Kyron, page 23
She smiled. “You didn’t almost lose me.”
“Yes, I did,” he argued. “You got shot. I have been in enough war zones and seen enough people shot to realize that life is short and can be fragile. If I want to enjoy what time I have on this planet,” he explained, “I need to get busy making the most of it.”
“I like the sound of that too,” she agreed, looping her arms around his neck. “Did I hear you tell my great-uncle that you were a Navy SEAL?”
He nodded. “Absolutely.”
“So I guess you’re good at figuring things out, huh?”
“Absolutely. Why?”
She pulled him down closer, kissed him gently. “So, if I wanted to take this to the next level …”
His eyebrows shot up. “We’ll wait until you’re fully healed,” he murmured immediately.
“And if I don’t want to wait?” He frowned, and she grinned at him. “See? I like that about you,” she said. “You don’t want to take advantage, and yet here you are, trying to figure out a way to make it work.”
“Well, I could make it work,” he stated, “but the chances of injuring you are still pretty high.”
“I’m willing to take the risk.”
“I’m not,” he snapped.
“Yes, you are,” she whispered, her hand sliding down his chest.
“We have lots of time.”
“We do, but you know what? Like you just said, coming so close to death, it brings things back into perspective that I had forgotten.”
“And what’s that?”
“That I have to look after myself as well,” she admitted. “Not just the animals, although they will always be a huge priority in my world. But I also need to look after me, and a part of me needs to feel alive, … right now,” she whispered. “I need to feel whole and renewed.”
“That’s a low blow,” he muttered, nuzzling her neck. “Because, damn, you know, with an injury like yours …”
“Nope, no excuses,” she replied.
He rolled over, pulling her with him gently, both now at the edge of the bed.
As she came down onto his chest, she raised her eyebrows. “Oh.”
“Well, this leaves it entirely in your ballpark,” he stated, nodding toward her bandaged leg hanging off the bed. “If you think you can sit up, just using one leg?”
“Oh, I can sit up.” She smirked, and sure enough she could, pushing off his chest with her hands, letting her injured leg dangle off the bed, her foot on the floor, just as he’d arranged it. She had to smile. “You know something? I think I can get used to having you around.”
“Well, I hope so,” he replied, “and I’m hoping you can get used to it for more than just a day or two.”
“Oh, I’m pretty sure I can,” she stated, as she lifted the T-shirt over her head. “Not only that, you’re just really handy to have around.”
He picked her up, sat her on the side of the bed and stripped her down to nothing but her socks. Then, as he stood before her, he stripped down too.
“Like you’re seriously handy to have around,” she noted in astonishment. Then stopped as she saw his prosthetic, as her gaze roamed onto the scars crisscrossing his belly. An odd one close to his chest. She reached out a finger and traced the one there. Her bottom lip trembled.
“Easy,” he whispered. “I’m fine. It was bad at the time, but I’ve healed, and it’s all good.” He reached down and lifted up her chin. “Unless it bothers you.”
She stiffened, glaring at him. “Yes, it bothers me. It bothers me that you were hurt. It bothers me that you went through so much trauma, and I wasn’t there. It bothers me that the world is such a mess that you were forced to serve at all, and this is the reward you got.”
He sat down beside her and pulled her into his arms and just held her. After a moment she leaned back and grinned up at him. “Of course it makes for an interesting body that I plan on taking lots of time to explore.”
He laughed. “I’m glad to hear that because I really don’t plan on going anywhere for quite a while.”
“Good,” she murmured. As she opened her arms, he laid back down on the bed, where she could once again get back into position. She stared at him. “Do you realize I’ve never actually had anybody let me be on top?”
“Why on earth not?” he asked in astonishment.
She shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess to them maybe it was a control thing or dominance or just no imagination.”
“You just haven’t been with the right men,” he replied instantly.
“Oh, I’ll have to agree with you there,” she noted. “They couldn’t have been the right men because they weren’t you.”
He smiled, then pulled her down closer and whispered, “I think you’re talking too much.”
She realized his rather large erection was growing between the two of them. She gently wiggled against him and said, “You’re right. I could definitely be thinking about something else right now.”
He pulled her down and kissed her gently. “But remember—”
She placed a finger against his lips and said, “No, we’re fine. I’m fine. I feel no pain right now.” Then she kissed him gently. However, it turned into a growing passion, as all the locked-in emotions she’d been holding back were released. When she lifted her head again, his eyes had crossed.
“Okay,” he muttered. “You really need to have your way with me now.”
She burst out laughing. “I absolutely adore the fact that we can laugh at a time like this. I really appreciate that.”
He pulled her down and kissed her again, and she realized that was another hint. Smiling, she kissed him deeper, her hands gently exploring his ribs, his belly, his hips. But, when she wrapped her hands around his erection, he groaned beneath her, his hips bucking up against her. She slid back and forth along his shaft, teasing him, teasing her until she couldn’t stand it any longer. Then shuddering, she sat back up, and using her hands and her good leg, braced herself until she could slowly lower herself down. She finally reached the point where he was seated deep within her.
She threw her head back and asked, “Do you know how to ride?”
“Absolutely,” he said. “Do you?”
“Let’s see,” she replied, her voice smoky.
“Then ride, sweetheart, ride for all you’re worth.”
And she did, taking them both through a crazy crest, before tossing them both over at the same time, and finally collapsed against his sweaty chest. “I’m so glad we did that.”
“You and me both,” he whispered. “Now would you please go to sleep?”
When Kyron repeated the question, he realized Miranda was already sound asleep against him. Murmuring against her head, he slowly shifted, so she laid on the bed beside him, but she was on top of the blankets. He picked her up, pulled back the bedcovers with one arm, and softly laid her down, then climbed in beside her.
He smiled and whispered, “You are something.” And, with that, he just held her close for a long time.
When Badger sent a text, asking if everything was okay, Kyron sent a heart emoji and added, Everything’s better than okay.
When the question mark came back, Kyron softly chuckled, not wanting to wake up Miranda, and sent back a message saying, Just something I hadn’t expected. I’ll explain later. And he left it at that.
But he knew Badger would enjoy everything Kyron had to tell him about this K9 mission. As he looked down at the woman at his side, he realized that something he had never thought would happen actually had happened, and he was so damn happy about it. Life had never looked so good.
Epilogue
Badger read the text and looked over at Kat. “Wow, look at that,” he said, holding up his phone, showing the text message of the heart emoji.
“Ah, looks to me like we have another happy success story. It just blows me away that it’s happening time and time again.” She smiled, looking over at him.
“I know. So who do we have next?”
“You want me to look?” she asked.
“Yeah. Do you know anybody who needs rescuing?”
“I don’t know about rescuing, but I have a case that’s driving me crazy.”
“What do you mean by a case?”
“Somebody who isn’t adapting well to his prosthetics because he’s pushing them too hard,” she admitted.
“What’s he doing?”
“Tons of outdoor hiking, survival-type stuff,” she noted. “He’s all over the board. He brought me back one of the latest titanium prosthetics that was damn near broken.” Badger stared at her in shock. “Well, he’s also big,” she added, “and I guess I hadn’t made quite enough allowances for that.”
“How big?”
“Six feet six,” she replied, “and I suspect, with both legs, he would be somewhere around two-sixty.”
“Right.” Badger nodded. “That’s big. Does he like dogs?”
“I can ask him.”
“Sure, ask away. What does he do for a living?”
“He’s ex-navy,” she stated. “Why?”
“Because I don’t have anybody around here to recruit. We’ve pretty well tapped out all our resources, at least for the moment, though we always have new guys coming and going. But you know what? We do have another missing War Dog.”
“I could ask anyway. He seems to keep himself so busy because he has nothing else to do.”
“Does he know anything about dogs or about horses, cattle, or anything else like that?”
“Why?”
“Because it sounds like this War Dog was taken to a cow ranch in Kentucky,” he explained.
“What happened to it?” she asked, astonished.
“Nobody knows. It just disappeared.”
“Coyotes?”
“Not likely,” he said.
“Is this dog injured?”
“No, it seemed to be healthy, but, according to everybody we’ve talked to, it just vanished.”
“You don’t sound like you believe that.”
“Nope, I sure don’t. Not if the dog was well treated.”
“And, of course, that’s the trick, isn’t it?” she stated. “Not only do you have to find sincerely good people but you also have to find someone the dog bonds with.”
“I’m thinking that, in this case, we have a problem because the wife died, and the dog was basically bonded to her.”
“Of course, and now the dog is dealing with yet another loss.”
“Exactly,” Badger agreed. “I need somebody who’ll give the dog an outdoor life.”
“Well, maybe my client would be a good fit,” she suggested. “I can ask him.”
“What’s his name?”
“Jake,” she said. “No wait.” She stopped and reconsidered that. “Jenner. It’s Jenner.”
“Not a problem,” Badger said. “Give him a call.” She grabbed her phone and called him. He sounded surprised to hear from her. “Have a question or two,” she stated. “I know you’re really active outdoors, but I just wondered if you ever had any experience with dogs.”
“Of course,” he said. “Why?”
“My husband has been dealing with some of these retired K9 War Dogs. I think I told you about that.”
“Yeah, I heard something about it. So, what’s up?”
“A dog in Kentucky went missing, and we were sitting here brainstorming, trying to find somebody willing to make a trip up there to take a look for the dog.”
“Why Kentucky?” he asked, his voice hard.
“The dog may be at a cattle ranch there.” She hesitated and asked, “Is that triggering something for you?”
“Yeah, … my ex-wife is there.”
“Ah,” Kat replied, “so I gather you’re not the right person for this job.”
“I don’t know,” he stated. “What’s involved?”
“Well, no money for one thing,” she noted. “I can tell you that.”
“I don’t need money,” he said quietly.
“I know. It’s one of the reasons why I thought about you. We just need somebody to go see what happened to the dog. I mean, if it died or something, that’s one thing. Or if it’s been adopted by somebody else and is happy, that’s all good. But if it’s suffering out there somewhere, we need it brought into a better situation. You mentioned your ex-wife. What kind of scenario did you leave behind?”
“She didn’t like military life and chose somebody else instead,” he noted quietly.
“Ouch, I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, me too,” he said. “I haven’t spoken to her since.”
“Maybe it’s time to make peace?”
He hesitated. “Maybe, … not exactly what I was thinking I would be doing.”
“No, but how do you feel about a dog in need?”
“That,” he replied, “I would do in a heartbeat.”
“That makes you the right man for the job then,” she stated. “I’ll pass you over to Badger now. And by the way,” she said, before she handed the phone over, “What is your wife’s name?”
“Laura,” he said. “Why?”
“Huh, that’s a nice name.”
“She’s a nice woman, or at least she was.”
“Are you sure she remarried?”
“I don’t know,” he replied, “but she divorced me pretty damn fast.”
“Maybe she just needed to know that you would come home one day.”
“Well, I did, and she wasn’t expecting it. Or maybe she was afraid I’d come home in pieces, like I did,” he admitted, his voice even harder.
“Pieces that you’ve been working really hard at putting back together,” she added.
“Yeah, but, as you know, nothing is perfect about any of it.”
“Nothing is perfect in life at all,” she reminded him. “It’s all about progress.”
“Well, if I can help a dog, I’m happy to,” he said. “Besides, it’ll stop me from going crazy. I’m kind of growing tired of all the hikes.”
“That doesn’t sound normal for you.”
“No, I know,” he admitted. “I guess maybe I’m just missing something in life.”
“Yeah,” she agreed, her voice soft as she whispered, “You’re missing Laura.”
“Doesn’t matter if I’m missing her or not,” he snapped. “She made a choice, and it didn’t include me.”
“Maybe you need to go see why she made that choice,” she added, her intuition kicking in.
“Maybe,” he admitted. “If nothing else, it’ll be good to call it quits, to look at my past, and to move forward again,” he noted. “For that reason alone, I should probably do this. I’ll do it because I need to,” he added, “but I’ll enjoy it because I get to help an animal. That makes it worthwhile to me.”
And with that, she said, “Good enough, now here is Badger.”
This concludes Book 15 of The K9 Files: Kyron.
Read about Jenner: The K9 Files, Book 16
The K9 Files: Jenner (Book #16)
Welcome to the all new K9 Files series reconnecting readers with the unforgettable men from SEALs of Steel in a new series of action packed, page turning romantic suspense that fans have come to expect from USA TODAY Bestselling author Dale Mayer. Pssst… you’ll meet other favorite characters from SEALs of Honor and Heroes for Hire too!
Heading to Ashland, Kentucky, where his ex-wife’s family lives, is not in Jenner’s plans anytime soon. But, given a War Dog is potentially in trouble, well, Jenner will even face his past. Arriving at a small bed-and-breakfast, he meets a woman more interesting than anyone he’d met in a long time. His job to find this missing dog seems like a long shot, until he learns about the B&B neighbor’s son and his pack of dogs, who have been scaring Kellie …
Kellie loves her bed-and-breakfast establishment, as much as she loves meeting new people, particularly when she doesn’t have a great relationship with many of the locals, who judged her harshly for a past mistake. Determined to enjoy life regardless, she tries to move on but finds it hard to leave her past behind. And now there’s her neighbor …
Having Jenner around makes Kellie feel more secure and gives her hope that maybe good people still exist in this world. Yet, before they can truly move forward, there is a canine issue, … and a neighbor with something else on his mind …
Find Book 16 here!
To find out more visit Dale Mayer’s website.
Author’s Note
Thank you for reading Kyron: The K9 Files, Book 15! If you enjoyed the book, please take a moment and leave a short review here.
Dear reader,
I love to hear from readers, and you can contact me at my website: www.dalemayer.com or at my Facebook author page. To be informed of new releases and special offers, sign up for my newsletter or follow me on BookBub. And if you are interested in joining Dale Mayer’s Reader Group, here is the Facebook sign up page.
Cheers,
Dale Mayer
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Dale Mayer is a USA Today best-selling author, best known for her SEALs military romances, her Psychic Visions series, and her Lovely Lethal Garden cozy series. Her contemporary romances are raw and full of passion and emotion (Broken But … Mending, Hathaway House series). Her thrillers will keep you guessing (Kate Morgan, By Death series), and her romantic comedies will keep you giggling (It’s a Dog’s Life, a stand-alone novella; and the Broken Protocols series, starring Charming Marvin, the cat).
Dale honors the stories that come to her—and some of them are crazy, break all the rules and cross multiple genres!
