Page 18 of SEAL Ever After

At that moment Mason and Noah came sauntering down to the water to collect their women. Bailey and Taylor immediately each sank into their guy’s arms, and Sarah grinned.

“God you guys look happy. This is pretty much the perfect night.”

“Let’s head back up,” Mason said, cocking his head toward the bonfire. “We’ll have a toast to you and the CO now that everyone else is here.”

“Sounds good!” Sarah agreed, and she walked back up toward the bonfire with the other couples. Glancing around the happy faces, she saw every guy from both teams was there. Colton and his girlfriend Camila had arrived, Jacob and Jessica were grabbing drinks, and the rest of the Alpha team had gotten there as well.

Patrick grumbled as everyone gathered around and grabbed a fresh beer or wine cooler. “You should’ve told us ahead of time, sis—we could’ve had a proper toast with champagne.”

“Right—your favorite,” Sarah joked.

Ryan walked up and came to a stop beside her. “We’ll save that for the wedding. We’ve got two SEAL teams here tonight—we’re good with beers.”

“Sir,” Patrick said with a nod.

The men all chuckled, and then Patrick raised his beer up in the air as everyone quieted. “We’re all thrilled to hear the news about your engagement to Sarah, sir. I’d love to say there’s no better couple, but everyone here is paired up now, so you’re one of many.”

“Hoorah!” one of the men shouted.

“And as Sarah’s brother, I’m of course honored to have you as part of our family now. To the future Mitchells and many happy years together!”

“To the commander and Sarah!” Hunter shouted out.

“Hoorah!” the men yelled.

“Go get ‘em, girl!” Bailey said with a laugh.

Sarah clinked her beer bottle against Ryan’s and took a swig, looking around at all of their friends. There was light from the bonfire, laughter, and an amazing group of people surrounding them. She’d been right—tonight couldn’t have been any more perfect.

Chapter 8

Ryan awoke at five on Monday morning when his alarm buzzed, and he leaned over and brushed a kiss across Sarah’s forehead before he got out of bed. She was fast asleep, her hair spread out like a halo of sorts around her.

God, she was beautiful.

He wanted nothing more than to wake her with soft kisses and a slow lovemaking session before he headed into base. She shifted slightly as he stood, the covers moving down so that he could see the supple curve of one bare breast.

His cock immediately began to harden, and he turned, striding toward the master bathroom.

As much as he’d love another lazy morning like yesterday, he had to get ready for work. Sarah had her physical therapy patients later this morning as well, and he didn’t want to wake her just for a quickie. Not when he’d prefer spending hours with her in bed. Deciding a cold shower was the way to go, he quickly showered and then dressed.

Monday morning had come too damn fast. When he was single, the weekends had been slow and leisurely. He’d get together with friends, work around his house, occasionally meet a woman. All that had changed in an instant during that near-fatal mission involving Ice’s team. Although Ryan and Sarah had danced around their attraction to one another for months and months, when he’d told her about Patrick’s injury and she’d stood there crying in front of him, there’d been no going back.

He’d taken her into his arms, and that had been it. They’d gone from friends to lovers almost immediately after that—and they’d been inseparable ever since.

Walking into his kitchen, he brewed some dark roast coffee to bring with him to base, smirking at the bridal magazines scattered on the kitchen table. Like everything, Sarah had flung herself full-force into wedding planning. She did life with no regrets and was passionate about her interests. Even though they’d just gotten engaged, she already had stacks of magazines that she’d picked up and apparently had Pinterest boards full of planning ideas, whatever the hell Pinterest was.

Twenty minutes, later, Ryan pulled onto the tree-lined drive heading into Little Creek and flashed his badge to the guards. They looked young as hell, and he realized again just how damn long he’d been in the Navy. He pulled into a parking spot and saw Hunter “Hook” Murdock, the leader of the Delta team, climbing out of his own SUV a couple of spaces down.

“Sir,” Hunter said with a nod as they fell in step beside one another walking in.

“Delta team is drilling out on the water today,” Ryan said.

“Yes, sir. Perfect weather for it, too,” Hunter said. “Some of the guys were grumbling last time when we did a rescue simulation in stormy seas.”

Ryan chuffed out a laugh. “They’ve all gone soft on you.”

Hunter smirked. “Guess that’s what happens now that they each have a woman of their own. Speaking of women, is there any word on the other missing American down in Mexico?”

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