Uniform Desires (Make Mine Military Romance) (22 page)

When the chopper landed at Camp Leatherneck, medics and intel officers were there to greet them. Fish argued about being carried out on a gurney, finally agreeing to let the army female medics drape his arms over their shoulders and help him limp to the waiting ambulance. Grinning, he looked back over his shoulder and winked.

The medics wanted Tuck to report to the hospital for sutures.

He refused, insisting the wound could be patched with a bandage. To prove the point, he unbuckled his Protech Tactical Armor Plate Carrier or PTAC, eased it over his shoulders, and dropped it to the ground. The absence of the weight made him feel immediately lighter and more agile. And naked.

With the cool desert night air blowing over his skin, his imagination carried him back to the bed he’d shared with Delaney a little more than a week ago, her smooth body pressed against his.

Reaper sat on the bumper of the ambulance beside Tuck, another medic checking him over for concussion and lacerations from the grenade explosion. Reaper pushed the medic’s hand away from his face. "Gunny’s set up quarters for us. Let’s go."

"Shouldn’t you be at the hospital?" Tuck asked.

"The doc said I looked okay, no concussion."

"Then head for quarters. I’ll be along in a minute. I need to debrief intel." Tuck really wanted to catch Delaney on her own, after everyone left. Images of stolen kisses bumped up his adrenaline and pulse.

The medic cleaned his wound and applied a sterile bandage, warning him to keep it clean or the gash would get infected.

When Reaper finally stood, he stretched and flexed his muscles.

About that time, Delaney climbed down from the helicopter and removed her helmet.

"I’ll be damned." Reaper laughed. "Tuck, look who our pilot was."

"I know."

Reaper frowned. "You knew O’Connell was flying, and you didn’t tell me?"

"I wanted everyone to focus on the mission, not the pilot."

Reaper ran a hand across his dusty, shaggy hair. "Think she’s had enough time to decide?"

Panic tightened his throat. "Reaper, we’re in a war zone. Now’s not the time to push a girl to marry you."

"I can’t think of a better time. Away from home, feeling lonely and afraid." He flexed his biceps. "Big, handsome SEAL to her rescue. It’s a romance novel come true."

"Reaper, you really have to get a clue. She may not have agreed to marry you because she doesn’t love you that way." How many times did he have to say that before Reaper got the hint?

"If that was the case, she would have said no when I asked her."

"You asked her in front of all of our friends. She’s nice enough to save your ugly face from embarrassment."

Reaper hung back, his frown deepening. "I hate it when you make sense. What I hate worse is that she might have said no if I hadn’t asked in front of our friends." His frown lightened. "If she’s leaning toward saying no, maybe I need to show her I meant what I said. She probably thinks I’m not serious."

Tuck wanted to slap a palm to his forehead. He’d have to come right out and tell the guy Delaney wasn’t into him. "Look, Reaper—"

Reaper wasn’t listening. He raised his hand and yelled, "O’Connell!"

So much for seeing Delaney alone.

The medic had barely taped down the last edge of the bandage when Tuck jumped up, shrugged his shirt over his shoulder, and hurried after Reaper and Delaney.

"So I was thinking, how about you and me grab a bite of breakfast together in the chow hall?"

"Sounds like a good idea." Tuck fell in step on the other side of Delaney and winked at her. "But shouldn’t you be heading to the hospital for that CAT scan?"

Reaper’s brows dipped. "No, and I was asking O’Connell here to breakfast. Just the two of us."

"And five hundred of your closest friends? Come on, Reaper, you’d leave a brother behind?"

"When it comes to O’Connell?" He snorted. "Hell, yeah."

"I have a suggestion." Delaney stopped. "Why don’t the two of you have breakfast, and I’ll check in with my commander, get a shower, and hit my bunk."

"Are you assigned to Camp Leatherneck?" Cory asked, his face brightening.

"I am. But I want you both to know, I’m not fraternizing with either of you." She pointed to Reaper then to Tuck. "Got it?"

Tuck figured she was telling them both to keep their relationship on the down low. He nodded, grinning. Determined to play along. "Come on, Reaper. Let’s see if the chow hall is open this late."

Reaper snagged Delaney’s hand. "I meant what I said. I love you, O’Connell. And come hell or sandstorms, I mean to marry you some day."

"Cory, I—"

"I know." He raised his free hand to stop her. "You don’t want to make a decision until we get back stateside, and you’re probably thinkin’ I’m a flirt and couldn’t be satisfied with just one woman. But you’re wrong. If that one woman is you, I know I’ll be perfectly happy to give up the others."

She laughed. "So noble, Cory." Her voice dripped sarcasm.

He sighed. "Just don’t say no or make up your mind until I’ve had a chance to prove it to you."

"But I—"

"Please. Don’t decide yet." He grinned, kissed her fingers.

 
Like a royal pain in the ass and let go. Tuck grimaced.

"Come on, Tuck. I’m starvin’."

Tuck cast a frowning glance back at Delaney.

She shrugged and turned the opposite way, most likely heading for her tent and a shower.

Being on the same post as Delaney had its challenges. When deployed, the situation was even more difficult. Though he and Delaney were equal rank, having sex or sexual relations while deployed was frowned upon.

His groin tightened. Tuck never backed down from a challenge, but if he was going to risk his career as a Navy SEAL, Delaney O’Connell was worth it. And SEALs were known for taking risks most men wouldn’t dare.

Delaney stomped away from Tuck and Reaper, steaming as she went. Why the hell hadn’t Tuck told Reaper about them? They’d had over a week in which he could have brought up the subject at any time.

She ground to a halt, her flight bag banging against her knees.

Unless Tuck wasn’t ready to make the fact known to his closest friend that he was in a committed relationship. Which he wasn’t and had made it clear he didn’t want to commit. Ever.

Was he that gun-shy when it came down to commitment? His parents had really screwed with his brain. For a big, tough, eats-bullets-for-breakfast SEAL, he was running scared of her and the fact they could be in love. He probably thought that, like every other person in his life, she’d leave him.

His mother had left him every time she’d found a new lover or husband. Worse,
 
she’d left him with his father who’d been the harshest disciplinarian with no love left for the boy he’d help bring into the world.

Damn. She would have to break it to Cory that she loved him as a brother, and there was no way the feeling would grow into anything more. Hell, she’d tried. But he hadn’t let her get a word in edgewise.

She continued on her way to the operations tent where she reported to the Officer In Charge, debriefed on the mission, and then gathered her flight bag and headed for her tent. Exhausted, in need of a shower and some time alone, she was disappointed to find her tent mate wide awake and in the mood to talk.

Captain Lindsay Swinson sat on her cot with her feet up, removing the polish from her toenails. The sharp scent of acetone permeated the tent.

Delaney wanted to grab her towel and clothes and make tracks for the shower tent, but she had to get past her red-haired roommate first. A friendly, outgoing woman, Lindsay loved to talk. She worked as a nurse at the medical clinic on Camp Leatherneck, and knew a lot about what was going on in the camp. The reason was because she wasn’t shy about asking. And with her rich Georgia accent setting her victims at ease, they usually told her more than they ever intended. "Oh, Del. I’m glad you’re back safe. How’d it go?"

Reluctant to talk about the mission, she shrugged off the strain of what had happened. "Everyone got back alive."

Lindsay glanced up, her open face serious for half a second. "That’s wonderful."

A long pause followed, as if giving a silent prayer for those who had not been as fortunate.

Shaking nail polish remover onto a cotton ball, she asked, "Transport anyone yummy?"

"I don’t normally taste my cargo, whether supplies or people." Oh, yes, she’d brought back one of the yummiest SEALs in the Navy.

Her tent mate bent to rub polish off yet another toenail. "Have you heard anything from your sweetie-pie back in the states?"

Delaney debated her answer. She could ignore Lindsay and pretend she hadn’t heard. Or she could tell the woman her sweetie was there at Camp Leatherneck. Or she could just say, "I heard from him."

Lindsay sat up, her attention back on Delaney. "And?"

"He’s doing okay."

"Okay? Without you?" Lindsay shook her head. "No man should be okay without his woman."

"I’m not his woman. We’re just..." What were they?

"Lovers?" Lindsay’s smile quirked. "Sweetie, you’ve had love written all over you since you got here. You miss him, don’t you?"

Delaney couldn’t lie. With her toiletries kit in hand, a robe, and shower shoes, she paused. Had she missed Tuck?
Oh, hell
. "Yeah, I guess I have."

"And is that a crime?"

"Could be." Delaney sat on the edge of her cot, shower forgotten. "I came into the Army determined to be a lifer. Stay at least twenty years. Longer, if they’d have me."

"So?" She held up a bottle of neon pink nail polish to the light. "What’s stopping you?"

Delaney drew in a deep breath and let it out. "How do people do it? How do they let themselves fall in love when they’re in the military? Maintaining a relationship in the civilian world is hard enough."

"Honey, if you love someone enough, you make it work."

"What if they’re in different branches of service and just as determined to make their job a career?"

"Then they figure out ways to see each other." Lindsay uncapped the bottle and the potent smell of nail polish warred with the still-lingering acetone. "They make choices and they do what they have to do."

"If only it was that easy."

"Sweetie, the more determined they are to make it work, the more they’ll love each other."

Delaney’s shoulders sagged. "If they’re both willing to work on it." And that was the rub.

"Oh." Lindsay bit her bottom lip. "Like it’s more one-sided?"

"Yeah. What if one is in it for the long haul and the other isn’t?"

Lindsay’s brows rose. "Ah, that makes it different. Does the person who’s thinking long haul know whether the other person is really against
 
commitment?"

"She doesn’t know." Delaney shrugged. "And then there’s this other person who has declared his love and proposed."

"Is this third person sexy, nice, long-term material?"

"Yes."

"Does she love him?"

A lump formed in Delaney’s throat. "Yes and no."

"Either it’s a yes or a no. Can’t be both."

"She loves him like a brother."

"And he’s proposed." Lindsay tapped a naked fingernail to her chin. "Now, my mamma always said a bird in the hand with a ring is always a better choice than one in the bush without."

Delaney laughed. "Now, you’re making that up."

The nurse gave her a lopsided grin. "Okay, but dad-gum, girl. A sexy guy proposes to her and she isn’t saying yes, but she loves him."

"Like a brother," Delaney added. "And he’s best friends with the other guy."

"Good grief, Delaney. How convoluted is this scenario?"

Her gut knotted. "As complicated as it gets. She didn’t say no to the guy who proposed."

Her nail polish forgotten, Lindsay stared at Delaney. "And why the fool-darn-heck not?"

"He told her not to decide, but to think about it. And he’s such a good friend, she hates to break his heart."

The light in Lindsay’s eyes danced. "Does loverboy know the boyfriend asked her to marry him?"

"Yes, and so does his entire unit. He did it in front of them."

"Sweet Jesus! Pass the eggs and grits, he had a set of balls on him to do that."

"Yes, and he would have lost face in front of them had she told him she wasn’t interested in him, but in his best friend."

"And loverboy was there and didn’t say anything? Didn’t stake a claim or punch out his lights?"

"No." Again, that was the crux of the matter. Tuck hadn’t told Cory that he’d been seeing her. Now Delaney had a lie by omission and a dangling proposal hanging over her like a broken rotor, ready to crack, fall, and decapitate anyone standing too close to the bird.

"Honey, you should have stuck to the truth from the get-go. Men don’t appreciate a woman who keeps them hanging when there’s clearly someone else in the background."