Down and Dirty: SEAL EXtreme Team Short Story (2 page)

Jill awoke to see a figure
sleeping in the chair next to her bed. Wide shoulders, short dark hair, naval
dress…“Billy!”

The man lifted his head and
pierced her with amber eyes. Not green. Not Billy’s.

No, this was the courageous,
hard-headed lieutenant commander her brother adored. He was also the man who
had starred in quite a few of her steamy fantasies.
Nick’s here? I’m not
dreaming?

Nick Talley was the only man Billy
respected enough to call brother. One of the few he’d die for. If he was really
here, not a figment of her overactive imagination, then…

Oh, God
.

She remembered everything. It
was as if her insides were suddenly shredded. “I was driving to his funeral
when this car slammed into me.” She studied a face that was rugged and strong,
but old too, like he’d lived through centuries of pain and barely survived. “Billy’s
dead?”

“Yes.” The muscles in his jaw
worked to ground down his feelings, but his eyes filled with grief. He was
suffering, maybe as much as she was.

“You were there?” Her voice ripped
out of her. It was too screechy. She couldn’t control it.

“He died in my arms.”

“Thank you.” She opened her arms
and welcomed him. He lurched forward, pressing his head into her chest. Tears
flooded out of them both. Together they mourned. She’d missed her brother’s
funeral, but somehow she knew Billy was okay with that. This personal moment
from the two people who loved him the most would’ve been enough. Somewhere,
Billy was smiling.

When she finally caught her
breath, she scooted over as best she could. “Lay down beside me.”

“You sure? I don’t want to hurt
you.”

“I’m already hurting. It’s a
nightmare I can’t wake from.” The way he winced, she suspected he had nightmares
of his own. “Please. I want to touch something real.”

He eased down beside her.

Tentatively, she laid her head
on his shoulder. He was all muscle and warmth. She placed her arm over his
chest and felt his heart beating strong under her palm. Just what she needed.

Lifting her hair, he pulled it
back out of the way and wrapped his arm around her. “I’ve got you, sweetheart.”

A sweeter truth was never
spoken. Nick had her, all right, since the first day she’d seen him.

She had been Skyping with her
brother when a tall, dark-haired man of steel peeked around Billy’s shoulder
and came into view on her computer.

“Hey gorgeous, why are you
talking to Worm when you could be talking to me?”

She laughed. “You must be
Nick.”

“He mentioned me, huh? Whatever
he said was a lie.” He looked into the screen, melting her with his intense
stare. “You’re beautiful.” He glanced at Billy. “Shit, Connor, what happened to
you? Did they drop you on your face when you were a baby?”

“I have no problem with the
ladies, wise-ass.” Billy elbowed Nick in the gut so hard he doubled over.

“Is that my not-too-subtle cue
to step away from the Skype?” Nick asked, never taking his eyes off her.

Holy mackerel, he was gorgeous.
“No, you don’t have to leave yet. Stay.” She was a thin line away from begging.

“No way! Nu-uh. It’s my
brother-sister bonding time. Go away, Nick,” Billy complained, but Jill
couldn’t help but notice he was grinning.

“All right. I’ll go.” Nick
moved closer, and his face filled her screen. And what a face! All chiseled and
rough, except those full lips. A girl could spend a lifetime getting to know
that mouth. “Nice meeting you, Jill. I hope to talk to you again. Soon. Real
soon.”

Wowza, she hoped so too.

Billy had said that Nick was
tough, loyal, and damned good at his job. He’d saved Billy’s ass more times
than he could count. Her brother had neglected to say that his buddy was hot.

And now she was lying in bed
with Nick Talley. Her head was on his amazing shoulder. It was the one great
moment in a terrible day.

“Go to sleep, Jilly-girl. I’m
right here.” His deep voice rumbled in her ear.

And he was there. God, he
really was. How had he come to her at the exact moment she needed him the most?
His heartbeat soothed her, and she let herself drift.

They both went to sleep.

****

“Not exactly what I meant by
not waking her.” The nurse lifted Jill’s arm and took her blood pressure.

“Sorry.” Nick started to move.

“No.” Jill pressed her free hand
to his abs. “Don’t go.”

“You’re fine there.” The nurse
smiled at him. “Our patient is much better this morning.”

“That’s great news. When can I
leave? I’ve got to get back to my training. I qualified for the Ironman in
Hawaii. I’ve only got three months to sort out my running splits. My legs will
be better by then, right?”

The nurse’s mouth fell open.
Nick shot her a look to shut it.

Jill must have known that her
leg was injured badly, but she couldn’t feel the pain. The meds they were
giving her were good and wicked strong. The tent of pillows and blankets around
her leg blocked the heartbreaking view. Jill couldn’t see that her foot was
missing. Yet. He desperately wanted to keep the bad news away from her as long
as he could. She was still processing Billy’s death. She didn’t have to know
about the amputation this minute, did she?

“I’ll, ah, tell the doctor to
come see you.” The nurse left quickly.

“Let’s wait and see what the
doctor says. You’re not feeling any pain now, but once that medication wears
off, things will be different.” He didn’t want to tell her that phantom pain
could be a bitch. “Give yourself time. If you can’t make this Ironman because
of the accident, they’ll let you compete next year, right?”

She cut her eyes up to him. “I’ve
been dreaming about this for years! I’m better on the bike than I’ve ever been,
and my swimming skills are awesome. You should come watch me.”

“I’d like that.”

“Running’s my favorite, though.
God, I love to run! It’s so freeing. Maybe we can work out together. I need
someone to run with to get my mile-splits up. Billy was too slow.”

“And he cheated.”

“Yeah. He did.” She let out
half a chuckle and then fell quiet.

Nick wrapped his arms around
her and gave her a squeeze. “Nothing can stop you from success. Don’t give up.
No matter what people tell you. Don’t stop.”

“Okay…” Her forehead crinkled
in confusion. “I don’t know what Billy told you about me, but I’m not a
quitter.”

“I know.” But she was about to
be faced with a new reality.

“Miss Connors? May I have a
word with you?” The doctor stood at the foot of her bed, clipboard in hand. His
face was grave.

Truth time. Dammit! Nick would
do anything to stay right here and shield her from what was to come. But she’d
figure it out on her own soon enough.

 “I’ll be right outside the
door if you need me,” Nick said.

“No. Don’t go.” She reached for
him.

His instincts were to stick
close and deflect as much pain as possible. But he couldn’t stay. She may not
want him to witness her world exploding. She’d need time. “You’re tough,
sweetheart. Don’t forget it.”

Her strength was what had
attracted him in the first place. Jill was bad-ass. When they’d had downtime, he'd
sat with Billy in their quarters and viewed her competitions online. He’d also studied
her when he was alone. Jill captivated him. Hunger, aggression, and
fearlessness radiated from the woman. She'd been breathtaking.

Stroke after stroke, her sleek
body had moved through the waves better than most SEALs. Her bike-handling
skills were impressive, especially on the downhill curves. But when she ran? It
had been hard to peel his eyes away from the computer. He ran because he was
ordered to do it. Jill ran for pure unadulterated joy. It was sexy as hell and
made him hard every time she picked up those tanned knees and flew. He'd stayed
up many nights thinking about the way her sweet body moved.

Would she ever run like that
again?

It was a long, hard walk out of
her room. Everything in him wanted to turn around, snatch her up, and take her
away. He barely made it to the hallway when she started screaming.

****

Nick ran into the room, passing
the nurse and doctor who suddenly had better places to be.

“Damn you, Nick. You knew!” She
reached for the pitcher, determined to throw it at his head, but she was too
shaky and it tipped off the table instead.  He moved quickly and caught it
before it hit the floor. Water sloshed out all over his fancy uniform. Too bad.
He deserved worse.

“Yes. I knew.” He put the
pitcher back on the nightstand.

“You let me talk about the
Ironman.” She heaved to catch a breath. “My, my dreams. I thought you’d run
with me. That’s over now. My life is over.”

He crossed his arms over that
impressive chest of his. “Aren’t you being a little melodramatic? Life isn’t
over. It’s just different now.”

“My life will be more than
different. I’m a runner. With one foot. How’s that going to work?”

He ran his hand over his short
hair. “It’ll take a little effort, learning new skills and techniques, but it’s
not impossible.”

“How would you know? You have
two feet!” She fumed, wanting to lash out at the world, and Nick was the only
one around.

But he wouldn’t stay for long.
He was there out of duty or some misplaced heroism, but tomorrow he’d be gone.
Maybe it was better if she scared him away right now and put an end to this relationship
before it was too late. Before she couldn’t let him go.

“You should go, Nick.”

Instead of leaving, he sat on
the edge of her bed and rubbed her shoulder. She hated herself for leaning into
that hand, relishing his touch.

“Listen to me, sweetheart. I
know guys who’ve screwed up their legs, feet, or even arms during battle. They
get prosthetics and return to duty. Their lives aren’t over. Yours isn’t,
either. Change your attitude and start dreaming for next year’s Ironman.”

Her lip quivered. “It’s
impossible.”

“Anything’s possible if you
believe it. I know you can do it, Jill. You Connors are tough. I’ll help any
way I can.”

But he was wrong. She wasn’t
tough enough, and she didn’t need him hanging around feeling sorry for the poor
crippled girl. She shook her head. “You should leave now.”

He exhaled. “All right. I’ll
come tomorrow to check in on you.”

She should’ve told him to stay
away forever, but she was weak and alone. Nick was the only person who seemed
to care about her, even if it was a pity call. How could he possibly be
attracted to her now?

“Give me a couple of days to
process. Figure things out. If you don’t come back, I’ll understand.”

“I’ll be back.” He put his hat
on.

She blinked tears as she
watched him walk out her door.  He wasn’t coming back. Why should he? It wasn’t
like they were a couple or anything. He wasn’t obligated to stick around. Sure,
she’d had high hopes they would be the real thing once he finished his tour of
duty. Super high hopes.

She’d never met anyone like
Nick. So strong, capable, and funny. He seemed to be attracted to her too. Somehow
he’d always found a way to show up when she’d Skyped with Billy.

It didn’t get past her brother
that she was Skyping with him more often than usual. They’d gone from talking
once a week to three and four times a week. “Come on, sis. Skype him already.
You two are perfect for each other. Both as stubborn as hell.”

“Who?” She had played coy, but
her pulse thundered in her ears.

“Who?” He’d snorted. “The guy
you make foreplay faces at right in front of me. It’s revolting. Do it so I
don’t have to watch you two Skype-sexing.”  He shivered in mock disgust.

She’d scraped up her courage
and clicked Nick’s user name. When his handsome face popped up on her monitor,
her heart did a happy dance.

“Jill!” He ran his hand over
his hair as if he could comb out the short cut. “What a surprise. Should I get
Billy?”

“No. I want you.” Oops, did she
say that out loud?

He grinned. “Cool. I saw you
took second in your age group in the Ironman Florida. Congratulations.”

He followed her races?
“Thanks.” She took a deep breath. “Listen, Nick, um, I heard you’re going to
have time off in a few months.”

He shifted his weight and came
closer to the screen. “I can neither confirm nor deny my schedule, but it’s
possible. Why?”

She swallowed hard. “It’s just,
I mean, I’ve been thinking about you. A lot. Really,
really
a lot. What are
you going to do with all that time off?”