Page 18 of Loved by a SEAL

Chapter 5

Ryan walked over to a group of his men standing by the grill, shaking his head. Good God, that woman was going to be the death of him. Half the time he didn’t know if up was up or down was down when he was talking to her. Not with the way his head spun.

He didn’t know whether to give her what she dished up right back or to duck down and kiss those pink lips of hers. Because that would be one way to end their constant bickering.

Sarah looked sexy as sin again today in another flirty sundress and those goddamn sandals. You’d think he’d never been around a woman before with the way his body reacted around her. The second she was in his line of vision, it was all systems go.

And Jesus Christ.

Even things he’d never considered attractive before were enticing on her. Her silky hair had blown in the wind as they’d been talking, revealing the three piercings she had in each ear. Small, subtle. Nothing over the top. Just a hint of defiance in her look.

Briefly, he wondered if she had piercings anywhere else on her body. He wasn’t really into that kind of thing, but on Sarah, it could be sexy as hell. He wanted to explore her entire body and see what else he discovered—see how she reacted to his touch. To his kisses and caresses, to his tongue tracing over her skin.

Hell.

If she wasn’t Patrick’s sister, he might be tempted to cross the yard to stand beside her now. See if she smelled as feminine and sweet as she looked. Ask her out to dinner. Steal a goodnight kiss. He knew the rest of the men were always bedding random woman they took home with from Anchors—or they had been, prior to meeting their girlfriends. But he was old-fashioned enough to at least want to take a woman out on a proper date first.

Wasn’t opposed to bringing a woman home with him after that though.

Or to making love to a woman all night long. Until they knew each other intimately. Thoroughly. Until he’d memorized every line on her body and she was thoroughly sated.

Even in his wildest fantasies, that wasn’t about to happen with Sarah.

“Captain Mitchell, glad you could make it,” Matthew drawled, grinning as he stood beside his girlfriend Brianna.

Ryan’s gaze flicked over the happy couple, amazed that every man on his goddamn team had somehow ended up with a woman over the past year. Wonders never ceased.

“I was beginning to doubt it with the craziness on base today,” he admitted. “Barely had time to go home and change before making it here.”

“Sir,” Matthew nodded. Ryan wordlessly exchanged a glance with Matthew and Brent. They couldn’t address the hostage situation in the company of all the others, but all the men on the team had been briefed on the possibility they’d be sent out on an op in the imminent future. U.S. forces on the ground in Afghanistan were doing their best to locate the missing American. Until then, there wasn’t much Ryan or his men could do. But the minute they got word, his men would be on a transport plane, flying halfway around the world.

Just like any other mission—only not. This time an American woman’s life was in danger. The stakes were even higher.

“Do you have any other plans for the weekend?” Brianna asked, interrupting his train of thought. If he understood right, she’d grown up next to Matthew and they’d only recently gotten together. Then she’d moved up from Florida to be with him.

It was hard to imagine a woman following him around the world with his career, but now that he was based out of Little Creek, he supposed it could work. If he hadn’t been too busy to have a girlfriend.

Good God. He was forty-one years old and single. Some men thrived on that. He was single more due to his circumstances. He served God and country, and there was little room for a relationship when working his way up the ranks in the Navy. When he’d been a SEAL himself, it was the last thing on his mind.

And now? Who the hell knew.

“Probably just more work,” Ryan said. “I’m up at 0500 every morning for a run but then need to be back on base.”

“Doesn’t sound like much of a day off,” Brianna admitted.

“Ma’am,” he said, nodding in agreement. “I shouldn’t need the team tomorrow. Spend some time with Gator,” he said, referring to Matthew by his nickname. “You never know when the men will be otherwise occupied.”

Brianna worriedly looked to Matthew, who ducked down and brushed a chaste kiss across her forehead. They’d gotten together so recently, he doubted they’d ever had to deal with a deployment yet. What would it be like having a woman worry about him like that? When he’d been on a SEAL team, he’d made damn certain never to get seriously involved with a woman. And now? There was always too much at stake. Too many hours that needed to be logged in on base. Too many situations to handle.

That and he hadn’t met a woman who’d seemed worth the trouble. He’d go out on a date or two, bring a woman home…but the whole wining and dining and wooing? That wasn’t his game. He had no time for frivolities, let alone the mind games so many women seemed to play.

Maybe that was all the more reason he enjoyed when Sarah stood up to him. That and the fact that she was drop-dead gorgeous.

His gaze swept the yard, finally spotting her near her nephew. She was covering her eyes and counting aloud. He smirked as he saw Logan hiding in plain sight behind a small tree. But Sarah. Seeing her standing there, her sexy little dress blowing in the breeze so that it clung to her breasts, hips, and thighs was arousing as hell. She was playing a child’s game for fuck’s sake.

“I have more in the house,” Rebecca called out. Ryan’s gaze swept to the puddle of lemonade on the picnic table and broken pitcher beside it.

“What do you need?” he asked, watching as Patrick swept the broken glass into a large trash can.

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