Saving the Seal: A BWWM Navy Seal Interracial Romance (6 page)

“Who
is
this guy?” The red-head drew on her own straw before munching on a few of the chips they’d been provided with. Instead of judgmental, her expression was, instead, cautious. Understanding. And for that, Genevieve was grateful. She didn’t think she could handle judgement right now. She was judging herself pretty harshly.

“I can’t say much about him. He’s an outside referral and I signed confidentiality agreements but, Stella…he’s…he’s…” She struggled for words to describe the large, brash former SEAL. Powerful? Intense? Intimidating? None of those seemed like enough to define the presence he exuded when he entered a room.

“Handsome?” Stella tried, a brow raised. “Mysterious? Intriguing?”

“He’s hurt.” Genny returned, her full mouth turning downward. “Suffering. And I can’t help him if all I can think of when we’re in the same room is…mauling him.”

Stella’s brows inched ever closer to her hairline. “Mauling him? As in…” Green eyes widened to the size of saucers. “
No
. Genny….you like him.”

“I don’t even
know
him.” The dark-skinned woman rushed to recover. “Only what’s in his file. It’s pure physical attraction!”

“Must be some attraction if you let him manhandle you right in your office.” It was on the tip of Genevieve’s tongue to correct her – to assert that the Lieutenant hadn’t hurt her – but when she thought about it, the words faded from her lips. There was no other word for what he had done. While it was obvious that he hadn’t harmed her physically, she didn’t know what else she could possibly call the man lifting her from her chair and into his lap to kiss her breathless.

Manhandling.

“Christ.” Stella took another sip of her drink. “Must be
some
man. I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen you this flustered over a guy…have you
ever
been this flustered over a guy?”

Genny sighed, merely shaking her head. “Not that I know of. You know me, Stella. Work is my number one. It comes before anything else.”

“So what is this guy? Work….or something different?”

That was a question Genevieve didn’t know how to answer. She had assumed that when the Lieutenant had stormed from her office that he was gone for good. They hadn’t made another appointment, and she was almost certain that the…chemistry between them would make it impossible to work together.

Especially after that kiss.

“I don’t know. Stella, I’ve never lost a patient before. I’m not exactly sure how to handle this. Doctor Bradley referred him to me. Now I’m going to have to call him and tell him I couldn’t help the patient he handpicked for me?” It wasn’t a conversation she would relish having. There was already enough pressure on women in her field for the stress that patients often brought to the table. Stress that tended to affect women psychiatrists more flagrantly than it did males. While Genny usually didn’t have any huge issues, Owen Sinclair was stirring up problems she never thought she’d have to contend with.

“Did he say he wasn’t coming back?” The dark-skinned woman stared at Stella, her expression miserable.

“He apologized for wasting both of our time. I think that’s a fair indicator that he doesn’t want to return.”

“Well, then. Go to him.” Stella popped a few peanuts into her mouth as her face turned thoughtful. “I mean…I think it’s pretty obvious that the whole office, one-on-one atmosphere isn’t quite working out with him. Too much privacy, maybe. You need to meet him on level ground. Somewhere where he’ll be comfortable. He sounds like a man against the very idea of what we stand for. He doesn’t like doctors, am I right?”

Genevieve nodded. “So then he won’t like hospitals or doctors’ offices. There will be other places where the two of you can meet – places less private than a tiny little office. Then intimacy won’t be a factor…and he’ll be more likely to speak on what’s troubling him.”

She had a point.

Genevieve had only ever taken a few sessions out of the office before. For confidentiality reasons, her patients usually liked the safety of the white room with its little white couch. But, Stella was right. A man like Owen Sinclair needed something different. Something more robust. Setting her jaw, the young woman took a long drag on her drink, emptying half of her glass in a single swallow.

She had tackled hundreds of challenges during her career. Tough patients who had threatened their own lives as well as hers. She’d been taken hostage, browbeaten, spent long hours in the office and worked herself to the point of unhealthiness to ensure that her patients received the care they needed and deserved.

And now she was shying away from a man she had let kiss her?

What was the matter with her? She was better than this. She could
handle
Owen Sinclair – and she would prove it to him as well as to herself.

**

“Can’t believe you, Owen.”

Sitting in his back yard, Owen held a cold beer against his aching jaw. It had taken him two days to work up the courage to talk to his CO and tell him what had happened at Riperton. Of course, Sean had promptly driven over to speak with him. Before anything else, however, the slightly larger man had slugged him across the jaw – this, his current situation.

Now, they both rested in lounge chairs, watching Eddie drag his favorite toy around the backyard. The chocolate colored Rottweiler raced around the backyard in a fit of happiness, shaking a brightly-hued squeaky toy back and forth. Beside Owen, Sean took a long swallow of his beer. At six seven, he was built similarly to Owen, only darker-skinned, with his raven hair buzzed in the customary military high and tight. Even in a dark polo and khakis, the man was unmistakably military. He had an undying devotion to the SEALs, and when Owen had asked for early retirement, the two of them had begun a battle of the ages.

A battle they still waged.

“That woman was your last hope. Fucking had her hand-picked for you by a buddy of mine…and you tried to get in her pants.”

Owen snorted, raising his beer from the side of his face to take a swig. “You knew she was a woman. You didn’t tell me.”

“That doesn’t make you any less of a
pendejo
.” Sean cut his eyes at the man by his side. The captain’s Hispanic heritage always came out when he was pissed off. “You tried to seduce your goddamn psychiatrist, Owen. I thought you didn’t even
like
doctors.”

“I don’t.” Owen grumbled, setting his beer down as Eddie slid to a stop in front of him, placing his beloved squeaky toy in a heap at the lieutenant’s feet. For a moment, Owen allowed himself to grin down at the panting dog, who looked up at him expectantly. He reached over onto the table between he and Sean to retrieve Eddie’s water bowl, setting it on the ground. Immediately, the canine dove in nose-first, sloshing half of the water out of the bowl before getting around to actually drinking it. Owen rubbed his neck and back vigorously, reveling in the strength of the dog’s limbs. Eddie could run for hours and never tire – it seemed he had limitless energy.

Kind of like his nagging CO.

“Do you know how many strings I pulled to get this appointment for you?
Do you
? No one wants to take you, Owen. You’re a goddamn ogre.”

“And I’ll grind your bones to make my bread.” The Lieutenant smirked before slowly sobering. Sean was right. This had been his last bid to get some kind of help, and he’d completely skivved it off because his dick had gotten involved. He knew he had fucked up.

But was it his fault Genevieve Thomas was so fucking gorgeous?

“You know this means you can never come back.” Sean’s tone was somber as he stared out over the backyard, to where a collection of brats were smoking on the grill. “Not if you can’t get over this stuff, Owen.”

The lieutenant’s eyes narrowed as everything seemed to press in on him. He remembered how dark the night had been when he’d gone into that final mission – remembered how they’d laughed and joked as they’d zeroed in on their target, never knowing the gravity of the ambush that awaited them.

He remembered the screaming…the shooting. The dying.

It was going to take a hell of a lot more than a single shrink to get all of that out of his head.

“I didn’t know there was ever an agreement that I was going back.” He finally replied firmly. “I said I was done, Sean, and I meant it.”

“Bullshit.” His CO turned to him to fix him with his infuriated brown gaze. “You mean I’m just supposed to accept that my top man is broken? Unfixable? Don’t give up on yourself, Owen. The SEAL I knew wouldn’t let something like this get in the way of him serving his country.”

“
Don’t
, Sean.” Owen’s voice took on a warning edge as his fingers tightened around the neck of the bottle he held. “Not now.”

“Then when? You tell me that.”

The two men glared at each other for a long moment. The tension between them was palpable – only broken by the low buzzing of Owen’s cellphone against the surface of the table between them. The lieutenant scowled, reaching down to answer it, his eyes still locked on his CO.

“What?”

“…Mr. Sinclair?”

He froze in place before glancing down at the name on the caller ID. Thomas, Genevieve.

The doctor was on the phone.

When he’d left her office, he’d never intended to see her again. How could he? He’d made fools of both of them – no one knew that better than him. So then, why had she called him? “Doctor Thomas.” He returned curtly. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

Though his tone was sarcastic, there was no way he could deny that it was, indeed, a pleasure. The moment he’d registered the woman’s smooth, low tones, his body had begun to react powerfully. “Mr. Sinclair, I called about scheduling our next appointment.”

At that juncture, Owen turned his gaze from Sean and to the phone incredulously. Their next appointment? As far as he was concerned, the first appointment had been a massive failure. Why would they have a second one? “Dr. Thomas, I wasn’t aware that-”

“Mr. Sinclair, I attribute the…awkwardness of our first appointment to my own shortcomings. I believe it would be extremely instrumental to your treatment for us to continue seeing one another.”

Owen tried to wrap his head around what she was saying. She wanted them to sit in that tiny room again, attempting to keep their hands off one another for another ninety minutes? That had been sheer hell. A hell he certainly didn’t want to return to. Not if he couldn’t have her the way he wanted.

“Doctor Thomas.” If she was going to go with inane titles, two could play that game. “I’m not coming back into your office. Let’s not kid ourselves.”

“I’m not asking you into the office.” Genevieve’s low voice returned crisply. “We’ll have our next session on base at McKineley, at the firing range.” Owen’s eyes widened. Was she out of her ever-loving mind? Civilians weren’t allowed onto open ranges on military bases – especially not those where snipers trained. It was dangerous – not to mention there would hardly be any time for them to “talk” with a profusion of bullets flying around.

“Genevieve, there’s no way they let you on that range. It’s too dangerous.”

“Supposing they do, how’s next Thursday at ten AM for you?” He choked for a moment, words deserting him. How could she be so damned confident? He doubted a woman in her position had ever even seen a live round fired. When he didn’t answer immediately, Genevieve continued. “Lovely. I’ll see you then.”

And just like that, the line went dead. For a moment, Owen only stared at the screen before him. Unable to comprehend what had just happened.

“Who was that?” Sean was finishing his beer as Eddie hunkered down next to him in the shade, his beloved squeaky by his side. It took Owen a few minutes to answer as he himself was having issues coming to terms with what had just occurred.

“Dr. Thomas.”

Sean straightened, his own eyes widening slightly. “You didn’t scare her off?”

“Apparently not.” Owen gazed at his screen as if the device had betrayed him. “I have another appointment with her next Thursday…at the firing range. On base.”

“Fuck me.” Sean lay back in his chair with a smirk. “How the hell did she manage that? I didn’t think civilians were allowed on base.”

“No clue.” Owen scowled. Reaching down errantly to scratch behind Eddie’s ears, he contemplated what this new appointment meant for him. He would have to behave. He’d thought he’d never have to deal with the temptation that was Genevieve Thomas again – but he’d been wrong.

“You must have a lucky streak a mile long, Sinclair. I swear, this woman must have known how badly I was going to kick your ass for disappointing me.”

Owen winced, touching his still sore jaw. There had been
more
planned? “Wasn’t the one punch enough?”

Sean grinned almost manically. “With you, Owen? Never enough.”

Chapter Four: Smoking Gun

Genevieve was running on three cups of black tea – triple her usual. She’d had difficulty sleeping the night before and was not about to take any chances when it came to the guns she’d be handling. She’d arrived at the range about an hour before her appointment with Owen for a bit of a refresher. It had, after all, been ages since she’d handled a gun.