Carol Ericson - Point Blank Seal

“I’ll get you through the rest of the school year.” He pulled her close and kissed her forehead. “Now you need to get to sleep. You and Mikey take the bed and I’ll bunk here on the couch.”

She drew her eyebrows over her nose. He wasn’t going to sleep with her his first night back? She’d dreamed of lying in his arms so many times over the past two years and now that she had him within her reach, he was slipping away.

Was it because he saw the doubt in her eyes?

He pressed his index finger between her eyes as if to flatten out her frown. “I’m not going to sleep. I’m going to keep watch over you and Mikey.”

“You look tired, Miguel. You need to sleep, too.”

“I’ve gone without a good, full night’s sleep for so long now, I don’t even know what I’m missing anymore.” He pointed to the bathroom. “You first. Go brush your teeth and all that.”

Ten minutes later when she came out of the bathroom, Miguel, sitting on the edge of the sofa, glanced up from his cell phone, his face drawn, his eyes hollow.

Jennifer forced a smile to her face and swallowed. “All yours.”

He turned his phone facedown on the table beside the sofa and jumped to his feet. “Crawl into the bed next to Mikey. I’ll be done in two minutes and then I’ll keep watch over both of you.”

As soon as the bathroom door closed behind him, she rushed to the phone, grabbing it before it could go to sleep. She tapped the display and the most recent text message came to life.

As she read the words from Josh Elliott, one of Miguel’s sniper teammates, her heart did somersaults in her chest.

She was still clutching the phone when Miguel emerged from the bathroom, and she held it up to him, reciting the words she’d memorized.

“‘Mole. Don’t know how deep. Gunning for you—and Jen.’”

Chapter Four

A muscle in Miguel’s jaw jumped. “You read my text?”

“That’s all you have to say?” She waved the phone at him. “When were you going to tell me?”

“About the mole?” He ran a hand through his hair. “I just found out.”

“I repeat. When were you going to tell me about it? Ever?” She tossed the phone against the back cushion of the sofa, and it bounced and landed on the floor. “You’re not back twenty-four hours and you’re already keeping things from me.”

Heat burned in his chest, along with the guilt. “Jen, this is different.”

“Really? Aren’t you going to tell me that I’m better off not knowing for my own safety? Why don’t you let me decide what’s best for my own safety? Were you planning to leave me again for my own safety?”

Clasping the back of his neck, he bit the inside of his cheek. The thought had crossed his mind that with him out of the picture, Jen would be safe, but Josh’s text indicated the mole was after Jennifer, too.

As she studied his face, her eyes grew round. “You were. You were going to leave us—me and Mikey.”

In two steps, he ate up the distance between them and pulled her stiff body into his arms. “I’m never going to leave you again. Yeah, I did think maybe you’d be better off without me back in your life, but I learned to be selfish in captivity. I’m not gonna let you go—not now, not ever.”

She struggled against him for a few seconds until he cupped her face in his hands and planted a desperate kiss against her lips. Then she seemed to go boneless in his arms, melting against his chest.

She pulled away from his kiss and whispered hoarsely in his ear, “Don’t ever leave me again, Miguel. I almost died when they told me you were dead.”

He massaged a circle on her back and rested his chin on top of her head, the honey-blond strands of her hair clinging to his beard.

She hooked one arm around his waist and slid the other hand up the front of his shirt, splaying her fingers across his bare chest. “Make it real. Let me know you’re back.”

Throwing a quick glance at his son’s sleeping form, Miguel stepped back from Jennifer’s searching hands. If he needed an excuse for not being intimate with his fiancée, that excuse lay in a flushed tumble on the bed. “Is this a good idea?”

Tugging at his shirt, she replied, “He’s not even two. He’s not going to know what’s going on over here even if he does wake up. And he won’t.”

All his muscles tensed, but Miguel tried to put a smile on his face. “If you say so.”

“I say so.” She bunched his shirt in her hands and yanked it up. “Help me out here.”

Holding his breath, Miguel pulled his shirt over his head.

Jennifer gasped.

Miguel crumpled his T-shirt in one fist. “Yeah, maybe this isn’t such a good idea after all. I probably should’ve warned you.”

Her fingertips traced the scars crisscrossing his chest. Then she nudged him with her hands to turn around.

“Not much better back there.”

She smoothed her hands across the various wounds on his back, exploring them as if committing them to memory. “H-how did you ever survive this?”

“By thinking of this.” He turned to face her and wrapped his hands around her waist. He slanted his mouth across hers, slipping his tongue into her mouth, where it did a familiar tango with hers.

He could do this if he just maintained a certain level of control. He wouldn’t allow himself to let go.

Jennifer wedged her fingers in the waistband of his jeans and yanked at his zipper.

“Mama.” A wail quickly followed the single word.

Miguel jerked back from Jennifer. What had he been thinking? He could never maintain control with Jen.

She kissed Miguel’s chest. “Let me settle him. I’ll be right back.”

She sat on the edge of the bed and a few minutes later Miguel joined her, kneeling on the floor.

Mikey rubbed his eyes and let out another wail. Jennifer pulled him into her lap. “It’s okay, Mikey. We’re in a hotel, but you’re with Mama...and your daddy.”

A knot twisted in Miguel’s gut. He’d wanted to be a dad for so long, but the conditions couldn’t be worse. “Do you think he’s ready for that, Jen? Ready for me?”

“The sooner the better. Might as well get him used to the idea.”

“Doesn’t look as if he much likes the idea of a daddy.”

Mikey’s face had crumpled, and fresh tears rolled down his cheeks as he stared at his newfound father.

“He’s probably having a delayed reaction to that explosion in his room and the fire. He hardly had time to react before you swooped in there to save him. Now he’s waking up in a strange place.” She shrugged.

“With a strange man.”

“Not for long, Miguel. He’ll adapt quickly. Kids do.”

“We’re not giving him much to adapt to—a motel room instead of his home, most of his clothes and toys ruined.” He touched Mikey’s little fist, curled around a lock of Jennifer’s hair. “Has he had many men in his life?”

She sucked in a quick breath of air. “Dad and Mom have been to visit a few times, but Alicia’s husband, Troy, has probably been the most prominent male in Mikey’s life, since I see Alicia and Troy a few times a month.”

Her words left a sour taste in his mouth. He didn’t even like Troy, the husband of Jen’s best friend, and that guy had a more important role in Mikey’s life than he did.

Miguel met Mikey’s watery gaze and winked. He supposed he should be feeling grateful that Troy was there for Mikey...and Jen.

Jennifer kissed the top of Mikey’s head. “I’m going to change his diaper and try to get him to go back to sleep.”

“Can I watch? If I’m gonna be a dad, I’d better start learning the basics.”

“Of course. Nothing to it.” She scooted off the bed with Mikey clutched to her chest. Pointing to the corner where he’d stashed her bags, she said, “Bring me that green diaper bag. We’ll do it here on the floor.”