Outcast (SEAL Team: Disavowed Book 2) (17 page)

15

“JASPER! COME ON, buddy. Talk to me.”

Jasper winced from the glare of sun. “Eden?” He sat up, only to grab his aching forehead and drop back down. For the first time in forever, he wasn’t cold. And far from being trapped in a dark cave, sunlight streamed across the foot of a proper bed. “Wait—Harding? What the hell are you doing in Antarctica?”

“What do you think? Saving your miserable ass. Nash, Everett, Briggs, Raleigh, Jackson and Sawyer—we’re all here. Well, I’m
here
. Everyone else is in the chow hall. You know we’ve always got your back.”

Jasper snorted. “You’re a little late. Where the hell am I? And where’s Eden? And her dad? Oh—and her cat.”

“They’re all fine. In rooms next to yours. We’re at McMurdo. When we didn’t hear from you, we got worried. I set wheels in motion and stumbled into one helluva mess. You sure know how to pick ’em. Here, I thought you were ditching work for a romantic rendezvous, and lo and behold you pop the cherry on a conspiracy that’s got the whole world riveted.”

“Wait—how did you even find us? How long have I been out?”

“Dude—you had an entire fringe army of Neo-Nazi’s on your tail. Once we found them, it was easy enough to find you. There aren’t a lot of places to hide down here. Plus, these douchebags have been leaving a trail of death. We’ve found a couple entrances to the underground compound—what was left of you and your raft washed up on the shore of the Ross Sea. We’re still trying to figure out where you popped out at. The compound itself is pretty eff’d up from itchy trigger fingers and too many plastic explosives. A worldwide team of eggheads are itching to get in there when engineers give it an all clear on safety. You’re lucky you made it out with only hypothermia and a frost-bitten little toe.”

“Did they amputate?”

Harding grinned. “Nah. Relax. You’re still pretty as ever for your girl.”

“Speaking of which . . .” Jasper sat up again, and this time stayed up long enough to get out of the bed and onto his feet. Someone had dressed him in sweats and thick white socks. “I need to see Eden.”

“Sure. She’s right next door.”

Jasper wandered that direction. He was achy as hell, but otherwise okay.

He entered Eden’s room and found her sleeping.

When he swept her hair back from her eyes, she woke with a start.

“Sorry, babe. Didn’t mean to scare you.”

Like he’d been, she seemed dazed and disoriented. “Where are we? Are you okay? Where are my dad and Yeti?”

“Good. Everyone’s real good.” He relayed the same information Harding had given him.

“I thought we were dead.”

“I know, right?” He pulled over a chair to sit next to her bed. “But we’re not. So look . . .” He forced a deep breath. “I know this may not be the time or place, but what we just went through taught me to stop waiting for the
right
time to tell you some things, because it may never come. We got lucky, babe. That has to mean something. I want you to go back to your doctor—or hell, find a new doctor.
Please
, fight this disease the way you have fought Leo and his guys. I know what you went through with your mom was rough, but medicine’s come a long way since then. Together, we can beat this. I know we can. At the very least, we should try. I love you. I’ve got issues to work on back home, but after that, let’s get married.”

She said nothing. She didn’t make eye contact with him or even breathe. What did that mean?

“Talk to me. What are you thinking?”

“You should probably go.”

“Wait—what?”

“I-I have a ton of stuff to think about. I need space. The last thing you need is to be saddled with a sick woman who has no hope of—”

“That’s BS and you know it. After what we just survived, how can you say there’s no hope?”

“Jasper,
please
, just go. I can’t be with you. That’s final.”

Jaw clenched hard enough to hurt, Jasper realized he’d run out of things to say. The woman was as tough as she was stubborn. She knew he loved her. She knew he’d do anything to save her from any outside force.

The one thing he couldn’t save her from was herself.

Two days later, McMurdo’s doc deemed Jasper healthy enough to travel, so Jasper and his team hopped the next available flight.

He sat sandwiched between Briggs and Everett on the routine five-and-a-half hour C-130 trip to Christchurch, New Zealand.

Briggs noshed pretzels and listened to metal the whole way and Everett listened to cry-in-your-beer country while playing Mahjong on his phone.

Which left Jasper with too much time to think.

He felt stuck in a
Twilight Zone
episode from which he couldn’t escape.

He left his seat to hit the john, and then he saw her—seated at the opposite end of the massive ride.

Her dad sat beside her with his bad foot elevated.

A woman he recognized as a nurse from the medical center took his vitals.

Yeti slept in a makeshift carrier tucked beneath Eden’s seat.

Strange how in the center of the violent storm they’d been caught up in, these people had been his family. Now they were strangers. What happened? He thought she loved him. Had he never really known her at all?

They landed.

Collected gear.

Harding had arranged for transportation to a B & B he’d rented for the whole crew until their next day’s flight. The place was all decked out for Christmas. He’d forgotten the holiday was even near.

While the guys settled in for beer and poker, Jasper begged off. He stripped, grabbed a quick hot shower, then pulled down blackout shades before climbing into bed.

He’d had enough eternal sun.

He was just drifting off when the door opened, and then closed. “Briggs? That you?”

He couldn’t see anything, but heard rustling.

“Everett? If you’re trying to convince me this place is haunted, it isn’t working.”

A warm, silky all-woman’s body slid beside him under the covers. When she cozied closer, one inhalation of her familiar breath told him Eden had finally come to her senses.

“Babe . . .”

“Shh. I don’t want to talk. I just want to feel.”

He had no problem with that—especially, when she eased lower, taking him into her mouth.

Eyes closed, he combed his fingers through her long loose hair, groaning as she worked him just the way he liked. They had history. Great history. It was about time she understood where he was coming from.

They belonged together.

End of story.

Just before he’d reached his breaking point, she rolled on a condom she must have brought, then straddled him. He thrust upward while clasping his hands to her hips, pushing her down. He couldn’t get deep enough. He wanted to swallow her whole.

She leaned forward, brushing her hard nips against his chest. Raw sensation roared through him like a freaking jackhammer. With his hand at the back of her head, he kissed her rougher than he probably should have, then rolled her over to slam back into her even harder. She bucked her hips, meeting him thrust for thrust. Moaning with each push.

He was kissing her, kissing her. Drinking her soul.

He reached down to finger her and knew by the way she shuddered that she’d come. He worked harder to make her rise and fall again.

When he couldn’t hold back a second longer, he arched and then froze while the world stood still for one solitary moment of sheer perfection.

And then the act was done.

And awkwardness barged between them as effectively as if it were another person in the room.

Crying, she slipped out from under the covers, dashed to the bathroom and slammed the door.

Shit
.

He left the bed, wadded the condom in a tissue. Banged on the bathroom door. “You’re not playing fair.”

“Sorry. I wanted to feel you inside me, one last time.”

He rested his forehead against the cool wood door. “Did it ever occur to you that we could get married and then spend a lifetime humping like bunnies?”

The door opened. “I’m scared.”

He pulled her into his arms, wrapping her tight enough for her to hopefully realize this was where she belonged. “I’m scared. I could get shot on my next assignment. Or hit by a car. Just because your mother died of cancer, that doesn’t mean you will, too. Think about what we’ve been through. Do you honestly think having chemo treatments could be tougher than escaping a madman while trapped on a sinking raft in a dark, ice cube of a river?”

“When you put it that way . . .”

“Exactly.” He took her hands, easing his fingers between hers. “So we’re going to do this? Kick cancer’s ass?”

While she nodded against his chest, Jasper prayed his tough talk would be enough to see her safely through this war for which he had no weapon other than love.

16

EDEN HAD NEVER been to Montana, but the closer Jasper drove them toward his family home, the more excited—and nervous—she grew.

He didn’t look much better. He was easily the most gorgeous man she’d ever seen, but the grim set of the lips she loved kissing told a sad story while he handled the wheel of his black Jeep Wrangler.

A light snow fell. Not enough to cover the highway. Just enough to remind her of their time in Antarctica, and of how glad she was to be back in a place where spring and summer were right around the calendar’s corner.

Her father had wanted to tag along to meet Jasper’s family, but he was still recovering while writing a book about his Nazi discovery.

He was staying in the guest house of the ancient Victorian home she and Jasper were restoring back in Denver.

Three months had passed since her surgery and treatments and so far, so good. She’d had twinges of nausea, but medication and plenty of saltines and Sprite and love had gotten her through. At her last check-up, she was officially announced cancer free, and she and Jasper would be married in Aspen in June.

She’d faced her cancer issue head-on, but she feared Jasper’s trouble with his parents and older brother only loomed larger. Which was why she’d made him promise to invite his folks and brother to the wedding. When he refused, she’d coaxed his buddy Briggs into finding Jasper’s mother’s number. The initial conversation had been beyond awkward, but it had been a start.