Operation Summer Storm (28 page)

Unfortunately, he caught up to her within a few strides, just as they slid into the elevator.

“Tate, please, I can’t do this tonight, I need time to…”

He reached out to take her chin in his hand so she’d look at him.

“Seeing that plane explode nearly tore my heart out. Hearing that Tréago had you—just about killed me,” he said, his voice husky and low, “I called in every favor I was ever owed, and then some, to get to you. All I could do, was make a deal to go along on the operation on the condition that I get my ass straight back into custody.”

“And sparing me at least a word, or two when we got back to the ship would have been a leak of national security?”

“No one was supposed to know I was in on it Summer. Damn it—you know how tight-lipped we have to be. There are just some things I can’t talk about,” he said smacking his open palm against the wall of the lift, just as the doors swooshed open.

Clenching her jaw, she stepped from the lift, and headed for her room, her anger and memory of how deserted and abandoned she’d felt that last time she’d seen him, bringing fresh hurt to the surface. She swiped her card in the door to open it, without even bothering to stop him following her, she swung around to face him as the door clicked shut behind him. “Did you honestly think after practically being joined at your hip for all that time I wouldn’t recognize you—even under a stupid mask!”

“Did you honestly think I’d be able to walk away from you a second time if I’d held you in my arms again?” he asked her quietly, taking a step closer to her.

His solemn revelation caught her like a stake into her heart and she felt her weakening resolve began to fold, and she floundered wildly to resurrect her walls. “I guess everything turned out okay,” she said sliding him a sideways glance, “I was pretty impressed with the SEALS they sent in—they were more than capable under the circumstances.”

“Seals?” he scoffed, “Bunch of wannabes.”

“Funny—that’s how they acted, when I mentioned you.”

“We didn’t have time to be picky—they were in the right place at the right time,” he muttered.

“Story of my life,” she quipped.

“If it helps—I’ll never be able to forgive myself for putting you in danger. I let you down,” he told her with a bitter edge aimed directly at himself.

Summer was suddenly ashamed. Who was she to lay blame on Tate’s shoulders? She was the one who had barged her way into their lives and forced them to help find Willow. “You didn’t let me down. Without you, Tréago would be still out there hurting innocent people. I’m proud of all of you for standing up to him,” she said quietly.

He moved closer, and Summer found herself backed against the door, his body moving closer. “I’m proud of you,” he told her, smiling at the speed in which her head snapped up to look at him. “You could have folded under the pressure of everything we threw at you—could have given up, but you didn’t. You struggled on and gave a hundred percent. You earned the guys’ respect—and mine.”

Summer swallowed over a painful lump in her throat. “If you’re trying to recruit me into the Marines—forget it. I like my creature comforts too much,” she said with only a hint of sarcasm. She was weakening, and didn’t like the idea at all.

The bubble of isolation the room provided suddenly made Summer give into the urge to release the pain she’d been carrying around inside her for too long. “Damn it Tate. How could you do that to me? After everything we’d been through. How could you treat me like some stranger, and walk away without a single word?” It was every woman’s worst nightmare.

“Summer….I would have given anything to spare you from all that—but I couldn’t. I’m a soldier. I’m no superman—just a soldier, sent in to do a job the only way I know how.”

Hearing the genuine anguish in his deep voice went a long way to dissolving the last traces of her anger.

“I thought I’d never see you again and then—there you were—large as life,” she declared. “I don’t think I’ve ever felt so relieved at the sight of anything before in my entire life. Let’s just leave it at that okay? I came here on a holiday to get on with my life.”

“And now?”

“I was doing really well until you suddenly appeared.”

“Were you?” he asked with a small, bitter laugh. “I’m glad you could get over us that easily.”

Summer shook her head. “I didn’t say I got over you,” she whispered. “I said I’d been getting on with my life.”

She saw his eyes flare with a triumphant gleam and realized her mistake.

A loud ringing sounded and Summer jumped. It took a fraction of a second to realize it was her phone, and she dug around in her purse to find it. Tate took a reluctant step back, allowing her to slip past him. She turned her back on him and stalked across to the other side of the room, sinking to the end of the bed.

“Where are you? I was supposed to meet you, remember?”

“Sorry sis, but it was for your own good, you two need to work it out—one way, or the other. Trust me; hanging on to the past isn’t healthy.”

“Well thank you Doctor Phil, but next time you try and interfere with my life, save us both the trouble and don’t,” she growled.

“Work it out Summer, and move on,” Willow said, and disconnected the call.

Summer stared down at the phone in her hand with a disgruntled frown. Of all the times for her sister to take an active role in her life…

“Would you please sit down, or something,” she finally said, switching her frustrated gaze from the floor up to meet Tate’s watchful eyes.

“That depends on what the, ‘or something’ is,” he said in a deep husky voice which sent a jolt of electricity down her spine.

“If you think you can just stroll back in here and do whatever you damn well please—” she told him, nervously forgetting the end of her threat as her gaze fell on the smooth column of his neck exposed beneath the top button of his shirt. It was easy to be distracted when you looked at Tate Maddox up close and personal, with his long legs encased in denim and soft cotton covering those broad shoulders. However, it was that chiseled jaw, freshly shaven and smooth, that made her heart ache. She longed to reach out and trace it—watch those steel-like eyes soften the way they had that day by the river—the way she’d remembered them when she’d closed her eyes in those long lonely months without him.

He moved across the small distance that separated them and crouched before her at the end of the bed. His eyes smoldered with a burning intensity that made her stomach flip in anticipation. His lips, when they touched hers, were as warm and strong as she remembered. Slowly he lowered her back on the big bed and kissed her with a yearning so powerful it shook her to her very core.

“I need you Summer,” he groaned against her neck, sending ripples of delight shuddering through her even as his words washed over her like a bucket of cold water.

“Since when Tate?” Her voice sounded strangely controlled. Inside she was anything but. “Since when have you needed anyone?”

He lifted his head to look down at her—his breathing still uneven but his mind clearly working as he tried to think what he’d done to change her mood so swiftly.

“I can’t do this again,” she told him sadly.

He dropped his head.

“I have three days before I leave. I’m not going to fall for you all over again and then watch you walk away,” she whispered with heart-breaking sincerity.

Tate let out a deep sigh. “I know,” he said, raising his head, “I didn’t come to find you just so we could pick up where we left off and walk away again, either.”

“Then why did you come?”

“I’m not entirely sure. All I do know,” he said, rolling off her and sitting on the end of the bed with his arms resting on his knees, “is that something has changed since I met you, and not a whole hell of a lot in my life seems right at the moment.”

The women, the drinking, the constant relentless workload—he’d had enough. The flash of enlightenment was closely followed by a twinge of doubt. Maybe he was rushing in to things. After all he’d been in the Marines since leaving high school. He couldn’t just up and leave a sixteen-year career. He was thirty-four years old. What would he do with the rest of his life?

He may have figured out why everything had lost its appeal, but it sure as hell wasn’t making his choices any easier.

“Tate?’ Summer touched his arm uncertainly.

He looked across at her guardedly. His heart had started that weird out of rhythm beat it usually did when Summer was around. “I was thinking maybe it’s time I got out.”

“Of the Marine Corps?” Summer stared at him in horror.

“My line of work isn’t ideal marriage fodder,” he told her with a shrug.

“Marriage? I don’t understand,” she said.

“Well I can’t be going off on missions at the drop of a hat once I’m an old married man, can I?” he explained, keeping a watchful eye on her reaction—amazing even himself with the sudden path he’d decided to take.

“I guess not,” Summer agreed, more cautious than he’d ever seen her. What was he? Worse than the snake she’d once found in her sleeping bag?

“I could probably become an instructor—but that might involve a transfer back to the states and then various postings. Not an easy life for some people I’d imagine.”

“No…not easy,” Summer repeated, just as cautiously.

He smoothed her hair from her face tenderly. “I knew you were trouble from the moment you walked in to that bar.” Tate caught her small hands in his and looked deeply in to her eyes. “But I’m glad you did.”

“Did you hit your head somewhere along the line?” she asked, staring at him in disbelief. “You do recall there was a time not so long ago that I managed to make your life a living hell, don’t you?”

“Yeah. Being away from you hasn’t made it any better,” he argued dryly.

She stared at him in utter confusion. “What do you want from me, Tate?”

“I want it all. You, marriage, kids, us, together,” he said.

“Tate.” Summer shook her head slowly. “You’re not thinking straight. Maybe you should go home and sleep on it.”

“Tell you what—you sleep on it, tonight, and tell me your answer tomorrow,” he said, then stood and strode to the door in a few steps.

“You’re giving me a night to think about it?”

“How much thinking can you do on it?” he asked. “You either want to, or you don’t.”

“It’s not that simple!” Summer protested as she stormed across the room to confront him.

“Summer,” he said, holding the door open with one hand. “It’s as simple, or as complicated as you want to make it.” He swooped down and captured her lips in a kiss he hoped would clinch the deal. “Sleep on it,” he said with a grin, then closed the door.

Within seconds the door flew open behind him, “Tate, wait!”

He grinned again, then wiped it away before turning slowly. “Yes?”

She stood there, so gut wrenching beautiful…it was all he could do not to go down on his knees and beg. “Tell me what you’re thinking,” he invited, softly.

“I’ve had enough adventure and excitement for one life time, and I don’t think I could handle any more,” she said.

Disappointment nearly crushed him.

She smiled slowly. “Which is why I think the safest thing to do…would be to marry you and become a boring old married woman.”

He searched her loving gaze to convince himself he’d really heard what he’d thought he’d heard. This time, he did go down on his knee.

“Marry me, Summer. I promise I will spend the rest of my life making sure you never have another single moment of adventure, or excitement for the rest of your life,” he vowed.

She gave a chuckle. “Now how can I resist an offer like that?” She tugged him up, and he took her into his arms and kissed her with every ounce of love, relief, and promise he could muster. Afterward, she wrapped her arms around his neck and tucked her head under his chin, hugging him tightly.

“I’m so glad you’re here, Tate.”

Closing his eyes, he soaked up her nearness and the feel of her soft body melting against his, the way it was meant to be. Forever and always.

“I love you, Summer.”

A long moment later, Summer leaned back and met his eyes, a sexy, mischievous twinkle in hers. “And I love you. But there’s no way you’re leaving the corps, Tate. You look too damn good in a uniform.”

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