Navy SEALs Complete Series: 3 Books + 3 Novellas (Tempting Navy SEALs) (5 page)

This was too important to allow male ego and pride to suddenly mess it up. If Clint found out what she was doing, he would fly to Hawaii himself to tell Reno all about it. Clint had always been a damned tattletale, ratting her out every chance he got. There was no way he would let this pass. And once he did tell, Reno would hit the roof.

What made her think she could keep this from her brother or Clint, she had no idea.

“Don’t mess this up, Morganna,” Craig hissed as he checked the parking lot for curious ears. “You know what’s at stake.”

“Then don’t you mess it up.” Her furious whisper was followed by her finger poking into his chest as she turned on him. “I told you when we’ll meet and that’s it. Because trust me when I tell you blood will be shed if he finds you at the house tonight. And it won’t be his.”

She didn’t wait for an answer. She turned away from Craig stiffly, moving across the driveway and heading for her car. She turned to glare back at him, barely catching the sudden alarm on his expression before she heard the squeal of tires.

Morganna turned, blinded by a sudden light flaring in front of her eyes as her ears filled with the screech of tires and the sudden awareness of danger.

She heard Clint scream her name a second before something, somebody, hooked her around the waist and slammed her through the air. Gunfire echoed around her. It had to be gunfire, blazing across her senses as time slowed, inching by as she felt herself falling, aware of the hard pavement that would meet the end of her journey.

A thousand thoughts blazed through her mind; uppermost was the fact that it was Clint’s arm hooked around her waist,
then Clint’s hard body bracing hers as they hit the ground and rolled. She could hear his curses in her ear, explicit, enraged, as he took the brunt of the impact before rolling her beneath his body. One hand cupped the side of her head as the ping of bullets pelted around them.

She could hear car alarms shrieking now as shattered glass rained over her. Clint was using his larger body to shield her, holding her in place as she fought to escape the bullets, to get him out of the line of fire.

“Move it!” He lifted her to her feet and with a surge of motion dragged her between the nearby cars, pressing her into the side of the nearest vehicle as sparks flew from the pavement.

The sound of gunfire filled the night again as he grabbed her around the waist and forced her into a ducking run to avoid the bullets firing toward them.

“Son of a bitch!” he cursed as he rushed her deeper into the line of cars and farther from the vehicle now tearing from the parking lot. “Damn it to hell, Morganna, what are you mixed up in?”

Tires screamed in the distance as the sound of frightened cries echoed from behind them and male curses raged around her. She couldn’t tell if it was Merino or Clint. Or maybe both.

“What the hell is going on?” Clint’s voice had Morganna flinching at the pure, undiluted rage that filled it as he pushed her into his apartment, slamming the door closed.

He hadn’t waited around at the club for the police to arrive. He had pulled her straight to his truck, unlocked the driver’s side door, and stuffed her in before crowding in beside her.

The drive to his apartment had been quick and short. Morganna had kept her mouth shut, using the time to come up with an explanation. She was in trouble and she knew it. Clint wasn’t stupid, and he wasn’t a man known for his patience.

“You’re asking me?” She still hadn’t come up with an explanation as she faced him, opening her eyes wide. She didn’t have to force the fear that she was certain shadowed her expression. “Ask the bozo who was shooting at us.”

Clint stalked to her, one hand jerking out to push through her hair and lift it, revealing a damning piece of evidence. The receiver she had worn in her ear earlier.

Before she could stop herself her hand flew to her ear. Yep, it was hers. The betraying action had his deep blue eyes burning with renewed rage as his teeth bared in a snarl.

“Oh yes, baby, it’s yours.” His voice was hoarse with his anger now. “What the hell are you doing with it?”

Morganna licked her lips nervously. She had never seen Clint so angry. His eyes burned with it, his arrogant, sharp features tight with it. The harshly defined cheekbones stood out clearly as his lips tightened to a harsh line.

“Get off!” She slapped her hands into his hard chest, desperate to get him away from her now. He loomed over her
like an angel of retribution and sent her heart racing with trepidation. And arousal. She hated how aroused she was, hated knowing that despite the past few years, despite her fight to forget him, to get over him, he could still affect her. Even when he was this damned mad.

Morganna gasped as he threw the receiver with a vicious movement. “What are you doing with it, Morganna? Don’t play me for a damned fool here. I almost watched you die before my eyes. Do think I enjoyed it?”

The emotion blazing in his eyes shocked her. They were dark, tortured, his expression a furious grimace as he stared back at her.

“I can’t imagine it would cause you a sleepless night,” she yelled back at him, tugging at the hold he had on her hair. “Now let go of me.”

He was breathing as hard as she was. “Not on your life, sweetheart. By God, you’ll answer me or you’ll answer to Reno. Take your choice.”

“I don’t answer to either one of you.” She was panting with her own anger now. Anger and arousal. The anger she could understand; the arousal infuriated her.

She watched his eyes widen at her response.

“There is where you are so wrong.” This was more nerve-wracking than being shot at. Clint looked ready to commit murder.

“Oh my God, you have so lost it.” She pushed at his chest; unfortunately, it was like shoving at a boulder. “Who the hell do you think you are? What I do is none of your business. And how do you know the bastard playing with guns wasn’t after you? I could see someone wanting to kill you. I fantasize about it often.” She glared back at him, anger surging through her system.

“Answers, Morganna. Now.”

She hated it when he got like this. When he decided he was the law, that she was answerable to him just because that was what he decided.

“I have no answers for you, Clint. Even if you did deserve them. Which you don’t.” She kept her voice low, despite her anger, despite the fact that she had intended to attempt to explain things to him earlier. The look on his face assured her that no explanations were going to help. There was the potential of making things worse.

She lifted her chin defiantly, refusing to back down, even as she refused to admit that his rage sparked more than just her answering anger.

But it wasn’t just rage. For the first time, she saw emotion. It shadowed his eyes, roughened his voice, and she had to tamp back the hope flaring inside her at the evidence that somehow he might very well care for her.

“Why doesn’t this surprise me?” he shouted to no one in particular as he jerked away from her, his dark glower causing her to watch him with wary suspicion. “Why, Morganna, doesn’t it surprise me that you’re doing something stupid?”

“Stupid?” She stared back at him incredulously. “Excuse me, Clint? What do you do for a living here? I was just having a good night at a nice little club. Honestly, I’m beginning to suspect that car was after you. What did you do, manhandle the wrong woman?”

He snarled as he cast her a fulminating look, his eyes burning with anger. “I knew you were up to something. I told Reno last year you were up to something. You’ve been acting sneaky as hell for years now.”

“You are so paranoid.” She jutted her hip and braced her hand on the bare flesh with a mocking laugh. “Really. Just because I’m not chasing after you day and night anymore doesn’t mean I’m up to something.”

God was going to get her for that lie. The day she had stopped watching the door for him, had decided to get a life, it was as though he had known. But instead of accepting what she felt for him, he had automatically assumed she was up to something.

And perhaps she was. She had a life. A productive one. One that gave her purpose.

He turned on her, crossing his arms over his chest, narrowing his eyes as they went over her body. And she didn’t look bad; she knew she didn’t. She had worked hard over the last four years to make certain her body was in peak shape, that the clothes she wore enhanced her figure, and that the makeup enhanced her role. Though she was pretty certain the makeup had worn off when he’d pushed her face into the truck seat earlier.

“What were you doing at Diva’s?” he demanded. “Dressed like that and flashing your body to every damned pervert there? And don’t lie to me, Morganna. I have friends there. I’ll find out the truth.”

Now why didn’t that surprise her?

“So asks the man that owns his own private room,” she snorted. “Clint, I know exactly how much those rooms cost per year. And it’s more than obvious you use it. Does that make you a pervert as well?” She arched her brow mockingly.

“The worst kind.”

Her breath slammed from her throat as his gaze became more intent, touching over the flesh bared by her clothing, reminding her of his touch, the dominance in his kiss.

“Well, at least you’re honest,” she breathed out. “Now, if you’ll be so kind as to call me a cab . . .”

“Explain the receiver.” Cold fury filled his lowered voice. He was no longer pissed; now he was dangerous.

She arched her brow.

“I’ll track it to the other side, Morganna. I’ll find out who’s on the other end and I’ll start by questioning that leather-toting Dom wannabe first. You want to see his pretty face messed up?”

Could Craig take him in a fight? Morganna knew in a heartbeat he couldn’t. Clint had nearly killed him in the hallway earlier.

She lifted her chin defiantly.

“I don’t owe you explanations, Clint. I don’t owe you anything. Now I’m ready to go home.”

“Now isn’t that just too bad,” he drawled, his expression shifting, lust mixing with the anger as he continued to watch her. “You know, Morganna, I have that room there for a reason. I don’t know who you think you’re playing with, but it’s not a fake Dom willing to let you play your little games. Is that what you were hoping for? That this game you’re playing would get you into my bed?”

No. She didn’t. But the subtle throb of arousal in his voice had her sex clenching in response, her juices gathering, weeping from her aching vagina.

This was a part of Clint she had never seen before. A part that filled her with trepidation and excitement.

“And who says I’m going to end up in your bed?” She tried to forget how much she wanted to be there.

Every cell in her body was throbbing in need. She remembered his kiss. One brief, possessive melding of lips when she had been eighteen and he was twenty-seven. His hands had held her to him, his lips had possessed her, and she had never forgotten it. Now, ten years later, she still remembered. She wanted his lips on her again, anywhere, everywhere.

“Oh, you’re going to end up there,” he assured her smoothly. Morganna swallowed tightly.

“Why now?” She had ached for him for years. Done everything she could think of to make him see her, make him want her. And now, when she had given up, he wanted to play sex games. Talk about lousy damned timing.

The tight smile that creased his lips wasn’t comforting.

“If I had known the games you liked, Morganna, I wouldn’t have denied myself. The submissive scene doesn’t cater to happily ever afters, does it, baby? Maybe you’re not the starry-eyed little dreamer I thought you were. There’s no room in my life for dreamers. Just the sex. And that I can give you plenty of.”

Her heart wasn’t breaking, Morganna assured herself as she stared back at him. The pain splintering her soul wasn’t the result of the cold, unemotional declaration he had just made.

“And you think all I want is the sex?” she asked him, fighting to cover her pain as she watched him with a bitterness she knew she couldn’t hide.

For a moment, compassion flashed in his eyes.

“You’re young,” he said. “You think the nasty little games you’re involved in have something to do with your heart? That hunger inside you is a search for love? It’s not.” He dropped his arms from his chest and paced closer, wrapping her in his warmth and his own bitterness. “Don’t make that mistake,” he whispered as he moved behind her, his chest pressing against her back as he lifted his hands to draw her hair back from her neck.

“Forget it.” She jerked from him again, pacing several feet away from him before turning back to face him. “It doesn’t work that way, Clint. If you didn’t notice earlier, I already have a lover. Why would I need you?”

Craig wasn’t her lover. It was a role they played, nothing more.

Clint laughed at her declaration. “He’s never touched you.” He shook his head knowingly. “He’s never tied you down and driven you crazy with his touch. He’s never spanked that tight little ass or fucked it. I’d bet my life on it.”

Morganna felt her face flame, first with embarrassment, then with a need that bordered on violence. The image of her strapped to the bed in that room as Clint did all those things to her had her nearly climaxing in anticipation.

“God, your nipples just spiked beneath that shirt you’re wearing,” he said, staring. “You want it, baby. And you’ll get it. But I’ll get what I want first.”

“Not in this lifetime,” she snapped, turning and heading for the door. “Take your threats and shove them—”

She made it to the door; her hand even gripped the knob a
second before a hard, forceful body pinned her against the metal panel. Her breath slammed from her chest at the feel of his erection pressing into her lower back, the sound of his breathing, hard and rough at her ear.

“You think you’re just going to walk out of here?” His hands gripped her wrists, forcing them above her head until he could grip both with his long fingers.

“Stop this, Clint.”

“Not on your life, Morganna,” his voice rumbled at her ear a second before his teeth gripped the lobe with a heated little nip.