The SEAL's Secret Heirs (5 page)

Ouch
. That was the kicker. No matter what else, Kyle and this kid had a bond that could never be broken.

Kyle simply held out his hand and waited until Johnny grasped it. “That's a shame. I'm sorry for your loss. I stood in for great fallen men like your dad and helped continue the job he started. I'm proud I got to follow in his footsteps.”

The younger man shook his hand solemnly, and then there was nothing more to say. Some things didn't need words.

* * *

Kyle hit the shower when he got back to the house. When he emerged, Liam and Hadley asked if they could take the babies for a walk in their double stroller before dinner, and would he like to come?

A walk. They might as well have asked if he'd like to fly. He'd have a hard time with a crawl at this point. After the fishhooks Johnny had sunk into his heart, he'd rather be alone anyway, though it killed him to be unable to do something as simple as push his daughters in a stroller. He waved Liam and his new wife off with a smile, hoped it came across as sincere and limped into the family room to watch something inane on TV.

There was a halfway decent World War II documentary on the History Channel that caught his interest. He watched it for a few minutes until the doorbell rang.

“That was fast,” he said as he yanked open the door with a grin he'd dare anyone to guess was fake, expecting to see Liam and Hadley with chagrined expressions because they'd forgotten their key.

But it was Grace. Beautiful, fresh-faced Grace, who stood on the porch with clasped hands, long brown hair down her back, wearing a long-sleeved sweater with formfitting jeans. It was a hard to peel his eyes from her. But he did. Somehow.

“Hey, Kyle,” she said simply.

His smile became real instantly. Why, he couldn't say. Grace was still a bundle of trouble tied up with a big old impossible knot. But where was the fun in leaving a tangle alone?

They'd agreed to forget about the past and start over. But they hadn't fully established what they were starting, at least not to his satisfaction. Maybe now would be a good time to get that straight.

“Hey, Grace.” He crossed his arms and leaned on the door frame, cocking his busted leg to take the weight off. “What can I do for you?”

The sun shone behind her, close to setting for the day, spilling fiery reds and yellows into the deep crevices of the sky. As backdrops went, it wasn't half-bad. But it wasn't nearly as spectacular as the woman.

“We had an appointment. Earlier.”

Kyle swore. He'd totally forgotten. Wasn't that just dandy? Made him look like a stellar father to blow off his daughters' caseworker.

Fix it
. He needed Grace's good favor.

“But you were off doing cowboy things,” she continued. Her voice had grown a little breathy as if she'd run to the door from her car. But the scant distance between here and there sure didn't account for the pink spreading through her cheeks.

“Yep. Someone advised me I might want to find permanent employment if I hoped to be a daddy to my girls. Sorry I missed you.” He raised a brow. “But it's mighty accommodating of you to reschedule, considering. 'Preciate it.”

Good thing she hadn't wandered down to the barn so she could witness firsthand his impressive debut as the boss.

“No problem,” she allowed. “I have to do the requisite number of site visits before I make my recommendations and I do want to be thorough.”

Maybe there was room to get her mind off her recommendations and on to something a little more pleasant.
Before
she made any snap judgments about his ability to recall a small thing like an appointment with the person who had the most power to screw up his life. Well, actually, Grace was probably second, behind Kyle—if there was anyone who got the honor of being an A1 screwup thus far in this custody issue, it was him.

“Why don't we sit for a minute?” He gestured to the porch rocker to the left of the front door, which had a great view of the sunset. Might as well put Liam's revamp of the house to good use, and do some reconnaissance at the same time. Grace had to provide a report with her recommendations. He got that. But he wanted to know more about the woman providing the report than anything else at this moment.

“Oh.” She glanced at the rocker and then over his shoulder into the interior of the house. “It would probably be best if I watched you interact with the girls again. Like yesterday. That's the quickest way for me to see what kind of environment you'll provide.”

“That would be great. Except they aren't here. Liam and Hadley took them for a walk before dinner.” Quickly, before she could ask why he hadn't joined them, he held up a finger as if a brilliant idea had just occurred to him. “Why don't you stay and eat with us? You can see how the Wade family handles meals. Meanwhile, we can hang out on the porch and wait for them to get back.”

“Um...”

He closed the front door and hustled her over to the bench seat with a palm to the small of her back. To be fair, she didn't resist too much and willingly sank into the rocker, but as soon as he sat next to her, it became clear that
he
should have been the one resisting.

The essence of Grace spilled over him as they got cozy in the two-seater. It was too small for someone his size and their hips snugged up against each other. The contact burned through his jeans, sensitizing his skin, and as he tried to ease off a bit, his foot hit the porch board and set the rocker in motion. Which only knocked her against him more firmly so that her amazing breasts grazed his arm.

Actually, the rocker was exactly the right size for Kyle and Grace. Sitting in it with her might have been the best idea he'd ever had in his life.

Her fresh, spring-like scent wound through his head. They'd sat like this at her mama's house, but in the living room while pretending to watch TV on a Saturday night. It passed for a date in a place like Royal, where teenagers could either get in trouble sneaking around the football stadium with filched beer or hang out under the watchful eye of the folks. Usually Kyle and Grace had opted for the latter, at least until her parents went to bed. Then they got down to some serious making out.

He'd never been as affected by a woman as he'd been by this one. Even just a kiss could knock him for a loop. The memories of how good it had been washed through him, blasting away some of the darkness that had taken over inside. She'd always been so eager. So pliant under his mouth.

All at once, he wondered if she still tasted the same, like innocence laced with a warm breeze.

“Grace,” he murmured. Somehow his arm had snaked across the back of the rocker, closing the small gap between them.

Grace's brown eyes peeked out underneath her lashes as she watched him for a moment. Maybe she was wondering the same. If that spark would still be there after all this time.

“How long will it be until Liam and Hadley are back with the girls?” she asked, her voice low.

“Later. Don't worry. We won't miss them.”

“I, uh...wasn't worried.”

She licked her lips, drawing his attention to her mouth, and suddenly that was all he could see. All he could think about. Her lips had filled out, along with the rest of her face. She'd grown into a woman while he'd been away, with some interesting new experiences shining in her eyes.

All at once, he wanted to know what they were.

“I've been wondering,” he said. “Why did you become a social worker? I seem to recall you wanted to be a schoolteacher way back.”

That was not what he'd meant to ask. But she lit up at the question. And the sunset? Not even a blip in his consciousness. Her face had all the warmth a man would ever need.

“I did. Want to,” she clarified. “That's what I majored in. But I went to do my student teaching and something just didn't work right. The students weren't the problem. Oh, they were a bit unruly but they were fourth graders. You gotta expect some ants in the pants. It was me. There was no...click. You know what I mean?”

“Yeah.” He nodded immediately. Like when he hit his stride in BUD/S training on the second day and knew he'd found his place in the world. “Then what happened?”

“I volunteered some places for a while. Tried to get my feet under me, looking for that click. Then my mom calls me and says a friend of hers needs a receptionist because the girl in the job is going out on maternity leave. Would I do her a huge favor for three months?”

As she talked, she waved her hands, dipping and shaping the air, and he found himself smiling along with her as she recounted the story. Smiling and calculating exactly what it would take to get one of those hands on his body somewhere. He wasn't picky—not yet.

“Turns out Sheila, my mom's friend, runs an adoption agency. She's been a huge mentor to me and really helped me figure out what I wanted to do with my life. See, I love children, but I don't like teaching them. I do like helping them, though. I ended up staying at the agency for four years in various roles while I got my master's degree at night.”

“You have a master's degree?” That revelation managed to get his attention off her mouth for a brief second. Not that he was shocked—she'd always been a great student. It was just one more layer to this woman that he didn't know nearly well enough.

“Yep.” She nodded slowly. “The county requires it.”

“That's great.”

“What about you? I know you went into the military but that's about it. You went into the navy, Liam said.”

“I did.” He shifted uncomfortably, as he did any time his years in Afghanistan came up among civilians. The top secret nature of virtually every blessed op he'd completed was so ingrained, it was hard to have a regular conversation with anyone outside of his team. “Special operations. It's not as glamorous as the media makes it out to be. I sweated a lot, got really dirty and learned how to survive in just about any conditions. Meanwhile, I followed orders and occasionally gave a few. And now I'm home.”

Something flashed deep in her eyes and she reached out. Her palm landed on his bare forearm, just below the rolled-up sleeve of his work shirt. “It doesn't sound glamorous. It sounds lonely.”

“It was,” he mumbled before he'd realized it. Shouldn't have admitted that. It smacked of weakness.

“I'm sorry.” Her sympathy swept along his nerve endings, burying itself under his skin. The place she'd always been.

The place he'd always let her be. Because she soothed him and eased his loneliness. Always had. Looked as if for all the things that had changed, that was one constant, and he latched on to it greedily.

“It's over now.”

His arm still stretched across the back of the seat. The slightest shift nestled her deeper against him and a strand of her glossy hair fell against her cheek. He wasted no time capturing it between his fingers, brushing it aside, and then letting his fingers linger.

Their gazes met and held for an eternity. A wealth of emotions swirled in her eyes.

Her skin was smooth and warm under his touch. She tilted her face toward his fingers, just a fraction of a movement. Just enough to tell him she wasn't about to push him away.

He slid his fingers more firmly under her chin and lifted it. And then those amazing lips of hers were within claiming distance. So he claimed them.

Grace opened beneath his mouth with a gasp, sucking him under instantly. Their mouths aligned, fitting together so perfectly, as if she'd been fashioned by the Almighty specifically for Kyle Wade. He'd always thought that. How was that still true?

The kiss deepened without any help on his part. He couldn't have said his own name as something raw and elemental exploded in his chest.
Grace
. The feel of her—like home and everything that was good in the world, blended together and infused into the essence of this woman.

He wanted more. And he couldn't have stopped himself from taking it.

Threading both hands through her hair, he cupped her head and changed the angle, plunging into the sensation. Taking her along with him. She moaned in her chest, and answering vibrations rocked his.

She clung to him, her hands gripping his shoulders as if she never wanted to let go. Which was great, because he didn't want her to.

Her sweet taste flowed across his tongue as he twined it with hers, greedily soaking up everything she was offering. It had been so long since he'd
felt
. Since he'd allowed himself to be so open. Hell, he hadn't
allowed
anything. She'd burrowed into his very core with nothing more than a kiss, and he'd had little to say about it.

And then she was gone. Ripped away.

She bolted from the rocker, her chest rising and falling as she hugged the split-pine railing surrounding the porch with her back. “I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that.”

“But you did.” Ruthlessly, he shut down all the things she'd stirred up inside, since it appeared as if she wasn't up for seconds.

“I got caught up. That can't happen again.”

Her expression glittered with undisguised longing, and no, he hadn't imagined that she'd welcomed his kiss. That she'd leaned into his touch and begged for more. So why was she stopping?

“I heartily disagree.” He smiled, but it almost hurt to paint it on when his entire body was on fire. And this woman was the only one who could quench the flames. “It's practically a requirement for it to happen again.”

“Are you that clueless, Kyle?”

Clueless
. Yeah, he needed to catch a couple of clues apparently, like the big screaming back-off vibes Grace was shooting in his direction.

“I'm your daughters' caseworker,” she reminded him with raised eyebrows. “We can't get involved.”

His body cooled faster than if she'd dumped a bucket of ice water on his head. “You're right.”