Page 84 of Rescue Me (Tempting SEALs 6.10)

“He’s guilty,” Seth went on, his face red with rage. “We all know he’s guilty of a felony and she wants to slap him with a misdemeanor!”

“I will have order in my court!” Harrison slammed the gavel so hard Elena was afraid he was going to break it.

The room suddenly echoed in silence.

“Councilor.” Judge Harrison’s bushy white brows pinched in anger as he glared at Elena. “You will see me in my chambers. Now. And you,” he added with a sharp glance at Seth, who sat in the witness chair in full uniform, “you will join us.”

Face hard and unreadable, Seth shot a covert glance at Elena as he pushed himself o

ut of the witness chair and followed both her and the judge.

“You are both officers of the court,” Harrison admonished without preamble as he closed the door behind them. “As such, it is my expectation that you will work out your differences prior to setting foot in my courtroom. Is that clear?”

Elena nodded. From the corner of her eye she saw Seth, standing at parade rest beside her, do the same.

“He’s your witness,” Harrison went on, a full-fledged scowl darkening his wizened face as his gaze locked on Elena. “It would be my expectation, then, that he would not be hostile. You’ve got two minutes. Work it out or I’m going to find you both in contempt.” In a rustle of flowing black robes, he strode back out the door.

Leaving them alone together for the first time since Elena had left Seth in the hospital surrounded by his family two months ago.

She folded her arms over her midriff, stared at a spot on the floor in front of the toe of her shoe.

She could feel Seth’s gaze burning a hole into the top of her head. Knew she should say something. Couldn’t make herself speak.

He, however, had no such compunctions.

“This is it, then? This is the way you want things between us?”

More than hard-edged anger. Disappointment. Resentment. Pain. None of it, she knew, had anything to do with the case she was trying. She’d been avoiding him. For his sake as much as her own.

Still she couldn’t speak. Except for two words. “I’m sorry.”

“Sorry? Jesus, Elena. You skipped. Dropped off the face of the earth.”

Of course this discussion couldn’t be about the case. It had to be about them. Because whatever was left about them was unfinished.

“So … it was nothing? What we shared? What I thought we’d become to each other? Nothing?”

Confusion joined the anger and disappointment in his tone. And almost broke her heart.

“We both knew nothing could come of it,” she replied.

He was silent for a long moment. Watching her. Struggling with emotions she was surprised were so strong.

“And we knew that why? We knew that how? How exactly did we know that? You tell me. You tell me why I can’t love you. You tell me why you can’t love me. Because of our jobs?” He made a sound of disgust. “Screw that. They’re jobs. They’re not our lives.”

So … there was this problem with her reasoning. A problem that had been plaguing her since she’d left him in that hospital bed. What if she was wrong? What if … what if there was something more? What if … what if she could take the chance and love him?

Tears filled her eyes as she met his, and found his eyes misty too. She swallowed back a sob. Let the tears fall, slow and warm down her cheeks. God, she was a fool. “For a supposedly smart woman … I made a pretty stupid mistake, huh?”

He searched her face, evidently saw what he needed there. Came to her. Drew her carefully against him. Then he crushed her to his chest where she clung and clutched at his uniform and felt the knot that had cramped in her heart for two long months finally ease.

“Yeah, well. No more stupid than me,” he said, tipping her face up to his, “for letting you get by with dodging me for this long.”

He kissed her then. Deeply. So very, very sweetly. “God, I’ve missed you.”

“Me too,” she managed, although her voice broke.

He kissed her again. Again, feasting on her lips like he was claiming a reward for a long, hard battle of wills.

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