SEALed With A Kiss: Heroes With Heart

by Low, Gennita

  The next article in the series would be about Minah’s future. There had been thousands of emails and letters offering help and adoption. As Sean said, “one hell of a story there too.”

  Her own account, minus certain details, had also been broadcasted on several Internet news service. She’d declined many of interviews about herself, preferring to concentrate on Minah’s and her fellow countrywomen’s plight. Even Sean had agreed to hold off putting the details about the weapons cache after Admiral Madison had personally called him at the office. She found out later that he’d been promised to be part of the next SEAL-related operation as an embedded journalist. She’d like to meet the Admiral one day. That song Lucas had taught her had made her very curious about his background.

  So many amazing stories to tell, her cup runneth over. She was learning, though, to let her story speak through imagery. She might hold back a few details, but her photos documented the truth. Minah’s face. The blotches of blood on Lucas’ uniform. The deep new scar he now had on the side of his body. The dark and narrow cavern. The burnt-out shell that was the school. Contrast those with the magnificent beauty of the Swat Valley she’d taken from the treetop. The smiling children accepting their gifts. The picture she took of the hustle and bustle in the Mingora marketplace. Sean’s stories were hard-hitting, brilliant pieces but she felt she’d added a more intimate perspective to their article.

  Kit looked around at her friends. When the food arrived, she wanted to take a picture of all those gorgeous dishes to remember today. Lucas was with her and these were his and her best friends. Perfect moment. As she reached for her phone, her elbow hit her tiny camera and sent it off the ledge. She tried to catch it but it bounced off the plastic seat and fell between the booth and the wall.

  The others didn’t notice as she tried to push her hand in the small space to get at her camera. Damn it. She couldn’t find it. Not wanting to disturb their conversation and without much thought, she slid down the booth seat in one nimble move. Being small had its advantage. She could fit anywhere.

  On her hands and knees, she peered down but found there was no opening under the booth, just solid wood. A moment of panic assailed her. How the hell was she going to get her camera out of that? Then she caught sight of the vinyl string that was attached to the side of her camera. Thank God. It was just jammed between the seat and the wall and if she was very careful, she could get it out of there before it fell all the way down inside the booth.

  She curled two fingers into the crack and used her nails to slowly coax the string forward. It wobbled towards her unsteadily.

  “Come to mama,” she crooned. “Yes, yes. That’s a good boy. Yes!”

  Her camera back safely in her possession, she turned and slid back up on her seat. Easy-peasy. The whole thing couldn’t have taken longer than a minute and the others wouldn’t even noti…silence greeted her.

  Kit glanced around at her friends. Every pair of eyes was on her. Even the waiter and the owner, who were standing by the table with bowls of rice in their hands, ready to serve, were looking at her bemusedly.

  Lucas was giving her the most amused smile, an eyebrow cocked above eyes shiny with laughter.

  “What?” Kit asked, holding up her camera as explanation. “I was just…”

  Huh. The others had heard her telling something to “come to mama,” followed by her excited “yes, yes yes.” Oh, Lord. She blushed.

  “What was all that about?” asked Mink slyly.

  “That was my ordering today’s special,” Lucas replied, his smile turning sinfully wicked as he gave her a wink.

  Everyone started to laugh. Kit turned redder.

  “Oh, my God, Kit,” Lulu choked in between fits of laughter. “If only you had seen our faces when we heard you under the table. You’ll be hearing about this for a while.”

  Kit stuck out her tongue. “Shut up,” she said rudely and spooned some chicken onto her rice. “Shut up and eat.”

  Lucas chuckled and his big hand scratched her back. “One day—”

  “Don’t even think about it and don’t say your dirty thoughts out loud,” she ordered, knowing the direction of his mind too well. She took a bite of her food. “Oh, wow! This is delicious, guys.”

  That managed to change the subject, something for which she was eminently grateful. Not that they would forget the incident. She was sure it would be brought up as a reminder of that Valentine dinner with the pink dishes.

  Everyone happily devoured the food. Even the fortune cookies were pink and she took a picture of them because it was just too funny. Lucas was going to have a big bill, but when she offered to help out with it, he just gave her one of those male looks. He pushed a fortune cookie onto her plate, cracked his open and read it out loud.

  “Do not insult man who eats pink cucumber,” he said. “What does yours say?”

  She picked hers up. As she broke hers open, she saw the flash from Lulu’s camera and looked up at her friend.

  “Hey, tit for tat,” Lulu said. “I want a picture of you and Lucas staring at a pink fortune cookie. Come on, hurry up!”

  Kit looked up and smiled at Lucas because she wanted to have a nice picture with him. He had an odd little smile on his lips, like he was enjoying what he was looking at, and it sent a delicious shiver down her spine. Oh, they had better be alone very, very soon or she was liable to attack—

  She glanced down at her cookie with a frown. What was this? She unwrapped the small piece of paper.

  “Oh, my God,” she said.

  She looked up at Lucas. His smile had turned tender. She looked down at the diamond ring, totally speechless.

  “Read your fortune,” Lucas said, his voice soft and impatient.

  She picked up the paper and read out loud, “Will you marry me?”

  “Yes, I will,” Lucas replied and pulled her into his arms. “I love you, Kit-Ling, my Cupcake, moi melenkei kotonok. I want to be with you always. Come to papa!”

  She just laughed and wrapped her arms around the muscular body. “Yes!” she yelled out. “Yes! Yes! Yes! And you never told me what that phrase meant.”

  “It’s Russian. You’re the nerd, go Google it,” Lucas said. “Kiss me and I’ll tell you later.”

  Kit complied, ignoring her friends’ hoots and teasing, locking her lips passionately with her very own SEAL. He kissed her possessively, taking his time, as usual, showing her with action rather than words how much he loved and wanted her.

  “A perfect Valentine all caught on video,” announced Lulu smugly. “SEALed with a kiss! Haha.”

  “Dude, check out that rock.”

  “I did. I helped steam the darn cookie open, you idiot, while you and Lulu were fooling around.”

  “Hey, we were in charge of—”

  Everyone was talking at once but Kit didn’t hear a thing. She was too busy kissing her warrior on the most memorable Valentine’s Day ever.

  *

  From the Author

  I hope you enjoyed Lucas and Kit’s story. If you want to read about the other SEALs, here are their titles:

  Jazz and Vivi’s story is in PROTECTOR

  Hawk and Amber’s story is in HUNTER

  Reed (Joker) and Lily’s story is in SLEEPER

  Zone and Rebecca’s story is in (Her Secret) PIRATE – a short story

  Research Notes

  1) *Malala Yousafzai’s story can be found in many news articles. She was a student activist advocating education when the Taliban shot her in the head. She has written a book about her life.

  2) Many women in Afghanistan and Pakistan and their shared border remain uneducated and dependent. There have been some positive changes, including the recent appointment of a female elder in the jirga, but there are still many violent crimes committed against young women. Through newspaper accounts and research, I’ve weaved my own stories about the victims, but the crimes are real, with very little justice handed out.

  3) The Kurdish Peshmerga troops do allow women
into their army. I am very fascinated by these strong and fiercely independent women. Their stories call out to be told. The recent assassination of three female leaders brought worldwide attention and of course, many conspiracies abound around their deaths.

  4) The references to The Game is from my serial stories about a secret treasure hunting organization called The Temple. The books are titled The Game and The Pawn. You will find unexpected connections of “Ahmin” and Lucas Branson in those stories.

  5) Downed Stealths and stolen Stealth parts are, unfortunately, real. A paint with a radar-cloaking agent is also real. My conspiracy theory putting those two items together, hopefully, not so real.

  6) Moi malenkei kotonok is anglicized Russian for “my little kitten.” Wait until Kit finds out and calls him “my big pink Cucumber” in Chinese. But that’s another story, I’m afraid.

  About the Author

  Gennita Low writes sexy military and techno spy-fi romance. She also co-owns a roof construction business and knows 600 ways to kill with roofing tools as well as yell at her workers in five languages. A three-time Golden Heart finalist, her first book, Into Danger, about a SEAL out-of-water, won the Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Award for Best Romantic Intrigue. Besides her love for SEALs, she works with an Airborne Ranger who taught her all about mental toughness and physical endurance. Gennita lives in Florida with her mutant poms and one chubby squirrel.

  To learn more about Gennita, visit www.Gennita-Low.com, www.rooferauthor.blogspot.com and www.facebook.com/gennita.

  Other Books by Gennita Low

  BIG BAD WOLF

  ~ ~ Crossfire Series ~ ~

  PROTECTOR

  HUNTER

  SLEEPER

  HER SECRET PIRATE (short story in SEAL of my Dreams) & also available separately

  WARRIOR

  ~ ~ Secret Assassins (S.A.S.S.) ~ ~

  INTO DANGER

  FACING FEAR

  TEMPTING TROUBLE

  ~ ~ Sex Lie & Spies Serials ~ ~

  THE GAME

  THE PAWN

  ~ ~ Super Soldier Spy ~ ~

  VIRTUALLY HIS

  VIRTUALLY HERS

  ~ ~ Children’s books as “Gennita” ~ ~

  A SQUIRREL CAME TO STAY

  Seal’s Desire

  Elle James

  Copyright © 2014 Elle James

  EPUB Edition

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

  From the Author

  As a member of the armed forces, we were required to attend an annual briefing on human trafficking. Most people don’t realize what a huge issue this is. Every day men, women and children are stolen from their homes and sold into slavery, held captive, tortured, raped and murdered in the business of selling human flesh.

  As a concerned citizen and a human being, be aware of your surroundings so that you do not fall victim to these atrocities, and report suspicious behavior. You might save a life.

  I’d like to dedicate this book to those people who ferret out the truth and bring the monsters who commit these crimes to justice.

  If you’ve enjoyed this story, please consider taking the time to leave a review on your favorite retail or reader review site. Authors appreciate your thoughts about the books you read and love it when you share them with others.

  Escape with…

  Elle James

  aka Myla Jackson

  Chapter One

  ‡

  Remy LaDue stuck his key in the lock and twisted, pushing open the door to the apartment he hadn’t see in four months. As he stepped inside, half of SEAL Team 10 2nd Platoon followed. Much as he loved his teammates, he had been hoping for a few quiet moments to himself. Having just completed a mission in the hills of Afghanistan, he was ready for some quiet time to gather his thoughts and plan his next operation: a Valentine’s Day date with Mitchell Sanders, the one woman he’d never been able to forget.

  “So, what’s it going to be tonight? Steak, beer and football? Or are we just going to hit the rack and sleep away the jetlag?” Big Bird flopped his long lanky frame onto the couch in Remy’s apartment. Though his own apartment was two doors down, he and most of the team hung out at Remy’s, the usual gathering place for 2nd Platoon when they were on leave in Little Creek, Virginia.

  “Man, we can’t sleep or piss away the night.” Dustman crossed his arms over his broad chest, the tattoos on his bulging biceps. “Tomorrow is fuckin’ Valentine’s Day. We didn’t fly halfway around the world to sit at home. Let’s go out and find us some women or we’ll be dateless on V’Day.”

  Dustin Ford, aka Dustman, didn’t know a stranger. No matter where he went, he always found a willing woman. Partly due to his masculine physique, but more due to his open, outgoing personality. The man could talk a virgin out of her underwear in public. He was truly gifted.

  Remy held up a hand. “You guys will have to do without me on this one.” He dumped his duffle bag on the floor and shrugged out of his jacket. After the long flight and little sleep, all he wanted at that moment was a hot shower.

  “That’s right, all you talked about in the hills was getting back here to implement your Valentine’s Day backup plan.” Irish backhanded him in the belly and turned to the others. “Our man Gator is going after Mitchell.”

  “I’m not going after Mitchell. She and I made a promise that if neither of us had a date come Valentine’s Day, we’d go out together. As a favor to Brewsky.”

  Every man in the room grew still for a moment, a silent tribute to their fallen comrade.

  “Amigo, you’ll only be disappointed.” Nacho broke the spell. “Brewsky’s been gone a year. Mitchell’s got her another man. With her blond hair and blue eyes, and…” he waved his hands in the shape of a woman’s curves. “She’s bound to be taken. You might as well throw your towel in the ring.”

  “Wrong,” Remy argued, though he’d been worried about the same thing. She was gorgeous, smart and tough. Any man would be lucky to have her. “We’ve been in touch by Skype and email. I told her I’d call when I got back. You guys can go without me. I’ll join you if things fall through.”

  “Come on, Big Bird.” Swede offered his hand and jerked the big SEAL from his comfortable position on the couch. “Let the man suffer his humiliation in private.”

  “We’ll be at the Naughty Ladies Lounge around ten o’clock tonight.” Dustman rubbed his hands together. “Of course, after a thoroughly satisfying meal of steak and baked potatoes slathered in butter, sour cream and bacon bits, chased with a pitcher of beer each.”

  Irish groaned. “Can a guy have a foodgasm?”

  “Beats the hell out of MREs,” Fish noted.

  “If I never eat another meal ready to eject, it’ll be too soon.” Nacho hung back as the others trailed out the door. Once everyone had gone, he turned back. “Really, if Mitchell’s not available, you should meet up with us. Sucks to be alone on Valentine’s Day. If you don’t give yourself at least a day of hunting, you won’t have a date for the big day.”

  “Thanks, Sanchez. I’ll keep that in mind. Now…” He gave the man a pointed look.

  “I get it. You’d like to call in private.” Cesar Sanchez, the compact Hispanic member of their team with dark hair and broad shoulders, backed out the doorway and closed it quietly behind him.

  Remy sighed. This moment was the first time that day he’d been alone. Hell, it felt like the first time in months he’d been by himself. His pulse picked up and he grabbed his cell phone, hitting the saved number for Mitchell Sanders. His best friend, Derek Brewer’s girl. A stab of sadness with a chaser of guilt always accompanied any contact with Mitchell.

  While Derek had been dating Mitchell, Remy had fallen for the strong-willed, beautiful NCIS agent. Had she been dating anyone else in the world besides one of his teammates, he’d have gone aft
er her and to hell with the guy.

  But among his teammates, there was a code of honor. SEALs didn’t poach on another SEAL’s girl. The last mission Gator and Brewsky had been on together went south. The intel they’d gotten had been faulty to the point Gator suspected it was a ruse to gain their trust long enough to blow them away.

  That ruse had cost the lives of three of their platoon. Brewsky, when he threw himself over a grenade during a village sweep. Two other men from their team had been gunned down by the reported “unarmed” villagers. The rest of the team had to pull out and regroup before they could return and mop up the insurgent mess.

  Remy waited for the phone to ring on the other end, his mind going back to Brewer’s funeral. Mitchell had been there, dressed in a black dress, something she rarely wore, and carrying a single red rose. After the eulogy was given and the coffin lowered into the ground, she tossed in the red rose. At that moment, the tears she’d held back released.

  Remy had gathered her in his arms, never able to stand the sight of a woman in tears. Especially when that woman was Mitchell. She’d always been more of a tomboy. Her career with NCIS had been her focus, and she’d told them both that she had a lot she wished to accomplish before she settled down. Maybe she never would.

  As SEALs, they understood the sacrifices people made to the greater good of others. Remy also knew that if you didn’t take the time to grieve, the raw emotion would come out in other ways. So he let her cry on his shoulder.

  That night she’d asked him to stay with her. She hadn’t wanted to be alone. In love with her and hurting for the loss of his friend, he couldn’t have left had he wanted to. What started out as holding her while she cried changed. Soon, they were tearing at each other’s clothing in a desperate attempt to assuage their mutual loss.