Page 37 of Love Shots

He’s the one getting married.

“Of course I’ve asked her; I’m not a complete fucking idiot.” Teddy scoffed. “Every time I ask her if she’s okay, she tells me she’s fine.”

It was Ace’s turn to sigh. “Look. Before you ask her again ... maybe you could try opening up to her first? If she knows where your head’s at, maybe she’ll be more comfortable telling you what’s going on with her.”

Huh. That sort of made sense.

“That’s what you did with my sister, huh?”

“Yup. And look at me now.” Ace’s lopsided grin was back. “Bona fide relationship expert. Just call me Dr. Love.”

This time Teddy did laugh right along with Ace. Maybe having him as a brother wouldn’t be so bad after all.

***

Teddy muted the television and tugged Summer closer to him on the couch. Not that they weren’t close already. He just needed to get rid of that pesky air between their bodies.

“Everything okay?” Summer kept her head against his chest but tilted upward until he was looking into those hypnotic eyes.

“Yeah, doll, I just thought we’d talk for a bit.”

Summer stiffened in his arms and dropped her head again. That was not a good sign.

Letting his fingers gently trail up and down her spine, he waited until she’d relaxed back into him before he continued. “Remember when I told you I wanted you to know what happened to me?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, I’m ready to tell you.” Summer shifted until her hand came to rest over his heart. “Is that okay?”

Her eyes met his once again with another slight tilt to her face. “I want to know whatever you want to tell me. I can handle it. I promise.”

Teddy nodded and ushered her to return to her previous position. “I was in Iraq. On a mission. It all happened really fast. We were scoping out the area one minute and being ambushed the next.” He took a moment to clear his throat. “When I woke up, I was chained up. Alone. Well, not for long. I’m not gonna go into details of what they did to me—you’ve already seen the scars.” And kissed every single one of them. Just remembering her lips on him gave him the strength he needed to let the memories creep back in. “I wasn’t in great shape, but I held up. The training I underwent prepared me for most of it.” Mason and Carter’s faces flashed before him, triggering the familiar twist in his stomach.

“But not all of it,” Summer correctly surmised.

“No. Not all of it.” He swallowed down the bile now rising up his throat. He knew he needed to say it out loud. Rip off the Band-Aid. “One of the tactics they used was to bring another teammate in when they ...” Tortured us. That, he didn’t need to say. She got the drift. “They brought Mason into my cell. Did the same shit to him they’d been doing to me and made me watch.” Teddy could hear Summer’s sharp inhale. She probably knew what was coming. Regardless, he needed to say it out loud. “They obviously weren’t getting the reactions they wanted from us. A couple of days in, they decided to take it further.”

“They killed him, didn’t they?” Summer whispered into his chest. “In front of you.”

“Yeah, doll. They did.” His vision blurred as tears filled his eyes. But the image of Mason’s last breath was still crystal clear. Forever ingrained in his soul.

“And Carter?”

“Thrown in with Tyler.” Teddy’s throat tightened. “From what Ty said, the same thing went down.”

They both fell silent. Long enough for Teddy to begin second-guessing himself. He did the right thing by telling her, right? If they were going to be together, he owed her the truth. Owed her an explanation as to why he left. Why he sometimes woke up in the middle of the night drenched in sweat. Why he was so broken.

All of a sudden, Summer was on the move, crawling onto his lap and positioning her knees on either side of him. Resting her forehead against his, she let her hands travel down his torso, lightly trailing her fingers over him in soothing motions.

“I’m so, so sorry.” Her soft, angelic voice was like a balm he never knew he needed. Until now.

Matching tears trickled down her cheeks and merged with his own as her salty lips pressed against his. Teddy breathed her in and allowed the vanilla-scented fumes to scramble his senses. Raw need ripped through him. He was a dying man, and she was the only cure.

Taking control, he nibbled on her lower lip until she parted for him. Once she was open, he took what he wanted. Needed. Their tongues danced in a sensuous rhythm to each other’s moans, sucking and tasting until the rest of his body began to burn.

He brought his hands up to encircle her delicate face. In contrast to the urgency of their kiss, his thumbs moved lightly across her cheeks. Stroking. Caressing. Swiping away the wet, hot grief that still clung to them both.

Untangling his tongue, he ran his lips along the curve of her jaw. Shifting his hands further back into the silky strands of her hair, he followed the line all the way up to the sensitive shell of her ear. Before he even spoke, he felt her tremble beneath his touch.

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