Warrior (Navy SEALs Romance Book 5) (7 page)

T
he sound
of shouts and a humming engine filled Emily’s dream. In her dream, she was flying over the crowd at an air show, a jet pack strapped to her back, just filling the air with a trail of weightless acrobatics. It was cold in the air, and she couldn’t stop her teeth from chattering as she flew, but people were still shouting her name and clapping.

She had the sudden sensation of being pulled through the air, and for a moment she wondered if her jet pack had failed. No, that couldn’t be right, she decided. If it had malfunctioned, she would be falling. Instead, she was being pulled upwards, lifted by a force that was too strong to be recognized. Only when her head smacked against something solid did she wake up and realize it wasn’t a dream.

“Emily!” Michael shouted, opening the top of her wetsuit and pouring warm water inside. The heat snaked its way over her torso and down her limbs, making her skin tingle. The fresh water instantly burned her chapped skin, waking her up even further. “Emily, can you hear me?”

“Yeah,” she mumbled, her mouth dry and her lips burning from the salt water. “I’m thirsty, though.”

“Here, small sips, okay? Don’t chug it, even if you want to.” He helped her sit up so she could take the bottle, then began unharnessing all of her heavy gear.

“How… how did you find me?” she asked, waking up more and looking around. “Where are we?”

“I paid a visit to your friend at the university, who admitted he’d dumped you here as a joke. Fortunately, the current wasn’t too strong. You’re only about six miles from where you went in. Unfortunately, it’s six miles to the north, so the water would have just kept getting colder and colder. Here, let’s pour another container of hot water then wrap this blanket on you. And I’ve got a hat here for you to put on, keep that noggin warm.”

“You mean he left me here on purpose? I don’t get it, why would somebody do that?” She hated feeling so confused, especially since she couldn’t tell what was her body’s exhaustion and what was the nonsense Michael was trying to explain.

“Oh, I’m sure he’ll be all too happy to explain it to you when you get back to work. And if it doesn’t start with the words, ‘I’m the most wretched excuse for a human being who ever lived and I’m most heartily sorry,’ you just let me know.” Michael finished wrapping her up and dropped down to look her in the face. His smile was almost too bright to look at, but Emily made herself look directly at him.

“It just hit me… you saved me. You actually rescued me.” She started to laugh softly, still too weak from the effort of being out there all day.

“I did. It’s what I do.” He smiled sadly, wanting so badly to tell her exactly what he was thinking, about the dread in his gut at thinking she was gone. But he didn’t want to scare her any worse than the day’s events had already done, and after the day she’d had, the last thing she needed was bent-knee professions of love from someone she’d been on exactly two dates with.

“Wait, why aren’t you at the fire? Is the fire out?” she asked, still scrambling to sort it all out. “And what time is it?”

Michael filled her in but her head still felt foggy. She listened and nodded, then said, “So you left the fire and came here, and you found Macmillan, and you got a boat… I just, I’m still trying to understand.”

“Hey, come here.” Mike opened his arms and waited for Emily to move towards him. He held her against his chest and felt her relax against his shoulder. “Right now, you just worry about staying with me. We’re gonna get going, get you home and checked out, and then I’ll explain it all for real.”

“Mike? I’m sorry I threw you out of my apartment,” she began, her eyes welling with tears. “And no, it’s not because I’m just glad you saved me or because I had all day to think about how much I’d messed up. I really am sorry. And I just hope… I hope you forgive me, even if you don’t want to see me again.”

“Are you kidding?” he asked softly. “I crossed a burning forest and six miles of ocean to find you. And I’m the one who should apologize to you. I’m the one who’s sorry, you did nothing wrong. I gave you a lame excuse and took off when I should have been thanking my lucky stars for meeting you, let alone spending the night with you. I just couldn’t tell you what was going on until I knew it myself; it’s a hazard of the job. One of many, actually.”

“I know. I just didn’t think someone amazing like you would be interested in boring old me,” she replied, embarrassed at such a confession.

“Boring? You’ve spent eight hours keeping yourself alive in the Pacific Ocean. I don’t think you’re boring at all! In fact,” Mike said, looking down at her and lifting her chin gently, “you’re the most exciting person I’ve met in a long time.”

Emily smiled thinly through her exhaustion, but gathered the strength to lift her lips to his. He kissed her timidly, afraid of hurting her, but thrilled when she deepened the kiss.

“I’m no expert,” Emily whispered against his lips, “but I might be falling in love with you.”

“Falling?” Mike answered with a smile. “Then I’ll have to catch you. It’s what I do.”

S
ix months
later

“
I
don’t know
who has the bigger belly now, Maddie or you,” Mike said, ribbing Angel about his disappearing six-pack since the S&R guys had decided to finally put SEAL Team 11 in the rearview mirror.

It hadn’t been an easy decision. After all, they had been through everything together, watching each other’s backs for more years than they could count. But in the end, they had decided unanimously that life was too good now to risk going back to active duty. They had done their time, and they had done it well, but now it was time to enjoy their new lives with their new loves.

“Oh, really? And what is this right here,” Angel said, pinching the tiny roll of fat that was hanging over Mike’s brown cargo shorts.

“That’s what I hold onto when…” Emily started to say with her eyebrows hiked.

“Don’t… finish that sentence!” Angel shouted with his fingers in his ears.

“When we ride the motorcycle… Jeez, get your mind out of the gutter,” Emily said with a sly smile. She had easily become part of the group, especially after her rescue from the water. Macmillan had been fired from the university, and he was still fighting the charges brought against him and Bri for what they’d done to Emily.

“I kind of like it when his mind is in the gutter,” Madison said with a giggle as she rubbed her large belly. She only had a month left of pregnancy, and she was enjoying every minute of feeling her son wiggling around in there.

Today was the official S&R baby shower for Madison and Angel, but it was really just another excuse for the team to laugh and joke and eat food on the deck overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

“So, who’s on call tomorrow?” Veronica asked as she sat in Jake’s lap while he rubbed her shoulders.

“I do believe it’s your man,” Tanner said, tossing a balled up napkin at Jake.

“You mean THE man,” Jake said, flexing his muscles.

“Whatever,” Tanner said, pulling Taylor onto his lap. “That gives me the night off so I can remind this woman how amazing I am.”

All of the guys groaned and made gagging noises as Tanner kissed Taylor passionately while she wriggled to get away.

“Hey, Hannah, let me see that ring again. You sure Knox didn’t get that from the pawn shop?” Angel said with a laugh, referring to the surprise proposal Knox had sprung the night before.

“I don’t care if it is. Look at the size of this thing!” she said, holding it up in the air.

“That’s what she said,” Tanner yelled out, followed by a ba-dump-ump drum sound.

“You’re a regular comedian,” Angel said, punching his friend in the shoulder.

For a moment, they were all quiet as they heard a sound coming across the radio. And then, they sprang into action as they always did when they heard help was needed. A fishing boat had overturned, and there were lives to save.

“Suit up!” Mike yelled. “Pre-flight check starts right now.” He kissed Emily quickly and then ran toward the helicopter. But then he ran back to her once more. “You sure this is the life you want?”

She smiled. “I’ve never been more sure of anything. Now, go be someone else’s hero. You can be mine tonight.”