by Amy Gamet
Logan stepped back for him to enter. “Charlotte isn’t here.”
So that was it. He’d wondered if she would stick around, maybe even contact him, but in the end she’d left Atlanta altogether. “Actually, I came to talk to you.”
Logan led the way into a small kitchen with blue countertops, opened the fridge, and took out two beers. He handed one to Leo. “What do you want, Cowboy?”
“I know it wasn’t cool to go after your sister like I did. For what it’s worth, I tried for a long time to stay away from her for your sake.”
“Did you? I hope exercising that kind of restraint didn’t cause any permanent damage. How long did you stay away, what, a few months?”
Cowboy took a sip of his drink. “Go ahead, man. This is only going to work if we both say what we’ve got to say.” He shrugged. “I deserve it.”
Logan shook his head. “I know she came to you. I’m not stupid. She saw the travel information on my computer and she took it upon herself to book the same cruise.” He eyed Cowboy for a long minute. “I know it was just as much her fault as yours. I just don’t want her to get hurt.”
“We’re all grown-ups, Logan. Everybody gets to make their own decisions.”
“Yeah, and you seem to make bad ones where women are concerned.”
“Ouch.”
“So what now? You pretend you didn’t break her heart and I pretend it didn’t bother me?”
Cowboy laughed against the mouth of his beer. “Trust me. I didn’t break her heart, and I see she didn’t lose any time getting the hell out of Dodge.”
“Why? Did you want to see her again? Didn’t get to do enough damage the first time? I know your cruise got cut short and all.”
“Actually, I did want to see her again. She’s the one who didn’t want to see me. Okay? Not that it’s any of your business, but I called her the day after we got off the boat. She didn’t call me back.”
He’d stood there on the dock at Nassau as all the passengers and police sorted through the chaos, watching her. She’d been standing a ways away with a red blanket wrapped around her shoulders, talking to Logan, and all Cowboy wanted to do was walk over there and pull her into his arms.
But she wouldn’t make eye contact with him, even though she knew he was there, and she stayed close to her brother. The message seemed loud and clear enough. The cruise was over, and so was their relationship.
She’d flown back to Atlanta on the HERO Force chopper with the team. She’d only looked at him once that he saw, offering him a small smile.
I’m sorry.
She didn’t need words to say it, and he certainly didn’t want to hear it anyway.
“Why did you call her?” asked Logan.
“Because I missed her. I wanted to see if she was okay.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I wanted to see if she wanted to have dinner with me one night.”
“Okay.” Charlotte’s voice behind him had him whirling around. She stood in the kitchen doorway and she smiled at him, a big, wide smile totally unlike the one she’d given him in the chopper. She looked different without makeup on. More beautiful, if that was possible.
He opened his arms and she stepped into them, squeezing him tightly. She smelled like candy instead of perfume, and he found he liked that, too. “I thought you left town,” he said.
“I thought you didn’t want to see me anymore.”
“I told you I did.”
“But then you wouldn’t even look at me in the chopper…” He turned to Logan. “Would you excuse us for a minute?”
Logan rolled his eyes but left the room.
Cowboy looked back at Charlotte. “I thought you changed your mind. That you just wanted an escape on the boat, like I was your boy toy.”
She laughed. “Oh, you are my boy toy, all right.” She pulled his head down to hers and kissed him. “And you owe me five more days in bed, thank you very much. Then you can take me to dinner.”
“I might have to split it up between HERO Force trips to South America and Nova Scotia.”
“That’s okay. I’m moving in with Logan next week, so I’m going to be around for a while.”
“Moving in with Logan, huh?” He rubbed his nose against hers. “I hope he has really thick walls,” he whispered.
Logan called from the other room. “You’re not funny, Cowboy.”
Cowboy and Charlotte laughed.
“I am, actually. I’m really funny. Aren’t I funny?”
Charlotte shook her head and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Shut up and kiss me, Leo.”
28
Charlotte lay in the dark, her head resting on Cowboy's chest. She was smiling a smile she thought might never leave her face. She’d been in Atlanta for almost a month, and in Leo’s bed nearly half of those nights.
His hand trailed over the sensitive flesh from her shoulder blade to the small of her back and she sighed. It wasn't just sex. It was the way he touched her. The way that touch made her feel. A hundred men could sleep with her blindfolded, and she would be able to pick out Cowboy’s touch from them all.
It didn't just touch her skin. It touched her soul.
She loved him. It was too soon to say the words, but she knew it was true.
She turned her head, letting his chest hair tickle her lips and kissing his warm, salty skin. She wanted to taste all of him, feel every bit of his body, every smooth muscle and rough callus he had. She lifted herself up to a sitting position, straddling him, and met his eyes in the dimly lit room. The look he was giving her was so serious she couldn’t help but wonder what he was thinking.
She leaned forward and kissed his lips.
She felt him growing hard again and she lifted her hips to settle him inside her. She raised and lowered her body onto his, then arched backward to brace herself on his legs.
“No. Stay with me,” he growled, pulling her back up to a sitting position and staring into her eyes.
There were a hundred emotions in the depths of his stare, and she was drawn to every one. He wrapped his arms tightly around her hips and rocked with her, his eyes never leaving hers.
“I love you,” he said.
Her mouth opened in shock. She couldn’t believe what she’d heard. She touched his face, running her fingers along the stubble as her eyes began to burn with emotion. “I love you, too.”
He threaded his fingers into her hair and pulled her down for his kiss, then flipped her onto her back and followed her down. She was flying high on emotion, and when her orgasm came, it seemed to overtake her body, mind, and soul.
She wound her legs around him, knowing she’d never truly made love to another man before Leo Wilson.
They held hands as their bodies cooled.
“Too soon?” asked Leo. “I know we haven’t been together very long.”
“Not too soon.” She brought his hand to her mouth and kissed his knuckles. “I’ve known I loved you since I was standing on the dock in Nassau.”
“You wouldn’t even look at me.”
“I know. I was crying because I didn’t think I’d get to be with you again and I didn’t want you to see.”
“I knew it when I was loading the lifeboats. You looked at me in the middle of that chaos, and everything just stopped.”
She remembered that moment well. Not knowing if they were going to live or die. Not knowing if he cared for her.
“I have some time off coming up at the end of the month,” he said. “I thought I would take you on a cruise.”
She cringed. “Over my dead body!”
He laughed. “I’m kidding. How about the monster truck rally at the Colosseum?”
“Now you’re speaking my language.” She sighed, a happy, contented sound. “Say it again, Leo.”
“Monster truck rally.”
She hit his arm.
He laughed. “I love you.” He kissed the top of her head. “I love you and I’m never going to let you go.”
Matteo’s going deep. And underc
over.
Matteo goes undercover, pretending to be married to a dignitary's daughter, never expecting the charade to get personal. But it does, just as HERO Force finds the link between the woman and their strongest enemy to-date.
Married to the SEAL
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