HOT SEAL Lover (HOT SEAL Team - Book 2)

by Lynn Raye Harris

  “I should have known there was something wrong with him when he came to see me again. I should have gotten a restraining order.”

  “And what good would that have done? He was still going to do what he did tonight. It’s not your fault, baby. Not your fault.”

  She sucked in a breath. “I love you, Remy. I know you don’t love me, that we’re still just figuring out this relationship—but I love you. When I thought you were dead—oh God, I thought I would die too.”

  Remy frowned. Was he still dreaming? Was this just another part of the twilight sleep he’d been experiencing?

  Because, damn, he couldn’t think of anything he wanted more than to have Christina Girard telling him she loved him.

  “I love you too,” he said, in case this wasn’t a dream and she really was there. He would never forget for as long as he lived the way she’d smiled at him with a gun to her head. As if she’d been trying to reassure him. Him, when he was the one who should have been reassuring her.

  He’d been willing to die to save her. He still was.

  “I— Did you really just say that to me?” She sniffed. “Oh, right, it’s the remnants of the anesthesia. You won’t remember this tomorrow, but that’s okay because it feels so lovely right now.”

  He tugged on her hand until she had to bend down over the bed, her face so near his. His side ached, but it was important that he see her eyes. Important that she see his when he said this to her.

  “I’m not drugged, Christina—well, I am I guess—but not so much I don’t know what I’m saying. I love you. I’ve loved you from the first moment you said hello to me. I don’t know why—hell, I didn’t know that’s what was going on, believe me—but it’s true. Since the instant you spoke to me at your brother’s house, I’ve been yours.”

  Something hot and wet hit his skin, cooling quickly. He reached up again, swept his thumb over her face. It came away wet.

  “Cher,” he breathed. “Don’t.”

  “I’m happy,” she said. “These are happy tears, Remy Marchand. Don’t you dare try to stop them either.”

  “Tell me you love me again.”

  She bent and kissed his cheek. He turned his head and met her mouth. It wasn’t a sexy kiss considering the way he felt, but it was a wonderful one. He’d never kissed a woman knowing that she had his heart before.

  “I love you,” she whispered. “I was scared to love you, scared to try again—but I’m so happy my heart knew what to do even when I didn’t.”

  “When I get out of here,” he growled. “I’m showing you everything I feel until you never doubt it for a second.”

  She laughed a tear-filled laugh. “I don’t doubt it now. Not anymore, Remy. Not ever.”

  “Jesus,” he groaned as a sharp pain lanced through him.

  “Shh, honey,” she said, reaching across him and tweaking something on the tube going into his vein. “I’ll be here when you wake, promise.”

  He instantly felt the silvery glide of morphine sliding into his veins, and he knew she’d hit the pain pump on his IV. Damn her. Bless her. Love her.

  He fell asleep soon after and felt no more.

  33

  Two months later…

  Christina collapsed on the bed, her entire body going limp as the power of her orgasm slammed through her. Remy thrust into her relentlessly, dragging out the pleasure until his own release caught him and propelled him over the edge.

  He rolled off her and lay beside her, breathing heavily. She turned and propped herself onto an elbow, running her fingers over his magnificent chest. The angry scar of the bullet wound in his side always made her heart clench.

  “It’s okay,” he said gruffly, capturing her fingers and dragging them to his mouth. “I’m alive.”

  “I’m still sorry it happened.”

  “Of course you are. We both are. But honey, don’t you know I’ll do it again if it means you stay safe?”

  Christina frowned. “I don’t want either of us in that position ever again, okay?”

  Watching Remy recover from a bullet wound hadn’t been fun. He’d been weak at first, and then he’d been in pain. When they’d let him go from the hospital, she’d insisted he stay with her. The SEALs and Matt’s team had gone through her place with a fine-tooth comb. Ben had only had one camera in there. She’d discovered how he’d gotten inside. He’d gone to the neighbor she’d left a key with for emergencies, and he’d said he was with the gas company. The neighbor had let him in and he’d placed the camera. He’d recorded video and sound from it, but he’d also sat across the street from her house with a high-powered microphone aimed at her house and listened in that way as well.

  It hadn’t been the most sophisticated plan, but then Ben’s mind wasn’t working particularly well anymore either. She’d considered selling the place and moving, but then she’d gotten mad and decided that no way was she letting him affect her life so profoundly again.

  Ben was currently in a mental hospital receiving treatment for schizophrenia. If he ever got out, he was going to trial for kidnapping and attempted murder. She wasn’t afraid of him going free anytime soon.

  “Me neither, baby,” Remy said.

  He hadn’t been on a mission since he’d left the hospital, though he had returned to work. Though it was farther from her place to the military base, he’d stayed with her instead of going back to the apartment he shared with Cash. She liked that. She felt safe with him here. More importantly, she was happy.

  She’d had to go to Houston a couple of times, but she’d turned over the international traveling. After the deal with Sheikh Fahd, her father and the board of directors had made her the head of business development. She had an entire team that she could send to make the deals she set into motion. It was working too. Business was up and Girard Oil was growing.

  Remy got out of bed. She watched his naked ass, sighing that all that gorgeousness belonged to her.

  “We need to get dressed, Christina. We’re supposed to be at your brother’s place in thirty minutes.”

  She stretched, her body still glowing in the aftermath of their lovemaking. “I know, but it’s so much more fun just being with you.”

  He snorted. “Honey, everyone’s beginning to think we don’t like them anymore. Or that we’re obsessed with each other.”

  “Aren’t we?”

  His eyes gleamed hot as they raked over her. “Yeah, we are. But get up, because we have to go.”

  “Fine,” she grumbled.

  Christina tried to distract him in the shower, but it didn’t work. Well, mostly didn’t work. He still lifted her up and fucked her hard and fast against the tiled wall.

  She came too quickly, however, and he didn’t prolong it. So now they were getting into his truck and she was grumbling at the idea they had to go anywhere at all.

  When they reached Matt and Evie’s place, there were cars up and down the street and in their driveway. Christina sighed. She wasn’t the frightened introvert she used to be, but she still had to gear herself up for crowds.

  Remy squeezed her hand as they stood on the sidewalk. “We don’t have to stay for hours, promise. I know that wears you out.”

  She smiled and touched his cheek. “And I know you’re an extrovert who likes people, so this is your time to recharge. It’s probably getting boring just hanging out with me.”

  He blinked. “Are you kidding me? It’s never a dull moment with you, Christina. You’re the funniest, hottest, most beautiful woman I’ve ever known. You surprise me on a daily basis.”

  Okay, so she preened inside. No one had ever said she was the most anything. Well, maybe the most quiet. She’d gotten that one a lot as a kid.

  “What did I do to deserve you, Remy Marchand?”

  He pulled her into his arms right there on the sidewalk. “Do? All you had to do was be you. You’re the air I breathe, the sun on my face, the energy in my veins.”

  “Wow,” she said, her throat tightening. “You say the most amazin
g things sometimes.”

  He grinned. “All the time. Every word out of my mouth is amazing.”

  She knew he was trying to make her laugh so she wouldn’t cry and ruin her mascara.

  “Hey, stop molesting my sister on the fucking—I mean fire-trucking—sidewalk and get the heck in here,” Matt called out.

  Remy frowned. “Fire-trucking?”

  Christina laughed. “Evie’s making him clean up his language before the kids are old enough to pick it up.”

  Remy snorted. “Good plan.”

  Remy nursed his beer and kept stealing glances at Christina. She was sitting at the massive kitchen island with Alpha Squad’s wives and fiancées—plus Ivy Erikson, Viking’s wife—laughing about something someone said. She was radiant, her dark hair long and loose down her back, her slender form graceful in jeans and a white button-down shirt.

  He loved her, and that made him feel a calmness inside that he’d never realized was missing from his life. It was pretty incredible to love someone and know they loved you in return.

  “You treating my sister right?” Matt asked, snagging his attention.

  But he was smiling, one eyebrow lifted in question, and Remy relaxed. “Like she’s the most important thing in my life,” he said, utterly serious.

  Matt nodded. “That’s good, man. Glad she has you in her life.”

  “I want to marry her.”

  Matt’s eyes widened a fraction. “You’ve only been together a little over two months… you sure about that?”

  “Yeah, I’m sure. And though I know that bastard stole all her money, I know she’ll have more from your family trust, plus there’s Girard Oil. I’ll sign a prenup. I don’t want anything except Christina, and I want you to know that.”

  Matt blinked. Remy knew he hadn’t been happy when Christina confessed that Ben had bled her trust dry, so he wanted Matt to know he didn’t care about the money. The Girards had a lot of money and she was entitled to her share according to Louisiana law, but he didn’t want any of it.

  “Jesus, dude—that’s not up to me. It’s between the two of you.”

  “I don’t want you to think there’s anything motivating me other than the way I feel about your sister. She’s safe with me. Her heart is safe. I promise you that.”

  Matt held out a hand and Remy clasped it in a firm grip. “You took a bullet for her. But even if you hadn’t done that, hell, the way she was in the hospital waiting room—well, that told me a lot about her feelings for you. She’s herself with you. I never realized how contained she was with Ben, but it’s so obvious now. You’re good for her, Remy. I’ll be happy to call you a brother-in-law as well as my Special Ops brother.”

  The two shook firmly and then went in for the bro hug. When Remy looked over at Christina, she was watching them, a question in her eyes. Remy took a swig of his beer and set it down.

  “Nothing like the present moment,” he said. “Wish me luck.”

  He strode over to the kitchen island. The ladies shot him sidelong glances. One of them, and he wasn’t sure which one, said, “Here we go again, girls.”

  Grace Campbell Spencer, the president’s daughter, laughed. “Yes, I believe you’re right. Garrett had much that same look on his face in Buddy’s Bar that night.”

  Christina looked at the women in confusion. “What? What are you talking about?”

  “Christina,” Remy said, taking her hand and ignoring them. When he had her attention, he dropped to a knee. She gasped. “Will you marry me?”

  “Told ya,” someone said. Glasses clinked.

  Christina’s eyes were wide. She put a hand over her mouth. He began to believe he’d committed a grave error. She hadn’t even been divorced a year. Her last husband had treated her horribly and broken her trust. And here he was asking her to marry him. In public. Putting her on the spot.

  Shit, he was an idiot. An utter idiot.

  “It’s okay if you don’t want to,” he blurted, trying to give her an out. “We can take it a day at a time.”

  “And now he’s backing out. Awkward,” Ivy Erikson singsonged.

  Remy turned to glare at the women, who stared down at him with looks of interest and amusement on their faces. They held their wineglasses as if this was a drinking game or something. Hell, he wasn’t sure it wasn’t.

  “I am not backing out,” he growled. “I’m giving her a graceful way out because she might not want to get married again.” He turned to gaze up into Christina’s eyes, which were suspiciously shiny now. “Which I understand, cher. Really. If you don’t want to get married, I won’t press you.”

  She surprised him, sliding from the chair and standing over him. She cupped his jaw in both hands, tilting his face up.

  “Yes,” she said softly. “I will marry you. Tomorrow or next year or whenever you want. I’m ready. Because we’re us, Remy. Because I trust you with everything I am. Because you make me believe in the fairy tale.”

  She leaned down and kissed him then, and he squeezed her to him, kissing her back with all the joy he felt in his soul. He stood with her in his arms, and she yelped as her feet left the ground. Then she laughed and he slid her down his body, kissing her again before letting her go. Much more of that and he’d be sporting a massive hard-on in his jeans.

  Everyone converged on them, offering congratulatory hugs and kisses from the women and handshakes from the men. Money shook his head as he gripped Remy’s hand.

  “Another good man down. Gonna miss having you as a roomie.”

  “I haven’t been back in two months. You don’t miss me at all.”

  Money laughed. “Nah, not really. I’ve been keeping busy.”

  “Yeah, I can just imagine. Careful, or you’ll be the next one planning a wedding.”

  Money’s eyes practically bugged out. “No way, bro. Not me. I am definitely not a one-woman man.”

  Remy’s gaze slid to Christina. “You’d be surprised how that happens.”

  “Yeah, sure. Not me.”

  They stayed a while longer. Evie broke out the champagne, though she couldn’t have any because she was breastfeeding the babies, and Matt didn’t drink at all. After all the toasts and congratulations, Remy was ready to have Christina to himself. Especially when the talk turned to wedding plans. Good God, he wasn’t about to discuss bridesmaid dresses or lace or any other fucking thing that went with weddings.

  It took another twenty minutes to extract them, but soon they were in the truck and on the way back home. Christina was quiet, and that worried him.

  “I’m sorry I put you on the spot,” he said.

  He could feel her eyes on him in the darkened interior. “I love you, Remy Marchand. I want to be with you forever. And I don’t care who knows it.”

  He pulled into a parking lot because he couldn’t wait another minute to hold her when there was no one else around. He unclipped her seat belt and dragged her over the console and into his lap.

  “I fucking love you so much. I want you to be happy. I’ll do whatever it takes to make that happen. If it’s lace and bridesmaids and a fucking orchestra at our wedding, then that’s what you’re getting.”

  She twined her arms around his neck.

  “I really don’t want any of that, Remy.” She chewed her bottom lip for a moment. “Do you think we could run away to Vegas and get married?”

  He blinked. And then he laughed. “If that’s what you want, hell yes.”

  “Then let’s do it. I don’t want to disappoint everyone, but I’ve had the wedding with all the trimmings. The wedding isn’t what matters—it’s the person you marry.”

  His heart swelled with all the love he felt for this woman. “Vegas it is then.”

  “Viva Las Vegas,” she said, laughing.

  “Viva Remy & Christina,” he replied.

  “I’ll drink to that.”

  “We don’t have any drinks.”

  “Then you’d better get me home and take me to bed instead.”

  He broke
the speed limit complying with that order, but he soon had her spread out on the bed naked and moaning his name. Licking her into a frenzy was sweet, but sliding into her body was even sweeter.

  “Remy,” she gasped as he thrust slowly and surely. “I love you.”

  “I love you more.”

  She laughed even while she moaned. “Not possible.”

  He stilled and forced her to look into his eyes. “I know.”

  And he did know. She loved him for who he was. It hadn’t been easy for her after all she’d been through, but her love was his greatest treasure.

  He was going to spend a lifetime making sure she knew it too.

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