SEALed at Midnight (10 page)

She laughed, a light tinkling of a sound. “Nice to meet you, Thom. What else do you remember?”

“Well, I remembered that I am in the Navy. I’m stationed in Virginia.”

She frowned at that revelation. “Then what were you doing here in Massachusetts?”
 

“My parents live here. I was driving to visit them when the storm hit.”

“We should call them. They must be worried to death.” She moved as if she was about to get up, but that was the last thing he wanted her to do. She felt too good next to him.

He shook his head. “No, it’s fine. They don’t expect me until dinner. I was planning to surprise them by driving through the night and being there in time for breakfast. In hindsight, that wasn’t such a great plan.”

“Do you remember what happened to you?”

“Most of it. I remember my SUV skidding off the road, but I have no recollection of actually crashing or anything else until you found me outside.”

“Wow. That’s crazy.”

Not really, but he probably had more experience with traumatic brain injury than she had.

“I remember some other things too.”

“Really? Tell me.”

“I have two kids. Jason and Juliette.” He watched her react to that.

Her surprise was apparent before she hid it. “Two kids. That’s great.”

“Mmm, hmm. I’m divorced from their mother.”

“Oh.” That one syllable seemed ripe with so much. “Do you, uh, have a girlfriend you need to call?”

He might be rusty and a little bruised around the edges from the divorce, but he knew when a woman was fishing for information and Ginny was.

“Nope. No girlfriend.”

“Oh. Okay. I just wanted to check. You know, didn’t want anyone to worry.”

He smiled. “Thank you for worrying about me.”

“Sure. Anytime. I’m just glad you’re feeling better.” She bit her lip as she raised big brown eyes to look at him.

That did nothing to help the situation in his boxer shorts. The way he was positioned, so close, touching her, there was no way she’d missed feeling it.

He swallowed. “Yeah. Definitely feeling better.”

“Good.” Her eyes narrowed as her gaze dropped to his lips for the briefest of moments.

His SEAL training had taught him to read people. Informants. Terrorists. He could detect lies and threats, but that skill transferred beyond the counterterrorism world.

If he wasn’t completely off base, Ginny wanted him as much as he wanted her.

“Ginny?”

“Yeah?”

He couldn’t seem to get the words out at first. He lifted one hand to cup her face, running a thumb across her bottom lip as he leaned in. “Tell me if I’m out of line here.”

Her throat worked as she swallowed. “You’re not out of line.”

Thank God
. He let out a breath and closed the distance between them.

Her lips were soft and warm. His heart clenched at the feel of sinking into them and with the desire to sink into her.

He needed this. Needed her.

Twice in a month’s time he’d faced death and come out the other side alive. Now, he wanted to feel alive.

Being with Ginny was the best way he could think of to do that.

He kissed her more deeply. She let out the softest whimper as he breached her lips with his tongue.

The sound cut straight to his core and he wanted her more than ever. He slid one leg in between hers. She wrapped her arms around his neck and held him tighter.

Just kissing wasn’t going to satisfy the need she caused within him. He opened the buttons of her pajama top, craving her skin against his.

He broke the kiss and gazed down at her, exposed to him. “Ginny.”

“Thom.” The sound of his name on her lips—such a simple thing—made him ridiculously happy and made him want her even more.

He ran his hand down her body and felt the worn flannel covering her soft curves. He watched her face as he slid his fingers beneath the elastic waistband. She drew in a breath as he laid his palm on the bare skin of her stomach.

He moved his hand lower and watched her lids drift closed as her mouth opened with the intake of a breath.

She widened her legs, enough to encourage him to move lower still until he encountered her wet heat.

The motion of her hips moved in time with his hand.

Before he knew what he was doing he’d pulled her bottoms off and had his mouth on her. She gasped when he speared her with his fingers, filling her.

As her cries filled the room, he felt her body tense, tightening before it released and the orgasm broke.

Her muscles were still pulsing when he pushed his boxer shorts down and positioned himself between her legs.

There was no taking things slow, even with as much as he’d intended to. Not when she looked like that—gasping, her cheeks flushed and her eyes heavily-lidded with desire.

Her spine bowed as he plunged inside. She threw her head back, pressing into the pillow and giving him full access to her throat.

He scraped his teeth along the delicate skin of her neck, before running his tongue along the same path. The action sent a tremor through her.

The feel of being inside her stole what little control he had. He latched onto her throat and caught himself too late in the midst of marking her like they were teenagers.

Closing his eyes, he concentrated on every nuance of loving this woman.

Everything he’d been missing, all he’d gone without for so long, seemed two-fold with Ginny. She responded to every stroke with a catch in her breath accompanied by a tiny sound he was coming to love.

That made him want to make her do it again, and again, for as long as he could.

“Thom?” The urgency in her voice dragged him out of his own head.

“Yeah?”

“I’m not on any birth control.”

“I had a vasectomy.”
That
he remembered very well.

“Oh, thank God.” She gripped his ass with both hands and held him deep inside her.

He laughed at her reaction before he groaned as her body gripped his. He hissed in a breath and felt her spasm around him.

This was going to end too fast. He didn’t want to come yet but he feared he wasn’t going to have a choice.

Fuck it. They had hours more together and he intended to take advantage of every one of them.

Gripping her head in his hands, he watched the pleasure on her face as he pounded them both to completion.

Ginny was still beneath him, both of them trying to catch their breath, when the lights and television blared to life.

“What the hell?” He lifted his head and glanced around the now bright room.

“The power’s back on.”

He rolled to the side and swept both his hands and his gaze over her. “Mmm, good. Now I can see you better.”

An adorable little wrinkle appeared between her eyebrows. “You really should let me look at that head wound now that there’s light so I’ll be able to see how bad it is. And who knows if you’re hurt anywhere else.”

She ran her hands over the muscles of his back, then around to the ridges of his stomach.

That made it impossible for him to focus on his head wound or anything else except for her. “To be perfectly honest, my injury is the last thing I’m thinking about right now.”

Time to make her think less about it too. He pressed his mouth to hers and ran his palms over the warmth of her soft skin.

“You can’t see your parents with dried blood in your hair. And you shouldn’t wash your hair until I see how bad the cut is.” She somehow managed to hold on to the subject, in spite of his efforts.

“Mmm, that’s an idea. You can shower with me.”

Ginny shook her head at his one-track mind, but she couldn’t help but smile.

Encouraged and determined, he leaned low and drew her nipple between his lips. As a tremor ran through her, he knew she wouldn’t be thinking about much of anything at all if he kept that up.

They had some time to kill anyway. They’d have to wait for the hot water to heat up for the shower.

There was no doubt in Thom’s mind that he could fill that time, plus some.

That thought had him getting hard again from a long banked desire he hadn’t felt burn inside him in too long.

CHAPTER 9

Ginny woke in her bed alone.

If she didn’t have the sore muscles as proof it had been very real, it would be easy to believe the whole night had been a dream.

But Thom had really been there. They’d been together . . . In front of the fire. In the shower. In her bed. From the dark of night straight through to sunrise when they’d finally fallen asleep.

The question was, where was he now?

As comfortable as she was naked between the flannel sheets and snuggled beneath the down comforter, the thought of Thom was enough to have her flipping back the covers.

At least the house was warm now that the heat was back on. And she could make tea, or coffee if he preferred, since the power was back.

It felt good to be back in the land of electric lights and appliances. She’d had quite enough of pioneer living. However, she hadn’t had nearly enough of Thom.

Pulling on her pajamas and slippers, she prepared for her trek to the kitchen at the other end of the house. Vain that she was, she stopped in the bathroom first to check her hair, brush her teeth and sweep on a little blush and lip gloss.

The house was quiet as she made her way through the living room. She noticed Thom’s clothes were no longer by the fireplace. They must have dried so he put them back on. She seriously hoped that he’d be taking them off again.

It was still early. Only a little past nine. He said his parents didn’t expect him until dinner. Hopefully that meant he didn’t need to leave too soon.

One glance out the window told her the day had dawned bright and sunny. It must have warmed up a little bit too. The trees dripped with melting snow. It would be very nice if the snow on the driveway melted and she didn’t have to deal with shoveling it.

Looking across the yard toward the barn, she had to admit the snow was pretty. All white and pristine, untouched by plows or humans unlike the streets at home would have been.

She’d been a Scrooge yesterday, but today, she felt differently. There was something to be said for a white Christmas.

Ginny tore herself away from the view and continued across the living room. By the time she reached the kitchen, she was frowning. Thom was nowhere.

Maybe he’d gone to the barn looking for the shovel so he could clean up for her. If that was the case she should have something hot for him to drink when he got in.

She turned toward the stove and spotted the single piece of paper on the counter.

He’d written on the back of her grocery list. She smiled at his perfect block letters. Leave it to a military man to even write straight and orderly.

Ginny, Walking to find my car and see how bad it is. Be back ASAP. Thom

If he’d waited, she could have driven him. Then again, she had no idea if the roads had been cleared.

His car must be close by. He couldn’t have walked too far with that head injury in the worst of the storm last night.

But he’d surely be cold when he got back since he hadn’t been in the right clothes to begin with.

She grabbed the kettle and filled it with water. Hot cocoa. That would be perfect for a snowy Christmas morning. They could drink it together, in front of the fireplace while gazing out at the sparkling snow.

Just yesterday she would have rolled her eyes and had to swallow the envy if Molly had called to say she and Marco were doing something like that. Not today.

What a difference a day made . . . or a night. Not to mention about half a dozen orgasms and some of the most amazing sex of her life with one of the most perfect men on earth.

He’d been pretty insatiable and that had been fine with her. It had been way too long since she’d had a man whose sole goal was to be naked with her.

Sad but true, she’d missed that.