Page 10 of Saved By the SEAL

“Home, sweet home.” Jordan unlocks the door for us because he has more freedom with his fingers. “Time to unpack.”

“I might go and get all of this hung up first,” I declare as I swing the bags toward the bedroom. “I’m keen to take a look through it all again. And to get rid of everything that’s already hanging up in there. I’m done with that already.”

“Cool, well, I’ll get dinner sorted. I’m starving, so I know you must be too. I’ll see what we have.”

I got so used to eating alone before in the safehouse, but now I know that it’ll already be strange to eat without Jordan. We’ve slipped into this married couple role even better than I thought we might, and it isn’t even just for show. As I lock myself in the bedroom to sort everything out, I find myself wondering what it would be like to actively pursue Jordan if I were allowed to do so. And not in the way I’ve been taught to seduce, but because I really want to. It would be thrilling, exciting, a brand-new experience. As much as it would terrify me, I think it would empower me too. Not that I can…

Not with Jordan, but maybe with another guy one day. I haven’t made any secret of my desire to find myself someone to date and fall for in America. That’s going to be a big part of my brand-new life. Not the bit I want to rush, of course, but a bit of it nonetheless. Of course I’m going to think about it as I’m progressing and opening my existence up. It’s natural, right?

I yank everything out of the wardrobe and toss it on the floor, grinning gleefully to myself as I do so. I hate all this shit. Everything I’ll hang up will be a hundred times better, a million times more me. Reinventing myself is so much fun.

“Jordan liked this best of all.” I pull out the dress and run my fingers over it. “I could wear it tonight to lure him in…”

My God, if he didn’t have his suspicions about me—even if they might have died down a bit now, I’m sure they’re still deep in there somewhere—then maybe I would have. But I’ve already made tons of mistakes to make it seem like I’m seducing him when that isn’t my intention. I don’t want that to happen again. Instead, I’ll wear one of my much more casual outfits that can’t be misconstrued in any way. And if I end up feeling sexier because I’m more covered up, then so be it. That can’t be helped.

I’m cheeky, I know it, but I don’t mind that. It’s a side of me that Jordan has brought out of me, and I’m enjoying it. Today has brought me along in leaps and bounds. I’m excited to see what the rest of the night will bring with it…

“Are you sure we haven’t had too much wine for this?” Jordan laughs as he holds the hair dye box in his hands. “We’ve had a whole bottle between us. I mean, I’m not drunk or anything, but I don’t know what I’m doing.”

“You’ll be fine.” I’ll admit I feel a little giddy myself, but at the really happy point where I’m good to go along with whatever. Especially with Jordan. We’ve grown even closer tonight, even easier with one another than we have been all day long. It’s awesome. “You’ll be fine, you know. I’m putting my life—well, my hair, which is practically the same thing—in your hands.”

I’ve been internally resisting the hair dye up until this point, but with some wine in my system, Iknowthis isn’t the thing that will take me away from the memories of my mother. I don’t need her hair. I can hold on to her in my heart. It’ll be fine. As long as I keep her in my heart and mind, I won’t be losing her. It’s silly to assume that one single feature is what I need.

I squeeze my eyes closed and laugh. “Come on, just get on with it already. Let’s see what this does to me.”

“Fine, okay. I’m gonna mix it up now and see what I can do. Hopefully, this all goes well. Maybe I’ll get you another drink.”

I listen to him mixing up the dye before he opens yet another bottle of wine to pour us another drink. Iknowthat I’ll be grateful for the drink because there’s going to be something very intense about this, however giddy I am.

“Right, here we go.” Jordan’s fingers work their way into my hair with the dye covering them, immediately letting me see the mistake I’ve made. I thought that this might be a little easier to work with once I’d had a couple of drinks, but now I think it’s making it worse. He’s touching me in such a sweet, soft way that it sends a shudder down my spine. I accidentally lean back into his fingers because it feels so good and I want more. I haven’t felt anything like this. “Does it feel like I’m doing it right?”

I grab my wine glass and glug back more than I intend to. “Oh, yeah, I think you are. As long as all the hair is covered.”

Shit, this is an intense head massage. It’s sensual, sexy, hot as hell. The butterflies in the pit of my stomach transform to the size of birds. I’m pretty sure that Jordan must be able to hear the powerful hammering of my heart. It’s going wild. Every part of me is on fire. I feel like flames are licking all over me, consuming me, swallowing me up whole. I want Jordan to stop this because I know I’m about to lose myself, but if he does, I’ll kill him. This is the best sensation I’ve ever had.

I’m breathless, wild, crazy. My fingers curl around the edge of my seat to keep me in place before I go nuts.

“Okay, there. I think I have all your hair covered.” Jordan pulls back and runs his eyes all over me. He might be examining my hair, but I feel like he’s drinking in my face too. He’s looking at me in such a way that I can hardly handle it. This is even more powerful than the dressing room because we’re alone here. Thingscouldhappen if we wanted them to. “Yep, looks good.”

He has a strange expression on his face, and it hasn’t escaped my attention that he’s glugging down his wine like there’s no tomorrow. It wasn’t just me affected by that exchange just then. It’s had such a powerful impact on me that I can still feel his fingers touching me right now. It’s hard to meet his eyes when he’s making me feel this way.

“So, er, how long do I leave this in for?” I need to shatter the tension of the moment. It’s getting to be too much. “Does it say?”

“Twenty minutes. So, we have a little while to… chat or whatever you want to do.” He smiles stiffly. “Want to watch TV?”

I figure this will be easier for us because it gives us something else to focus on, but as soon as we sit on the couch together and his knee bangs against mine, the electricity levels up once more. It zings between us so powerfully, I don’t know how we’re going to manage a whole twenty minutes like this. I won’t be able to keep myself away from him. Every so often, I dart my eyes toward him. I sense him looking at me too, trying to figure out where my head is at.

Then our eyes lock, and there’s no turning back. The intense magnetic pull drags us in. I feel myself being taken in whether I want to or not. My head edges toward him, and he leans in to me too. It’s happening, I can sense it. Any minute now, we will finally cave to the intense temptation, and I can’t freaking wait. I’ve wanted this moment for as long as I’ve known him.

Oh, wow.And then it happens. Our lips connect, and my whole body erupts into fireworks. Holy hell, it’s something else, on another level. I already knew that kissing Jordan would be powerful and exciting, but I had no idea how much. I didn’t know it was going to make me feelthisinsane. Oh, my God, I sidle closer to him, needing more, demanding more of his body.

I want this, I wanthim, I need him. Jordan is bringing out a dragon of desire inside me that I can’t get enough of.

9

JORDAN

“No, no, we shouldn’t.” Just as the kiss deepens, just as it seems like it might be about to lead somewhere, Michelle yanks away and stares at me with wide, shocked eyes. “We shouldn’t do this, not… not right now. I need to do my hair.”

---