Second Chance SEAL: A Bad Boy Military Romance (53 page)

And then I watched him tense, his face locked in a blissful look. I could feel him coming deep inside me, his cock spurting its pleasure deep inside me.

“Fuck,” he groaned as his orgasm slowly passed and he rocked slower and slower in and out of me. “Fuck, Tara.”

He pulled himself out and leaned against the wall next to me, panting. I pressed myself up against him as I sweated, and he wrapped his strong arms around me.

“I really, really needed that,” I said.

“I know you did.”

He grinned at me and I gave him a look. “We should get back out there, relieve Travis of his duty.”

“Yeah,” he grunted. “In a minute.”

I nodded, not wanting to move either. I stayed there in his arms, feeling safe, comfortable, warm.

But most importantly, feeling something at all.

Emory made me feel something, took the numbness away with his strength, and I knew that was more important than anything else.

I
began to get dressed
, relaxation running through my body.

I hadn’t been able to stop myself. As soon as Travis pulled up, I followed Tara back into the rest stop bathroom, desire rolling through my core. After what had happened, I needed her, couldn’t risk waiting another second.

She was going to pretend like she didn’t need me just as much, but we both knew the truth. She couldn’t turn me down as much as I couldn’t turn away from her. The attraction between us was intense, powerful, drawing me ever deeper into her.

She smiled at me as I pulled my pants on. “What?” she asked.

“Nothing,” I grunted, realizing I had been staring at her. “You have something hanging out of your pants.”

“What?” She looked down at herself. “Oh shit. I forgot about this.” She pulled a little business card from her pocket. It had been hanging slightly out, just so that I could see the white tip.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Business card. I found it on the body of one of the guys.”

“Let me see.” I reached out and she handed it to me.

“I meant to tell you sooner, but I forgot in all the excitement. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. You did good finding it.”

I studied the card. It was pretty plain, with only a man’s name on it, a company, and his contact information.

“Donald Richardson,” I read out loud. “Works for Atomic Contracting.” I looked at her, frowning. “I’m not sure what this means.”

She looked surprised. “I do actually.”

I cocked my head at her. “You recognize this guy’s name?”

“Not the name, but the company. They supply parts for nuclear power plants.”

Something clicked inside me, something I didn’t even realize I’d been thinking about.

“How do you know that?” I asked her.

“My dad works with them a lot. He’s something of a middle man, hooking up contractors to local nuclear power plants, mostly in Michigan.”

“Fuck,” I said, the plot falling into place all around me. “Your dad works for nuclear power plants?”

“Not just that,” she said. “Power stations all over the place, but yeah, he does nuclear power too.”

This was it. This was the reason Omar and his people were here. This was the reason they were targeting Tara and her family.

It was a fucking coincidence. Omar could have gone after any of the employees who did Roger Bright’s job, but they decided to target him because of me. They must have seen how it could benefit them: Not only would they get to go after the nuclear power plant, but they’d also get some revenge on me.

How could I have been so fucking stupid? I’d done a background on Tara’s family and seen that her dad worked in the energy sector, but I hadn’t delved any further into his job. I just hadn’t thought it was important. I was so focused on my own relationship with Omar, so convinced that the whole thing was just a personal attack on me, that I had missed this.

I’d missed the obvious. Omar wanted Tara’s father to help them attack a nuclear power plant.

“Fuck,” I said again. “Tara, we have to go.”

“What?”

I finished dressing quickly and Tara followed, sensing my urgency. I quickly left the bathroom with Tara right on my heels. The sleepy teenage girl working at the fast food place gave us a stupid look, like she knew what we’d been doing, but I just ignored it.

I walked fast. “Emory, slow down,” Tara said. “What’s wrong?”

“You don’t see it for the same reason I missed it. You’re too close.”

“You’re freaking me out. Just tell me.”

I pushed open the doors and then stopped and faced her. “It was all about your father, Tara. Omar and his people, they want to use your dad to attack a nuclear power plant.”

She frowned, shaking her head. “I thought they were after me to get revenge on you.”

“That’s what I thought, too. And they probably chose your dad for that reason initially, but there’s a bigger plan happening here. That’s why Omar has been using American terrorists, why he’s risking so much. It’s more important than just personal revenge, although it’s that also.”

Her face slowly dropped as she realized the implications of what I was saying. I could see it etched clearly there, the worry and the fear coming back to her.

“Cooper is with them,” I said. “He’s more than capable.”

“But my parents are in danger.”

“Yeah,” I said. “I think they are. I bet those two guys who attacked us were the only two who even followed. I’m willing to bet Omar is still back in Dayton.”

“Shit,” she said. “Emory, we have to go back. We have to go help my parents.”

“Yeah,” I said, “we fucking do.”

I headed off again with Tara by my side. I could still sense the fear, but there was something else, too.

It was determination.

After everything that had happened, any other normal person would have curled up into a ball and given up. After all the senseless violence and fear, most people would be pretty messed up.

But not Tara. Yeah, she was fucking scared and worried. Of course she was. But she wasn’t giving up, she wasn’t begging for me to call the cops, and she wasn’t backing down. She wanted to run right back into danger to try to help her parents, because that was the type of person she was.

I truly admired that. It was easy for me to go into danger, because that was my job. I lived for danger and putting my life on the line. But Tara, she was just a normal person who got caught up in events so much bigger than she was. Tara was holding on and thriving, and that meant she was exceptional, so fucking exceptional.

We got back to the car. Travis was holding Mason, smiling at us.

“He stopped crying,” Travis said.

Tara reached out and took Mason from him. Travis immediately sensed our mood.

“What’s up, cap?” he asked. “Lover’s quarrel?”

Tara gave him a look but went to put Mason back in the car seat.

“Change of plans,” I said. “We have to go back to Dayton.”

He arched an eyebrow. “You know I’d follow you anywhere, cap, but I think you need to explain this one to me.”

And so I did. I told him about the card, about how this whole thing had felt wrong from the start. As I spoke, he began to nod along.

“Okay,” he said. “Let’s make moves then.”

He got into his car and I leaned down against his window. “Listen, stay close. I don’t think anyone is after us right now.”

“I think you’re right. I haven’t seen a peep since we left Indianapolis.”

“Try and get in touch with Coop. We’ll regroup when we’re in Dayton.”

“Roger that.” He pulled out and I walked back over to my stolen car.

Tara was sitting in the back with Mason, giving him another dose of antibiotics. I climbed in and started the engine.

“You ready for this?” I asked her.

“Absolutely,” she said, her face serious.

“Let’s go.”

I floored it, pulled back on the highway, and headed back into the fire.

I
woke
up in the back seat of the car, my head draped down toward Mason. He was sleeping too, his little chest rising and falling peacefully.

It was mid-afternoon and we were still driving, though I recognized most of the signs. We were getting closer to Dayton, getting closer to the terrorists who wanted to hurt us.

But now they weren’t the terrorists who were after me. They were after my parents, and they wanted to do something horrible that could end up hurting a lot of people.

I wasn’t going to let them do that, of course.

I was done wanting to run away. I needed to protect Mason, but I was finished being too afraid. Everything had happened so quickly, so intensely, and it took me so long to really process it all. At the end of the day, though, I wasn’t going to back down.

And that was all because of Emory. He gave me strength. He made me feel something more than just fear. Before him, I was just living my life, going through the motions, but he made me see that there could be so much more than just existing. The things Emory did and could do, he was important, he was strong. I wanted to be more like him, but I also wanted to be near him.

“You awake?”

I glanced up and saw Emory looking at me in the rearview mirror.

“Yeah,” I said. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”

“No problem. You needed rest.”

“How close are we?”

“Not far. We’re stopping soon, getting ourselves set up.”

“What’s the plan from here?”

“Well, that’s what I wanted to talk about.”

I yawned and stretched. “Okay, I’m listening.”

“I want you to go stay with a friend.”

“What?”

“I don’t think you’re in any more danger,” he said. “Omar and his people are likely with your parents or at least getting ready to try something. If we’re not too late, we’ll be able to stop them and help, but I can’t be worried about you, too.”

“No,” I said, surprising myself with how seriously I said it. “No way am I sitting on the sidelines.”

“Do you have somewhere you can stay?” he asked me, pressing.

“My friend Lindy would let me stay with her, but Emory, I’m not backing down.”

He grinned at me. “Look at you, princess, growing a backbone.”

“Shut up, asshole,” I said.

He laughed. “God you’re so fucking sexy when you talk dirty.”

“I’m not messing around. I can’t just give up on this.”

“Do you have some secret training I don’t know about?”

I clenched my jaw, annoyed. “No.”

“Then you can’t help. I’m sorry, but it’s the truth.”

He was so patronizing. It was driving me insane. “I know my parents,” I said. “I know the area too. I can help.”

“No,” he said again. “It’s not happening. You’re just too much of a distraction for me.”

“That’s not my fault.”

“It is your fault,” he said. “It’s that fucking body, that pussy, the way you look at me like you can’t wait to feel me fucking you again soon.”

“Emory,” I said, ignoring him, “I’m not getting left behind.”

He drove on in silence and finally let out a sigh. “Mason then. We have to at least leave him out of this.”

“No,” I said quickly. “I’m not separating myself from him.”

“I can’t do this with an infant to watch, Tara. You have to understand that.”

“I’ll watch him.”

“Then I’ll have to watch you, too.”

“I can’t leave him,” I said. “I just can’t. I have to make sure he’s safe.”

“I wouldn’t suggest this if I didn’t think it was safe.”

“You thought my parents would be safe too, didn’t you?”

I regretted that as soon as I said it. His eyes narrowed and he looked out over the road, not saying anything for a bit.

“Mason is my son,” he said finally. “I’m not taking chances with his life or with yours. You have a choice: You either stay at Lindy’s with Mason, or you leave Mason and come with me.”

He said it so simply, but I could tell that there was an angry edge underneath his words. I knew that he wasn’t going to let me do exactly what I wanted and that fighting him was going to be useless. It pissed me off, and I wanted to struggle, but that wouldn’t get me anywhere.

Emory had made up his mind, and he wasn’t the type of man to change it easily.

“Fine,” I said finally. “I’ll leave Mason with Lindy.”

“Okay.” He turned back toward driving.

I wanted to scream at him in that moment. I felt like he was forcing me to tear off my own arm, but I also understood why he needed this from me. If I was going to insist on coming along when he didn’t want me to, I was going to have to prove that I could follow directions.

And besides, he was right. We couldn’t be worried about Mason while finding and fighting terrorists. Leaving Mason with someone, even Lindy, sounded pretty damn horrible to me, but I couldn’t argue with his logic.

We continued driving in silence. I wanted to pick up Mason and hold him, but I also knew I should let him sleep. He needed it, especially with the ear infection. The antibiotics seemed to be working already, and he was taking the medicine pretty easily, but I didn’t want to mess with that.

I looked out the window, my stomach a knot of worry. But I was determined to stick this through, to help Emory, to save my parents.

I wasn’t backing down, not from this, not ever.