SEAL Under Covers (SEAL Brotherhood Series Book 3) (22 page)

“Thank you,” she whispered and kissed him.

“For what?” He winked and gave her a half smile in jest.

“For making me feel safe. Safest I’ve felt in a long time.”

“Oh, really?” His eyes went elsewhere. Then he returned, “I don’t hear that very often. Most people are afraid of me.”

He wasn’t smiling, so she had to ask. “Women are afraid of you?”

“I think so. Self-preservation.”

It was her time to frown. “I have a hard time thinking of a SEAL as anything but heroic. Protector of the innocent. Upholding everything good and holy. All that.”

Armando smirked.

There was something there Gina wanted to see. “What?”

“We have our dark places too.”

“What, making love to women without protection? That’s the worst you’ve done with me.” She noticed he’d begun a devilish grin. “Don’t you like being thought of as heroic?”

“Yes. I like to be trusted.”

“Heroic.” Gina didn’t understand the distinction.

“You can’t trust anyone unless you give them the power to hurt you.”

Gina felt this was odd as a ghost shivered up her spine. There had been a threshold crossed into a different room. She wanted to know more. She was desperate to know more.

“I trust you, but far from hurting me, you make me feel…wonderful,” she said.

“You don’t even know me,” he answered, giving her a long, liquid kiss.

“I trusted you to screw me in the back of a pickup truck,” Gina began. Armando was biting the side of her neck and her right earlobe. “I trusted you to take me home to your bedroom, your bed. I’ve thrown a little caution to the wind.” She looked at the ceiling to the right of his head. She was searching for something to say, but couldn’t come up with it. Armando found her left nipple and gave her a nip. She did not move away from the pain.

“You regret anything we’ve done?” he asked.

 “It excites me to think about those things.” Gina realized this was the missing piece she’d been looking for earlier.

“Screwing in the back of a strange pickup truck.”

“With people driving by, maybe guessing what we were doing,” she said. The more she thought about it, she remember it had been a totally hot lay. Possibly the best of her life, until today.

“You liked that too, huh?”

“Heightens the pleasure, I think. We couldn’t wait to get home.”

“And we almost couldn’t wait today. But we did.” He nuzzled her neck. “Ah Gina, Gina, Gina.”

It occurred to her that perhaps he wanted something more for round two. “So what are you saying, Armando?”

“Nothing. We should get up and get dressed.” He abruptly stopped kissing her.

He had begun to go somewhere else inside. She could see a faraway look on his face as he stared out the window. She needed his eyes on her. She needed his total focus on her.

“Do
you
want to get dressed?” she asked.

He dazzled her again with a white smile. “Well, this is pretty nice.”

“Pretty nice. Gee, just what a girl wants to hear.”

“Okay,” he said between kisses. “It was wonderful.”

She had an idea that began to thrill her. “How can I show you I trust you, then? What can I do?”

A spark registered deep in his brown eyes, some small flame that could flare out of control.

“Everyone has a dangerous side, Gina.” He did not smile this time.

“A dangerous side that is in need of someone to trust it.”

“Yes.” He was looking down at the space between her breasts. His penis was fully erect, and could penetrate her if he moved that way. She decided to resist him a little. Maybe that’s what he wanted, after all.

“So, make me trust you,” she said.

“No. You already have.”

“So do something else.” She tried to make eye contact, but he was avoiding her.

“Something dangerous?” he finally asked as he searched her face, and placed his thumbs at her temples.

“If that’s what you want,” she said. Her heart was thumping. She was heading into dangerous ground. Where was all this leading?

“Is that what you want?”

“I want to give you something I have not given anyone before.”

“What are you most afraid of, Gina?”

She wasn’t sure. She wondered what fears, demons he had killed off. What kinds of fears had he had to face? Was he asking her to go along that pathway with him?

“Or, who are you most afraid of?” he corrected.

“That’s easy. Sam.”

“So, why do you let him see you? Is there a place you go, like being in the pickup truck being seen by strangers? Does seeing him make you excited?”

“No. I am actually afraid.”

“Because you don’t trust him.”

“Because I know he wants to hurt me. Deep down, I know he wants to hurt me.”

“That’s a good instinct. That instinct will keep you alive, Gina.”

“Is this what you do when you are over there?”

“Yes.”

“You face your fears, you rely on instinct? You starve the dog of fear?”

“Yes.” He moved over her, smoothing his callused palms over her breasts. Sifting his fingers through her hair, he bent down and kissed her. “I’m sorry you were hurt, Gina. You’ve got scars, just like I do.”

“Yes. Heal me, Armando.”

“Babe, I wish I could. But just being here, close like this, telling each other things like this.” He dropped lower and started a slow tongue roll from her nipple to her navel, and then lower. “Letting me taste you,” he whispered as he twirled her clitoris with his tongue. “Opening up to me.”

She spread her knees further as he inserted two fingers. Gina exploded as a slow vibration began to hum inside her belly.

“Everything that’s supposed to happen will happen,” he said as he looked up at her from the space between her thighs. “And know this. I would never hurt you, lovely Gina. You’ll always be safe with me.”

Chapter 22

Thank God for Saturday mornings,
Gina thought as she stretched. Her hands hit the bedframe and the images of her fingers gripping the cool metal while Armando worked his magic between her legs made her suddenly wet. The bed—
his
bed—was cold and empty beside her. But she could smell fresh coffee and something cooking and she knew he wasn’t gone.

The bedroom was sparse, like hers was. But he wasn’t undercover, like she was. She’d given up her studio cottage—the one she’d loved down by the beach. She’d toyed with the idea of going back there to visit. She’d have walked down the white sandy spans and turned up the narrow brick pathway to her cottage only a block away. She missed being able to open her windows and smell the salt water and mist first thing in the morning. Until the affair with Sam started, she’d always slept like a baby there.

Like last night. As she moved her legs over his white sheets underneath the green down coverlet, she felt the delicious soreness in her core. That place he had tasted, touched with his fingers, and so royally screwed. Her nipples were still raw from all the kissing and biting. Her wrists were slightly sore where she’d tugged and struggled against the silk.

All good. It’s all good.

She saw a picture on his dresser and rose from the bedding naked to take a better look. It was a picture of him in his dress whites. His tanned face was stunning contrast to the bright white jacket with the gold buttons. Above one pocket encrusted with ribbons, she recognized the gold SEAL Trident. Next to him stood a very short woman with salt and pepper braided hair pinned to her head like a crown. The woman was beaming. On the other side of Armando, Mia stood, looking no older than a young girl. She already had a wild and tempestuous look.

There was a picture of five men dressed in fatigues, shirtless, jumping off a bridge together. She recognized Fredo and guessed it was some right of passage their team had gone through.

She separated the blinds and looked outside at the sliver of a view of the ocean. She preferred her old cottage, but the ocean was the same. Rolling quietly, as its namesake: Pacifico.

There wasn’t anything else in the room that was personal, and this seemed odd to her. His sliding closet door had been installed with a lock and she guessed he had equipment and probably guns stored there. She placed her elbows on the dresser top and examined her face between her palms. The woman she saw there looked happy. Dizzy in love. She felt safe and taken care of.

Movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. Armando was standing in a pair of shorts and white V-necked T-shirt, holding two white mugs of coffee. He had leaned into the doorway and had been watching her. As soon as they made eye contact he smiled that brilliant white smile that made his eyes sparkle.

“How long have you been standing here?” she blurted, embarrassed.

He peeled himself off the doorframe and came toward her, extending one steaming mug. “Not long. I just like to watch you.”

“You seem to do that a lot,” she said as she accepted the mug. Their fingers touched as she took the coffee. The electric zing she got sent a jolt right to that spot between her legs. Her body ached for him again, just with that little touch.

He must have felt the same, as he set down his mug and came around the backside of her. She took a sip of the wonderfully dark coffee while he nuzzled her neck, bringing his warm palms to her chest. His breathing became deeper. The SEAL smelled of bacon but she still found it sexy. She could barely get another sip in before he brought his face to rest next to hers, cheek to cheek, as they looked at each other in the mirror’s reflection.

There were no words to express how wonderful it felt being next to him, waking up in the room that he woke up in every morning—hopefully every morning, that is. To emerge naked from his bed and be here, as he’d told her last night, where no other woman had been before. That felt significant. Could this be the start of something long lasting? Dare she even consider such a hope?

Dark clouds began to gather, but now he was kissing the back of her neck and under one ear. “Gina, I wanted to bring you breakfast in bed, but—” he stopped himself as he turned her around slowly, pulling back her hair and searching her face. “I can’t seem to get enough of you.”

“I feel the same.” She stepped to press herself against his chest. Her fingers laced over his buttocks as she gently pulled his groin into her belly. She fondled him while he watched the arousal her hands made.

“You up for a shower?” He whispered.

“I am if you’ll be joining me.”

“I’ll be joining you all right,” he said as he smiled and took her hand.

The glass enclosure was small, but it didn’t matter. She enjoyed the brush of his thighs against hers, the way every movement brought their bodies together. She shampooed her hair while he smoothed shower gel over her backside. He helped rinse out all the bubbles as she rubbed her bottom against his groin. She lathered his back and helped him rinse off.

With water pounding on his head, he knelt and delicately investigated the lips of her sex. Once his fingers found her opening, his tongue soon followed. Gina braced herself on the glass walls, bending to sit on a small ledge, while Armando nibbled her labia. He drew one of her knees up and over his shoulder as he knelt in front of her, taking his fill. Gina’s spasms spurred him on deeper. He added two fingers and she began to orgasm out of control.

Abruptly he turned her around and bent her forward. He quickly rammed himself inside her while she was still pulsing. Her swollen lips were sore from the strenuous lovemaking during the long night, but she never wanted the feeling to end, and he started spending deep inside her. He gripped her body by the hips and dug deep until at last he was done.

Afterwards, they helped each other dry off. She felt shy for some strange reason. She wanted to reel in her inner desire to make this a part of her daily routine: great sex in the evening, followed by sex in the shower, the warm kisses and caresses, being held by powerful arms and shoulders of steel.

They ate breakfast in front of the picture window since the kitchen was a small galley. She drank a second cup of coffee. Gina had no idea she’d been so hungry and she ravenously inhaled the cheesy scramble he’d made.

He was watching her eat since he’d finished his breakfast in record speed.

“What?” she asked.

“I just like to watch you.”

“Eat? You like to watch me eat?”

“That too.” He leaned forward and stopped barely two inches away from her lips. “Gina, anyone ever tell you that you have a lovely mouth?”

She smiled, bridged the distance and kissed him. “I kinda like what yours does too, sailor.”

He picked up her hand and kissed her palm tenderly. “You have plans for today, Gina?”

The question thrilled her. “Just what did you have in mind?”

“I’d like to buy you some sexy lingerie today.” He studied her face without smiling. He was looking for something.

“Oh, my. No one has ever said that to me before.” She could feel her cheeks blushing and his smile in response.

She allowed her eyes to widen. “I think I know what you have planned for this evening. That means I’ll need a few things from my apartment.”

“Good. I’ll drop you off while I run a couple of errands. I’ll meet you back there, say in another hour or so? Call me. I’ve got something I have to check out on base.”

“What about the lingerie?”

“I’m glad you didn’t forget. That will be the first thing we do after you call me and tell me you’re ready.”

“I’m ready now, sailor.”

He smiled. “But I’m gonna enjoy the kind of ready you’ll be after we’ve done our shopping. And I think you will be too.”

She had to agree. “And then what?”

He fingered down the side of her face, tracing over her lips as he whispered, “I’m taking you straight home afterwards for a little show and tell.”

Her panties got wet and her stomach lurched. She could have jumped him right there at the breakfast table, but he was right. The kind of ready she wanted to be was going to be enhanced by her struggle to be patient. The sexual play had already begun. Waiting and anticipating what was surely going to happen this afternoon was part of the game.