Page 99 of Under Fire

Too anxious to pause, she confessed, “I feel like I’ve been shattered into a million pieces, and that’s just after a week with you. My whole life has changed.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

“I—” she started.

“Yeah?”

“I don’t know. My life has been a certain way for so long, and you just show up and break everything.”

“You don’t like change,” he said.

“No.”

“Neither do I. I don’t change.”

“But you have, haven’t you?” Alisa asked.

Warren pushed off the wall and stalked forward, watching her intently. She had already lingered too long.

“Sometimes things need to be broken,” he said. “I paid off Dean, you know. Paid your debt. The Navy issued me a retention bonus, and I dropped it on him. I told you I’d take care of it.”

He did that…for me?She froze at the door. She hadn’t really put it all together. It had been rapid-fire on all sides, and she’d had little time to process.But, still, she had already made up her mind. She found the door handle and tugged on it, cracking it open to the fresh air they both needed.

“Alisa.” Warren’s heavy hand landed on her shoulder, turning her around to face him. God, he was stealthy.

“I can’t let you break me,” she said.

With one flick, he slammed the door shut. “Sometimes, we need to break things—so we can rebuild.”

Squirming underneath his heated gaze, she found herself backing up against the wall in the foyer, playing with the edge of her scrubs nervously. That’s when she realized that he wasn’t going to let her leave—not without a fight. She should have known. She was screwed. It wasn’t like it was easy to run from a Navy SEAL.

I’m not that athletic.

Warren’s hardened eyes locked with hers. “For a minute, you got me thinking that maybe this was all a man needs. Maybe I could have a life outside the endless tours. Maybe I could be someone aside from being…a SEAL.”

He slid his hand down her neck, pressing into her delicate throat. His move was both dominant and possessive, showing just how he felt. He slipped his hand down her arm and picked up her left hand where no ring sat, seeing that she’d taken it off after he’d left her the night prior. He kissed the back of her hand, kissing down to the finger where the engagement ring had once been.

“I broke us,” he said. “And I’m sorry I did.”

“You left me. You made it clear it was over. Are you going to leave again?”

“No.” He dropped his head closer to hers. “Will you ever forgive me?”

The story he’d told her, about how he got his scar, was thrown silently between them. His confession at the hospital wasn’t easy to forget.

“Will you ever forgive yourself?” she countered.

“If you do.”

He hovered his mouth over hers, mere inches apart, and their eyes locked, never leaving each other.

“A wise man once told me that only God can judge you,” she said. “What happened out there is between you and God.” With her words, something in his demeanor shifted, more intent.

His eyelids grew heavier, his breathing intensified. He tightened his hand on her throat, as if sending a clear message. He wasn’t there to play games anymore, like he’d once reminded her. A low growl came from him as he traced the throbbing artery on her neck, as if he could bend over and bite it.

God, she wanted him to.

His mouth still just inches from hers, he grazed his bottom lip with his teeth as he narrowed his eyes. His undivided attention continued pumping adrenaline through her body, reinforced and doubled as he ignored his cell, vibrating on his solid walnut dining room table.

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