Two Weeks With a SEAL (The Wakefield Romance Series) by Theresa Marguerite Hewitt Read Free Book Online Page B

don't want to hurt her. She's the light beacon in my darkness, her
smile always bringing me out of myself, making me a better man. She doesn't
know that she's the only woman I've had sex with and if I told her she probably
wouldn't believe me. I had given her my virginity the same night I had taken
hers on the basement floor of Heather Rachel's house, the night of that huge
house party. I had felt guilty afterwards when Randy and I were back on base
and I had confessed to him, falling to the wrath of an angry brother. We had
brawled, fists flying, until our other Team members had broken us up but not
before Military Police showed up, tossing us both in the brig for the night. We
had suffered two weeks of hard labor and humiliation as punishment, Randy
barely speaking to me the entire time.
    It was two whole months
and a deployment to the Middle East that Randy finally spoke to me about it. He
had asked me one thing, "Do you love her," and I had answered a
truthful, "yes". After that, we were back to normal, two peas in a
pod.
    Years later when we were
taking two suspected terrorist links back through a small valley pass, both
blindfolded and covered with hoods, Randy spotted goat farmers coming towards
us. We had taken defensive positions, two of our Team mates going out to
intersect and pat down the three Iraqi men. Hearing the 'all-clear', we resumed
our path, Randy being at the back of our group, watching our tails as I
escorted the links by the goats. I'll never forget the yell of 'bomb' three
seconds before the ear piercing blast rang out, sending all of us to the dirt,
my body going over top of our prisoners to protect them in case of gun fire.
    My ears were still
ringing as I got to my knees, readjusting my helmet, hearing yelling throughout
our walkie system. "Rooster," they yelled with no answer. Randy
always responded to his nickname, "Rooster!" "Chief, chief they
got Rooster," echoed through my head, my steps wobbly as I got to my feet,
pulling the two prisoners up with me. The memory makes me take a seat at my
dining table, my head in my hands as I recall the sight of my best friend, or
rather, the lack thereof. He had been obliterated by a suicide bomber, there
was nothing left of him except a black mark on the ground. Keeping your
composure is a huge part of being a good solider, but once we got back at our
base, I broke like a twig in the wind. Martinez had found me, still in my
combat gear, sobbing like a child as I lay in my bunk.
    An ironic twist brings a
smile to my lips, remembering that only two weeks before that day Randy had
said "You better marry my sister or I'll kill you", leaning on me one
night when we were at the bar. It was one of the first times that he had
brought Rhea up since the whole fight we had had over her, and I had shrugged
him off because he was drunk. Now, well now I felt as if Randy was nudging me,
telling me to get off my ass and make his sister happy. "Honey," my
mom's voice comes from the front door and I hurriedly wipe away the tears from
my cheeks, getting up to meet her in the front hall.
    "Yes, ma'am,"
I reply giving her a smile that spread to her own lips. My mom was an angel to
all those who would let her be, her purpose in life being to make others happy
since my father's death when I was ten. My dad had been a giant of a man
standing just under seven foot tall, serving in the Army when he was a teen and
then starting up a surveying business that grew when I was little. He died of a
heart attack stemmed from smoking and my mother had been crushed. She had
picked herself up, with the help of Rhea's mom, Ruth, and she had been the best
mom a kid could ask for.
    "Getting ready to
leave son," she asked looking around as if she was searching for
something.
    "Yeah momma, just
waiting for Rhea to get home from work," she stopped straightening the
couch pillows, and I can see a sly smile cross her lips. She knew that I was in
love with Rhea, hell she had known right off when I