by J. M. Madden
It wasn't ideal, but he was right. There was no one around here vying for her attention. She nodded slowly. "Not ideal, but better than nothing. We can at least try it for a few months and see how it goes."
In bed that night Parker seemed determined to imprint upon her how perfect they were together. He kissed every square inch of her body, brought her to orgasm several times with his lips and fingers, before finally gliding into her to send her spiraling away again. Andromeda cried at the perfection of the moment. For a long time, they just held each other, waiting for sleep, but it didn't come for a long time.
Parker hated walking away. It reminded him of last time he left, just not as much yelling. Now there was crying, but it was very different.
The bag he'd brought with him was packed and he was dressed. A car would be arriving within a few minutes to take him to the airport.
Andromeda stood before him looking strong and beautiful, as always. Hair curled over her forehead and she pushed it to the side, then crossed her arms beneath her breasts. There were tears in her golden eyes, and he hated to see them there.
"Andy, this is not a forever goodbye. You know that. I want this to be a temporary parting."
One side of her mouth tipped up in a sad smile as he cupped her face.
"Hey," he said suddenly, flicking his phone on. "I want a picture of us together. As hokey as it is, we're going to do a selfie. We've never done one before."
She sputtered, then laughed as he tried to position his phone down the length of his arm. Curling himself around her, he hit the shutter button several times, but it didn't seem to work. She turned her face into his neck, kissing him there, and wrapped her arms around him. Parker put his phone away and just held her.
The front desk guard rang the condo and they moved apart as Parker answered the phone.
"Your car is here, sir."
"Okay, thank you Hampton."
When he looked at Andy, there was resignation in her eyes. "I'll go down with you."
They held hands on the elevator. She had beautiful hands, Parker decided. Her fingers long and delicate. But strong enough to do anything that needed to be done. He thought about the past two weeks. She'd saved his life a couple of times. Gave him more pleasure than he ever could have imagined. Accepted him and his beat up old body more than he thought any woman ever could.
It made his heart ache to leave her behind.
She kissed him several times, then gave him a bone cracking hug. "Call me when you get there to let me know you made it okay."
"I will," he promised. Holding his forehead to hers, he kissed the tip of her nose. "I love you, Andromeda Pierce."
"I love you too, Parker Quinn."
Parker drew away, then, because her sadness was breaking his heart. With a final wave, he walked through the glass doors to the taxi waiting in the valet loop. When he looked back, she was gone.
Epilogue
Duncan Wilde rocked back in his office chair when Parker walked in.
"Well, lookie here. I didn't think you were coming back, Quinn."
Parker made a face. "To tell the truth, I didn't know if I was either."
He'd been back for a week now, and it just didn't feel right yet.
Duncan nodded once and leaned forward to slide some papers around on his desk, pulling a couple from the top of the stack. "I've been following what was going on out in Columbus. That is where you went, correct?"
"Yes, sir."
"Not sure why you needed to take time off to do this. The company would have covered you for the interpreting."
Parker sank down into the chair in front of Duncan's broad desk. "It was as much personal as professional. And I didn't know what I was going to be doing when I got there."
"Ah," Duncan said softly, his dark eyes considering. "I see. Well, it looks like you did some good out there. Too good, actually."
Parker frowned. "Sir?"
"Well, I just had an interesting call from a Chief Bellus at Columbus PD, wanting to know what I paid you."
Parker knew he looked confused, but he just wasn't following.
"Because whatever it was it wasn't enough, he said. Said you did as much to put that terror cell to bed as anyone. Then he sent me a copy of a police report he thought I might be interested in."
Duncan showed him the report and from the picture at the top he could tell it was the incident in Andy's condo. "That's some damn fine cowboy work you did, Parker. I'm impressed."
Duncan smiled, and Parker had to smile with him. "Things turned out better than I expected."
"And this Andromeda Pierce sounds like a badass."
Parker thought of Andy sticking Ibrahim's gun in her waist band. "She is, sir. She really is."
Tilting his head, Duncan gave him a narrow-eyed look. "Is she important to you?"
"More important to me than breathing," he agreed immediately.
That seemed to take Duncan aback. "Really? Damn. No wonder why you dragged your feet coming back."
Duncan stood up from his chair and moved to the plate glass windows looking out over the industrial district of Denver. "Bellus told me I better be giving you a raise because he planned to hire you away from me." Duncan looked at him to gauge his reaction, but Parker didn't know what to say. "I told him he could sign a contract with Lost and Found and I would dispatch you out there as a contractor, if you were interested. Or maybe we'll just start a branch out there. Have you ever run a business, Parker?"
He frowned, his jaw going slack for a moment. "No, sir. That doesn't mean I couldn't, though," he said quickly.
Duncan grinned at him, nodding his head. "Yeah, that's what I thought you'd say."
Moving back to his desk Duncan sat down in his chair. "Talk to Shannon and set up a meeting a little later in the week. I'll talk to the other partners and feel them out about things. No promises, but we'll see what we can do to get you back there. You're too valuable for me to give you up completely, so I'm willing to work with you. Sound good?"
Parker nodded, standing to shake his hand. "Yes, sir it does. Thank you."
He walked out of the office dazed, but in a good way. His immediate thought was to call Andy, but he didn't want to get her hopes up. He would wait until after the meeting.
Andromeda paced, her heels clicking on the floor of Columbus’s John Glenn Airport terminal. Parker was flying in, but his plane had been delayed and she'd been waiting for an hour.
It was her own fault, though. Parker had planned to take a car to her condo and just meet her there after she got off from work, but Andromeda thought it would be a nice surprise to meet him at the airport. She hadn't seen him for a month and a half, and she was anxious, damn it.
She glanced at the arrivals board and saw that his flight was now on the ground.
It still took a half hour to see him.
The limp was tempered by excitement, she could tell that. He was moving more fluidly than she'd ever seen him. As she crossed the terminal to him, she waited for him to look up and see her. It only took a few seconds for him to zero in on her and when he did, his hard, off-balance face softened with love. She knew that look. She had seen it from him many times. But this time was completely different.
Parker cupped her face as soon as she was close enough, giving her a hello kiss that made people around them snicker. One younger teen told them to get a room and move out of the way.
Laughing, they moved aside, then continued reacquainting themselves. He looked at her with a frown.
"I thought I was going to your condo and meeting you there."
"I couldn't wait to see you," she whispered, doing everything she could to pull him into her. He smelled good, he tasted good, he felt good.
His gray eyes were warm with love as he dropped kisses all over her face. "Let's get out of here. I want to talk and fuck. Not necessarily in that order. Know any cubby holes where we can hide around here, and you can ride me?"
Andromeda giggled even as her body responded to the dir
ty talk. "I wish, believe me. Let's just get out of here."
It took them another half hour of waiting for his suitcase to come around to baggage claim. Andromeda didn't mind waiting for it though. That suitcase told her he planned on staying for longer than a week.
They drove back through the airport traffic. It was quitting time for a lot of people so interstate 670 was bumper to bumper. Parker drove, allowing Andromeda to hold his hand and rub his thigh and whatever else she could reach. By the time they got back to her condo, Parker was fit to be tied.
"You're an evil woman," he growled as she backed into his erection in the elevator.
"Welcome back, Mr. Quinn!"
Parker gritted his teeth in her ear. "Thank you, Hampton. I'm glad to be back. How's the head?"
Parker shoved himself hard into Andromeda's rear, making her gasp and giggle.
"Oh, it's fine sir. Thank you for asking. You two have a good night and if you need anything you let me know."
"You too, Hampton. And thank you."
As soon as they exited the elevator Parker ran his hands inside her coat and beneath her blouse. He tweaked her nipples hard enough to make her gasp. Andromeda turned and hurried to the door.
They were barely inside when he caught her from behind and began kissing down the nape of her neck. "Fuck, I missed you, woman."
"I missed you too," she gasped as he hiked her skirt up her ass.
Fingers stroked her below and Andromeda's legs almost went out from beneath her. "Bed," she cried, jerking away.
She shucked her panties as she jogged to the bedroom, then her heels. He caught her as she was crawling onto the bed. "Right there," he growled.
Andromeda was on her hands and knees, bare to his sight and touch. She moaned as he ran his fingers over her again, then again and again. When he slipped a long finger inside her, she moaned, her hips shifting against his touch. "I want you inside me, Parker. You."
The sound of his zipper was loud in the room, then he was there behind her, his cock nudging her opening.
"Yes," she hissed. "Yes, please."
Parker pushed himself inside her, but he didn't have to push very hard. She was drenched with arousal and he slid deep on the first surge. Then he stilled, his hands gripping her hips. Andromeda could feel how much he wanted her. It was there in the way he held his breath, and the way his dick moved inside her, though he was trying to stay still. His body had other plans.
Andromeda rocked back against him, making him move. She'd been waiting for weeks for this.
Parker seemed to come to the same conclusion because he began moving, hard. Their bodies slapped as he pounded into her and it was perfect. Within seconds she was arching with pleasure. Her body shattered and convulsed, but he kept going until his own body hovered on the brink. Then, with several mighty jerks, he released himself into her.
Panting, Andromeda sprawled forward. Parker still had a tight grip on her ass, so he just followed her down, their bodies still connected. He sighed as he snuggled in behind her. "Best damn homecoming ever," he told her. "No lie."
Even as her pleasure receded he was twisting her heart. What she wouldn't do to go back and welcome him home all the other times he'd returned to the States. "I love you. Parker. Welcome home. From now on I will always welcome you home."
He kissed her shoulders and her neck and ran his hand down her arm. He seemed to understand her deeper meaning. "Thank you, Andy. You have no idea how much that means to me.”
It wasn't until over breakfast the next morning that they got around to talking.
Andromeda didn't think she could be any happier than she already was, until he told her about Duncan's proposal. "Wait, back up a minute. He's thinking about setting up a branch in Columbus? Why?"
"Well, I asked him the same thing and apparently a lot of the guys in Denver are from back east. He knows there's a large population of veterans here and if I can prove to him that the work is here, he'll start staffing an office. Right now, I'm a one man consulting service.” Parker smirked at her as he patted his thick chest. “Columbus PD has already hired me through Lost and Found to consult for them. Apparently one of the secondaries from the al Fareq case has led them to another cell, and they know they're going to require my services."
Andromeda gaped and shook her head in hopeful disbelief. "So, that means you aren't leaving?"
Grinning, Parker leaned toward her. "Not for a very long time. Months, at least, if not years. Is that okay with you?"
"Okay?" She shook her head as tears began to slide down her cheeks, but she couldn't say anything else. Her throat was too tight.
Parker seemed to understand. "I love you, Andy. I've loved you for years. Think we can get it right this time?"
She nodded her head, burying her face in his neck, too overcome with love to speak. Yes, this time they would definitely make it work. “I feel like our life has been on pause for eight years. I’m ready to start living. I love you, Parker Quinn.”
Afterword
I want to thank you for taking a chance on our series! We had a wonderful time working with each other and we’ve already received requests for more, so we’ll have to see.
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The Sleeper SEALs series is a multi-author branded series which includes twelve standalone books by some of your favorite romantic suspense authors. You can check out the rest of the books in the series on our website: www.SleeperSEALs.com/series-books or click the links below.
Susan Stoker – PROTECTING DAKOTA – 9/5/17 http://www.stokeraces.com/home.html
Becky McGraw – SLOW RIDE – 9/26/17 https://authorbeckymcgraw.com
Dale Mayer – MICHAELS’ MERCY – 10/3/17 http://www.dalemayer.com
Becca Jameson – SAVING ZOLA – 10/17/17 http://www.beccajameson.com
Sharon Hamilton – BACHELOR SEAL – 10/31/17 http://sharonhamiltonauthor.com
Elle James – MONTANA RESCUE – 11/14/17 https://ellejames.com
Maryann Jordan – THIN ICE – 11/28/17 http://www.maryannjordanauthor.com
Donna Michaels – GRINCH REAPER – 12/12/17 http://donnamichaelsauthor.com
Lori Ryan – ALL IN – 1/9/18
http://loriryanromance.com
Geri Foster – BROKEN SEAL – 1/23/18
http://gerifoster.com
Elaine Levine – FREEDOM CODE – 2/6/18 https://www.elainelevine.com
J.M. Madden – FLAT LINE – 2/20/18 http://www.jmmadden.com
<<<<>>>>
About the Author
NY Times and USA Today Bestselling author J.M. Madden writes compelling romances between 'combat modified' military men and the women who love them. J.M. Madden loves any and all good love stories, most particularly her own. She has two beautiful children and a husband who always keeps her on her toes.
J.M. was a Deputy Sheriff in Ohio for nine years, until hubby moved the clan to Kentucky. When not chasing the family around, she's at the computer, reading and writing, perfecting her craft. She occasionally takes breaks to feed her animal horde and is trying to control her office-supply addiction, but both tasks are uphill battles. Happily, she is writing full-time and always has several projects in the works. She also dearly loves to hear from readers! So, drop her a line. She'll respond.
Jennifer Loves to hear from her readers!
www.jmmadden.com
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Also by J.M. Madden
If you would like to read about the ‘combat modified’ veterans of the Lost and Found Investigative Service, check out these books:
The Embattled Road ( FREE prequel)
Duncan, John and Chad
Embattled Heart
s-Book 1 (FREE)
John and Shannon
Embattled Minds-Book 2
Zeke and Ember
Embattled Home-Book 3
Chad and Lora
Embattled SEAL- Book 4
Harper and Cat
Embattled Ever After- Book 5
Duncan and Alex
Her Forever Hero- Grif
Grif and Kendall
SEAL’s Lost Dream-Flynn
Flynn and Willow
SEAL’s Christmas Dream
Flynn and Willow
Unbreakable SEAL- Max
Max and Lacey
Embattled Christmas
Reclaiming The Seal
Gabe and Julie
Loving Lilly
Diego and Lilly
Her Secret Wish
Rachel and Dean
Wish Upon a SEAL (Kindle World)
Drake and Izzy
Mistletoe Mischief
Cass and Roger
Lost and Found Pieces
Other books by J.M. Madden
A Touch of Fae
Second Time Around
A Needful Heart
Wet Dream
Love on the Line
The Billionaire’s Secret Obsession
The Awakening Society- FREE
Tempt Me
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