Reminding The SEAL (Navy SEAL Military Romance) (11 page)

“Shucks,” it wasn’t intentional, but he didn’t want to scare her like before. He hoped she hadn’t seen the entire strip show.

It was dark outside when he completed his shower and headed through the backdoor in only his jeans, just as the rain started. He took the stairs two at a time to try and get to his room before she could see him, but as he reached the top, he bumped into her.

* * * *

“Sorry,” he said.

He was moving at lightning speed and Leah had just left her room to go fetch something in the kitchen before he completed his shower. Bummer. Now, she was seeing all of him as he stood there, perhaps as startled as she was. His chest and arms wet from the water from his shower. Her eyes did a little travelling against her will, slowly trailing over his chest and counting each muscle in his abdomen. The jeans he was holding up with one hand, looked like it was slipping and her pulse started racing.

Gosh, she felt like a starving woman who’d never seen a plate of food. She hungered to know what the hell he was holding up in those pants. The scent from his mild soap on his skin was overpowering her, making her knees go weak. What the hell’s the matter with me? She wondered.

Standing there like an idiot would only get her in trouble; however, she couldn’t move because her legs wouldn’t let her. Or, perhaps it was the adrenaline rush she got because his maleness was so pungent. His nearness titillated her senses, giving her a heady sensation. This was new to Leah.

When her eyes rested on his crotch, she felt feverish and knew she was flushed all over, not just her neck and face, but her entire body. Her nipples strained against her bra and there wasn’t a darn thing she could do. She wanted to flee, but she also wanted…

She raised her head and their eyes locked. The mood in his eyes changed, like it had done a million times since she met him.

“Leah,” he growled.

That did it. Their bodies crushed together and he was seeking her lips. She wound her arms around his neck and pressed her breast into the chest she was dying to caress. His hair was still wet from his shower, but she didn’t care, her fingers ran through it and cupped his head urging the kiss to intensify.

He broke away briefly to look into her eyes questioningly. She knew he wasn’t a man of many words, but in the week or so that she’d known him, she learned to read him well. He was asking if she was sure, that meant he wanted her. In answer to his silent question, she tipped and kissed him lightly on the lips and then she reached her hand up and ran her soft smooth fingers over his tight chest muscles. She stopped for a second on the left side of his chest to feel his heartbeat, which was galloping like the stallion he rode that day.

She followed her hands by lowering her head to trace his trunk with her warm, silky lips. Then, she retraced her steps and came back to his neck, and back to his lips, which he captured as his own. They stumbled towards her bedroom and he kicked the door open. Luckily, it was only ajar and not locked, or he would have more repairs on his hands.

They tumbled towards the bed and fell on it with Matthew atop her. He grabbed the hem of her top and yanked it over her head, then pulled her bra straps down over shoulders, allowing her breasts to pop out of the cups.

“You’re so beautiful!” He exclaimed, then buried his face between her two healthy mounds.

She didn’t know what to say. Should she tell him how sexy she thought he was?
No
, she thought, before she got lost in the sensation of the tip of his tongue on her nipple.

“Ahh,” she let out a shaky breath. “Oh.”

Electric waves were running up and down her spine. Matthews’s lips seemed to have been charged with high tension wires, because they were shocking her with every nibble on her breasts. His large hands doing things to her skin, leaving traces of heat where his calluses grazed her. This wasn’t real. In all her twenty nine years, she’d never felt so wanton, needing a man’s touch, loving every caress as much as she did now.

She unbuckled her jeans and wiggled out of it with Matthews help. He followed by snatching his off as well, divulging a very prominent member. It was thick and bumpy with a rounded pink tip that beckoned for her to touch. Looking at it made her center ache to feel it….want it inside her.

“I’ve wanted you from the moment you got out of that truck,” Matthew declared, cupping her face. His voice was gentle.

“I want you too,” she whispered.

Their lips met again, creating a fire that began to slowly burn between them. Their hands explored each other’s terrain, and when she wrapped her legs around his hips, he positioned his cock at the entrance to her chasm. Leah ran her hand along his shoulders, then cupped his head and kissed his neck. She nibbled her way to his earlobe and sucked on it and savored the sound of gentle growling coming from him.

He began to move his hips and his cock entered her wetness. She hadn’t realized how wet she’d become. She moved her hips along with him, feeling him fill her to the core. Each of his tender thrusts was met with her whining hips, increasing the pleasure of the friction of flesh with flesh.

All too soon, she felt her climax building, which she tried to hold back, wanting to savor every moment. But it wasn’t to be. Her clit was rubbing the base of his pelvis and sending too many vibrations through her. She trembled, and then arched her back, pushing her head back against the sheets. Her nails dug into Matthew’s shoulder as she felt her release rock her body.

“Yes, yes, yesssssssssssssssssss!”

The tremor hadn’t yet left her when she felt him thrust into her violently, his huge cock bucking against her cervix, and she felt his back grow rigid. He sank his face into her hair and thrust his hips forward again, letting out a low moan, muffled by her hair. His hips now moved in little short strokes as he spilled into her.

Chapter Six

No, he was not hearing right. “Say what?” Matthew asked Leah.

“I think you should at least consider it. He’s paying a lot of money and you could always buy another ranch,” she calmly stated. They were seated at the kitchen table, the morning after their passionate lovemaking.

“I’m not selling this ranch. How could you suggest something like that, Leah?”

“It’s for your own good, Matthew,” she told him.

“For my own good? Do you know what’s good for me?”

She looked at him and held his gaze, “I know you need help with your issues and this money can do that for you. Look at the place Matthew, it's all broken down,” she swept her hand around in a circle.

The conversation started when he came down for breakfast. He walked up behind her and hugged her, like he would a normal wife. Then, his eyes caught the business card on the edge of the table.

“What’s this?” He had asked her and she told him that Myles Connor had dropped by.

Now, he was increasingly becoming agitated about the entire thing. How could she side with a man she met once, encouraging him to sell his home? What was her motive? Was this a part of a grand plan to seduce him and have him sell?

“Is that what last night was about?” He voiced his thoughts.

Slowly, the smile she was wearing disappeared. Her lips formed into a thin line and he got up from the table, “Is that what you think of me?”

“I don’t know Leah. One minute we are making love and the next you’re telling me to sell my ranch… I don’t know what to believe,” his voice showed his agitation.

“Then perhaps, it was a mistake. I’ll arrange to leave in the morning.”

“Leah…,” he said her name, but she walked away and up the stairs.

He could see that she was hurt and he so badly wanted to go after her. However, the words she spoke to him about him selling the ranch stung him too. This was his childhood home, the only thing he had left of his parents. He knew that his father had not considered selling before he died. That, he was sure of. His father would never have sold out. In addition, the last letter he had received from Jacob McCrery told him that there were people lurking around. He also told him that a couple of neighboring ranches were sold, but he would never sell his birthright.

His father had also left a will, leaving the ranch for him and his future family. There was no way his father was in any kind of negotiations to sell. Now, the one person he was beginning to trust, someone he was hoping to be on his side, was telling him to get rid of his home. It hurt.

In this sour mood, Matthew left the safety of the ranch and headed into the pastures to round up what was left of his cattle. There must be several more out there. His father had been too frail to tend to them and had left them to the land, until he could return to care for them. His plan was to increase his herd, add other animals like some goats and sheep, and maybe some chickens in the yard. He was also thinking that the piece of land near the house beyond the barn was good for vegetables.

He found one other bull, nothing more. Returning home was earlier than the day before. By this time, his mood had improved and he was ready to apologize to Leah. She was perhaps trying to help him as she mentioned. Why did he make her feel bad?

Anxiously, he tethered the horse and housed the bull in the barn, then trotted to the house. The back door was closed, which was strange. He could smell that she’d made dinner. He checked his watch and it was only 1400 hours, which meant it was too soon for supper, so perhaps it was lunch. He pushed the door and entered the kitchen. It was empty.

“Leah?” His voiced echoed back. He took the stairs with long strides and knocked on her door. “Leah?” The door swung open. Her suitcase was on the bed and her clothes strewn over it. On the floor at the foot of the bed was her handbag. The one she had been clutching the day she arrived.

He checked his bedroom and the sewing room, she wasn’t there. She was nowhere in the house. Matthew began to worry. He searched the yard and nearby fields and was coming around the front of the house when he saw tire tracks. They were freshly made that morning. Anything on the road before last night would have been washed away by the rain.

The tracks meant that someone had visited, but why would Leah leave with them and not take her belongings? Something didn’t feel right. He stooped and touched his finger to the grooves made in the mud, trying to remember where he’d seen the pattern before. The tracks were big enough to be a truck, but he was uncertain of the model. He followed the mark to a few feet away from the porch where the vehicle came to a halt. Then, he saw what looked like several boot prints. They were weird, like someone had stomped the wet ground several times. It also appeared like someone had slipped. There were muddy prints on the step and the porch.

At close inspection, Matthew determined there was a struggle and his heart flipped over a few times. Could it be? This was not happening. There was no way they took her. Could it really be possible that the people who wanted his ranch took Leah? Only one way to find out and that was to follow the trail.

His next move was only as a result of his training. With quick precision, he donned his camouflage cargo trouser and navy issued black T-shirt. Completing his ensemble were his heavy boots, a pair of night goggles, a knife sheathed at his ankle, a flashlight, and his hunting rifle, which he clipped a viewfinder onto. He took with him a water bottle which he pushed into a knapsack along with a first aid kit. When Matthew stepped into the yard, it was 1500 hours.

His mind had snapped out of civilian. There was a glint in his eye as he got ready for this mission. In his mind, he was still in the Navy and was ordered to make the rescue. Nothing should stand in the way and he must not return until his mission was complete.

* * * *

She’d been packing up her stuff with no idea how she would get home or where she would go. Leah was hurt that Matthew thought she seduced him to get him to sell his home. She was only suggesting it because the place looked so run down and she knew he was suffering from the effects of the Navy. He seemed to have been through a lot.

The look he gave her that morning and the tone in his voice made her feel like a slut. How could she have slept with him?

“Arghh!” She growled. “I’m such an idiot, falling for a crazy ex-navy man!”

The sound of a vehicle coming into the yard caught her attention and she left her packing to see who it was. She recognized the man from the day before, Myles Connor, and two others. They looked like body builders, big and burly, wearing tight fitting tees and jeans. As they stepped out of the truck, she took note of them. The atmosphere smelled like danger and she wanted to make sure to get a good look.

The younger of the two had black hair and brown eyes. He was kind of good looking with a square chin and strong cheekbones. She noted that he moved like a leopard slinking towards his prey. The other, who looked like he could be an older brother had hair cropped very low, could be brown or sandy blond, it was hard to tell. His eyes were pale brown, kind of pretty eyes for a guy, but his face had an ugly frown. She knew intimidation when she saw it, and this guy was trying to intimidate her.

“Missus McCrery, is yer husband around?”

“He’s around somewhere, what can I do for you… Mr. Connor?”

She looked from one man to the other.

“We came to discuss business, can you fetch yer husband for us?”

“I can’t do that. You see…he’s…indisposed at the moment,” she told them, trying not to let her nerves betray her. She heard the crack in her voice and knew they had her.

“Well then Missus, you will just have to help us then,” Myles began walking towards the porch with the fellows in tow.

“What are you doing? I think it’s time you leave. We’re not selling so you’d better get off this property.” She wasn’t sure she was convincing enough, but she got her answer when the younger man stepped up on the porch quite boldly, and grabbed her.

“Let me go!” She hissed. “How dare you touch me?”

“I apologize for this Missus McCrery, but maybe your husband will be more agreeable if we keep you for a few days.”

“I assure you, he will not even miss me, so you’re wasting your time.”

Myles raked his eyes over her, lingering on her breasts and then her face. “I doubt that. You are one striking woman.”

“Let me go!”

She raised her foot and brought it down on the young man’s shoes, but he didn’t budge, though he did wince. His older partner joined them and grabbed both her arms, pulling them behind her and pushing her forward.

“It’s no use struggling, ma’am. We don’t want to hurt you,” the younger of the two said, his voice surprisingly gentle.

“Let me go and I won’t say a word to my husband. You know he’s Navy SEAL, don’t you?” She pleaded, holding the young man’s gaze. He looked at Myles. But the man only beckoned them to take her to the truck. She tried to resist, but they pulled her forward, causing her feet to drag in the mud.

They bundled her in the back passenger seat with the two muscles flanking her on both sides, while shifty eyes Myles got behind the wheel. She knew he was bad new the first time she saw him. Her problem now was how she would let Matthew know she’d been kidnapped. Would he realize she hadn’t left? Hopefully, he’d check her room and notice her stuff was still there. He was mad at her, so he may just be thankful that she was out of his life.

“This is useless Myles. I was leaving Matthew anyway, so he won’t even miss me, I tell you.” She argued.

“Shut it, lady,” the big ugly fellow warned.

“What are you going to do if I don’t shut up? Kill me?” She was losing it. The smell of their sweaty arms was making her mad. She felt like clawing their faces. “Go ahead, kill me now and get it over with!”

“We’re not going to kill you Missus McCrery,” Myles smiled.

“Then what? I tell you, Matthew won’t come get me.”

“We’ll see.”

They detoured onto a road she hadn’t seen on her way up to the ranch. It took them to another farm house, similar to Matthew’s. It was run down and needed fixing. However, there were large machines such as a crane and others she didn’t recognize. One of the equipment looked familiar, like she’d seen it on television, but wasn’t sure. She racked her brain to try and remember it, but could not.

Her captors led her to a building, like a barn, except it was newer than the other building in the yard. As she neared it, she realized it was a metal container, a temporary structure. She was left inside with the metal door closing behind them as they departed.