“Mm, it is.” He tipped his head, pressing his lips against her skin right at the point where her shoulder met her neck. “Let’s take your hair down and wash it.”
“Oh, you don’t have to?—”
“Mae.” Her voice rumbled around his chest. “Let me take care of you.”
She nodded, reaching up to pull the clip out of her hair. Long, silky brown strands of hair cascaded down, landing over her shoulders and filling the space with the citrus and mint scent he was so familiar with.
“How are we going to manage this?”
“I thought ahead…” Stone grabbed the cup he’d placed at the side of the tub. “Here. Tip your head over into the crook of my arm. I’ll be able to wet your hair without waterboarding you.”
“I don’t know. We could role play your time in BUD/s. You could be the instructor who doesn’t want to see me succeed, and I could be the student who takes no shit.” Her body turned so her mouth was next to his ear. “We could pretend you were giving me one on one lessons, and almost drown me. Mouth to mouth is the only hope of bringing me back. And when I sputter back to life, we fuck in the training pool before the other candidates come in for the day.”
Stone laughed, his body shaking not only himself, but Mae too.
“That’s quite the scenario you’ve laid out for me, Candidate Quinn.”
“Oh, yup. I love that,” she purred, laying her head down on his arm. “Drown me, Instructor Sully.”
Her eyes closed and her breath stayed in her chest. He watched her for a second before lifting his arm, using his other hand to gently scoop the bathwater up and drip it over her hair.
“That’s not really my idea of drowning…” she teased, her eyes still closed.
“I could never stand by and watch you drown, Mae. I could never live with myself if you felt like you were drowning because of me.” He poured more water at the crown of her head. “But you need someone to save you? You better believe I’ll be there, every time. I love you, sweetheart. I always will.”
Seventeen
Mae watched as Stone walked out of the kitchen at Montgomery Defense with Gunner. The two of them were clearly talking about something serious, but as soon as he caught her eye, Stone patted Gunner on the shoulder and made his way over to her.
“Excuse me miss, I couldn’t help but notice you checking me out.” His smile widened, the small dimple in his left cheek popping out. God, how long had it been since she saw it? He looked so handsome, back in his work clothes for the first time since… Everything happened.
“Oh, I’m very sorry, Sir,” she answered. “My boyfriend works here. It’s actually his first day back after a long time away, so it wouldn’t be right for me to be entertaining other men’s advances.”
“Hmm. Gorgeous and loyal. Damn, your boyfriend is lucky.” He leaned against the counter, and Mae stood, quickly sneaking a kiss.
“Yes, he is.”
“Doc! You got a second to look at this schedule?” Gage called from the hallway.
“Better get to it.”
“Don’t push yourself too hard today.”
“We’ve already gone over this. I feel good. I’m ready to be back.”
“Okay. Go. Kick ass. Take names. I’m here if you need me.”
Stone nodded and disappeared down the hallway.
Mae spent the next hour lost in a sea of paperwork puzzles, trying to sort between Montgomery Defense and Trident issues Sebastian and Gunner needed her to fix. She barely looked up from her screen until the desk phone rang.
“Montgomery Defense, this is Mae speaking. How may I direct your call this morning.”
“Yeah, I’m wondering if I can talk to one of those assholes who killed their own brothers in arms over in Afghanistan. I’d like to let them know they aren’t welcome back here on American soil. They should be six feet under. Pretending to be heroes… it’s fucking disgusting. And you’re a fucking bitch for working with them?—”
Mae slammed the phone onto the receiver.
“Whoa. What’d that phone ever do to you?” Nash laughed as he walked over to her desk with steam rising out of his coffee cup. Her eyes bounced between the phone and Nash’s face, unable to think of anything to respond with. “Hey. Mae? What’s wrong?”
