Saved by a SEAL (Hot SEALs Book 2) (13 page)

“But after we get back
. . .” He let the sentence trail off as he looked down at her.

“After we get back?”
She waited for him to finish.

At this close distance she felt him draw in a deep breath
. Zane mumbled a low curse before he leaned down and delivered one hard, fast kiss to her lips before he broke away. He took one more look at her and then returned his attention to the forest surrounding them.

“Hey, now. I would have volunteered for that there duty if anybody
had asked me.”

“Shut
up, Brody,” Zane yelled to the back of the truck.

Missy saw Brody grin before he
went back to watching the road behind them.

CHAPTER 17

A knock on the
open door of the sunroom had Missy glancing up from her book. The warm afternoon sun had made her sleepy, but the man in the doorway had her pulse racing.

“Zane.”

“Hi, how are you feeling?” He moved across the room and sat on the ottoman opposite the sofa where she’d stretched out.

“A million percent better.”
Especially now that he was here.

She’d barely seen him s
ince the rescue. His team had whisked her and the girls to Chad where she was examined by doctors and interviewed by government officials. He had come to check on her before her father showed up and swooped her away. Zane had promised he’d see her when they were both home, but as the days passed she had begun to doubt his promise.

“That’s good to hear
.” He covered her hand with his.

“Of course, my mother barely lets me do anything. I’m lucky she let me out of bed to come downstairs today.”

He lifted one brow. “It has only been a few days since you’ve been home.”

“I know.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t get here sooner. Things move a little slower when you don’t have the presidential fleet of aircraft to whisk you home.” He grinned.

“
There was room. You should have come with us—”

“I’m teasing you. We had some
things we needed to take care of before we left. I actually just got back in the country today. I checked in at base and drove straight here.”

That revelation erased all her prior doubts and had her falling for him all over again. “Thank you for coming.”

“I wanted to see you.” He squeezed her fingers. “So, if we can convince your mother to let you out, do you want to go do something? Take a drive? Go out to dinner?”

She wrinkled her nose.
“I don’t know.”

“Are you not feeling up to it?
”

How could she tell him it was b
ecause the last time they’d gone out it hadn’t ended so well? Yes, they’d had a wonderful dinner, and even better sex, but that next morning—that had really sucked.

Even a night spent with Zane couldn’t make up for the pain of having him brush her off the next day. She’d been through too much lately to be strong enough to handle that now.
She’d survived Boko Haram, but she wasn’t sure she could survive being dumped by Zane Alexander again.

“That’s not it. I feel fine.” She couldn’t hold his gaze.

He reached out and lifted her head with one finger beneath her chin so she had to look at him. “Missy, what’s wrong?”

Damn, she was as insecure as that thirteen year old with braces again.
She forced herself to answer him honestly. “Us going out didn’t work out so well last time.”

“I know. That won’t happen again. You have my word on it.”

So that was how he was going to play it. They’d go back to being friends. Having dinner, but no sex, that way he wouldn’t have to dump her on the phone the morning after.

“Oh.”

Zane shook his head. “You have the most uncanny ability of imbuing a single word with so much. Would you like to explain that
oh
? I’m a man. We’re a little slow when it comes to the art of understanding a woman.”

She might as well be straight with him. What did she have to lose? “I’m not sure I can pretend it’s all right that we’re just friends after what happened
between us that night at my boss’s house. Having dinner with you as a friend, and then knowing you’re going back to Virginia Beach or wherever you go to be with other women because you don’t want to be with me that way, it hurts.”

It felt surprisingly good to get that all off her chest.

“Missy, that’s not what I want.”

She met his gaze. “What
do you want?”

He le
t out a short laugh. “Ironically, I want what I did everything I could to get away from before. I want you. Not just for a night. I want a real relationship with you. I want exactly what my father wanted me to do.”

“Which you rebelled against.
Just like you always did for as long as I’ve known you.”

“Yes. I’m a fool.”

“No. You’re just being you.” The rebellious bad boy she’d always loved.

“Can you forgive me?”

“For what?”

“For being a coward and for running away rather than get close to you.”

Again, his running away was typical Zane. How could she fault him now for behaving like the same man she’d always known him to be?

“The moment you mentioned your
father had suggested you call me I knew it was bound to be a problem. Zane, I’ve known you and your family for a very long time.”

“Yes, you have.” He smiled. “You might be the one person in the world who understands me.”

“I might be.” Missy liked that idea.

“
Are you really willing to forgive me for all my many faults?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“I guess I like living dangerously. Obviously. You had to come all the way to Africa to save me from my last adventure.” She was joking, but he didn’t laugh.

Instead, Zane leaned forward and brought his hand to her cheek. “I will always come and save you. No matter where you are.”

“I know.”
She believed that. Seeing him and his teammates in action, it was impossible not to.

“And I will never willingly hurt you again.” He leaned
closer, hovering just shy of her mouth.

“See that you don’t.” She closed the final distance and brought her mouth to his.

He kissed her with an enthusiasm that matched her own, before he broke away. “Melissa.”

His use o
f her full name brought her complete attention to him, even with as dazed as she felt from his kiss. “Yes.”

“You need to know, I might be no
good at this.”

“Sex?”
Missy knew that wasn’t true. She had first hand experience as proof to the contrary.

He smiled. “No, everything else that comes along with it. Relationships.
Love.”

The L-word had her pulse quickening.
“It’s easy. It’s just like being best friends, except you have sex too.”

Zane laughed.
“Actually, that sounds really good.”

He’d just leaned in for another kiss, the first of what Missy hoped would be many, when she heard footsteps in the hallway. He leaned back again
with a sigh as the unmistakable sound of high heels on a marble floor grew closer. They were both looking toward the doorway when her mother, followed by her father, came through.

“Zane.” Missy’s mother came forward, both hands extended and a smile on her face. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

Zane stood and took her mother’s hands in his, accepting the kiss she delivered to both of his cheeks.

“Pleasure to see you too, Mrs. Greenwood.
” When her mother finally released him, Zane extended his hand to her father. “Senator.”

Her father pumped Zane’s hand.
“Zane, we both want to extend our undying gratitude for what you did.”

“It wasn’t just me, sir. It was a joint effort. Every man on the operation deserves the credit.”

“Zane, please don’t be modest. When the negotiations that reporter was working on fell apart I thought—” Her mother’s eyes filled with tears.

In an uncharacteristic show of affection, her father wrapped his arm around her mother. “It’s okay
, Martha. It’s over.”

Her mother nodded. “I know.”

“Zane, if there’s anything I can do for you—” When Zane opened his mouth, Missy’s father held up his hand. “I mean it. You said you were thinking of leaving the Navy. I’m sure I can get you a position anywhere you want.”

Zane shook his head. “I’m afraid that talk of getting out was a bit premature. It looks as if I
have to stay in for a couple more years. The financing for the company I was looking to start fell through.”

Missy
knew exactly why the financing had fallen through. She stepped closer and laid her hand on Zane’s arm. He covered her hand with his and squeezed.

“Really?” Her father asked. “Tell me about this company.”

“Zane and his teammates were going to open a private security company.” Missy took it upon herself to answer.

“How much start up capital do you need?”

Zane shook his head at her father’s question. “It’s a major investment.”

“How much?” he repeated the question.

“I believe it was a million dollars.” Again, Missy answered for Zane. If he wasn’t going to do it for himself, someone had to.

Her father nodded. “Done.”

“Excuse me?” Zane’s eyes widened.

“Consider it done. I’ll have my broker wire the money to your account in the morning.
”

Zane’s mouth fell open. Missy stepped forward and took the opportunity to accept the generous offer since Zane seemed a little speechless. She stood on tiptoe and pressed a kiss to her father’s cheek. “Thank you, Daddy.”

“It’s the least I can do.”

“It will be an investment. We’ll give you shares in the company. Or it can be a loan if you prefer, though I’m not sure when we’d be in a position to pay you back.” Finally knocked out of his stupor, Zane stepped forward and extended his hand.
Her father shook it with vigor.

“I’m really not worried about it, Zane.
Whatever you think is best. I trust you, son.”

“Thank you, sir. That means a lot.”

“So I hope this means we’ll be seeing more of you around here.” Missy’s mother smiled.

“You definitely will.” Zane
shot Missy a glance, before reaching out and reeling her in by the hand. “I’ll be around a lot more. So much, you might get sick of me.”

The last, he spoke directly to her. Missy shook her head. “I’ll never get sick of having you around.”

Her father cleared his throat. “I think there’s something I need to do in the office. Martha, will you join me?”

“Yes
, I will. Zane, you’ll stay for dinner?”

Zane looked to Missy. “Am I staying for dinner?”

She remembered their prior conversation regarding plans for dinner and her original noncommittal answer to him. A lot had changed in the few minutes since then. Missy leaned closer to Zane. “Yes. I’d like that.”

“Good,
” her mother nodded. “Come, Peter. Let’s give the kids some privacy.”

Missy heard but didn’t see her parents leave the room. She only had eyes for Zane.

The sound of footsteps were still fading in the hall when he reached up to cradle her face in his hands. “Not being able to spend the night with you, all night, even if it’s just watching you sleep, is going to kill me.”

“We’ll figure something out. There’s a really sturdy trellis right outside my window.”

He laughed and leaned closer. “Don’t tempt me. And FYI, I really don’t need a trellis to get into your bedroom window.”

“I believe
you. Just don’t fall and break anything I might need later.”

Zane moved in and hovered just a breath from her lips.
“Don’t worry. I’m pretty hard to break.”

She believed that too, but she didn’t get to say it as his lips covered hers.
He kissed her until she realized just kissing was not going to be enough. She’d nearly died, and now she wanted to feel alive.

“Let’s go upstairs to my room.”

His eyes widened. “I’m thirty years old. I can’t sneak upstairs and have sex with you in your bedroom while your parents are downstairs. Especially on the same day your father invested a million dollars in my company.”

“Dinner’s not until seven. We have hour
s and hours before they’ll come looking for us.”

He groaned.
“Stop tempting me.”

“Missy?” At the sound of her mother’s voice, Zane took a step back
and adjusted the front of his pants before her mother appeared in the doorway.