina’s heart hammered then. Garrett “Iceman” Spencer was one of Matt’s coworkers—or teammates, more appropriately—whose father-in-law was the newly elected president of the United States. Hell yes, the president-elect could get her in to see Remy.

“Please, Mattie,” she breathed.

He took his phone out. “No promises, but I’ll try. Give me a few minutes.”

* * *

I
t was
dark when he awoke, though not pitch-black. There was a pain in his side. A dull, throbbing pain that sent lightning bolts through him when he shifted. Remy blinked and stared at the ceiling. Then he turned his head and spied the screen that recorded his vitals.

That’s what the fucking beeping was. Jesus, he’d been fighting that sound for a while now, thinking it was a bomb about to go off. But of course that had been a dream and the bomb was simply the hospital equipment doing its job.

Thank God, because no matter how he tried, he couldn’t find the bomb. He shifted, groaning at the searing pain in his side.

“Remy?”

Someone touched him. Cool fingers on his forehead and cheek. He knew those fingers.

He reached up with the hand that didn’t make his side ache and caught them.

“Christina?”

She came into view, hovering over him, her dark hair flowing over one shoulder as she did so.

“Yes, it’s me.” She squeezed his hand. “How do you feel?”

“Like I got hit by a truck.”

She made a noise that he couldn’t quite identify. “I’m so sorry. It’s my fault.”

He didn’t know what she meant. And then it hit him that she was here with him, and she was safe. Jesus, the last thing he remembered was jerking Ben Scott’s legs out from under him. He hadn’t known whether the fucker was still alive or not, but he’d known his team had arrived because of the vibrations of their footsteps pounding up the stairs and through the floor upon which he lay. He’d only prayed they’d get to Christina before Ben could get off another shot.

Which they had, apparently.

“What happened?” he croaked. “And why does my throat hurt?”

She reached for something across the bed and then put a large cup with a handle and a straw into his hand. He took a drink of water.

“Your throat is still raw from the breathing tube they used during the surgery. The doctor said you’d need to hydrate.”

“Hydrating,” he said, taking another sip.

“You got shot,” she said. “Ben w-was trying to m-make me…”

He squeezed her hand, fresh anger flooding him at the thought of what her ex had been forcing her to do. Seeing her tied up like that, so vulnerable and helpless. God, it had nearly killed him. “I remember.”

“You threw yourself at Ben. He shot you. But I stabbed him with the scissors—though it was only a flesh wound—and you knocked him out when you jerked his legs from under him. Your guys arrived after that.” She swallowed. “Cash put a blanket over me. I was terrified you were dead, and I’d just stabbed Ben—though I didn’t know it was a flesh wound. I was hoping he was bleeding out on the floor, quite honestly, while he was knocked out cold.”

Remy’s mind whirled at everything she said. “You stabbed him.”

“Yes. But he shot you—and it’s all my fault, Remy.”

He thought she was crying, but he wasn’t sure. “How is it your fault? I launched myself at him. But Jesus Christ, honey, I couldn’t let him do that to you. You were going to do it for me, I know—but I couldn’t watch. I couldn’t let it happen.”

“I should have known there was something wrong with him when he came to see me again. I should have gotten a restraining order.”

“And what good would that have done? He was still going to do what he did tonight. It’s not your fault, baby. Not your fault.”

She sucked in a breath. “I love you, Remy. I know you don’t love me, that we’re still just figuring out this relationship—but I love you. When I thought you were dead—oh God, I thought I would die too.”

Remy frowned. Was he still dreaming? Was this just another part of the twilight sleep he’d been experiencing?

Because, damn, he couldn’t think of anything he wanted more than to have Christina Girard telling him she loved him.

“I love you too,” he said, in case this wasn’t a dream and she really was there. He would never forget for as long as he lived the way she’d smiled at him with a gun to her head. As if she’d been trying to reassure him.
Him,
when he was the one who should have been reassuring her.

He’d been willing to die to save her. He still was.

“I— Did you really just say that to me?” She sniffed. “Oh, right, it’s the remnants of the anesthesia. You won’t remember this tomorrow, but that’s okay because it feels so lovely right now.”

He tugged on her hand until she had to bend down over the bed, her face so near his. His side ached, but it was important that he see her eyes. Important that she see his when he said this to her.

“I’m not drugged, Christina—well, I am I guess—but not so much I don’t know what I’m saying. I love you. I’ve loved you from the first moment you said hello to me. I don’t know why—hell, I didn’t know that’s what was going on, believe me—but it’s true. Since the instant you spoke to me at your brother’s house, I’ve been yours.”

Something hot and wet hit his skin, cooling quickly. He reached up again, swept his thumb over her face. It came away wet.

“
Cher
,” he breathed. “Don’t.”

“I’m happy,” she said. “These are happy tears, Remy Marchand. Don’t you dare try to stop them either.”

“Tell me you love me again.”

She bent and kissed his cheek. He turned his head and met her mouth. It wasn’t a sexy kiss considering the way he felt, but it was a wonderful one. He’d never kissed a woman knowing that she had his heart before.

“I love you,” she whispered. “I was scared to love you, scared to try again—but I’m so happy my heart knew what to do even when I didn’t.”

“When I get out of here,” he growled. “I’m showing you everything I feel until you never doubt it for a second.”

She laughed a tear-filled laugh. “I don’t doubt it now. Not anymore, Remy. Not ever.”

“Jesus,” he groaned as a sharp pain lanced through him.

“Shh, honey,” she said, reaching across him and tweaking something on the tube going into his vein. “I’ll be here when you wake, promise.”

He instantly felt the silvery glide of morphine sliding into his veins, and he knew she’d hit the pain pump on his IV. Damn her. Bless her. Love her.

He fell asleep soon after and felt no more.

T
wo months later
…

C
hristina collapsed on the bed
, her entire body going limp as the power of her orgasm slammed through her. Remy thrust into her relentlessly, dragging out the pleasure until his own release caught him and propelled him over the edge.

He rolled off her and lay beside her, breathing heavily. She turned and propped herself onto an elbow, running her fingers over his magnificent chest. The angry scar of the bullet wound in his side always made her heart clench.

“It’s okay,” he said gruffly, capturing her fingers and dragging them to his mouth. “I’m alive.”

“I’m still sorry it happened.”

“Of course you are. We both are. But honey, don’t you know I’ll do it again if it means you stay safe?”

Christina frowned. “I don’t want either of us in that position ever again, okay?”

Watching Remy recover from a bullet wound hadn’t been fun. He’d been weak at first, and then he’d been in pain. When they’d let him go from the hospital, she’d insisted he stay with her. The SEALs and Matt’s team had gone through her place with a fine-tooth comb. Ben had only had one camera in there. She’d discovered how he’d gotten inside. He’d gone to the neighbor she’d left a key with for emergencies, and he’d said he was with the gas company. The neighbor had let him in and he’d placed the camera. He’d recorded video and sound from it, but he’d also sat across the street from her house with a high-powered microphone aimed at her house and listened in that way as well.

It hadn’t been the most sophisticated plan, but then Ben’s mind wasn’t working particularly well anymore either. She’d considered selling the place and moving, but then she’d gotten mad and decided that no way was she letting him affect her life so profoundly again.

Ben was currently in a mental hospital receiving treatment for schizophrenia. If he ever got out, he was going to trial for kidnapping and attempted murder. She wasn’t afraid of him going free anytime soon.

“Me neither, baby,” Remy said.

He hadn’t been on a mission since he’d left the hospital, though he had returned to work. Though it was farther from her place to the military base, he’d stayed with her instead of going back to the apartment he shared with Cash. She liked that. She felt safe with him here. More importantly, she was happy.

She’d had to go to Houston a couple of times, but she’d turned over the international traveling. After the deal with Sheikh Fahd, her father and the board of directors had made her the head of business development. She had an entire team that she could send to make the deals she set into motion. It was working too. Business was up and Girard Oil was growing.

Remy got out of bed. She watched his naked ass, sighing that all that gorgeousness belonged to her.

“We need to get dressed, Christina. We’re supposed to be at your brother’s place in thirty minutes.”

She stretched, her body still glowing in the aftermath of their lovemaking. “I know, but it’s so much more fun just being with you.”

He snorted. “Honey, everyone’s beginning to think we don’t like them anymore. Or that we’re obsessed with each other.”

“Aren’t we?”

His eyes gleamed hot as they raked over her. “Yeah, we are. But get up, because we have to go.”

“Fine,” she grumbled.

Christina tried to distract him in the shower, but it didn’t work. Well, mostly didn’t work. He still lifted her up and fucked her hard and fast against the tiled wall.

She came too quickly, however, and he didn’t prolong it. So now they were getting into his truck and she was grumbling at the idea they had to go anywhere at all.

When they reached Matt and Evie’s place, there were cars up and down the street and in their driveway. Christina sighed. She wasn’t the frightened introvert she used to be, but she still had to gear herself up for crowds.

Remy squeezed her hand as they stood on the sidewalk. “We don’t have to stay for hours, promise. I know that wears you out.”

She smiled and touched his cheek. “And I know you’re an extrovert who likes people, so this is your time to recharge. It’s probably getting boring just hanging out with me.”

He blinked. “Are you kidding me? It’s never a dull moment with you, Christina. You’re the funniest, hottest, most beautiful woman I’ve ever known. You surprise me on a daily basis.”

Okay, so she preened inside. No one had ever said she was the
most
anything. Well, maybe the most quiet. She’d gotten that one a lot as a kid.

“What did I do to deserve you, Remy Marchand?”

He pulled her into his arms right there on the sidewalk. “Do? All you had to do was be you. You’re the air I breathe, the sun on my face, the energy in my veins.”

“Wow,” she said, her throat tightening. “You say the most amazing things sometimes.”

He grinned. “All the time. Every word out of my mouth is amazing.”

She knew he was trying to make her laugh so she wouldn’t cry and ruin her mascara.

“Hey, stop molesting my sister on the fucking—I mean fire-trucking—sidewalk and get the heck in here,” Matt called out.

Remy frowned. “Fire-trucking?”

Christina laughed. “Evie’s making him clean up his language before the kids are old enough to pick it up.”

Remy snorted. “Good plan.”

* * *

R
emy nursed
his beer and kept stealing glances at Christina. She was sitting at the massive kitchen island with Alpha Squad’s wives and fiancées—plus Ivy Erikson, Viking’s wife—laughing about something someone said. She was radiant, her dark hair long and loose down her back, her slender form graceful in jeans and a white button-down shirt.

He loved her, and that made him feel a calmness inside that he’d never realized was missing from his life. It was pretty incredible to love someone and know they loved you in return.

“You treating my sister right?” Matt asked, snagging his attention.

But he was smiling, one eyebrow lifted in question, and Remy relaxed. “Like she’s the most important thing in my life,” he said, utterly serious.

Matt nodded. “That’s good, man. Glad she has you in her life.”

“I want to marry her.”

Matt’s eyes widened a fraction. “You’ve only been together a little over two months… you sure about that?”

“Yeah, I’m sure. And though I know that bastard stole all her money, I know she’ll have more from your family trust, plus there’s Girard Oil. I’ll sign a prenup. I don’t want anything except Christina, and I want you to know that.”

Matt blinked. Remy knew he hadn’t been happy when Christina confessed that Ben had bled her trust dry, so he wanted Matt to know he didn’t care about the money. The Girards had a lot of money and she was entitled to her share according to Louisiana law, but he didn’t want any of it.

“Jesus, dude—that’s not up to me. It’s between the two of you.”

“I don’t want you to think there’s anything motivating me other than the way I feel about your sister. She’s safe with me. Her heart is safe. I promise you that.”

Matt held out a hand and Remy clasped it in a firm grip. “You took a bullet for her. But even if you hadn’t done that, hell, the way she was in the hospital waiting room—well, that told me a lot about her feelings for you. She’s herself with you. I never realized how contained she was with Ben, but it’s so obvious now. You’re good for her, Remy. I’ll be happy to call you a brother-in-law as well as my Special Ops brother.”

The two shook firmly and then went in for the bro hug. When Remy looked over at Christina, she was watching them, a question in her eyes. Remy took a swig of his beer and set it down.

“Nothing like the present moment,” he said. “Wish me luck.”

He strode over to the kitchen island. The ladies shot him sidelong glances. One of them, and he wasn’t sure which one, said, “Here we go again, girls.”

Grace Campbell Spencer, the president’s daughter, laughed. “Yes, I believe you’re right. Garrett had much that same look on his face in Buddy’s Bar that night.”

Christina looked at the women in confusion. “What? What are you talking about?”

“Christina,” Remy said, taking her hand and ignoring them. When he had her attention, he dropped to a knee. She gasped. “Will you marry me?”

“Told ya,” someone said. Glasses clinked.

Christina’s eyes were wide. She put a hand over her mouth. He began to believe he’d committed a grave error. She hadn’t even been divorced a year. Her last husband had treated her horribly and broken her trust. And here he was asking her to marry him.
In public
. Putting her on the spot.

Shit, he was an idiot. An utter idiot.

“It’s okay if you don’t want to,” he blurted, trying to give her an out. “We can take it a day at a time.”

“And now he’s backing out. Awkward,” Ivy Erikson singsonged.

Remy turned to glare at the women, who stared down at him with looks of interest and amusement on their faces. They held their wineglasses as if this was a drinking game or something. Hell, he wasn’t sure it wasn’t.

“I am
not
backing out,” he growled. “I’m giving her a graceful way out because she might not want to get married again.” He turned to gaze up into Christina’s eyes, which were suspiciously shiny now. “Which I understand,
cher
. Really. If you don’t want to get married, I won’t press you.”

She surprised him, sliding from the chair and standing over him. She cupped his jaw in both hands, tilting his face up.

“Yes,” she said softly. “I will marry you. Tomorrow or next year or whenever you want. I’m ready. Because we’re
us
, Remy. Because I trust you with everything I am. Because you make me believe in the fairy tale.”

She leaned down and kissed him then, and he squeezed her to him, kissing her back with all the joy he felt in his soul. He stood with her in his arms, and she yelped as her feet left the ground. Then she laughed and he slid her down his body, kissing her again before letting her go. Much more of that and he’d be sporting a massive hard-on in his jeans.

Everyone converged on them, offering congratulatory hugs and kisses from the women and handshakes from the men. Money shook his head as he gripped Remy’s hand.

“Another good man down. Gonna miss having you as a roomie.”

“I haven’t been back in two months. You don’t miss me at all.”

Money laughed. “Nah, not really. I’ve been keeping busy.”

“Yeah, I can just imagine. Careful, or you’ll be the next one planning a wedding.”

Money’s eyes practically bugged out. “No way, bro. Not me. I am definitely not a one-woman man.”

Remy’s gaze slid to Christina. “You’d be surprised how that happens.”

“Yeah, sure. Not me.”

They stayed a while longer. Evie broke out the champagne, though she couldn’t have any because she was breastfeeding the babies, and Matt didn’t drink at all. After all the toasts and congratulations, Remy was ready to have Christina to himself. Especially when the talk turned to wedding plans. Good God, he wasn’t about to discuss bridesmaid dresses or lace or any other fucking thing that went with weddings.

It took another twenty minutes to extract them, but soon they were in the truck and on the way back home. Christina was quiet, and that worried him.

“I’m sorry I put you on the spot,” he said.

He could feel her eyes on him in the darkened interior. “I love you, Remy Marchand. I want to be with you forever. And I don’t care who knows it.”

He pulled into a parking lot because he couldn’t wait another minute to hold her when there was no one else around. He unclipped her seat belt and dragged her over the console and into his lap.

“I fucking love you so much. I want you to be happy. I’ll do whatever it takes to make that happen. If it’s lace and bridesmaids and a fucking orchestra at our wedding, then that’s what you’re getting.”

She twined her arms around his neck.

“I really don’t want any of that, Remy.” She chewed her bottom lip for a moment. “Do you think we could run away to Vegas and get married?”

He blinked. And then he laughed. “If that’s what you want, hell yes.”

“Then let’s do it. I don’t want to disappoint everyone, but I’ve had the wedding with all the trimmings. The wedding isn’t what matters—it’s the person you marry.”

His heart swelled with all the love he felt for this woman. “Vegas it is then.”

“Viva Las Vegas,” she said, laughing.

“Viva Remy & Christina,” he replied.

“I’ll drink to that.”

“We don’t have any drinks.”

“Then you’d better get me home and take me to bed instead.”

He broke the speed limit complying with that order, but he soon had her spread out on the bed naked and moaning his name. Licking her into a frenzy was sweet, but sliding into her body was even sweeter.

“Remy,” she gasped as he thrust slowly and surely. “I love you.”

“I love you more.”

She laughed even while she moaned. “Not possible.”

He stilled and forced her to look into his eyes. “I know.”

And he did know. She loved him for who he was. It hadn’t been easy for her after all she’d been through, but her love was his greatest treasure.