Page 48 of Twister

She forced herself to do homework, then she got ready for bed. After turning off the light, she felt tired, but sleep eluded her. It had been hard to let him go back to his bunk. Especially after what they had shared. She’d discovered an astounding physical intimacy with him that had empowered her, and he had uncovered a sensuality in her that she hadn’t even known she possessed. And he had made her feel things she hadn’t thought possible.

Emotions, feelings, dreams, hopes, and the future. Certain levels of stress and anxiety pushed her to perform at a high level. Sadness could be cathartic, filling her with appreciation for what she had lost while signaling to others the support needed to recover and heal. Then there was what she felt for Twister. How could she know it was love?

Her body stilled. He wanted her to be happy, and he cared about what happened to her. He wanted to know what she was feeling. He sacrificed for her, and right now it wasn’t the sex she missed with him…it was the way he held her when they slept.

Her throat filled, and she took one more step closer to figuring out what she wanted. She could easily contrast that to the way she felt about Dylan. She had learned a hard lesson with Dylan. She had agreed to everything he’d said, and it wasn’t until he’d brought up children and her responsibility to provide them to him without even considering her feelings in the matter that she got angry. She could quit her job, she could let go of her dreams, she could become his wife, but with conditions. She had almost settled for less than what she really needed and wanted in that relationship. Now she realized that she had believed that being appreciated for what she did for others was the only way she could get satisfaction in life, totally unaware of her own true needs and desires.

But now that was ending…and Twister was giving her the freedom to explore it. Her breathing slowed, and she droppedinto sleep, confident in the knowledge that he was important to her, and for him, she was willing to examine her blind spots and feel any pain that came from acknowledging them. All she had to do was get in touch with them.

The next day, after getting ready for the dock, she could hear the clamor in the hall. Those SEALs were leaving the bunkroom, and Sadie hurriedly pulled open her door. He was just coming out of the room when she got close. When he looked over and saw her, his eyes lightened. “Good morning, Petty Officer.”

The husky intimacy in his tone set off a wild flutter inside her, and she tucked her hands in her pockets to keep from touching him. “Good morning.”

“Um, Petty Officer,” Flash said with a smirk. “You’ve got your T-shirt inside out.”

Sadie looked down, feeling like a fool. Damn it, how had she managed that? Oh, right, too much of a hurry to put it on to get out into the hall to see him. Restraining a sigh, she gave Flash a level look. “I like wearing it that way.”

He grinned and looked skeptical. “Yeah, right.”

Twister grinned at his brother, and she was so conscious of Twister watching her, the intimate gleam in his eyes making her heart flutter.

“I think,” he said, just loud enough for her to hear, “that you’re lying through your teeth, Petty Officer. But I’ll take him out back and kick his ass if you’d like.”

She wanted to hug him so much that she could hardly stand it, her senses overdosing on the scent of him, on his closeness.

That pretty much set up all the ribbing she got from all of them, and she really felt a part of the boys. When they came back from the dive and hit the dock, gunfire peppered the wooden decking, Twister spinning and going down.

Without hesitation, she sprinted toward him, grabbed his vest, and pulled him out of the line of fire. When she looked down, her hands were covered in blood.

16

Dagger swore.“I swear if you move again…” Twister was one of the worst patients, but that’s what happened with medics and anyone in the medical profession. They got antsy when wounded.

Sadie was still sitting against the boxes, blood still on her hands from Twister’s graze. The bullet had struck his upper arm—messy, bled a lot, but was mostly superficial. Tex was on the phone, Bondo close by, and Easy, Shark, Brawler, and Flash had cleared the dock, found the abandoned sniper’s rifle, and were protecting the perimeter. Dagger wondered if the attack was Seven Demands in action.

“You have to be the slowest stitcher on the planet.” Twister was tense as hell, but most of that was because he was focused on Sadie and how she was faring.

“I want to get it right.” He lifted his head and met Twister’s agitated eyes. “Do you want a janky scar?”

“I want you to finish up,” Twister growled, his gaze going back to Sadie.

“She’s fine,” Dagger said. “I checked her over myself. She’s just shaken up.”

“Getting shot at will do that to someone not used to it.”

Bondo went over to her, knelt down, and used a water bottle to clean the blood off. She gave him a grateful look, then closed her eyes, clenching her fists. Before Bondo rose, he squeezed her shoulder and murmured something to her.

SEALs were a tight bunch, a closed community, but when someone risked their life to save one of their brothers…well, that was an instant in. “She pulled you out of the line of fire. That was pretty fucking brave.”

“Yeah,” Twister said, closing his eyes and taking a breath.

Dagger was completely aware of what was going through Twister’s mind. “Nothing is going to happen to her on our watch,” Dagger said. Twister opened his eyes and nodded. “So, I thought maybe things had cooled off with you sleeping in your bunk. The guys are wondering?—”

Twister’s brows rose. “The guys?”

“Yeah,” Dagger said, not wanting to relive that feeling when he saw his buddy go down.

“You’re all a bunch of nosy biddies at heart,” Twister growled. “But we’re a team, and teammates share everything. So, I’m falling for her, and I brought up being together after this op, but she’s going through some shit of her own…stuff I pointed out…you know…when she tried to clean my gear.”

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