The SEAL’s Surprise Baby (9 page)

Melanie ran her finger around the rim of the goblet. “I want you to know that if you find someone else and want out, I’ll understand.”

“I won’t.”

“Excuse me?”

He grinned, took the glass from her and, setting it aside, drew her into his arms. “I thought I was keeping you from finding someone else, too, but I don’t want you looking elsewhere.”

She wouldn’t. She knew that in her heart that very second. “Demands already?”

“I have what I want,” he murmured, his gaze lowering to her mouth. “Can you say you’re satisfied?”

She threw her arms around his neck. “Ask me in the morning.”

His smile grew wider by the second. “That’s what I love about you, Melanie—you never say what I expect.”

“What are you expecting? And if you say nothing, I’ll know you’re fibbing.”

He met her gaze steadily. “Fidelity, honesty and your trust.”

Both realized he didn’t say love, yet neither acknowledged it.

“Two out of three?”

He settled his arms more comfortably around her. “I know you trust me. You just don’t want to admit it.”

Cocky, isn’t he, she thought. “How would you know?”

“You wouldn’t have married me if you didn’t trust me a little. And I know you wouldn’t have let me get this close to you again, either,” he said, and laid his mouth over hers.

Melanie felt something inside her unwind, go loose and languid, then wrap around him. Ribbons of desire slid along her body with every second he kissed her. It was slow and tender at first. He molded and toyed, nipped and licked, playful and patient, and when she thought she couldn’t draw in air fast enough, he moved to her throat. He kissed the base of her throat, slid his tongue lower, and she felt the sudden exquisite rush he gave her splinter over her. Her arms slipped from his neck and she palmed his chest, wanting his hold to tighten, to be stronger. Because she’d been alone for so long. Because she’d missed this man. Only this man. It was like finding safety and contentment in his arms, as if it had been stripped from her when he left that day, and only now was she allowed to let the feelings back into her heart.

His touch weakened her and she loved it. The strap
slid off her shoulder, and her zipper was slowly undone, the snug bodice easing from her.

“It’s been eating at me all night.”

“Oh, yeah, what’s that?” She tipped her head back as his mouth made a damp path over the swells of her breasts.

“Wondering what you’ve got under this gown.”

“Not much.”

He groaned. “Every time I saw you go to work, I knew there was something completely feminine underneath your business suits.”

She laughed. “Is that so?”

“Yeah, my imagination would be a good weapon of torture.” Jack leaned back, anticipation rocketing through him and making his fingers ache. The bodice gaped and Melanie wiggled. The satin fabric whispered down her body to her ankles.

Jack swallowed. “My imagination didn’t come close.”

She smiled, lifting the gown from the balcony floor and tossing it onto a lounge chair. There was something decadent about being on a balcony in nothing but her lingerie, she thought.

And even more decadent with Jack eating her alive with his eyes.

“Man, oh man.” His hand coasted up her side, over her iridescent lavender stockings, the thin strap of her thong. Her breasts were cupped in the sheerest fabric edged in lace. He met her gaze. “I’m done for.”

“Liar, you never give up. And is that any way for a SEAL to behave?” she said, tugging his T-shirt from his trousers and backing him into the room. She
peeled his shirt off over his head, flinging it aside with a smile too seductive for words.

Jack’s mouth went dry. He’d wanted her for so long, had wanted her nightly for a year and a half. The last person he’d made love to was Melanie. The last person she’d touched like this was him. And until he died she would be the only woman he would love. Jack stilled and looked into her eyes.

Her brows knitted ever so slightly, her gaze probing. Suddenly he cupped her face in his palms and kissed her, long and leisurely. Melanie felt it, the tender mercy of it, the electricity they’d always shared tempered with something new.

“Jack.”

“You’re mine, Melanie. Mine.”

There was something in the way he said those words, something so possessive, so certain that it left her shaking. Then she realized he was trembling a little.

“I want you,” he said. “All night, all day, forever.”

Melanie swallowed thickly, feeling confused and cherished and needed all in the same breath. She could feel his heart beat, hear his erratic breathing that matched her own and knew this moment had changed something in him.

Jack reached to pull her close, but she batted his hands aside and tugged at his belt buckle. Her smile was feline wicked and her gaze never left his as she opened the buckle slowly, kissing his mouth, his throat, bending a bit to lave his nipple. The air hissed out of him between clenched teeth.

Then her hand dipped inside his trousers, closing
over him. He growled, his fingertips digging into her waist, his body aching for her in every cell, every pore.

Melanie watched the play of emotions skip over his features, felt his shuddering breath vibrate down to the floor. His hands were busy, drawing her against him, forcing her to release him and hold on. He cupped her breast and she moaned in response, touching him everywhere. He bent and hooked a finger in the cup of her bra, pulling the sheer fabric down. Her nipple spilled into the heat of his mouth, and he bent her back over his arm. He suckled warmly, his touch growing stronger, then easing, stronger, then delicate.

It drove her wild and she plowed her fingers into his hair, crying out, holding him close. “Oh, Jack.”

He cupped her buttocks, pulling her against his heat, then his fingers slipped beneath the band of the thong, following the line of it curving her hip and lower, then pushing it aside. He slipped a finger between her legs and she gasped over and over.

He absorbed each sound, his groin tightening. She mewed softly and he kept stroking her as he laid her on the bed, hovering over her.

Melanie felt everything in her yank and twist, the pulse hot and quick with lush desire. “Oh, Jack, not yet.”

“Look at me,” he growled, and she did. “We’re just starting. Don’t you remember, baby? We were never done when I had to leave last time.” His motions quickened and he watched her eyes flare, her body erupt with her climax. Her muscles flexed and clawed and a little shriek escaped her as she bowed
back, rocked against his hand and took her pleasure. She cried out his name again and again, and it made him smile.

He kissed her gently and she sank into the bed boneless. “Catch your breath fast, baby. I mean to have more of you.”

She managed to lift her head off the bed and look at him, but he was already in command. He hooked her panties and pulled them off, mapping the contours of her legs with his lips and teeth, gently nipping at her calf, her thigh and higher. He rolled the stockings down, tasting each inch of flesh revealed, then with her leg propped on his shoulder, he stripped off his trousers.

Melanie let her gaze lower over him as he kicked the white slacks aside. He was a wall of muscle, a warrior, his waist lean, his abs rippled with definition. Just to look at him made her body quiver with want. To touch, to taste.

Jack watched her look and felt himself harden to near painful proportions. She was open to him, bare and uninhibited. She had no fears, only need in her green eyes, and when she clapped her legs around his waist and drew him down, he wanted only to give her pleasure, to make her as delirious as she was making him.

His arousal brushed her center and she arched, the move hungry with demand. But he didn’t give her what she craved, and laid a moist path over her mouth, her cheek, down her throat.

“I want you now,” she moaned.

“Did I ever tell you that in training we have to stand in the water for twelve hours in the dark?” he
said casually, then his lips closed over her nipple and he drew it deeply into his mouth.

“No. Ahh, Jack.”

“I love it when you say my name like that.” He tasted her other nipple, feeling her writhe with each pass of his tongue. “We learned patience.” He slid lower, taking his time tasting her soft, smooth skin. “No food, no water, but we can see it. It’s on the shore. It makes the need worse. To see it, smell it and not be able to have it. So your patience has to be greater than your need.”

“Yeah, I…oh, yes…”

He kissed her belly, then slid lower. Running his hands under her spine, down her buttocks, the backs of her thighs, he nipped and licked, his mouth circling her abdomen, yet never touching where she craved. “The feast is in plain sight and we can’t have it.”

“Uh-huh.” She knew she should be paying attention, but it was useless. Her thoughts were swimming in pleasure, her nerves and body tingling with anticipation. His mouth passed over her skin, leaving a burning trail of want, for more, much more. She could scarcely breathe. And why was he even talking?

He smiled, knowing she wasn’t listening and wondering how he could get the words out when his need to feel her body trap his had his blood pounding like an engine. Her fingers balled in the bedspread, and her hips rose in invitation.

“Well.” The heat of his words breezed over her liquid center. “I was never very good at it,” he said, then tasted her.

She came unglued for him. It was what he adored about her. She never held back. He laved and stroked her, his movements languid and succulent. She gasped his name over and over, told him how good she felt, that she wanted him inside her, and her erotic words nearly undid him.

He pushed her thigh farther over his shoulder and drove deeper, letting her come to the edge of rapture, then slowing and taking her up the peak again.

“Jack,” she screamed, and he rose up.

She labored for air, wrapping her limbs around him. “Now, Jack, please.”

“Yes,” he said softly. “Now.”

He lifted her farther onto the bed and shifted between her thighs. Braced above her, he met her gaze.

Melanie went still, her nerve endings exposed. Her heart exposed. She’d wanted this for so long, and gazing up at him, she reached between them and closed her fingers around his arousal.

Then she let the silken tip of him slide against her.

“Melanie, honey.”

She smiled like a cat and guided him. He sank into her slowly and she watched his muscles tighten, his head drop back for a second or two. His entire body flexed as he pushed and filled her completely.

“Mine,” she said, and moved, her hip retreating. He plunged. “Don’t you forget it.” Her voice cracked and she pushed harder against him, demanding, claiming.

He met her tempo, a smooth cadence heightening their pleasure with each stroke. Jack felt it climb up his spine, shatter his will. She touched his face, kissed his mouth, his chin. Jack grabbed the head
board, leveling himself, watching her as he left and plunged into her body. She stretched beneath him, long and willowy, utterly feminine in her passion. He was aware of her every nuance, every movement and sound she made. Yet it was the tears in her eyes that snagged his soul and tore through his heart.

He called her name, his chest vised with tenderness. Desire slapped at them like waves, splashing over them. The slick folds of her gripped him, drew him back.

Pleasure,
it beat.
Love is here,
it whispered.

Soft and womanly, she yielded to his strength, his power.

Bronze captured in a delicate pearl, he was her prisoner.

Their passion was like a living thing, curling around them, simmering on the edge of their skin. It throbbed from one to the other, twisting until they were more one being, than simply two joined. He held her gaze, never breaking eye contact, never ceasing his movements.

Then he lowered onto her.

“I need you,” she whispered, and her voice caught. “I need you for more than this, Jack.”

His throat thickened, and he knew what she couldn’t say. He felt it. In his bones. Then exquisite heat rolled up his body, into her and exploded. It blinded him with its power, and he thrust hard. She cried out, bowing like a silken ribbon beneath him, and he pushed and pushed, shoving her higher on the bed as their climax dragged them over the edge of rapture, and kept on dragging. It razored through him and into her, ripping out on a soft groan.

Desire suspended between them, a silent thread of a moment. Fused to her, Jack buried his face in the curve of her shoulder and held on tightly. Passion wouldn’t let him go.

When it began to fade, when he thought there would be nothing left of him but ashes, Jack knew his heart had left him somewhere, and he prayed it landed inside hers.

H
e smoothed her hair back from her face and kissed her deeply, with as much fervor as before, with a devouring hunger that lent itself to the side of demand.

She responded instantly. She didn’t have a choice; he owned her desire. Possessed her when she hadn’t thought she wanted to be possessed so strongly. But she did, she was, and when he rolled to his back, taking her with him, Melanie lay draped over him and sighing with satisfaction.

They didn’t speak, still catching their breaths, yet he palmed her spine, her buttocks, in a slow roam. She lifted her head, then folded her arms on his chest, propping her chin there. His expression was serene, his eyes closed.

She wanted to tell him what she was feeling, but
she just wasn’t sure. And she wasn’t ready to commit her heart so deeply, though she already knew she’d taken a tumble when Jack walked back into her life. Now he was in her bed again, making her feel much more than before, and she wanted him to know how much of a woman she was with him, but she decided that he already knew. He was the only man who could make her rip apart with her desire and still want more.

He opened his eyes. “Hi.”

She smiled. “Hi yourself, Lieutenant.”

He squeezed her buttocks. “I’m almost afraid to hear what you have to say.”

“I’m not talking myself out of anything, Jack.” She inched up, running her tongue over the seam of his mouth before she kissed him.

He groaned, trapping her in his arms.

“We’re amazing together, aren’t we?” she said, and he shifted them to the side, running his hand over the curve of her hip.

“Oh, yeah.”

“So what happened when you stayed in the water for hours?”

He cocked a look at her, amused. “I didn’t think you were listening.”

“I wasn’t, but that much I caught.”

“We finally got to come in and we ate the leftovers from the previous meal out of the trash can.”

“Eww,” she said, sitting up. “That’s disgusting.”

“All a matter of survival, darlin’. You’re hungry, you eat what’s there.” From his position, her bare breast was too much of a temptation. He tipped his head and took her nipple deep into his mouth.

Her sharp indrawn breath filled the room, followed by a low throaty moan. Melanie knew she was moaning. It was hard not to be vocal when Jack touched her like this. He cupped her breasts, kneading them as he sucked, the pull sending spirals of sweet sensation out to her fingertips.

Her toes curled.

Only him, she thought, scrubbing her hands over his chest and then lower. The muscles of his stomach flinched and she smiled to herself. He nuzzled between her breasts and Melanie shifted lower, leaving hot grinding kisses in her wake. His breathing labored, his grip on her tightened.

“Melanie.”

She met his gaze, stroking his stomach, her hand gliding over his skin, then slowly closing her fingers around his arousal. He was already hard. She arched a brow.

He just shrugged and grinned. “It’s a perpetual state with you around.”

Then she bent and licked. He howled and she took him.

“Oh!”

Jack was helpless. Sinking fast and furiously into the sensations rushing and churning inside him. His body reeled in ten directions at once. His hands fisted in the sheets. His blood shimmered in his veins and rushed to collect where she touched. She tasted. He couldn’t stand it. He
wanted
to stand it, but he was almost embarrassingly powerless.

He grasped her under her arms and pulled her upward. “We better do something about that,” he growled. “Now.”

“Thought I was.” Melanie smiled as she straddled his hips. He didn’t give her a second to breathe, pushing into her and bucking. She laughed and spread her hands over his chest, riding him, rocking hard and watching his face. He rose up, pulling her legs around him, then quickening their motion. Gazes met and locked as their bodies beat a frantic rhythm.

Sweat trickled, damp flesh melted. She gripped his shoulders as he pushed and pushed.

“You are so hot,” he said against her mouth. And she told him what he did to her, what he felt like inside her, thick and pulsing. It fueled him and he tossed her on her back and thrust harder, faster, and she laughed and begged for more. He sent her across the bed and they fell to the floor, never stopping. Groping, pushing, filling.

Then the shock came. Like a savage beast, their climaxes roared through them, pulses pounding. Blood boiling and spilling back into their hearts.

“Melanie,” he chanted over and over as they fused, smiling as his body poured into hers. He shuddered hard and she trembled with the power of it. He went slack, sapped of energy, and he sank onto her for a second, then knowing his weight was crushing her, shifted to his side.

“Hoo-yah,” he groaned into the bend of her throat.

She laughed between gasps for breath. “Go Navy.”

He burst into laughter, then kissed her into another mindless puddle of desire.

Eventually they made it back into the bed.

Jack belted his robe, running his fingers through his damp hair and staring down at Melanie. On her stomach, a pillow tucked close, the sheet draped her behind and nothing else. His gaze moved over her long hair, down her slender spine. The legs that had trapped him to her last night. He smiled and shook his head, amazed and pleased. Hell, more than pleased. But then, he’d known it would be like that. Tender, wild and all over the place.

Beyond the windows the sun rose over the river, and he took the cordless phone and moved out onto the balcony where he’d set up their room-service table. He smiled. He’d refused to let the bellman inside. He wanted no interruptions, nothing to disturb these moments alone. Reality would show itself soon enough.

His gaze on her, he dialed her house, waiting for her mother to answer. Melanie would be anxious to know how Juliana fared without her. He was not anxious to know how either of his women would fare without him. But his time was growing short, his leave was almost over. His country, he knew, would soon call.

Melanie sat up sharply, confused, and when she realized she didn’t have a baby to care for, she sank back into the bed. She stretched, taking a refreshing breath, and realized she was alone. Quickly she scanned the room and found Jack. Her heart did a little leap and she tossed the covers aside. He was already sitting on the balcony, reading the paper and sipping coffee, and when she walked near, he looked up and smiled.

“Now that’s a pleasant sight in the morning.”

She smiled and reached for her robe.

“Damn.”

“I don’t think the town is ready for nudist dining.”

He smiled and she sat beside him. He poured her a cup of coffee, and she tipped her head back, enjoying the warmth of the morning sun.

“What shall we do today?”

“I need to call Mom.”

“Already done. The princess is, as we speak, being whisked away to the park, then the beach and then shopping.”

Melanie smiled, trying to not miss her child and to focus on Jack. “Did you have something in mind to do today?”

He gave her a velvety look.

“Besides that.” Last night they’d played and explored and discovered. And Melanie thought, he’s not running off to some mission. I can still get him near for a while.

“Sailing, a tour?” He hesitated. “Shopping?”

She laughed. He looked utterly horrified at the possibility. “I wouldn’t dream of forcing you to shop. Besides, I really don’t need anything.”

“Considering your gender, that’s a first.”

She nudged him. “Chauvinist.”

Jack smiled, and his heart did a little lurch when she brushed her hair back and the sun glittered off the diamonds on her hand. The last time he’d made love to her, he’d slipped out in the early morning and headed to Asia. He never forgot about her. Too many times to count he recalled being on ship in his bunk
and wondering what she was doing, if she’d forgotten about him. She was in his blood.

Now she was his wife. She wore his ring and he wore hers. He looked down at the ring she’d placed on his finger during the ceremony, the simple band of gold meaning more to him than he thought possible. Forever, he thought, and met her gaze. She was watching him.

“You can’t wear that on missions, can you?”

“No. No identifying marks. Does that bother you?”

“No, I wouldn’t want you to get hurt because of a ring and I don’t believe a ring makes you married. It’s more than that.” She sipped her coffee, breaking off a piece of a muffin and popping it into her mouth.

“Keep going.”

She glanced at him, then looked out over the water. “It’s commitment, compassion, honesty. Trust. Those things are marked with a ceremony and a ring, but they don’t make them happen. I learned that the hard way.”

He caught her chin, pressing his lips to hers, then pulling back enough to say, “School’s over, baby.”

Her eyes teared and she touched the side of his face, falling into his kiss. “I know.” Her voice wavered. “I really know that.” She searched his features and Jack saw her uncertainty, saw the fears.

“Talk to me.”

“I don’t want to let you down, Jack. You’ve done so much.”

He tipped her face up. “Hey, this isn’t about who does more, Melanie. I’m getting all the benefits—a wife, a daughter…a friend.”

“You haven’t mentioned lover.”

He smiled.

“Kiss me again, Lieutenant.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Boy, did he. Melanie felt her insides yank tight the instant his mouth touched hers.

“I’ll want to do that forever,” he whispered against her mouth and pulled her onto his lap.

Melanie sank into him. Forever. It was the same for her. She knew she wouldn’t have agreed to marriage if she wasn’t sure there was more than sex and a baby between them. She couldn’t admit to herself that she loved him. Not yet. Trust was coming, but her heart had tricked her badly before. She would have sworn she loved her fiancés, but this was so different. Jack was different, strong, patient, powerful.

Did she have to choose badly twice before she chose wisely? she wondered when Jack’s hand worked inside her robe and her train of thought disintegrated. He palmed her breast, whispering how soft she was, how he loved just holding her.

“You’re more than holding, Singer, and you best stop or get busy,” she teased, and he grinned and his hand shot downward between her thighs. He nudged them apart and pushed two fingers inside her.

She choked.

“Busy enough?”

“Oh, yeah,” she moaned, curling toward him as he stroked her to incredible passion. Her hips rocked and Jack stood, carrying her into the bedroom and setting her on the bed.

Melanie was on fire and she tore at her sash and
flung her robe open. “Hurry,” she said. “Right now, Jack.”

He tore off his robe, his arousal full and throbbing. “Aye, aye, ma’am,” he growled. Lowering himself and spreading her thighs, he pushed into her.

“Oh, Jack.” She dragged his name out, long and soulful, as he plunged and plunged, cupping her buttocks and lifting her to greet him.

There was nothing gentle in their lovemaking, only a frantic passion that overtook them in seconds. They clawed and dug at each other as they met and parted. Bodies didn’t sheathe, they captured. Kisses were deep and hard and devouring. The crest rose with each thrust, and when Jack thought he’d hurt her, she’d demand more. He gave it, wanting this pleasure only with her. It was never typical, each touch seemed to be fresh and new and yet familiar. He plunged maddeningly deep and she locked her legs around him as they reached the summit and grabbed for more.

The explosion ripped a cry from her. Jack bit his lip to keep from screaming like a fool as pleasure erupted in savage demand. His legs and arms trembled as shudder after shudder razored through his body.

And when it subsided, when they were limp and sated, Melanie laughed.

He lifted his head to stare down at her. “You laugh? Laugh when I can barely breathe?”

“No, I laughed because I remembered why I went to the hotel room with you in the first place.”

“My charm?”

“I knew it would be mind-blowing exciting.”

He rolled off her and lay on his back. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“Don’t. Your ego is large enough.” She stood and he watched her cross the room to the bath, his gaze on her behind. A second later he heard the shower running.

“Hey, Singer,” she called. “You waiting for an invitation or what?”

Air. He was waiting for breathing to come easily again, he thought, smiling as he pushed off the bed, crossed the room, then pushed open the door. Through the clear glass he saw her in the shower, wet and soapy. All she did was arch a brow and run that sponge over her breasts, and he was ready for her again.

He stepped under the spray and murmured, “You’re going to kill me, woman.” Then pushed her up against the tile wall and loved her again.

Melanie stared out the window into her backyard, watching her father inspect Jack’s handiwork on the castle-style gym he’d built for Juliana. The two men hit it off famously, sharing some secret bond. Her father had told her already that he thought Jack was more than a good choice for her, but he didn’t elaborate on what the “more than” meant. She wondered how shocked her father would be that she and her new husband had been romping all over the place, buck naked till the wee hours.

Smiling privately, she watched Jack and her father inspect a joist. Jack’s father, David, had passed away two years ago, which was the reason Jack had escorted his little sister down the aisle at her wedding,
but she learned that David had been a wonderful, calm man. She suspected Jack got that from him.

“You don’t know what to do with yourself, do you, honey,” her mother said, and Melanie glanced back over her shoulder. Jack’s mother and hers were sharing Juliana like a great prize. The baby was in Grandma heaven.

“Both of you are going to spoil Juliana so badly I’ll be tearing my hair out when you’re not here.”

“Grandmas’ privilege,” Laura, Jack’s mother, said. “We get to have all the fun and none of the work.” With that, Laura handed Juliana a biscuit. “Do you have any chocolate?” she teased.