Swift Strike (SEAL Team 14 Book 2) (11 page)

Sheathing his handgun in his holster, he turned back around to face Olivia. Will wanted nothing more than to go back to where they had left off just a few seconds ago. He wanted her, and now he knew for certain that she wanted him too—no matter how much she protested to the contrary.

It was too late for that though, the moment was shattered just like the patio door. When he looked down at her, he knew that whatever was about to happen between them before they had been disturbed was no longer going to happen. She’d already made her decision. Apparently for her, the interruption had had the same sobering effect as being doused by a bucket of ice-cold water.

Still panting heavily, Olivia crossed her arms over her chest as she backed away from him. Actually, she practically leaped away from him. “This was a mistake,” she said unsteadily, her normally husky voice rising an octave at the end.

“It wasn’t a mistake and you know it, Liv,” he said patiently, taking one step toward her. “You want me as much as I want you. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.”

She looked at him incredulously as if he had just confided to her that he ate puppies for breakfast, and then suggested that she should join him for a meal sometime.

“I have to go,” she said, picking up her purse.

“At least let me take you back to the base,” he offered.
It was a last ditch effort to spend more time with her, so that he could what? Actually convince her that he wasn’t as big of an ass as she thought he was? Try to break down some more of her reinforced steel emotional walls so that he could finally lose himself in the wonderland between her thighs?

“Not necessary, thank you,” she said, nervously eyeing him like a caged bird eyes a cat. “I’m calling a cab.”

“Olivia, you don’t have to be afraid.”

“I’m not afraid of you, Will.”

“I didn’t mean me. I meant, you don’t have to be afraid of ‘us’. Whatever is happening here between the two of us is not a mistake. It’s amazing.”

“What happened,” she said, shaking her head, “was an overload of hormones on both of our parts. I never said that I wasn’t attracted to you. I said that I didn’t want to be with you. Those are two separate things.”

It was his turn to eye her. Will knew bullshit when he heard it, and Olivia had just recited a steaming pile of it.

“Liv, I could reach out my hand and just graze your panties with my fingertips right now and you’d be soaking wet. You don’t respond to someone the way you responded to me and not want them, not want to be with them.”

Shades of pink dotted her cheeks and her eyes narrowed into tiny pinpoints of blue fire. “Thank you for that. Just when I think one of our conversations is teetering between the decent and obscene, I can always count on you to tip us over the line, Will. And yes, you can desire someone physically and not want to be with them. Case in point, what just happened between us. And I know for a fact that there’s nothing more happening here. You know why? Because I don’t know you, not really. And you sure as hell don’t know me.”

“What are you talking about?”

“What’s my mother’s name?”

Shit. Will racked his brain, thinking hard. But he couldn’t remember. He knew that Olivia wasn’t close to her mother, that she had left Olivia’s family when Olivia was still a child, but he couldn’t remember the woman’s name. He couldn’t even remember if Olivia had mentioned her mother’s name or not. He couldn’t remember if he had even asked her.

“What’s my favorite book?” she continued, rapidly firing out questions. “Favorite movie? Career goals? Favorite childhood memory?”

“What’s the point of this?”

She ignored him. “Where’s my favorite place to visit? How many siblings do I have?”

Finally. A question he could answer. “In Germany, you mentioned that you have a twin sister. I think you said her name was Sarah.”

Raising her eyebrow, she smirked at him like he’d just proven her point. “Wow, you got one question right. You really know me, Will. And my sister’s name is Sienna by the way.”

Exasperated, Will fought to get back in control of the situation. “Why are you fighting this so much? For such an accomplished, intelligent woman, you’re acting like a scared little girl.”

Ice-blue daggers flashed through her eyes. Good, he thought. He wanted her mad, he was pretty damn mad himself.

“I’m not fighting anything, Will. I’m just acknowledging the fact that you just want to have sex with me. Nothing more. I’m also acknowledging the fact that I’m too good for you. You don’t deserve me. You deserve that bubble-headed tramp you were cruising around with. So you can take your empty apologies and homegrown, good ol’ boy West Texas charm to someone else’s doorstep.”

He just stared at her. And then once the depth of her insult penetrated, he got pissed. “You know what, Liv? Or should I address you as Your Highness? I’m sorry that I can’t be as fucking perfect as you are,” he snapped at her. “You know here on planet Earth, us imperfect mortals happen to make a hell of a lot of mistakes. But you know what, at least we have a hell of a lot of fun while we’re making them. And as far as you saying that you didn’t want me, well, who’s the liar now?”

Shaking her head, she looked at him for a moment. She didn’t say anything so Will continued—he was past the point of caring about whether or not he made her upset.

“You know, if we hadn’t been interrupted just then, I could have fucked you right here on the dirty patio deck for all to see, and you would have loved every single
second
of it. Hell, I bet you would have even begged me for more. How about it, babe? You wanna let bygones be bygones, ditch the clothes, and get a little nasty? I know you like to be in charge, so I’ll even let you start off on top.”

This was it. He’d pushed her too far. Her jaw dropped in disbelief and for a moment she appeared as though she were about to let loose on him. He
wanted
her to say something else. Anything else. Incredibly, he wanted her to get angry at him. In the beginning, he’d been concerned that she would blow up at him. But now he wanted her to rage against him. He wanted her to call him a bastard, an asshole, or a dick. To hit him, to claw at him, or something. Anything.

Instead, she pivoted on her heel and walked away from him, leaving him to gaze after her. She didn’t even bother to look back.

Well, that went as planned
. His fist balling up, he slammed against the table and kicked over the complementary metal chair simultaneously. The empty dishes that were still left from previous patrons clattered noisily against the disturbance. He had to remember to thank Joshua for his advice.

“Fuck.”

****

Olivia’s hands shook as she walked away from the man who still plagued her thoughts. The only man that she had ever let get this deep under her skin.

Will Castle had dropped into the bar about an hour after she arrived at the local hangout for Camp Harding staffers. With his golden hair, striking blue and green eyes, and tall build she immediately recognized him. She had purposely avoided him that evening, maneuvering herself into a conversation with a group of nurses that she barely even knew.
She had assured herself that she was a grown woman and didn’t have to let him hurt her anymore. She wasn’t a coward for avoiding him, she simply refused to let him get emotionally close to him again. She
wouldn’t
allow him hurt her anymore.

Walking over to the counter with as much poise as she could muster, she ordered a vodka tonic.

“Hey, are you doing all right?”

Glancing up, Olivia found Navy SEAL Hank Kellerman gazing at her. Earlier, she’d spotted Hank talking with Joshua and the bevy of nurses who were hanging on the SEAL’s every word before she barged in on their conversation.

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine. Just wanted to get another drink before I head home.”

“Wanted or needed?”

She thought about what he was asking for a couple of seconds and then replied, “A little bit of both.”

“So what’s the deal with you and Castle?”

“What?”

“You know what,” he said, challenging her to deny what he was talking about.

Olivia didn’t answer, just took another sip of her drink and pretended instead that she hadn’t heard his question.

“C’mon...just a couple of hours ago you were all smiles and laughs. Then you go out there and spend fifteen minutes talking to this guy, and you come back with a permanent frown across your face looking like you just ate a bowlful of sour lemons. What’s up? You seem like you have the weight of the world on your shoulders right now.”

“It’s nothing, really.”

“It has to be something. I mean, do you have some sort of a thing going on with him? I’m not trying to get in the way of you two if...”

Casting a sidelong glance at him, she shook her head. “No. It’s nothing like that. And anyway, I’m not in the mood to talk about it.” Taking a sip of the ice-cold tonic, she took solace in the burn in her throat, which was nothing compared to the burning in her heart.

How she could still feel so broken when she was around Will was beyond her. She couldn’t deny that he was an attractive man. Actually, that was possibly the understatement of the century. With his striking eyes, muscular physique, towering height, and Michelangelo-inspired sculptured face, Will Castle was beyond good looking. In fact, Olivia would wager one year’s salary that
Will Castle was as close to perfection as any mortal man had probably ever came or ever would come, a living Adonis in the flesh.

So really, there was no wonder why she had been—
past tense
—attracted to him. Most women with the ability of sight would have been attracted to him at first glance. She couldn’t blame herself for that failing. But she could blame herself for still allowing him to affect her actions.

Her lips were still swollen from his kisses. She’d nearly ripped off her own jeans and his in order to have sex with the man. The moment their lips touched, all reason had pretty much fled her body. Will had been right. If they hadn’t been interrupted, she would have had got it on with him right there in public on the dirty cobblestone patio of a seedy bar.
What was wrong with her?

Will had been
a jerk who’d betrayed her trust before they’d even officially started dating. She should be thanking her lucky stars she’d never gotten too entangled with him to begin with, that he’d shown his true colors right from the start. Not out humping him like a dog in heat.

“Okay,” Hank said, raising his eyebrow in curiosity. He sat down next to her, keeping her company while she sipped her drink. “He hurt you, right?”

“Are you kidding me? You do have the power of hearing, right? I told you, I do not want to talk about it,” she said rigidly, shifting uncomfortably in her seat. The last thing in the world she felt like doing right now was discussing her screwed-up relationship with Will Castle with yet another SEAL. Hank seemed like a nice enough guy, but no thanks. She’d learned her lesson the last time. She’d learned it the hard way.

“Really, there’s nothing to talk about,” she said, smiling at him. “None of it matters anymore. It is firmly in the past. Listen, it was nice meeting you, Hank, but I’m heading out now. I have an early day tomorrow.”

“Olivia, it is pretty obvious that you’re upset.”

Silence.

“Okay...can I call you sometime? You know, as a friend.”

His question was completely out of the blue. Even he seemed a little taken aback by the words that’d haphazardly tumbled out of his mouth.

“You know, just in case one evening of me prying into your life wasn’t enough for you,” he joked, leaning over and tapping her shoulder with his. “And everyone can use a friend every now and again.” A disarming smile erupted on his face, and Olivia was very tempted to say yes to him.

Any other day she would have said yes. Hank was the total package. He was handsome, albeit not in a drop-dead gorgeous, immediately drop-your-panties Will Castle kind of a way. But in a rugged, dangerous, and rough around the edges kind of way. From the information he’d shared with her this evening, she knew that he was born and raised in Michigan, went to Notre Dame for his undergraduate studies, and had three little sisters he adored.

Olivia was sure that he didn’t have any problems attracting the opposite sex with his wavy chestnut hair, perfectly even white teeth, tanned skin, and piercing brown eyes. So yeah, in another lifetime—one where she was the va-va-voom seductress that she’d always wanted to be—she would have said yes, she would have jumped in feet first unmindful of the consequences.

But not tonight.

J
esse woke up
in a cold sweat, his hands shaking, and heart nearly pumping out of his chest. Shit. Another night, another nightmare. Dreams of Kincaid lying dead in a pool of blood had merged with images of Lena Westlake lying lifeless in a similar pool of blood with a bullet wound through her forehead.

Rolling over on his mattress, he glanced at the neon red numbers displaying on his clock. It was 0400. He had to be up at 0500. Letting out a long suffering sigh, he rolled out of bed. There was no point in wasting the next hour tossing and turning. Pulling on some shorts and a T-shirt he went outside for a run. Five miles later, Jesse stepped under the ice-cold spray of the shower.

As rivulets of the soothing water doused his back, Jesse tried to push his dark dreams away. But his thoughts continued to drift back to his team’s ill-fated mission in Bayla. It had been days since his friend and comrade had been shot and killed. But the memory of that day would be seared in his brain forever. By the time he had climbed down from his sniper position, the rest of his crew was already at Kincaid’s side. He was dead by the time Jesse arrived.

From what they had surmised from the scene, Kincaid had been gunned down by a tango who had managed to escape his line of vision. The tango had snuck up on Kincaid as he exited his hide to join the rest of his team members in closing in on the terror group. Always the fighter, Kincaid had gotten off one shot to the tango’s head, but not before he took one round to the neck. The bullet struck his carotid artery. He’d bled out in a matter of minutes.

Shoving those decidedly dark images from his brain, his mind drifted back to an earlier mission, back to Lena Westlake. He couldn’t get her out of his mind, either. He sure as hell thought about her enough in the daytime, and now she was haunting his nights too.

Lena Westlake with her intense mocha colored eyes, velvety soft voice, and strawberry-blond hair. Jesse had been on rescue missions before—had saved attractive women before—but none of them had ever stayed on his mind like Lena. She didn’t exactly fit Jesse’s typical “type.” He generally preferred cute brunettes who were more on the full C-cup side. Lena fit neither characteristic, but he was still very much drawn toward her.

It had been a couple of weeks since he’d last seen her, and Jesse wondered what she was doing right now. If she was okay. He knew that she was surviving. He didn’t know much about her, but anyone who’d lived through the hell she’d lived through could definitely be classified as having a surviving spirit. But simply surviving wasn’t the same thing as living life. She had to have been damaged by what had happened to her. There was no way she could have escaped her ordeal emotionally unscathed. He hoped that she had the support system that she needed to move on.

He had to stop thinking about her. The mission was over. He’d dutifully performed his job and gotten her safely out of that death pit. In a few days, he’d be on his leave and hopping on a plane to spend some time with his family in Louisville. It had been about ten months since he’d been home for a visit, and he missed his family.

What could he offer someone like Lena Westlake anyway? Jesse did all right for himself. More than all right compared to some. He had about thirty-thousand dollars saved, not including his retirement fund, which would have been plenty for a down payment on a home someday. Granted, he couldn’t afford a mansion, but he could purchase a respectable house in San Diego. That is, when he finally decided that he wanted to settle down. Right now, his eight hundred square foot apartment off base suited his needs just fine. He couldn’t complain, he was living his dream. Living life on his own terms, and having amazing experiences while doing it.

He didn’t know what Lena’s dreams were, but he suspected that it had money somewhere in the picture. Her father was worth about a gazillion dollars. She was used to living in expensive houses, shopping sprees, lavish jewelry, and fancy cars that could probably classify as their own mortgage payment. Jesse couldn’t provide her those things. At least not to the level that she was probably accustomed. In addition, she was a smart, successful, pretty woman who probably had men beating down her doorway.

But shit, why the hell was he even thinking about any of this stuff? Jesse didn’t want or need to commit to anyone. At this point, he was pretty much married to the Teams, so he shouldn’t care whether or not Lena Westlake was impressed with his bank account. It just wasn’t in the cards.

At exactly 0600, Jesse arrived at the Camp Harding installation for the Team’s daily briefing. Drumming his fingers on the table, Jesse waited—not so patiently—for his CO to start their daily training agenda. Just because they didn’t have any active assignment to prepare for, didn’t mean that they took it easy on their days “off.” Whenever they weren’t deployed in an active combat situation, training took up the bulk of their time.

Jesse watched as Luke sauntered into the room. A huge smile on his face. Most of his other teammates were already there waiting for the morning rundown to begin at 0630. Will Castle had been sitting at a corner of the table since before Jesse had arrived. The deeply entrenched scowl on his face signaled that he was not in the mood for making conversation. Joshua and Malcolm were in deep conversation about the best way to take down a target assuming temporary loss of visual cues.

“Hey man.” His best friend grinned at him, holding up a photograph of a tall, smiling brunette who appeared to be half-acrobat, half-porn star.

“Where’re her clothes?” Jesse asked dryly.

“Ha, man I don’t know, and I don’t care,” Luke said with a wry smile on his face. “The less clothes she wears the better. Naked is a good look on her. Chick’s body is banging.”

“You even know her name?”

Luke placed a hand over his heart, a stunned expressing flying across his face. “Man, c’mon, I’m hurt here. Of course I know her name. It’s Cindy. Cindy Draper to be exact, and she’s going to have my babies.”

Jesse spit out the water he’d been swigging as he started to choke. Luke patted him harshly on the back. “You okay, man?”

“She’s pregnant? With your kid?” Jesse asked unable to keep the shock from his voice.

“Hell no, man,” Luke visibly shuddered, shaking his head. “Jesus. It was just a figure of speech. Way to kill my morning though. Shit, a kid? Me a father? Not happening.”

Jesse glanced back at the photo and the extremely uncomfortable position that the woman’s body was contorted in. “So when did she send you this?”

“Email this morning. Talk about starting the day off right.”

Jesse should have known better. Luke was unwavering in his desire not to settle down. He eschewed anything resembling a semblance of a relationship and was the hit ‘em and quit ‘em type. And from the heartache that Jesse had experienced the last time he’d actually allowed himself to do something silly like
feel
, he couldn’t blame Luke for his choice.

“So what you doing on your days off? Heading back to the farm?”

“Yeah.”

“Cool, make sure to say hello to O for me. Is she still a platinum blonde?”

“No. She’s back to red.”

“Oh yeah? Make sure you definitely say hello to her for me then,” Luke said with a wink.

Jesse glared at his friend. Luke always liked to joke with him about his sister. It didn’t help matters that Ophelia had developed a little high school crush on Luke when he was last visiting at the ranch. Logically, Jesse knew it was all in good fun, that Luke would never betray that trust, but brotherly duty had him saying, “Yeah, sure. By the way, you even think about touching O and I will cut your heart out.”

Luke just chuckled at the warning. “Yeah I know, I know. Sheesh, I’m just kidding with you, man. O’s a good girl, which is as you know, way not my type. And besides she’s your kid sister—I’d never go there.”

Jesse grunted in reply.

“So,” Luke continued. “When you going to grow a pair and call that blonde.”

“I’m not.”

“Oh yeah? Why not?”

“We’ve already been over this.”

“Yeah, we have. I didn’t buy it then, and I don’t buy it now.”

“You don’t buy what?”

“That you’re not interested in her.”

Throwing another dark look at his friend, Jesse gritted his teeth. “Look. She’s been through hell. She needs her space right now.”

Luke grinned. “Yeah. Who are you trying to convince? Me or you?”

“Just leave it alone, man.”

“Yeah, okay. I’ll leave it…but first, here’s some advice.”

Groaning, Jesse glanced over at his friend who was leaning forward in his seat.

“How long have we know each other?”

Jesse hesitated for a moment. “Six years now, I guess.”

“Right. And in those six years, I’ve never pressed you on something like this. Especially not since, well, you know. But I think you’re being an idiot here. What’s the harm?”