The Navy Seal's Promise (7 page)

“About before…” Luke cleared his throat. He kept his eyes on the road.

“I need you to know that I
never
do that sort of thing. I mean,” Saskia
paused. She didn’t owe him an explanation but she wanted him to know, “jumping
into bed with a man, especially a stranger, isn’t exactly my normal modus
operandi.”

Luke grinned, she could see it from where she was peeking under his arm,
watching his face. “Technically we didn’t jump
into bed
.”

She groaned and he laughed.

“Let’s just say the cold weather got to us, okay? Made us do something
crazy.”

She laughed this time. “Crazy in a good way, right?” she asked.

“Oh yeah. Definitely good crazy.” He chuckled, taking his hand from her
shoulders and placing it back on the steering wheel as they approached a road
block.

Saskia sat up straight, straining to see what the hold up was. “Please
don’t tell me we’ve come this far…”

“Not a chance,” he said, not letting her finish. “I’ll put you on my back
and run you the rest of the way if I have to.”

Saskia reached for his hand, clutching his fingers when he intertwined
his with hers. He was joking, trying to make her feel better, but deep down she
had a feeling that he’d do exactly that if it meant making sure she arrived
home in time for Christmas dinner.

“Looks like there’s only one lane open,” Luke told her, leaning forward
over the steering wheel as they slowed to a crawl, but without letting go of
her hand.

Saskia realized she was holding her breath and let it out slowly.

Luke put his window down as they approached, arm out the window despite
the freezing cold temperatures. The officer looked less than impressed with his
job, but he smiled back at them both peering at him.

“We going to get past okay?” Luke asked him.

The officer nodded. “We’ve had to close one lane, should be opened up
soon. The snow’s been a pain in the backside since yesterday.”

Saskia watched as Luke nodded then casually leaned a little closer,
tilted his head like he was about to let the officer in on a secret.

“You see this woman here?” Luke asked, nodding back at her.

The officer looked in and smiled.

“She’s flown across the world to get back here for Christmas. In just
over 24 hours she’s going to be winging her way back to her unit, and if I
don’t get her through here soon, she’s going to miss Christmas dinner with her
son.”

The officer raised his eyebrows, peering in further. “You’re a soldier?”

“Yes, sir. United States Army Corporal.”

He gave her a nod and then a wink, straightening and pulling out his
radio. “Boys, we have a US Corporal home for the holidays trying to get
through. Halt all traffic so I can let them pass, radio me when they’re cleared
to proceed.”

Saskia couldn’t let go of her breath this time. She held it in her lungs
so hard she was about to burst. “Thank you,” she called out, leaning over Luke.

The officer just touched his hat and nodded. “We’re all proud of you, Corporal.
Enjoy your time at home.”

Luke waited until the officer walked forward, holding up his hand to a
car and waving to a vehicle approaching them from behind, before putting the
window back up. The air inside the Humvee was freezing now, but she didn’t care
– nothing could stop her getting back now.

Saskia leaned over Luke again, turned her body so she could look straight
into his eyes. “I’m sure you’ve been told this all your life, but you’re pretty
damn incredible Luke Gray.”

He frowned. “Who the hell would have told me
that
all my life?”

Saskia didn’t bother answering him back, because talking to him wasn’t
what she wanted. Instead she traced her fingers across his face, touching his
lips before pressing her mouth to his, kissing his lips so softly over and over
again. “I’m never going to stop saying thank you, you know that right?”

“Sweetheart, if this is how you’re going to thank me, you won’t hear me
complaining.”

Saskia jumped at a tap on their window. The officer was waving them along
and Luke didn’t waste time. He slammed the vehicle into gear and accelerated
slowly, sending them on their way again.

“I meant it about you being incredible,” Saskia told him, buckling up
again but twisting toward him in her seat to watch him. She was no longer shy –
now she just wanted to enjoy every moment in Luke’s company.

“Let’s just get you home, okay? You can tell me how incredible I am if I
actually manage to get you to your front door.”

Luke tried to focus on driving, but the snow wasn’t nearly as bad as they
neared Buffalo, and when they hit the highway he couldn’t distract himself any
longer. Because he’d actually done it – made sure Saskia got to where she
needed to go, which meant that whatever the hell had just happened between them
was almost over.

But it felt good. He’d never stop wishing he’d been able to hold his wife
one last time, wished he hadn’t made her a promise that he’d make it back home
and had to break it. Because just like Saskia stuck at the airport, he’d been
powerless to do anything. The only difference was he’d been too late, and she
was going to make it. Just.

“I can’t believe we’re here.” Saskia was smoothing her hair back into a high
ponytail and squirming in her seat a little like she was too excited to sit
still.  

“Do you want to phone them?” he asked. “Tell your parents that we’re not
far away?”

Saskia shook her head, a smile taking over her face. “No. I want to see
their faces when I walk through that door,” she said. “I just hope my son
forgives me for not having any presents, because I’d thought I was going to
have time to stop somewhere and get him what he wanted.”

Luke reached for her hand again, wishing he hadn’t let go of it before.
The last 24 hours had been crazy, unimaginable, and now the thought of leaving
this woman behind and never seeing her again was…
unreal
. Like this
entire thing had been a dream, with him passing into her life for only a short
time.

“I think,” he said, raising her hand so he could press a kiss to it,
“that you will be all the present he needs.”

She sighed, wriggling closer and leaning so her head fell to his
shoulder. “I hope so, Luke, I hope so.”

You’d be present enough for me
. And it was true. After all of the
time spent grieving and feeling guilty about what he hadn’t done, what he could
have done, and wanting to be alone at the holidays, he’d been missing out.
Because being with Saskia had made him realize that there was nothing worse
than being alone.

He tried not to think about what they’d done earlier, when they’d been
stuck on the side of the road. Any more flashbacks and he’d be pulling over and
dragging her into the back to have his wicked way with her again.

“Turn left up here,” she told him, head still on his shoulder.

Her hand snaked across his thigh, resting there. Luke stayed dead still,
hand clenching on the wheel. She clearly had no idea what he was thinking
about, or maybe she did and wanted him to indulge his lusty imagination.

Luke cleared his throat. If she moved her hand another inch she’d know
exactly
how dirty his thoughts were.

“You’re going to come in, right?” Saskia asked him. “I’d love you to meet
my family. Tell me you don’t have to hurry back?”

Luke hadn’t even thought about what he was going to do next. He had nowhere
to be, nothing planned until he joined his team again. He knew Saskia wouldn’t
be making the long drive back to JFK with him, not when she could fly direct
from here. She needed to take every spare minute with her son, he understood
that.  

“Ah, sure,” he told her. But meeting her parents after what he’d done to
her less than five hours ago? Now that would be a first.

“If I keep thanking you, you’re going to start rolling your eyes, right?”

Luke dropped a kiss to the top of her head. “Seeing your little guy fly
into your arms is all the thanks I’ll need.”

“So that settles it,” she said, straightening and pointing at a two-story
clapboard house. “You’re definitely coming in.”

Luke swallowed and slowed the vehicle to a crawl. “Yes ma’am.”

Saskia jumped from the vehicle, straightening her shoulders and shutting
the door. She took a deep breath, smiling at Luke as he joined her at the front
of the truck.

He reached out to her and she let him, leaning in for a slow, toe-curling
kiss. Luke’s lips moved so slowly, so gently, that she was tempted to drop her
bag and wrap her arms around his neck, to force him closer, to make their kiss
more forceful. But she couldn’t, because she was just as desperate to get
inside.

Saskia stepped back, hand lingering on Luke’s arm. She glanced over her
shoulder before taking his hand and leading him up the path. “I still can’t
believe you hijacked a Hummer for me,” she muttered.

“I can.”

Luke’s steady gaze and calm words made her hurry toward the door. This man,
her knight in shining armor, thrilled her one minute and downright terrified
her the next. Because something had happened between them, something had
sparked from the second she’d woken up on his shoulder on the plane. And it
scared the hell out of her.

“Come on, it’s time to meet my folks.”

She took a deep breath and tried the front door. She found it unlocked,
smiling when the knob turned under her hand. Saskia let Luke close it behind
them and walked slowly down the hall, wondering what she was going to see. How
her son would react. What she’d say…

Jack.
Her baby was sitting at the head of the table, head down,
her parents chatting on either side of him. And they had no idea she was even
here. Tears filled her eyes but she furiously blinked them away. This wasn’t a
time for crying.
She was here.
After all those weeks of excitement, then
all those hours of worrying, thinking she’d come all this way only to turn back
without seeing him, and she was
here.

“Surprise.” Saskia cleared her throat. Her voice had come out all quiet
and low, not obeying her.

Jack looked up before her parents turned, and by then she couldn’t see
anything else anyway. Her eyes were locked on her son’s.

“Mom?” he said, quietly at first, blinking like he wasn’t sure it was
actually her. “Mom!”

When he said it the second time it was a high-pitched scream, his chair
knocked to the ground as he sprinted past the table and into her arms.

“Mom!”

Saskia knelt to the ground and opened her arms, falling over backwards
when Jack launched himself at her, arms wrapped so tight around her neck she
could hardly breathe.

“Hey baby,” she whispered to him, holding him back just as tight, never
wanting to let him go. “I promised you I’d make it, didn’t I?”

Jack didn’t say anything, and he didn’t need to. All she needed to know
was that he’d missed her and that he loved her, and from the grip he had on her
there was no question about it. She kissed the top of his head, hugging him
hard again, before gently prying him off her so she could look at him properly.

“When did you get so big, huh?” she asked, pushing back up to her
haunches and keeping one arm around him.

Jack just grinned at her, like he couldn’t believe she was actually
there.

“We had no idea you’d make it.” Saskia looked up at her dad’s voice, remembering
that there were actually other people in the room. “We told him there’d be no
hope of you getting here, not with the snow this bad. And then when we didn’t
hear from you…”

She let go of Jack only so she could stand up and wrap her arms around
her dad. She kissed his cheek and hugged him tight, then pulled back to hug her
mom too.

“I can’t believe I’m here,” Saskia told them, shaking her head and
reaching out for Jack again. She slung one arm down and across his shoulders,
then turned to look at Luke. She’d forgotten about him in her excitement, but
now everyone was watching him. “And this is the man you can thank for making it
happen.”

The room was silent, like her family was all suddenly wondering how a
stranger had ended up standing in their living room. Saskia held out her free
hand, reaching out to Luke, wriggling her fingers.

“This is Luke Gray,” she said, grinning at the shy look on his face. He’d
been anything but shy from the moment she’d met him, but now that he was faced
with her family staring at him he didn’t exactly look comfortable. “He managed
to hijack a military vehicle and drive me here when I couldn’t catch a flight.”

Her dad stepped forward first, holding out his hand to Luke. “John Cullen,”
he said, shaking Luke’s hand and giving him a slap on the back. “It means a lot
to us to have her home.”

Saskia watched as her mom walked over, eyebrows pulled together like she
was trying to figure something out. Or perhaps she just didn’t believe that a
gorgeous guy like Luke would have done something so heroic if there wasn’t
something going on between them. Her mom was forever trying to set her up with
eligible
men
, planning dates for when she came back for good.

“It’s nice to meet you, Luke,” her mom said, before giving her
the
look
. “Saskia hasn’t mentioned you before…”

Saskia groaned. Her mom had let her sentence trail off like she was on a fishing
expedition – for information.

“I met your daughter on the plane,” Luke told her. He looked like he was
starting to relax. “When I heard she had a young man to get home to, I promised
I’d help.”

“Which is exactly what he did,” Saskia said, glaring at her mom. “Now
let’s eat instead of letting all this fabulous food go to waste.”

Luke cleared his throat as she turned to the table. “If you don’t mind,
I’ll just use the restroom and be on my way.”

Saskia spun on the spot, eyebrows shooting up at the same time. “Aren’t
you going to stay for dinner?” She hadn’t even asked him, had just presumed he
would be here for the evening.