SEALed With A Kiss: Heroes With Heart

by Low, Gennita

  His smile widened. “I just realized why your ass is so luscious.”

  As her cheeks turned pink, he laughed. She smacked him on the shoulder. “You’re bad.” She paused. “Why?”

  He motioned with his hand. “Because you hike up and down these mountains like they’re nothing. I haven’t seen you hesitate or stumble at all. Hell, you’ve barely paused to breathe in spite of the crazy elevation change we’ve done. As someone who has gone through BUDs training, swam more miles than I can count, served three tours in Afghanistan, I truly admire your mettle.” He paused. “And your ass. Especially in those cargo pants. They look like BDUs.”

  Flynn forced his legs to power him up the bank before she could swat him again, but he paused to catch his breath once back on the trail. That was why he didn’t mind accepting her help. In the squads, if a man went down the rest of the team took up the slack, carrying that man out if need be. It was just what they did. A long-ago, flashing, pain-filled night scrolled through his mind. They’d carried them both out that night.

  Gritting his teeth, he glanced at Willow. There was a sad, thoughtful look on her face. “What’s wrong?”

  Golden eyes flashed up to his, then away. “It’s just funny, because I’m a good-sized girl. Most men don’t…” she shook her head. “I get hit on, but mostly by guys who think I’m desperate for attention. I’m not.”

  Flynn stepped closer to her, ignoring the pain radiating down his side. He didn’t like the insecurity he heard in her voice. With the slope of the trail, she stood on the uphill, eye level with him now. He turned her chin until she looked him in the face. “I’m going to tell you a couple things, and I want you to remember this. Number one, I’m a Navy SEAL. You can’t even compare me to most men, so don’t lump me in with them.” He waited for her laughter to subside. “Number two, I don’t care what you’ve been told or by whom. Your body fucking rocks. Men don’t want to make love to twigs. Way more than will admit it want a lush, cushioning body to welcome them home.”

  Reaching out, he cupped her hips in his hands, tugging her into him. “I would not change anything about you. Not one single thing.”

  With her face so close and her eyes so misty, he had to kiss her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and returned the kiss with enthusiasm, brushing her hand down his cheek.

  They pulled away slowly, content to let the others go on without them. Willow stared at him as if trying to decide whether or not to believe him. The relationship developing between them was new and fragile, but even if it didn’t survive, he hoped she would accept his words at face value.

  After a few seconds, she smiled. “I appreciate you saying that. I really do.” She leaned forward and gave him another, quicker kiss. “We should probably go. I don’t know about you but I’d like to go to bed sometime today.”

  Flynn grinned at her. “I’m good with that.”

  When she realized what she’d said, she shook her head and dodged around him with a muttered ‘you know what I meant’. He chuckled, forgetting for a moment the pain about to hit him. Gritting his teeth, he let the pull of the mountain guide his feet down the trail.

  When they reached the flat access road, he almost moaned out loud in relief. The throbbing in his hip had jumped up to almost-excruciating. Willow paused to dig something out of her pack. She held out four ibuprofen to him along with a bottle of water. He downed them gratefully, then started limping along. When he realized Chambers had waited to give them a ride back to the parking area, saving them a solid hour of hiking, he could have kissed the big guy. By the look on her face, Willow thought the same thing.

  When they got back to the parking area, Willow had to dictate a short statement to be added to Thompson’s incident report. Flynn sat in the truck with the dogs waiting for her. The lack of motion and strain against his body was such a great relief he started to doze off.

  Willow climbed into the truck just a few minutes after he did and pulled away. She went through a drive-thru for coffee once they got back on the highway, then she headed for home.

  Flynn forced himself to stay awake. Willow had to be as tired as he was, but they couldn’t afford to fall asleep. He asked her about Guinness’s training. That was the best subject he could have brought up, because she was very passionate about the dog and his abilities. Curiously, she hadn’t said anything about Maya. He finally approached her about it.

  “So, do you think Maya would be able to be trained for search and rescue?”

  Willow looked at him briefly, before turning back to the road. Eventually, she shook her head back and forth. “I think she could be trained for anything, but I think I know what she needs to do.”

  “What?” Flynn demanded.

  Willow avoided the question, promising she’d tell him after she’d thought about it a while.

  Flynn reached back and stroked the dog’s head where she was curled up on the seat. Though he didn’t want to admit he wanted to keep her, he did.

  “My boss has been after me to adopt another War Dog,” he told her, surprising himself. He hadn’t planned to tell her about that. “To use at the company.”

  She glanced at him, her face lit by the dash. “And what do you think about that?”

  He couldn’t say anything for a long time, because a lot of emotion was running through him. Mace had been an incredible dog, well worth the astronomical amount the military had spent on his training. Just the vest he wore when working had cost almost thirty grand. But it had been outfitted with armor, a GPS tracking device, an infrared camera. More times than he could count, Mace had been the first ‘man’ on the line, rushing into buildings, over walls, under vehicles. And he’d saved many lives.

  Did he even want another dog? He stroked Maya’s head, realizing that he didn’t really have a choice. The attachment now ran both ways.

  “I wouldn’t mind having another working dog, but I don’t think I want to be on the front lines in the same way. This was interesting.” He waved a hand at the mountain. “But I’m not the man I used to be, at least physically.”

  “What would the dog be doing at work, though? Tracking suspects, locating items? It’s not like you’d be under gunfire every day.”

  “True.”

  Flynn sat back against the seat, mulling over her words, and replaying Duncan’s in his head. His boss hadn’t been out of line by suggesting they use Flynn’s experience for the company, but Flynn had shut down completely at the thought of bringing another dog into his life. Maya had kind of forced her way in though, and his work outlook had begun to change.

  “I think you could train Maya to go to work with you and do those things. You were a Navy SEAL K9 Handler. I would think teaching her how to track down an item or protect a person would be a breeze for you to do.”

  Flynn appreciated her confidence, but… “The dogs are trained for the most part by the time we get them. We maintain their training and tweak it for our individual situations, but the basics are already set.”

  She frowned at him in the dim light. “I think you’re downplaying your abilities.”

  Maybe.

  Flynn glanced back at Maya, wondering what she would be capable of if he spent time with her.

  Chapter Five

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  It was almost nine a.m. by the time they got back to town. Since he wasn’t going in to work, Flynn took Maya with him for the day. Before he left, he leaned in through the driver’s side window and pressed a kiss to her lips. Willow wanted to melt into the seat right there, but she kept her wits. She brushed her hand down his cheek. The arousal faded as she watched him limp up the sidewalk to his apartment. Though he hadn’t said a word, she knew he was in serious pain. That skid down the slope had hurt him.

  Willow went into the office long enough to check her post-ops and sign releases for a few. Sue had arranged everything else, so Willow headed home. As soon as she walked in her door, she crashed. Hard. Guinness nosed her around five p.m. to go outside. Willow ate a banana as she
stood at the counter, staring into space, as she waited for him to finish his business.

  She wondered if Flynn had gotten up yet. Actually, she wondered if Flynn could get up.

  Unpacking the perishables from her trail bag, she restocked it and set it in the closet, ready for the next call. Then she puttered around the house. Did a load of laundry. All the things she normally did after a trip. But worry pestered at her. Flynn had been seriously limping this morning when she’d dropped him off. She wanted to call to check on him.

  Screw it.

  She grabbed her phone to call and realized she’d missed a text.

  Maya misses you.

  Willow grinned. Flynn wouldn’t say it, but apparently Maya could.

  She tapped out, I miss her too.

  Maybe you should come over to see her?

  Grinning, Willow headed to the bathroom to shower, suddenly energized and humming with arousal.

  She arrived at Flynn’s forty minutes later, Guinness in tow. The door opened as soon as she knocked, surprising her. Flynn stood, hand on the doorknob, and waved her in. He’d just taken a shower too and she inhaled as she stepped close enough to press a quick kiss to the edge of his lips. Growling when she tried to leave, he tugged her back, his mouth sinking into hers. Awareness tingled down through her body. The tips of her breasts rubbed against his chest and she moaned, aware of a languid heaviness in her lower abdomen.

  Willow had hoped that he would welcome her this way, but she hadn’t expected how readily her body would respond. Faster than with any other man she’d been with. At the same time, she also became aware that Flynn enjoyed what they were doing as much as she. Unable to help herself, she gave a subtle rub against his erection with her hips.

  Flynn gasped and stilled. “If you had any idea,” he whispered, “how long it’s been for me and what a narrow edge I’m walking, you wouldn’t do that.”

  As soon as he uttered the words, she wanted to bump him over that edge. Just to see what he would do. She had a feeling the experience would be momentous.

  Resting her hands on his sides, she rubbed her thumbs back and forth beneath the edge of his gray t-shirt. Her heart thudded in her chest, shaking her whole body. Through the shirt, she could feel the delineation of his muscled body. Turning her head, she pressed a kiss against his neck, then his jaw and cheek. Before she lost all willpower, she pulled away.

  Willow settled into a chair catty-corner to the couch. Maya came over and buried her head in Willow’s lap as if she had actually missed her today. Rubbing her ruff, Willow allowed her fingers to run over the scar around the dog’s neck. The hair was growing in nicely. Within a couple months the wound wouldn’t even be noticeable.

  Flynn moved behind her to the well-worn brown recliner and she was shocked at how painfully he was moving. “Are you injured?”

  Flynn gave her a grim smile as he lowered himself to the seat of the chair. “No, just banged up from the slide yesterday. Or this morning. Whenever the hell it was. A little muscle sore.”

  Willow frowned at his answer. He’d fallen into a skid but she didn’t think it had been that bad. “I didn’t realize you’d hurt yourself that much.”

  He shook his head and ran his hand through his dark hair. “It aggravated a previous injury.”

  Like when he tried to outrun his ghosts.

  “Is there anything I can do?” She wiggled her fingers. “I’ve got great massage hands.”

  For a minute, he looked intrigued before he shook his head. “Nah, that’s okay. I didn’t bring you over for that. I thought I’d see if you wanted to stay for lunch? Or dinner…” he smiled at her sheepishly. “It’ll have to be takeout, but there’s a pretty good Chinese place that delivers.”

  “Sounds good to me.”

  She watched as he pulled a well-worn takeout menu from beneath the table beside his chair and handed it to her. Willow looked it over and decided quickly, handing it back to Flynn to order. Her doctor’s brain had moved on to other things, namely the injuries he kept alluding to that seemed to still cause him so much pain.

  “If I had known it was going to hurt you this much, I wouldn’t have taken you along.”

  Irritation flashed across his features. “I don’t need to be coddled like a child.”

  She raised a brow at his words. “It’s not coddling. It’s being careful of an old injury that obviously still causes you issues. Climbing that mountain wasn’t easy, and if you had fallen and hurt yourself more, I would have felt like shit. Then we would have had to carry your ass home.”

  Flynn snapped his mouth shut, eyes narrowed as he took in her words. Eventually he nodded. “You’re right. It wouldn’t have done either one of us any good if I had injured myself. But I had to do it.”

  He shrugged his broad shoulders, giving her a little grin. She shook her head at him, knowing in her heart that if they stayed together, she would have her hands full.

  “We’ll talk next time. Chicago Lakes is a difficult trail, but not the most difficult around. You did really well until right there at the end when you tried to do too much.”

  Eyes darkening, he frowned, looking down at his hands. “You’re right. I tried to step up and be part of the team and I bit off too much. I’ll try to leave it to the younger shooters next time.” He winked at her, grinning fully, but the shadows stayed in his eyes.

  Willow knew it had to be hard taking a step back from the action. Flynn had limitations, but he’d been trained as a SEAL to meet those limitations then exceed them, in spite of his pain and everything else that might get in the way of his objective. She’d watched documentaries about SEALs before and it wasn’t an easy life.

  Maya snugged her head into his lap, interrupting his resigned introspection. Willow wondered if he even realized how many times a day she did that for him. His face immediately lightened, and a smiled tipped up his lips beneath the beard.

  “I heard from Ranger Thompson,” she told him. “The Gerhardts are fine. Mike’s ankle had to have surgery and he had some hypothermia and dehydration, but they expect to release him from the hospital in a couple of days. Katie was dehydrated as well, but she’s already been released.”

  Flynn shook his head. “I knew they’d be fine. The hypothermia was probably his worst issue.”

  Willow nodded. “Definitely. He had compromised blood flow to the broken foot. A couple of his toes might be numb here and there, but I think it’s a small price to pay for their lives.”

  There was a knock at the door. Willow stood up automatically, reaching for her cash, but Flynn waved her away. “I’ve got it.”

  She followed him to the door anyway to take the bag of food they’d ordered. Adjusting a few things on the coffee table, she spread the boxes across the surface. Flynn limped back to the chair and she tried not to watch how painfully he moved.

  The Chinese was delicious as he’d said, and conversation slowed as they each enjoyed the food. Flynn shifted back and forth in the recliner, though, as if he couldn’t find a comfortable position. Maya sat at his hand next to the chair arm, licking his hand every chance she got. Maya knew he was in pain.

  Willow tried to eat her own food, but worry made her tense. If she asked what had happened to him, would he tell her? Maybe she had to come from a different direction. She was debating how to open the can of worms when he cracked the lid for her.

  “So, were you serious about that rub?”

  Flynn regarded her steadily as she pondered the question. He knew as well as she did that the next few moments could potentially change the course of their relationship, because they had reached a point where things were becoming physical.

  Willow’s heart thudded in her chest as she thought about her answer. With a quick blink and a single nod, she took their relationship to the next level.

  Willow stood up and closed the lids on the food boxes, trying not to show him how affected she was. “If you want to get comfortable, either on the couch or the floor, I’ll put these in the fridge if
that’s okay?”

  “Sure. I’d appreciate it.”

  She stacked the boxes in the bag and walked the bundle to the refrigerator. She wasn’t surprised at the sparseness of the food inside, but she was surprised that there was no beer or even soda for that matter; only bottle after bottle of water and fruit juice.

  When she came back from the kitchen, Flynn had just appeared from a hallway, wearing a pair of thigh-length running shorts and the same t-shirt from before. He glanced at her before retrieving a pillow from the couch, then moving to an open expanse of space at the end of the couch. With a grimace, he lowered himself first to his knees, then to his belly on the floor.

  It was all Willow could do not to tackle the man from behind. His tight t-shirt gathered and bunched along with his expanding and contracting muscles. And his ass… she shook her head to clear it.

  You need to get a hold of yourself.

  Dragging oxygen into her starving lungs, she knelt on the floor to the right of his hips. Her hands reached out and smoothed up his spine. They glided fine on the cotton of the t-shirt, but she wished they didn’t. Then she’d have an excuse to ask him to take his shirt off.

  At the top of his spine, she started by carefully massaging the muscles of his neck, up to the base of his skull. Her fingers brushed against the short dark hair of his scalp, and she smoothed it down. Squeezing with her thumb and fingers, she worked her right hand down his neck. Bringing her other hand up, she started to pinch the muscles between his neck and shoulders. Then, spreading her fingers, she began to knead her way around his shoulders and across his back.

  Flynn groaned into the pillow beneath his head and Willow knew she must be hitting good spots. She made sure not to press too hard though. Using the thumb of her right hand, she ground it into the muscle aligning his spine. Starting at mid-back, she worked her way down to his hips, then switched to the other side to go up to where she’d started.