Page 16 of Submitting to the SEAL's Protection

Rita’s smile was razor sharp. “Good,” she replied. But, more seriously, she told him, “I promise not to do anything you won’t enjoy.” With her hands on her hips, Rita walked slowly around Jared, sizing him up. As Jared turned his head to watch her, she quickly barked out, “Eyes front, sailor!” His eyes snapped to attention for a split-second.Son of a bitch, his mind snarled at him. Being called “sailor” blew him all the way back to being barked at during BUD/S when he was training to become a SEAL. Nostalgia and regret boiled in his stomach, and he was just about to put a stop to Rita’s plans. Before he could reach for her, however, she giggled. “I’m so sorry,” she said. “I couldn’t resist.”

He relaxed slightly, but fixed her with a stare. “That’s one,” he said.

Rita shrugged. “Yay, me.” She clapped her hands together. “Now. Where was I?” Warm hands reached out and touched his arms, roamed across his muscles, and traced his tattoos. She kept that light touch going across his shoulders and down his back, over his T-shirt. She circled him and pressed tightly against Jared’s back, sliding her hands around his hips and slowly back up his chest. She found the buttons on his long-sleeve shirt and began unbuttoning as she pressed up against him. Rita rubbed her cheek against his back, between his shoulder blades, as she worked the buttons free. By the time she tugged his shirt free from his waistband, Jared had raised goose bumps all over his body. She took his shirt off and carefully laid it on the couch.

With no barrier in front of her, she let her hands roam all over his back and arms, and by watching her eyes, he knew that she was taking in the details of his body. She traced his scars with her fingernails and smiled when he drew a deep, shuddering breath. He didn’t speak—his jaw was clenched far too tightly for that—but he couldn’t deny that he liked her touch. When her teeth grazed one of his nipples, however, he was unable to refrain from touching her. Jared stepped into her, a quick hand on her back, bringing them closer together so that his hard-on pressed tightly against her.

Raising her eyes to meet his, Rita slowly dropped to her knees in front of him. She made quick work of untying his boots. When she stood back up, she was careful to brush up against him as she did so. Still maintaining that eye contact, she reached for his belt buckle and pulled his belt loose. When she released the button on his jeans, he exhaled.How long have I been holding my breath?Jared tried to tamp down the crazy beating of his heart, like it was trying to escape from his chest, but he suddenly had a hard time breathing. Her slim fingers slid the zipper down, and his cock sprang free of its confines. Grabbing the waistband, she pulled his jeans down, kneeling again to pull them free from his legs.

She didn’t stand up again. Instead, she pressed feather-light kisses to his cock, and just when he didn’t think he could take any more, she flicked her tongue across the head and gathered the precum that was pumping out of him. Jared groaned loudly as his balls tightened. Her touch remained torturously, frustratingly,wonderfullygentle. His whole body was shaking now.When was the last time anyone took this much care with me?he found himself wondering. The answer was never.Have I been missing out, or is this just her?He looked down at her riotous curls, and his heart thudded so loudly that he was worried that she might hear. “Rita—” he moaned, unsure of what he wanted other than to be in her mouth. Right now.

Rita reached up and cupped his balls; she began to massage him tenderly while she licked at his length. She looked up at him as she slowly pulled his cock into her mouth. Jared groaned and his legs shook as he tangled his hand in her hair and held her tighter against him, shivering as she scraped her teeth over the sensitive flesh. Rita wrapped her hand around the part of him that didn’t fit into her mouth. He knew she could take more than what she currently had in her mouth, but this was her show today, and he was going to do his damnedest not to interrupt. She began pumping his cock with one hand while she continued to suck the rest of him. As Jared’s balls began to tighten, he grabbed the back of her head to push for deeper strokes. On cue, Rita increased her pressure on his balls as she sucked harder.

Groaning, Jared called out, “Fuck, I’m coming.” His orgasm hit, and he convulsed, arching his hips up and causing Rita to gag. As he erupted in her mouth, Rita’s movements became more frantic as she sucked quickly, drinking him dry. Finally, she released him and stood up, smiling brilliantly. Jared stood panting and staring at her in awe. “Woman, if that’s an example of ‘your house, your rules,’ I willletyou do that more often.” She snorted and threw her arms around him. Rita’s hair tickled his chest, and she wrapped one of his arms around her waist. He took her hand in the other and turned her around in a slow dance. He hummed out, tunelessly at first, but then he fell to one of his favorite songs, “Always” by Irving Berlin. Rita stiffened and tried to push away from him. He tightened his grip around her waist, and she flailed. “What’s the matter?” Rita shook her head, still stiff in his grasp. “Rita.”

He could see her begin to panic. She tried to push Jared away again. “Let me go,” she cried out, and the sheer misery in her voice had him dropping his hands.

He took a step back and held up his hands. “Tell me what’s going on,” Jared said.

Rita took in a deep breath, and then another. And then a third. “Thatsong.” She looked at him, and she didn’t look anything like the woman who had just literally blown his mind. This woman was fragile in a way that was like nothing he’d ever seen from her before. “I was married,” she said. “John Tucker…Tuck…he—”

“Did he abuse you?” Jared asked. She glanced at him again and nodded. “How?”

She let out a laugh that was jagged and ugly, and she wiped at her face with her hand. “Every way,” she told him. “It didn’t start out like that, of course, but…Tuck doesn’t like to feel lesser, and if he wasn’t controlling every little detail of my life, then he wasn’t ‘the man,’ you know?” Jared’s stomach roiled sickeningly.

“And the song?”

“It was our first dance at our wedding,” she told him. “I used to love it, but then it became the only song he would play when we would have sex. If I came home and it was on, I had about two minutes to get into the headspace for sex.” She didn’t need elaborate on what would happen if she wasn’t in the right “headspace” in time. Rita shuddered, and while Jared ached to touch her, he didn’t think that he should without her say-so. “Please, don’t play or sing that song for me. Ever.”

Jared nodded. “I promise.” She wrapped her arms around her own body, holding herself against the shivers that ran through her. “Can I touch you?” he asked.

Rita practically ran into his arms, full-out crying now, and buried her face into his neck. He reached down and picked her up and carried her to her bedroom.It’s much homier than the living room, he had a moment to think before he arranged them on her bed so that she was slung across his chest. His fingers played with her curls, which had been made even more wild from his frantic grip earlier. Her tears slowed eventually. Rita bumped her forehead against his chest. “Thank you.”

“For what?” He looked down, but she wouldn’t meet his eyes. Cupping her chin, Jared turned her face so that she had to look at him. “For what?” he repeated.

She bit her bottom lip, as if she could stop it from quivering, and replied, “For holding me. For, hopefully, not seeing me like I’m some broken toy.”

“You’renotbroken.” He bent his head to kiss both her eyelids before beginning a trail of kisses down her cheek to her lips. “You’re brave,” he said, kissing her nose. “You’re a warrior.” He tucked her against him. “Sleep now,” he said. “Then, we can figure out dinner.”

Her soft snores told him that she was already ahead of him.

10

The nonprofit finished its current project on time. It was slightly over-budget, but nowhere near where it could have been if Rita hadn’t performed a miracle in fundraising and securing donations. All that was left was to get the family moved in and to move the mobile office to its next location. Unfortunately, the nonprofit was looking to start two new projects in the next week, and it didn’t look like Rita would be seeing Jared on a daily basis anymore. Fortunately, however, thanks to the success of the silent auction and the great article in the paper, Travis had managed to secure enough donations to allow an additional three projects to be added to the budget for this year, and Jared had been brought on as the full-time general contractor.

Everyone had gone home early while Rita wrapped up the final paperwork; she and Casey would be meeting Jared later for a celebratory dinner at a new dog-friendly restaurant followed by a walk along the beach. Locking everything up, Rita and Casey did one final walk-through before she was ready to call it quits for the day.

They were crossing the parking lot when Casey stopped. “What’s the matter, girl?” Rita tugged on her leash, but the dog growled, low and dangerous. Rita whipped her head around, and from across the street, she saw a man. He was tall, maybe even taller than Jared, and he was staring at her.

Once he knew that he had her attention, he gave up any pretense of trying to blend in. He started her way, and Rita’s car was just far enough away that she didn’t think she’d make it if she ran. Besides, she wouldn’t leave Casey. Looking around, Rita hoped to find some of the volunteers still on the property, but she knew that everyone had already gone home. It was late, and they were finished. She grabbed her cell phone and hit Jared’s number. She put it on speaker, praying Jared would answer quickly. When Rita heard Jared’s ring tone, she looked up. His tool belt with his phone was sitting on a stack of wood pallets outside of her office. Flinching, Rita disconnected the call and tucked her phone into her pocket.

Casey growl became a snarl, and the tall man stopped just short of them. Like Jared, he had a broad set of shoulders and cropped hair. They could have been cousins. Rita squared her shoulders, doing her best to make herself look bigger.It worked on the Discovery channel, right?“Is there something I can do for you?”

He nodded. “I’ve got a message for you.”

Rita’s mind raced back to the voicemail left on her phone weeks ago. “How do you know it’s for me?” she asked. “You didn’t even ask my name, much less ask for my ID.”

The man’s cold eyes flicked over her. “He described you,” he said.

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