I watched him for a second, curious. If he went out last night to get this food, and he was awake already, that meant he couldn’t have gotten more than a few hours of sleep, and yet he seemed completely alert and awake.
Maybe that was part of being a SEAL. You were more than just a regular person. You had all the training and all that, but just to start out that training, you had to be special, better than other people.
Emory never seemed to get tired, never seemed to question himself. He could do things I’d never seen anyone else do. Not to mention he could make me feel things I’d never imagined. He was a crude asshole, but he was also more than that, so much more than just that.
“Got something to say?” he asked, smirking at me.
I realized I’d been staring. “No,” I said, getting back to eating.
“Just enjoying the view. I get it.”
“What are we doing here, Emory?”
“Eating breakfast right now, I thought.”
I made a face. “You know what I mean. What’s the plan?”
“The plan is, the rest of my squad shows up eventually and they capture Omar. Meanwhile, we lay low and keep you safe.”
“So we just sit here?”
“That’s it, princess. What did you expect? We go running after the bad guys, guns blazing, baby tucked under your arm?”
“No,” I said, getting annoyed, “but I thought we’d be doing something. There are terrorists here.”
“Yeah, there are. And like I said, they’ll be caught and taken care of.”
“You can help with that.”
His eyes narrowed. “My orders are to take care of you.”
“I’m worried, Emory.”
“I know, but be careful what you say, princess.”
I realized that I had crossed a line when I’d suggested that he wasn’t doing enough. He’d already done more than enough. I was just tired and upset. But I wasn’t about to apologize to him and listen to him brag about it for the next few days or however long we’d be staying in this crappy place.
“Here,” he said after a minute. “Let me take Mason. You can go nap or shower or whatever. Or maybe finish eating.”
“You have to eat,” I said.
He stood up. “I’m done.”
I looked at his plate and it was empty. “Wow. You inhaled that. How is that even possible?”
“Another little trick I learned. You eat when you can and you do it fast.”
I couldn’t help but smile and shake my head. “Are you sure?”
“I’m sure. Give me the little man.”
I handed Mason off to him and Emory rocked Mason in his arms.
“Be careful,” I said.
“Sure. I’ll make sure I don’t throw him out a window.”
He walked into the other room, bouncing Mason in his arms.
I sighed, shaking my head. This was going to be more complicated than I had thought.
But at least I had delicious food.
Maybe I could get used to this so long as Emory kept cooking.
18
Emory
I could see the tension behind her eyes. The last few days were taking a toll on her, which was to be expected.
She wasn’t exactly built to take this sort of stress, not like I fucking was. I knew how much punishment I could take and keep on going, but she had no clue how strong she could be.
But she’d find out sooner than she wanted, I was willing to bet. The shit wasn’t over, not by a long shot, not while Omar was still out there.
Her words kept ringing in my head as I bounced Mason on my lap. I could be out there trying to find the terrorists that were in our country. I knew they were planning something, but I didn’t know exactly what yet. And I wasn’t even going to find out, because my orders were to stay with the girl and the baby.
I hated being a babysitter. But as I bounced Mason in my lap and watched him laugh, I realized that sooner or later I was going to have to do this. He was my son after all. I was going to have to get used to being around him.
That didn’t mean I was used to being around his mother, though. Far from it. Every time she was around, I felt my cock get hard and my blood boil. All I wanted was to press my thick cock between her legs, deep inside of her, to hear her gasp, hear her beg my name.
After she was finished eating breakfast, maybe a half hour later, she headed upstairs. I could hear her up there in the shower, the water running. As I bounced Mason, I pictured his mother completely naked, warm water running down her firm skin, her nipples hard, her lips parted.
More distraction. This whole thing had been one long exercise in seeing whether or not I could control myself, and so far I fucking couldn’t. Not that I really wanted to, but that was the problem. I should keep my hands to myself, but the only place I wanted to put them was between Tara’s legs.