Hot SEALs: SEALed For Life (Kindle Worlds Novella) (7 page)

The woman was independent to a fault. She’d only accepted his help when he’d cornered her and given her no choice in the matter. It was a good bet Melina was hurrying off just to avoid him.

Curiosity about her destination had him acting in ways he normally wouldn’t. Or maybe he was bored with her keeping him at arm’s length. Whatever his real motivation, in practice he’d found himself following Melina slowly at a distance.

Two blocks passed with him tailing her unnoticed, and then he’d seen her go into the pet store.

He’d quietly driven back to her building and parked in the guest lot. Soon after, he reacted to his need to know she was okay, so he’d retraced her steps to the pet store.

Seeing her smile and hearing her laugh had been worth the subterfuge… but he still didn’t want to risk her seeing him spying on her. That would for sure piss her off.

But why would she torment herself? A military person living alone could never have a dog. Yet it sounded like she was a frequent visitor. Shipping out overnight would never allow time to make plans for a pet’s care. Without a spouse keeping the home fires burning, owning a pet could never be more than a dream.

Gower moved away when he saw the area attendant unlock the cage room and reenter. Through the open door, he saw the dog more clearly than before. It looked like a Cocker Spaniel—only smaller—much smaller. Maybe it was one of those miniature breeds.

A swift pang of guilt hit him as the man took the dog from Melina’s lap. Dillon wanted a dog badly. But they weren’t settled enough to own a pet either. And Dillon was still pretty young.

He’d also been avoiding getting a pet because he knew he’d be doing most of the work. What would happen when he got a job? He was already worried about lining up a sitter for Dillon.

Gower ducked his head when he heard the door open to the room. He heard the cane making a terrible sound as it accidently hit something when she turned in the doorway to look back at the cages. Keeping his head low, he moved a row over. While unable to see anything over the shelving, he was able to still pick up Melina’s conversation.

Even without seeing her, he could tell she wanted the dog—wanted the dog badly. He could hear the longing in her voice. Melina explained to the attendant that she didn’t see how she could possibly swing it with her current life situation.

He technically agreed because he felt the same way about a pet… but damn it.

Gower crossed his arms, feeling sorry for Melina as she made her final excuses and left.

She’d barely closed the door of her condo when the chime sounded. Sighing, Melina turned back and pulled it open. Seeing who it was, she left the door wide and turned again to make her way to a chair. She badly needed to sit after her not-so-wise, cane-assisted hike to the pet store.

“Come in, Beckett. I know you’re going to anyway.”

Gower grinned as he stepped across the threshold and closed the door. “Boy, we need to work on your greetings.
Hi Gower. Good to see you. Hi Melina. It’s good to see you too
. Come on—try it with me. It’s called being friendly.”

Melina didn’t answer his sarcastic comments until she was seated with her foot propped up.

“Why do you come here every day? Is this one of those cases where I saved your ass, so now I own it for life? It sure feels that way.”

“No. But I like how you’re thinking about my ass. I know I keep thinking similar thoughts about yours,” Gower teased, walking over to sit across from her. “You look tired, Melina. Did you go out for a morning walk?”

Melina snorted. “My damn Sergeant Major isn’t as nosy as you are.”

Gower chuckled at her complaining, mostly because there was no venom in it today. “I’d be willing to bet he’s that nosy with his wife… or girlfriend. That’s a hint about why I’m here by the way. Keep trying to guess. I’m sure you’ll figure it out soon.”

Melina sighed. “I took a long walk this morning and now I’m paying for it. Apparently the cast gave me more support than I knew. I fucked up going out. End of story.”

Shaking his head, Gower rose and went to retrieve a dining chair from her small kitchen table. He brought it back and sat facing her. He patted his lap. “Foot up. I need to rub that ankle so it doesn’t swell on you. As you may recall, I’m an expert at rubbing.”

“And at innuendo,” Melina added. His grin was infectious and she ended up grinning back. “You’re a pain in my ass, Beckett.”

“Never,” Gower declared, reaching down to lift her foot. “I’m not into high country rear entry maneuvers. I’m a straight forward kind of sexual partner. Doggie style only by mutual agreement and I’m extremely careful.”

Melina snorted and then chuckled. “Do you ever listen to what you’re saying? You sound like a male prostitute.”

Gower smiled at the insult as he pulled off her shoe. He left her sock on so her foot wouldn’t get cold. “What I’m saying is that I’m an honest, fairly trustworthy guy who deserves a chance to be your bed partner.”

Melina closed her eyes. “And I suppose you think I should sleep with you because you’re such an expert on rubbing my feet?”

“No,” Gower said softly. “You should sleep with me because you want to sleep with me. There really isn’t any other good reason for that sort of thing. But I am a nice guy. I’m not over-selling myself.”

Melina closed her eyes. Hell. He was a nice guy. She couldn’t argue that fact. He’d been nothing but nice to her. It was just… he was so young. And she was so… what? Jaded? Cynical? D—all the above?

Maybe she was just being a coward. There had only been one man since Chris and it just hadn’t… clicked.

“Okay, Beckett. You win. Come back tonight and we’ll do the deed. Maybe you’ll get it out of your system and I can go back to my peaceful existence without you.”

“Umm… thank you. But tonight won’t work for me.”

Melina tilted her head back as she laughed off his refusal. She was surprised how much it stung her ego… and how disappointed she was.

“Why, Beckett? Change your mind already? Let me clarify—I’m saying
yes
.”

Gower kept his gaze on her foot as he rubbed. He reached up behind her leg and stroked her calf down to her heel. She purred like a contented cat as he gently stretched the muscles. He squirmed in his seat, wanting to make her purr more.

“I… can’t tonight. Sorry. Truly, I am sorry.”

Melina snickered again at his even more polite and sincere second refusal. “And you wonder why I say you confuse me. I cave to your flirty demands to sleep with me, and suddenly you’re a chicken shit. I don’t get the sudden change of heart, Beckett. What kind of mind game are you playing here?”

Gower lifted one shoulder and frowned. “The kind where Dillon has school tomorrow. He needs to have dinner at a decent hour and get to bed early so he does well. And I don’t use sitters very often because he still has a problem with being left alone with them. His mother went out on a date and never came back. I try not to worry him whenever I can help it. That’s one of the reasons I haven’t been indulging my urges.”

“Oh,” Melina said, chastised. She nodded and sighed. “Sorry, Beckett. I was being a…”

“Real dick about it?” Gower suggested.

Melina laughed at the slam. It was the first time she’d hit his pissy button. Well, he deserved to be mad. “I was going to say
bitch
because you’ve got me feeling all girly.”

Gower barked out a laugh. “Fuck. I’m so desperate for a date with you that I’m going to take that lame apology as you flirting back.”

“Whoa—hold on there. I didn’t say anything about
dating
,” Melina declared, wagging a finger.

Gower stopped rubbing. “Well, I’m not sleeping with you if we don’t. What kind of a man do you think I am?”

Melina snorted and gave him a look that had quelled the worst sarcasm in the greenest of her recruits. Gower just grinned at her look and ducked his head. His rebellion thrilled her when it shouldn’t have. He was simply not intimidated. And he’d been the same brash person in the doctor’s office insinuating a relationship between them that didn’t even exist—at least not yet.

It was becoming more and more clear that Gower Beckett didn’t care about rules like she did. Why in the hell was that so attractive to her after the life she’d led?

“I think you’re the kind of man to take advantage of any edge he’s given,” Melina said, narrowing her eyes.

“And you’re a very good judge of character to think that,” Gower admitted. He nodded, sighed, and finally shook his head. “Melina. Melina. If I sleep with you only because of that invitation, we both know I’ll never see you again. You’ll just write me off afterwards as a one-nighter and that will be that. At the risk of losing my man card, one night is not going to be enough for me. I want to date you, Melina. I want to know what you do when you’re not being a hard-ass Marine. Call me crazy.”

“Okay,” Melina declared. “You’re crazy. And that was way too easy a shot to even be any fun.”

“Yes. Ha. Ha,” Gower declared, staring her down as his fingers worked her arch. “I’m absolutely crazy about the most interesting woman I’ve ever met. It’s growing stronger each moment I’m around her. I want to swim in her gaze and feel her body vibrating around my throbbing, aching…”

“You’re laying it on too thick, Beckett,” Melina accused, interrupting him before she started visualizing what he was describing.

“Yet what I’m saying is still one hundred percent true about what I want,” Gower replied.

There was silence as she leaned her head back, closed her eyes, and sighed in relief as the pain finally started to ease. “Okay. Maybe you are an expert on rubbing,” she conceded. “And you’re a good father to put your son first. I respect that. What do you want from me—from our
dating
as you call it?”

“A few lunch dates and middle of the day sex that ends by two-thirty so I can pick up Dillon from school. That will tell us if what we have is worth pursuing further.”

Melina raised one eyelid as she snorted.

“Anything else?” she demanded with a chuckle. Gower remained silent over her question, but his stroking hands never ceased their task. His head bent over her foot was hands down the sexiest sight she’d ever seen. Looking at the man would be very easy to get used to, even if he did make her regret her age.

“Yes. I want to kiss you goodbye today before I leave,” Gower said quietly.

Melina breathed out a sigh. “Okay—I guess a kiss is the least I can do as a thank you for the foot rub. It really did help.”

“Great. Now that we got our dating settled, I guess I should go and let you rest. I’ll bring lunch again tomorrow if that works for you.”

Melina nodded. Would lunch tomorrow mean sex in the afternoon? Her heart picked up an erratic beat just thinking about it. Damn it. He was getting to her.

Gower moved from his chair to leaning over Melina’s. Needing to get lower to kiss her properly, he put a knee beside each of her thighs until he was practically kneeling in her lap. He bent to her mouth and used the force of his kiss to push her head back. He lifted and ran both hands through her hair making her quiver with each stroke.

Pulling his mouth from Melina’s was hard… just as hard as the rest of him.

“You are my angel. And you are the most competent, self-possessed female I know. You also make me feel more like a man more than anyone ever has. I think I could be really good to you. We could be really good to each other. I hope you believe that too before you let me into your bed.”

Melina nodded silently. Her throat was too tight to speak. She felt abandoned when Gower left the chair and headed to the door.

“Gower,” she called out, clearing her throat.

He stopped at the door and turned back to her. “Yes?”

“It was good to see you today,” Melina declared, watching his gaze shift from worried to exultant. His satisfied grin over her statement made butterflies dance in her stomach.

The ache his leaving caused in her lower regions as he closed the door announced just how much trouble she was in.

As Melina reapplied her lip gloss, the reality of what she was doing finally hit her.

She stared at the woman in the mirror, wondering how it was she was once again dressing to please a man. A few days ago she’d sent her logistics team off to the desert to line up support for their SEALs. Now she was waiting for some guy she barely knew to arrive at her door so she could sleep with him. How fair was that?

Well, it wasn’t fair. But that’s how it worked, and she knew it. If any of her guys had stayed behind, they’d be out bar hopping and getting laid. Some would be going home to wives and families… and to dogs that got walked and cuddled and fed while they were away.

Feeling sorry for what she didn’t have wasn’t going to change anything. At the least the guy coming was interested in her sexually.

She tightened her jaw and stared at her reflection, wondering if she could really leave the military behind, even if she physically exited. Would she continue to wonder what her guys were doing? Would she continue to wonder if they were doing okay without her? Were they her pseudo-family?

Melina shook her head as she stepped away. It wasn’t just her attraction to Gower Beckett that was confusing her. And if she didn’t give her Sergeant Major an answer soon, she could kiss her current assignment good-bye for sure. They wanted to make Jack a Gunny and he deserved the promotion. But this was her life they were pressuring her to change.

Being a Marine was all she knew about herself for certain. It wasn’t like she’d stored up a second career to move on to.

The doorbell rang, bringing an end to her internal debate. Gower Beckett was at her door. Gower with his wide shoulders, his wickedly arrogant grin, and penchant for sexual flirting. He might not clear up any thinking for her, but maybe he would offer a distraction.

She walked slowly to the door, sans cane today. Her foot was tender, but Gower’s foot rubs had truly helped. And the stitches had sealed the wound. She wasn’t a hundred percent, but she was as good as she could be.

Melina opened the door and her heart fluttered at the man standing there. His smile widened as he took in her lip gloss, mascara, and earrings.