Page 26 of Atlanta Heat (Tempting SEALs 6)

The question from his commander had Macey turning and drawing in a hard breath as he fought to push back his anger.

“Landry managed to stay under the radar.” The admiral sighed again. “He was a deep-cover mole. With the death of their leader, Sorrell, that particular cell lost its driving force. Landry wanted blood in retaliation. He messed up when he went after Emerson. It was only a matter of time before I figured out I had a spy in my own camp. Very few people were aware she was my goddaughter, rather than just a friend’s daughter. On my team, only Landry knew.”

And Landry would have known the admiral would figure it out after the terrorists had left the note in her apartment that they had taken his goddaughter and would kill her in retaliation for Sorrell’s death.

“Yeah. Might have all worked out great if Landry hadn’t known about my place,” Macey snapped, glaring back at the admiral as his fists clenched.

Unfortunately, the admiral’s lips twitched as that glimmer of humor returned. “Hit me and she’s going to be mad. You ever seen her mad, March? I have, son, it’s not comfortable.”

“And I nearly lost the chance to see it,” Macey fumed. “Next time you want to play patty-cake with my secrets, sir, remember this. The next time you endanger her life, you’ll deal with me. And doing mad isn’t my way. I do blood.”

“And I do a baseball bat on stubborn male skulls,” Emerson announced as she left the bathroom. “Now, can we wrap this up so I can get some real clothes on and finally get some sleep?”

She was swallowed by his t-shirt. Her legs covered in dark bronze leggings, her hair falling around her face like mussed silk, she looked like a queen to him.

She moved to Macey, gripped his arm and pulled him back. He looked down at her, his heart softening, his soul—damn if he didn’t feel his soul turning to mush at the sight of her pale face and her tired smile.

“Just hold me,” she whispered as his arms surrounded her and the sound of police sirens filtered from the open entrance outside. “Just hold me, Macey.”

He held her, ignoring the amusement in his friends’ gazes and the admiral’s scowl. He held on tight to what was his and thanked God she was safe.

His Emerson was safe and right here, in his arms, where she belonged.

EPILOGUE

THERE WERE OVER THREE hundred people at the family reunion. There were dozens of tents in every shape and size scattered around the large farmhouse. There were bunks in the upper level of the barn and every kind of barbecue grill in existence set up beneath a covered wing off the barn. The floor of the huge shelter had been set up with dozens of picnic tables of varying sizes, and huge serving tables lined the wall.

It was an organizational nightmare, and Emerson was loving every minute of it.

Macey’s parents and grandparents had welcomed her into the family with hugs and bright smiles. Brothers and sisters, cousins and aunts and uncles had all taken their turn at making her blush and hugging her fiercely.

There were so many people they could have made their own town, and their personalities, temperaments and smiles all made her feel welcome, if a little overwhelmed.

Macey was chafing at the restrictions, though. His grandparents had placed her in a small bedroom between their room and his parents’, and gave Macey strict instructions to steer clear of it after she went to bed.

The pressure was wearing on him, she thought in amusement on the third day. He’d already been in two mass brawls with too many of his cousins, and sported his bruises with pride. The lot of them were rough, ready to fight, and always good-natured after trying to break each other’s faces with powerful fists.

She’d tended his split lip, bruised ribs, and the wound that he had broken loose on his side. She watched as one of his cousins, a nurse, repaired the stitches that closed the wound while he glared in irritation over the inconvenience.

He was unlike any man she had ever known, even other SEALs. She knew why he had excelled in the SEALs now. A mission would be child’s play compared to butting heads with the other males in his family.

And she belonged to him. She might even belong with this strange, crazy family because rather than feeling like she was drowning amid them, their easy acceptance and laughing friendliness drew her in instead.

“We gotta get out of here.”

Emerson smiled as Macey’s arms surrounded her from behind and his lips moved to her neck in hungry kisses.

“Stop, Macey could catch us!” She laughed as he growled.

“Macey has already caught you.” He turned her in his arms, staring down at her, his dark eyes filled with laughter and arousal. Heavy arousal. He was a man skirting the edge of his control.

“Do you know what these shorts are doing to me?” His hands skimmed over the snug, low rise shorts, smoothing over her butt and upper thighs. “They’re making me crazy.”

But his eyes were on another portion of her anatomy. They were gazing in rapt attention at the smooth mounds of her upper breasts as they peeked from the top of her light blue cotton shirt.

Her nipples hardened instantly, pressing against the thin material of her bra and showing through the shirt. He groaned low in his chest. “We’re getting out of here.” He grabbed her wrist and pulled her away from the shadow of the house toward the four-wheelers parked at the edge of the yard. Grandmother March did not allow four-wheelers in her yard.

“Where are we going?” She laughed as he gripped her waist and set her on the back passenger rack attached to it before swinging himself onto the front.

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