Tempting Target: Heart of a SEAL (10 page)

She smiled a little at that, because she thought she’d been pretty slick when she tried to sneak glances at his model of perfection form all those times before. He was preparing to open the door when someone knocked, and Emmy just stood there with her eyes closed as she let the mortification sink in.

He opened the door and Carolyn was on the other side of it. Emmy couldn’t see her, but with the amount of stammering and throat clearing, it let her know that she’d been correct and everyone had heard them.

“I hate to bother you both, but the captain is requesting everyone get back to their seats. There are heavy storms in the area and the turbulence may be a bit rocky.”

“Thanks, Carolyn. We’ll get back to our seats and fasten up.” Matt was so calm under pressure, and Emmy was glad that he was talking to the woman and not her. She would have been stammering along with the flight attendant and it would have been more embarrassing for everyone.

He led her out of the bathroom, and she kept her eyes on his back. The walk seemed to take twenty minutes in her mind, but in reality, it was just a seriously long sixty seconds. They were back to their seats with their belts fastened before she realized that she’d not taken a breath since they started walking.

He took her hand in his and kissed the back of it. “I’m glad you started breathing. I thought—after all that—that I was going to have to start CPR as well.”

She appreciated that he was trying to make a joke, but she was mortified.

“Come on, where is the sassy smartass who led me into the bathroom and almost made me come on the floor?”

“I did that?” Emmy was filled with pride, and that must have shoved all the humiliation to the floor.

He kissed her liked he’d never kissed her. With a softness she couldn’t ever remember being a part of what they had. It was sweet and soft. A kiss that made her want more, and just thinking about the way he left, she knew that it wasn’t an option. She knew she could fall for him, and she’d fought against the feelings that clawed at her. When he slammed into her body, she loved the feeling and she loved the empowerment, but she was careful not to love the man. It was harder with soft kisses and considerate gestures.

He finished with the soul-crushing kiss and looked into her eyes. “You most definitely did.”

She wasn’t sure, but she thought her heart jumped in her chest… or it could have been the jolting and bumping of the plane.

“Where are you going for your next mission?”

Emmy had never known when to stop… she should have quit when she was ahead, but the light in Matt’s face dimmed, and she found she missed the lighthearted compliments he was giving her.

“It’s confidential.”

CHAPTER TWELVE

This is the reason he wanted to leave her before all this came up. He hated the disappointment in her eyes. That’s what happened when you were in a position that had to keep secrets. It wasn’t like he didn’t want to tell her what he was doing and where he was going, but it was top security.

She was a good woman. One he’d like to come home to… have children with… grow old for. She wasn’t on the schedule for him to meet until he was done with the risky missions and the secret assignments. This woman had a lot going on with her from her secret scar and medication to her history of loss. The woman was on the run from herself, and she’d run right into a train wreck.

“What procedure did you have that gave you that scar?” Matt knew he had no right to ask anything like that when he’d just blown off her question, but it was something that he wanted to know, and since fate had found a way to give them a few more hours together, he wanted to take advantage of them.

“So you get answers, but I don’t?”

“That’s a fair question, but I’m a commander of a military unit during war time. Unfortunately, the information that I carry is confidential, and I can’t discuss it with a civilian. Not that I don’t want to, but I just cannot.” He could see that she was thinking about what he said. “If I could do it, I would, but I’ve pledged my heart and soul to this country, and that’s a commitment that means a lot to me.”

She looked at him like she was trying to understand, but he couldn’t get a good read on what the end result was going to be. If the information was something she didn’t want to share that badly, he was going to have to understand it like she was trying to do for him.

Clearing her throat, like there was something caught in it, she began talking so quietly it was hard to hear her over the pressurized air and snores from the other passengers. “When I was younger, I had a prolapsed heart valve. They said it was leaking. I remember my family trying to explain it to me. I have three older brothers and one sister. They all tried to help the baby of the family through this process. My family didn’t want me to have an operation to fix the problem, but I was so tired and slept a good deal of the time because of the situation.”

Matt leaned in so he could hear what she was trying to tell him because he knew she must not have told this story often.

“I had to have my heart valve replaced twice. The first time was with an animal valve and the second time was with metal. I take an anti-coagulant to make sure the blood runs smoothly and there are no clots around the implant.” She looked at him like she thought he was going to ask her to leave or run from the seat to get away from her.

“Thank you for sharing that. You’ve taken your pill for the day?”

“I was supposed to, but I left them in the luggage that I checked into the plane. I had one with me that I was going to take today, but I lost it somewhere. I’ll be alright for a day, as long as I have it tomorrow.” She watched him closely, as if she didn’t know what was going to come next. He wanted to let her know that whatever defect she thought she had that would scare him away, it wasn’t going to happen.

“I wish you’d have brought a few with you, just in case. Traveling is crazy. You never know where your luggage could end up.”

She sat back with a sigh. He didn’t know what he’d said wrong, but he was going to find out. “What?”

“I’m not a child, Matt. I know the importance of taking my medication daily. I’ve been doing it all my life. I’m not going to just stop taking it if someone doesn’t remind me. I like life too much.”

“I’m not sure where that outburst came from. I wasn’t trying to treat you like a child. I’m just stating the fact that airports sometime suck at getting the right luggage to the right person at the right time.”

She closed her eyes, and for a few minutes he thought that she’d just totally tuned him out and was going to ignore him. He was going to say something else when she started talking again without opening her eyes.

“I’m sorry. My family has been babying me for as long as I could remember because I am the baby of the family and I’ve had a heart condition that makes them think I need to be babysat at all times. It’s the reason for this trip. I did want to get out and find myself. Not because I don’t know who I am, but to prove to myself, and maybe a bit for my family, that I can make it on my own.”

“I get that, but you know they probably love you to pieces. This must be hard on them.” He didn’t want her to be upset with him but having a loving family wasn’t the worst thing that could happen to a person.

“I’m sure it is. I probably sound like an ungrateful whiney baby for not accepting the love that is flowing from my family, but it has to stop somewhere. Not only is it insulting, but it’s been making me doubt what I could do on my own. I’ve contacted them, and they know where I am. I’ll keep them informed. My sister has a locator on my phone and is aware of my travel schedule—if that makes you feel any better.”

“What made you do this right now? I know you just graduated college, but I don’t know what it was that made you do something so large scale.”

“My favorite aunt passed away. When I was younger, before the replacement, I was supposed to keep my heart rate steady and not have a lot of stress and my family can’t let that go. Aunt Mary passed away eight months ago, and because I was still in school, my family chose not to tell me. Too much stress.” She looked at him like she really wanted him to understand and side with her and for this latest point he did.

“That was a bit extreme. How did they get around to telling you? If you were so close, you probably talked every so often.” He was trying to handle this semi-delicately because it sounded like a subject she took seriously. He didn’t want to insult her, but he did want the story.

“The last year was intense, and she said she was going away on a trip to Greece so I’d have to hold off on contacting her. She sent a few letters my way, and since she’d done this to me before, I wasn’t that concerned. On my graduation day, she didn’t show up, and I knew…there was no way she would have missed that.”

He didn’t know what to do for a situation like this. It seemed to him that her aunt was in on the deception as well, but to bring that up seemed harsh when his beautiful angel was trying hard to keep it together. Picking up her hand and holding it seemed to be all that he could do at this time.

“Any way this vacation was needed for all parties. When I return, I’ll be ready to find a job in accounting and start my life with all of us knowing that I’m able to do it.” She rubbed his hand as she talked, and he hoped that she was feeling good about her situation. Since she’d started this venture, she’d met a stranger, been accosted by a maniac, and done several vigorous activities, including engaging in intense and extremely physical sex.

“Are you in any way limited in what activities you can do?” he asked. The hostile side-eye he received from her made him think that he must have been acting too much like her family.

“We only have a few more hours on the plane, and I can read the writing on the wall. You were going to leave me without a spoken word back in the hotel, and we are now on borrowed time. Let’s just talk and have as much fun as we can until the plane lands.” She looked sad with her speech, but there was nothing he could really say to give her encouragement because she was saying the absolute truth.

“Don’t think I haven’t figured out how hurt you were with the way I left things at the hotel. I hadn’t really thought the whole thing out, and by the time I got to the airport and got the news that my seat had been reassigned, I was having second thoughts. I called the room and remembered that I didn’t even have your phone number after you didn’t pick up.” The seats were pretty dark—except for the person a few seats away from them who had on the light—but he could see the expression on her face, and it was disheartening to know he put that look there.

“I was hurt, but I understand. You’re a SEAL. I looked it up when I was waiting for the shuttle. It’s a division of the U.S. Naval Special Warfare and Special Operations teams and is an acronym for Sea, Air, and Land force.”

He could see her smile in the dimness, and it was as bright as he remembered. “Looks like you’ve been doing your homework.”

“It was hard knowing I may never see you again, but even worse thinking that it didn’t matter to you if we saw each other again or not.”

“The job I have now complicates my life in ways that I’d never anticipated, and with your backstory of trying to find yourself, I just didn’t think it was fair to offer the little piece of nothing I had to offer. I’m gone for months without contact to civilians, and the chance of me getting injured or killed is high.” As much as he wanted to spare her from additional emotional injury, he was going to be as blunt as he could about where his life was at this point and why he didn’t want her in it.

She nodded like she understood, but he knew she probably didn’t. “I’m trying not to think of you in the same boat with my family, but it’s difficult. I know you have a hard job but taking my cell phone number or giving me yours wouldn’t have been a lifelong commitment or even a short-term agreement. It would have been like saying that you wouldn’t have minded hearing from me every once in a while. I thought you were going to tell me that I had wanted a one-night stand, and although ours lasted a few days and nights, you were going to give me the experience of walking away.”

Emmy didn’t know how much Matt wanted to turn on the overhead light to see the expression on her face. He was trained in ways that enhanced his intuition, but it was hard in the darkness. That was one of the reasons why interrogations were done in such blinding bright light. It was shocking to the system, and the person’s emotions and expressions were clearer.

“Instead, you were thinking for me. Maybe it’s just something about me that makes people think I don’t know what I want and just want to make decisions for me.” Her voice sounded like she thought it was funny, but he knew that she didn’t really think that. It must have been a coping mechanism she was using to make light of a situation that was really bothering her. “Don’t think I didn’t hear you cataloging the things we did in Hawaii and wondering if I was stressing myself out, or if I should have been doing the things I was doing. I really am capable of taking care of myself.”

“You are very perceptive. Yes, it had crossed my mind that we’d done a lot of strenuous things in the past few days, but it also struck me that you did well with all of it, and I’m sure you would have stopped if you found something that was hard for you to complete. I don’t want to be linked with your family in terms of trusting in your ability to look after yourself, but I do want to be counted in the number of people who care about you and don’t want to see anything bad happen.” He pulled her as close as he could with the arm rest as a barrier and both of them strapped into their seats. Just as he was getting frustrated with the inability to hold her in his arms, the fasten seatbelt light went off, and they were told they could again move about the cabin.

Carolyn must have been working this side of the plane because she came through offering light snacks and drinks. If Matt couldn’t read people well, he’d say that the woman was over their bathroom antics, but her slightly stiff demeanor seemed like a woman scorned.

“Would you two like any refreshments?” The overly chipper voice of their attendant screeched against his nerves and made him want to hide Emmy from her sight.

“I’d like to apologize for whatever awkwardness we may have brought to you and your staff. That wasn’t our intention.” Emmy looked so sincere when she spoke to the woman who looked like she wanted to tear her hair out; it made him want to find a flat surface and service her right then and there.

“There are lots of people who want to make it into the Mile High Club, but they usually try to be more discrete about it.”

“It’s hard to be quiet when you’re balls deep in the best pussy you’ve ever had, but like my friend here, I apologize as well.” Matt was happy that his words had the effect he wanted them to have, and even though Emmy tried to squeeze his hand in a vice like grip, he didn’t feel bad about putting this woman and her obscure jabs in their place.

“I don’t want anything. Thank you,” Emmy said to the still sour faced Carolyn.

“Me either.” Matt didn’t want the woman to be close to them for any longer than she had to be. She walked away with her cart and didn’t look back.
Good riddance.