Free Before We Kiss (Uncharted SEALs Book 6) by Delilah Devlin Page B

pulled her against his side. “We’ll get you cleaned up before we fly to Key West,” he said, as he looked down at her.
    She gave him a shaky smile and leaned into him. Only then did she allow her tears of relief to fall.
    Wiley returned with clothing—uniform pants, a tee, and a pair of flip-flops that would all be too large—and set them on the bed of the hut back at Charter’s jungle camp. As soon as she was cleaned up, they’d fly to Key West.
    Teague had just gotten off the phone with her father who wasn’t the least bit happy about her stubborn request. But he’d relayed his thanks to the team for saving his little girl.
    After he’d hung up, Teague shot him a hard look. “Be sure of what you want, Coyote. That girl’s been through hell. Don’t give her another reason to cry.”
    Teague’s words surprised Wiley because the man was always all business. He’d been spared a reply by Deke entering the command room and demanding an encrypted line to make his report to Charter HQ back in Dallas.
    Wiley had showered in the barracks and changed into street clothes—jeans and a Hawaiian shirt Jax had produced.
    His buddy had laughed at his expression as he’d handed it to him. “Suppose your cover’s already broken, but at least we’ll all get a smile watching your ass.”
    Wiley grinned as he glanced down at the loud blue shirt with large red flowers plastered over it.
    The bathroom door opened. Steam poured out. Poppy glanced up, her eyes widening beneath the white towel she’d wrapped around her wet hair. Another towel hid her pretty body. “Hi, there,” she said, her gaze falling to his clothing. “Nice shirt.” The corners of her mouth twitched.
    His gaze went to the fresh bandage on her neck. “You okay?”
    She nodded. “Did your friends collect blood samples from that bastard who held me?” She wrinkled her nose. “Bad enough just standing close to him. I’d hate to know I caught something from him.”
    Wiley nodded. “You’ll know if you’re safe in a couple of days.”
    Her gaze dropped. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think when I asked to rejoin the ship about how much bother accommodating my request would be for you and your people.”
    “The job is what we were paid to do. No one minds, Poppy.” And I’m glad I’ll have more time with you. He hoped like hell part of her reason for being so adamant had something to do with him, too.
    Glancing toward the clothes on the bed, she let out a sigh. “I suppose I should dress. Everyone must be waiting on me.”
    “You have time,” he said, hating that he couldn’t say what he wanted to. That he was afraid to say. Fear had always been something he’d pushed past and used to stay focused. But here, now, with the awkward silence expanding between them, he didn’t know what to say.
    Poppy drew a deep breath, and then tugged at the top of her towel. It pooled at her feet, exposing her lush curves. His gaze traveled from her toes, paused on her breasts, then moved upward. He wasn’t sure what was going on behind her those pretty blues, but his body tensed. Blood surged into his groin. “Poppy?”
    She swallowed hard. “I know I’m not safe. Not until we get the results from the blood test, but we could do something , right?” A blush filled her cheeks. “I need you.”
    Relief rushed through him. “Fuck the blood test, Poppy,” he said, rising and moving toward her. “I have to be inside you,” he blurted. Warmth spilled into his cheeks that those were the first words out of his mouth.
    She didn’t seem to mind. Smiling, she pulled the towel from her head and shook out her wet hair.
    Unable to stop himself, he reached for her and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her against his body.
    “Not fair. I’ll wait,” she said, sounding breathless.
    He didn’t want to let her go, so he bent and lifted her, turned toward the bed and laid her across it before he toed off his boots and shrugged out of his clothing. Moments later, he