Tempted by a SEAL

by Cat Johnson

  His deep intake of breath stopped her mid-sentence. “That’s because I haven’t been completely honest with you. Lydia, I’m not regular Navy.”

  Her eyes widened. Was Marissa right? “Then what are you?” Lydia asked.

  He pressed his lips together before he said, “A SEAL.”

  Crap. Marissa was never going to let Lydia hear the end of the fact she’d guessed correctly and Mack really was some sort of special operative.

  Her thoughts must have shown on her face. Mack drew in a breath. “I’m sorry.”

  That he was apologizing for being some elite military man struck her as funny. Then again, she might possibly be delirious.

  “It’s okay. But why didn’t you just tell me?”

  He lifted one shoulder. “It’s not something I make a habit of telling people.”

  Her brows shot high. “I’m just people?”

  Mack shook his head. “No. I was going to tell you the day after the brunch but I got called in. We shipped out that morning so I didn’t have time. I was planning on telling you and your mom this weekend but then this happened.”

  Lydia’s eyes popped wider as his comment about her mother raised another question. “Does your dad even know?”

  How big of a secret was this? Was she going to have homeland security bugging her phone now to make sure she didn’t spill the beans?

  “Dad knows, but I swore him to secrecy. He wasn’t at all happy about having to hide the truth from you or your mother, so please don’t blame him.”

  Speechless, she drew in a breath and just shook her head.

  “Look, I know it sounds strange to you but there are crazy people out there. After today you more than anyone can appreciate that.”

  Lydia couldn’t argue with the truth of that. “Okay. I get it. Don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone. I wouldn’t do anything to put you in danger.”

  Brows high, he let out a short laugh. “It’s not me I’m worried about. It’s you and Dad and your mom. Let them come at me. I’m ready. But you all aren’t.”

  Maybe it wasn’t the job that was so secretive. It was Mack. Was it really necessary? Or was he paranoid? She reviewed what she knew of recent events. There had been that shooter at the recruiting center. Those Marines and a sailor had been killed.

  His running a hand down her cheek brought her attention back to Mack. “You’re holding up pretty good after what happened—for a civilian.”

  It was a lame joke but she got that he was trying to lighten up a very serious subject.

  She swallowed hard, remembering those horrible few minutes. “I did what you said. I remembered and I did it.”

  A frown creased his brow. “What did I say?”

  “Run, hide, fight. Marissa was ducking under the table but I knew that wasn’t a good enough hiding spot, so we ran. I couldn’t see him from where we were so I figured he wouldn’t see us either if I stayed low and tried to get closer to the exit. When the sound of the shooting stopped—I think he ran out of bullets and had to reload just like you said he would—we got out.”

  His eyes looked glassy as he swallowed before saying, “Good girl.”

  “Did I do what I should have?” she asked.

  “Yeah. You did real good.” He nodded and then crushed her against him so tightly she had trouble breathing. Not about to pull away, she made do the best she could.

  CHAPTER 20

  Mack was still shaking an hour later remembering Lydia’s recount of the shooting.

  So many things could have gone wrong . . . but they hadn’t. He had to keep reminding himself of that. Lydia was in her own bed. Sleeping. Unhurt.

  If he hadn’t needed to get up to get a drink of water so desperately, he’d still be laying there next to her. Not sleeping. Just listening to her breathe.

  He’d spent the past hour touching her more for his comfort than for hers. He needed her warmth to remind himself she was alive.

  Standing in her kitchen in nothing but his underwear, Mack pressed the water glass to his lips and swallowed a large gulp of tap water.

  The irony that he was willingly going to spend the whole night in a woman’s bed, and not even have sex, wasn’t lost on him.

  But there was no way he was leaving Lydia. Not tonight. Not until he had to.

  Flipping on the cold water, he moved to refill the glass when he heard a key in the lock of the apartment door.

  Lydia had a roommate. He’d seen confirmation of that all around the apartment, from the two toothbrushes in the bathroom, to the two laptops charging on the counter.

  He wasn’t quite up for meeting new people in just his blue boxer briefs but he didn’t have much choice.

  Being in nothing but underwear didn’t bother him. His lack of a weapon did, given what had happened on campus just today.

  Training had him already very aware of the location of everything he could use as a weapon within reach. Kitchen knives. Teakettle. Half-empty bottle of some kind of flavored vodka. All would be good enough to act as an improvised weapon if he needed it.

  He set the glass on the counter with barely a sound and took one step back, deeper into the shadows of the room, and waited.

  The door opened and a girl pushed through. Tall. Blonde. A purse on her shoulder. The key in her hand.

  Not a threat.

  In fact, though he hadn’t gotten a good look at her face, she was most likely the girl he’d seen in the pictures around the apartment, usually smiling and hugging Lydia.

  He let out the breath he’d been holding and decided to make his presence known before she spotted him and he scared the hell out of her.

  His ego could only hope that this girl wasn’t used to walking in on Lydia’s partially dressed, overnight male visitors.

  “Hey. I’m—”

  Her eyes flew wide as she let out a frightened squeal.

  Mack held up his empty hands, palms forward, and rushed to finish. “I’m a friend of Lydia’s.”

  Friend. Pfft. More than that, he hoped, but that term was good enough of an explanation for here and now. They’d define what he was to her, and her to him, later on.

  In her defense, Lydia’s roommate recovered quickly. She went from startled to surprisingly curious in seconds.

  She lifted one brow. “Are you, now? Well, well, well.”

  While she was checking him out, he was very aware of his state of undress.

  “I’m Mack. And you are?” Under this girl’s scrutiny, he felt the need to prompt her with the usual social niceties.

  “Marissa. Lydia’s roommate.” A small smile appeared on her lips. “Hmm.”

  Mack raised a brow of his own. “Hmm?”

  “Just thinking how she didn’t exaggerate.”

  He was afraid to ask about what so he grabbed his glass of water and decided to make an escape while he could. “I’d better get back to her. She went to bed early.”

  “Oh, I’m sure she did.” The humor and innuendo was clear in Marissa’s tone.

  Mack couldn’t let it go. “She’s been through a lot today, being in that room with the shooter.”

  The humor drained from Marissa’s features. “I know. I was there with her.”

  Of course. The girl hiding under the table. The one Lydia told to run. He’d forgotten.

  Mack nodded his head to acknowledge her ordeal. “I’m glad you’re not hurt.”

  “Because of Lydia. She dragged me out of there. If she hadn’t I probably would have stayed right there and . . .” She let the sentence trail off, swallowing hard.

  He knew what she hadn’t said but was thinking. If they hadn’t gotten out they could both have been among those in the hospital now, or worse.

  “It all worked out so . . . You should probably get some rest too. Good night.” With a nod, he turned to go.

  “Hey, um, Mack?”

  He turned back. “Yeah?”

  “You’re not a jerk, right? Because you kind of disappeared on her before and now you’re back and . . . I
just need to know what kind of fallout to expect when you go again.”

  “I won’t disappear again.” Mack realized he couldn’t make that promise in his line of work. “At least, I won’t without getting her some kind of word first.”

  Marissa tilted her head to the side and eyed him critically—his face this time and not the rest of him. “So what are you? Like some kind of Black Ops?”

  He let out a laugh. “Not exactly, no. But uh, it’s probably better—safer—if you don’t tell anyone anything about me. Okay?”

  Her eyes widened. “Okay.”

  Shaking his head as he walked, he realized he’d just opened a big can of worms, which he’d have to deal with.

  He’d worry about that tomorrow. Tonight, all he wanted to do was hold Lydia. He turned for the bedroom and this time Marissa let him go.

  Even creeping into the room as silently as he could, he wasn’t quiet enough. Lydia stirred and then sat up.

  “Hey. How long did I sleep?”

  “Not long.” He set down his water glass on the bedside table and sat on the mattress. Slipping under the covers, he pulled Lydia closer so she was leaning against him instead of the pillow. “Your roommate’s home. I just met her in the kitchen.”

  “In your underwear?” she asked.

  He laughed. “Yup.”

  She twisted to face him. “So, she’s pretty, huh?”

  He heard the underlying insecurity in Lydia’s question. He hated hearing that.

  “I didn’t notice. I was too busy thinking about getting back here to you to do this.” Leaning low, he pressed a kiss to her mouth.

  Climbing on top of him, Lydia straddled his hips. He watched as she hiked up the bottom of the oversized T-shirt she wore and saw she had nothing underneath.

  His pulse quickened as Lydia reached between them, sliding her hand beneath the elastic of his briefs. His body reacted.

  She freed him from his underwear. Wasting no time, she braced both hands on his shoulders and slid down over his length.

  He didn’t ask if she was all right. He knew she wasn’t all right, but she would be.

  He didn’t ask if she was sure she wanted to do this, now, after all that had happened today. He knew she needed this, as much as he did.

  All of those questions would have been moot because he knew the answers already. He’d been here before. Narrowly escaping death. Coming back from the edge and feeling the need to cling to life.

  She moved over him, every stroke affirming she was here. She was alive. She was his.

  Maybe not quite his yet, but he’d work on affirming that tomorrow.

  CHAPTER 21

  Morning dawned brightly in spite of the dark tragedy of the day before.

  Mack’s soft breathing next to her had memories of another kind pouring into Lydia’s consciousness.

  She knew he’d spent half the night holding her, watching her. She’d awoken a couple of times to find him wide awake.

  If she could somehow manage to get out of bed without disturbing him, he could sleep a little longer.

  Flipping back the corner of the covers, Lydia moved slowly, swinging first one leg and then the other over the edge of the mattress.

  She eased her weight off the bed and stood, freezing as she glanced back at him to see if she’d made it out without disturbing him. He stirred a bit, rolled over, and then went back to breathing deep and steady.

  Figuring she’d made it through the hard part, Lydia tiptoed in her stocking feet across the dim room.

  The early morning light filtered through the curtains. Amazingly enough, she’d slept fairly well—when she’d finally gotten to sleep. She’d had to initiate the physical encounter with Mack last night, but once she’d started it, he didn’t hesitate to keep going—twice.

  Warming from the inside out from the memories, she turned the doorknob slowly and then eased the bedroom door open. She slipped through the narrow opening and closed the door softly behind her.

  Once out in the living room, she allowed herself to move more quickly across the room, still trying to walk quietly so he wouldn’t wake.

  In the kitchen, she turned on the light and reached for the coffee pot. Likely the smell of coffee was going to wake Mack but she felt the need for the hot rich brew.

  She’d been so quiet and so careful, she was surprised when Marissa’s door opened.

  Lydia pressed a finger to her lips to signal to her roommate to remain quiet.

  Marissa walked silently across the room but the moment she reached the kitchen and Lydia, her eyes widened.

  “Oh my God! He’s so freaking hot.”

  “Shh.” Lydia laughed as she tried to shush her friend. “He’s sleeping.”

  “He should be. He must be tired after what I heard last night.” Marissa’s devilish expression had Lydia laughing even as her cheeks burned with embarrassment.

  She cringed that her roommate had heard what had turned out to be pretty boisterous, in spite of her efforts to remain quiet. “I’m sorry.”

  “You should be. And in exchange you have to fix me up with one of his single friends.”

  Lydia didn’t know any of Mack’s friends. Did he even have them? The man seemed like such a loner, she wasn’t sure.

  While spooning coffee grinds into the filter, Lydia let out a huff. “We’re definitely not up to that stage in our—whatever this thing is with him.”

  “Well you need to get there.” Marissa crossed her arms over her chest as she issued the command.

  “I’ll do my best.” Lydia hit the brew button and cocked one brow high. “So, did you stay at the hospital all that time last night?”

  Marissa nodded, wrapping her arms closer around herself. “Yeah. There was still a crowd when I left.”

  “I’m sorry I didn’t stay with you.”

  Her friend waved off her concern. “Don’t worry about it. Half of my English class was there with me. I was fine.”

  “Any news on the injured?”

  Marissa nodded. “They’d upgraded the janitor’s condition from critical to stable. And they released a couple of the students with lesser injuries.”

  “That’s good news, I guess.”

  “Yeah. It is.” Marissa drew in a breath as her eyes met Lydia’s. “They released the ID of the shooter. He was a student.”

  Lydia felt sick to her stomach that a fellow student could do such a thing. “Do they have a motive?”

  The guy had been killed in a shootout with the two police officers who’d arrived first on the scene, so they might never know what made him do it.

  “Not yet. But the news reports said they seized his computer and cell phone. The FBI is going through it all now, along with his social media accounts and travel history. They’re trying to determine if it’s terrorist related.”

  “The FBI. Wow.”

  Lydia stared blindly at the dripping coffee filling the carafe, not really seeing it as she tried to absorb the enormity of the situation.

  “Good morning.”

  Lydia had been so distracted by her thoughts, she hadn’t noticed Mack was in the room until she heard his voice.

  “Well, good morning.” Marissa’s flirty greeting put Lydia on edge.

  Her friend couldn’t help it. Flirting came as second nature to the willowy blonde, but that didn’t mean it was any easier for Lydia to swallow when it was directed at the man she’d spent the night with.

  At least he was dressed. Barefooted, but wearing jeans and a T-shirt, it was far better than the underwear he’d been wearing when he’d met Marissa last night.

  Lydia grit her teeth thinking of that. She loved Marissa but that green-eyed monster called jealousy was strong.

  Mack came around the counter, passed Marissa without a second glance and walked directly to Lydia.

  Groaning, he pulled her to him and planted a kiss on her before eying the counter. “I smelled coffee.”

  “Sorry. I was trying not to wake you but . . . ”

 
“You can always wake me for coffee . . . or sex.” He’d said that last part close to her ear before pressing another quick kiss to her mouth.

  Moving away, he went to the glass fronted cabinet. As he opened the door and took down three coffee mugs, as comfortable as if he lived here too, Lydia glanced at Marissa.

  Her roommate’s eyes widened as she mouthed, “OMG, so hot.”

  Lydia rolled her eyes at her friend but couldn’t stop the smile that bowed her lips. Marissa was right. He was hot.

  Mack pulled the pot from beneath the stream, splashed some coffee into his mug and then replaced the carafe so the machine could continue filling the glass pot.

  He took a long sip and swallowed.

  “Ah. I needed that.” Cradling the coffee in both hands, he leaned against the counter and eyed Lydia. “So I figure we’ll drive to my Dad’s right after breakfast.”

  “That soon?” she asked, surprised.

  “Yes. Your mother is anxious to see you after yesterday. And I haven’t seen my father since the brunch. Besides, we have some confessing to do.”

  “Ooo. That sounds interesting. What kind of confessing?” Marissa jumped into the conversation, looking more than interested in the answer.

  Mack shot her a glance before focusing back on Lydia. “I think it’s time we tell them we’re together.”

  Her heart kicked into overtime. She swallowed hard. “Are we? Together?”

  A frown drew the dark brows over his bright blue eyes low. “As far as I’m concerned we are. You don’t agree?”

  She rushed to say, “No, I do. I agree.”

  He let out a snort. “Well, good.”

  Lydia caught a glimpse of Marissa’s glee over their discussion. She had to smile at how her friend looked ready to break into a cheer with happiness on Lydia’s behalf.

  She wrestled her attention back to his suggestion. “I can throw some clothes in a bag and be ready to go.”

  “Make sure you pack enough for the whole weekend,” Mack ordered, turning to reach for the coffee carafe again. As he filled all three of the mugs lined up on the counter, Lydia had to ponder where she’d be spending the weekend. Their parents’ house or Mack’s apartment?

  Actually, it didn’t matter. Either way he’d be there with her. As protective as he’d been the past twelve hours, she had no doubt of that and she couldn’t be happier about the prospect.