Sean lifted the corner of the cloth and found herself staring into two perfectly beautiful, crystal-blue eyes that crinkled when he smiled at her. “You okay?”
She blinked. “You know Taser,” she said. It wasn’t a question.
Sean sighed. “Timothy? Yeah, I know him. We went through BUD/S together, ended up in the same SEALs unit. Haven’t seen him in years. Now I’m thinking I should have shot him when I had the chance.”
She blinked again. “You knew? About me? About the Chameleons?”
“No,” he answered honestly. “It was Ian who figured it out. I didn’t know T was involved until negotiations began.”
“Negotiations?”
He put the cloth to the side and pushed a lock of hair from her face. “To get you back.” He spoke as if it was the most natural thing in the world. “Where were you hurt?”
Nicki blinked again. “Hurt?”
“That prick, Marscone. Where did he get you?”
“How did you - ”
“Mick picked up traces of your blood in the bedroom at the house.” At Nicki’s glare of disbelief, he shrugged and added, “He’s a genius.”
Nicki’s hand went to her abdomen. Sean lifted her top, his face hardening as he saw the angry red line beneath her navel extending from one side to the other. He seemed to grow right before her eyes, getting larger, harder, meaner. But when his fingers traced the line, his touch couldn’t have been gentler.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered huskily. “I should have protected you. I should have known.”
Nicki was floored. He was blaming himself for what happened? One look into his eyes and the pain she saw there confirmed it. In that moment, she completely lost the few remaining pieces of her heart, and she knew, without a shadow of a doubt, she was being given the opportunity of a lifetime. She sure as hell wasn’t going to waste it.
“Yes.”
“Yes what?” He looked at her with tormented eyes.
“Yes, I will marry you.”
Sean’s eyes darkened to that lovely sapphire she loved so much, the color that told her he was feeling especially strong about something. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
*
Sean’s heart exploded in his chest, so powerfully did her words affect him. He hadn’t realized until that point just how unsure he was of her answer. If she had said no it would not have stopped him from trying that much harder to get her to see the error of her ways, but it was much easier this way. She was his croie, he was hers, and they were meant to be together.
Suddenly she was in his arms. He needed to feel her, to hold her, to possess her until she was incapable of forgetting to whom she belonged. She’d said yes, agreed to become his wife. There would be no take-backs, no second thoughts.
She kissed him back so passionately it literally stole his breath away. His hands tangled in her hair as she gave him hers. When her heart pounded so forcefully against his chest, his rose to the occasion and matched hers, beat for beat.
“Mine,” he growled, dropping down to lave kisses down her jaw, nipping at the delicate skin on her neck and delighting in the little whimpers that escaped her. Her hands roamed restlessly through his hair, across his shoulders, up and down his arms as the rest of her body arched up, envious of the attention.
He licked her collarbone, and she shivered. What was it about this woman that tested his control so desperately? He realized she couldn’t care less as his hands found the neckline of her shirt. In one swift tug he tore it in two, baring her to him.
Sean growled against her chest, a deep, animal sound that made her whimper and thrust her breasts out in demand. “You are never to go braless around another man again,” he rasped, taking one stiff peak into his mouth. Nicki arched clear off the bed. Her response pleased him.
“You... don’t... own... me,” she breathed.
He stopped, pulling away with her nipple still between his teeth. “Yes,” he said, his voice deep and low. “I do. Just as you own me.”
“So,” she gasped, gripping his head and pressing him back to her, “you’ll stop wearing those wife-beaters around the garage?”
He chuckled against her breast. “Only for you, baby.”
Her nails raked against his scalp, over his shoulders, down his back, leaving trails of fire until he thought he would melt from the heat of it. He placed his hands reverently on her belly, gently kissing her scar. He already knew from Taser that Nicki was not pregnant; and, seeing the remains of the damage that had been inflicted, he was glad for it now. His children would grow here someday, but he could wait. He wasn’t quite ready to share her yet, anyway.
Sliding between her thighs, he hovered just enough to relieve her of her shorts. “You’re so beautiful,” he whispered. He removed his shirt, needing the direct contact with her silky warmth. Slowly, tenderly, he kissed the crease where her legs joined with her body. First one side, then the other, until he paused above her sex.