Page 41 of Under Pressure

“So you were at some point?” Knox clarified.

“Until he found the real love of his life: the Navy.” She peeked into his office, her nose wrinkling slightly, and he cringed remembering the pizza box he tossed in his office trash yesterday.

That wasn’t how it went down at all and Sean wasn’t going to let her statement stand as if it were fact. His body tensed. “You mean until you stopped taking my calls?”

The room stilled like the half-second before a bomb went off, the whole world was silent and time slowed down.

Blue faced him. “Calls?” she gritted out through clenched teeth. “What calls?”

“Oh boy,” Grace muttered under her breath.

Ryker clapped his hands in the air that echoed through the warehouse. “Come, we are leaving. Knox, Gray, Wolfe. We go.”

The men scrambled to finish up what had to be done so they could get out of there. Ryker stepped up to Sean and lowered his voice. “I told you that one day you would come to me for romantic advice. We are friends and I will not make you beg.”

Sean rolled his eyes. “You’re too good to me.”

Ryker wasn’t deterred by his sarcasm. His green eyes practically glowed with royal intelligence born from generations of kingship and probably wooing women. “There is a time when a man should hold onto his pride and a time when he should throw it on the ground and stomp on it.” He looked Sean in the eyes. “Now is the time for the latter.”

Ryker took Grace by the hand and kissed the back of it. “We should leave them, amore.”

Grace cupped his cheek. “You’re so cute when you get all informative and stuff.”

Ryker leaned in, “I will gladly inform you all evening, my dear.”

Grace shoved his shoulder and giggled. They headed for the door, in a princely clip.

“No, guys. You can stay,” he told his team. They ignored him. He grabbed Knox’s arm, in a last-ditch effort to avoid being alone with Blue, and whispered. “Stay.”

Knox’s blue eyes glowed with amusement. “Dude, you’re kidding. You must be kidding. You have a hot woman here to see you, who you named your stinking boat after, and you want me to stay? Forget it.”

“It’s not like that,” Sean said.

Knox pried Sean’s hand off. “I’m doing this for your own good,” he said and left, giving Blue a little salute on his way. “Gorgeous.”

Blue came around Sean’s workbench and stared at the papers he had laid out as Sean watched the door close behind Knox. “I like your friends.” She propped herself up on the workbench and crossed her legs, making the brown lace slip to the side, showing a healthy amount of spectacular, tanned thigh.

“They’re jerks and traitors,” he grumbled. They’d left him with a femme fatale and they knew it.

“Grace’s husband’s name is Ryker Rockefeller?” She ran a finger down the side of a wrench that sat on the table, and Sean could practically feel the caress.

Taking a fortifying breath, he faced her. This had to stop. “What are you doing here? Want to finish what you started with the carbonated water.”

She laughed and glanced down at his bare chest. “Dousing someone isn’t as fun when they’re not wearing clothes.”

He suddenly felt like he was naked from head to toe, and folded his arms over his chest—it made his pecks look bigger. His face burst into flames of wave after wave of heat. “Excuseme.” He marched past her into his office and grabbed a hoodie he left hanging over the back of his chair. From out his office window, he watched her readjust her skirt. She glanced up and caught his eye. He gulped.

She blushed and glanced down, and for the first time since she arrived, he didn’t feel like he was the only one off balance. He shored himself up, straightened his spine, and headed back out. Her gaze followed his fingers as he zipped up the hoodie, giving him a feeling of deep satisfaction.

“I see you haven’t lost your underwear model physique.” She smiled.

“Yeah, the Navy’s been good for me.” Okay, so he hadn’t really needed to throw that in her face, especially after her one-true-love comment, but it’d just popped out.

For a split second, Sean thought he’d seen hurt in her eyes, but it was gone too quickly to be sure. She squared her shoulders and smiled. “I’m glad.” She pointed at the image of the shipwreck, and its name across the side. “What’s this?”

Crap. If anyone other than Blue had come in, he’d have immediately shut the screen off—but he hadn’t thought of that. Only how glad he was to see her. Turning it off would only draw more attention to it now.

“Just a job.” He leaned against the workbench and folded his arms over his chest mimicking Knox’s strong posture from before. “How did you find me?”

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