Chapter Twelve

Tyson got off the phone with his supervisor in the counterterrorism unit. They’d been briefed and un-derstood his need to keep Jayde protected since he’d claimed her as his own. They would set her up with an apartment wherever she wanted to go and a joint bank account into which part of his checks would be deposited.

Now, all he had to do was explain to Jayde they were really married, and he didn’t plan on divorcing her. Then he’d tell her about the apartment and the joint account. That should go over real well. Finally, he would tell her he was a Navy SEAL who’d just been cleared to go back on duty, so he’d be leaving for indefinite periods of time to destinations he couldn’t disclose. Yep, should be a piece of cake…which was exactly why he was still sitting by the phone.

If he were honest with himself, he would admit he was scared shitless. He was scared she’d demand a divorce, say she never wanted to see him again, and tell him she hated him. A woman had never meant more to him, and he’d known her less than ninety-six hours, but he knew her mark was upon him forever.

When Tyson came back to the present he didn’t see her at the table and stood immediately. His friends had knowing looks on their faces as they gestured to the bedroom. His heart slowly began to beat normally. Tyson went to the bedroom door and tried the knob. Locked.

He knocked again and when he didn’t receive an answer, he unlocked the door with the key. A soft smile crossed his face as he saw her curled up in a small ball on the bed, the pillow clutched to her chest.

“Jayde,” he said quietly. “Jayde, I have to talk to you.” He shut the door behind him so it was just the two of them.

“Go away,” she mumbled, gathering the pillow closer to her face.

“Not until we talk.” He sat down on the bed and frowned as she scooted away from him. “Look at me,” he ordered.

“Go away.”

“No,” he said.

“We have nothing to say to one another until you get me back to someplace I recognize.” The pillow muffled her voice.

“Would you stop talking to the pillow and look at me?”

“No!” Jayde had responded so fast it seemed his words hadn’t even faded from the air before she’d refused his request.

“No?”

“No.” If anything, her grip on the pillow tightened.

“Don’t make me take it from you,” Tyson whispered.

“Just leave me alone whoever you are!”

That time he heard the tears. “I’m your husband, Tyson Randolph Kincade. Come on, Jayde look at me,” he coaxed.

That got a response. She sat up in bed and threw the pillow at him before presenting him with her back again. “No, you aren’t my husband! Who the hell is Cade?” she snapped.

“Fine,” he growled, pissed solely because she said he wasn’t her husband. He forced her onto her back and straddled her body. Tyson smiled when he saw her eyes closed tightly, a smile that faltered as he saw the tear stains on her cheeks. “Cade is my nickname, what the men call me. Look at me.”

She wordlessly shook her head, then she began to struggle. It was nothing for him to subdue her, but he didn’t want to. Nevertheless, he gathered both her wrists in one of his hands and slid his other one behind her head to bring her mouth to meet his.

Tyson caught the moan he knew she didn’t want him to hear. As her bucking body began to rub against him, he let go of her wrists and raised her shirt.

Jayde fumbled with the buttons on his pants. Her eyes opened and found his direct gaze on her. He read the barefaced need in her eyes and stripped them both of their clothes in record time, his mouth covering hers as he slid deep within her welcoming heat.

Her fingers dug into his back, her legs clenched around his waist, Tyson made love to his wife of two and a half days like a man possessed with a portion of his SEAL team out in the living room of a house in the middle of the Belizean rainforest. His mouth captured every one of her moans and whimpers. He knew she wanted it faster, but he refused.

For what seemed liked forever, Tyson kept her on edge as he just slid in and out of her with smooth, deliberate strokes. Fresh tears fell from her eyes and his thumbs wiped them away as he moved within her.

With the two of them like this, the outside world didn’t exist. There was no family, no jobs, no prob-lems—no anything. Just them. Him and her. Together as one. How it was supposed to be.

It got to be too much and his pace quickened, sending them both over the edge. The squeaking of the bed frame did not register to either one of them, though it was easily heard by the rest of the men in the house who just smiled. Once again, Jayde drew blood while Tyson screamed a release into her mouth. Kissing her again, he slid out of her body and covered them both with blankets, spooning their bodies.

“I love you, Jayde,” he whispered as he too fell under the lure of the sandman.