Safe in His Arms (5 page)

His hair was longer now. Not cut in that military angle he’d always worn. He looked sexy, tough, the bad boy. The strip of lighter hair by his temple drove her nuts. It always had.

His smile slipped, but he’d not really been smiling. His eyes had always been her clue. He wasn’t happy. His expression was hard, tight with tension. “What’s going on in that head of yours?”

She shrugged. He dropped his attention to her breasts and seemed to snag there. Her heart rate tripled. She wore her new Victoria’s Secret halter, with a matching pair of cheeky bottoms. Her stomach tightened anxiously. Did he like what he saw?

He glanced back up and swam closer.

“Nothing, just enjoying the sun and water.”

“Huh, is that so?” His gaze sharpened. “You swim a lot in Africa?”

She brushed her hand over her eyes and wondered at his tone. He sounded jealous. He’d been jealous before. She’d sensed it whenever she’d got too close to another man—especially one of the guys from the team—but he’d never acted on it. Would he now?

“Sure, I was mostly in South Africa, so sure, all the time.”

She bobbed under before he could say anything but she thought he’d swallowed tightly. Was he jealous? She shouldn’t feel a thrill at that.

No, no thrill over jealousy, Mandy.

She broke the surface and found herself smack in his arms. He tightened his hold, acting as if he’d bumped into her.

“Yeah? All the time.” His jaw bunched as if he was biting back some more words.

She wiggled and he released her. “Yeah, we had a great beach carved out for us. Nice beach, volleyball net, sweet set-up. I got to swim all the time. The guys were good about letting us on the base and allowing us free swims.” She shrugged again, and watched Mac’s jaw do that little bunch again.

Whether she wanted to or not, she was thrilled. Could people change? Did he regret going to that other woman?

“Yeah? Is that so?” he asked.

She found herself pulled up close to Mac’s tough chest. He was hot, so sizzling hot she forgot to struggle. Heck, she could barely remember her name.

Mac’s expression fascinated her. It was tight with anger. “Did you wear this, sugar, and shake that pretty ass for all those Brits?”

Suddenly she felt him cup her butt. He slid his fingers under the fabric of her cheeky bottoms and squeezed. She tried hard to hate how good that felt. She should. Really, she should, but, up against her bare stomach, his muscled abs tightened, the hair on his chest teasing her because she wanted to feel it against her nipples, and suddenly she felt his erection, hard and thick, along her hip.

“Huh, is that what you think? Sometimes people simply do things for others,” she managed but, holy moly, had she ever felt anything as hot as Mac? She remembered how dark and long his erection looked, how the crown rounded and flared above the thick hard flesh, all the way down to his sandy blond thatch of hair. She’d wanted to swallow him whole, suck along the length to taste every inch of him. But she hadn’t. He’d taken over, controlled the sex, but after, all these years after, she’d dreamt, fantasised about loving every inch of his body with her mouth.

“Is that so? Such a sweet little ass, Mandy. I think you did strut this gorgeous butt around for all those Brits. I bet they fell all over it trying to get into your pants.”

He tightened his grip on her butt, his long fingers temptingly close to the cleft dividing each cheek. He’d touched her there, rubbed his fingers along her small opening, pressing and teasing her with low sounds of pleasure in his voice. The memory was so fresh she felt a wave of arousal surge through her pussy and wet her bare folds simply thinking of anal sex with him.

“Especially with an ass like this,” he husked, rubbing his hand down to grip her ass tighter.

“Mac! Cut that out.” Now why did that sound like a laugh? She wrapped her arms around his neck and met his eyes. “You’re jealous.”

Mac didn’t seem to see the humour, though. He squinted at her. “Mandy, you don’t want to make me jealous.”

She snorted. He was. So arrogant and proud, too. The big, strong, tough Navy SEAL.

“Make you, huh?” She wiggled out of his grip and dived under the waves, heading to shore.
Make him?
He’d touched another woman and told her not to make him jealous.

Mac caught her by her ankle. She really tried not to feel the bubble of happiness rise above the painful memories. She broke the surface and attempted to frown up at his sudden grin.

“Don’t get mad, sugar. Here—” He handed her a set of goggles and a snorkel he’d pulled out of the pockets of his cargo shorts. He wasn’t even wearing swim trunks. That shouldn’t be sexy. “Let’s go see what we can see.”

She watched him pull out another set. They were in chest-high water, simply floating on the waves. She could snorkel with him, couldn’t she? First, she wanted to hear him admit it.

“You’re jealous.” Why she needed to hear him say it she didn’t know, but she stood and faced him.

He stopped adjusting the snorkel and met her eyes. His were darker than before, the browns in his hazel eyes stormier. “Yeah. I’m pissed off at anyone who gets to look at you dressed like this when you aren’t with me.”

The admission did something odd to her breathing, hitching it up like it did when she couldn’t catch her breath because of the asthma. But it also felt hard, hot, and full of tears.

Drawing closer, he reached out and cupped her chin. “Come on, Mandy. Have fun with me now that you made me admit that.”

She huffed out a laugh. She couldn’t
make
Mac do anything. No one could. “Why now, Mac? Why now do you want this?”

“I’ve always wanted it, but I wanted to give you time.”

She glanced back at the shore and saw Ace and Lacey grabbing body boards. Both stopped to kiss once before heading back to the water. They looked like such a happy couple. She knew they’d had some rough patches, but looking at them now, she’d never have guessed it.

“Mandy?”

He snagged her heart, just with his voice, let alone the sincerity she heard. How could he do this to her? How could she ever resist what she’d always wanted? Him, them, a couple just like Lacey and Ace.

“Sugar, come on. Just this. Some fun. Or we can do a whole new set of fun things if you’d like.” He pulled her closer, dipping his head to kiss her quickly and squeezing her butt again.

“Mac!” He tasted like salt water, Mac and beer. He must have had one on the beach. She laughed suddenly, feelings she’d never felt before rising up to the top. Happiness, real, solid happiness, she realised. With Mac.

“Come on, you remember how to have fun, don’t you?”

“Sure, I can have fun. I’m just not used to having fun with you.” She flicked her finger over his chest and he snagged her hand. She grinned at how fast he was. So quick, she worried again at the scar on his face. How had anyone got that close to him?

“Hey, you two, coming with us or what?” Eagle called.

Mac grimaced but said, “Yeah, just getting our gear on.” In a lower tone he turned to her and said, “Sugar, let me make this up to you. Just let me try, okay? That’s all I’m asking. Trust me. You used to trust me.”

“You’re right, Mac,” she whispered, feeling torn up inside. “I used to trust you.”

He winced, not missing her meaning. “I know, I just showed up and made demands, but would you have seen me—alone—any other way?”

She bit her lip and watched him nod.

“Right, you would have avoided me as much as you could. Give me a chance here, Mandy. I’ll show why you can trust me again. You gotta let me though, Mandy. Try. For me. For us.”

He was killing her.

For us
. Wasn’t that what she’d always wanted? Was she expected to say no, now?

“Mandy?”

She nodded.
For him?
For Mac she’d do anything. His expression slowly eased and he gave her a half smile before adjusting her snorkel.

“Good. Come on, let’s have some fun, then maybe get a bite, okay?”

It sounded so normal, so something a couple would say that she couldn’t breathe for a moment, but smiled up at him, not missing the way his big shoulders tensed, then slowly eased. He gave her a killer grin and brushed his knuckles over her jaw.

“Did you put sunscreen on?”

“Geesh, Mac, I am all grown up.”

“Yeah, thank God for that, sugar.” His husky whisper made her toes curl. Did he realise how close she was to pulling him under for a whole bunch of fun things that had nothing to do with snorkelling?

Chapter Four

“Mandy!” Lacey’s happy shout had her turning to spot her friend diving under a blue wave, Katya a second beyond her. Both girls broke the clear surface near her with big grins. They’d spent the day out on the water, her and Mac, with only a small break for tacos before Lacey had wanted to come out again. She’d known Mac wanted to join Mandy but Ace had given him a subtle sign or something and he’d sat with the guys instead.

“God, this place is beautiful,” Lacey called above the sound of waves.

“Beautiful isn’t even the right word. I told Eagle we needed to come here a few times a year.” Katya pushed her amazing red hair off her face and grinned. “He wasn’t so into the idea until I took him swimming last night.”

Lacey laughed and nodded. “Ace felt the same way after our time in the hot tub.”

God, was everyone getting laid?

“So, Mandy…” Lacey swam closer and Mandy knew her best friend knew Mac had kissed her. Hopefully she didn’t know Mandy had almost jumped him. “Mac. I see you two have talked…”

“Oh, stop fishing. Spill it, sister, that man is intense over you. I mean, damn, I thought Eagle was bad. Mac is downright frightening about you,” Katya said.

“What? How?”
Frightening?
Mac was many things, hot, handsome, sexy, but frightening?

Katya rolled her eyes and bobbed closer. “Well, let’s see, he practically—heck, not practically, he did jump Lacey the moment he heard she knew where you were. He even got her to spill your room number.”

Lacey smiled at her, lifting a sarcastic eyebrow at Mandy’s fake frown. “I knew you were to blame for that.”

“Was it bad? You two looked like you’d talked. You snorkelled, even had a meal without anyone suffering bodily harm,” Lacey said with a smile that slowly faded to serious. “I’ve never seen him so upset, except for when you left. He came to my house, did I tell you? It was almost like he’d been drinking, but he didn’t slur his words and when I tried to tell him to come back when he was sober, Geez did he lose his cool.”

Mandy stared at Lacey, waiting for more clues, but Lacey simply brushed her wet hair off her face and squinted at the shore before asking, “Why did you leave, Mandy? I know it was about Mac, but, I mean, was that all?”

Mandy angled so she could see the shore. Mac was there, clearly outlined at the table with the guys enjoying a beer while the girls swam.

“Lacey, it was complicated, but I need to talk to Mac, I think, and you and Ace. All of you, I guess.”

Lacey frowned and glanced over at Katya. Both women moved closer. “Tell us first, Mandy. Whatever happened, you can tell us.”

Fear suddenly rose up, silencing her.
Tell anyone and I’ll not just kill you and him, but them as well.

How could he do that? Even now, she knew men were around to watch that no one got near Lacey, not with the Russian mob after her still. Ace was serious about her safety. She could count at least six men near them that had to be security, but was one of them her attacker?

“Come on, I want to swim a bit farther out,” she said, casting a glance around them at the few people bobbing along the waves. Both women nodded, following her lead. The few people around them disappeared as they broke into deeper water. “Here, this is good, okay?”

“Mandy, what happened? What are you afraid of?” Lacey asked, swimming so that they were shoulder to shoulder.

“I was attacked—not like you, not by some mafia nutcase, but by some lunatic that swore he’d kill me, Mac and anyone else I told.”

“What? Oh my God, Mandy!”

“Raped, Mandy?” Katya asked. Her green eyes shimmered, full of knowledge that stabbed at Mandy’s heart. Katya had seen pain. So had Lacey. Had they all been hurt? Is that what drew them to such strong men?

Lacey caught her arm. “Mandy? Oh, God, were you—”

“Shh, Lacey,” Katya whispered, cutting Lacey off mid-question.