Chapter 16
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Josie woke up next to Nate and smiled. Even now, three days after their trip to Vegas, when she thought about how he hadn’t hesitated to get between her and Ayden’s relatives, she felt tingly inside.
Or maybe that was because of the way he’d made love to her the night before. Their first time had been fast, hard, and a little desperate. But last night, Nate had been loving and gentle. It was wonderful…and eventually, a little frustrating. She’d loved the domineering and bossy man he’d been at the hotel in Vegas. And when she’d told him that, she’d felt the change come over him.
It was obvious he thought he’d been too rough. Too hard with her. But the reality was, she felt feminine and beautiful when he put her where he wanted her, when he took his pleasure from her not with pain, but with force.
She was sore that morning between her legs, but in a good way .
“Morning,” Nate said. “How do you feel?”
Josie’s smile widened. “Amazing.”
“Not sore?”
Her smile didn’t fade in the least. “A little.”
“Good.”
His answer surprised her.
“Because I want you to feel me between your legs all day. Think of me while I’m at work and you’re sitting at our table, typing like the wind.”
Josie liked that idea too.
“And will you be thinking of me in return?” she asked.
In response, he brought her hand to his cock, which was already half-hard. “It feels like this is my permanent state now. I’m always thinking of you, and this is the result.”
It was a good answer. The feeling of possessiveness that hit Josie was unusual. But she loved it.
“You like that,” Nate said. It wasn’t a question.
Josie nodded.
“I’m yours,” he said easily. “Hook, line, and sinker. What are your plans for today?”
It should’ve felt like an awkward change of topic, but actually, it felt…domestic. “I have two movies I need to type captions for, then at two, I have a live news conference. On that missing person’s case up in Modesto. They have more details to share.”
“Don’t forget, I’m taking you to Aces tonight for dinner,” Nate said.
Josie nodded. She hadn’t forgotten. She was nervous, but also kind of excited to meet the women who Remi and Wren kept telling her about. Caroline, Alabama, Fiona, Summer, Cheyenne, Jesskya, and Julie. They sounded like people who’d be amazing friends to have, and she could sure use more.
She hadn’t had many close friends in her life, and the closer she got to Remi and Wren, the more friends she wanted who were just like them.
“You want to shower while I make you a bagel?” Nate asked.
“I’m feeling too lazy to shower right now. I’ll take one later, after the news conference. How about I get up and make you breakfast while you shower?”
“Deal.”
Nate rolled until she was caged under him. “I love having you here. Waking up with you in the morning, eating meals with you, watching TV at night, being inside you and falling asleep with you in my arms. I didn’t know when I opened my eyes in that cell that you would be the woman I’d wished for all my life, but I knew you’d change my life in one way or another.”
Josie’s eyes filled with tears.
“No! Don’t cry,” Nate ordered. “I didn’t mean to make you cry.”
“Then you shouldn’t be so sweet,” she told him.
“You want me to be a jerk?” he asked with a grin.
Josie shook her head.
“I can be, you know,” he admitted, suddenly very serious.
She put a hand on his cheek and made sure she was looking into his eyes as she said, “But not to me.”
“Never,” Nate vowed. Then he kissed her hard and threw the covers back. He was naked, as was she. As he strode toward the bathroom, she eyed his ass. He even had freckles there, which was somehow both cute and sexy at the same time.
Nate turned at the entrance to the bathroom. “Are you checking out my ass?” he asked with a laugh.
She smiled. “Yup.” The admission wasn’t embarrassing in the least.
“Good. Glad my woman likes her man’s ass.”
“Who said I liked it?” she sassed.
She heard his chuckle as he moved out of her sight, into the bathroom.
Josie stretched, feeling like a contented cat. The twinge between her legs reminded her again of what they’d done the night before, and her smile grew. She would definitely be thinking of Nate all day.
“You seem nervous, is everything okay?” Josie asked Nate later that afternoon.
He’d checked in with her a few times over the course of the day, as was his routine. His texts, along with Remi and Wren’s, made Josie feel loved.
She’d spent so much of her time completely alone in her apartment working, never talking to anyone, that it felt strange at first to have so many people checking on her, or texting her simply to tell her something that was on their minds. They weren’t asking her to do anything, they just wanted to connect.
Which felt awesome .
After Nate arrived home, however, he seemed…off. Distracted. He’d been getting and sending a lot of texts.
“If you don’t want to go out to eat, it’s fine. I can make us something.”
“No!” Nate said, a little too loudly. He took a deep breath. “Sorry, no, I want to go to Aces. And you’ve been looking forward to meeting everyone. We’ve just been going over some pretty intense stuff at work.”
That didn’t really make Josie feel much better, but she did her best to push her worry aside. Nate and his teammates were good at what they did. She’d seen that firsthand. She trusted that if they were sent on a mission, they’d be all right.
She’d even had a little talk with Remi and Wren about the exact topic. About how they felt when the team was deployed. They’d validated her feelings and reassured her that when the SEAL team was sent off, they knew what they were doing.
“Okay,” she said a little belatedly.
The drive to Aces was taken in silence, but not an uncomfortable one. The lot was packed when they arrived but surprisingly, there was an open spot pretty close to the front door.
“It’s cute,” Josie said, as she studied the building. The bar wasn’t in a run-down part of the city and the logo—a poker chip with the word Aces across the front, in cursive—was eye-catching and appealing. The parking lot was clean and well-lit.
“There are cameras covering every inch of the lot,” Nate said, obviously watching her eye her surroundings. “Jessyka takes the safety of the people who come here very seriously. Especially after what happened to Wren. She even installed cameras looking up and down the street, in case someone doesn’t park in the main lot, as the asshole who tried to assault Wren did.”
Josie nodded. She’d heard the entire story about Wren’s situation, and was impressed with the way Jessyka, the owner of the bar, had stepped up to try to make sure it never happened again at her establishment.
“Ready?” Nate asked after he’d lifted her out of his truck.
“Ready,” Josie said firmly. And she was. Excitement was winning out over her nerves at this point. She wanted to meet the people who’d been so good to Nate. Who’d helped him get over the death of his SEAL teammates. His friends.
Nate pushed open the door and gestured for her to precede him inside. The feel of his hand on the small of her back was warm and comforting.
“Surprise!”
Josie jerked at the sound of so many people yelling at the same time. The bar was lit with bright lights that someone had turned on the moment she’d stepped inside. There was a huge “Happy Birthday” banner stretched behind the bar, and dozens of people were staring at her and Nate with huge smiles on their faces.
She turned to look up at Nate. “Is it your birthday?” she asked in shock. Surely he would’ve told her if that was the case.
“No,” he said with a soft smile. “We’re celebrating yours. You said you missed your thirtieth birthday, and I didn’t want such an important milestone to go unacknowledged.”
Josie swallowed hard. She could hear all the people talking and laughing behind her…but she only had eyes for the man she’d fallen deeply and madly in love with.
“You are so getting some tonight,” she blurted.
Nate threw back his head and laughed, and Josie had never wanted a man more than she wanted him at that moment.
“We’ll see how you feel,” he said, when he had control over himself.
“How I feel?” she asked.
“I’m thinking the girls want to celebrate with you in style,” he told her, nodding his head at something or someone behind her.
Remi and Wren were standing there, along with half a dozen other women. They all had huge smiles on their faces. Remi handed her a giant glass filled with some sort of slushy drink.
“To Josie!” Wren exclaimed.
“To Josie!” everyone echoed.
“Drink up, woman! We have a lot of celebrating to do!” Remi told her.
Josie smiled at her over the rim of the glass and took a sip. The alcohol burned going down her throat.
“Have fun,” Nate whispered in her ear as he leaned into her. His hand rested on her waist as he spoke. “I’ll be over there with the guys. You’re safe here, Spirit. Let loose. Enjoy.”
Josie turned to him, feeling overwhelmed with love for this man. He was letting her have a good time, while making sure she was safe in the process.
“Later,” he told her, as if he could read her mind, could see how much she needed him. “Thirty spanks for the birthday girl.”
Her pussy spasmed at his words.
Smirking—because he knew exactly how much she liked when he smacked her ass during sex—Nate strode off toward a group of hot-looking badass men who could only be the retired Navy SEALs he’d told her so much about.
“Girl! That look on your face,” one of the older women said with a smile.
“I recognize that look!” another said.
“I’m thinking Josie’s gonna get lucky tonight,” someone else said.
“No, Blink is,” Wren countered.
Everyone laughed.
“Come on, we have cake to eat, presents to open, and drinks to consume,” Remi said in a bossy tone, pulling on Josie’s arm.
“Presents?” Josie asked in a daze.
“It’s not a birthday party without presents! I’m Caroline, by the way, and you’re adorable. Tiny. Pint-sized. Perfect for Blink.”
Josie couldn’t argue with the woman. She was all those things. But most importantly, she felt as if she finally belonged somewhere. She’d found her tribe—and it felt incredible.
Blink couldn’t take his gaze off of Josie. She was marvelous. In her element. She’d had a smile on her face all night, and he loved seeing it. She was so far from the near-feral, traumatized woman he’d first seen in the dark cell next to his, it wasn’t even funny.
And she was drunk.
Hammered.
Sloshed.
He didn’t mind. She deserved this. To completely relax, to let her guard down. She’d only turn thirty once, and he hated that it happened while she’d been a prisoner. He loved being able to give her this. Blink had worked hard to keep it a secret and get everyone together. And his plans had gone off without a hitch.
Now it was getting late, and some people had left, needing to get home to their families. Wren and Remi, as drunk as Josie, dragged Safe and Kevlar home minutes ago.
Surprisingly, Preacher, MacGyver, Flash, and Smiley hadn’t called it a night yet. Preacher was currently sitting at a table with Josie, Wolf, and Dude. Blink had thought Josie might feel intimidated being surrounded by the huge men, but from her body language, she seemed perfectly comfortable.
Caroline and Cheyenne were chatting at a nearby table, as they waited for their men.
Blink approached Josie’s table, and she turned to him. Her cheeks were flushed and she was smiling huge.
“Nate! This is Wolf and Dude! Aren’t those cool names? Dude is a bombadeer. You know, one of those bomb guys who keeps them from going boom! And that’s how he met Cheyenne! She had a bomb strapped to her chest! Her chest !” she exclaimed with a small frown. “And Wolf…every time I he ar his name I wanna start singing that Duran Duran song. Preacher won’t tell me how he got his name.”
“Don’t give me that pout,” Preacher told her with a laugh, relaxing in his chair. “Won’t work on me.”
“Um, you do know that’s not what a bombardier is, right?” Blink asked Josie with a smile.
She waved her hand in the air as if swatting away his words. “Close enough.”
“Should we tell her what it really means?” Preacher asked.
“No.”
“Yes!”
Josie and Blink spoke at the same time. She leaned toward Preacher. “Tell me!”
“Well, it’s kind of hard to explain. It’s been used as a kind of alert from one guy to another. To let him know that something’s happening that caused him to get a spontaneous woody. Kind of an early warning system.”
Josie threw her head back and laughed. Blink could only stare at her in awe. She was so beautiful when her inhibitions were down. Though, if he was being honest with himself, she was beautiful anytime.
“Are you serious? You’re kidding, right?”
“Nope,” Preacher said with a smirk. “Right, guys?”
“No clue. I’ve never heard of that word, and I would never use it to talk about my cock,” Dude said, completely straight-faced.
“Must be a youngster’s word,” Wolf agreed.
That set Josie off again. She laughed as if Wolf and Dude had said the funniest thing she’d ever heard. She waved her hand again, this time sort of indicating the men around her as she looked up at Blink. “I love them. They’re awesome! I mean, not as much as I love you, but close!”
Blink stilled. She was drunk, didn’t know what she was saying, but damn…hearing those words on her lips felt amazing.
“You ready to go home?” he blurted, needing to get her alone.
“Yup!” she said without hesitation. “I just need to say bye to Caroline and Cheyenne. They’re great. Told me all sorts of stuff tonight about being with a SEAL. The Navy kind and not the animal.” Josie giggled at her own joke.
“Oh! And I want to thank Bert…he made me the best drink tonight. Oh! And I see Smiley, Flash, and MacGyver are still here. I want to say bye to them too…” Josie got up and hugged Dude from behind, her arms barely going all the way around his shoulders. “Bye, Dude!” Then she did the same to Wolf. “Bye, Wolf. It was so nice meeting you!”
She approached Preacher’s chair, but he turned, giving her a proper hug. She was so small, their heads were on the same level, even with him sitting. Then she skipped off to say her goodbyes to everyone else.
“I like her,” Dude said with a smile.
“You did good,” Wolf agreed with a nod.
He had. Blink was relieved his friends liked Josie, but honestly, it wouldn’t have mattered if they hadn’t clicked right off the bat. He had no doubt that eventually, she would’ve won them over.
The men all stood, and Wolf and Dude went over to collect their women before heading out the door .
Josie was talking with the rest of Blink’s teammates when Preacher stood and said, “She needed this.”
Blink glanced at his friend. “What do you mean?”
“This. Relaxing. Making friends. She told us she’s never had anyone do something like this before. Throw her a surprise party. Got all teared up about it too. It’s hard to believe a woman like her doesn’t already have a dozen best friends who would bend over backward for her. To know she was in that cell, and not one person wondered where she was…no one alerted the authorities that she was missing… It’s a goddamn crime. Because she’s the sweetest, most generous, and kindest woman I’ve met.”
Even though the words were complimenting Josie, Blink felt them down to his toes. His friend wasn’t wrong.
He was honored to be the one to throw her a party. It wasn’t about the cake Jessyka had brought out from the kitchen, making her blow out thirty candles. It wasn’t about the presents her new friends had given her, trinkets and fun little items that weren’t terribly expensive, but Blink could tell meant the world to Josie.
It was about feeling seen. Being a part of a group. Feeling as if, should anything ever happen again, she wouldn’t be forgotten.
“Before Kevlar left, he told me to tell you not to come to PT in the morning. That he’d see you at our first meeting at ten. Josie’s probably gonna be a little hungover, he thought you might want to be there to take care of her.”
Kevlar wasn’t wrong, and Blink was grateful for his team leader’s generosity .
“Thanks. Think I’ll see if I can wrangle her home. Thanks for getting all her things to my truck.”
“Of course.” Preacher slapped Blink on the shoulder. “It’s good to see you happy, Blink. For a while there, we weren’t sure you’d be able to climb out of that mental pit you were in.”
Blink looked his friend in the eye and said, “Me either. But Remi helped with that. As did all of you. None of you looked down on me for feeling the way I did. I’ll always appreciate it.”
Preacher snorted. “If I lost any of you guys, like what happened to your first team, I’m not sure I’d ever be able to get over it. You told Safe earlier tonight that you’re in awe of Josie’s strength, but you’re a perfect match for her. You’re both strong as hell. Take her home. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Blink hadn’t ever really thought of himself like that. He simply did what needed to be done, when it needed doing. And he certainly hadn’t felt strong when he’d been lost in his head after his friends were killed and injured. But sometimes being strong was putting one foot in front of the other day after day, when all you wanted to do instead was curl into a ball and fade into nothingness.
Josie was talking animatedly to Smiley and Flash when Blink approached. He wrapped an arm around her chest diagonally from behind. “Ready to go?” he asked, interrupting the story she was telling his friends about a possum named Pete. He had no idea what the hell she was talking about—it was amazing how quickly her words returned when she felt safe and happy—but when she tilted her head up and smiled up at him, Blink knew he’d stand there and let her babble for hours, if that’s what she wanted to do.
“Ready,” she said instead.
Shifting, Blink took her hand in his and gave his friends a chin lift and headed for the door, before Josie could get sidetracked again.
She paused before walking through and waved at the bar, not at anyone in particular, and said, “Bye Aces! I’m out!”
People chuckled and called out their goodbyes as Blink pulled her through the door to the parking lot with a smile on his face.
“Hey, wait…did everyone save this parking spot for us?” she asked, as Blink led her to his truck.
“Yup.”
“That’s awesome!” she exclaimed.
Lots of things had been “awesome” for her tonight, and Blink thought it was adorable as hell.
He opened her door and lifted her into the passenger seat with ease. She let him snap her seat belt into place, but stopped him before he could step back and close the door. “Nate?”
She sounded serious for the first time in hours. “Yeah, hon?”
“No one has ever done anything like this for me. The party. Thank you.”
“You should’ve had this kind of thing all your life before now. And I’m going to do my best to spoil you and make sure you know how much you’re loved from here on out.”
A smile formed on her lips. “I repeat, you are so getting some when we get home. ”
Blink chuckled. He wasn’t sure she’d be able to stay awake for the drive home, forget about doing more when they got there.
“Okay, Spirit.”
“I’ve decided that I like that nickname,” she informed him.
“Good. Watch your arm, I’m shutting the door.”
She leaned left, and Blink got the door closed. He jogged around to the driver’s side and climbed in. Before long, they were headed home. He kept looking over at Josie, only to see her gaze glued on him every time.
“What?” he finally asked when they were halfway home.
“I love your freckles. And your hair. I’ve always wanted red-haired babies.”
Blink gaped. But she went on as if she hadn’t just rocked his world.
“And twins. I know they’re more work, but since you’re a twin, they probably run in your family. I wanted a brother or sister so bad when I was growing up, but of course Mom was single, so that wasn’t happening, or so she told me. I think three.”
“Three what?” Blink asked when she didn’t continue.
“Kids.”
“You want three kids?” Blink asked.
“Uh-huh. I just said that.”
Blink wanted to stop the truck right there and get to work on giving her exactly what she wanted. But he controlled himself. Barely.
“Nate? ”
“Right here, Josie,” he said with a small smile. She really was an adorable drunk.
“Your people are awesome.”
“They’re your people now too.”
When she didn’t respond, he looked over at her, and he couldn’t interpret the look on her face. “What?”
“I have people,” she whispered, sounding awed. “I’ve never had people before. Wanted them. Thought something was wrong with me when it didn’t happen.”
“Nothing’s wrong with you, Josie,” Blink said, a little harsher than he intended.
She snorted. “There’s lots wrong with me. But when I’m with you, I forget all those things. Did you see tonight?”
Blink’s heart felt as if it was going to beat out of his chest. This woman. She made him feel ten feet tall. He wanted to always be her safe place. “Did I see what?”
“My voice. It didn’t go away,” she said matter-of-factly. “It went away when I was in that cell, and you brought it back. It still feels rusty sometimes. But tonight, it was totally back.”
Blink definitely noticed that she hadn’t had any trouble speaking with others. “I saw,” he told her.
“Nate?”
Lord, she was so damn cute. “Still right here, Josie.”
“I think I only had a week or so left before I died, when you showed up.”
Any warm feelings inside Blink dissipated in an explosion of a thousand stars. It was his turn to have no voice. He had no idea what to say to that.
“I was bad off. So hungry. So skinny. But then you came…and I couldn’t give up. ”
Thankfully, Blink turned into the parking lot of his apartment complex. He pulled into a spot, turned off the engine, then looked at Josie. He undid her seat belt and said, “Come here.”
She didn’t even hesitate, crawling over to him and straddling his lap. It wasn’t even a tight fit. The feel of her tiny body against his own made Blink feel the size of a mountain. She snuggled into him as if she’d done it every day of her life. She fit perfectly.
Blink held her to him with one hand on the back of her head and the other wrapped around her waist. “You were meant to be mine,” he told her softly. “From the moment I saw you in that cell, I knew you’d change my life. And you have. For the better.”
“Mmmmmmm,” she hummed against his neck.
Blink shifted, wanting to get her inside. He opened his door and without effort, stepped out with Josie still clinging to him. She giggled a little but didn’t drop her legs. In fact, she tightened them around him.
“What about my presents?” she asked as he shut the door and headed for his apartment.
“I’ll get them tomorrow.”
“M’kay.”
Blink carried Josie inside, toward his bedroom, then straight into his bathroom. She finally lowered her legs and stood, looking up at him.
“Do your thing in here, then come to bed.”
She gave him a satisfied smile. “Okay.”
He left while he still had the strength to do so. He was walking back into the bedroom after using the bathroom in the hall—and stopped in his tracks.
Josie was standing next to his bed, completely naked, a trail of her clothes leading from the bathroom to the bed.
“Hi,” she said with a crooked grin.
He didn’t remember taking off his clothes, but the next thing Blink knew, he was holding Josie against his own naked body.
She giggled, and his cock got even harder, which he didn’t think was possible.
He picked her up and not so gently dropped her on the bed, then crawled over her, caging her in. “How do you feel?”
“Great!” she chirped.
“Not dizzy? Or nauseous?”
“Nope.”
“Good. How do you want this to go?”
“This?”
“Sex. You want it slow and easy, or fast and hard?”
“Um…both?” she asked with a grin.
“I can do that,” Blink said, not sure he could do slow and easy right now, especially not with her words ringing in his head about red-haired babies.
“Wait!” she exclaimed.
Blink froze as he stared down at her.
“I wanna be on top. And I want my thirty birthday spanks.”
Damn , this woman. She was gonna be the death of him.
Blink rolled off her onto his back, putting his hands behind his head. “I’m all yours,” he quipped.
“All mine,” Josie whispered reverently. “All I’ve ever wanted is a man for myself. Who loves me for me. Who sees through my weirdness to the person underneath.”
“I see you, Spirit. I’ve always seen you,” Blink assured her.
Then she moved, quicker than he would’ve thought she could while drunk. She threw a leg over his stomach and grinned down at him. “Thank you for my birthday party, Nate.”
“You’re welcome.”
She scooted down his body, keeping eye contact as she went. Then she lowered her head and took his cock into her mouth, surprising the hell out of Blink. There was no buildup, no teasing, she squeezed him with her hand and immediately started giving him the best blowjob he’d ever had in his life.
It was all he could do not to explode right then and there. To avoid doing just that, Blink sat up, grabbed Josie around the waist, and hauled her up his body so she was straddling his face.
“Nate! I wasn’t done!” she complained, even as she began to rock over his mouth as he ate her out just as desperately as she’d taken him down her throat.
In response, Blink smacked her ass. She squealed, then giggled. He felt a rush of wetness coat his tongue. She loved that.
He grinned. This was going to be fun.
By the time Josie had gotten her thirty birthday spankings, she’d orgasmed three times, and he’d filled her pussy to overflowing with his own pleasure.
She was lying bonelessly on top of him now, his cock still deep inside her. It was one of Blink’s favorite places to be.
“Happy Birthday, Spirit.”
“Best birthday ever,” she mumbled against him.