Tempted by a SEAL Page 5

  She could borrow a pair of his sweatpants and a T-shirt. They could snuggle on the sofa and watch a movie. Or even football if that’s what he wanted to watch. She wouldn’t care.

  As he pulled a belt through the loops on his khaki pants, which made him look more conservative and less bad ass than the jeans had last night, he glanced up at her. “Yeah, I gotta get going too.”

  The crazy, insecure girl in her head wondered if he was lying to get rid of her. The other half of her mind—the eternal optimist inside her—hoped it was true. That he really did have somewhere to go.

  Given the way he was kind of dressed up, it must be true. She only hoped it wasn’t to go out on a date or something.

  “Oh. Okay. Maybe we can walk out together.”

  “Sure.” After sitting down on the one chair in the room and pulling on brown boots he stood. He grinned at her and his looks rose from good to wow. “Ready?”

  “Ah. Yeah.” Kind of. Mostly.

  She’d been so busy watching him get dressed and fantasizing about them being a couple—because she was obviously crazy—that she hadn’t been getting her own stuff together.

  Not that she had all that much to gather.

  Even though she had an overnight bag in the car, she hadn’t brought it inside. She only had her purse, so she’d be doing the walk of shame out of his apartment while wearing the same clothes as last night.

  Lydia looked around and finally spotted her purse on the floor by the bathroom door. She remembered grabbing it when Mack had finally left her alone in the bathroom.

  After their shower together, she’d definitely needed to wash off her old makeup and put on some new.

  She strode across the room to retrieve the bag and not hold him up any longer since he was ready to leave. She was within a step of it when the heel of her shoe caught on the rug and she pitched forward.

  Throwing up her hands in front of her, she hit the wall hard, palms out, but at least she remained upright. When she dared to turn to glance at Mack, hoping in vain he’d missed seeing her less than graceful move, she saw he was right behind her.

  He turned her to face him. She saw the concern on his face, mixed with a crooked half smile. “Careful. Don’t want to mess up that pretty face.”

  Her heart thundered from a combination of the compliment and her embarrassment.

  “Yeah, that would have left a bruise. No doubt. Told you I was a klutz.” She lifted one shoulder like it was nothing even as her pulse raced.

  “Lucky for you, I’ve recently discovered I happen to like klutzes.”

  He liked her? Her heart pounded.

  And now she felt like she was back in middle school asking her friend about the guy at the next lunch table.

  Does he like-like me?

  Lydia swallowed and managed to say, “You do?”

  “Yeah.” His mouth tipped up further before he leaned in.

  It certainly didn’t feel like middle school once Mack’s lips covered hers. He had a way of making a kiss seem like so much more.

  He thrust his tongue between her lips, claiming her mouth, while he tangled his hands in her hair.

  Even with how all consuming his kiss was, her mind spun. She didn’t want this to end.

  After one night together, she didn’t need his declaration of undying love or anything permanent, but his phone number would be nice.

  How could she walk out his door thinking she might never see him again?

  Lydia could envision it now—her and her VW Bug on I-64, driving the hour plus from her college in Williamsburg to here—wherever here was—every Saturday night, just so she could hang around the bar across the street from Mack’s apartment in hopes he would walk in.

  He pulled back and she could have kicked herself for obsessing rather than concentrating on enjoying what could be their final kiss before it ended.

  Checking the readout on his cell phone before he shoved it into his pants pocket, he sighed. “It’s getting late. I gotta go.”

  She swallowed and nodded. “Okay.”

  “Got everything?” he asked as he pulled a leather jacket on over his shirt.

  “Yes.” She tried not to think about her ungraceful retrieval of her bag almost as much as she tried not to think he was making sure she had everything so she wouldn’t have an excuse to contact him or come back again later.

  How good he looked in leather was enough to distract her.

  “Good. Let’s go.” He tipped his head toward the doorway. Reaching down, he grabbed her hand and glanced at her feet before meeting her gaze with his. “Don’t trip on your way out.”

  “I’ll try not to.” She felt her cheeks heat and decided to change the subject. “So, what do you have to do today?”

  The question stemmed from her being nosy and insecure and she hated that she’d asked it. Still, she held her breath waiting for his answer.

  “I’ve got a thing with my dad.”

  Relieved at that answer, she laughed. “That’s funny. I’ve got a thing with my mom. I guess that’s what Sunday’s are good for. Keeping the parents happy. Though I could think of a few other things I’d rather do.”

  He let out a snort of a laugh as he held open the door of the apartment building for her. “You ain’t kidding.”

  Outside on the curb next to her car he paused and drew in a deep breath. “So, I had a good time.”

  This was it. Goodbye.

  “So did I. Maybe we can do it again some time.” Shocked at her own boldness, she waited for his reply.

  “Yeah, maybe.” He leaned in and pressed a hard kiss to her lips, plunging his tongue against hers as her body tightened in response.

  It was a quick kiss but damn it was a good one. It made it almost less painful when he pulled away and let his hands drop. “Bye.”

  She was breathless as she said, “Bye.”

  When he stood, not moving, obviously waiting for her to leave first, she realized she’d better find her car keys. She started digging through her bag as he stood by patiently.

  Finally she lifted her oversized and overloaded purse and shook it near her ear. She heard a jingle. Once she knew in which general area to search, she finally located the keys. She pulled them out and held them up for him in triumph.

  He tipped his head and treated her to a small, lopsided lifting of his lips.

  There were no more excuses for delay. Lydia walked around to the driver’s side door.

  “All right. So, see ya.” She shot him a smile she wasn’t feeling.

  “See ya.”

  She wasn’t going to let his response get her excited. He was simply parroting her, not promising anything. She really wasn’t cut out for this kind of thing. This hook up and move on, one-night stand kind of lifestyle.

  If her first sexual encounter hadn’t proven that, this one did. Stupid girl that she was, she was half in love with Mack already.

  Must have been the orgasms. Some sort of biological reaction that stemmed from the days of the cavemen to insure the proliferation of the species. She was a slave to her hormones and the whims of human nature.

  Being a Biology major, she should have realized that immediately. Her womb-deep craving to be with this man was nothing more than Mother Nature making her will known for the survival of the species.

  The theory helped her feel a little bit, but not completely better. It still sucked to be leaving him with not much more than his see ya as plans for their seeing each other again.

  As she glanced up and saw Mack straddling a motorcycle her gut twisted tighter.

  He rode a Harley. That figured. As if he wasn’t hot enough before, now she had that image in her head.

  Yup, she was no good at this hooking up thing at all.

  She was definitely not a love ’em and leave ’em type. She figured chances were good that he was.

  As she pulled the car into the street, she got a glimpse in the rearview mirror as he fired up his Harley without even another look in her direction as she
drove away.

  With a deep exhale she forced herself to focus on the GPS. She’d gotten herself all turned around by getting off the highway and following the glow of the neon last night. She had to get back on track and to her mother’s place.

  The buzzing in her purse had her sighing. Her phone.

  She’d forgotten to check it this morning—and last night—just as she’d forgotten to check in with Marissa.

  There was a good chance it was her roommate, concerned about her. Though it could also be her mother, calling to ask how close she was to arriving.

  Either way, Lydia had to get it.

  With too much to do at once and the time ticking on toward the brunch, she risked it and continued to drive the direction the car’s navigation told her to, while rummaging through the bag for the phone.

  She found it one handed and glanced at it long enough to hit the button to answer. She was breaking the law by pressing the cell to her ear as she drove. “Hello.”

  “Hi, sweetie. Where are you?”

  “Not too far. About half an hour if the GPS is right.”

  “Oh, good. I—” The computerized dashboard voice telling her to stay right ahead cut her mother off.

  That was probably for the better. The longer this conversation went on, the more likely Lydia would be pressed into having to lie to her mother about why she didn’t end up driving down last night instead of this morning.

  “I’ll let you go so you can concentrate on driving.”

  Relieved on more than one account, Lydia said, “Yeah, thanks. I’m not really sure where I’m going so that’d be good.”

  “Of course. We can talk when you get here.”

  “Great.” She hoped her mother didn’t hear the sarcasm she’d been unable to hide. “See you in a little bit.”

  “Okay, sweetie. Bye.”

  “Bye.” Lydia lowered the phone and took her eyes off the road one more time to see the button to disconnect the call.

  Another glance at the read out told her she had a missed call and a bunch of texts, all from Marissa.

  She needed to call her friend back. She had promised to last night and never had.

  In Lydia’s defense, she’d been a bit distracted by Mack. The memory brought a smile to her face, as did the idea of telling Marissa about it.

  She couldn’t read the texts while driving, but she managed to hit the right button to dial Marissa.

  “Where are you?” Marissa didn’t even answer with hello and instead launched right into the question.

  “Leaving the place of the guy I spent the night with.” Lydia wouldn’t have admitted that to anyone else on Earth, but she and Marissa were more than roommates. They were best friends. This was the one person she could be perfectly honest with about last night.

  “Oh my God! Tell me everything.” Marissa sounded about as excited as Lydia thought she would.

  “He was in that bar I stopped at last night.”

  “And you just like walked up to him and picked him up?”

  “Nope. Actually, some jerk was bothering me and wouldn’t go away so he came over and took him out. I mean like literally. He had the guy face down on the ground with his hands pinned behind his back.”

  “That is so hot.”

  “I know, right?” Lydia knew Marissa would understand. “So I shouldn’t feel bad I went home with him?”

  “Of course not. He sounds perfect. Like some kind of knight in shining armor.”

  “Yeah, if the armor is a leather jacket and instead of a horse he rides a Harley.”

  “No way. Are you serious?”

  “I swear.”

  Marissa groaned. “Now you’re just trying to make me jealous. You know that’s like my dream guy.”

  “Sorry.” Lydia smiled, not feeling all that sorry.

  “It’s okay. I’ll forgive you. So what does he do for a living?”

  “I’m not really sure. We didn’t get around to talking about that.”

  “What’s his name?”

  “Mack.”

  “Mack what?”

  “Um, I never asked.” Now Lydia was really starting to sound and feel like a slut. She sighed. “I’m really not good at this stuff.”

  “No, you’re not. But it sounds like it worked out for you last night anyway.”

  “Yeah.” Except that she knew next to nothing about the man she’d spent the night with and she hadn’t worried about that at all. At least, not until now as the things she didn’t know about him began to outweigh what she did know.

  Maybe it wasn’t so bad. At least she knew where he lived . . . She rolled her eyes at herself for being so foolish last night and letting her hormones get the best of her.

  “So are you going to see him again?” Marissa asked.

  “I never got his number.”

  “But you gave him yours, right?”

  “Uh, no.” The chances of her ever seeing Mack again were pretty much zero.

  Marissa sighed. “You’re right. You aren’t good at this. No more going out without me. Okay?”

  In light of the mounting evidence, Lydia couldn’t argue that point. “Okay.”

  “Are you coming back tonight?”

  “Yeah, I think so. I don’t have class until afternoon tomorrow but I don’t think I’m going to feel like hanging around here any longer than I have to.”

  “Good. I’ll be home.”

  “Still working on your paper?”

  “Ugh. Yes.” Marissa’s dissatisfaction about the whole thing was clear.

  “Okay. I’ll see you at home then.” She just had to get through brunch and then she could drive back to school and commiserate with Marissa about her stupidity over take-out Chinese food and maybe a pint of ice cream.

  It wasn’t a great plan but it was the best one she had so it would have to do.

  CHAPTER 7

  The vibration of the phone in his pocket had Mack sighing. He knew who it was. There was no doubt in his mind.

  It would be his father, making sure he was on his way.

  He wasn’t even late. He knew that because he’d just checked the time on his cell. Mack knew damn well he’d had enough leeway to stop at the store. Not trusting his father to have any in the house, he’d grabbed a six-pack of beer.

  He’d known he was going to need a bit of libation to get through brunch with good old dad and the new fam. The turmoil of his strange feelings and behavior around Lydia had only added to the day’s surreal nature and his stress about it.

  He’d just safely stowed the beer in the Harley’s saddlebags and was about to strap on his helmet when he’d felt his phone vibrate.

  Mack rested the helmet on the seat. He was ready to get on the road again. Now, he had to dig into his pocket for his cell instead.

  Pulling it out, he saw he had been right in identifying the caller. “Hey, Dad.”

  “James, where are you?”

  “A couple of blocks away.” He did not specify that he was at the convenience store where he’d overpaid for the six-pack of cold beer and had been happy to do it.

  Maybe after a few cold ones he wouldn’t grit his teeth every time his father called him James in that tone of voice that made him feel as if he was a little kid doing something wrong.

  “I was just checking. It’s almost eleven.”

  But it wasn’t eleven yet and that was the point.

  “I’ll be there on time.” Or he would if his father would let him hang up so he could get back on the road.

  It was just one of the things he loved about riding the bike rather than driving a car—no one could expect him to talk on the cell at the same time. That only added to the feeling of freedom.

  “Sorry. I’m just impatient for you to get here.” His father’s statement was enough to raise Mack’s guilt for not visiting.

  “I know. I haven’t been home in a while.”

  “No, you haven’t.” There was criticism in his father’s tone that Mack didn’t deserve.

&nbs
p; He’d been yanked out of the country to fight terrorists, so he was in no mood to be judged for not visiting more. “It’s not like I didn’t want to come home. It’s not exactly in my control.”

  “I know. I told Laurie that.”

  Mack closed his eyes for a second and tried to control his agitation. “You didn’t tell them, did you?”

  “No, I didn’t. It’s ridiculous. She’s my wife and Liddy is my stepdaughter.”

  “And one word spoken to the wrong person could put them both in danger, and you. We’ve talked about this—”

  “Fine.” His father sounded annoyed. “I think you’re paranoid, but I did as you asked. They know you’re in the Navy. Nothing more.”

  “Good. Thank you.” Maybe Mack was being paranoid, but it was for his father’s own good.

  It wasn’t his own safety he was concerned about. It was theirs. The possibility of some nutball targeting a SEAL’s family was very real.

  A lone wolf ISIS supporter. Some anti-American extremist. No one knew when or where the next threat could come from, if it ever came at all, but it never hurt to play it safe.

  In an area like this, or in San Diego, locations known to be heavily populated with SEALs, the danger was even more pressing.

  People liked to talk, brag even. Daddy’s new bride and her college-aged daughter would be no exception. He could picture his new stepmother babbling at the hair salon about her new husband’s SEAL Team Six son. Or his new little sis telling everyone about him at her college.

  What neither would realize, not being from a military background, is that one being related to him could put them all in danger.

  Mack’s father sighed. “I’m just excited for you to meet Laurie and Liddy. And see the new house too.”

  His brows rose. Mack had been to Iraq and back, had buried a friend and then almost immediately boarded a transport to Africa all in the past seven months, but his father was obviously more excited about his new family than concerned about his old one.

  Who the hell were these strangers who had swooped in and taken over his father’s life anyway?