Chapter 12
Shannon sighed as she picked at her food. Chris had been making all her favorite foods, including the Huli Huli chicken and rice she wasn’t eating at the moment. From the moment Kade had left her that morning, she’d hadn’t felt like eating. She still didn’t have an appetite, which was worrisome.
“You need to eat.”
She looked up at her brother, who was studying her as if she were going to fall apart. Okay, so she cried the first three days she was there, but she was done. Sort of. And sure, she hadn’t wanted to talk to any men. Not even Evan, whom she adored.
“I’m just not that hungry.”
He shook his head. “I told Cynthia that you weren’t eating enough.”
“And what did she say?”
“She said I was used to being with a woman who ate enough for five people.”
Jocelyn laughed. “She looks ready to explode.”
“Don’t say that around her. I had to help her get her tennis shoes on yesterday. She cried for an hour.”
She smiled at her brother. “Aw, and you couldn’t take it, you old softie.”
He grimaced then he frowned as his attention was drawn to something behind her. “What the f*ck is he doing here?”
Her brother didn’t cuss that much, at least not in front of her. She turned to follow his line of vision and saw Kade.
Her breath tangled in her throat, and her heart started beating so fast she was amazed she didn’t pass out.
He looked wonderful—damn him. He was dressed in his service dress. He freaking looked like freaking Richard Gere. The restaurant had grown quiet. She was sure you didn’t see a Navy Seal in full dress whites march into a local business on a regular basis in Honolulu.
He was looking around, and just for a second, she thought about slipping down in the booth and hiding. She wasn’t ready to deal with the churning emotions he brought about in her. A moment later, though, he caught sight of her and started in her direction. Lord, he was a sight to see. There was nothing like a Seal on a mission, and apparently, she was his mission.
He strode toward her, every step sending panic racing through her.
“What the hell is he doing here?” she asked more to herself than anyone else.
“I don’t give a damn,” Chris muttered as he stood. “I’m going to kill him.”
She stood up and faced her brother. She loved him with all her heart, but she knew Kade and knew what he could do.
“I can take care of this.”
His frown turned darker. “I don’t want you to.”
“I can handle it. Besides, I do not want to help Cynthia raise that baby because you’re in a wheelchair for the rest of your life.”
“You don’t think I could handle him?” Pure astonishment filled his tone.
“Sure you can. Working behind a stove and running a restaurant gets you in shape to take on a killing machine like a Seal.”
He made a face. “Okay, you have a point.”
She patted his cheek then turned to face Kade.
He stopped within a few feet of her and stared. The moment got awkward as he continued to gaze at her as if she were his salvation. He looked better, rested, and for a moment, she hated him for that. She hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in three weeks, and here he was looking like a million bucks.
She could feel everyone still looking at them. Something had to give, so she did what every Dupree knew how to do. She joked.
“Kind of dressed up for the occasion, Kade?’
He didn’t say anything, but his lips twitched.
She crossed her arms beneath her breasts. “You flew all the way over here to stare at me?”
He shook his head, but his gaze didn’t leave hers. “I came for you.”
Her heart did that little happy dance, but she pushed it away. She didn’t want this, didn’t want to deal with the hurt again. She thought she could, thought she could be patient while he worked himself out, but she realized that she might not be cut out to have a Seal as a lover.
“No.”
He frowned.
“No?”
Poor pitiful Seal.
“Yeah, I said no. Just because you put on a uniform and march into my brother’s restaurant doesn’t mean I’m going to forget everything.”
He glanced around at their audience. “Shouldn’t we talk about this in private?”
“You picked the setting.”
“You tell him, sistah,” someone yelled out.
He grimaced. “I thought we would go for a walk.”
Oh, he looked miserable. Just so miserable. He might love her, but flying across the Pacific didn’t really prove it. She wanted more, she wanted it all. And the only way she could get it was if she knew that he was in it for the long haul, like she was.
“Thinking’s overrated.”
A few more of the customers started catcalling, and his face started to turn pink. Oh, my. He was embarrassed. And there was a tiny, evil part of her that was happy he was.
“I wanted to talk to you about our future.”
“We don’t have one.”
Up until that moment, he had been what she would call docile—for a Seal. Now his eyes turned hard, his jaw flexed. She had to fight the urge to step back away from him. She had never been scared of him, but at the moment, she could easily see his anger.
“Don’t say that.”
Even though she could tell he was angry, she could hear a thread of desperation in his voice. It pricked at the already melting ice that encased her heart.
“You’re the one who ran away.”
He sighed. “I was stupid.”
She wanted to punish him, but since he admitted he was stupid, she would at least be cordial. “From the uniform, I assume you’re going to stay in the military?”
He nodded.
“So you flew over, and that must have been expensive by the way, dressed up in your little white uniform, to tell me you’re staying in the military.”
“I came for you.”
The declaration had a few of the women sighing, and if she were honest with herself, Shannon’s heart did a little flip flop.
“Me? Oh, the person who was trying to fix you?”
His jaw flexed again. “You were right, I was scared. Mainly because my mortality had been in question.”
“We’re all mortal.”
“He is a Seal, Shannon,” her brother said from behind her.
She glanced over her shoulder with narrowed eyes. “Stay out of this, or I’ll tell Cynthia you told me about helping her with her shoes.”
He held up his hands in self-defense.
When she turned back to Kade, she was still frowning. She had to stay mad. It was her only safety from falling for the idiot again.
“As I was saying, that last mission was bad. Really bad. I knew it was, and so did Mal, but we didn’t act fast enough. I…well, I questioned if I was fit to serve.”
Oh, God, he was killing her. He had been like Mal. The only reason he had gotten into the military was to be a Seal. It had been the thing that had driven them, the one thing they identified with the most.
“Just because you had one bad mission doesn’t mean that you should quit. You’re a good Seal.”
He nodded. “Since taking you to bed, I care more about being a good man.”
She couldn’t take this. Her heart was melting, her better judgment flying out the window with the trade winds. If she gave into him, what would she do?
“You are a good man.” Her voice was raw with emotion. She might not be able to take him back, but there was one thing she knew. He was good at his core. Always had been.
He nodded, then bent down on one knee. Several of the women gasped, and there was a patter of applause.
“I love you, Shannon. Will you marry me?”
Panic came first. It took her by the throat and would not let go. She couldn’t speak, couldn’t swallow the lump in her throat. Then on the heels of it came anger. He thought he could propose and everything would be okay.
“No.”
“What did you say?”
“You can’t just come in here with a ring…” When she noticed him grimace, she realized he wasn’t offering her a ring. “You didn’t even bring a ring, you idiot.” She slapped him on the shoulder and went to move past him, but Kade grabbed her by the wrist.
“I thought you’d want to pick one out.”
The moment he touched her, her pulse jumped. Fear had her twisting her arm free. She wasn’t afraid of him, but of what she would do. She couldn’t say yes, deal with the idiot’s moods. Months of waiting for him to come home, then have to joke him out of his stupid bad mood and God, hear him laugh as he hugged her.
Tears stung her eyes. She did not want that. No way.
“No. Stay away.”
He rose to his feet and started after her. She was heading for the door with no idea of where she was going. She left her purse behind, she didn’t have a car, but she just needed to get away.
Her hand was inches from the door when he scooped her up off the floor, then positioned her on his shoulder like a freaking sack of potatoes.
“You know, woman, I had to chase you across the Pacific. I came to apologize, to tell you I love you, to tell you I want to spend my life with you, and what do you do? You say no and run away.”
“Put. Me. Down.”
He apparently heard the threat in her voice and decided to heed the tone. He slowly put her down. She stepped back from him, but put up her hand when he inched closer.
“I promise not to leave. Just…stay there.”
If he was close, she would feel his warmth, take in his scent, and she couldn’t handle that. Her head was already spinning.
“Why are you running?”
The question had her stomach churning. She was running. She wasn’t going to admit it to him.
“I just wanted to get away. I needed some space. I don’t like public declarations.”
He cocked his head, then that slow smile that always melted her bones curved his lips. “You’re afraid.”
“Go to hell.”
She turned to march away, but he caught her and pulled her back against him.
“I’m sorry, baby. So sorry. You didn’t take any cheap shots at me, and I shouldn’t have been so happy about you being scared.”
“I’m not scared.” But even as she said it, she knew she was lying.
“Yeah, you are. It’s okay. This thing we have is scary.”
He turned her gently and cupped her face, wiping away the tears from her cheeks.
“I want to marry you, I want to have babies with you, but know I have to finish my obligation. I have four more years, then I’m out.”
“You’ll stay in more.”
He shook his head. “I love it, really do. But…I love you more. I need you more than I need this. It’s a lot to ask. I’ll be in Virginia, then out in the field. You’ll be in New Orleans. But, we can make this work. I know we can.”
She sighed, her heart just falling down at his feet then. It wasn’t so much of what he said, but the way he said it, and the soft look in his eyes.
“I have to ask again, because, Shannon, without you, being a Seal means nothing to me. I love you. Please, marry me.”
Her vision blurred as another batch of fresh tears filled her eyes. “Oh, Kade, I love you, too. Yes. Yes! I’ll marry you.”
He pulled her into his arms and kissed her as the sound of customer’s applause filled the air.
Epilogue
“What do you have planned?” Shannon asked as Kade took her hand and led her out of the elevator.
“You’re the worst about secrets. I thought you were bad at Christmas.” She could hear the smile in his voice, but she couldn’t see him. He’d blindfolded her downstairs and refused to tell her where they were going. She knew they were still in the hotel where they had their wedding reception, but she wasn’t sure where they were going.
“For all I know, you’re leading me down the hallway to kill me.”
“No, I just have a surprise, and I didn’t want you to know about it.”
She frowned at that as he stopped her. She opened her mouth to tell him just what she thought, but she heard a woman’s delighted squeal in the distance.
“What the hell?” Kade said.
“Was it someone we knew?”
“It looked like Deke with some blonde. Doesn’t matter.”
She heard him unlock a door, then he guided her inside. The scent of plumeria hit her first along with the sensual scents that she knew to be candles. He stepped behind her, untied her blindfold, and removed it from her eyes.
Candles covered almost every available surface. On the bedside table, the dresser. It was the only light in the room. The bed was covered with plumeria petals. Tears filled her eyes. She recognized the room.
“This was my room for the night of Chris and Cynthia’s wedding.”
He slid his arms around her waist and pulled her back against him. He brushed his lips against her jaw. “Yep. I had to pull a few strings to make sure we got it. And Jocelyn helped me. She snuck up here a few minutes ago and got it ready.”
She smiled, thinking of her sister and the surprise she had for her husband tonight. She turned in Kade’s arms and cupped his face. He had been gorgeous at the ceremony, dressed in the same uniform he’d proposed to her in. But now he was dressed in a Hawaiian shirt and a pair of chinos, and he was just as delicious.
“I am the luckiest woman in the world.”
His smile faded as he touched his forehead to hers. “No, love. You can’t be with a bloke like me. I put you through some hard times. I’m sorry that I’m going to probably put you through some more. Being a military wife isn’t easy.”
“No, it’s not. But it’s the only kind of wife I want to be.”
He kissed her then, sweet, hot, and by the time he was finished, they were both breathing heavily. Stepping away, he took her hand. “Come, let me love you.”
She followed him to the bed, laying down first. He stood looking at her for a moment.
“You have no idea how amazing you look.”
“Yeah?”
“Decadence and innocence all rolled up into one delicious woman.”
She didn’t think she would ever get used to the way he spoke to her. He might be a quiet one, but when those words flowed over her, they took hold of her heart and would not let go.
“Well, come on, Seal, I think we need to explore that decadent side.”
The naughty smile he gave her told Shannon he had more than a little decadence planned for the night.
He joined her on the bed then pulled her into his arms. He rolled them across the mattress so that she was beneath his powerful body.
“Well, Mrs. McKade—”
“I like the sound of that,” she said.
“I do too.” He brushed his mouth over hers before he slid down her body. “And I am ready to show you just how much I love the fact that you’re my Mrs. McKade.”
“Oh, yeah?”
He inched the hem of her wedding dress up over her thighs, his eyes widening when he saw that she hadn’t worn any panties.
She laughed. “Oh, my, I think I shocked you.”
He shook his head, his gaze directly on her p-ssy. He skimmed his fingers over her mons, then dipped two into her sex. She shivered.
“That was very naughty, Shannon.”
She heard the change of tone, knew that he was already getting into full Dom mode.
He bent his head and licked her slit then said, “Now, remember, baby. No coming until I say you can.”
Then, he set about driving her insane as she lay on a bed of petals in the room where they fell in love.
The End
About Melissa Schroeder
From an early age, USA TODAY Bestselling author Melissa Schroeder loved to read. First, it was the books her mother read to her including her two favorites, Winnie the Pooh and the Beatrix Potter books. She cut her preteen teeth on Trixie Belden and read and reviewed To Kill a Mockingbird in middle school. It wasn’t until she was in college that she tried to write her first stories, which were full of angst and pain, and really not that fun to read or write. After trying several different genres, she found romance in a Linda Howard book. Since the publication of her first book in 2004, Melissa has had close to fifty romances published. She writes in genres from historical suspense to modern day erotic romance to futuristics and paranormals. Included in those releases is the bestselling Harmless series. In 2011, Melissa branched out into self-publishing with A Little Harmless Submission and the popular military spinoff, Infatuation: A Little Harmless Military Romance. Along the way she has garnered an epic nomination, a multitude of reviewer’s recommended reads, over five Capa nods from TRS, three nominations for AAD Bookies and regularly tops the bestseller lists on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. She was recently named Author of the year and most Accessible Author of the Year by the Authors After Dark Bookies. She made the USA Today Bestseller list in September of 2013 with her book, The Santinis Collection.
Since she spent her childhood as a military brat, Melissa swore never to marry military. But, as we all know, Fate has her way with mortals. She is married to an AF major and is raising her own brats, both human and canine. She spends her days giving in to her addiction to Twitter, Facebook, Doctor Who, and the Big Bang Theory. She is very thankful her airman is retired and they can live where the bugs die in the winter.
You can connect with Mel all over the web:
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