Free True Navy Blue: SEAL Brotherhood, True Blue SEALs Series Premiere by Sharon Hamilton Page B

didn’t sound the same as they did in Sonoma County. They echoed and reverberated off the tall buildings. There was more traffic, and he was surprised to hear sounds of people talking as well as the sounds of the boats out on the water. A wind had picked up and was making whitecaps out on the blue bay.
    “No, Dad. That’s not necessary. I’m okay. You go on back up to Santa Rosa. I’m sure you have a lot to do up there. I’m available by phone anytime. And I’m secure here for now.”
    There was a pause. Zak could hear her father trying to work his way into coming over.
    “Dad. Zak came up. He’s here.” She paused again. “Because I called him and asked him to. After I called you. He’s not staying long. I promise I’ll be safe.”
    Some of the old stiffness returned to Zak’s back and shoulders. Dobson would be not happy with this development.
    “No. This isn’t Zak inserting himself into my life. This is me asking for his help. This is my life, Dad. You do understand that, don’t you?”
    He could tell Dobson was irritated. He heard a slight edge to Amy’s voice.
    “No, Dad. My decision is final. He’s here, and he’s going to stay here for a day or two. That’s all. I’ll be in touch.” She sighed and added, “Yes, I’ll tell him.” Zak heard the phone shut off.
    Amy joined him at last. She slipped her arm into the crook of his elbow and leaned against him. He was going to let her tell him the message from her father. It was her story to tell. Her life. Right now, Zak was feeling like a fifth wheel, second guessing his decision to come up to San Francisco.
    “No real news. But Dad said to remind you of the request he made of you to leave me alone. He said you promised.”
    “I did.”
    “But that was before all of this. Before you went off to your training. Before a lot of things that have happened since.”
    “Yup. He might be right, Amy.”
    She turned toward him, leaning back to get a good view of his entire face. “You think so, Zak?”
    Zak slowly focused on her eyes, her lips, remembering the vision of her standing on the deck in the late morning sunshine. The woman he saw was different in some way. Stronger. More determined. She waited for him to respond, didn’t cut him off. She talked to him. It didn’t feel like she was pushing herself at him anymore, while he was having to spend all his time resisting her. That had been their game all growing up. Now he wasn’t fighting her, he was fighting with himself.
    “No. He’s not right, Amy. I don’t know what’s out there in the future, but being here, right now, seems pretty great to me. Seems like the place I need to be.”
    The path to her bedroom seemed to take forever, but Zak wasn’t complaining. It was the first time he’d been with her in a place of her own. It wasn’t the front of his pickup or on a blanket on some golf course lawn somewhere or even at a friend’s place for a stolen hour or two.
    Amy faced her bed, which was shaded in the long shadows of the morning, the sun having gone to the other side of the building. Zak was standing right behind her, his palms smoothing down the backsides of her thighs as she removed her sweatshirt and turned around in her bra. His fingers gently pushed the straps off her shoulders as he held her face under her jawline and placed a sweet kiss there. His lips found the place under her ear.
    She unbuttoned his shirt slowly, placing fingers against his tanned flesh, kissing him as more of his chest was revealed to her. Slowly they finished disrobing. He let her first place the condom on him, and then they slipped under her cool sheets.
    Zak kissed her chest, down to her belly button and then went lower, kissing her at the top of her sex. His intense gaze focused on his fingers, now massaging her labia, pushing a finger or two inside her opening, then his thumb as he looked up at her before he bent to kiss her there.
    She arched at the touch of his tongue in such an intimate spot, at