SEALs of Summer 2: A Military Romance Superbundle (91 page)

“Hope we don’t lose power,” Reganne murmured.

“Have flashlights just in case?”

“One. But, I have lots of candles.”

Grey opened the oven and took the biscuits out as the lights blinked. “Might want to go get them.”

With a nod, Reganne ran up the stairs. He put the salad and biscuits on the table, noticing she had put a couple beers in a bucket to chill. Damn, his kind of woman.

Reganne reappeared with an armload of candles and a lighter. She set them on the counter just as the lights went out. Everything went quiet except for the storm raging outside. The lighter clicked on as Reganne lit the candles. “Got some.”

“Just in time.” He took two candlesticks from her and setting them between their plates on the table.

“Candlelight dinner on a stormy night. Sounds perfect.”

He met her gaze. “It does.”

A soft smile touched her lips as they lit the rest of the candles and set them around the house.

“Shall we eat?”

She nodded and he held out her chair for her. Once she sat, he sat across from her.

“I hope beer is okay. I didn’t have any wine.”

“Perfect.”

He popped the tops on two bottles while she dished out the pasta. One of the beers he handed to her. She tapped hers against his and they began to eat.

After a few bites Reganne said, “This is delicious. I can’t believe you just whipped this up.”

“Thank you. I taught myself to cook as a teen.”

“Your mom wasn’t a cook either?”

He sipped his beer. “No, she didn’t cook.” Because she was always depressed and sleeping.

“Sounds like there’s more to that story.”

He shrugged. “My dad was Navy, too. Never home. My mom didn’t deal with being alone very well. She took a lot of pills to deal with the life and washed them down with alcohol.”

“She had you.”

“Yeah, but that wasn’t enough to pull her out of her depression. She couldn’t deal with military life.”

Reganne set her fork down and cocked her head. “It sounds to me like she was clinically depressed and just never got the right treatment.”

Grey put the biscuit he’d picked up back down on his plate, mind reeling. Could that be true? Had he misinterpreted his mother’s addiction and inability to handle military life for a treatable disease?

“Did she sleep a lot? Stop eating or lose weight? Seem to be in a fog all the time?”

Baffled, he nodded. If he didn’t know any better he’d assume Reganne had met his mother. “She blamed my dad. Told him if he’d been home more she wouldn’t have been so lonely. So miserable.”

“Transference. She avoided her own problems by making them someone else’s.”

Mind blown and guilt riding him hard, Grey took a long swig from his bottle. How could he have missed this? His mother had been sick and he never once considered that. He just assumed she hated her life and dealt with it by taking pills. Hell, she said it every other day. He suspected his dad stayed away because he didn’t know how to help or fix it.

God, had they both been wrong? Failed her?

The thought weighed heavily on him.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything.”

“No, it’s okay. I just never considered that.”

Reganne’s hand covered his where it rested on the table. “Is your mom still alive?”

“No. She OD’d a few years ago.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“Me, too. Now that I know I may have been able to help her and I never did.”

“We can’t be sure of that. Just because her symptoms fit the disease doesn’t mean she had it.”

Deep down, he knew that she had. And he hadn’t done anything about it. The dinner he’d eaten churned in his stomach. Couldn’t change the past, he knew that, but it didn’t make it any easier to swallow.

“It’s been quite a night, hasn’t it?”

He drained his beer and met her eyes. “It has.” Between hearing of her ex, wanting to pound the guy’s face in for what he’d done to Reganne, and learning he might have failed his mother it had been one hell of a night. And it was only eight o’clock.

“How about we clean this up and play a game of Yahtzee?”

He quirked a brow. “Yahtzee?”

She sent him a devilish smile. “I’m pretty good at dice games.”

He me her grin with one of his own. “So am I.”

“Ooh, a challenge. Shall we?”

He grabbed his plate. “You’re on.”

They cleaned the dishes, loaded the dishwasher, put the leftovers in containers in the fridge and met at the coffee table. Reganne sat on the floor across from him, a red box between them.

She lifted off the lid. “Ready to lose, sailor?”

“I never lose.”

Their eyes met and something passed between them. The air charged, and not from the storm raging outside. Reganne licked her bottom lip, drawing his eyes there. Sinful. No woman should have lips so kissable.

Her gaze dropped first, breaking the spell. Damn, this woman was getting to him. In more ways than one.

She handed him a score pad and pencil then set the dice on the table. They both picked one up and rolled. He got a five. She got a six.

“Won that one.” She sent him a wicked smile as she gathered all five dice.

He chuckled as she shook the dice and dropped them on the table. She set aside three ‘fours’ and rolled again. Slowly, as the game progressed, the weight on his shoulders lessened, replaced by the teasing banter of the game.

Reganne proved to be a worthy opponent. She beat him two out of three games. He didn’t mind. If it put a smile on her face he would let her win all night.

All the candles filled the room with utterly female scents. Roses, something a bit spicy he really liked. Reminded him of one of the jungles he’d been in.

“I should probably wrap this up.” She put the dice in the box. “I have to work in the morning.”

Grey put their score pads in the box. “I’m not comfortable leaving you alone. Not until your ex has been dealt with.”

She slid the lid on the game. “There’s really nothing you can do. But, thank you.”

The hell there wasn’t. “Do you have someone who can stay with you?”

Her gaze dropped. “No.”

“Then you’re stuck with me. I’ll take the couch until we figure this out.”

“What? No, I can’t do that to you. You have a life. Babysitting me isn’t part of it.”

“I’m not leaving you alone knowing that psycho is out there.”

She laughed. A short burst of nervous energy. “I’ll get you some bedding.”

Game in hand, she picked up one of the candles and went upstairs. When she returned she carried sheets and blankets in her arms. He took them from her and set them on the end of the sofa.

“I can make up the bed for you,” Reganne offered.

“I got it. Get some rest. I’ll be right here if you need me.”

She nodded before going back upstairs. He watched her go, wishing he could go with her. Sleep in her bed. Feel all that silky skin wrapped around him.

Grey cursed softly. He’d usually worked off this restless energy by now. Since meeting Reganne he had no desire to visit a bar and take a ready, willing woman home to satiate his needs. He’d rather be here, with her, learning everything he could about her. Getting close to her.

Wasn’t that a complication he didn’t need?

Despite his revelation tonight about his mother, he still had no intention of bringing a woman into his world. Clinical depression or not, his mother hadn’t been able to handle military life and he couldn’t bear losing another woman because of his career.

With jerky movements he made up his bed and lay down to listen to Reganne moving around upstairs.

Better not to imagine her undressing for bed.

Muttering, he rolled onto his side. He wished her ex would make a move so he could blow off some steam in the second best way: physically.

The first was sex.

Grey groaned and closed his eyes. Looked like a long night ahead of him.

‡

R
eganne lay awake
in bed. Knowing Grey was downstairs should be a comfort. Instead it had her in knots. Knots only a woman could understand. Especially if she hadn’t been with a man in almost a year.

A tall, muscular, handsome Navy SEAL who made her stomach flutter every time she looked at him. Someone who made her smile and laugh again.

A man who hadn’t run hard and fast in the opposite direction after hearing her story. The fact he stayed made her uncharacteristically melancholy. Having him watch over her made her feel safe and protected. Something she hadn’t felt in a long time.

Something she wanted to feel forever.

Reganne threw the covers off and swung her feet to the floor. She had fallen for Senior Chief Petty Officer Greyson Stone. Head over heels, never-felt-this-way, let’s-spend-our-life-together fallen. Not even with Carsen had she felt such a strong attraction to someone. This felt different. More real. Stronger.

And if she’d learned one thing from her experience with her ex it was that life was too short. She’d once been the kind of woman who decided what she wanted and went after it. No holds barred. It had gotten her through medical school and residency. Carsen couldn’t steal that away from her. He might have caused her to bury it and forget the real her for a while, but Grey brought her back. With him, she felt normal.

Feeling free, happy, she walked softly down the stairs. The instant her bare feet hit the landing Grey’s voice drifted through the darkness.

“Reganne? What’s wrong?”

Drawn to his deep timbre she crossed the room to where he half-lay, half-sat on the couch. She put her hands on his shoulders and climbed on top of him, gently pushing him back against his pillow.

“Reganne?”

Leaning down, she pressed her lips to his. His arms came around her, strong and safe, pulling her closer. With a soft sigh she parted her lips beneath the gentle nudging of his. He took over the kiss, tasting and exploring. Butterflies set flight in her belly when his calloused hands slipped under her tank top and rasped against her lower back.

She rubbed against the erection pressing into her. Gasped when he pushed back. His lips left hers to trail down her neck. Her head fell back, allowing him more access.

Against the pulse pounding in her throat he murmured, “Are you sure about this?”

A shudder worked its way through her. Never had she been more sure of anything in her life. “Yes.”

With a low growl he sat up, then rose to his feet, bringing her with him. She wrapped her legs around his waist, kissing his neck. He tasted like the ocean, salty and pure male. A heady combination.

God, he smelled good. Felt good. Carried her like she weighed nothing more than a feather. That turned her on almost as much as feeling him hot and hard against her. Anticipation zinged through her veins as Grey carried her up to her loft bedroom, kissing her deeper with each step.

By time they reached her bed she was so hot for him she could barely breathe. He lowered her to the bed, following her down. The weight of him pressing her into the mattress made her breath catch. She’d definitely made the right decision and would never regret it. No matter what happened between her and Grey.

*

Grey watched Reganne
pull off her spaghetti strapped tank top, then shimmy her shorts down her legs and toss them aside. They’d lit a couple candles, the flames causing a soft glow on her beautiful skin. He stood at the foot of the bed, drinking her in. She was the most gorgeous woman he’d ever seen. Perfect in every way.

“Are you going to stand there all night or are you going to remove those clothes?” She bit her lip.

He grinned, grabbed his t-shirt behind his neck and shucked it. Followed by his shorts. Reganne sent him an appreciative smile, making his blood boil. The woman turned him inside out with a simple smile.

Sliding his hands up her shapely legs, loving the feel of her skin beneath his touch, he slowly lowered himself over her. Her arms immediately circled his waist, spanning his back. He lowered his head and kissed her, their tongues doing a mating dance as old as time. It took everything he had not to plunge inside her.

When she rubbed against him he groaned. “Condom.”