A Sexy SEAL Novella Anthology (25 page)

“
That you accessed his private information,
evaluated his actions, went behind his back to report said
information and actions, then compounded it by bringing multiple
people into it in a way that will, when it comes out, be a huge
slap in the face?” Mitch jutted out his chin and considered that,
then nodded. “Yup. Seriously pissed.”

“
I can’t wait.” Laughing, Shane dropped into
the chair opposite Mitch. Like most everything else in the
apartment, the brown furniture was butt ugly, but it was
comfortable. Shane figured that’s all a person could ask for with
base housing.

Both he and Mitch, along with their friend
Gabriel—better known as Romeo to the SEAL team—had got the
PCS—permanent change of station—to the Coronado base a year ago.
The three of them had bunked together until his buddies had hooked
their perfect women. After they’d moved out, Shane hadn’t seen any
point in looking for other quarters—or in replacing the butt-ugly
furniture.

“
You’re sure he’s going to
propose?”

Shane simply raised one brow. They didn’t call him
Scavenger for nothing. There wasn’t anything he couldn’t find.
Supplies, enemies, information.

“
Right,” Mitch said, shaking his head. “Of
course you’re sure. Which means he has no clue what you’re
planning.”

“
That’d be we, not me,” Shane pointed out.
“And yeah, I’m sure. Nobody expects a party for getting engaged.
Married, having a kid, okay. But for volunteering to hook on a ball
and chain?” He gave a pitying shake of his head. Not over Gabriel
landing Tessa, or that Mitch was newly married with a baby due any
day. His friends had scored some great women.

But Shane figured the odds of military guys, SEALs
especially, making it work long-term? Of finding a woman who got
what they did, was okay living their life with a man who answered
to Uncle Sam, put his life on the line on a regular basis and kept
90 percent of what he did to himself? Pretty much zilch.

Hell, he’d experienced issues himself in his family
alone. His own mother was so pissed about his career, she refused
to acknowledge it. To keep her happy, the entire family pretended
he was a traveling salesman. It’d been funny for a while, but over
the past couple of years it’d started getting to him. He’d got to
the point that he rarely went back home to Little Lake, Idaho, and
since nobody acknowledged his career, none of the family had ever
visited him here in Southern California.

Shane frowned, taking the list from Mitch. He was
better off without any more emotional crap in his life.

Maybe his buddies would do better. But he doubted
it. Mitch had actually walked away from a shot to join the elite
Special Mission Unit, DEVGRU. Sure, he said it was because he
preferred training and wanted to stay with his team, but given that
it’d happened about the same time as he met Livi, Shane had his
doubts. And now Romeo was getting ready to pop the question. He’d
already started making noises about extended training, taking on
things that would keep him stateside instead of hot zones.

Shane got it. He understood why his friends were
making those choices. But those weren’t the kind of choices he
wanted to make.

So he’d make damned sure he didn’t get himself in a
situation that would call for them.

“
Any thoughts on the ETA?”

“
Not yet.” Shane glanced over his list again.
“He’s bought the engagement ring, but you know Romeo. He’s going to
want to set the scene, make it something special. He’s leaving on
maneuvers in the morning and he’ll be gone for the next two weeks,
though, so it won’t be before that.”

When the front door swung open, neither Shane nor
Mitch had to school their expressions. They were experts at keeping
their faces blank.

And in came Romeo, in all his glory. But if you knew
to look, you could see a hint of smug terror in his eyes. Yeah, he
deserved this party. Shane casually folded the list into a neat
rectangle and stuck it in his pocket as if he hadn’t just been
planning on going behind the man’s back.

“
Yo, Scavenger.”

“
Yo, Romeo?”

“
Mail for you.” Gabriel tossed a couple of
envelopes on Shane’s lap on his way into the kitchen. “You got
beer?”

“
You’re in uniform,” Mitch pointed out, ever
the stickler.

Gabriel simply lifted his hand, showing the gym bag
he carried.

“
I’ve got twelve hours before I have to report
for maneuvers. Tessa’s meeting me for dinner at Zappatos since it’s
halfway between here and our place,” he said when he came back with
his unopened beer. Just one, since Mitch and Shane were still in
fatigues, too. “So I’m using your shower.”

Flipping through the envelopes, Shane waved to
indicate he do whatever he wanted.

“
Shit.”

“
What?” Mitch leaned forward.

“
A letter from home.”

Knowing Shane’s family situation, Mitch gave a
sympathetic grimace.

Shane stared at the flowery handwriting on the
pastel envelope for a second, then with a sigh, tore it open. After
all, Sara wouldn’t risk their mother’s wrath by addressing a letter
to an FPO unless there was a really good reason. And she usually
took care to make the three-hour drive to Boise to mail her letter.
But this one had a Little Lake postmark.

Affection, irritation and resignation all tangled
together in his belly as Shane unfolded the paper. As he scanned
his little sister’s letter, his gut tightened.

“
Well?”

“
Huh?” He glanced at Mitch with a
frown.

“
The letter. What’s wrong?”

They’d served together, been through too much
together, for Shane not to answer.

“
Drama. Sara’s upset about the family rift.
She wants me to come home for her birthday. Apparently she’ll be
miserable and her entire year ruined if I don’t.”

Shane frowned at Mitch’s snicker.

“
Go ahead, laugh. You’re an only child. You
have no idea what this means. I have five sisters. If one blames me
for her misery, they all will.”

“
So? You’re what? Eight hundred miles or so
away. They don’t even acknowledge you’re here. And it’d take a hell
of a lot for them to storm the base and get to you.”

Shane didn’t laugh because he could imagine them
doing just that. Women were scary. His sisters scarier than
most.

“
Maybe I can volunteer for a mission.
Something far, far away,” he muttered.

“
Or maybe you can take some of that leave you
have built up and go home,” Mitch suggested. “Watch your sister
blow out the candles, keep her from being miserable, fix the mess
with your mom.”

Just the thought of it tightened his gut.

“
I’m already working on an assignment,” he
said quickly.

“
An assignment that’s on hold for the next two
weeks. Take a few days. Go home.” Mitch waited a beat, then smiled.
“Consider it an order.”

* * *

“
So, handsome… wanna join the Mile High
Club?”

Damning Mitch for making this an order, Shane peeled
his eyes off the book he’d been trying to read. He didn’t turn his
head. He just slid a glance to his right in hopes that the
whispered question hadn’t been aimed at him.

But the big-haired blonde’s hungry smile
dashed those hopes all to hell. And in case he’d been too dim to
catch a clue, she skimmed her fingers up his thigh, those lethal
nails skimming uncomfortably close to his goods. He wanted to shift
away. He
really
wanted to
move her hand. But he’d been trained to never blink
first.

Shane was a SEAL. He’d faced down terrorists, shot
down enemy combatants and answered to cranky Admirals. He’d once
jumped from a burning plane with a wounded soldier in his arms and
a parachute on his back.

And he’d done it all with nerves of steel.

But faced with a predatory woman and he froze. He
specialized in communications, but he was lousy at this kind of
thing. He didn’t have Romeo’s flirting skills. Nor did he have the
social ease that Mitch was known for. Added to that, women
generally either hit on him or wanted to take care of him. Both of
which always confused the hell out of him.

“
I’m Kathy, by the way.” The lush blonde gave
a low growl when she leaned closer to press her ample breasts
against Shane’s arm. “Mmm, you have such an impressive body. I’ll
bet you work out a lot, don’t you? I’d love to see more of those
muscles...”

“
Whoa.” Shane clamped down
on the hand that was about to test his
muscle
. “Sorry. I’m going to have to
pass.”

He hated turning women down. Even ones who looked as
if they could send the plane into a tailspin during a Mile High
bounce. But the thrill of being hit on for reasons that often
baffled him had long since passed. The thrill of easy sex, easy
women and easier times walking away had faded, too.

“
Now why would you do that?” Kathy fluttered
her lashes, giving him a wicked smile. “Don’t you like
adventures?”

Shane laughed. He couldn’t help it.

“
I live for adventures,” he deadpanned,
figuring there wasn’t any point in telling her he’d scored his Mile
High wings years ago, when he’d still been riding that thrill.
She’d likely dare him to prove it. “I appreciate the offer,
though.”

As soon as the words were out, he mentally
cringed.
Appreciate the offer.
As if she’d just suggested he take the window seat and enjoy
the view. God, he was lousy at this stuff. Put him in uniform and
he had no problem with communication. But when it came to witty
repartee, clever conversation or easy dialogue with anyone he
hadn’t known for a while, he choked.

Shane didn’t consider himself shy.

Shy was for girls and toddlers.

And it wasn’t that he didn’t know how to handle
women. He was damned good when he put his hands on one. He was
simply a quiet man who preferred to get the lay of the land, to get
a feel for a person, before he opened up. A private man who
believed fiercely in walking the talk. Since he didn’t like people
prying into his life, into his thoughts, he didn’t ask questions.
He figured if someone wanted to share, they would. Damned if most
people didn’t share way more than he could imagine anyone wanted to
know about all sorts of things.

As if proving his point, Kathy the blonde took his
refusal in good stride. Instead, she dived into a stream of
chatter. Resigned, Shane tucked his book into the seat in front of
him and gave her the semblance of his attention.

But he was only half listening. The rest of him was
making the mental adjustment from his life in California and his
job as a SEAL with its military mindset to dealing with whatever
was waiting for him when he got off this plane.

Since she hadn’t returned any of the messages he’d
left, he didn’t know if Sara told anyone he was coming home or not.
Either way, it wasn’t going to be pretty. All warning would do was
give his mom time to stew.

It’d been rough enough when his dad had died in a
skydiving accident when Shane was seven. He’d left behind a
grieving wife, two sons and five daughters. Then in Shane’s senior
year of high school his brother, Mike, the oldest of the O’Brian
siblings, had been killed in a drag racing accident.

Molly O’Brian was a strong woman. She was a loving
mother. And she was the best cook in the world as far as Shane was
concerned. But the loss of her husband and her oldest son had
devastated her. She couldn’t handle the idea of her
second-to-youngest child, her only remaining son, living in
danger.

And Shane couldn’t set his dream aside. Not even for
his mother. When he’d joined the navy right after graduation, she’d
had a meltdown, but eventually, with all of his sisters persuading
her, she’d dealt with it. If overcompensating by sending care
packages that had to be delivered by forklift, insisting he call
her every week he was in port and sending him job clippings from
the local paper was dealing. But his joining the SEALs five years
ago had been too much. This would make his third trip home since
she’d issued the ultimatum that he choose between his career and
his family.

By the time he’d shaken off the blonde, deplaned and
made his way through the Boise Airport to baggage claim, he figured
he should have argued harder with Mitch for a dangerous mission
instead of this trip. Sara would have understood.

“
Shane!”

A few inches taller than most of the crowd, he
easily saw his sister on the far end of the row of chairs. His
height was always an advantage, but probably not necessary this
time since Sara was jumping up and down.

Damn. A weight he hadn’t even realized he’d been
carrying lifted. There was a lightness in his chest, a sort of joy
he barely recognized.

Then, because he apparently wasn’t moving fast
enough, Sara plowed through the crowd to throw her arms around
him.

“
You look so good. Oh man, I missed you,” she
gushed once she’d released the stranglehold enough to lean back and
grin.

Shane grinned back.

Damn, his little sister had grown up pretty.

Although Sara was as blonde as all of the O’Brian
sisters and Shane’s hair was dark brown, nobody would mistake them
as anything but siblings. From their bottle-green eyes to the
squared chin, the O’Brian genes ran strong.