A Home for Christmas (7 page)

She looked up into his green eyes and wanted
nothing more than to believe he was right.

After two and a half weeks of seeing Riley every
evening and all day on the weekends, Jenna knew she was hopelessly attached to
him.  Every evening when it was time for him to go, it was getting harder
and harder to say goodbye to him.  And as much as she loved her son, she
was becoming more and more frustrated that she and Riley only had a few stolen
moments alone.  All week at work, she began planning out a special weekend
for them.  She’d contacted the mother of one of Cam’s friends and arranged
to have him stay the night Friday and Saturday.  She wanted plenty of time
alone with Riley.  She’d even finished her houses early and went to the
mall to buy some special lingerie for the occasion.

On Friday, she arranged to get home as soon as
Cam got out of school so that she could be there to get him ready and take him
to his friend Austin’s house before Riley came over.  She picked him up
from school and sent him to get his things together while she started preparing
the dinner she would fix for Riley tonight.  She’d just finished preparing
the vegetables when Cam began frantically calling for her.

“MOM!!!!!  MOM!!!! Hurry!!!”

She scrambled out of the kitchen into the living
room, thinking he was hurt.

“What is it?  Are you OK?”

“Riley’s on TV!”

“What?”

“Look, look!”

She glanced at the screen, seeing a report of a
police stand-off at a local convenience store. 

“How do you know Riley is there?” she asked,
already getting her phone out to text Riley.

“They showed the SWAT team arriving and showed
Riley talking to…see!?  There he is!”

She sank down on the couch beside her son, eyes
glued to the TV.  Riley was indeed there, in full SWAT gear, all black,
Kevlar body armor, though he’d yet to put his helmet on…and he was fully
armed!  It was sobering, seeing him like that.  He’d told her he was
a part-time SWAT team member for his uncle’s police force but she really hadn’t
grasped what that meant until that moment. 

The reporter who was speaking said that he had
just been told by the police to move back a few hundred yards.  He
reported that there was one gunman and four hostages, one of whom was the
cashier and the reported gunman’s ex-girlfriend.

“This is so cool,” Cam said, his face clearly
showing his interest and excitement. 

Jenna didn’t speak.  In truth, she
couldn’t.  Her heart was beating so hard and fast it took all her
concentration just to breathe.  She sat glued to the report, straining for
glimpses of him, hoping that the situation would resolve itself without any
action needed on his part.

“Riley’s walking toward the store!”

“I can see that, Cam,” she said, her voice a bit
shaky.

Cam captured her hand and squeezed.  “He’ll
be OK, Mom,” he said and she wondered if he were saying that not only to
comfort her but to convince himself as well. “Riley knows what he’s doing.”

The camera zoomed in as far as it could, but she
could still see Riley approach the front doors of the store, hands help up
palms out to show the gunman he wasn’t armed.  The gunman stood on the
other side of the door, holding a woman (whom she supposed was his ex) in front
of him, the barrel of the gun pushed against her temple.  Riley stood there
for a few minutes talking to the suspect, who was becoming increasingly
agitated.

“Walk away, Riley,” she murmured, “just…”

She screamed and Cam yelled when the gunman
shifted to aim the gun directly at Riley and fired four shots through the
glass, level with Riley’s head.  Miraculously, Riley didn’t even
flinch.  Spider webs appeared in the glass but the bullets didn’t go
through.

“It’s bullet-proof!” Cam exclaimed.  “See,
Mom?  Riley’s fine!”

Tears were streaming down Jenna’s cheeks. 
She thought she’d just seen Riley killed on live TV!  As she watched,
Riley drew his gun, backing up as the gunman forced his hostage to open the
door.  The camera pulled back a bit to show other members of the SWAT team
moving in behind him.  For a few tense moments, they were in another
stand-off, then suddenly, the gunman released his hostage, held his hands up
and just like that, it was all over. 

“Riley.  Is.  Awesome!!!!” Cam raved.
“That was so cool!!”

“He could have died.  Right there in front
of us on live TV,” she gasped.

“But he didn’t.  Did you see how he didn’t
even flinch?  He must have known the glass was bulletproof,” Cam said,
trying to console her. 

Jenna covered her face with her hands, unable to
control her sobs.  Cam put his arm around her shoulders while she cried.

“Don’t cry, Mom,” he soothed.

“I’m OK,” she whispered, wiping her tears. 
“Go finish getting ready, OK?”

She called the mom of Cam’s friend and explained
to her what had happened and had her come pick Cam up.  Picking up her
phone, she opened a new text and sent one to Riley.

Please come over as soon as you are able. 
Don’t worry about the time, just please, come over.  I need to see you.

To her surprise, he immediately texted back.

I was just about to call you.  I’m going to
be tied up here for a few hours yet.  I’ll be out as soon as I can. 
Are you all right?

She stared at the screen a moment.  Was she
fine?  She didn’t really think so.  She needed to see him. 
Now.  She needed to see for herself that he was all right.

I’m fine.  Come to me when you can,
she typed out.  Was she fine?  Not
really.  But she wasn’t going to convey that via a text and have him
distracted from wrapping up whatever he needed to be able to get to her faster.

Riley pocketed his phone after reading Jenna’s
last text.  No doubt she’d seen what happened on TV.  He rubbed the
back of his neck as he finished filling out his preliminary report.  He
hated that it all unfolded before cameras the way it had.  No telling how
Jenna would react to what she’d seen.  They’d never really talked in
detail about his job and all it entailed. 

“Stanton,” one of the SWAT guys called, “the
reporters want to interview you.”

Riley glanced at his watch.  “Can we get
around it?  I’m needing to get out of here.”

“I’ll pass the word along.”

“Thanks.”

Time seemed to drag but finally they made it back
to the station.  He showered and changed and found himself pulling into
Jenna’s driveway at almost midnight, almost eight hours after the
incident.  He was tired, he had a pounding headache, and all he wanted to
do was see her and get some…he stopped mid-thought when her front door burst
open and Jenna came running out and was in his arms as soon as he cleared the
truck door. 

“I was so scared,” she sobbed into his neck,
clinging tightly to him.

“Oh, hey, baby.  Shhh…It’s OK.  I’m
fine,” he soothed.

She pulled back to place both her hands on his
cheeks so that she could look directly into his eyes.

“He shot at your head,” she whispered.  “I
thought I’d just watched you get killed.”

He stroked her hair and leaned down to place a
kiss to her brow.  “I knew the glass was bullet-proof.  I wasn’t in
danger at that point.”

She shook her head again.  “I thought I’d
lost you.”

His heart soared.  He tightened his hold on
her lifting her off her feet and carrying her into the house.

“Where’s Cam?” he asked, putting her back on her
feet.

“Staying the night with a friend,” she said, caressing
his face, touching him as if she were afraid he would disappear at any moment.

He smiled.  “Really?  We’re
alone?  All night?”

“All weekend,” she amended.  “I had this set
up before your TV debut…but, after today,” she took a deep breath. “I was so
afraid that you would die, not knowing how I really feel about you.”

“Baby,” he began, but she stopped him.

“These last few weeks have been, like a fairy
tale.  You’ve been so wonderful.  To me and to Cam.  And when I
saw him shoot at your head…”  She lost it again.

He gathered her into his arms again and carried
her to the couch, cradling her in his lap.  He held her for a few minutes
but when she kept crying, he cupped her face in his hands to get her to look at
him.

“Look at me, Jenna.  What you saw today,
that’s what I do.  I help my uncle on days like today, if I’m in
town.  I did things a lot more dangerous than that in the SEALs. 
You’ve got to trust me, that I know what I’m doing and that I’m good at it.”

“I do…I just don’t want to see you do it.”

He smiled and Jenna felt her heart melt.  “I
think I can arrange that.  Today was special.  First time ever.”

She took a deep breath.  “OK…and, all the
scary danger aside?” she said, turning in his arms to straddle him.  “You
looked really, really hot.”

“Yeah?”

She nodded.  “You are gorgeous, Riley.”

Riley smiled, then turned his attention to his
hands, exploring her body.  For the first time, he really paid attention
to what she was wearing, a burgundy velvet robe that was really soft under his
hands.  Leaning up, he captured her lips while his hands worked the tie of
her robe loose.  Parting the robe, his hands reached underneath it to
encounter…lace.

He pulled away to look down at her to see what he
was touching.  She wore a black lace negligee that accented her full
breasts, pushing them up and together so that he was looking down at some
pretty impressive cleavage.  He pushed the robe from her shoulders and
leaned back farther to take in what she was wearing.

“Damn,” he groaned, his hands smoothing over her
breasts.  “You are beautiful.”

“I want you, Riley,” she whispered against her
lips.

Riley tightened his hold on her and stood with
her in his arms, carrying her into her bedroom.  He placed her lovingly
down on the bed and then stood a moment, just looking down at her.  She
lay still, her eyes locked on him, her chest rising and falling with her every
breath, drawing his gaze.  For a moment, Riley was still, drinking her in,
then he pressed a knee to the bed and leaned down over her to kiss her but
before she could fully enjoy the kiss, he pulled away and trailed his lips down
her neck to the swell of her breasts.  She reached for his belt buckle,
tugging on it.

“Do I need protection?” he asked, watching her
pull his belt free.

“I’m on the pill and I haven’t been with anyone
since Wade.”

“It’s been three years for me,” he admitted.

Her eyes widened.  “Really?”

“Been a little busy.”

“Take your jeans off, Riley,” she said after
she’d unbuttoned and unzipped them.

“Yes, ma’am.”

He stood and removed his boots, socks and
jeans.  She got to her knees on the bed and removed his shirt herself,
leaving him in just his underwear.  She raked her nails over his chest,
then leaned forward and placed kisses on his scars.  He caught her hair in
his hand and twisted it around his wrist, pulling her head back so that he
could look down into her upturned face.

“You sure about this?”

“Never more sure in my life.  Make love to
me, Riley.”

“My pleasure,” he said, pulling her negligee off\']
and tossing it away.  He dropped his head, capturing her right breast in
the warm confines of his mouth, while tugging her miniscule black lace thong
off and dipping a finger to slowly stroke her, making her writhe against him.

“Riley,” she cried, sinking her hands into his
hair, cradling him to her.  He started out gentle, but when she began
really moving against his hand, his control snapped.  Standing, he quickly
removed his underwear then came back to her, fully covering her.

He smoothed her hair back and kissed her. 
Jenna reached up and cupped his face in her hands, gazing into his eyes when he
pulled back.  Gazes locked together, he entered her in one powerful
thrust.

“No going back now,” he whispered.

She arched her back, pulling him in even
deeper.  “Absolutely not.”

“You feel so good, baby,” he said, nuzzling her
ear.

“So do you,” she breathed, arching her neck to
give him better access.  She ran her hands around to his shoulders,
digging her nails in when he began moving harder and faster. 

“That’s it, baby, let go,” he urged.

“Harder, Riley,” she breathed.

“Yeah?  You want more?”

“Mm, please.”

“Hold on tight,” he growled.

Jenna gasped when he began moving harder and
faster.  When her release came, she cried out his name, sinking her nails
into his muscular butt, which in turn sent him spiraling into his release.

“You are amazing,” he said to her, kissing the
tip of her nose. 

“So are you…please be careful in your work,” she
said, running her palms over his cheeks.  “You are…everything to me and to
Cam.  We don’t want to lose you.”