Page 38 of Guarded By the SEAL
The two of them spent the day playing board games and snacking, and Teslyn’s face hurt from the effort it took to feign a good mood for the girl. But she didn’t want Ivy to worry more than she already was, and it was good to see her kid sister blossom under the light of Teslyn’s attention.
Together, they’d made a light dinner, Teslyn’s concern for Wyatt turning to full-blown worry by the time she tucked Ivy into bed. What if he didn’t come back? What if he’d been so racked by guilt that he’d hurt himself?
What if he blames me for pulling him away from his mission?
Needing to distract herself, she turned on the television, only to findDatelinedoing an hour-long special on Ivy, the missing girl from Mississippi, and her older sister Teslyn, who was wanted for kidnapping the girl and suspected of setting fire to the family trailer–with a body inside. Had Teslyn McGregor killed her own mother?
Teslyn hung her head, thinking about all the people who would see that episode. Her friends, her coworkers, her bosses at her new job. Her life as she knew it was ruined. Even if Wyatt and HERO Force managed to find out who Ivy’s father was and show he was involved in Marilyn’s murder, Teslyn’s name would forever be associated with Ivy’s disappearance.
And if you’re caught, Wyatt will experience the same fate.
He was risking so much by helping her.
Even still, she couldn’t bring herself to be sorry. If Wyatt had gone to Colorado, there was a good chance he would have been the one who died. And while she had no doubt he’d find that preferable to this, she couldn’t bear the thought of a world without him in it.
The sound of the front door closing had her spinning around. She grabbed a towel and dried her hands. Wyatt appeared in the doorway. He looked like hell, as if the news had caused a physical change in him, his features heavy and stern. She didn’t know what to say, so she didn’t say anything. She just crossed the room and put her arms around him.
He didn’t respond, but she didn’t let go. She just rested her head against his chest and held on, willing the caring she felt to seep into his bones, willing to wait as long as it took for the ice he’d surrounded himself with to defrost.
His arms came around her, his shoulders shaking, and she held him as he cried, the room growing darker as time passed unnoticed, the tremors finally leaving his body depleted and still. There was a desperate need about him, a deep ache so tangible Teslyn imagined it felt like a black hole in space, reaching out to take all light and goodness into itself in an attempt to fill it back up.
She would do that for him if she could.
Her hands gently stroked his skin and she heard his sharp intake of breath, the current between them changing immediately. She trailed her fingernails lightly up his arm, his other hand grabbing her wrist. “Don’t do this unless you’re sure, Tess. Not tonight. Please.”
She hesitated. Would she be able to love him when he needed it most, let him lose himself in passion and comfort him with her body? She wanted that, wanted to be there for him in any way she could, wanted to give him an outlet for his pain and fill him back up with the littlest bit of goodness. She nodded. “I’m sure.”
His head bent and he took her mouth in a fiery kiss, her opening beneath him and returning his fervor. His hand slipped under the back of her shirt, skating up her back and taking the fabric with it before he lifted the whole thing over her head, her arms coming up to help him.
It was a test and she knew it, his way of checking if she was for real, or if she’d freeze up again when the cards were on the table. She took a half-step back, his face hardening with sharp disappointment. Her eyes never left his as she took the hem of his shirt and lifted it up over his torso and over his head.
His mouth was back on hers in an instant, those strong arms hauling her against his body. He bent his legs, grabbing her behind each knee as he’d done last time, and lifting her spread legs around him.
They moaned in sync at the contact.
He led her up the stairs, and carried her to his bedroom.
She was dizzy with physical need, her body melting in his arms. She bounced on the mattress and laid back on the bed, Wyatt lighting a candle before crawling up her body, stopping when his face grazed the lace of her bra. He breathed on her nipple through the cup, then suckled her through the fabric. She cried out, her hips bucking beneath him as she laced her hands through his hair.
He pulled the cup down, her wet nipple cooling in the air before he took her with his mouth again, suckling her deep.
Had she ever known it could feel so good to have a man at her breast, the motions of his lips and tongue pulling her toward climax? Many a man had attempted the task, but the sensation had been nothing like this. He pulled down the lace of her other cup and moved to that breast, his hand going back to the first and continuing that magical rhythm with the pulsing squeeze of his palm and fingers.
She was panting, her head thrown back against the pillows in anguished pleasure as his knee moved up between her legs, putting pressure on the swollen, sensitized bud. This was going too fast and not as she’d planned, him bringing her to dizzying heights while he was merely an observer. With more willpower than she knew she possessed, she urged him onto his back. “I want to ride you while I come.”
He cursed under his breath at that, reaching for the nightstand drawer and extracting a condom.
Her eyes homed in on the small foil packet, memories and shame gleaming in her mind as if from a distance. She squeezed her eyes closed.
This is Wyatt. There’s nothing shameful about making love to him.
“You okay?” he asked.
She would not give up, would not let her past steal this night from her. “Just imagining what I’m going to do to you now,” she said quietly. Her eyes opened, and she carefully unzipped his fly before working his jeans down over his hips and thighs. He kicked them off the rest of the way. His cock tented his black briefs, and her mouth watered in anticipation. She lowered her head and nuzzled him through the fabric.
It was Wyatt’s turn to pant.
She settled between his legs and ran her nails up the inside of his thigh, then cupped his balls and rolled them around with her fingers.
