Mountain Man SEAL Page 10

  But I’m not going to shut her out from the real me any more than I’m required to.

  “The VA does still present me with some small stipend for so-called defending the nation.” I started to explain. How much can I say to satisfy her without blowing cover? “Plus there were the years of pay while on deployment and nowhere to spend it. It’s all added up to quite a bit.”

  “Don’t tell me you’re a secret millionaire.”

  Yes.

  “Not quite.” I grinned and then had an idea. “But being a hillbilly has its advantages in the fact that you don’t consume much of anything.” That’s it, I’ll stick with her hillbilly thing as my cover. She won’t ever imagine that Tank and I are stealth operatives, off-the-books and off-grid as far as the world is concerned.

  “So we’ll be okay. Meantime we’re young and not without resources.” She said, excited once more.

  “You can count on this hillbilly survivalist to take care of you. Babe, will you trust me on this?” I asked, taking her hand that was resting on the seat.

  “Yes.” She nodded, without hesitation.

  “Good, because I will make sure you are more than okay. I intend that you’ll be happier than you could ever have imagined.”

  I figured I better stop my yammering because any second I was about to ask her to make it forever. And it’s way too soon for that. I almost blew my mouth when I mentioned love. But I know what I want. I wouldn’t have picked her up off the street if I didn’t. I’m sure of my choice but I don’t want to freak her out by rushing her.

  What makes me so sure?

  Aside from the power of the magnetic connection we have and Whitney’s perfect body? I know Whitney gets it. She hasn’t been asking all the questions about SEALs and Special Ops and all the other things girls usually get breathless about.

  She’s smart and is taking stuff in though. I’m sure I haven’t slept entirely peacefully the two nights we’ve spent curled up together. Although with her in my arms, my rest has been a whole lot more tranquil than it was before.

  “So what are you going to tell your dad?” I changed the subject. “About us?”

  “Can we leave that one for a while too?” She asked me, with a sigh.

  “Yeah. We better spruce the place up a bit before we invite him to visit.” I agreed.

  I guess we both have secrets to unfold gradually over time, as trust builds. We bumped over the last stretch of rough track and pulled up in front of the shack. Along with building trust, I’ve got my days laid out for some time to come. I leaped out of the cab and started unloading the building materials I’d bought.

  “It seems oddly empty without Tank here.” Whitney said, looking around the property as though she expected to find him leaning up against a post. “Will you miss him?”

  Yes. Less now I’ve got Whitney.

  “I’ve decided to continue on with Tank’s original plans for this house.” I told her. “Sort of a memory to his dream. And you can add all the feminine touches you want.”

  Her face lit up.

  “Like indoor plumbing?”

  I held up a length of copper piping. “Already on it. But first an extension.”

  “So long as you promise to make me a waterside bubble bath every night.”

  “With pleasure.”

  “Definitely with pleasure.” She said with a naughty twinkle I wasn’t sure I could resist.

  “We can make memories here too.” She rocked a flirty tone in her voice. Her eyes were pulling me in and I knew then that I couldn’t resist her charms. My own length of metal piping was already rising to the invitation. I couldn’t hold back from leaning over to take her mouth, taste her and get an intimate sense of what she was feeling. I picked her up, her legs entwined around my waist and I carried her inside.

  After we’ve cemented our connection for the fifth, or was it sixth, time that day, we get to fixing up the house. Well first, we lay sprawled across the bed, limbs all tangled up around each other.

  “Will he be okay?” Whitney asked, meaning Tank of course.

  I squeezed her hand, and she returned the pressure on my quad muscle.

  “He’ll be just fine. He always is.”

  “I guess he knows how to take care of himself.” She said before shifting topic. “I think I’ll like living the hillbilly life.”

  I have to laugh long and hard, until my mirth elicits a thump of her little fist in my thick thigh muscle. If she had any idea of the palatial summer house I’m intending to build for her she’d stop with the hillbilly stuff. But it’s easier to let that continue for now.

  I lie back and revel in feeling so free and purposeful in my life. Now that I have Whitney in my corner, life has started to make sense again. Whereas before, I was just going through the motions, getting up every day, brewing, drinking and going back to bed.

  Not that much different from every sucker on the planet, just without rush hour and shopping malls.

  When Tank dropped in on me, three or four months ago now, he said my life was messed up. He told me that what I needed was a woman, a forever woman, not a Christmas one - the kind you get bored with in a couple of days. He said that he intended to stick around until we secured one.

  Sticking around is kind of a big deal for Tank so I laughed it off. But he was true to his word. He found the woman I needed. And then he left us to our private pleasures once he’d secured the situation.

  I look over at her and squeeze her hand again. She hasn’t got a single reason to care about my sarcastic old buddy, who I love like my own life. But she still does and that makes me feel a huge softness toward her.

  “He and I are bad for each other.” I tell her. “Much as we told ourselves we were living free up here, you were right when you said I was running away.”

  “I didn’t mean you were wrong.”

  “But I was wrong. Tank and I are just perpetuating our memories when we’re together. Running works perfectly for him but I always wanted a home with a woman like you.”

  “I always wanted a man like you too.” She says softly. “I’d almost given up hope.”

  “Hey, I thought I was the one who was glass half empty.”

  “I’ll be always positive now that I found you.” Her hands run over my head, feeling the stubble that’s already growing in.

  “Good. If you’re half full then we’ll be the perfect glassful together.” I quip.

  “Blaze, have you ever thought about raising….” She looks at me with that gaze that has my steel heating up, yet again. “….Chicks.”

  I ravage her eyes at her and a wide grin spreads when I read the meaning there. She said chicks, not chickens. As in baby chicks. I can feel my cheeks ache, I’m smiling so hard.

  “We’re going to need a bigger extension on the shack.” I say and pull her to me for the sixth, or is it seventh, time that day.

  This book is the first in the Steel Brothers & Heroes series. The following books will feature the other guys of the five that came back from the Special Op, and we can count on Tank to put in another appearance as soon as I catch up with him on his Bat-bike.

  Turn the page to sign up to receive advance notification of when the next Steel story will drop.

  Thank you for reading this first in the Steel Brothers & Heroes series

  Quinn Peachwood is the author of the Possessive Alpha Gets What he Wants series of instalove short reads. Whether it’s older man, billionaire or band of brothers, these bad boys are perfect when you need a quick pick-me-up of steamy but sweet yummy.

  QP loves a good road trip, sampling local food and cocktails, shopping for vintage and best of all, meeting readers.

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  Also by Quinn Peachwood

  High Kickin’ Christ
mas

  Coming Soon

  Second Chance SEAL

  Outlaw SEAL