by Tawny Weber
“You’re serious? You really want me to remain in the Navy, in the SEALs. To continue serving with Poseidon,” he confirmed.
“I do.”
His chest tightened at the phrase, sure she didn’t mean it to bring back memories of their wedding.
“And you’ll continue to live in Napa, train others to be bad asses and go into partnership with Mack?”
His brain raced over the calendar, trying to calculate how often he’d be able to get back to see her. He wanted to believe he could have it all, but other than a few work-related-stress issues in the form of nightmares and flashbacks, nothing in his life had led him toward delusions.
“No. Actually, I was thinking I’d like to spend a little time living by the beach. A warmer climate would suit me—don’t you think?”
His heart leaped. “You’d move to San Diego?”
“I was hoping for Coronado, actually.” Sliding her sunglasses off, she tucked them into her pocket, staring at him with those huge brown eyes. Gaze locked on his, she smiled. “If you want me to, that is.”
“You want to move south?” Reining in the part of him that wanted to agree before she changed her mind, Elijah forced himself to slow down. To make sure.
“I want to become a Navy wife. I want to follow you, wherever you’re stationed. Whether that’s Coronado, Hawaii, Dubai or Timbuktu.” She shrugged so her breasts rubbed against his chest in teasing promise. As if that wasn’t temptation, she wet her lips and smiled. “I’ll follow you around the world, Elijah. And you’ll make it worth my while.”
“You bet I will,” he agreed, his eyes locked on her mouth. Those full lips, the delicious hint of tongue. Then he blinked and shook his head, wishing it was as easy to shake off the spell of desire. “Did you want to open your own gym? If you prefer, I’ll bet Mack would like the idea of opening a second location instead of expanding his current one.”
“If I owned something, even if I was a partner, I’d be tied down. Stuck,” she said. “The main reason I wanted to go into partnership with Mack was because I was afraid.”
Elijah couldn’t quite decode that connection. “You wanted to invest a large amount of money and take on a huge responsibility because you were afraid? Of what?” He’d learned the meaning of fear over the last few months, but still didn’t see how it applied in this situation. But he knew, having screwed it all up once, to get any questions or doubts out in the open with Ava instead of hoping they’d fix themselves.
“Of things changing,” she explained. “Mack might have brought in a partner that I didn’t like, or one that I didn’t get along with, or even someone who wanted to change things in ways I wasn’t comfortable with.”
Pushing at the wisps of hair dancing around her face, Ava wrinkled her nose. “That makes me sound like a wimp, doesn’t it?”
“It makes you sound like a woman who knows what she wants and how she prefers things,” he corrected.
“I’ve decided to stop letting fear guide my decisions,” she said, her fingers tiptoeing up his chest, then sliding along the sides of his neck. “Instead I’m opting for hope.”
“Yeah?” He scooped her closer, his hands resting in the sweet curve of her butt. “And just what is it that you hope for?”
“Us.”
“In Southern California?” he confirmed.
“I’m hoping that I can find some coaching or teaching jobs in a gym in Coronado. Harper already said she wanted to train with me.”
“She liked the idea of you kicking her ex’s ass.”
“Exactly,” Ava said with a laugh, her hands sliding along his arms.
“Or I could do massage, work at a spa or a yoga studio. It just depends on what feels right when I get there. The only thing that matters is that this time, I follow you. That I’m there for you.”
God.
Overcome, Elijah rested his forehead against hers, breathing in the gentle scent of green grass and the heady perfume that was Ava’s alone.
“You’re sure?”
“Positive,” she said softly, leaning back so her gaze could roam over his face like a caress. “I want to live there with you. So we can build a life together.”
“You want to rebuild what we had?”
“No. I want to build a new life. One based on trust and faith and—”
“Hope,” he interrupted as it sank in. He really was getting all his dreams handed to him.
The ability to push beyond fear, to live strong and achieve greatness. He could do that now, knowing he’d moved past the nightmares, beyond the doubts.
His career, specializing in a field in which he excelled, one he loved and appreciated all the more now that he’d seen what it meant in his life. He could continue with it, grow with it, protect it.
And the only woman he loved.
Eyes locked on Ava’s, he leaned down, but before he took her mouth, he forced himself to stop.
And ask.
“Children?”
Elijah knew he could live without them. Nothing and nobody could ever take Dominic’s place in his life or in his heart. But he wanted the parameters clear, and he wanted to make sure Ava knew he wasn’t expecting more than she wanted to give.
“I’d like three,” she said softly, her hands framing his face now as she smiled that gorgeous smile of hers. The one that lit up his heart. “We have our angel, so let’s see about two more.”
And there it was. Everything he’d ever wanted in life.
Elijah’s heart felt too big for his chest, hope and joy swelling huge as he stared into the face of the one woman he wanted to spend his life with.
Gone was the feeling of having his life adrift like a rudderless boat tossed about on a storm-swept sea. He’d found his North Star. As long as he had her, he’d always find his way.
“I love you, Ava.”
“I love you, too,” she said just before she lifted her mouth to his. “Forever this time.”
* * * * *
Navy SEAL Nic Savino has a score to settle—but one woman is standing in his way...
Look for CALL TO REDEMPTION by New York Times bestselling author Tawny Weber, another TEAM POSEIDON story, on sale in November 2017.
Read on for a sneak peek at CALL TO REDEMPTION, an exciting new TEAM POSEIDON novel from New York Times bestselling author Tawny Weber!
The Poseidon team are hard-bodied, fiercely competitive Navy SEALs. But when a sensitive mission goes disastrously wrong, three of the team’s finest will have to trust their hearts and instincts to uncover the truth...
If you loved Call to Engage by New York Times bestselling author Tawny Weber, then don’t miss the next stunning tale in the Team Poseidon series!
Call to Redemption
Order your copy today!
Can’t get enough? Be sure to collect all the books in this series!
Call to Honor
Call to Engage
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“Tawny Weber mixes sizzling sex, strong characters and suspense into an exciting, satisfying book.”
—RT Book Reviews
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Call to Redemption
by Tawny Weber
PROLOGUE
“LIEU
TENANT COMMANDER DOMINIC SAVINO, you stand accused of conduct unbecoming an officer, disobeying orders and complicity in treason.”
The voice boomed like a cannon, its roar a vivid contrast to the courtroom’s silence. As he stood at attention on the stand, the sound ricocheted down Nic’s spine like a piece of shrapnel, ripping and tearing.
“Commander, do you understand these charges?”
Understand? Nic had a solid understanding of the fact that he’d been framed, that he was the fall guy for some treasonous son of a bitch. Someone in power with a network of navy personnel focused on lining their bank accounts at the expense of their country.
Yeah.
He understood that.
That and everything that came with the charges leveled against him. Court martial. Prison time. The end of his career. The loss of his freedom. The destruction of his team. Fury rose, rolling like waves that crested higher with each heartbeat.
But none of that was evident on his face. Neither awareness nor fury were allowed to show.
“Affirmative.”
“How do you plead?”
Nic’s gaze didn’t shift left, didn’t move right. His deadeye stare was aimed straight ahead, focused on the rippling glory of the American flag hanging over the courtroom’s double doors.
He replayed the accusation. He thought back over the previous year’s events.
An operation gone horribly wrong that’d resulted in life-threatening injuries to one team member and the supposed death of another.
The realization that a SEAL, a man sworn to serve his country, would steal classified information to sell to the highest bidder, put his teammates lives in peril and fake his death—all for money. The shocking acceptance that the same man would target a young child and a defenseless woman, and kill a fellow SEAL.
And now the emotional train wreck of watching his team targeted by an asshole with an agenda who was determined to ignore the fact that Poseidon was being framed by a traitorous sociopath with psychotic tendencies.
It’d all been coming down to this.
The moment of truth.
After fourteen years of service protecting the safety and freedom of his country, it wasn’t Nic’s life on the line this time. This time, it was his team. His career. His reputation. His own freedom.
Ignoring the tight knot in his gut, he shifted his gaze infinitesimally to the right. He gave Lieutenant Thomas a look cold enough to freeze the man’s innards and, in a clear voice, stated, “Not guilty.”
Thomas’s eyes narrowed, his lips tightened. Why the man should flash frustration was baffling. Any first-year JAG would have expected that exact plea. Nic filed the look away to decipher later.
For now, he simply let his stare intimidate until the lieutenant turned away. But not before Nic caught the line between his brows twitching.
For the first time since he’d walked into the courtroom that morning, the tension tying his intestines in knots loosened.
He was innocent.
His team was clean.
No matter what information the lieutenant and his crew thought they’d brought to the table over the course of this trial, Nic knew that neither he, nor any of his men, had done anything illegal, against orders or in any way traitorous.
But knowing that didn’t ensure he’d walk away from this trial. Not with his freedom. Not with his career and reputation intact. The odds of keeping his command, of holding together an elite special ops team after being brought up on charges were slim.
But now?
Nic watched as Thomas exchanged frowns with the lieutenant commander seated at the prosecutors’ table.
Now? He had hope. More, he had faith that he’d not only be vindicated, but that he’d keep his command, his team and, dammit, that they’d nail the real traitor before this was over.
It was then and only then that he allowed his gaze to shift. For a millisecond, he glanced toward the gallery.
His team spanned the first row. Ten men in uniform, each one wearing a look of implacable determination. Each one radiating strength and dedication. And, yes, each one looking equally pissed at the insult they knew they’d been served.
Nic’s gaze shifted to the right, toward the woman sitting just behind the prosecution.
Beneath an edgy fringe of bangs, a pair of huge gold eyes stared back at him. In those molten depths he saw two things. Strength and challenge.
How had he gotten this far in life without her?
And what the hell was he going to do now that he’d found her?
Nic had spent his adult life training, leading, fighting for his country. Without hesitation, he’d put his life, his guts and his reputation on the line time and time again. But today his innocence wasn’t the only thing at stake.
Nor was this a simple matter of justice.
He was a lieutenant commander in the United States Navy.
He was a multidecorated navy SEAL.
He was a SEAL team platoon leader; he commanded over a hundred military and civilian personnel.
He’d fought in wars. He’d led missions. He’d orchestrated clandestine operations. He’d conceptualized, created, evaluated and nurtured the elite force of Team Poseidon. He’d honed his skills in leadership, combat and procedure.
In the last six months, he’d lost a man. He’d killed another. He’d had a building explode around him. He’d been betrayed and brought to trial to face being accused of the very crimes he’d fought to end.
And for the first time in thirty-three years, Nic risked something that many people—including himself—had come to believe didn’t exist.
His heart.
Because he’d lost it to the woman who was about to destroy his life.
* * *
FEDERAL PROSECUTOR DARBY RAYE rubbed her fingers over her eyes and wondered how the hell she was supposed to bring charges against American heroes.
Especially when the leader of those heroes had her mind so twisted up that her thoughts were like a corkscrew.
Not a factor, she reminded herself as she looked around her office. She was an Assistant United States Attorney. She had a job to do, and that job demanded that she set aside all her personal issues—even the issues that kept her awake at night—and give it one hundred percent.
Focus, she warned herself. Just focus.
With that in mind, she sifted through page after page of circumstantial evidence, searching for something solid to work with. Something that she could craft into a reasonable argument, something to back up allegations as serious as treason.
But all she was finding were hints. Carefully crafted theories, backed up by meticulously targeted interviews and layered between word-heavy promises that there was something bigger at stake.
Something bigger.
She stretched her neck from side to side to try and relieve some of the aching tension.
There were some indisputable facts, she reminded herself.
Secrets and information had been sold. Those sales could all be traced in some form or another to SEAL missions. The most recent being Operation: Hammerhead, in which the formula for a chemical weapon had been transmitted during the rescue of the captured scientist. The time and date stamp indisputably traced the transmission to one of the SEALs.
Further investigation pointed heavily toward that SEAL being Lieutenant Brandon Ramsey, a man currently imprisoned and accused of murder. Also accused, she noted, was Special Warfare Crewman Dane Adams. Flipping open his file, she saw he was also in prison—or the brig, as they called it in the navy—for treason and for kidnapping the son of...
Darby’s brow shot up, noting that the guy had kidnapped the seven-year-old son of his teammate and purported partner in crime, Lieutenant Ramsey. And the kidnapping had been foiled by three members of Team Pose
idon, one of whom was now the child’s stepfather.
Interesting, she thought, as she made notes to check the timelines.
On the surface, these Poseidon guys were big-time heroes. With all the commendations and medals and awe that went with that reputation. According to their superiors, they were a credit to their country.
But the innuendo that fueled this investigation spearheaded by Lieutenant Thomas of the Judge Advocate General’s Corps claimed that they were all complicit in treason, some straight-up traitors.
If Thomas was right, maybe she could finally put to rest the theory that the members of Team Poseidon, an exclusive operative group within the navy SEALs, were culpable of the death of one Dannie Raye, petty officer third class, a theory that was based on innuendo and emotional conjecture.
All she had to do was find the evidence to convict a SEAL, a decorated special operative in the US Navy, of treason. A man who, by most accounts, was one of the smartest, savviest minds in the military.
A man Darby had spent a week having a mind-blowingly intense affair with.
A man whom her mother swore with every other breath was responsible for the death of her son.
Not for the first time since this’d been tossed at her, Darby considered recusing herself. The entire case had conflict of interest written all over it in invisible ink, just waiting for the right person to shine a light on it.
Something to worry about later, she decided. If she could confirm that there was no evidence beyond innuendo, then there was no case. Because innuendo wasn’t fact.
And she wasn’t staking her reputation on innuendo.
Not when her gut screamed out against it.
But was her gut reliable in this case?
That was the problem, Darby acknowledged. Her gut, and the rest of her body, went into a tailspin just thinking about Nic Savino. Accused traitor, decorated SEAL, incredible lover.
Her mind spun with the memories of him.
Hot, sexy memories of an intense affair, one filled with passion, hunger and excitement. Memories sizzling enough to keep her awake at night, her body aching to relive the experience.
