Code Name: Kayla's Fire (28 page)

Kayla slept longer than he thought she would. When he heard her
footfall on the stairs, he took a deep breath. Dinner, fire crackling, candles
on the table, his guts tied in knots. Check. She stopped on the last step, and
panned a gaze across the room. He’d filled it full of wild flowers, and mixed
them with vegetation. SEALs were trained to hide in veggie brush to conceal
themselves. It just meant being inventive to turn veiling into revealing. He’d
made dinner and dimmed the lights. Crap, he’d seen enough women set a scene for
him, he’d just never done it himself before. He held his breath.

Kayla’s lips curved into a warm, little grin. “What’s this?”

He strode toward her, and held out his hand. “A birthday dinner for
two?” He led her to the table. She darted a glance at him as he pulled the
chair for her. In his mind, they stood at the halfway point of a long journey.
The last part would be hard for both of them, but it had to be done, now,
before her demons jumped into the driver’s seat, and began mowing down the
tender new shoots he’d sewn. They’d controlled her for too long, and they’d try
to tear out the roots of truth he wanted Kayla to nurture. She wouldn’t be
alone in any battle from this day forward. She could stand beside him or take
cover behind him, but he was taking command of the sword she’d carried all her
life.

After dinner, it was time. He offered a warm smile, and patted the
couch beside him. The wildness in her sensed something was off, and she looked
nervous, and those nerves grew legs as she said, “I think I’m going to head to
bed.”

She wasn’t going to evade this. “Stop,” he commanded. Her step
faltered, and halfway shocked him. Maybe he was getting better at this. Relaxing
his body and hopefully the air around him, he sat back down on the sofa. Her
small frame tensed. The time had come and she knew it.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Kayla kept her back to him, but she was listening. “You told me once
we barely know each other. I want us to sit here in this room, and keep talking
until every minute of our pasts are on the table. We’re going to laugh,
question and cry, but we’re going to do it together.”

Kayla remained still.

“What are you scared of? That I’ll learn something I already know?
I’ve held you in your worst moments. I’ve seen you fight to keep all those
demons hiding inside you at bay. Nina’s right. Let them out. Give them to me,
and I’ll crush every one of them until there’s a foot of dust on this floor.”

His heart thundered as she slowly turned to face him. He’d never seen
an expression on her face like he did now. A mix of fear and elation, doubt
mixed with a slice of wonder. Keeping his anticipation in check, he took
shallow breaths. “My first mission. Too full of myself. I lost my focus and
learned a hard lesson. That’s when I got this,” he said, pointing to the scar
that ran from his cheek to a jagged end near his jaw. His heart thudded in his
chest when she took a step toward him. “I was on point and too green to be
there, but I’d convinced Red I could.” Kayla kept her gaze glued to his as she
eased herself down on the couch.

“Wading through murky water up to our necks, the jungle hot and humid
after seven days of nonstop rain, we were making our way to an infiltration
point. We’d been deployed for a counter-drug operation in Colombia and ran
across the local militia. I didn’t see them waiting dead ahead of us. I almost
got our entire team annihilated.”

“During the close quarters fight, a guy with a wicked saw-edged blade
sliced me open. Red saved my ass that day.” Kayla stared at him as if stunned,
her mouth slightly open, her eyes wider. “Every deployment brought a harsh
education. My biggest lesson that day was the training we had was tough, but it
wasn’t near as deadly or humbling as a guy trying to cleave out my tonsils from
the outside.”

He sat back, trying to appear relaxed, but he was the farthest thing
from it. It was her turn. He didn’t care if it took two minutes or two weeks
for them to sit and share their lives with each other. It was time for Kayla to
release her shadows. It was time for them to be free. Watching her, he saw her
hands twist together tightly.

“I…” she began, but stopped, and dropped her gaze toward the planked
floor. “What’s this going to prove, Thane?”

“It has nothing to do with proving anything. I want to hold my breath
and dive to the deepest part of you, and whatever happens, from this day
forward it’s me you’ll trust. I’ve never shared my fears with any woman, but I
know they’re safe with you. Together we’ll swim to the surface free of our
chains.”

“You can’t possibly want to hear those things.”

“I do—from the beginning, Kayla. From the first time your uncle
touched you in a way he shouldn’t have. What you felt. How afraid you were. How
you survived.”

“You didn’t want to hear those things before you left on the mission.
Why now? You know too much already, knowing more—” Her brow wrinkled tight.

He’d been right. Today had only been a reprieve, a venting. She still
doubted him. “Our son needs a mother who is whole.” With a slow stretch, he
knelt before her. “He deserves your love. He needs it, just like I need you,
but you can’t give that to either of us. You haven’t conquered a damn thing.
You were just strong enough to bury it all inside. Kayla your soul is full.
It’s why you have the PT episodes.” A single tear raced down her cheek, and
then another. “Sweetheart, stop fighting. Surrender, forgive yourself, and set them
free. I’ll be right beside you, all the way.” He didn’t move a muscle when her
delicate hand reached out, and grasped his.

“You asked me once why I came to the U.S.,” she said quietly.

He nodded for her to carry on.

“I—came to Coronado because Daniel was released from prison. Greg was
worried for my welfare. Daniel blames me for sending him over the edge.”

He pulled her hands to his lips and kissed each finger. “You did the
right thing.”

Since he’d found out the forces had taken Daniel back only days after his
release, he’d been keeping tabs. One day Kayla was going to go on a vacation
with the girls or a weekend spa that he’d give her for Christmas, and he would
be completing one more mission. Daniel’s sentence wasn’t over yet. He was only
getting a reprieve, but one day he’d face the man who’d tried to take Kayla
from him before he ever knew she existed. Kayla would have justice.

“He’s a lot like you.”

“What?” His thoughts came tearing back to the present.

“You have the same type of aura. Dangerous. Strong. A masculinity raw
with power. Unstoppable. Willful.”

The idea that he was like her ex didn’t appeal to him one bit. Time to
set that straight. “With one look from you, I feel ten times the man I am. When
you make love to me, I’m stripped bare with your beauty and need. You’re the
one who’s dangerous.” She needed to know the power she had over him. She had
control of him, not the other way around. He stretched his hand to caress her
face. A hunch he’d always had, and one Lapierre confirmed, finally found
breath. “Are you afraid of me, Kayla?”

The tiniest pulse in her neck flickered.

“Why?” he breathed.

Kayla bowed her head, intent on looking at their twined fingers. “He
was just like you, until we married.”

Here was something he didn’t know. “He didn’t hurt you until after you
were his wife?”

She nodded.

“If you look back, you’ll see signs. It was there, and you chose not
to see them.” She squeezed his hand. “There were signs, weren’t there?” He
caught her chin and raised it. “Kayla?”

“Maybe.”

Another small step, they had plenty yet to take. Kayla’s life was
about to be revealed, the abuse as a little girl, and the betrayal of a young
woman. There would be no way to vindicate it, only listen and accept. The
journey would be hard for him, but he was ready.

He put Kayla to bed, and then walked onto the front porch to stare
into the heavens. It was past four in the morning, and the new day breached the
sky. The stars disappeared as the approaching dawn covered their existence with
light.

Last night had been the same for them, releasing the moments in their
lives that had molded them into the people they were. His mind and his heart
overflowed with the years of suffering she had gone through. Yet, when she told
him, it was a tale told from a third person perspective, keeping herself
distanced from her memories. It had been hard not to respond to what she
endured as a little girl, and then as a wife.

Kayla had been raped over and over again as a child. Her uncle would
trade her body for drugs and alcohol among his friends. Daniel’s slow and
painful evolution into a full-fledged abuser had been insidious, but there was
also something he didn’t question when she described her marriage. She seemed
to have somehow forgiven him, loading everything onto Daniel’s PTSD and his
scars from childhood. He couldn’t imagine the depth of courage it took for her
to crawl back from all of it. Although he shared his life with her, he was
careful and listened more than spoke, once she began to speak freely.

“I’m sorry.” Kayla’s arm wrapped around his waist, surprising him.

Wow! She looked so beautiful, her hair mussed, her eyes warm and
sleepy. “What are ya sorry for, sweetheart?” He led her to the old swing on the
porch.

“You must feel awful, hearing all that,” she said, sitting down and
reaching a hand out to him.

He wrapped her in both arms, and rested his head against hers. “I’ve
rescued plenty of prisoner of war hostages. Seen it all and heard it all. It
bothers me only because it happened to you.”

“What good is knowing all that horrible stuff?”

He chuckled. “Use it against you, of course.”

“Captain!” She jerked in his arms, but she was securely fastened in
them.

He pulled her onto his lap and nuzzled her neck. She smelled so good,
a scent that belonged to only her, and sent his lust into a ready coil. “What I
want is to make love to you. I know what makes you tick, sweetheart. I was
listening real close to that part.”

She laughed and hugged him, and his insides melted with her affection.
“I noticed you didn’t really share in that department,” she mused.

“Too enraptured listening to you, but if you want to know, let’s go to
bed, our bed.” He swept her up before she could argue with him. “I like to show
not tell.”

“I bet you do.”

He lay beside her, his arms above his head, his chest heaving from pleasurable
exertion. It had to be the pregnancy, but she couldn’t get enough of him, and
he was okay with that. Her lips sensually wandered across every inch of his
skin. Every kiss turned him on, resurrecting him with hope and love. “I’m
inches from dead, sweetheart.” He rolled her into his arms, and they kissed and
kept kissing. “Tell me again,” he asked quietly, his eyes closed, strumming
their baby with a gentle hand.

“That you’re a willful, stubborn-ass who won’t give up?”

He chuckled. “Umm, was thinking about something else, actually.”

“What time is it?”

“Kaylaaaa.”

She kissed his shoulder. “Fine, I might love you.”

“You call me stubborn.” Thane rolled on his side, and nuzzled her
breast, swollen from all the attention he’d given it. Now let’s get some sleep,
if you’re done with me, that is?”

“Your son just got up.” That shot his eyes open.

A joker like smile tightened his cheeks. “Our son. I’m going to teach
him how to fish.”

“More like you’ll have him in the weapons field firing at paper
targets of Al-Qaeda terrorists before he can even carry a weapon. He’s going to
want to be just like his father. You know that, don’t you?”

Thane barked out a laugh. “Can’t wait to see the hot girls he brings
home.”

“I’ll hate every one of them.”

“No doubt.” His hand curled around her neck, and pulled her forward,
kissing her. “But you’ll be too busy keeping our daughter on the straight and
narrow.”

“What makes you think we’ll have more?”

“Because I want more and so do you,” he said, stroking her cheek with
his finger. “Because I need to show you that being a family means loving each
other every day, even when we fight, but we never give up. The slate’s clean,
Snow White. I want you to write the rest of your life with me.”

Her fingertip followed the sharp ridge of his upper lip, and the
fullness of the bottom one. Waves of curls caressed his skin when she bent her
head, and licked his nipple, kissing north, south, east and west of it.

“I want to try,” she whispered. “But I get scared. I feel like I
should apologize just in case….”

He sat up, wrapping her in his arms. “In case what?” He read the worry
on her brow. “You promised. I promised. No matter how tough things get, we are
a unit now.”

A grin pushed her worry aside. “A unit, huh?”

“Yes ma’am. Long standing, secured hard and fast.”

A warm, sweet chuckle eclipsed a delicious sweep of her mouth on his, and
his tongue had a mind of its own, playing with her bottom lip. Leaning back, he
brought her with him, arching his hips, filling her, needing to be connected
this way. “Oh yeah, forever, until death do us part, Kayla, but that won’t be
for many, many years.”

“I wish I could see that like you.” She rested her head on his chest,
his body a bed of strength meant only for her.

“You will, sweetheart.” He folded his arms around her, and gently
squeezed her. “When you’re holding our son in your arms, you will.”