Page 19 of Stranded with the SEAL

She licked her lips. “Please, Trevor.”

She wasn’t talking about him leaving.

Just one kiss.

It was a bad idea. The worst idea he’d ever had, and even as he acted on it, he knew it was the wrong thing to do. This woman was engaged to someone else and didn’t remember. He pulled back just before their lips connected, sanity stepping in at the last moment, but she reached up and pulled him back down.

Her lips were full and soft and open beneath his, an invitation for more that he couldn’t resist. His tongue moved into her mouth and she pressed herself against his length, her breathy sound of pleasure mixing with his own.

Her fingers were in his hair, her nails lightly scratching his scalp, and the sensation was amazing. Trevor rested his forehead on hers, his breath coming quickly.

“Don’t leave me alone,” she whispered.

He wanted to stay with her. That was the problem. Was he so easily sidetracked from the mission he’d dedicated himself to? He dropped his hands. “Olivia…”

“I’m scared.” She crossed her arms again. “I won’t apologize for that.”

“There’s nothing to be afraid of. You’ll have food, clothing, and shelter for as long as you need it.”

She met his eyes and he could see she was about to cry. “You’re the only person I know in the whole world. If you leave…”

I won’t have anyone.

Guilt reached up and pulled him down.

“Forget it,” she said, waving her hands as she moved away. “You’re right. I don’t need you. I’m a big girl and I can take care of myself.”

The war between his two responsibilities wrestled in his stomach like a rotten meal. It wasn’t just her physical well-being he needed to account for, it was her mental health, as well. He had to admit, the idea of being so completely alone as she would be without him here was a frightening prospect indeed.

Damn it all to hell.

“Fine. Just give me a few hours. Let me find fuel.”

She looked worried, and he could feel his plans slipping out of reach. He needed more than a few hours. He needed to be gone for as long as it took. “Maybe more.”

She was trying to pretend she was okay with that, he could see it in her eyes and the way she shrugged one shoulder. “Fine.”

His conscience nagged at him. He moved to the fire, stoking the embers and turning the logs. It was his fault she’d been hurt and was stranded in the woods without her car or cell phone, but damned if he would give up the first chance he’d had to get Steele since Ralph’s death.

Trevor clenched his jaw, his eyes shooting to the window and the raging storm beyond. He’d planned months for this mission, practiced how to accomplish his goal alone. Now he was being sidetracked, and much as he knew he was being an asshole, he resented the diversion.

If he was going to get Steele, he had to do it before the weather cleared and the evidence drove right out from under his nose.

Eleven goddamn miles away, and it might as well be the other side of the world.

He flexed his shoulder and cracked his neck, enough adrenaline coursing through his system to run to Steele’s house and back in record time.

Run? On this knee? Who the fuck are you kidding?

From the location of the pain, he felt certain he’d either broken his patella or pulled a tendon, neither one of which was any good for running anywhere. Just walking on snowshoes in search of gasoline was going to hurt like hell and take ten times the energy it normally would have, but the end result was too important for him to forsake it. Trevor needed that snowmobile to get to Steele’s compound.

But Olivia’s well-being outweighed all that.

Damn it all to hell.

“Maybe I won’t look for gas today. Maybe I’ll just run up the road to the accident scene and see if I can find my jacket.”

Or a gun.