Kincade's Rose (Megalodon Team)

Kincade's Rose

Aliyah Burke

Kincade’s Rose

Copyright © 2008 by Aliyah Burke

All rights
reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or
by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or by any information
storage or retrieval system, without prior written permission of copyright
holders.

This is a work of fiction.  All references to real places, people, or
events are coincidental, and if not coincidental, are used fictitiously.  All
trademarks, service marks, registered trademarks, and registered service marks
are the property of their respective owners and are used herein for
identification purposes only.

ISBN:  978-0-557-02858-0

To all those who encouraged me and didn’t
allow me to lose my mind.

To the men and women who give their time
serving in the armed forces.

To my awesome editor and cover artist who
never let me down.

And as always, to my husband who means
the world to me.

Acknowledgments

Any mistakes in this are mine and not to be blamed
on the ones who do this for a living. To my editor, for all the understanding
and support you've shown me. Thank you! Thank you to my cover artist. Thank
you! To the Cockscomb Wildlife Sanctuary and Jaguar Preserve, thank you for all
you do to help protect many of nature's most beautiful animals. 

Jayde Porter sat at the outdoor café in the
warm tropical breeze overlooking the inviting turquoise water.  Belize was so
warm and beautiful, very unlike the intensely frigid weather New York was
having this winter.

She sipped her iced tea and smiled
sardonically as she looked around at the many couples wandering in and out of
the surf.  She was here alone. 
I suppose this is the price I have to pay
for coming all by my lonesome…

Knowing she’d almost turned down this
vacation still shocked her, but then her family, who hadn’t wanted her to come
in the first place, usually could keep her under their control. Then again, she
could’ve come with the man she’d been dating for the past seven and a half
months, George, if she’d not broken it off. And if she were honest with
herself, she didn’t want him here nor anywhere near her.  That was another
reason she was glad to be alone; George was arrogant, condescending, and most
definitely an asshole.

She shook her head and started to drink
more of her tea, determined not to let thoughts of her ex ruin her serenity,
when, suddenly, a man walking across the boardwalk caught her attention. Every
other person faded from her sight as if she had tunnel vision.  He only wore
khakis and a white polo shirt, yet he screamed virility without trying.  Hell,
he dripped it.

Hot damn he’s fine!

It wasn’t that the man bulged with muscles;
his were lean and defined, but very real.  He was evenly tanned and his shaggy
brown hair looked like it needed a trim.  Though a very good looking man, Caucasian
men didn’t usually turn her head, but this one was something special.  The
thought that he looked formidable and capable came to her mind instantaneously,
along with the word sex.  It was as if he were a jungle predator, beautiful and
deadly at the same time.

She wet her dry lips before taking another
sip of her tea, keeping a small ice cube in her mouth to help eliminate her
cottonmouth.  He seemed to be looking for someone; and as he turned back
towards the ocean, she glimpsed the finest ass she’d seen since she’d been
here.  The finest one in her life.  She blinked and tried to slow her breathing
while biting down on the piece of ice with her back teeth and continuing to
stare at his retreating body.

“Oh, well,” she murmured to the air once he
disappeared.  “He’s probably married anyways, or has some blonde adoring
girlfriend.  Just another man for my fantasies.”  And he would be a good one.

Her beeping watch broke intrusively into her
daydream. 
Damn
.  She might be on vacation, but she still had people
she’d been ordered to call at a certain time.  Gesturing for the check, she
paid her bill and stood, shouldering her bag full of souvenirs.

Jayde started the quarter-mile walk back to
her hotel.  Two steps into her journey, she ran into something that felt like a
brick wall.  “Ah, hell!” she swore as she dropped her bag and stumbled, only to
find herself in the strong grip of a stranger.

Looking over her skewed sunglasses, Jayde
came face-to-face with none other than her fantasy man from the boardwalk.  In
that second, her bag was forgotten on the pavement of the walkway, its contents
free for the taking if anyone were inclined to abscond with them.

After she felt the blush stain her cheeks
she cleared her throat.  “Excuse me…” The mumbled words came from her
once-again dry mouth.  She licked her lips and hoped he wouldn’t notice her
nervousness.

“No, the fault is all mine.  Excuse me.” 
The stranger had a deep, rich voice, the kind that made women weep with sexual
yearning.  He still hadn’t let go of her arms.  Jayde could feel his fingers
molding into the soft flesh of her triceps.  Almost like he was branding her as
his. 
Get a grip, Jayde! Focus!

“Let me help you with that,” he offered as
he stared at her.

What the hell is he talking about?
 
She was lost in his eyes.  Oh, yeah, her bag.  “N...n...no,” she stuttered.  “I
can do it.”  She paused for a moment; his eyes were hazel with green flecks in
them.  “Can you let go of me?”

“I don’t want to,” he whispered, a response
she almost missed.  Almost.  In a louder voice he said, “Sorry.”

The second his hands dropped from her body
she felt the loss.  Jayde chalked it up to loads of sexual frustration and him
being so damn fine.  Oh, he was nice and tall, about six-three.  She knelt down
and began to shove everything back into her beach bag.

Moments later, she felt rather than saw,
since she refused to look at him, his presence as he crouched down as well. 
His hands, lean yet strong and nicely tanned with clean fingernails, reached
out and began gathering some of her scattered things.

“You don’t have to—” she protested.

“It’s entirely my fault that it happened,”
he responded as he stood and offered a hand down to her.

“

Tyson couldn’t believe his past four
months.  He’d been forced out from work on indefinite leave because of a
“medical issue”—if that was one called a knife wound to the abdomen. Then, he’d
arrived home early from the stakeout only to find his fiancée in
his
bed
with another man.  The guy was someone with more money and more time than
Tyson.

So three and a half months after kicking
her out, he’d booked himself a vacation to Belize because he had to get away
from people he knew, people who wanted to check in on him all the time.

He needed time to think about his future if
he weren’t allowed back into the Teams.  Tyson was a solitary man and didn’t
have many people he would call friends outside the members of the Megalodon
Team.  He liked to be alone.  He operated best alone.

So he’d come to this particular hangout
along the beach for the first time since he’d been in the tourist town, and
then he saw her.  Sitting alone under a big umbrella sipping on a tall, cool
drink, her full lips curved deliciously around a straw.  He had no idea what
she was doing alone because if she were his woman, she wouldn’t be left alone
at all.

Tyson had literally frozen in place while
he looked at her.  Something from her had reached out to him and intertwined
itself onto his very essence; if he hadn’t known better he would’ve sworn he
was looking across the crowded café front at his soul mate.  She was not what
he would’ve expected his soul mate to be; but as of late, his life had been
full of surprises.

Her skin was a perfect medium brown and she
had shiny black hair that fell past her shoulders.  But it was her smile that
touched a part of him he’d thought was dead. Then, while she was looking in his
direction, a heated, intimate, and passionately private look had filled her
face.  He’d felt like a voyeur as he stared upon her.  When her tongue had
snuck out to wet her lips, he’d groaned.  Turning around had been the only way
for him to salvage what was left of his sanity.  Even his ex-fiancée hadn’t
affected him like this.  Tyson had walked off, blending into the crowd until
he’d gotten his control back.

Losing it was not his usual forte.  In his
line of work it could be dangerous.  Lieutenant Tyson Kincade was a Navy SEAL
who was currently on TAD (Temporary Assigned Duty). He was waiting to hear if he’d
be allowed to continue with the counterterrorism unit while on vacation.  Yet
that answer wasn’t as pressing as the need to see her again.  When he’d turned
back around, he saw she was getting ready to walk away.

Not one who usually jumped right in with a
woman, Tyson surprised himself by starting for her.  It had taken him over a
month just to ask out his ex, and he was unsure of what to say to the mystery
woman to break the ice. But before he could come up with something he’d run
into her, literally.  Acting on pure instinct, he’d reached out to steady her,
only to find he didn’t want to let her go.  Ever.

So now here she knelt at his feet, taking
his mind to all sorts of places.  Places it shouldn’t necessarily be heading. 
Like how those full lips of hers will—not would—feel on parts of his body.  How
her limbs seemed built to fit exactly in his.  He loved the view she offered
his lecherous eyes as her top exposed the swells of her breasts to him; he
thoroughly enjoyed the green bra she wore. Unsure of what to do, he extended
his hand to offer her assistance in returning to her feet.

“

Jayde took his hand, trembling at the
slight contact.  He had a strong grip that made her feel safe, protected.  It
was with incredible ease that he pulled her up to her feet, showing that his
arms held immense strength in them.  Her eyes met his and she smiled.  “Thank
you.”  She looked at his other hand and after tugging free of his grip, opened
her bag for him to deposit the remaining things inside it.

“You’re welcome.  Again, I’m sorry about
that,” he said as he set her things inside the mess of her beach bag.

“I should have been a bit more careful with
where I was going,” she responded.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you,” his deep
voice remarked.

“We haven’t officially met,” she observed
and straightened her sunglasses, hiding her brown eyes from his view.

He sketched a bow.  “Hello, my name is
Tyson.  Tyson Kincade.”  His greeting came with a stunning smile against his
tanned skin.  His lean hand reached out to close the distance between them.

Jayde took the hand and shook it, admiring
the feel of his callused hand on hers for the second time in the space of a few
minutes.  “Nice to meet you Tyson, Tyson Kincade.”

His top lip quirked along with his eyebrow
as he tightened his hold on her hand when she tried to take it back.  “That’s
it?  What about your name?”

A full smile crossed her face, showing him
her pearly white, beautifully straight teeth that gleamed against her darker
skin.  “Well, I already know my name,” she answered in a sweet Southern drawl.

He laughed.  The sound made her body clench
with unreasonable desire.  “But what about me?”

She never lost her grin and her eyes
sparkled behind the shades as she responded, “I know who you are as well.  You
just told me, you are Tyson, Tyson Kincade.  Sounds kinda like James, James
Bond.”  Jayde finally removed her hand from his grasp and clutched her bag
tighter, more than a little unnerved by her body’s reaction to his simple
touch.

“You’re clever.  I still want to know your
name.”  He stepped in closer, bringing with him the scent of sandalwood and
man, pure man.

“I don’t know you well enough; besides, I
have to go.  I have a few calls to make.” Her dark eyes moved over his body.

“Sure you aren’t just trying to get rid of
me?”

Another brilliant flash of teeth.  “I’m
sure.  I have to call home,” Jayde admitted.

“Husband?”

She shook her head.  “No.  No husband.  I
would hope that if I were married, he would want to be with me.”  George was
unquestionably not the one she wanted for holy matrimony.  This man, however,
she could easily picture waking up next to his body morning after morning.

“I know I would,” Tyson said immediately.

Jayde chose to ignore that statement. 
“Anyway, it was nice to meet you Tyson, Tyson Kincade.  Excuse me.”  As she
walked around him, he spun as well and fell into step beside her.  “What are
you doing?” she asked.

“Walking you to your door,” he said and
continued to walk resolutely.

She blushed. “Isn’t walking someone to
their door done after a date?  At night?”  Her brown eyes glanced towards his
without hesitation, for she was somewhat protected behind the glasses.

“Most of the time.  But my mama raised me
to be a gentleman.  So I am walking you to your door,” he claimed.

“Your mama, huh?” Jayde smiled at the
thought of his mother teaching him manners. For some reason it tickled her.

“Yes, ma’am.  Are you going to give me your
name?” Hazel eyes implored.

“I don’t know.  I don’t know you.” She was
glad her glasses hid her eyes.

“You know my name.  How about this…have
dinner with me tonight,” he offered as a suggestion...or a solution.

Jayde stopped walking and faced him. 
“Dinner?”  She even removed her sunglasses, allowing him to see the expressive
eyes she had.

“Yes, you do eat don’t you?” His gaze held
hers unflinchingly.

Like he didn’t see she wasn’t rail thin. 
“Of course.  It’s just that…”

“Don’t tell me you have plans.  With your
boyfriend?” A slight frown filled his features.

“No plans, no boyfriend, and that was not
what I was even going to say.” She put one hand on a shapely hip and stared at
him.  “I was going to say that it could be dangerous for me to do this.”

“I’d protect you.” The tone in his voice
told her he meant it.

Who’d protect me from you?
  Jayde
could feel her father’s disapproval even from the large distance that separated
them. This solidified her decision. “Meet in a neutral place?”

“Of course. We could eat at the restaurant
in your hotel if that would make you feel better.”

“You don’t know where my hotel is.”

“Not yet.  I will since I am walking you to
your door.”  His confident voice thrummed every synapse in her body.

Why not? She was on this vacation to have
fun.  It was a time for her.  “All right.  I’ll agree to dinner.”  This man
called to her body in—dare she say it—a way that she’d never felt before, a
spiritual way.

“Now, will you tell me your name?” he asked
as they began to walk again.

“No.”

“That’s not fair,” he protested.

“Okay, let’s trade.” The words slipped out
of her mouth.

Tyson grunted.  “Trade what?”

“What will you give me if I give you my
name?”  Jayde asked.
When did my voice become so throaty?