SEAL the Deal (Alpha SEALs Book 1) Read online

  “Thanks,” Rebecca said, returning to her work.

  “Did you eat yet?”

  Rebecca glanced up at her assistant. “No, I meant to grab a sandwich on my way back from the courthouse but got sidetracked. How about you?”

  “I’m on my way to the café down the street. Want me to grab you a turkey on wheat?”

  “That’d be great; I’m famished.”

  “All right. I’ll be back in twenty.”

  Rebecca blew out a breath as her assistant left, her wispy bangs briefly rustled by the puff of air before they fell back to her forehead. She’d pulled her long brown hair back earlier at the courthouse but had tugged it free the moment she’d stepped back into her office so that soft sun-kissed brown waves fell around her shoulders. She felt she looked more professional with her hair pulled back—more professional and older.

  Although she was thirty years old and had been out of law school for five years, she was frequently mistaken for a college student. Just last weekend some young college guys—kids, really—had starting hitting on her as she walked along the beach. They only backed off when they realized she was with the four-year-old girl running along beside her.

  It certainly wasn’t the first time some youngster had thought she lived the same carefree life that he did, and it likely wouldn’t be the last. Not for a while at least.

  Although looking young certainly had its advantages at times, a hearing at the courthouse in front of a judge while she faced off against another hard-edged lawyer was not one of them.

  Rebecca glanced out the window of her office building, taking in the scenic view. The Atlantic Ocean sparkled in the distance, and she longed to be down by the water, walking on the soft sand, feeling the wind whip through her hair, inhaling the salty air, and just living for a change.

  She and her daughter escaped to the beach any chance they could, going on walks in the evening after she picked up Abby from daycare and spending as many weekend afternoons as they could there, soaking in the surf and sun. Her daughter loved the beach as much as she did, and she was relieved Abby wasn’t one of those kids terrified of the crashing waves. She didn’t know what she’d do if she had a child afraid of getting a little wet and sandy.

  The beach was her lifeline, the one place where she could be herself and feel free.

  Lately, those stolen moments where it was just the two of them down by the water were the only ones where she felt any semblance of peace.

  Rebecca managed to leave the office on time that evening for a change. Her assistant had handed off the paperwork to the courier an hour ago, and after catching up on her work emails and voicemail messages, Rebecca was cruising down the highway to collect her daughter.

  It was a gorgeous spring evening, the kind that begged to be spent outside. Her best friend Alison had called earlier to see if she and Abby wanted to meet for dinner at a local seafood restaurant and enjoy a meal out on the patio. It wasn’t the same, bringing a four-year-old along, but she knew they would still have fun.

  They’d agreed to meet at a restaurant on a popular strip in Virginia Beach. There was a huge outdoor patio, spanning two sides of the restaurant, with plenty of tables shaded by umbrellas and palm trees. Although it wasn’t right on the ocean, on a quiet evening you could hear the waves crashing in the distance.

  When she arrived, their trio sat down at a table and ordered drinks—milk for Abby and cocktails for the two women.

  “Aren’t you glad I convinced you to come?” Alison asked, sipping on her mojito and then tossing her strawberry blonde hair back over her shoulder as she glanced around.

  “Honestly? Yeah. It’s gorgeous out tonight. And I’ve been stuck inside all afternoon.”

  “Me too, mommy,” Abby said, smiling at her mom.

  “You too, what?”

  “I got stuck, too. My jacket got stuck, but the teacher helped me.”

  Alison laughed and grinned at Rebecca. “Kids shouldn’t be allowed to be that cute.”

  “Does it make you want one of your own soon?”

  “Oh no. I’ve got to find Mr. Right first, and then maybe I’ll consider producing some offspring. After my big, elaborate wedding and honeymoon with my fictitious husband of course.”

  “It’ll happen,” Rebecca replied. “A few years from now and you’ll be begging me to babysit so you and your hot hubby can go out for a date night.”

  “In my dreams. With my recent track record, I’m pretty sure I’m destined to be single forever.”

  “That’s what everyone thinks—and then ‘bam’ you meet someone.”

  “Is that so?” Alison asked with a laugh. “It sure hasn’t worked that way for me. But I’ll tell you what—I’ll babysit Abby when you get the urge to date again.”

  “Thanks, but I already had my happily-ever-after. It just didn’t last as long as I hoped.”

  Alison offered her a sympathetic glance. “You’re young—there’s no way you can predict right now that you’ll never want to date again.”

  “Like I have the time,” Rebecca said, grabbing Abby’s glass of milk before it fell off the table. “I’m too busy with work and this little one, and that’s fine.”

  The waitress brought over their orders, and Rebecca helped her daughter with her grilled cheese sandwich, relieved to have the conversation turned away from her dating life—or lack thereof. She knew all of her friends and family just wanted her to be happy, but her husband had been “the one.”

  How many people had more than one of those kind of loves in their lifetime? The fact was, they didn’t. And Rebecca had learned to be okay with that knowledge. She had her work, her daughter, and there really wasn’t much more that she could ask for.

  She dug into her own crab cakes, moaning at the delicious taste and texture. The turkey sandwich she’d eaten at lunch just hadn’t cut it. This was pure heaven. She picked up a seasoned fry and popped it into her mouth, watching the people walking down the street.

  The table they’d gotten was right next to the sidewalk, separated from it only by a wooden railing. It was a relaxed, beach town atmosphere, and she could almost pretend that she was on vacation and not merely enjoying a meal and drinks with her best friend.

  Families, couples holding hands, and single adults in their twenties and thirties, off to meet friends or a date for the night, all strolled by. Some were likely on vacation, and others, like her, lived here and were simply enjoying the spring weather. It was hard to resist going out on a gorgeous evening like this.

  Her gaze shifted across the street to Anchors, a popular bar with the locals. Rebecca and Alison used to hang out there years ago, long before Rebecca was married and Abby had been born. They’d flirted with the sailors there and had a few drinks on several different occasions, but they’d gone there more for the experience than the hope of finding “the one.”

  It wasn’t the type of place she’d take a preschooler, anyway. While it was a restaurant and bar, it was popular with the local military members and college students. They had good beer and cheap appetizers, but all she needed was for some drunken sailor to unknowingly teach her four-year-old her first curse words.

  Yeah, she needed that like she needed a hole in her head.

  It was more of a pick-up joint than family restaurant, but despite her single-again status, she’d steered clear of it.

  “Yum,” Alison said, catching sight of three attractive men who most certainly were in the military, headed in their direction.

  “Yummy!” Abby chimed in, taking a bite of her sandwich.

  The two women laughed, and Rebecca was thankful the men were far enough away not to hear them. Between the three extremely fit guys, she bet they could scare off anyone within the nearest block. They were all huge, with broad shoulders and chests and large, muscular biceps obtained through years of PT, not a couple of hours in the gym every week.

  They sauntered down the street like they owned it, drawing attention from everyone in their wake. Including
her, she realized, as the man in front met her gaze.

  Steel blue eyes cut into hers, and she found herself staring right into their blue recesses, unable to look away. Rebecca faced down fierce opponents in the courtroom every week, but none of them held a candle to this man. He’d intimidate opposing counsel without even opening his mouth, that’s how lethal he looked.

  He broke their gaze first, surprising her, and his eyes landed on Abby. He looked familiar, she realized, a memory from long ago coming to the forefront of her mind.

  Several years earlier, when Abby was just a baby, she’d gotten a flat tire after leaving the beach one morning. She used to go early back then, to keep Abby out of the heat of the day, and to avoid the afternoon crowds. A Navy SEAL jogging alone down the beach had offered to change the tire for her. She’d promised to pay him for his time and trouble, but he’d shrugged it off like it was nothing. Since her own husband had been working in the hospital that morning and she hadn’t wanted to wait around for a tow truck with a baby, she’d gladly accepted his help.

  It was funny that she’d forgotten about that incident until this very moment. She supposed tragedy would do that to a person—all that had been on her mind in the past year was moving on after the death of her husband. And although she’d certainly recognized the SEAL’s power and pure masculinity at the time, it had been the furthest thing from her mind, what with a husband and new baby.

  “I want the one on the left,” Alison joked, and Rebecca’s eyes briefly drifted to the fierce-looking man with brooding dark eyes.

  “I recognize the first guy.”

  “Seriously? Because he’s gorgeous, too.”

  “Yeah, he changed my tire years ago.”

  Alison laughed. “That man changed your tire and you never told me about it? Hello—single and available here.”

  “Sorry, Abby was just a baby then. I was more worried about getting home than setting up my best friend.”

  “No worries—I have my eye on the other guy anyway.”

  The two SEALs walking behind the man she’d recognized briefly glanced their way but quickly lost interest in two women with a young child, focusing instead on the scantily-clad college students shrieking with laughter on the other side of the road. While her SEAL—since when was he hers?—briefly glanced at the college girls, he returned his attention to Rebecca, nodding at her once, assuming she recognized him as well.

  He wasn’t the type of man easily forgotten—he was well over six feet, with shortly cropped dark hair and piercing blue eyes. She imagined he commanded the attention of any room he entered. And while she had seen his gorgeous physique while he worked on her car, the awareness of him and resulting lust surging through her right now had most decidedly been absent then.

  She smiled back at him, realizing she’d give just about anything to feel those powerful arms wrapped around her, even if just for one night. Would a man like that kiss as assuredly as the way he moved, expecting the entire world to bend to his presence and command? Would he be demanding in the bedroom, commanding her body to receive pleasures she could only imagine?

  He seemed so careful and methodical that she imagined he would be an attentive lover. Not going to happen.

  “He winked at me,” Abby giggled.

  Winked?

  Rebecca glanced back at the man in confusion, but his face was set in stone. The three men waited for the traffic to clear, standing shoulder-to-shoulder on the sidewalk, and crossed the street to Anchors without so much as a backward glance.

  “Remind me why we stopped going there again,” Alison said.

  “I’ll give you one good reason,” Rebecca replied, eyeing her smiling daughter.

  Maybe the man just had something in his eye. Certainly hardened SEALs didn’t go around winking at children. He’d merely nodded at Rebecca in cool acknowledgement, so what on earth would lead her to believe that he’d wink at her child?

  She watched them disappear into the bar with a slight pang of regret. Alison was right. Why exactly had they stopped going there?

  Chapter 3

  Patrick took a swig from his bottle of beer, glancing around at his laughing team members. They were making quite a commotion, but since Anchors was always loud at night and full of other bawdy SEALs and military guys enjoying a few beers, it went unnoticed.

  Brent “Cobra” Rollins was currently sitting across from him with a pretty redhead on his lap, and the other guys were teasing her, saying she’d chosen the wrong SEAL. Brent was doing everything he could to convince her otherwise, currently planting a big kiss on her red lips.

  The kiss quickly turned into a full-on make-out session as the other guys cheered him on, hooting and hollering, and Patrick shifted his gaze to the other areas of the restaurant.

  Christopher was chatting up a brunette beauty at the bar. She would’ve been exactly Patrick’s type a few years ago, before his marriage and subsequent divorce. Now he mostly steered clear of the fairer sex and barely noticed the women here, save for the ones brought to his attention by his teammates. Or the ones who would invariably hit on him.

  He usually tried to keep his distance, shooting an icy gaze at any woman that approached, lest they think he was looking for a lady to take home for the night. A one-night-stand didn’t exactly work when you had a kid, and besides, he was done with the whole relationship thing.

  “I can’t believe you made it,” Mike said.

  “Yeah, I wasn’t sure if I would. But I wore Logan out earlier today. He fell asleep on the car ride over to his grandparents’ house, so I didn’t feel too guilty about leaving.”

  “That’s gotta be rough, man.”

  “Having a kid?”

  “Yeah, I’m not sure how anyone manages to have a family in this line of work.”

  “It didn’t work out too well for me.”

  “Shit, sorry. I didn’t mean to bring up your ex.”

  “No worries,” Patrick said, grabbing some buffalo wings from the platter. Hell if it didn’t feel good eating bar food now that they were home. It was amazing what you missed when you were gone. Their recent deployment had been short and sweet, but those month-long missions were always brutal.

  He’d come to Anchors tonight mostly just to keep their team’s tradition alive. The day after they returned from a mission, they always met here to decompress and enjoy a few beers together. Hell, after camping out in the desert, living on MREs, hauling all of his gear around under the blazing sun, who was he to complain about a night out with his team? Logan was safely ensconced at his grandparents’ house for a few hours, and Patrick was feeling like a new man after eight hours of sleep in his own bed.

  He would’ve gladly slept longer, catching up on all the hours he’d lost on their deployment, but a certain six-year-old had woke him up bright and early. Not that he was complaining.

  Patrick had enjoyed a morning with his son and then met up with the rest of his SEAL team and CO earlier in the day, debriefing from their mission. The hostage rescue had been perfectly executed, so there wasn’t much to discuss aside from a brief rundown of how the events had played out.

  Easy in and easy out was exactly the way he liked it. Aside from his forearm meeting with a combatant’s knife, everything had gone according to plan.

  Patrick had visited the physician on base afterward, who’d been impressed with Mike’s stitching up of the wound on his arm. The black stitches stood out against the red gash, but the doctor had said it would barely even leave a scar.

  He’d have to thank Mike again for patching him back up. Not that he was worried about a battle scar, but infection and blood loss had certainly been a concern at the time. That and nabbing their man from the enemy. Patrick had coolly sat down as they’d climbed back onto the Black Hawk and made a hasty escape, Mike already applying pressure to the wound to stop the bleeding as they lifted off the ground.

  “Hello boys,” a sultry voice purred.

  Patrick glanced over to see ample cleavage displaye
d at his eye level and finally looked further up to the heavily made-up face of a young blonde woman. He’d never understood why some females needed to look so done up when they went out. This woman was probably pretty beneath all that makeup, but her outfit and overall appearance gave him the impression of a woman trying too hard.

  Hell, with a body like hers, most guys wouldn’t even notice her other features. Not with the skimpy clothes she currently had on.

  “Well hello, darlin’,” Matthew “Gator” Murphy replied as the other men lifted their eyes in interest.

  She giggled, the sound entirely too sugary sweet for Patrick’s liking. “Darlin’?” she asked.

  “Yes, ma’am,” Matthew replied, laying it on real thick.

  “Hell, you don’t have an accent,” Evan protested.

  “See anything you like?” Matthew asked as he winked at the woman.

  Attracted by his southern charm, the woman batted her eyelashes at him suggestively. Mike let out a low whistle, and only Brent looked unconcerned, since he was still lip-locked with the pretty redhead.

  Matthew took her hand and kissed it as she giggled. As she sidled up to him, Mike and Evan asked if she had any single friends, seeing as though Matthew had already claimed her as his own.

  Patrick looked on with detached amusement. Hell, it was hard for him to believe he’d actually met his ex-wife here years ago. She’d never looked as ridiculous as this woman, but had he ever been that young and foolish, happy with any attention from the opposite sex? Yes. It was pretty damn hard to remember those carefree days now.

  His mind flashed back to the attractive woman he’d spotted outside as he and his men walked to Anchors earlier in the evening. He remembered her from years ago, although he hadn’t recalled their encounter until tonight. She was newly married with a baby back then, if he remembered correctly.

  She’d been so relieved to have him come to her rescue that she’d barely noticed his rippling muscles as he’d removed the flat tire from her car. And that he definitely remembered, because other women always took notice of him jogging shirtless along the beach. They’d stare at him longingly sometimes, but she’d only been concerned about her baby, as one would expect. Her husband was some kind of surgeon at the hospital, and she’d been worried about having no way to get home.