Healing Home

by Madden, J. M.

  BB realized she was on her feet as well, and she planted her hands on her hips as he reached her. “That was quick action. Well done, Mr. Bezel.”

  Link waved her words away. “I could tell it was just a matter of time. The sea will take you if you let her.”

  BB wondered how many of his own friends had been taken. He was a Navy SEAL. Surely he knew men who had been lost. It was too nice of a day to dwell on the dead, though, so she didn’t pursue. “What did you tell him at the end?”

  He flashed her a smile. “That he fought the sea and won.”

  That was so smart. Now, rather than being terrified of the water, the boy would hopefully remember Link’s words. Or the parents would. “You don’t have kids, right?”

  He shook his head, looking down at the sand. “No, I don’t.”

  “Speaking as an aunt many times over, that was a very smart thing to tell a child. You’d make a great dad, Lincoln.”

  She couldn’t see anything through his sunglasses when he lifted his head, but she could feel the weight of his gaze regardless. “Thanks, BB. I appreciate that.”

  Then she did what she’d been wanting to do all day. She leaned in for a hug.

  It took a minute for Link to wrap his arms around her, but when he did it was totally worth the wait. BB didn’t want him to think she was leading him on or anything, but she couldn’t quit touching him. The man was gorgeous, but his heart made her sad. For some reason when Carolina had said she was meeting a Navy SEAL she expected a bold, brash personality, not this humble, solid guy that didn’t seem to know what to do with her.

  They eventually drew back and he made a motion down the beach. “There’s a decent food truck down this way if you’re game.”

  “Sure,” she said, gathering up her things. She shook the sand out of the towel, rolled it up and put it back into the bag.

  They walked down the beach, side by side.

  The food truck was as good as Lincoln promised, tender strips of marinated meat on tortillas with cheese and veggies. She had a fondness for Mexican food anyway, and he spotted that quickly. Reaching across the picnic table with a napkin he swiped at her lips while she chewed.

  “You’re leaking salsa.”

  Giggling, she chewed as quickly as she could, swiping at her own mouth with the napkin. “At least I can wipe mine off,” she shrugged, giving him a pointed look. She nodded at his chest.

  Link looked down and groaned at the track of meat juice and stray cheese down the front of his t-shirt. “Aw, man…”

  Shrugging, he grinned at her and took another bite, unconcerned.

  BB reached into her bag and retrieved the sketchbook and roll of pens and pencils she took with her everywhere. With a few quick strokes she’d captured his nonchalant expression as food stained his shirt. Then in the next panel she drew him walking to the beach, a line of lettuce and other food in a trail behind him and seagulls swooping in to eat the food. In the last panel was a fat seagull laying on the beach. She smirked to herself and showed it to him. At first he seemed startled, then he laughed as he read the strip.

  BB started a panel to capture Link saving the little boy. This one couldn’t be as funny, but a little more thought provoking. She drew him dragging the little boy out of the grasping waves of the sea. Then she drew a superhero panel where he was hunkered down in front of the boy, talking to him, and his ephemeral cape blew behind him.

  A hero whether in uniform or not… she titled it.

  That one he looked at a little longer.

  “You’re very talented,” he told her softly. “Can I keep this?”

  BB shook her head. “When we get back to the house I’ll cut it out for you.”

  “Okay,” he said.

  Then he began to flip through the other pages. He stopped on one of the Sonya panels she’d been working on. “Wait, I know this one,” he said, looking up at her in shock. “You do these?”

  BB nodded, and he stared at her for a long moment, as if lining up thoughts in his head. “We had these things plastered across the FOB. One of the guys’ sisters sent them every week.”

  Grinning, she nodded, though she had no idea what an FOB was. “I’m syndicated, so I’m in a lot of different papers.”

  “Damn, girl,” he said softly, looking at her with new respect in his eyes.

  BB had seen it happen before. Unless you had a well-known, household name, you would fade into obscurity. This was a tough business. And most people, when she told them she was a cartoonist, couldn’t even imagine what she did. ‘Oh, do you work for Disney?’ Yeah, no.

  It was okay that people didn’t know who she was though. Kept her life simple.

  The syndication contracts kept her in nice pens and paper and she was happy.

  “How did you get started doing that?” He asked, leaning forward on his elbows on the table.

  She shrugged, running her fingernail over the texture of the picnic table. “I was always doodling when I was a kid. Coloring. I would get so mad if someone colored with me and strayed out of the lines. Even then I took it seriously.” She gave him a lopsided smile. “I started sketching things that went on in our crazy household, then one of my sisters got married to this rich dude from college. Suddenly she was this corporate wife trying to be the perfect everything, and she had some glorious fails. She thought she had this beautiful story, and this beautiful love, but third-hand I could only hear the funny things. Luckily, she’s a good sport because she totally started my series.”

  “Did you go to school for this?”

  “I did,” she pushed some flyaway hair behind her ear. “Got a degree. Did my internship in New York. Worked on a few strips and made other people a lot of money when I realized what I had was just as good. So, I struck out on my own. Best thing I ever did.”

  He looked at her for a long moment. “I want to say good for you but I don’t want it to sound condescending.”

  BB laughed. “I understand.”

  “No significant other in the mix?” He asked cautiously.

  She shook her head. “Nah. There was an almost but Frankie said no.”

  He laughed with her and she took a second to just watch him. He was such a good-looking guy. Normally, she felt like she could hold her own when it came to looks, but he was very pretty. She’d caught several people, both male and female, checking him out as they’d walked down the beach. Though he’d been watchful as they’d gone down the beach, she didn’t think he’d been noticing their attention.

  Could he really be as humble as he appeared? If he was, he was an aberration. Seemed like every man she met wanted sex and ego-stroking. Link seemed to want to fly under the radar. He really did seem to be a good guy. She didn’t understand why he wasn’t attached.

  “No former Mrs.?”

  Link winced a little. “There was, but she was more concerned with showing me off than actually having a relationship. With me, at least. Her boyfriend at the time was apparently okay with the set-up.”

  BB winced along with him. “Oh, damn. Sorry.”

  “SEALs get it a lot, though my unit has a pretty good group of solid marriages. Which is not the norm when it comes to Navy SEALs.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah. It takes a couple of very strong people to keep a marriage together when one half is gone most of the year. I’ve seen my buddies struggle.”

  “Hm,” she agreed.

  It would definitely be hard being in a relationship like that. Hopefully the good times would outweigh the lonely times. “And the danger you’re subjected to has to take a toll on the women, too.”

  Link smiled grimly. “Navy SEAL wives are warriors in their own right, and I’m more scared of some of the women in our group than their men. I know Black’s wife is going to kick my ass next time I see her.”

  “Why?” She asked, laughing.

  He scrubbed a hand over his short dark hair. “Because I was supposed to keep her husband out of trouble, and I didn’t do that. He retires in
three weeks, and now he’s dealing with an injury.”

  She waved a hand. “I’m sure you didn’t shove him into the path of a bullet, or whatever. Did you?”

  “No.”

  “And he’s probably old enough to take care of himself, right?”

  “Yeah, I guess.”

  Link grinned at her and began gathering up their trash.

  “That was dangerously good. Do you, like, walk down here every day when you’re home? The guy knew your name.”

  It was hard to tell but she thought he looked a little guilty. “Of course not every day. That would be just ridiculous. Of course not. Hm, mm.”

  But he wouldn’t look at her, and the way he said it it was obvious he was playing, like he was embarrassed. It made her think he actually did come down every day. She stared at him, but he’d turned away and started walking toward the beach. BB picked up her cup of ice water, refilled her water bottle and slipped it into her bag as she followed along, her heart aching for the solitary man.

  * * *

  Lincoln waited for BB to join him, holding out a hand to guide her through the deep sand. It was crazy how used to holding her hand he’d gotten. It had only taken a few hours. At first he hadn’t appreciated the touch. It was a little invasive, he thought, and not always smart tactically. If he had to reach for a weapon he was fucked. But he’d quickly grown used to it. Who would have thought?

  BB was… something. He glanced at her as he led her down the beach. The white dress thing she was wearing was short enough to expose the long length of her thighs, and he couldn’t look at her too long. She was too beautiful and quite honestly, he was too hard up. It had been an embarrassingly long time since he’d been with a woman.

  The wind gusted then, outlining the shape of her breasts. It looked like she wore a suit beneath her little white dress, and it cupped her breasts very nicely. He was glad he had sunglasses on because it gave him a little bit of freedom to look, but it would backfire. The shorts he wore were not very… restraining.

  Maybe he needed to take a dip in the drink.

  BB chatted about things easily. She was definitely more of a talker than he was, but she was interesting. She actually talked about things rather than herself or what she thought about the latest whatever trend. It was obvious that she was a well-read, intelligent woman and though he didn’t talk as much as she did, he enjoyed listening to her. And he realized that the things that she found interesting were very similar to his own. They had a sharp sense of humor, sometimes a little dark.

  “Do you find yourself curbing your creativity to suit the papers?”

  She glanced at him, giving him a lopsided smile. “Definitely. You have to walk the PC line and still be funny. Do I make people mad? I’m sure at some point I have. I’m not a political satirist, but I can appreciate the art. Not everyone does. And it’s hard to keep completely middle of the road. I’m sure if you looked at everything I’d created in the past two years you could see who I’d voted for and what was important to me as a citizen.” She shrugged lightly. “You’re never going to make everyone a hundred percent happy a hundred percent of the time.”

  “True,” he agreed. “Want to sit for a while?”

  “Please.”

  Guiding her to a spot up the beach a few yards, he spread her towel lengthwise for her, then sat on the sand. He hoped that if they stopped for a bit she’d take off her sundress to soak up the sun. With that goal in mind he pulled his t-shirt over his head and dropped it to the sand beside him.

  Her movements stilled and he grinned to himself. Yes, this awareness wasn’t just one-sided. He was cognizant of the stipulation in her contract of the hands off, but he thought if anyone could change that clause it would be her. The fact that she was reacting to him was stimulating.

  Making sure to flex everything he could, he lay back in the sand. He’d worked hard for this body. Propping his head on his folded arm, he rocked his head to look at her, smiling slightly.

  She seemed to be debating something because she was chewing the corner of her mouth thoughtfully. Then she seemed to come to some decision, because she reached for the hem of her dress, peeling it over her head in one not quite smooth movement. It got stuck on her hat, and she fought with it for a moment before flinging both to the ground with a huff.

  He grinned at her, glad to see neither one of them were as smooth as they wanted to be.

  Link realized how much he’d screwed up when he finally looked up the length of her body standing over him. Fuck, she was hot. Her long legs led to up to voluptuous hips, a softly rounded tummy and beautifully full breasts. He swallowed hard and quickly propped his knees up in the air, crossing one ankle over the knee. He’d gone rock hard somewhere around her hips and there was very little hiding it.

  BB sat and faced the sea, her hair down around her shoulders. Apparently the tangle with the hat and dress had dislodged her ponytail too. Then he noticed the pinkness on her fair arms. “Do you have lotion? You’re going to be feeling the sun long after you leave if you’re not careful.”

  BB dug in her bag, taking a sip of water from her water bottle. Then she unsnapped the cap on a tube of cream, squeezed some into her hand and began smoothing it onto her long legs.

  Lincoln watched for a second, then realized what was happening and dropped his head to the sand, trying to get his breath. Then, unable to help himself, he had to look again. Her back was lean and strong, her arms sleek. It was obvious she got some kind of exercise because she had a very feminine strength to her. Lincoln lifted a hand, wondering if her skin was as soft as it looked.

  Then she turned and held the tube of cream out. “I know this is trite but can you get my back?”

  Fuck. He was going to have to sit up and he seriously doubted she would miss the tent he was pitching in his shorts.

  He rocked to a sitting position and planted his elbows on his knees, taking the tube with one hand. His only saving grace was that she turned away to look out at the churning Pacific, waiting for him to slick the cream on. Link cursed under his breath, looking at the long line of her back in front of him. Her skin was fair and she had a few freckles scattered across her shoulders, like she’d been sunburnt as a kid. The swimsuit left most of her back bare, clear down to her hips. He could count every divot in her spine, and the two little depressions where his thumbs could rest as he pushed into her from behind.

  Gritting his teeth he smoothed one hand over her back. She gasped, jerking away, and glanced at him with a smile. “Sorry, cold.”

  Link took a moment to warm the cream in his hands before he swiped them over her shoulders. Moving very carefully, he tried to get every inch of exposed skin. He felt bad that his hands were so rough.

  Fuck this was hard. How was he expected to stay in control with her delectable body literally in his hands? Pushing his fingers just below the edge of the suit, he swept across the width of her hips, then up the opposite side. Her skin had soaked up the cream so he squirted another dollop into his hand, warmed it, then began rubbing again.

  BB moaned, her head resting in top of her knees. He realized she was watching him with a slight smile on her lips. He also realized he’d been rubbing lotion into her back for a very long time.

  Dragging in a heavy breath, he pulled his hands away. “Sorry. I got a little lost there,” he admitted.

  BB blinked at him. “Did you see me protesting?” She grinned at him.

  He shook his head, trying to shield his erection from her by dropping an arm to his leg. BB followed the movement and he knew the moment she realized how strung up he was. Something in her expression became sharper, more aware, and her breathing picked up a little. If Link hadn’t been sitting next to her he probably wouldn’t have noticed the slight change.

  Or the way her mouth parted, as if she were waiting for a kiss.

  Clenching his jaw he looked out over the roiling sea. His insides felt just as churned up.

  “Can I lotion your back?”

 
; He started to shake his head when her words filtered into his mind. She hadn’t asked him if he wanted lotion. She’d asked him if she could put lotion on his back. Had she made that distinction consciously?

  Link rolled over carefully, erection finally hidden from her gaze. This had to be better than staring at her body and not being able to have her.

  Then her hands spanned across his shoulders, the cream making them glide across his muscles. He never wore sunscreen because his skin was already a little darker. He’d been in the desert for the past three months. But the feel of her rubbing the cream across his skin was fantastic. Lincoln could have died right then and he would have been happy.

  Touch was what he missed most on his long deployments. Even though he and Alicia hadn’t gotten along very well, at the beginning of their relationship they’d touched a lot. Eventually he’d realized how fake she was, but even then he hadn’t been able to completely stop touching her. It was a controlled addiction. As BB ran her strong hands down his lats, then around his ribs and back up, he realized he was just as hard as ever.

  Then she went up on her knees behind him to get leverage to really rub his muscles and Link could have cried. She was killing him with pleasure. Up and down her hands glided, fingers digging into the tense muscles along his spine. He hadn’t realized he’d been sore, but apparently he had been. Goosebumps pimpled his flesh, it felt so good.

  Then he got a sharp visual of her leaning over him, her breasts swaying forward as she rode him, her long thighs flexing.

  The erection that had been receding surged back, but there was no way he was going to tell her to stop. He was going to let the pleasure and pain fight, and pray the pleasure eventually won out. He would survive it.

  Chapter 5

  BB could tell by the groan he sighed out that he was enjoying the rub, so she kept going. They’d already used most of the tube of lotion, but she would use every bit of it if he wanted. Leaning up, she kneaded the muscles around his neck, then his actual neck. He’d gone boneless, sinking into the sand, and she appreciated that he was relaxing with her this way. As a SEAL she doubted he let down his guard very often.