Lora Leigh - Tempting Seals 01 (10 page)

"Sure." She smiled back, certain she came off as perfectly relaxed as if he had told her he was heading to the corner store. She would not be like her mother. She would not send him away, worried, stressed, uncertain about her state of mind. "Be careful."

She leaned against the wall memorizing his face. The curve of his lips, his dark stormy gray eyes, the strong arch of his brows.

He watched her carefully, his expression concerned. Tense.

He shrugged his shoulders as though shifting some invisible weight.

"I'll be back," he said again.

She smiled back at him. "Of course you will."

He seemed to relax then, at least marginally, the smile on his face curving more naturally. This was who
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he was. He was a warrior. You can't tame the wind, and you can't housebreak a warrior. She had to accept that.

"I love you, Raven," he said then.

I love you, Raven. I love you, Raven.

The words rebounded through her soul.

She drew in a hard, deep breath. "Did you get everything packed?"

She moved quickly to the dresser, opening and checking drawers. "Clint is always leaving his stuff strung around the place when he visits. I swear, he's a slob. I pick up after him for a week after he leaves."

Nerves were jumping beneath her skin as she fought to hold on to her composure. She wasn't going to cry, she wasn't angry, but she was suddenly realizing how much more she stood to lose than she ever had.

"Raven." His hands landed on her shoulders, holding her. "I love you."

She stilled, then turned to him, staring up at him desperately as he watched her. Something inside her was splintering, fragmenting. What was it? She wasn't angry as her mother had been when her father went on assignment. Raven had been through this too many times with both Reno and Clint. Admittedly, she didn't have as much to lose then as she did now, but this part she knew how to handle. Didn't she?

"Don't you go and get yourself hurt, Reno," she fairly snarled up at him. "I won't be happy."

His off-center smile had her heart clenching with love.

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"I'll make sure of that," he whispered, his voice quiet, almost saddened as he watched her.

His head swooped down then, his lips catching hers as her breath caught in her throat. Her throat tightened and something in her chest exploded as his kiss consumed her. Her arms went around his neck as she lifted to him, helpless, aching, as his arms jerked her closer, his hands nearly bruising as they roved over her back and shoulders, imprinting his touch into her soul forever.

A horn blew outside. Once, twice.

He pulled away from her, turned, grabbed his duffel bag and stalked from the room. Seconds later, the front door slammed and he was gone. Raven stared at the window across the room, the shards of sunlight cut across the bed, small motes of dust dancing in the air.

The silence was oppressive, heavy.

She forcibly held back her tears, the pain. She could survive this. She wasn't angry, but God she missed him already.

As she stared at that bright swath of sunlight, a memory broke free, surging past her defenses. She had been young, so young. Barely ten as she lay on her bed that weekend, listening to her parents scream at each other. Her father had to leave again, another mission, another fight. Her mother was crying, begging him not to go. His voice had echoed with his frustration, his own anger. He had to leave. It was his job.

No, her mother had screamed, it was his mistress, and she wouldn't share him. He might as well not even come back.

He hadn't come back. A black car and two military counselors had arrived instead. Her father had died in an unknown country, and he was never returning. He wouldn't come home. She wouldn't hear her parents arguing ever again, or sit on her father's lap while he read her stories. He would never tickle her again or call her his dark angel. He was gone forever.

Which was worse? The worry or the loss? She had always wondered that. Especially with Reno. If she let herself love him, which would be worse? Never having him or knowing there would never be another chance?

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She moved from the bedroom, down the stairs and to the kitchen. The soft noises coming from the other room warned her of what to expect, but nothing could contain the rush of emotion when she stepped into the room.

The box sat by the door, barely large enough to contain the ball of fluff attempting to break free.

Attached to the side was a note, written in Reno's distinctive scrawl.

To keep your feet warm until I return, hove, Reno.

"Until you return," she whispered, staring at the golden retriever pup as it began to howl pitifully for release.

"Well, little guy," she whispered, kneeling beside the box as she touched a soft silky ear hesitantly. "At least we'll have each other."

She drew him from the box and stepped outside, feeling the late summer heat on her face, the breeze whispering over her damp cheeks. But they weren't. She'd promised herself she wouldn't cry.

But the tears fell as she cuddled the pup, staring into the brilliance of the late summer sky.

"I didn't tell him I love him," she finally admitted, the pain exploding in her chest as she realized Reno was right. There was no hiding from it. No hiding from him. She loved him, and she hadn't even told him.

"It's an easy in and out." Reno faced his men in the small conference room, standing in front of the large monitor that displayed the target they were being sent in to hit. "We have two hostages to rescue and a laptop used by the cell commander. Laptop is priority. We'll go in quiet, set the explosives, grab the laptop and the hostages and run. Pickup will be waiting on us here." He pressed the button that switched the picture to an area nearly ten miles from target. "Two Black Hawks will be waiting to fly us out to a waiting ship."

He lifted the stack of files on the desk beside him.

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"Read this carefully. We have intel reports on entrances, exits, weak spots and so forth. We'll meet with the assist team when we reach the ship and finalize plans there."

"The cell commander is wanted for war crimes, Major," Ace spoke up, his deep voice echoing in the small room. "Are we just after the laptop or his head as well?"

"The assist team will be in charge of that," Reno informed him. "We'll be going after the hostages. But you don't take chances. The opportunity is there to take that laptop, you get it. We stick with our target op and adjust as we have to."

"And pop the bastard if we get him in our sights," Joker, the explosives expert of the team spoke up. He wasn't joking. This particular terrorist commander was brutal, without mercy. He wouldn't be shown any.

As Reno opened his mouth to dismiss the men, a sharp knock had his head lifting as the door opened.

"Major Chavez, we have a situation that demands your presence," an MP snickered from the doorway.

"General says now."

Frowning, Reno nodded to Ace as he handed the files to him to distribute to the other three men and made his way to the door.

"Situation?" he asked warily.

"Situation, sir, of a very delicate sort." The MP nodded, amusement dancing in his eyes. "This way, sir."

As they neared the general's office, a frown worked between Reno's brows at the sound of an irate female voice.

"General, I don't care how busy he is. You were my father's best friend and I'm not above pulling strings.

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If I don't see him before he leaves in the morning, I promise you, I'll be making a visit to your wife, your daughter and your son. They like me." The voice was husky, and filled with feminine fury.

He heard the general's voice, low, soothing.

"I'm not in the army, general," she said. "I don't need rules quoted to me. I need strings pulled. I want to see him. Now."

A grin tugged at his mouth as the MP chuckled.

"She's been ripping on the general for an hour," he whispered as they neared the door. "Want to bet he chews on you next?"

Reno grimaced but something in his heart was loosening. He wouldn't bet against the MP, but he would bet it just might be worth it.

He knocked on the door lightly.

"Enter." The general's voice was frustrated and clipped.

Reno stepped in, saluting smartly, then turned to stare at Raven.

She was cuddling the puppy he'd bought her like a baby. Her face was wet with tears, her deep, deep blue eyes filled with misery.

"Raven?" He stepped toward her, pulling her and the puppy into his arms as he stared back at the general. "What's happened?"

"Major, I'll leave you to talk to Miss McIntyre." The general sounded stern, but Reno caught the soft
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look he cast at Raven. "We'll talk later."

"Yes, sir." Reno nodded as the general left the room and he turned his attention to the pup wiggling between them.

"Raven? Baby? The puppy is going to be smashed," he whispered as he gripped her arms, pushing her back enough to release the wiggling little mass. "What's wrong? Is Clint okay?"

The tears rolled silently down her cheeks. There were no sobs, just a hitch in her breath as she stared up at him.

"I forgot," she hiccupped then. "You left, and I forgot to tell you…"

She shuddered as her voice broke.

Reno moved to the couch, pulling her to his lap as she cuddled against his chest.

"I love you," she cried desperately. "God help me, Reno. I don't want to lose you. I can't lose you. I can stand anything but you leaving, maybe being… hurt…" her breath caught, "and not knowing I love you."

Reno closed his eyes, his arms tightening around her, his heart exploding with joy. She knew she loved him. That was all that mattered.

"It's okay, baby," he groaned, kissing her forehead gently as her head tilted back, the wealth of long silken curls flowing over his arm. Her hand lifted to his face, her lips trembling as he wiped the tears from one silken cheek.

"You knew all along, didn't you?" she whispered then. "That I loved you."

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"All along," he agreed with a smile.

His lips lowered to hers, moving over the soft curves, nibbling at the damp softness as the feel and smell of her sent his senses rioting.

"Hell, if I fucked you in the general's office, he would court-martial me for sure," he sighed, smiling down at the seductive softness in her expression.

"Yeah. He probably would." Her smile trembled, but it was still there.

"Wait for me, Raven," he growled, his voice husky, deep, knowing every day away from her would be hell. "I'll be home. Wait forme."

"Always,Reno ." She kissed him. Her head raised, her lips moving against his with incredible passion and loving heat. "Always."

"You are in so much trouble."

Reno tossed his duffel bag to the corner of the bedroom as he stalked inside the room, his brows lowered into a dark frown as Raven reclined back on the bed, her knee bent, her naked breasts thrusting forward in invitation as his hot gaze raked over them.

Damn he looked good. The camouflage pants made his legs look sexy as hell, planted apart as they were, the bulge between his thighs filling out the front of the material.

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"Oh really,Reno , it wasn't so bad." She rolled her eyes at his miffed state. "It was just a little present."

She restrained her smile as he dug his hand into his pocket, no small feat with that erection tightening the material. Her mouth watered at the sight of it. He had been gone for nearly two weeks this time. Too long as far as she was concerned, and she was wet and hungry for him. The adult toys he had been so kind as to teach her to use the last time he was home did little to bank the fire that thinking of him caused.

She blinked as the small velvet box landed on the bed beside her. She almost had to bite her lips to keep back her smile.

"Is this a proposal?" She arched a brow as she glanced back up at him.

Oh yum. He was undressing. There went the shirt, revealing the golden expanse of his chest, muscles rippling beneath the sun-darkened flesh.

"I'm going to spank your ass," he grunted as he bent to unlace his boots. "Do you want to know where I was when that box dropped out of my duffel bag, Raven? I was in the middle of communal quarters, sweetheart, with three different teams. Can you imagine the fun those men had at my expense?"

She lifted the box, opening it, and grinned at the sight of the wedding set she had found in his dresser drawer just before he was due to leave. The short letter she had wrapped around it was missing.

Who's hiding now? she had written.

He had been so very careful of their relationship over the last three months, never pressing her for anything, but she had seen how he had steadily cemented his presence into her life.

His clothes now shared space with hers. His guitar was residing under her bed, and his prized trophies from high school and college had made their way to her small shelf downstairs. He even had his own computer desk for the laptop he often worked on. This was his home. He hadn't asked to inhabit it, he had just moved in, just as he had taken her heart, a little bit at a time. But he never mentioned taking it further, never pushed her, though she could tell he wanted to.

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She looked up as his pants cleared his hips and his erection sprang free. Thick, the broad head flushed to a near purple hue, it looked intimidating, ready to conquer. She was more than ready to be conquered.