Page 22 of Shelter for Shay (Broken Heroes Mended Souls #2)

“Do you?” he asked. “Because I’m falling in love with you.”

She blinked. Her lips parted. She blinked again and this time her eyes grew wide.

“Too soon?” he asked. “Did I go and ruin everything?”

“No,” she said softly. “I just didn’t expect you to say that.”

“Me neither, but it’s true.” He traced her lower lip. “Are you going to respond to it?” His chest tightened.

“I’ve never been in love before,” she whispered.

“I don’t expect you to say it back. I just want to know if it’s possible.”

“It’s more than possible because I’m already there.” She palmed his cheek. “I do love you. I’m just scared.”

He smiled. “I’m utterly terrified, so you’re in good company.” He kissed her softly. “Do we want to lie in this bed all night, or shall we do something for dinner?”

“Ugh.” She dropped her head to his. “I told Becca and Todd they could come over since they have a babysitter tonight and they kind of want to give you the third degree.”

He burst out laughing.

“You won’t be laughing when they start asking you all sorts of personal questions. The kinds of questions that will make both of us uncomfortable.”

“Oh, you just wait until you meet the guys. I think they’ve started a list.”

“Wonderful.” She gave him a little shove before turning and reaching for something on the nightstand. “Crap. They’ll be here in fifteen minutes.”

“Guess we’d better get dressed.” He kissed her one last time. “I love you, Shay.” And for the first time in his life, he had something other than duty, honor, and country to hold on to.

Love, after all, was worth fighting for. And Moose knew without a shred of doubt, at this moment and forever more—she was his fight. His battle worth every single scar. She wasn't just his lover—she was his home, his peace.

Shay – Lake George, New York

Once in the kitchen, Shay handed Moose a second bottle of wine to be corked and decanted.

Dinner had gone… smoothly. The conversation was light, primarily, and focused on things that didn’t matter.

The weather. Football. Flatbed or SUV. Center console versus cabby cuddy.

Everyday things people talked about when they weren’t going deep.

But Shay kept waiting for the tough questions to come.

The ones that were either blush worthy or would cut a little too close to home for Moose.

She’d asked Becca to stay clear of the topic of his family and not to hound him too much about being a SEAL.

So far, Becca and Todd had respected her wishes and the evening had been more than fun.

She was glad Moose fit in with her friends.

Or maybe they fit in with him.

“I had enjoyed Todd at your mom’s funeral, but I’ll be honest, I thought he was a bit uptight then,” Moose said as he wrestled with the old-fashioned corkscrew. “He’s very different tonight.”

“I’ve known Todd my entire life. He’s an accountant. They’re supposed to be boring.” Shay snagged the bottle from Moose’s hands. “Have you never opened one of these?”

“I’m a bourbon or beer drinker.” Moose chuckled. “I drink wine at weddings or when I’m forced.” He arched a brow.

“Are you trying to tell me that I’m making you suck down a good bottle of wine?” She pulled the cork out with ease. “I’ll have you know that this is the best twenty-dollar bottle you’ll ever have in your mouth.”

He curled his fingers around the glass, took it, and set it on the counter before heaving her to his chest. “I’d rather do other things with my mouth.” He kissed her good and hard. With tongue.

And she fully participated. As if they could race off into the bedroom for round two.

But then she shoved him away. “We have guests. Things with mouths will have to wait.”

“At least I know things will be happening later.” He winked.

“Only if you behave.” She laughed as if they were an old married couple.

This evening she’d felt that way. “There’s bourbon over there in that cabinet.

” She waved her hand. “I have no idea if it’s any good.

My mom always kept a few bottles of this and that.

Tequila, bourbon, gin… but she didn’t drink much and me? ”

“Well, you like your wine.” He opened the cupboard and let out a low whistle.

“Wow. This is some expensive shit.” He pulled it down, along with a glass, and poured.

“The guys and I buy this brand, but we only break it out for special occasions.” He turned, leaning against the counter. “Like when we don’t die.”

“Don’t joke like that, it’s not funny.”

“I’m sorry, sweetheart. But I’ll need you to get used to that one.” He took a slow sip. “If we don’t do that, we’d surely go insane.”

“But your job… what you do… it’s so dangerous.”

He set his glass aside, sauntered over, and drew her close. This time it was tender. Soft. “It’s not always about bullets and missions.” He pressed his lips against her temple. “This last mission, all we did was sit around and pick our noses. More often than not, it’s like that.”

“I’ve seen the scars on your body.” She lifted the edges of his untucked shirt, slipping her hands underneath, and fingered a couple of the uneven curves on his skin.

He sucked in a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “I’m here. I don’t plan on going anywhere anytime soon. I’ll try to curb the jokes about stuff like that in front of you.”

“Sometimes I want to pinch you just to make sure you’re real.”

He smoothed his hand down her back, over her ass, and… pinched.

“Ouch. What’d you do that for?”

“Making sure you’re real, sweetheart.” He grinned.

She slapped his shoulder. “Get your drink and that plate of cookies before our friends think we’re having a quickie.”

“That’s not a?—”

“Don’t finish that statement.” She took the wine bottle, turned, and headed down the hallway with a massive grin on her face. She refilled everyone’s glass, except Moose’s before easing back onto the sofa.

Becca sat in Shay’s mother’s old chair and Todd perched himself in front of the fireplace.

“So, how long have you been stationed in Virginia?” Todd asked as he took his wineglass, stared at the liquid, and swirled.

Todd was the kind of man who worked hard, made a really fat paycheck, but didn’t care if he had designer anything.

He did buy tailored suits because he had to.

And he enjoyed buying his wife almost anything she wanted.

But he’d been dirt-poor most of his life and knew how to stretch a dollar.

“Going on eight years.” Moose plopped himself down next to her, resting his free hand on her thigh.

“Moved there right after SEAL training. I was lucky in the sense that a few of the guys I went into that program with, we all ended up on the same team. Especially lucky that my best friend is now my team leader.”

“What are the chances you’ll be transferred to another base?” Becca asked.

“It’s unlikely considering the way SEAL units work.” Moose shrugged. “But it’s possible and I have no say in that.”

Shay nibbled on a cookie, sipped her wine, and contemplated if she should stop this line of questioning.

“This will be a really stupid question, but what exactly do you do?” Todd asked.

“If I told you that, I’d have to kill you,” Moose said with a straight face.

Todd just stared, slack-jawed.

“I’m kidding.” Moose took a sip of his bourbon. “Are you asking what my role is on the SEAL team or in general?”

“I guess both,” Todd said. “I feel like an idiot because I know very little about the military.”

“My husband is a nerd.” Becca raised her glass. “If you want someone to crunch numbers, help you grow your portfolio, or rattle off useless information because he’s a walking encyclopedia of weird facts, he’s your guy.”

“Hey, no information is useless.” Moose nodded his head. “Most people have a romanticized view of SEALs,” he said. “The job covers a lot of ground. Training, specialized ops that include things like intelligence gathering, insertions and extractions, underwater demos, to name a few.”

“That’s a lot and I can’t say it makes sense.” Shay took his hand.

“My technical role on the team might make less sense.” He kissed the inside of her palm. “I’m a diving specialist.”

“Now I feel really stupid.” Todd shook his head. “What’s that?”

“While we all have dive training, I’m the guy with advanced diving skills for marine environments, underwater reconnaissance and demolitions, and my favorite, I get to drive manned submersibles.”

“Basically, you could save me if I was drowning,” Shay said, fanning herself.

“I told you I was a good swimmer.” Moose winked. “But it’s a little more than being a rescue swimmer, though I can drop from a helicopter and save someone… if I had to.”

“And here I was hoping he was a sniper.” Becca sighed. “I’ve always been obsessed with men who carry big guns.”

“No, babe. You’re obsessed with serial killers and people who do strange shit.” Todd lowered his chin and arched a brow. “The weirder the crime, the more it interests you.”

“Sloan’s the sharpshooter on our team, but I’m not a bad shot.

” Moose smiled. “We all kind of have to be good at each other’s jobs, even medical.

We’re one half of a twelve-man team with two commanding officers and part of SEAL team four.

When we’re deployed, it’s usually somewhere in South or Central America and it can be land or sea.

” He chuckled. “And now I sound like a recruiting officer.”

“Yeah, you kinda do.” Shay squeezed his hand, staring up at him, searching his face for something other than humility and a tad bit of amusement, which she suspected was a way to push down the gravity of his job.

But all she found was a man who didn’t see himself the way others did.

A man who couldn’t—or wouldn’t—see how truly special and unique he was.

“I’m wildly impressed by all the things you do, but at the same time, it’s super scary. ”

“Not as scary as getting charged by a raccoon in the middle of the night.” Moose smacked his forehead. “Now that’s some scary shit.”