Honor Among SEALs

by Dixie Lee Brown

  In silence, he looked toward the window, and his jaw ticked as though she’d overstepped her bounds and pissed him off. Not for the first time.

  Finally, he scraped his hand down his whiskered face and gestured toward her plate, one untouched slice of pizza remaining. “Are you finished?”

  When she nodded, he claimed the tray, but instead of leaving as she’d expected, he set it on the nightstand and half-pushed, half-coaxed Chip onto the floor. He stretched out beside her and rolled to his side, facing her. Gently, he threaded his fingers in her hair, and the kiss he gave her was warm and intoxicating. “Just think about it, okay?”

  The sadness and longing in his voice destroyed what little determination she had left. She looped her arms around his neck. “I have. I can do friends with benefits, as long as we call it off before either of us starts having benefits with anyone else. In other words, we’re exclusive for the term of our friendship.”

  “Agreed.” Surprise flickered in his expression.

  She pulled his lips to hers, and the kiss she gave him was anything but friendly. His groan filled her mouth as his tongue invaded and tangled with hers.

  MacGyver pulled back and smoothed his fingers across her jaw. “The last thing I want to do is hurt you. Are you sure this is what you want?” For a moment, doubt clouded his face.

  Afraid her voice would give away her inner turmoil, she smiled and nodded, and his lips closed over hers again. This would end, and it would no doubt hurt like hell, but the happiness he offered until then was a prize she was finding too precious to turn down. When the time came, hopefully her memories would see her through until she could put her heart back together again.

  Kellie tugged on the back of his shirt, and he jerked it over his head. She held her arms up, and he did the same with her top. Rolling her onto her back, he knelt over her, while undoing the button of her jeans, and yanked them off, inside out. His gaze roved her body while she lay open for him with nothing on but a white lace bra and barely-there bikini underwear. Lust played over his face as his hands brushed the insides of her thighs, sending a shiver to her core.

  “You’re beautiful.” He breathed the words, then trailed kisses where his hands had touched seconds ago until she was vibrating with need.

  Kellie fisted her hands in the bedspread and clenched her teeth in an effort to remain still and quiet. She wanted to cry out for more, but there were two men and Pop just down the hall beyond the bedroom door.

  MacGyver stopped just short of where she needed him to be and raised his eyes to meet hers with such intensity she couldn’t look away. With a half-assed smile, he teased the edge of her panties where they met her legs, and she lost her ability to reason.

  “MacGyver…”

  He shushed her with one finger to his lips and a teasing laugh. Shoving the lace fabric aside, he parted her slick folds and inserted two fingers as deep as they would go. It wasn’t enough, and she arched into him with a pathetic whimper. He pulled out and thrust in again, his thumb working her engorged nub with each pass. Barely aware of anything but the rhythm he’d set, the first touch of his lips to her sensitive bud nearly rocketed her from the bed. When he sucked, using his teeth to scrape her, she flew apart in a fiery explosion, his name on her lips.

  He left her, and a second later he was beside her naked, a condom already covering his rigid shaft. With one tug, he removed her panties and lifted her so she straddled him. Slowly, she eased onto him, one inch at a time. He reached behind her and unhooked her bra, freeing her breasts.

  With a groan, he grasped her and rolled until she was pinned beneath him and he was in control. Lowering his head to her breasts, he licked the pebbled tip before taking as much as he could into his mouth. Kellie ground her hips against him, but he apparently refused to be hurried, giving the same attention to her other breast.

  He kissed her lips tenderly and traced her mouth with his finger as he reveled in the green of her eyes. “God, Kellie. You feel so damn good. I could stay here forever.”

  She wrapped her legs around his hips, pulling him deeper. “Are you sure about that?”

  She’d ignore the forever part. He’d already made his intentions clear. Besides, his way was better for both of them.

  He flexed his hips and drove deeper. “You’re going to be the death of me, Champ.” Pulling almost all the way out, he plunged again and again, long delicious strokes that brought his pelvis in contact with her in just the right spot.

  “That’s it, baby. You’re going to come for me again. Let yourself go.” He pinned her hands on the bed beside her head, holding her down as he lifted his weight off of her upper body. The strain in his jaw muscles said he was holding himself back, waiting for her.

  “I can’t.”

  He thrust harder, faster, pumping into her. “Yes, you can, and you will. Look at me. Don’t think of anything else—just me…inside you…filling you. Just me, baby. No one else…ever.”

  MacGyver crushed his lips to hers, taking her mouth with the same demanding control, until the pressure coiling inside of her splintered her brittle floodgates and she came, screaming his name.

  He muffled her outburst with his mouth and continued to pump into her until, a few seconds later, he pushed deep and his own climax hit with a feral growl. He dropped down, collecting her in his powerful arms, and held her against him. For unending minutes, their breaths mixed as they both came down from the heights they’d reached.

  Finally, MacGyver stirred, leaving her briefly to dispose of the condom. When he returned, he switched off the lamp and laid beside her, pulling her head onto his shoulder without a word. Kellie, fighting raw emotions, struggled to put her own mask back in place before he saw too much.

  * * * *

  She jerked awake. Rain was pelting the window, and the wind gusted against the house. Thunder rumbled in the distance, but that hadn’t been what woke her. She lay on her back with MacGyver’s leg thrown over hers and his arm draped across her mid-section. His soft wheeze was evidence of his deep sleep.

  The sound that woke her came again. Chip’s growl. Low but serious. He growled again, and Kellie lifted her head to glance around the room.

  MacGyver’s arm tightened around her stomach. “Shh. As quietly as you can, put some clothes on. I think I heard something.” His obvious tension, combined with the warning in his tone, made the hair on her arms stand on end.

  Barely breathing, she slid off the side of the bed and felt around for her clothes, dressing as she found them. MacGyver seemed to know right where his were. She finally managed to locate her shirt and shove her arms in the sleeves as he pulled on his boots.

  Kellie couldn’t hear anything, and she was about to scold Chip for the false alarm when he started barking as though he’d narrowed in on the source of his disquiet. From the little she could see in the darkened room, it appeared Chip was staring at the window.

  MacGyver crouched beside the bed, motioning for her to stay down. As a bolt of lightning illumined their surroundings for a split second, a gun appeared in his hand, though Kellie hadn’t seen where it came from. She’d shoved hers under the pillow when she laid down, and she retrieved it before following MacGyver to hunker beside the bed.

  Lightning, followed by a crack of thunder, propelled Chip off the bed to the window, where his paws thumped against the glass. Someone pounded on the door before throwing it open and ducking inside. Travis…with Jeremy right behind him.

  “Whatcha got, MacGyver?” Travis’s words were terse.

  “Right now, just a pissed off dog.” MacGyver crept toward the window, bent low.

  The next bolt of lightning lit up the area outside for the count of two, and Kellie’s heart rate soared. Clear as day, a man dressed in dark clothing, rain dripping from his fedora, stared back at them from ten feet away. Kellie froze as chaos broke out in the room.

  “There’s s
omeone out there.” MacGyver rose and darted for the door. Growling and snarling, Chip almost tripped him. As he and Travis disappeared, so did fedora-man, once again covered by the darkness. Suddenly, the lights of a vehicle flicked on, and Kellie could see fedora-man loping toward the road, where a dark-colored pickup waited. Jumping into the passenger seat, he closed the door as the driver stepped on the gas. The truck pitched and bucked to get traction in the mud, finally straightening out as Travis and MacGyver gave chase.

  “Kellie, get away from the window.” Jeremy took her elbow and walked her out of the bedroom.

  “What the hell’s going on?” Pop, his hair tousled and concern in his voice, came from his bedroom.

  The SUV fired up and then she couldn’t hear it anymore. Was MacGyver trying to chase them down? Her stomach clenched with dread.

  “There was someone outside. Maybe MacGyver and Travis can find out who it was.” Jeremy turned back from peering out of a window.

  No one needed to tell her who the figure outside her window had been. She’d recognized him. She’d studied the man for the past year. The only question remaining was how Tony Palazzi had known where she was.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “I think we lost ’em. He could have pulled over anywhere out there and we wouldn’t see him. Turn the lights off.” Travis rolled his window down and peered through the gloomy, rain-drenched trees that hugged the road.

  MacGyver hit the headlight switch and darkness enveloped them. It would be a mistake for the driver of the pickup they were following to pull very far off the graveled roadbed. He’d be up to his hubcaps in mud before he got five feet. Shit! They must have missed a turn.

  He brought the SUV to a halt and killed the engine. Sound didn’t travel far in a forest, especially on a night like this, but if they were close enough, they might pick up the rumble of an engine or the snap of a branch—something.

  Nothing. Just the rain, wind and thunder. They weren’t going to find anyone tonight. Maybe in the morning, if the tracks hadn’t been washed away, he could at least satisfy himself that whoever had been spying on them was long gone.

  Something Kellie had said bothered him, though. There are other cabins close by, and this time of year, some may be vacant. They couldn’t search them all nor verify that the current resident was the one who was supposed to be there. Maybe it was time to get the hell out of here. Find another place to hole up where there wouldn’t be as many opportunities for the enemy to hide or the possibility of so much collateral damage.

  “We’re fucking blind without night vision equipment. They could be parked right next to the road and we wouldn’t see them in this damn storm.” Travis closed his window. “We can go on down the hill—see if we can spot their vehicle. What do you think?”

  “Let’s go back and make sure everything’s okay at the cabin. Tomorrow we can look for tracks.” MacGyver started the motor. “We’ll find a wide spot and turn around.”

  There was a pull-out around the next corner. Just beyond it, a large tree had fallen, blocking the road. “What the hell?” MacGyver stepped on the brakes, flipped on the lights and surveyed the damage.

  “With all the rain and the high winds, I’m surprised more of them haven’t come down. Charlie probably has a chain saw. Maybe he needs some wood for the fireplace.” Travis snickered as he glanced toward MacGyver.

  As he swung a U-turn, MacGyver caught a flash in his peripheral vision. A millisecond later, Travis’s window shattered.

  He jerked and grabbed his arm. “Shit! Step on it!”

  MacGyver saw several more muzzle flashes near the downed tree as he stomped on the gas and slid the SUV around. At least two bullets hit the right rear panel. “Get down,” he yelled. He straightened the wheel and floored the gas pedal.

  The headlights caught something shiny between the trees to their right, and he let off the gas. The black pickup. The driver ducked out of sight…but not soon enough.

  Another barrage of bullets hit the tailgate. “Sonofabitch! They must be using silencers.” MacGyver spun out, throwing gravel in his wake. It had to be Palazzi. They hadn’t been there long enough to make any other enemies. He glanced at Travis. Blood seeped between his fingers as he applied pressure to the wound. “How bad is it?”

  “Just a scratch. Stings like hell, though.” Travis was gritting his teeth, despite his words.

  “I’ll fix you up as soon as we get to the cabin.”

  Travis leaned back. “Did you recognize the driver?”

  “Yep.” Anger seized MacGyver. His friend, Blake Sorenson, was behind the wheel, and that could only mean one thing. The sonofabitch was working for Tony Palazzi.

  * * * *

  MacGyver finished bandaging Travis’s arm, tossed a handful of bloody rags into a plastic bag and carried it out the back door of the cabin, across the small yard, to Charlie’s garbage receptacle. The bullet had grazed Travis’s forearm in a long, shallow swipe. He could use some stitches as soon as they got close to an urgent care clinic, but Travis had been lucky. It could have been so much worse. Like a couple of Tadpoles just starting SEAL training, they’d driven right into the trap Palazzi had set for them, with the help of MacGyver’s good buddy, Blake.

  He slammed his fist into the garbage can’s metal cover, his fury spiking again. Something had definitely been stuck in Blake’s craw—something to do with Kellie—but MacGyver would never have believed his friend would double-cross him, if he hadn’t seen it for himself.

  Daylight was breaking to the east, the sky foretelling another day of storms. Red sky at morning, sailor take warning. His father had sworn by the old adage and proved it true more times than not. Today it didn’t matter. He turned and strode back to the cabin.

  “We need to leave here right now, this morning.” MacGyver started in as soon as he walked through the open door, directing his words to Kellie. When she flinched, it was all he could do not to cover the distance between them and wrap her in his arms.

  Charlie got there first, coming up behind her, his hands squeezing her shoulders as she sat at the kitchen table. “He’s right. That SOB knows where we are, and it sounds like the coward brought plenty of hired guns with him.”

  “How did he find us?” Kellie’s voice was hollow, but anything was better than the silence she’d maintained since MacGyver and Travis returned.

  She’d paled as he ushered Travis into the cabin, his shirt and pants stained with blood. MacGyver was guessing that quiet, in this case, wasn’t a good thing. It was hard to tell what kind of new plan she was hatching.

  He pulled out a chair and sat next to her, rubbing the back of his neck. If only he didn’t have to tell her what he and Travis had learned. “Blake Sorenson was driving the black pickup.”

  Kellie’s gaze jerked toward him, and the blond ponytail she’d scooped her hair into bounced with the abrupt movement. “What?”

  “Great! Just great!” Jeremy pivoted from the window, where he’d been keeping watch. “Dozens of people you could have called for help, and you choose a guy who’s working for Palazzi!”

  Anger flashed across Kellie’s countenance as she pushed to her feet. “Don’t, Jeremy. There’s no way MacGyver could have known. I’m not a huge fan of Blake’s either, but he was a respected naval officer who saved hundreds of lives and sacrificed far more than anyone ever should. He was awarded a Purple Heart, for God’s sake.”

  Clearly, Kellie knew more about Blake than she’d let on. MacGyver stared at her, and he wasn’t the only one in the room apparently surprised by her defense of Blake. Travis, Charlie and Jeremy gawked at her, too.

  Except, she hadn’t really been defending Blake. She’d jumped all over Jeremy and stopped him in mid-rant because he’d been trashing MacGyver’s judgment. That small show of trust pleased him, and he didn’t try too hard to figure out why.

  She turned back to him. “Are you s
ure?”

  “Ninety-nine percent.”

  “I saw him, too,” Travis said.

  Kellie nodded as though that would make this twist any easier to accept. “Where are we going?”

  “I’ve got a couple ideas about that, but first, we need to get off this hill. The main road down is blocked and apparently guarded. Where does the high road go, Charlie?”

  “There are a few more cabins up there. After that, the road turns into a wagon trail. Normally, with four-wheel drive, you could get over the top, down the other side and eventually back to I-90, but with this rain and the mud—no way. It’d be the Donner party all over again.”

  MacGyver glanced toward Travis as his friend scowled. Yeah…looks like we’re on the same page. “We’ll have to hoof it into town then, cross country. Charlie, got any maps around here?”

  “I think there were a couple forest service maps here somewhere.” Charlie mumbled to himself as he crossed to the counter and jerked open drawer after drawer until he latched onto a red and yellow envelope and waved it in the air. “Might be old, but it ought to get us to town.”

  He unfolded the map, and MacGyver helped him spread it on the tabletop. Charlie studied it for a minute and pointed to a spot east of the lake and south of town. “We’re here. It’s maybe a mile west to the water. It’ll be steep and rough terrain the first half mile, but there are homes along here, and a drive that winds around the lake.” He moved his finger toward the city proper. “There’s a golf course to the north. Should be lots of people, phone service, cabs—whatever we need.”

  MacGyver followed the route Charlie had traced. “Palazzi probably has someone watching the cabin, so we’ll have to move fast once we start. Straight west toward the lake. If we can rent or hire a boat to take us to the west shore, we might lose them. If not, we’ll beg or borrow a car and head north. In case we get separated, we need a place to rendezvous. Any ideas?”