Harrier's Healer (4 page)

for her help on it.” His eyes dared the men to say anything to dispute

him.

Clearing their throats, the police looked at the five young men

also in the room and the smaller one, Officer Petrasla, nodded his head

at them. “What are they doing here?”

Fists clenching, Alexis took a step forward. “They have every

right to be here. They were here last night. This is my cousin and his

friends. Are you implying something, now?” Her tone had grown cold.

It was a simple action by Scott, reaching out and touching her

shoulder, but it halted her forward movement. “I’m sure,” he drawled,

“that these officers wouldn’t insinuate anything when it is obvious that

I am not the man they are looking for and the young men here are not

doing a single thing wrong.”

Officer Johnson got the hint and shrugged. “Well, if you see him,

Ms. Rogets, please give us a call.” He grabbed his partner’s arm and led

him back out the screen door and down to the patrol car.

“What made them come here?” Scott asked once the officers

were gone.

“They always come here. I don’t always know them but the of-

ficers always know me.” Alexis looked at the young men in her house.

“Well, come on then. Breakfast is ready. Put your things away and get

into the kitchen. I have better things to do today than baby-sit you

bunch of ragamuffins,” she huffed even as she winked at them.

“We love you, too, Lex,” the group said as one before they head-

ed for their sleeping bags to put them back in the hall closet.

She grumbled and walked off, just expecting that Scott would

follow her. “Well, get yourself some breakfast, Commander, unless it

isn’t your kind of food.”

Scott looked at the sideboard that teemed with steaming food. It

looked like enough to feed an army, or at least his SEAL team. His

stomach growled as the intoxicating aromas filled his nose.

“Go on, if you want any. Better get it before they get here.” Alex-

is nodded toward the stack of plates.

“And you?” His question fell as he reached for a plate, trying to

hand it to her.

“No, I already ate.”
She shuffled away from him.

His eyes moved slowly up and down her body. “Really?” he

asked doubtfully.

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19

“I snacked while I made breakfast.” The noise from the boys

grew louder.

“Don’t you know I know you are lying to me? Trust me; I like a

woman who’s willing to eat in front of me. Are you back to being

scared, Alexis?” he challenged.

She snatched a plate and before she could say a word, he inter-

jected, “Or did you need a good morning kiss?” His mouth was right

next to her ear.

He felt her shiver. “I don’t think so,” she managed to mutter.

“I do.” His arm snaked around her waist, spinning her towards

his body…and his mouth. Unlike their first kiss on the carrier, this one

was gentle. A learning kiss. Scott slipped his tongue into her mouth and

stroked it against her own. It was a slow, drugging kiss that left him

shaking in his sneakers.

Time stood still for the two as they were locked in an embrace.

Scott had one arm around her and her one free arm slowly made its

way around his lean waist.

“Uh-hmmm,” came the interruption. “Lex, what the hell is Cas-

per doing sucking on your face?”

They moved slowly apart, like snails in winter. Scott drew her

bottom lip into his mouth as they separated, keeping her close for a

moment longer. “I love how you taste,” he whispered as he released

her.

“Eat your breakfast, Jay.” Her chest heaved as she moved to-

wards the food herself.

“And Casper here?”

“Why do you keep calling me that?” Scott asked.

“Have you noticed your skin color, man?” Jay snapped, taking

his plate and making it so Scott couldn’t stand next to Lex.

“I get it, Casper, as in the ghost, the
Friendly
Ghost.” He moved

to the other side of Alexis and ignored the warning glare from her

pintsized bodyguard.

“Man, I don’t want your lips anywhere near Lex,” Jay threat-

ened.

Setting down his plate beside the seat that Alexis had taken,

Scott sat down and pinned the young man with a purposefully bland

stare. “My relationship with Alexis is not any of your concern.”

“Jay, sit down,” she interjected quickly. “Commander Leighton

and I don’t have a relationship other than a working one. What you saw

was a mistake and it won’t be happening again,” Alexis said firmly.

20

Aliyah Burke

Like hell it won’t be happening again.
“There you have it.” Scott

sent Alexis a small shake of his head before dropping it and digging

into his breakfast with relish. The relationship was too new for him to

hash things out with a young man who wanted to protect her.

As the rest of the group sat down at her long table to eat, talk

was turned towards Alexis and her plans for the day. “What gives you

boys the right to think you can run my life?” she asked the young men.

“We’re family,” they responded as one.

“And, yet, you don’t stay out of trouble. I can’t help you out

next time. You know that, don’t you?” Her tawny gaze pinned each and

every young man there.

“Yes, Lex. We know.”

One by one they finished and put their dishes in the sink before

kissing her on the cheek and leaving the kitchen. “Dinner’s at six-thirty;

it’s ribs. I’ll do some laundry tomorrow as well, so bring a change of

clothes,” she yelled to their retreating backs.

As the screen door slammed, it dawned on the two adults that

they were completely alone. No young people, no crew, no ship, no

regulations. Just them. A man and a woman who had a fierce attraction

for one another.

Swallowing hard, Alexis shoved back from the table and took

her dishes to the sink. She opened the dishwasher and began to load it.

“You can’t ignore me forever, Alexis.”

She shrugged
.
“I’m not ignoring you,” she lied. “I am just clean-

ing up.”

His chair scraped the wooden floor as he rose with his plate in

hand. A glance at the sideboard showed nothing but empty dishes.

Those boys had cleaned up every bit of food she’d made for them.

“Wow, they sure can eat a lot,” he said as he handed her the plate.

“They are growing boys,” she replied easily.

“So am I,” he muttered as his gaze swept over her denim-

covered ass.

Shutting the black door of the dishwasher, she leaned against it

and met his blue gaze. “Tell me where you got the gunshot wound.”

Her tone was doctor-like, demanding an answer.

“There was some kind of shootout a few streets over from where

you found me. It was a stray bullet.”

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21

Her eyes narrowed. “What were you doing down here, anyway?

No offense, Commander, but you don’t exactly fit the
look
of the majori-

ty of people who come down here.”

“Would you please not call me Commander? If you won’t call

me Scott, call me Harrier. But for the love of God, Alexis, we aren’t on

any military installation anymore. Don’t call me Commander.”

“It’s easier for me to call you Commander, but I will try to call

you Scott for the time being.” At his gesture, she took a seat across from

him at the table. “What are you doing here? I’m not going to believe

you have family down here.” She raised a brow quizzically.

The one who I am here to see will be family soon.
“I needed to see

you.”

His blatant statement made her eyes grow wide. “Why?”

He sent her an incredulous look. “Because since I met you in

Norfolk, I can think of nothing but you. Jesus, Alexis, I know this will

sound corny, but you have bewitched me. Totally.”

Alexis shook her head. “We can’t do this,” came her inevitable

protest.

“Don’t give me that whole code of behavior or modus operandi

shit, Alexis. Where is the nearest military base from here?” At her

silence he continued, “See, there is no reason for that to be an issue. You

do realize that, although it is frowned upon, people do fraternize in the

Navy.”

“It may not be a problem for you, being a commissioned officer,

but for us non-coms it is. I am not willing to risk my career for a roll in

the sack with you, no matter how much I want to, only to have you
need

to put me somewhere where I won’t be able to ruin your career, or to

please your ‘trophy’ wife. I worked my ass off at Harvard and I love

serving in the Navy, so no matter how tempting it may be…” Her eyes

roved over the exposed part of his body as her voice deepened with

desire, “And it is tempting, but not worth my career.”

His tall body rose gracefully out of the chair and lifted her bold-

ly out of hers, cradling her in his steel-lined arms. He walked to the

countertop and set her down, wedging his body between her spread

thighs. “I would never,” he stated as his hands found the hem of her

shirt and moved under it, searching for the skin he knew would be

smooth as silk. “
Never
do anything like that to you. I’m not looking for a

roll in the hay with you, my little healer. I was thinking something

much more permanent than that.”

22

Aliyah Burke

“What do you want from me?” she gasped as his large hands

moved up her sides over the lace of her bra.

“I want everything from you.” He took a deep breath and

moved his hands down out of her shirt and placed them on her sides.

“Everything.” Then he stepped back and allowed her to jump down

from the counter.

“So you took a chance in coming down here, to maybe run into

me and what, try out sex with the HMC?” She narrowed her eyes at

him. “For that matter, how did you know where to find me?”

He moved towards her again, “I’m a SEAL. That’s what I do.

And I know you are on leave for the next twenty days.” His eyes looked

at her directly. “Just like you know all about my file.”

“I don’t know anything about you, Commander.” She was using

his title as a barrier.

“Don’t start with that shit again, Alexis,” his warning came,

knowing she was using his title as a barrier.

“I have things to do.” The fiery woman stomped off to the living

room where she began to clean it up and get it ready for the evening.

Scott followed her. He leaned in the doorway and watched her

move around her living room, picking up things and fluffing pillows.

“What were you doing over there last night?”

She never missed a beat with her cleaning. “If you must know, I

was on a date.”

“With whom?” Those two words were growled with such ani-

mosity she stopped and looked at him. His eyes were shards of blue ice

and there was a very pronounced tick in his jaw.

“That is none of your business.” Alexis said with one hand on

her hip.

The hell it isn’t!
“Believe what you will, but you’re wrong. It
is

my business. Everything about you is my business.”

“So says you,” she muttered.

“At least you are beginning to see it my way,” came his smart-

ass remark. His hard body plunked itself down on the couch she’d just

finished straightening as if it were within his every right.

Throwing the pillow she held in her hand at him, she just sat

down in a leather chair and watched as he snatched it out of the air, nice

and easy-like. “So, tell me what you are doing here, in my neck of the

woods?” she asked.

He shrugged a shoulder. “I told you, I came to see you.”

“Well, you have seen me.”

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23

Not as much of you as I want to.
“Take a vacation with me,” he

blurted out.

“What?”

“Come on, take a vacation with me. I have some down time, at

least a week. We could take a cruise,” he suggested, then grimaced.

“Sorry, I forget you are on the water all the time. A rail ride, spend a

few days with me. Get to know me, inside and out.”

She sniffed slightly and lifted her chin
.
“I am on vacation.”

“Is this really the vacation you want? Or would you rather

spend time with
me? I will do whatever you want—anoint you with

baby oil, rub you down anytime you want. We can go to movies,

whatever. Spend about a week with me, have room service, let me take

care of you.”

There was a weird, almost glazed look on Alexis’s face as she

just stared at him silently for a few moments
.
Then she laughed.
“I get

it, this is another dream. Very funny, Lex; come on, wake up. As if

Commander Leighton would actually come to
your
house wanting to

make passionate love to you…no matter how much you wish he

would…” she mumbled as she stood and walked back to her bedroom,

rubbing her head and totally ignorant of the wide grin on the very real

and now very knowledgeable Commander Leighton.

C h a p t e r F o u r

Scott remained smiling and sitting on Alexis’s worn, yet com-

fortable couch for a minute, basking in the revelation that she wanted