Chapter 19
“Let’s get out of here and head for some lunch.” Sebastian intertwined his fingers with Emma as he backed the SUV out of the trail head and back onto the road.
“Oh, you didn’t have your fill back there?”
“I don’t think I’ll ever have my fill of you. But I would say we both had a pretty good time exercising together, and now I’m going to wine and dine you.”
“Ah, now you’re speaking my language. Back to the house?”
“I was actually thinking that we might be better off heading into town. They have a really nice bistro that I love to eat at at least once while I’m here.”
“You had me at ‘a little more time alone with my favorite SEAL’.”
“Favorite, hmm?”
“Well, maybe favorite was a little generous,” she teased. “Gage does make me laugh pretty hard, and Hawk is an insatiable flirt, which I enjoy. But keep feeding me snacks and treating my body how you did back at the spring, and you’ll be at the top in no time, Suits.”
Damn if those words didn’t set his body on fire. He’d be beating the shit out of Gage when he got back to the house, and Hawk when they made it back to Bell Ridge for even being on her radar, but right then, all he really wanted to do was pull the truck over and make Emma scream his name over and over again until it was the only name she could remember.
Their drive into town was more fun than Sebastian could have imagined. Emma’s little gasps of wonder every time the scenery changed was adorable. She sat on the edge of her seat, watching as they made their way down the mountain into the quiet town. There was hardly anything on main street. Just a small grocery store and pharmacy, a flower shop, a bank, and the bistro where he was taking her for lunch.
He parked across the small bridge that separated the town, grabbing her hand as they walked towards the bistro. Outside the pharmacy, Emma froze, a look of wonder in her eyes.
“You okay?”
“They have one of those photo booths like from the movies.”
“You’ve never seen one in real life before?”
“No!”
His hand squeezed hers. “Would you do me the honor of taking some photo booth pictures with me?”
“Really?” she asked.
“Of course. Let’s go.”
When they walked into the pharmacy, Seb pulled the curtain back on the booth, but Emma didn’t walk inside.
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s ten dollars, Seb. That’s a lot, and I don’t have my purse with me,” she sighed. “It was fun just to see it, we don’t need to take the pictures.”
“Sprinkles, we came in here for pictures, and we sure as hell are leaving with some.” Sebastian pulled out his wallet and fed a twenty into the machine. One strip of pictures could be for Emma, and one strip could be for him. Perfect.
He held back the curtain again, watching Emma slip inside. When they were finally both situated, Seb pulled her onto his lap.
“Okay, so are we going for sweet or silly?” she asked.
“How about a little of both?”
“Perfect. Let’s start out silly and then finish off sweet.”
The timer counted down and Sebastian made his face into an exaggerated scowl.
Flash.
The countdown started again and this time he wiggled his fingers back and forth on Emma’s waist, a burst of laughter coming from her.
Flash.
Gunfire rang in his ears. Smoke filled his field of vision and his leg felt like it’d been blown to pieces. He tried to figure out where his team was. Why weren’t they on comms checking in?
He felt warm pressure on his lips and tasted vanilla frosting. Emma.
“Where did you go?”
“Nowhere good.” He kissed her again, wanting to feel that she was real and he wasn’t back across the sea, losing his teammates all over again. “I’m sorry, Sprinkles.”
“I’m glad you came back to me.” Emma handed him a thin piece of paper. The photos must have printed while he was out of it.
He looked over the pictures. She was radiant. After everything that had happened, Emma looked happy, carefree. For a moment, he almost forgot about the danger. He almost forgot that there was a man out there trying to take Emma away. Just like how his friends had been taken from him.
“Don’t you like them?” Emma’s small voice broke through his thoughts.
“I love them, Em. Look how beautiful you are.”
“Whatever has you upset, you can talk to me, Seb. I don’t know much about being in the military, but I do know how to listen.”
“It’s okay. I was just thinking too hard. Here, this one’s for you. The other is going right into my wallet.”
She took the strip of paper from his hand and looked at it for a moment, before smiling as she held it over her heart. Sebastian couldn’t help it, he had to kiss her. And that’s exactly what he did.
They continued their stroll towards the diner, and Sebastian enjoyed how crisp and clean the air was, even down in the little town. It swept away the last little moments of his flashback that had been lingering.
“Here we are,” he said as he held open the door for her.
“Such a gentleman, Suits.” Emma playfully batted her lashes at him, making Seb laugh.
“My mom will be glad to hear you think so. She drilled southern manners into me from the time I was old enough to walk.”
Once inside, Sebastian placed his hand gently on the small of her back, guiding her to his favorite booth.
“Shouldn’t we wait for the hostess?”
“Nah,” he waved to his old buddy behind the bar, “I know the owners.”
When they made it to the booth, Sebastian slid in next to Emma instead of across from her.
“Oh,” she looked shocked. “You’re going to sit next to me?”
“Of course I am. I don’t want anyone getting the wrong idea about us.”
“Why would they get the wrong idea if you were sitting across from me?”
“This isn’t a business meeting, Sprinkles. I’m taking my girl out for a romantic lunch.”
He loved watching her skin flush as she listened to him speak.
“Your girl. Hmm. And do I have any say in this?”
“You do. So, are you going to demand I sit across from you like a business partner, or are you going to grant me permission to sit close to you while we enjoy our meal together?”
He felt her hand squeeze his thigh. “Oh, you’re not going anywhere.” She raised her eyebrow and licked her lips.
“Em, if you do that again, I’ll have to have you for lunch.”
“Doesn’t sound so bad to me.”
“Mr. Montgomery,” his usual server made her way towards their table. He’d gotten to know her well over the last few years, her story spurring him to take a more philanthropic role in the tiny community there in Colorado, too. “It’s so nice to see you back in town.”
“Hi, Ellie.”
“What can I get for you and your lovely guest today?”
“My girlfriend hasn’t had a chance to look over the menu, so could you bring us two ice waters and then give us a few minutes?”
“Sure thing, Mr. Montgomery. I’ll be right back with those drinks.”
He felt Emma’s eyes on him.
“Your girlfriend?”
“Yep. I wasn’t lying when I said you’re mine.”
“Girlfriend,” she whispered. “Okay.”
“Okay?”
“Yeah. I’m okay with the title. Actually, more than okay.” He wrapped his arm around her shoulder, kissing the top of her head. “Is that cute waitress going to be waiting to fight me out in the back alley?”
Sebastian laughed. “What are you talking about?”
“It just seems like you know Ellie well.”
“Not like that Em. Jesus, she’s young enough to be my daughter.”
“She just seemed shocked when you introduced me, that’s all.”
“Probably because I’ve never brought anyone here to eat before, certainly not a woman I care so deeply about,” Sebastian sighed. “And if you must know, Ellie is one of the students who won a scholarship I set up at the local college. When I first met her a few years back, she was running herself into the ground trying to help her mom pay all of their household bills while keeping up with her studies. She’s a terrific kid, and I hated to see how stressed she was at such a young age. So, I set up ten scholarships, and she was one of the first recipients.”
“Wow, that’s very generous of you.”
“I don’t want my money just sitting in a bank when it could be used to help people. What am I going to do with billions? I just want to leave the world a little better than I found it, you know?”
“The world’s problems aren’t on your shoulders, Sebastian. You don’t have to be the person that solves everything.”
” I know?—”
“Do you?” She placed her hand on his leg. “Because back at the pharmacy, when you spaced out on me, it felt an awful lot like maybe something triggered you back into a bad place. And maybe now you’re thinking about how you can make sure nothing bad ever happens again.”
“When it comes to you and your safety, I will.”
“So, it was about Marco? I thought maybe it was something from your time in the SEALs.”
“It was. The light flashes in the booth, it just brought me back to my last mission.”
“What happened?”
“A lot I can’t talk about because it’s still classified, Em.” His stomach clenched and he pulled her in closer to his chest. “You should know that I was responsible for the deaths of two teammates.”
She blinked rapidly at him, her hazel eyes trying to pull the truth from his soul.
“Sebastian, that can’t possibly be true.”
“It is. I was the team leader. We had gotten intel from a source we’d vetted and used numerous times before that a wanted, high value asset was going to be in a nearby town. I believed the informant and put together a plan based on his intel. I should have seen the signs. The shaky hands, the sweating. His desperate need to get back to his family.” He wiped his hand down his face. “We were ambushed that night. The two members we lost were like brothers to me. One was just married, another had a wife and a little kid at home waiting on his return. I sent them back to their wives in caskets, Em.”
“I’m so sorry. But that wasn’t your fault. You have to know that. It wasn’t your fault.”
“It was. I made the call to use the intelligence to move on that particular asset. If I had taken more time to vet the information, if I had waited on a second confirmation, we wouldn’t have walked right in to a trap.”
Sebastian knew the decisions he’d made on that last mission were coloring the way he was approaching keeping Emma safe. His stomach clenched as he thought about returning to the house and hearing the update that Agent Wilson delivered to the guys. Would he make the right decision when it came to how the team would attempt to capture Marco? How would he make sure no one was hurt or killed this time? He wasn’t meant to lead the team any more in situations like this. It’s why he’d been happy to see his team start working with the FBI while he took a back seat and worked on his charitable business ideas.
“Does it make sense now?” Seb ran his hand over his face.
“What?”
“Why I’m so protective of you? I barely survived losing them, Em. If I lost the woman I’m falling for?—”
“You aren’t going to lose me. I’m right here. And this is where I’ll be, annoying you with my independence and teasing you about your snobby coffee orders, until you get tired of me and run the other way.”
“There’s no running, Em, unless it’s to catch you for forever.”
He leaned in and kissed her. There was something lighter in his chest, now that she knew about his last mission. “Last night you told me I’d seen all of you. Now you’ve seen all of me too, Sprinkles. All the way to the darkest corner of my soul.”
* * *
Her heart broke for Sebastian. She’d gotten it so wrong right from the start. Here she’d believed everything that had been reported about him. Playboy. Ruthless businessman. Heart breaker. He truly was the farthest thing from any of that, and she felt guilty for ever giving him a hard time.
“Do you think you want to talk to Gage when we get back?” he asked as he cut into the steak he’d ordered for lunch. She’d gone with the fish and chips and embarrassed herself with the moan that came from her throat as she tasted the first bite. The food there was absolutely delicious and she was going to work hard to convince Sal to put the dish on his menu when they went back home.
“You really feel like there’s a chance we could find her?” Emma pulled at her bottom lip with her teeth, and Seb’s hand automatically jumped, running his finger along the battered, plump skin.
“I do. Otherwise, I wouldn’t tell you we should look. If anyone can find her, it’s Gage.” Emma set her fork down, her hands twisting together as she placed them on her lap. “What do you think, Sprinkles?”
“I’m scared,” she admitted. “I’m scared to start hoping again.”
“Em…”
She shook her head. “I’m scared to hold out hope, but more than that, I’m terrified to know that I’ve been living life, making a home for myself, thinking that she was at least somewhere warm, and loved. But what if…” her voice caught in her throat. “What if that wasn’t the case, Seb? What if she hasn’t been with a family that loves her? What if she’s somewhere lonely and cold? What if he sold her into something so dark and danger?—“
“You can’t think like that, Em.” Sebastian interrupted her downward spiral, his hand finding the small of her back. “Don’t let those thoughts eat away at you. We talk to Gage, and then we get the information. Keep your mind here, with me.”
“I want to find her, more than I want my next breath. I think we better get back so I can tell Gage what happened.”