He was rolling around with the sea lions and obviously having as much fun as the pups. She wanted to warn him, tell them they often bit as part of their communication, but he dodged an avaricious mouth, proving he was already aware.
He spun and somersaulted, avoiding the twisting stalks. It was as if he understood the undulating pattern of the plants and mammals. His ability to relax in the water was so natural that she almost forgot she was holding her breath. How could he stay down here so long? His lungs must hold double what hers did. Probably all that SEAL training.
She started for the surface and kicked out with her foot before her lungs burst, but an errant kelp plant caught her leg, winding itself tightly around it. She reached out and tried to untangle it, but her body was starved for air, and she could feel panic climbing up her spine.
It’s natural, she told herself. Calm down.
Her body wouldn’t obey. She struggled with the kelp, and it seemed to pull tighter with each tug.
A scream escaped her mouth, but hands on her foot forced her to look down.
It was Leaper. He cut the kelp from her foot and drew her to him. Kissing her, he forced air into her mouth. She drew it into her lungs, blowing the exhalation out her nose, and his arm held her to him as his powerful legs took them to the top.
They broke the surface. Cold batted her skin, and she gulped in fresh air.
“Slowly,” he murmured. “Take it easy. I’m right here.”
“I never panic. Don’t…know why…I did.” It took her several seconds before she calmed.
“Happens,” Leaper said, watching her. Was he assessing her fitness? Nuts, had she screwed up? She wished she could read his mind.
“Is this the way things are going to be between us?”
“What?” His brow furrowed. He looked puzzled. “I don’t understand.”
She leaned her head against him and felt his warm hands rubbing the back of her neck. “You…having the upper hand.”
His fingers found her chin and tipped her head back. “I’d say it’s equal. We both have the power. I would never want to lessen who you are, only enhance it, and I’d hope you’d want the same for me.”
That message combined with the massage took her breath away. “Where have you been all this time? I’ve lived here for years, and we’re only finding each other now. Why?” She wound her arms around his neck and kissed him with every bit of passion in her soul. “Seems improbable.”
His response was intense and immediate as he rolled onto his back, dragging her on top of him and heading for the RIB. “Improbable, but not impossible. Life unfolds as it does. A moment is forever and forever is nothing but a moment. My life doesn’t have guarantees.”
“I know, but I’ll take a million nows.”
“Agreed.” Being the gentleman he was, he put his hand under her bum and lifted her upward and into the boat.
She couldn’t stop a giggle from escaping a mouth. What woman didn’t want to feel as if she weighed nothing, bouncing around with delight?
Leaper plopped himself next to her. He leaned over her and said, “How do you feel about public displays of affection?”
She poked her head over the sides of the boat. All clear. “Right now? So risky, naughty, and very, very sexy.”
She’d risk it…for him.
* * *
He pulled in the buoy and turned off the spotlights. Grinning, Leaper turned his attention to Kerry. His eyes slid over her before he gently and methodically tugged and peeled her out of her two-piece wetsuit. When she was naked to the night air, he couldn’t resist placing a kiss on the curve of her hips where they met her thighs. The skin was so soft. He could have spent hours exploring there and the spot between those milky thighs. When she bucked wantonly against him, he hastily disrobed himself. The boat was rocking back and forth precariously by the time they were both naked.
Lying down next to her, he trailed his fingertips up her belly. “Hope no one comes a-knocking with the boat a-rocking.”
“Dork!” she laughed as she pulled his head down toward her. She kissed him.
Passion surged through his body. The boat was really moving now, and water splashed inside, breaking the mood. “Uh, how about we switch places?”
“Happy to. I prefer being on top.” She crawled from beneath his embrace. “Now you get the wet spot, literally.”
“Ha-ha,” he said as he lowered his butt into two inches of seawater. It was cold and a bit of a turnoff, but when she climbed on top of him, he couldn’t stop himself ignoring the discomfort and focusing on the delight. His next sigh was one of pure spectator’s delight. “Talk about a bed with a view.”
Her luscious body loomed over him, and she was silhouetted by a glorious moon rising and an early sprinkling of a few stars. Hey, could he help it if he was a sucker for a gorgeous lady? Hell no!
God, she’s beautiful! Her confidence is a serious aphrodisiac.
His hands steadied her hips as she lowered herself onto his erection. Kerry’s body was slick and warm as it enveloped him. This is…the definition of pure bliss, he thought.
She shuddered as her body stretched to accommodate him fully, and then she arched her back and sighed. “I love the feeling of my body coming, even when it’s a tiny cascade at the entrance.”
Flexing his fingers, he said, “Let’s see if I can turn those small moments into giant, breathtaking cries of delight.”
She wiggled her hips, sending a wave of excitement through him.
He felt the boat rocking erratically, but her kisses were so enticing that he lost track of the movement.
She leaned down and caught his bottom lip between her teeth. “Game on.” The kiss that followed her declaration was punctuated by some rather sexy groping and stroking, leading him to forget that they were in a rubber boat.
In an attempt to haul her down beside him, he moved suddenly and the boat rocked violently, abruptly dumping them both into the water.
Cold, salty ocean water was an unexpected wake-up call. Of course, the Pacific had no idea who it was dealing with.
Leaper and Kerry both came up laughing and sputtering. The boat had righted itself and was mere inches away. Thank God for the anchor, or they’d have been racing the current for their ride home.
Wiping drops off water off his face, Leaper drew this gorgeous, incredibly sexy woman into his embrace. His body was still primed and ready for love, and his chuckle was filled with innuendo. “Oh, how I love a challenge. A little cold water is not going to douse my excitement.”
Kerry placed her arms around his neck and nuzzled his shoulder. “Mine neither.” Next, she wound her legs around his waist. “You know, I am a doctor. Maybe I should check your heart rate and stamina, SEAL man.”
“Ar, ar, ar,” he replied, mimicking a sea lion. His lips found hers as her body lowered onto his waiting shaft. He thrust his hips forward, and their bodies found a slow, sensual rhythm.
Shudders of intense pleasure raced through him. Hell, he could tread water for hours, days even. In his opinion, the toughest part was already out of the way—there was no disrobing of wet clothes in the ocean. Being naked and being alone… Well, that definitely had its advantages.
Chapter 3
Waiting for change can be a drag, and oftentimes, it mires one in expending energy on useless mental machinations, thought Leaper. How he hated getting stuck in his own brain.
After the night he had, his life’s work as a SEAL seemed somewhat…anticlimactic for the first time in his life. Here it was morning, and he was actually at work again, and surprisingly, he found he wasn’t spending every waking minute thinking of his next step, or his Teammates, or the Teams in general.
What’s that about? Instead, Dr. Kerry Hamilton, with all of her infectious joy and her tight, luscious body, was a lot more fascinating. His body tensed in a pleasant way,
and his mouth formed a grim line. Was his life changing after such a brief time? Hell, it was too soon to know. It was just… His life felt like it was moving in slow motion.
He shifted inches to the left, just barely out of the way of a bird that had flown too close.
Standing on the beach in front of the Amphibious Base, he swatted at the overzealous bird who did a second fly-by. “I’m not prey, not a bug or a crab,” he said to the bird, which landed two feet away and stared at him for several minutes before it gave up and flew off. “You cannot change your nature, and I suppose neither can I.”
Leaper knew he was more of a predator in the food chain and humanity’s hierarchy, yet he felt different around Kerry, as if another side of himself actually existed. Was that true? Could he have two parts to his nature, one as a warrior and another as something else? It was a strange thing to consider, and yet the hope felt good.
He shifted his weight and sighed. How he’d hated leaving Kerry again this morning, especially after their frolic in the water, but he had a duty to perform and he always showed up. His mind drifted toward home for one more quick thought: tucking Kerry into his warm king-size bed after their swim. Hours had passed, albeit too quickly, when his phone alarm buzzed, reminding him of his 5:00 a.m. date with a boat full of trainees, and now here he was.
Mmm, how he’d tucked the covers around her decadent body and watched her curl into a tight ball, without him by her side to keep her warm. It had taken all his strength to leave her and to not call in sick, but in truth he was worried about his boys. His gut told him that if he didn’t stand with them through this test, most of them, if not all of them, were going to get over their heads and ring out.
Looking at them now, he could see how exhausted they were from their night in the boxes. None of them looked like they were prepared for their next fresh bit of hell, but they’d shown up, so Leaper wasn’t going to disappoint them. Given an actual choice—without any possibility of losing their spot in training—every trainee would choose bed. Well, at least, we all have that in common—except I wouldn’t be sleeping.
Leaper rocked back and forth. Adrenaline surged through him. Hell, he felt downright energized. Who needed sleep after marathon lovemaking?
One of the instructors on loan from the Army Rangers, Kendall Frock, sidled up to him with a smile on his tough-guy face. His worry lines were so shocked by the change of expression that it looked as if his face were about to crack his skull open. “Lefton, I heard you had a real-time rescue. A hot number: Curvy. Tiny. With a sweet bod—” The man’s words stopped as he took in Leaper’s face. “Uh, my bad.”
Leaper nodded and signaled with his eyes that the man should go back to his boat of trainees. He wasn’t in the mood to talk.
“Yeah, uh, catch you later for a beer. On me,” said Frock as he hot-footed it back to his group. In truth, the Army guy was a good man, married to a Navy diver who had rescued the Ranger and signed on for a lifetime tour of marriage, love, and children. They’d have a chat sometime and smooth it over.
Leaper felt another presence nearby, and he crossed his arms over his chest. “Don’t poke the bear.”
“Poke. Poke. Poke.” Declan Swifton—his swim buddy, best friend, brother, and current Commanding Officer of BUD/S—laughed. “Hell, Leaper, even I heard about the hottie in the drink. Here it is. I had to come all the way out here and give you some shit before you left, but it sounds like I might as well be talking to the wind.”
“Yeah, yeah, up yours,” said Leaper with a grin. He shook hands with Declan and then gestured at his friend’s new leg. “Damn, that thing looks bionic. Probably has a better brain than you.”
“It does,” said Declan. “As long as it doesn’t take over in bed with my wife, I’m good with that. So, you might not want to hear this, but I’ve seen you on a day after, and you usually look like someone kicked your ass.” He put his arm around Leaper’s shoulders and quietly said, “This one is different, isn’t she?”
“Yeah. Maybe. I don’t know.” Leaper scrubbed his chin with his fingers, wishing he’d had time to shave. “Let’s see how it goes.”
Declan nodded. “When you’re ready, we’re here. You know how the wife feels about you. The sooner you can bring your new lady over, before the whole affair gets discovered by my better half, the better.”
“Understood.” Leaper lowered his voice. “Uh, how did it go with Zoxt?”
“Formal reprimand. Currently at Balboa talking to the shrinks about his actions, and I recommended his next duty station be helping our science groups in Antarctica. Let’s see if the cold weather improves his Napoleon complex. Thanks for the text. I would not have been happy to be blindsided by that bullshit.” Declan held Leaper’s gaze for several seconds, and they both nodded.
The other instructors had the trainees shouting their names and dropping to the sand for fifty squats after each name. When everyone had sounded off, was accounted for, Leaper looked at Declan. “I better go drop my crew in the shark tank.”
“Nice. Have fun.” Declan winked.
Leaper smiled and then crossed the sand to his trainees. He spun one finger in the air. “Load up.”
The trainees ran to the boat as if their lives depended on it. They hustled aboard, two of them holding the boat still in the waves for Leaper to climb aboard. It didn’t bother him that he was already wet to the waist. He’d once been stuck in a hide with three men who all had food poisoning for six long days. A little moisture was a cake walk.
“Shove off,” Leaper ordered.
Several of the men pushed off and jumped aboard. Then they all paddled, hauling ass until they were free of the current trying to drag them to shore and the hurdle of the underwater sandbars. It made for good muscle strengthening.
Leaper turned on the engine. He pointed the boat toward San Clemente Island.
Out of the corner of his eye, Leaper could see the men whispering among themselves. “What?”
Watson made his way to Leaper. “We wondered what was about to happen.”
“You’ll find out. You need to get used to the fact that every experience, like every operation, has factors of unpredictability.” Leaper looked at Watson and gestured with his head, instructing the trainee to sit.
The men looked worried. Quite frankly, he didn’t blame them. He wasn’t doing the trainees any favors by spoon-feeding them ideology. They needed to sink or swim on their own merits—literally.
The closer they drew to San Clemente Island, the more clouds filled the sky until a marine layer hung over them like a giant gloomy shroud. Earlier, the night sky had been filled with brilliant, winking stars. How quickly the weather changed when you lived near the water.
Leaper knew these waters by heart, and he slowed the boat to the perfect spot and cut the engine. He could hear the other boats doing the same around him, even if he couldn’t see them clearly.
His words were succinct. “Over the side.”
“What?” asked Watson. “But—”
“Take nothing with you. Go over the side or I will toss you in myself.” Leaper wasn’t fond of the stern tone, but he couldn’t mollycoddle the recruits. If he said “Duck,” he wanted them on the ground before he finished the word. It was about trust.
The men acted quickly. Several leaned backward and fell in, two of them lowered themselves over the side, and Watson flat out jumped. The splash was huge.
“What a fucking idiot,” murmured Leaper, looking at the ripples in the water and knowing that boy might shortly regret his action.
Heads bobbed to the surface of the inky ocean. He could see their expressions—everything from cold to outright fear.
Next would come the real surprise.
Within minutes, shouts came from around them. Recruits from other boats were experiencing the glory of the San Clemente water’s inhabitants.
Leaper spied the
first dorsal fin. Super. It was a lemon shark. Oh, correction—four of them. Well, that was a piece of luck. He didn’t particularly want to dive in and rescue anyone, though he knew the recruits would likely face worse in their time in the Navy, if they stayed on their current path.
Without taking his eyes from the trainees, Leaper reached into the utility box and felt around. He pulled out an extra Ka-Bar and strapped it onto his leg. Tying his signature bandana around the strap, he closed and secured the box and took up his previous position.
Several splashes close to the boat brought Leaper down to his knees. “Watson, don’t hold on. You’ve got to let go.”
“I…please…” Watson’s jerky movements emphasized his panic. Damn, the boy didn’t know what he was signaling to. Water has a way of telegraphing…
Leaper took a different approach. “Tell me, Sherlock, do you want to be a part of Special Operations?”
“Y-y-yes.” Watson’s teeth were chattering now, his whole body shaking.
“Good.” Leaper leaned over the boat, tipping it toward the trainee. “Then chill out. Get this lesson now, or you aren’t going to survive the night. So, I’ll ask you one more time. Are you ringing the bell, or are you facing that damn fear?”
“I-I-I…”
The lemon sharks were moving off. That wasn’t a good sign. The trainee’s panicky movements were attracting other creatures. Big fish. Predatory ones.
He’d never live it down if one of his trainees got eaten on his watch. He sighed for a count of three, briefly loathing the actions he was about to take next. Not because he was afraid of whatever lived in the dark, deep ocean, but that water was fucking cold! Still, he’d walk through the very fires of hell to protect his men.
God bless the thick, cloudy marine layer. Leaper took off his shirt and shoes and slid soundlessly over the side of the boat. He treaded water beside the trainee. “Watson. Listen. Breathe with me. In and out.”
Watson gulped in air. He couldn’t seem to slow his breathing. The frantic movements he had been making in the water only gained momentum.
The Power of a SEAL Page 7
