SEAL Of My Heart (4 page)

He darted a quick look at her face, probably to see if she’d picked up his verbal slip.

“So,” Kate began slowly, “you’re a SEAL?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

‡

B
efore they landed
in Portland, they had shared most of their “firsts,” which was odd for him, being normally fairly private. First kisses, first dates, first crush, first prom. They conspicuously avoided the first sexual encounter. That was okay with him, although he was dying to know hers.

She’d stopped ordering crushed ice, which Tyler took as a small triumph, not that it really meant anything. But he preferred to think so. He looked at the half-melted cup of ice on the tray table in front of her.

She was lighthearted by nature, which warmed him. He liked uncomplicated, easygoing women. He’d been truthful when he said he’d never come close to getting hooked up with anyone permanently. And the honest truth was, all the guys on the Teams thought he was some big player, but at heart Tyler was shy, not that anyone would ever guess. He sensed she was as well, and something about that pleased him.

“Your sister picking you up?” he asked.

“I’m supposed to text her when I land.”

“I’ve got a friend meeting me. We could give you a ride, if you want.”

“Thanks, but I think Gretchen will be there.”

She smiled with her fresh face, the matter-of-fact look of her making him wish he could watch her all day.

“Really nice of you to offer,” she added.

“My pleasure.” He let it roll out and over his tongue before he could hold it back. For a second he thought he saw her eyelids flutter, like she’d wanted to close them and changed her mind.

Once they’d taxied and come to a halt, he helped several people remove their bags from the overhead bins before getting hers down. He caught her sneaking looks at his abdomen, which he sucked in. Her eyes traveled over his biceps and up along his light blue T-shirt and up under his chin before resting gently on his lips. She was admiring him. No question about it.

He felt a flame flicker to life in his stomach, light and barely perceptible. And something inside his chest felt good. It was his heart.

Passengers began filing down the aisle. He stepped back and allowed her to go in front of him, for all the right reasons, he told himself. He was thinking about the gentleman he was not while he watched her jeans-covered ass sway very slightly down the aisle. She was ample, which he liked. Squeezable, but not heavy. He knew she’d have a perfect shape and would fill his palms deliciously.

The baggage carousel was backed up. Kate was on the phone and appeared to be having trouble reaching her sister. Her frustrated expression ended when they made eye contact again. Then she began to speak to someone on the phone, a little furrow developing between her eyebrows as worry spread over her face. She turned her back to him and finished her conversation in private.

Tyler made a point of looking at his feet, but he used his peripheral vision to watch her swing around and head in his direction. He’d been trained to do this. The monotonous hum of the machinery and the thud as bags deposited onto the turnstile was background to the way his heart quickened, just knowing she was looking at him and coming his way. He let her wait just a second or two before he let his eyes travel from her knees to that pretty, innocent face he wanted in the worst way to kiss. He couldn’t help but smile.

“Um. She’s asked me to take a cab. Would it—?”

“Done,” he said, interrupting her. “Let’s get your bag.”

She told him it was a bright red one with a red ribbon. He set his duffel at her feet and worked his way through the crowd to retrieve it for her. Funny how this little mission gave him so much pleasure. How his soul was tickled. He’d get to spend a few minutes more, at least, in her company. And she’d
asked
for it. Her idea, not his. She was someone else’s girl, after all. But he was grateful he’d had the foresight to offer earlier.

“Where does your sister live, or did I just commit my friend to driving to Vancouver?”

“I forget what they call it. In the hills overlooking the water. Hundred Thirteenth Northwest or something. I have it in my purse.”

“That’s not too bad. I think we can manage.”

Outside the air was chilly, and he was grateful he’d slipped on his jacket. He felt the buzz of his cell phone and knew Kenny was nearby. Then he heard his best friend’s familiar shout-out.

“Dude, you finally did it. You brought a girl!” The tall lanky kid-of-a-man wearing a bright blue Hawaiian shirt, cargo pants and flip-flops grabbed Tyler around the waist and hauled him up off the ground. But he didn’t take his eyes off Kate.

“Whoa, whoa, there Kenny,” he interrupted. “This is Kate, and we’re just giving her a ride.”

“I got ya. Well, if you get tired of his ride, you can always try mine.” Kenny wore a goofy expression, gawking at the beautiful Kate.

Tyler saw her blush, though he could tell she was trying hard not to, and suspected she was feeling uncomfortable. “We’re dropping her off at her sister’s.”

“Uh huh,” Kenny said, obviously unconvinced. He stepped back two paces, giving Tyler lots of space. Then he ran back and punched him on the arm. “You been holding out on me, dude.”

Tyler knew Kenny lived vicariously through him. His friend had problems with the female population because he was so shy. His gangly frame reminded Tyler of Coop, actually. He made a mental note to invite Kenny down to San Diego when they got back, maybe arrange a little face time with Cooper, who would appreciate his old friend’s knowledge of computers and computerized gadgets.

Tyler rolled his eyes and put his palm on Kate’s shoulder like she was a porcelain doll who might shatter under his fingers. “Please don’t mind Kenny. He’s harmless enough.” He saw that she stiffened a bit at his first touch, but then relaxed and rewarded him with a warm smile.

“I understand. Got friends who act the same way.” She wrinkled her nose but her eyes still danced. “They’d get the wrong idea and make a big deal too.”

Tyler gave her a squeeze and then let his hand drop. Kenny was over by his Gremlin, had already popped the hatchback and opened both doors. The men put all the suitcases in the rear, while Kate slipped behind the front bucket seat on the passenger side. Tyler sat directly in front of her next to Kenny, and they headed west.

Kenny was listening to oldies, and the music was so loud it sucked up the dead airspace. Gave Tyler time to think about things and strategize the next few minutes.

Kenny’s dash was covered with glued-on dinosaurs and military action figures, a couple of felt-tip pens on end and a crooked hula girl. He had beads and a miniature Native American headdress dangling from the rear view mirror. His week-old stubble would barely cover the surface of his little fingernail, whereas Tyler’s beard would cover his entire face after only three days. Kenny’s skin underneath was pearly white, confirming that he spent the majority of his time these days in a darkened room in front of a computer monitor.

Tyler turned down the music and leaned over the old Gremlin’s partially ripped black vinyl bucket seats. Kate appeared to be comfortable and slightly amused as she scanned the eclectic car. Looking at the plastic figures on the dash, she pointed, squinting at Tyler.

Tyler leaned into the creaking bucket seat, angling to see her face. “Kenny’s an acquired taste, I admit,” he said. “But harmless as hell, which is why I like him, right Kenny?” He thumped his friend gently on the shoulder, careful not to distract his driving.

“Damn straight,” Kenny sputtered. “I just tell people, ‘don’t fuck with me or I’ll get my Navy SEAL friend to come up here and whup your ass.’”

Tyler rolled his eyes. “Great, Kenny. Appreciate that.”

He’d been worried that the vehicle and Kenny’s Aloha shirt and state of hygiene had put her off, but she actually seemed to be enjoying herself. He couldn’t believe it.

“I think you should buy yourself one of those Hawaiian shirts, Tyler,” she said. “It would look good on you.”

She warmed him all the way to his toes with her smile. God, she had perfect white teeth. Her fresh face was so kissable.

Kenny had a coughing attack, disguising an unmanly-like giggle. “See there, Tyler.
I’ve
got my shit together in spite of what you say. Lady knows her Tommy Bahama shirts.”

Tyler cursed under his breath.

Kenny winked at Kate through the rearview mirror and continued to rub it in. “For once you’ve got a looker, not like those librarians you’ve been dating.”

Tyler wasn’t comfortable at all with that reveal. Yes, he had to admit to himself, he liked dating bookish girls who didn’t give him any trouble. And he found girls who read a lot had wonderful imaginations too, which certainly didn’t hurt in the sack.

He stared out the windshield until he remembered they didn’t even know where they were going.

“You have her address?” he asked, as he leaned his shoulder into the seat and peered over the top at Kate.

Kate handed him a slip of paper she’d prepared. “That’s her address.”

Under the address was a phone number. It wasn’t a Portland area code.

“And that?” he said as his index finger touched the number.

“My cell. Just in case.”

Just in case, my ass. Just in case I can’t sleep tonight thinking about how beautiful you are. How nice you smell. How cute you look in the back seat of this old beater. Would I be granted this if I asked for it? Even if you’re taken?

But he didn’t reveal any of his thoughts. “Right. Thanks,” he said and turned forward, handing the slip of paper to Kenny.

“No problemo, dude.” Kenny stared into the rearview and asked his back seat passenger, “You want to stop and get something to eat?”

“Sure.”

Tyler heard the response, and it made him glow.
Sure
was such a wonderful word really. Totally compliant, willing. Full of possibilities.

“Where were you thinking?” Tyler asked.

“Voodoo Doughnut.”

Of course it was Voodoo Doughnut. It was the only place Kenny ate. Tyler just couldn’t understand why he never gained any weight.

Tyler leaned back to warn Kate. “You don’t want to order the ones with the blue-green jelly centers. Word is they’re Nyquil-filled.”

“Good to know,” she said as she pursed her lips. Her eyes danced. Did she have any idea how attractive she was? A lot was going on inside his chest and other places, despite his efforts to remember she belonged to another man. Tyler could control his actions, but he could not begin to tame his thoughts.

He looked out the dirty, cracked windshield as the city of Portland came into sight. The skyline, its bridges and buildings highlighted in the sun, the bright white clouds filling the blue sky that might threaten rain five minutes later, always made him relax. He was at home here. Not that he wanted to live here. Just that it was home. A place where he could safely melt into his past, and where his eccentric friends and relatives, all of them self-absorbed extroverts, would take some of the attention off him.

In his entire family of hippies and environmental zealots, no one ever had ever gone into the military. But being a SEAL really wasn’t
about
being in the military. It was more about being part of a family, a brotherhood of guys he’d die for.

Seemed hard to connect with right now, sitting in Kenny’s old Gremlin. Reminders of high school brought back memories of the years he spent unsuccessfully trying to get laid, a time when everything seemed so normal. But he’d been certain even then that death, destruction, and evil were out there. Now he’d seen it overseas. But just because most people couldn’t taste it, smell it or sense it, didn’t mean it wasn’t right here too. He was just one of those guys who was willing to give his life so everyone else could go around being batshit crazy.

And it was okay with him. It was his job. Even today it was his job, delivering this young woman to her sister’s house safely, making sure no one messed with her, that she was protected. He liked opening the door for her, running around to make sure he opened the smudged glass door to the donut shop for her before Kenny could get there. That was all part of his job. And it was something he loved doing.

The unmistakable bakery smell was intoxicating, but would have been more so if it weren’t for the heavy metal music in the background and the tat-covered plus-sized beauty behind the counter with a large nose bone and plates in her ears. He hoped she took the bone out at night when she slept.

“Kenny!” she shrieked, and ran around the counter to body-slam his skinny nerd buddy. Her hands were still in plastic mitts, but that didn’t stop her from running her crinkly fingers through his hair and placing a lip lock on him that sounded more like a toilet plunger.

Kenny was unaffected, as in embarrassed. Although he actually did kind of blush. Apparently this thing with the lovely lady was a recent development.

Holy God of SEALs, Kenny finally got laid.
It had only taken him twenty-seven years, but finally lust had dusted the boy with sugar and put chocolate sprinkles all over him. He was grinning just like those days when they’d get stoned out behind the soccer field and Kenny would look up at the sky and point out animals and people’s faces. A goofy, sheepish, yup-I-fucked-her grin. Hence the real reason for the Voodoo stop.