The SEAL's Best Man (Special Ops: Homefront Book 2) (14 page)

“Positive they’re not. Some were even
from out of the country. Italy, Spain. There was even one from Hawaii.”

“Hawaii’s not another country, Bess.”

Bess gave her a look. “I know that. But my
point is, word is spreading. Jack’s military angle was brilliant. They’re
sharing your posts on Facebook, too.”

“And you’re doing such a good thing,”
Lacey added. Sitting beside her, she opened her laptop. “All the comments are
so positive. Everyone is saying thank you and how hard it is to make a house
feel like a home after moving so much. That entry you wrote about the girl’s
room was fabulous, and all those links you put in there.”

Maeve grinned, looking at her blog on
Lacey’s computer. “Now if I can just get a paying client out of it.”

“You will.” She shut her laptop. “Now
don’t get too settled. You need to get ready before eating.” Lacey looked at
her closely. “You look a little… umm… unkempt.”

Bess scoffed. “That’s one word for it.”

“Amazing sex does that to me. But what’s
the rush? I want my omelet.”

“We’re leaving for Edith’s soon. Bridal shower.
Remember?”

“Oh my God. I forgot!”

“Yeah, and she’s invited all her rich old
friends so that Lacey can get some good gifts. So wearing yesterday’s clothes
and smelling like—” she cleared her throat, “—well, anyway. Just
shower. Okay?”

“Give me a half hour. Don’t put my omelet
on yet, okay?”

Bess gave her a once-over. “We’ll give
you an hour. For once, you need it.”

Jack rolled over on the bed and reached
for his watch.

“What are you doing?” Maeve asked,
snuggled into his blankets and reaching for him.

“I’ve got to set my alarm for tomorrow. I
get up at 4:30 for PT.” After a few beeps, he set it back down. “Tell me that
won’t stop you from spending the night. You can just roll over and go back to
sleep.”

Maeve groaned. Having a body like his had
a price, but she hadn’t considered she might have to pay for it, too. “4:30? You
get up at 4:30 to exercise?”

“’Fraid so.”

“Okay. Waking up at 4:30 is a bit of a
price to pay. You’re going to have to make it worth my while the night before.”

“Believe me. I plan to.”

He slid on top of her body and the warmth
of him penetrated her skin. She kicked the blanket away. Jack was a much more
enjoyable heat source.

“This weekend has been the best I’ve ever
had in Annapolis,” he said with a grin.

“Better than eight years ago?”

“Hard to believe we could top that, but
yes, even better.” His voice was muffled as he dotted a string of kisses from
her chin down to her naval.

Curious, she tilted her head to one side.
“So, where were your better weekends?”

“Huh?”

“You said this was your best weekend in
Annapolis specifically. So, where were the better ones?”

Pulling his head up from her belly, Jack
laughed. “Nothing gets by you, does it?” He lay back, looking thoughtful for a
moment.

“Well?”

“I’m still thinking.” He pressed lips together,
gazing up at the ceiling fan with determination. “Nope. Can’t think of any
other weekends anywhere to top it.”

“And it took you that long to figure it
out?”

He smiled, angling his body over hers,
and kissed her neck. “When I say something, I want to make sure it’s the truth.
I’ll never lie to you.” He lifted the t-shirt she was wearing over her head.
“How about you?”

“Me?” Her voice went up a pitch as he
took her nipple in his mouth.

“What better weekends have you had?” He
cupped a breast in both his hands and suckled gently.

“No fair,” she said, her temperature
rising. “How am I supposed to think when you’re doing that?”

“I have to use what I have to my
advantage.” He moved to her left breast with his mouth while his hand kneaded
the right one.

“Mmmm…” Maeve could feel herself growing
wet and weak. “When Abigail was born,” she finally offered. “Remember how Bess
had been in the hospital a few weeks before that? I don’t think I slept a full
night till she was born. And then, there she was, and I felt this relief that I
can’t even put into words.”

Jack dropped his chin on top of her belly
and raised his eyebrows. “I got beat out by Abigail’s birth?”

“Kind of, but,” she began as he resumed a
downward path of kisses, “it was a completely different kind of wonderful.” Her
voice became low and breathless when his mouth met her mound. “Oh, God. Yes, it
was completely different.” She struggled to keep talking as he toyed with her.
“I had just never experienced that before. You have all your nieces and
nephews. I don’t. My brother won’t ever have kids.”

He looked up at her. “Why not?”

“He says they make too much of a mess. Too
much drool and dribble and noise and smells.”

“Sounds like some of the lines I’ve been
hearing from you for two years.”

 “I probably stole one or two from
him. Yeah.” She stroked his hair as she pressed him closer. “Sorry I lied to
you about all that.”

He didn’t answer for a moment, paying too
much attention to one particularly responsive square inch on her body. Then he
smiled. “I accept your apology, so long as you’ll never lie to me again.”

“Promise.” She gasped, and his fingers
entered her. “Especially if you keep doing things like that.”

“If it makes you feel better,” he
started, moving his fingers in and out of her body, “you never fooled me for a
moment. At least, not since Abby was born.”

“Mmmm.” She murmured, unable to come up
with words.

He eased back up her, gently resting his
hand on her stomach. “I’ll get a key made for you tomorrow so you can come and
go as you please.”

“You don’t need to get me a key. You’re leaving
so soon anyway.” Even saying the words seemed to burn her heart. Either that,
or it was General Tso chicken they had eaten a couple hours ago.

“Yeah, but I want every minute I can with
you, Maeve.” He wound a lock of her hair around one of his fingers and let it
go, seeming entranced by the way it fell onto the pillow. “It’s commissioning
week. Tons to do, but I’d really like you by my side for as much as you can.”

“I’m unemployed, remember? I think I can
fit you in.”

“Good. At least there are some benefits
to being unemployed.”

His hand dropped to her waist, kneading
the skin gently, which seemed to urge her to move her own body flush against
his. She turned to her side, resting her leg on him.

He pulled her even closer. “Tomorrow I’ve
got a couple division award ceremonies I need to attend. Pretty boring stuff. But
at 1:30 they’re doing the Herndon climb. Want to go?”

“What’s the Herndon Climb?”

“Each year, they grease up the Herndon
monument and the mids team up to try to climb it.”

Maeve raised an eyebrow. “And they do
this
why
exactly?”

“To put an officer’s cover on top of it.”

“Cover?”

“A hat, Maeve. A cover is a hat. Geez,
I’ve got to help you get up on these terms. How long have you lived in
Annapolis?”

Maeve lightly smacked him with a pillow. “So,
they climb a greased up monument to put a hat on it? And these are the men who
will be defending our country?”

“It’s symbolic for the end of their time
as plebes. Tradition. It’s fun, Maeve. Lighten up. They go through a lot of
stress for four years.”

Maeve smiled. “I know, I know. I can’t
resist giving you a hard time though.”

“So you want to go?”

“Of course. How can a girl resist the
invitation to watch a bunch of young fit men get greasy and climb on top of
each other? I’ll bring my camera.”

“I knew that would appeal.” He took her
hand and moved it to his arousal, shutting his eyes gratefully as she gripped
him. “There’s a concert nearly every day this week. I’ll get you a schedule and
if there are any you’d like to go to, I’ll take you.”

“Thanks.” She stroked him, hard,
wondering what she would have to do to finally get him to stop talking. His
genius brain was always working, able to do ten things at once. She wanted to
push him as far as she could.

He grinned at the pressure of her hand on
him. “Then the Blue Angels do their air show on Wednesday if you’re up for it.”

She stopped. “God, yes! I’ve never
actually seen it downtown, but even from my neighborhood I see them flying
overhead. I’ve always wanted to see it up close.”

“Best way to see it is on a boat. And I
might be able to arrange for that.” He moved his hand toward hers, urging her
to continue.

“Don’t fill our schedule too much. We
still have a wedding to plan for.”

“We’ll get it done…” his voice trailed
momentarily, his erection thrumming in her hand. “And I get a plus one for the
graduation if you want to go.”

“What’s a plus one?”

“A date. Me, plus one. Don’t civilians
say that, too?”

More determined, she lowered herself down
his body. “I’ve never heard that term before. But I don’t get around much.”

“Yeah, right.” As her lips met his cock, he
sucked in a breath. But he seemed to know the game she was playing with him,
even as she took him deep in her mouth. “It’s pretty damn—” He let out a
moan. “—incredible to see. The graduation. The President will be there. Oh.
My. God.”

She barely lifted her mouth from him to
say, “That good, huh? The graduation, I mean.” She dropped her mouth onto him
again eagerly, glancing upward to see his eyes slam shut.

His fingers rammed into her shoulders
suddenly, lifting her off of him, tossing her on her stomach. “I won’t last
another minute if you keep that up.” He reached for a condom. “Shit. We’re
out.”

His body was behind her, his cock
pressing into her back as he shook the empty box just to be certain.

“Jack, I can’t get pregnant. And I had
myself tested last time I went in for my cancer screening. I haven’t been with
anyone since then.”

“They just tested me at my physical two
weeks ago. I could even show you the paperwork, if you want.”

She laughed. “That’s the first time I’ve
heard that one.” She reached behind her, urging him to press harder against her
backside. “So why not just…?” She didn’t complete the sentence. Just gave a
little shrug in lieu of words.

“You’re sure?” he asked, reaching around
her to find her moist and ready.

“God, yes.”

He bent her at the knees, and moved his
hand to her opening, toying a moment, spreading the moisture around the delicate
folds. From behind, he slid inside her, moving gently and reaching around her
to play with her nub that begged to be touched. He licked his fingers, and then
brought that moisture to her clit, circling it over and over as he thrust into
her depths.

Wanting more, she rose up onto her knees,
her forearms in the pillow. He was still inside of her, stroking her clit
gently between two fingers. “Does that feel good, baby?”

Her mind swirling, she couldn’t even
manage a reply. She wanted more, so much more.
Read my mind, Jack.

He rose up behind her, thrusting harder,
his hands moving up to her breasts, massaging them. Then, grabbing her butt as
he thrust, he squeezed the flesh so hard she cried out. But the only word she
could utter was, “Yes.”

There was something erotic about his body
behind her, unable to see his powerful muscles as he took her, only able to
focus on the granite-hard erection driving inside of her. Deeper and deeper he
took her, reaching her innermost depths, causing her to scream into the pillow
as she came, every nerve on her body writhing, aching, and yet still wanting
more.

He slowed his thrusts as the last quake
shook her. She was pliant now, boneless, enabling him to move her legs around,
lifting one across his chest, until he could face her, with him still hard
inside of her.

“Jack,” she said, as her eyes drank him
in. It was as though she was just remembering how perfect every feature on his
body was. His shoulders, with thick vessels now pulsating against his taut muscles.
Her eyes were drawn to his abs that led a rippled path down him to the point
where they were joined. She gazed at the image a moment, almost feeling it was
surreal—this man, completely consumed by her. He pulled out slowly to his
tip, and stopped, and she watched, entranced, as he slid back inside. Free of a
condom, he was silky and rigid. Long and thick.

“You like to watch,” he observed.

She didn’t answer, only reached for the
exposed part of his cock and traced a finger along it as he slipped inside her
again.

“Oh, baby.”

He kept his back arched, his torso far enough
from her that she could get a full view as he did it again, allowing her to
feel his erection slide out and then back in, as she pressed a finger against
him.

“I can’t hold on much longer,” he said,
quickening his rhythm as she pulled him closer.

“Then don’t,” she whispered as he kissed
her, urging her mouth open with his lips till she could taste him. And still
she wanted more.

Her hands moved to his back, feeling the
muscles tighten and release as he moved his body. Her breath quickened,
matching his, and she watched his eyelids drop, as though he was savoring the
sensation of her body beneath him.

This was heaven, she thought, as her body
responded intuitively to every touch, every thrust, every sensation. Her mind
had lost control, and instinct had taken over, hips rising and falling, back
arching, heart slamming.

The feel of him inside her was so wild
and addictive, she knew she would never be the same.

Giving in, she climbed to a peak of
pleasure. And she came undone, crying out his name only moments before he
spilled himself inside of her with a final thrust. She nearly wept from the feel
of him seeping into her, warm and deep. Another string of spasms took her by
surprise, as though her body were taking every ounce of him inside her,
unwilling to let go.

“Oh…” she moaned. Low and thick, she
could barely recognize her own voice.

He gently moved her to her side, still
inside of her. “Maeve.” He said her name possessively, reverently.

A satisfied smile crept up her face, and
it took a moment before she could form words. Finally, she was able to murmur, “Come
to think of it, I think that weekend Abigail was born is really a close
second.”