Stone Hard SEALs Read online

  “Keep this,” he said, handing it to her. “Just in case.”

  She snorted. “It’s hardly reliable.”

  Did he need to grin like that? “The point of having a weapon,” he said, “is to discourage people from using theirs on you. Keep it. And use it if you need to.”

  She glanced at the body lying in the dirt. She didn’t think she could ever kill someone, but she kept the rifle. He was probably right. If she had it, she would be safer than if she did not. She slung the rifle over her shoulder, as he had his, and followed him back to the beach.

  They emerged in the clearing he’d been scouting. It was a good thing he’d thought to do so. The pirates had set up something of a base camp here. Lily could see the remains of a fire, a pile of suitcases, and a cache of food and water from the Avonturier.

  Stone kept watch as she found a backpack and filled it with canned food, water bottles, antiseptic hand wipes, and a first aid kit. From her own suitcase, she grabbed another pair of shoes, clean underwear, and a fresh shirt, though she didn’t bother to change here—they had to hurry in case the pirates came back. She would have taken more, but the pack was getting heavy.

  “Ready?” Stone asked, his voice slithering toward her on a whisper. She nodded and tossed him a bottle of water. He opened it and drank it down in one go. She did the same. It felt wonderful, so she grabbed another.

  “Not too much,” he cautioned. “Too much might upset your stomach.”

  Seriously? All this and he was worried about an upset stomach?

  His brows came down. “If you throw up, you could become dehydrated.”

  “Oh.” Of course.

  He jerked his head toward the beach. She was beginning to understand his language. That jerk meant: Let’s go.

  She bit back a grin and followed him.

  They moved a little slower, because of her. The added weight of the backpack made her feet sink into the sand, but he didn’t seem to mind. He kept pace with her, scanning the beach and the tree line with constant vigil.

  It must be exhausting, being him.

  But then, it was exhausting being her. At least, at the moment.

  She was glad she hadn’t had that second bottle of water when her belly churned. “Can…can we stop for a minute?” she panted.

  His mottled brow wrinkled and then he nodded crisply. “Not for long.” He checked the sky. Evening was coming. They’d walked all day.

  Her thighs screamed. She told them to shut up.

  Stone found a fallen log and gestured for her to sit. He, however, stood, facing the woods and glaring into the foliage. Did he never relax? She sighed and fished around for the antiseptic wipes, taking the opportunity to scrub her face and hands. To her mortification, the wipe came back black. She frowned at him. “Why didn’t you tell me I was covered in shoe polish?”

  He rocked back on his heels. “’Cause it was cute?”

  She tried to glower, but it was difficult. He thought she was cute.

  “And it’s not shoe polish.”

  “It looks like shoe polish. Here.” She thrust a wipe at him. “You should clean up too.”

  “I’m on a mission. We get dirty.”

  She blew out a breath. “I mean, your face.”

  “It’s better if I leave it on.”

  Seriously? “It’s scary looking.”

  “It’s supposed to be scary looking.”

  “It gets all over me when you kiss me.”

  He froze. His gaze locked on her lips. His tongue peeped out…as though he was thinking about that kiss. Or thinking about kissing her again.

  A thrill shot through her.

  “I, ah, shouldn’t have done that. I’m sorry, ma’am.”

  Annoyance riffled. “Oooh. Don’t call me ma’am. Old ladies are ma’am.”

  “It’s a sign of respect.”

  “No, it’s not. You say it when you want to create distance between us.”

  “There should be distance between us. I’m on a mission.” She didn’t like the way his voice raised, the way it lit with emotion. Or maybe she did.

  “You said that before.”

  “It’s still true. I’m a goddamn SEAL. You’re my mission. Getting you home safe. That’s all that matters.”

  “You’re also a man.”

  He clamped his jaw shut and stared at her. Silence throbbed between them. Then he said, in a hard, cold voice, “I am not a man. I’m a weapon. And I am definitely not the man for you.”

  It could have been her imagination, but she didn’t think it was, that tiny thread of regret in his tone.

  Still, his words hurt. “You kissed me.” An accusation.

  “It was purely an emotional reaction. I thought he’d killed you. I thought he’d fucking raped you and killed you…”

  “So…you kissed me?”

  “It was the adrenaline. Nothing more.”

  She hid her smile, digging in the dirt with her toe. “Do you kiss all the people you save?”

  “What? Hell no—” He stopped short, realizing what he’d just admitted, realizing how much he’d revealed with that enflamed denial.

  She lifted her gaze to his. “So why did you kiss me?” she asked softly, but he heard. He scrubbed his face with a palm. A pity only some of the shoe polish came off.

  He hunkered down and gusted a sigh. “That should be obvious, shouldn’t it?”

  “Should it?” It wasn’t. Not really. She hoped she knew what it meant, but he was so hard to read, she couldn’t be sure unless he said it.

  “You’re a…” He waved a hand at her.

  “Woman.”

  “A woman. Yes. And I’m a…”

  “Man.” This much, she already knew. “So, you kiss all the women you rescue.”

  “Of course not.”

  “Do you kiss any of the women you rescue?”

  He frowned. “I kissed you.”

  “Anyone else?”

  His frown turned into a glower. He stood in a rush. “We should get going.”

  She stretched out her legs and crossed them at the ankles. “Anyone else?”

  “Lily. Come on. We’ve rested long enough.”

  Right. She wasn’t going anywhere until she got her answer. She tipped her head and arched a brow.

  There was no need for him to growl.

  She did not allow herself to be intimidated. She growled right back.

  This seemed to stun him, for some reason. As though he was used to people just snapping to attention and doing his bidding. Silly rabbit.

  “By the way,” she murmured in a casual tone. “I can be very stubborn.” She tweaked a grin at him. “They say it runs in the family.”

  “I could pick you up and carry you.”

  Such an empty threat. “Me and this heavy pack and your pack and… My, my, Stone. How far do you think we’d get?”

  “Goddamn it, Lily—”

  “Any. One. Else?”

  “You are stubborn, aren’t you?”

  “Anyone else?”

  “No! Okay. No. Never. Not even one goddamn time.”

  She studied him, relishing in his confession. Then she stood and collected her things. She patted him on the shoulder. “See? That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

  He muttered something that sounded like, “You have no fucking idea.”

  Whirling to hide her smirk, she sauntered away.

  “Lily?”

  She glanced at him over her shoulder. “Hmm?”

  He jammed his thumb down the beach. “The other way.”

  Oh. Right.

  Shooting him a supercilious look, she wheeled around and resumed the trek to the south.

  Chapter Six

  He shouldn’t have kissed her. He shouldn’t have.

  But damn, he was glad he had.

  If nothing else, he knew how she tasted.

  And she tasted incredible.

  But that was it. That was all it could ever be.

  Hell, he’d nearly lost all contr
ol. Nearly forgotten where they were and laid her down on the ground and fucked her—right there in the scrub.

  She deserved better. A bed at least.

  Dinner. Candlelight. Romance.

  What was he thinking?

  She deserved better than him.

  Lily Wilson was the kind of woman who belonged at a fancy tea party surrounded by high society or celebrities. Her father was one of the most elite politicians in the country. He probably had a goddamn prince picked out for his daughter. Not a guy like Stone who drove a 4x4 and had a crappy little house in a suburb of Seattle that he visited far too infrequently. He only kept it because it was close to Mom.

  Lily Wilson deserved a well-educated, sophisticated husband. A rich husband who could fly her to the South of France for her birthday. Or could buy her a BMW. Diamonds…

  He’d never shopped for diamonds. He wondered how much they cost. Probably a lot—

  But it didn’t fucking matter.

  He wasn’t buying diamonds for her…or anyone.

  He wasn’t that kind of guy.

  And she deserved better.

  Oh sure, she’d been all soft and willing. In fact, she’d met his passion and surpassed it…but he knew. He knew how reaction could hit a person. That was all it had been. Reaction. Relief. That scorching thrill when a deadly threat is vanquished.

  A man wanted to revel in those times, when the blood ran high. To ravage and pillage and take what he wanted.

  Making love in a moment like that would be a natural response as adrenaline pumped through the veins.

  She might think she wanted him, wanted it, but she was wrong. When she was out of this situation, back to her normal life, she wouldn’t even glance at a guy like him.

  He was an idiot for even thinking about it.

  They rounded a corner and the tumult of his thoughts stalled. The unmistakable outline of huts showed through the trees. He held up a fist and hunkered down. She mimicked his actions.

  That was the thing about Lily. She was a quick study. And she was smart. And pretty. And she smelled—

  He cut off the thought with a frown.

  It didn’t matter how she smelled—like sex on a stick—it only mattered that she was smart. And followed orders. And—

  A call wafted from the village. He narrowed his eyes and stared through the dusky shadows at the clearing. Three pirates moved around the huts, collecting weapons. A tall, skinny one was dragging something to a pile on the far side of the village. Stone’s pulse jerked when he realized what it was.

  A body.

  In uniform.

  There were other bodies in the pile too. From what he could see, most were wearing the scraggy clothes of the pirates. While anger roiled that the other teams had also lost at least one man on this mission, he was relieved there weren’t more. It pissed him off to see a pirate pick up the fallen SEAL’s weapon and check it over.

  The idiot jerked back as he pulled the trigger, sending an accidental spray of bullets through the compound. Without thought, Stone put his arm around Lily’s shoulders and pulled her lower. He didn’t want her hit by a stray round because these morons didn’t know how to handle a weapon.

  That the pirate laughed, rankled.

  The urge rose in him to do them all, just lift his weapon and let the bullets fly, but he knew better. For one thing, SEALs had a code—they only used lethal force when a team member or a hostage was in mortal danger. And for another, wasting a band of scavenger pirates wasn’t his mission.

  He tugged Lily back and into the trees. “We need to wait here until dark,” he whispered. “And then sneak past.”

  She nodded, her eyes wide. Trusting.

  He hoped he would prove worthy of that trust.

  As they waited, he watched the tide, as he’d been doing all day. They were close to the southernmost tip of the island. Close to safety. Low tide was the best time to cross. He checked his watch and calculated when it would be safest. That it would be in the middle of the night was a blessing. With any luck, it would be pitch-black again tonight, but it didn’t much matter. They had to get to the extraction point come hell…or high water.

  To do that, they needed to slither past this village and over to the southern promontory and then slip into the water without being seen.

  And Lily couldn’t swim.

  He glanced at her. Her eyes were closed, her face wan.

  She seemed so fragile, he wanted to gather her up into his arms and hold her.

  Damn. He shouldn’t have glanced at her.

  He forced his gaze back to the sea, but it kept drifting to her.

  In the end, he just gave up and watched her. Stared at her. Studied her.

  It pained him, the soul-deep denial that this was all he got. But still, he watched her until the sun set and it was too dark to make out the lines of her face.

  Which was fine.

  By then, he’d memorized them.

  * * *

  It was full-on dark by the time Stone motioned they should move out; the moon was but a wraith, hiding behind the clouds. He still didn’t speak, despite the fact the pirates had all left the village.

  They skulked through the shadows and around the tip of the island. He pointed toward the water and made a motion with his hand. She didn’t know how she knew he was telling her they would wait for the tide to go out, but she did. The other island was little more than a hulking hump on the horizon. It seemed terribly far. Too far to swim, for certain.

  Stone sloughed off his gear and unbuckled his vest. Before she realized what he intended, he strapped it around her.

  “What are you doing?” she hissed.

  “Shh.”

  She frowned at him. “You need this.”

  “If the water gets too deep, I’ll have to take you piggyback and carry you. When that happens, your back will be to the shore. Keep your head down.”

  Horror curled through her.

  Not only did she have to ford a seemingly endless stretch of cold, deep water…there was the possibility of being shot at while doing it.

  “Oh no. No.” He needed to wear the body armor. For one thing, it was heavy enough to make her sink to the bottom like a rock. For another…what would she do if anything happened to him? She couldn’t bear it. Especially not if he died keeping her safe. She fiddled with the fastenings to remove it, but her fingers were numb. He set his big hand over hers and stilled her movements.

  His eyes met hers; they glowed in the night. “You must wear this. I insist.”

  “But—”

  “Ah ah ah.” He silenced her with a finger to her lips. “I’m stubborn too, Lily.”

  She believed him. So she left the armor on…and prayed the decision didn’t kill both of them.

  When he judged the timing to be right, when he determined the pirates were not around, he nodded and they set out. They moved quickly, but only as quickly as she could go wearing the heavily plated vest. Unbelievably, he took her pack and carried it, along with his own, on his back. His weapon, he held in his hand at the ready. They crouched and dashed across the spit of land arching toward the sea.

  There were no trees for cover here, but the sand was firm and it was easy to move.

  Lily was just starting to feel cocky when they reached the shore.

  She should never feel cocky.

  A sudden fear scudded through her as she stared at the distance to the other island. She’d never make it. She never would.

  He looked down at her as she hesitated. “It’s okay,” he said. “I’m here.”

  And as easily as that, her trepidation fled. He was here. Stone was here. He would take care of her. She knew it.

  So she waded with him into the water, refusing to freak out as the licking waves consumed her ankles, then her knees, and then her waist.

  He shot her a reassuring grin. “How’re you doing?”

  “Fine.” Not. But she didn’t want to disappoint him by quailing. The water hit her breasts. They were in the
tropics, but still, it was chilly. She shivered as it reached her neck. They weren’t yet halfway there. “Stone?”

  He stopped and surveyed the situation. The water didn’t even reach his chest. How fair was that? Without a word, he bent down and she clambered onto his back, clinging to his pack. She wished he weren’t wearing it. She wished they could be melded together, body to body.

  “Remember,” he murmured, “head down.” And then he forged onward.

  A cry went up from the shore. Lily glanced back and saw a lone figure waving his arms. Then it bent. Picked something up.

  “Stone?”

  A shot rang out. It went wide.

  Unbelievably, Stone chuckled. He spun around, lifted his weapon, and fired. The shadow fell.

  Lily struggled for breath. Oh God. Oh God. She smacked his shoulder. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

  He snorted. “Taking care of business.”

  “You shouldn’t have turned. You’re not protected.”

  He waggled his rifle. “This is my protection.”

  “Don’t do that again.”

  “I will if I need to.”

  “Don’t. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

  “Oh, and it’s okay if you take a bullet?”

  “I’m wearing body armor.”

  “I don’t give a shit. If I feel the need to shoot at a fucking pirate, I’m going to shoot at a fucking pirate.”

  Why he sounded so grumpy, she had no clue, but she let the topic drop because the shoreline sloped and, with no warning, they were both neck deep in water. “Take this,” he said as he handed her her backpack. She nearly dropped it, but then tightened her hold and looped it over her shoulder. “I’m going to start swimming. Hang on.”

  Hang on?

  Okay.

  She clung to the straps of his backpack and closed her eyes for good measure. Thank God he was big. Thank God he was strong. She couldn’t imagine swimming like this, with a full pack and another person weighing her down. The thought made her breathless. Or perhaps that was the temperature of the water. For now they were in the ocean—in the ocean—and it was very cold.

  His movements were smooth and he swam slowly, as though there was no urgency. She suspected it was for her benefit. She vowed to make him proud. Or as proud as she could.