Page 63 of Sebastian

“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.

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