Loved by a SEAL (8 page)

With a deep breath, he sat on one of the swings. He was a little big for the child-sized swing set but that didn’t stop him. He’d resigned himself to wait and see how the night would play out and he didn’t feel like sitting on the ground to do it.

Besides the swing seemed like a less absurd choice for an adult male than the teeter-totter and the merry-go-round, though not by much.

Brody’s cell phone vibrated in the pocket of his shorts. He had to stand to wrestle it out. For a brief moment, when he didn’t recognize the number, he thought it might be Ashley. But she wouldn’t know his number since he’d never given it to her.

“Hello?”

“Bro. Are you stateside yet?” Chris’s voice, not quite clear, came through the phone.

“I am and it’s about damn time you called me. I’ve been back in the country for days. I left you all kinds of messages and a note on the counter at our place.”

“Well, since I’m not in the country you’ll have to forgive me. My cell doesn’t work here so I jumped on Jon’s sat phone.”

Brody frowned at that little piece of news that Chris was working out of the country with GAPS. “I didn’t realize your job was OCONUS. Where the hell you at?”

Chris hesitated before he said, “This isn’t a secure line.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Eyes wide at that, Brody had to wonder what the hell kind of job Jon had landed for the company.

“Look, relax. I’m not saying you don’t have the clearance to hear where I am or that I don’t trust you. I’m just saying this isn’t a secure line.” Chris drew in an audible breath. “Remember the op last year while Jon and Zane were still in, and y’all had to swoop in and save a certain pretty young school teacher from the bad guys?”

“Yup.” Brody remembered it well.

It wasn’t every day a senator’s daughter got kidnapped along with a class of schoolgirls. Zane had practically lost his mind during that situation since he’d been getting very friendly with Missy before that.

“Well, we got the same target and the same location.”

Brody gathered from Chris’s hints that somehow GAPS must be in Nigeria working against Boko Haram, the organization responsible for the kidnappings.

“But not the same package being recovered, I hope.”

Chris chuckled. “No. As far as I know Missy is safely back in D.C., as if Zane would ever let her put herself in that position again.”

“Yeah, I didn’t think so.” Brody had seen what had been done to those girls. Missy and her fellow teacher were damn lucky the team had found them as soon as they did.

“Sorry I wasn’t there when you got home. I owe you a beer when I get back to Virginia.”

“Damn right you do, but actually I’m on leave in Alabama.”

“Kiss ass. Now I’m gonna look like the bad son that I’m not there too.”

“Yup.” Brody grinned, knowing Chris was only half kidding since their grandmother had already commented on Chris’s absence. “Don’t worry. I’ll tell Grandmother you’re too busy fighting bad guys to come home for a visit.”

“Great. Thanks. That should go over like a fart in church. She didn’t like me being away when I was active. She sure as shit ain’t gonna understand it now I’m retired.”

“Oh well. Guess you’re out of the will then.”

“Dickhead.”

Brody grinned. He’d missed his brother, though he didn’t feel compelled to tell him that. As he was enjoying the banter, a sound caught his attention. If he wasn’t mistaken it was bicycle tires on grass.

Holy shit, Ashley was here and—just like in his imaginings—she’d arrived just as she used to in the old days. If that wasn’t a sign that nothing had changed between them, at least in the physical department, he didn’t know what was.

“Bro, I gotta go.”

“What do you mean you gotta go? You’re in Alabama with our parents and eighty year old grandmother. What the hell do you have to do instead of talk to me?”

“It’s like nine-thirty here, dude. All the old folks are probably in bed by now.”

“You’re with a girl,” Chris guessed.

“Not yet but in about thirty seconds I will be so yeah, love ya, get home safe, but I’m outta here. Bye.”

Chris was in the middle of a colorful cuss as Brody hit to disconnect the call.

Smiling, he shoved the cell in his pocket and watched Ashley bring the bike to a stop.

What a difference a day made. If someone had told him yesterday he’d be practically jogging to get to Ashley, he would have told them they were nuts, after he’d punched them. But that was exactly what was happening.

She was here, after dark, at their old rendezvous spot, and that could mean only one thing. He hoped beyond reason that her appearance here meant that she wanted to take a trip back to revisit their past together as much as he did.

He reached her in no time. She swung one long leg over the seat to stand on two feet and then leaned the bike against a tree.

“Hey.” She looked shy as she raised her gaze to meet his.

“Hey, yourself.” There was no stopping Brody as he strode forward to cover the very short distance left between them.

He rested his hands on her hips, resisting the urge to do more before deciding he didn’t want to hold back. Backing Ashley up until she was up against the tree he covered her mouth with his.

His hands didn’t stay on her waist as the kiss got intense. Before he knew it, the skirt of her sundress was hiked up around her waist and he was pretty sure it had been his doing.

He was slipping his hand beneath the fabric of her underwear when she pulled back and said his name.

Drawing in a deep breath he got himself under control. “Yeah?”

Wincing, she reached up to touch her head. “My hair’s stuck on something.”

She wasn’t asking him to stop, just telling him she was stuck on the tree.

He let out a breath in relief and reached up. Running his hand over her head he found the broken off branch that had snagged her hair.

After untangling her, he smiled. “Better?”

“Yes.”

“Good.” His heart was pounding so hard he wouldn’t be surprised if she felt it. That didn’t stop him from picking right back up where he had left off.

If she wanted him to stop, she was going to have to ask. If she did, he’d stop, but until then there was nothing that was going to prevent Brody from having her.

He moved his hand around and ran his thumb over her bottom lip. Her lips parted and he could swear she trembled beneath his touch.

They were both far from virgins, but damned if she wasn’t shaking. Him too, but that was from need and—if he was being honest with himself—the emotions pummeling him inside.

Being with Ashley wasn’t going to be easy. As much as he wanted this, and make no mistake he did want it, this was not some quick hook-up. There was too much history between them.

A man couldn’t have a one-night stand with the woman who’d once been his world. Who’d loved him and then left him beaten and battered.

Maybe he should thank her.

It was his trying to get over her that had gotten him through BUD/S. It was the memory of her refusing to even touch the tiny little chip of a diamond promise ring he’d bought her as an engagement ring that had him running full on into any challenge thrown at him.

Nothing the Navy could have done to him could have hurt him as much as Ashley had.

The painful memories had him crashing his mouth against hers. Claiming her with a rough crushing kiss.

He’d take back what had once been his. He’d show her what she’d given up. He’d possess her body and soul and then—

Then what?

He’d go back to work and leave her here, just like he had before because he felt the same about his career as she did about hers. It wouldn’t be fair for either of them to ask the other to give up what they’d worked so hard for.

Drawing in a deep breath, he broke the kiss and leaned his head against hers.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Are we crazy for doing this?”

“Yes.” At Ashley’s answer he started to pull away. She pulled him back. “I didn’t say I wanted you to stop.”

He let out a short laugh. He didn’t want to stop either. They could both worry about how to deal with the ramifications of their decision later.

Ashley brought her hands to his face. “I’m sorry I hurt you.”

“I’m sorry I asked you to give up your future for mine.”

The apologies on both sides were ten years overdue but somehow still necessary.
 

He was quiet, listening to her breathe amid the sounds of the night around them.

When she lifted her mouth to his, he stopped fighting it—stopped thinking—and kissed her. They were already in too deep.
 

While stroking his tongue against hers, he reached down. He moved his hand under her dress and slipped his fingers beneath the elastic of her underwear.

Her sharp intake of breath told him she wasn’t immune to his touch.

Good to see that hadn’t changed, although hopefully he’d honed a few of his skills over the years.

“We doing this?” he asked before he took things any further.

Even after all his previous bravado about forging ahead and taking her no matter what, this was Ashley. His childhood friend. His first love. His only love. He needed to know she wanted this.

“Don’t you want to?” she asked, sounding concerned.

As if she had to ask. He was throbbing beneath the fabric of his shorts. There was no way she could miss that the way they were pressed together.

“Yeah. Do you?”

“Yes.” Her soft response was all he needed to hear.

Moving the fingers already happily nestled in her feminine warmth, he stroked her until she was panting, her whole body shaking where he had her pressed between him and the tree.

When she was a boneless, trembling mass, he scooped her up and carried her to the picnic table sheltered from view of the road by the trees.

He laid her on top and ran his hands up her long legs until he reached her panties.

As he pulled the garment down her legs, her eyes widened. “Here?” she asked.

“Yup.” He smiled. “I’m too old to be laying on the ground.”

“But someone could see—”

“I’ll hear them before they see us. I promise.” He was well trained. No one was going to sneak up on him.

Admittedly, they’d never trained for this particular scenario, but he was still confident as he tossed her underwear onto the bench and then lowered his head and kissed the skin of her stomach.

He kissed up her body, pushing the dress up as he went until he reached her breasts beneath the barrier of her bra.

As much as he wanted to strip her bare and feast on every inch of her, he was very aware of where they were.

He made do with slipping one full globe from beneath the lacey fabric and tonguing her nipple until she squirmed beneath him.

She’d filled out a bit over the years. Being a boob man, he wasn’t at all opposed to the changes in Ashley’s body.

Time hadn’t been as kind to the park as it had been to Ashley’s lush figure. He realized that as he slid his hands beneath her and felt the rough wood of the picnic table scrape against his skin.

Had it always been so rough? As a kid he hadn’t cared or worried about splinters. Now he wasn’t about to subject Ashley to the torture.

He pulled her upright and, sitting on the bench, guided her so she straddled his lap.

The heat in her eyes as she reached between them and stroked him through his shorts had him reaching for what else he’d shoved in his pocket before leaving the house besides his cell phone.

The elastic band on his shorts came in handy as he slipped his length free without having to undress. He made quick work of covering himself with the condom. Then Ashley was sliding down over him, stealing his breath, surrounding him with warmth he could swear he hadn’t felt in a decade in spite of his having been with countless women during those years they’d been apart.

He could barely move with her in his lap, but he didn’t need to. Ashley set the pace, slowly at first, and then speeding until he was lost in the sensation.

If anyone had come upon them he wasn’t sure he’d have noticed, in spite of his promise to her that he would.

She let out a groan and he was done.

Bearing down and holding on to her with everything he had he clutched her close, his face buried in both her breasts and the fabric of her dress in an effort to smother his cry.

He finally had to turn his head as he tried to catch his breath.

It had never been that intense. Making love to Ashley as an adult was worlds different than it had been when he’d been an inexperienced youth.

Then again, he was different too.

They both were. They’d both lived and seen so many things outside of this tiny town.

“I can’t believe you actually snuck out to meet me. And on your bike too.”

 
“That makes two of us who can’t believe it. And I had to take the bike. Nana might have heard me start the car.” She pulled back far enough that she could look down at him. “This whole thing is kind of crazy, huh?”