FOURTEEN
H enner’s glare bored into the computer screen, willing something to happen.
He wasn’t built for downtime.
Listening to the low hum of the shower and knowing that May was gaining some relaxation from the warm water was pleasant, but he didn’t have it in him to sit around the hotel room all day.
Sitting still and killing time weren’t things he did very often. When he got leave, he sometimes didn’t even leave the base in Jersey, preferring to hang around his teammates rather than make a solo trip out into the world he couldn’t easily interact with as a ghost.
After sharing the most mind-blowing sex of his life with May, they’d climbed out of bed and returned to work. She dug up every speck of dirt on Simpson she could while he shot texts back and forth with Cobra about the bugs he’d discovered in the major general’s home.
Using various photos that Cobra sent him, Henner identified the model of the listening devices he’d seen, but that didn’t get them any further in their search for who placed them there.
He and May needed to stick around the area. If they were given orders, they wouldn’t have time to waste on traveling back to the base. But right now, all was quiet on that front.
Behind the silence he felt the storm gathering, and the rumble of metaphorical thunder echoed through his bones.
The shower stopped running, and he heard another faint hum, not of the water but from May as she prepared for the day.
Through the closed door, he couldn’t make out the tune she hummed. The sound of her voice reminded him of the way she screamed his name the previous night. For several heartbeats, he drowned in images of tumbling in the sheets with May.
He scrubbed a hand over his face to dissipate the images that would play on repeat in his mind for a long, long time. Any trace of the emotions attached to those images, he locked in a steel vault deep down inside him and swallowed the key.
Twisting his head toward the long window across the far wall of the hotel room, he stared at the sliver of light peeking through the closed curtains.
Suddenly, inspiration struck. Being stuck in the town didn’t mean they were stuck in the hotel.
Pivoting back to the computer, he tapped on the keys, bringing up searches on nearby tourist spots.
By the time May emerged from the bathroom, the fresh scent of bodywash wafting on the air currents to where he sat, he had an entire list of places they could visit today while they waited for orders.
Quickly, he shoved away from the table and stood to face her.
As his stare locked with hers, his heart hitched in the same off-beats that it had the previous night.
Using slow, measured steps, he crossed the room to her. She tipped her head back to meet his gaze, and he curled his fingers around her upper arms. Fuck. Her scent drove him wild…but the urge to drag her back into bed and make her smell like him shot through him like a meteor.
“AJ.”
He wanted to engrave his name on her. Hers was already branded on him .
“We’re leaving.”
At his stark statement, her eyes flared wide. “What happened? Are we going to the base?”
Realizing his mistake, he shook his head and ran his fingers down her forearms to clasp her hands. “I should have stated that differently. Everything has been quiet, and we don’t have orders. I have an idea about how to spend our day.” His lips quirked in a grin.
She eyed him. “I don’t know if I like that look on your face.”
You’ll like it when I’m between your thighs with my tongue buried in your sweet pussy.
They definitely needed to get out of this room, away from that bed only steps away.
“We’re going out to see a few sights.”
She blinked up at him with surprise and confusion on her face. “How will this help us get to the bomb?”
“It doesn’t.” It keeps me from saying more foolish things like I did last night. Things that can never happen.
He threw her another smile, hoping to lighten his own mindset. “Unless you don’t want to visit a chocolate factory.”
She stuttered out, “Why didn’t you just say that first?” She grumbled something about men who didn’t have common sense enough to know that a woman liked something sweet once in a while, and pulled on her boots.
In minutes, they walked out of the hotel and set off in an easy stroll. He resisted the urge to hold her hand as they walked down the sunlit street.
From the corner of his eye, he studied her. On the surface, she appeared relaxed, easy. But he knew that behind those sharp eyes taking in their surroundings, her mind was working furiously.
He knew May well enough to plainly see that she was analyzing everything, connecting dots other people didn’t even see. Maybe even about Simpson.
It was what made her damn good at her job—and why she needed a break today.
Henner gave in and clasped her hand. She looked up at him in surprise.
“Relax. We’re supposed to be a couple, remember?”
“Are you going to tell me what made you want to visit a candy factory?”
He shook his head. “First, we’re making another stop.”
“I don’t know if I like this, AJ.”
“What? Having a little fun? Lighten up, May. It’s not every day that you get to pretend you’re on vacation with the man you love.”
When she jumped, the shock shot up his arm.
He realized what he said…and how it must sound, especially after the things he blurted out in bed.
Make you mine. Make a family.
With the map of the local area stamped on his brain, he took the turn without much thought.
“Where exactly are we going?” Her grip on his hand relaxed a measure.
He steered her toward a crosswalk. “I’ve got something fun planned. Well…it will be fun for you .”
“What does that mean?”
“You’ll see.”
“AJ—”
Reaching out, he pressed his forefinger over her plump lips, silencing her protest. Their steps slowed, and they drifted to a stop. Without planning to move, he reached out and took her in his arms.
A soft sigh escaped her as he tugged her against him and kissed her. The gentle caress was so similar to the one they shared right before the wild need to claim May hit him the previous night that he had to force himself to raise his head and step back.
She appeared a little dazed. Unable to stop himself, he smoothed the pad of his thumb across her lips, damp from his kiss. Then booped her on the nose.
She screwed up her face. “You did not just do that to me.”
He squashed his fingertip down on her adorable nose again. She cuffed him in the shoulder, and they both started laughing.
Taking her hand again, he led her down a quiet street lined with low, well-groomed shrubbery. A woman walking a corgi dog was coming toward them, and May let out an exclamation of delight.
“You’re a dog person,” he commented as they passed the cute boy.
“And a cat person. I love animals.”
At the question, she swung her smile at him. It was a sunbeam on a dark, dreary day.
“Do you have any?”
She nodded. “One of each. They’re home with my father. I miss them when I travel.”
“I bet.” He contemplated how normal it was for people to have pets.
People among the living and weren’t hiding in plain sight.
People who weren’t in Blackout.
They continued down the street. Though they were safe enough, with few people around, Henner scanned their surroundings with a vigilance he couldn’t let go of even on a pretend vacation.
Hell, maybe after this was all over, he’d put in for leave and actually go somewhere.
They approached an unassuming brick building with a sign sitting out front on the sidewalk. When May read the sign, she stopped in her tracks.
“AJ! You did this for me!”
He drank in the joy in her eyes and the sparkles there too. The same sparkles that burned in them last night when he joined their bodies, like bright stars in a sky of black velvet that made up the depths of May’s eyes.
He nodded and opened the door with a flourish. “It’s not every day you get to visit a chemical weapons museum.”
She clapped her hands. “You knew this was here all along?”
“I’ve heard about it, but I forgot until I researched tourist spots in the city. I said to myself, who else has such a passion for things that explode? My little May.”
She did something totally unexpected and flung her arms around him.
He squeezed her to him with one arm while bracing open the door with the other. If something so simple made her happy, he was sure he could keep that beautiful smile on her face all day.
As she stepped inside the museum, she let out a contented sigh as if he’d just performed a magic trick. “You are full of surprises.”
Even though they didn’t have to pretend here, he couldn’t resist laying a hand on her lower back to guide her into the air-conditioned space. The museum was small but full of things to look at.
May got lost in the subject matter she was so passionate about…and Henner got lost in May.
He let her wander, reading cards packed with information, enjoying how absorbed she was in something besides their op.
Hours later, the exhibit spit them out in a gift shop tucked in a corner of the building.
Glancing at the displays of trinkets and books, he chuckled. “What does one even buy in a gift shop at a chemical weapons museum?”
She practically bounced up to a rack of pins. “I don’t know, but I’m buying a souvenir!”
Before she could approach the older man at the counter with a book and an enamel pin—sporting a vintage gas mask of all things—Henner took the items from her and placed them on the counter.
“What are you doing?” May asked him.
“Getting you something.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
For some stupid reason, he hoped that she remembered him when she took these items home, and that she remembered their time together with fondness.
She went on tiptoe and pressed a genuine kiss to his cheek. “Thank you.”
With the bag in hand, he led her back outside. The sun had risen into the sky, bouncing its rays off May’s glossy black hair. While she admired her pin, he took out his phone and made a quick check on the bomb’s location.
He’d been checking on it several times a day, but it never moved.
“Is it still in the hangar?”
He swung his head to May. Those dark eyes didn’t miss anything, did they?
Maybe she didn’t miss how his feelings for her were growing either.
“No movement.” He slipped the phone back into his pocket.
When she exhaled, he heard the businesslike undercurrent of that breath. “What’s next?”
He took her hand. “Next we hit up that candy factory before you start overanalyzing again.”
She opened her mouth, but he cut off her protest.
“I hear they have homemade fudge.”
“That sounds like a bribe.”
He smiled down at her. “I prefer to call it strategy.”
* * * * *
AJ pointed out a small storefront on the corner of the block. “Are you up for lunch after all that candy?”
May threw him a look. “After all that sugar, I could use a salad.”
“You sure about that? It says it’s an Irish pub.”
She dipped her head in a nod. “I’m sure.”
They headed to the pub. The bright green door looked festive, beckoning them in off the street. Inside, the pub buzzed with energy.
“Looks like we hit the lunch crowd.” AJ gestured toward a table for two, and she set off across the wood floor to take a seat. When she pulled out the chair, he stopped her.
“You take the other chair.”
She took in his expression and realized that this was a tactical move.
He wanted his back to the wall. The arrangement also afforded him a clear view of the entrance and who was coming and going.
A shiver of appreciation inched its way through May as she settled across from her lover.
He rested his thick forearms on the table. “Sorry about that. I’m picky about where I sit.” He pitched his voice low.
“You’re a SEAL. I’d expect nothing else.”
A server approached with a big smile to take their drink orders. Though the rich scent of beer seemed to be soaked into the wood of the pub itself, they both passed on alcohol and chose sodas instead.
After they received their drinks, and ordered off the lunch menu—a burger and fries for AJ and a salad for her—she studied her partner. The way he wrapped his hand around his glass and brought it to his lips…the way he skimmed his fingers through the condensation on the glass when he set it down…it reminded her far too much of their lovemaking the night before.
She had to redirect her thoughts. Looking around, she took in the pub atmosphere. This place wasn’t quite Ireland, but it was close enough to spawn memories in May.
“This place reminds me of a place in Dublin.” She sipped her own soda. “There was a small pub tucked away off Grafton Street. It was stuffed to the rafters with locals. I had the best stew of my life there.”
His smile was so familiar to her now that she could trace the line of his lips with her eyes closed. In her lap, she curled her fingers to keep from reaching across the table and doing just that.
“Was it better than this pub?”
She tilted her head, pretending to consider the matter. “Hard to say. Besides the fantastic stew, there was live music and everyone kept buying me shots of whiskey. I was pretty tipsy.”
His eyes gleamed. “Now that I’d like to see.”
A flutter took up residence low in her belly.
“This resident kept trying to teach me Irish slang, but I’m pretty sure he was really trying to get me to go home with him.”
AJ narrowed his eyes. “I’m sure he was. Prettiest woman in Dublin, I bet.”
Warmth flooded her cheeks at his compliment. She knew by the way he looked at her that she was attractive. But the way he was looking at her right this moment made her feel like the most beautiful woman in the world .
“Have you ever been to Ireland?”
“Yup.” He sipped his drink again.
“Were you there for pleasure?”
“Not exactly.” His evasiveness told her that he had been there on an op. “I was working and couldn’t drink the Guinness or Irish whiskey.”
The mystery surrounding the statement made May want to push, to find out what kept him there, sober, moving like a ghost through a world where she was free to indulge.
“Maybe we could go there together. Do the things we didn’t get a chance to do.” The words escaped her mouth before she could snatch them back.
Their eyes met. AJ’s filled with quiet intensity as he contemplated her.
She dropped her stare to the table and traced a pattern of wood grain. To shift his focus from her slip-up, she babbled out, “You should have seen me at the Jameson factory. They have whiskey-filled truffles at the gift shop. Rich and decadent with just the right burn of whiskey inside.”
He eyed her. “But were those truffles better than your pin from the museum?”
She glanced up at him. “But we could go to Ireland,” she said quietly. “Together.”
His expression softened, seeming to blur around the edges as if she had that pint of Guinness instead of soda. “Yeah. We could.”
The weight of the possibility settled between them. A trip without a mission to cover up with stories. Just them. Late nights, whiskey-filled truffles and new memories that weren’t tainted by work.
“You know what else I regret?” he asked.
“What’s that?”
“That I didn’t take you to a fancy restaurant instead of this place.”
“Oh, AJ…”
“Tonight.” He slapped a palm lightly on the table as his decision was made. “You’re going to put on that dress you wore last night and we’ll go out later.”
She couldn’t deny the little tingles sparking inside her core at the prospect of getting dressed up just for him.
Their food arrived, and they chatted while they ate, like a normal couple out for lunch. For the moment, he wasn’t a special operative and she wasn’t an explosives expert. They were just May and AJ, enjoying each other’s company and getting to know each other.
And falling in love.
By the time they returned to their hotel after a full day of sightseeing at many of the best local spots, they had exchanged so many flirtations and small touches that they barely got through the door before AJ grabbed her.
His warm lips landed on her neck, raising goosebumps that spread down her body to tighten her nipples. An invisible string tugged hard between her legs as he speckled her throat with kisses that promised a steamy night.
What she wouldn’t give to have access to her own closet—a beautiful dress rather than the simple knit one she bought at the department store. And lingerie.
He yanked her flush against him, giving her an up-close-and-personal feel of exactly what their night had in store.
When he kissed her breathless, her toes curled inside her boots. She clung to him, kissing back with all the desire flooding her veins.
At last, they broke apart. Her chest heaved. “I thought you were making reservations.”
“Already did.”
She gaped at him. “How? When?”
“I’m just that good, darlin’.”
“Well…if you’re just that good, then I have to get ready for our special dinner.” She extricated herself from his arms even though she never wanted to leave them. She only took one step toward the bathroom before he grabbed her by the wrist and yanked her back into his hold.
He threaded his fingers into her hair and angled his head, swooping in to claim her mouth for long minutes that made her pussy throb and her heart pound.
Tearing away from each other, she panted, grappling for control. AJ had no such willpower and reached for her again.
She stepped away before he could make her world spin and moved into the bathroom. “I’m going to take a shower.”
“Want any help?”
God, the man was pure, muscled sin. Her heart surged against her ribs, and she had to steel herself to stop from throwing herself at him and shimmying up his tall frame like a tree.
Forcing herself to actually take that shower, she shot him a coy look. “I’m getting ready now, AJ. I want to surprise you.”