Page 1 of SEAL's Tempest
ChapterOne
“Fuck me running,” Navy SEAL Josh Hartman growled. He stopped in front of the door of the briefing room on base and checked his watch. Ten minutes late. He’d be getting an ass whipping by Quinn Gallagher, the boss of the Red Falcon team, was not the way he’d planned on starting his week. But that’s exactly what would happen. Extra PT for the next month or more if their CO had already started the briefing. Tempest Miller was going to be the end of his career if he didn’t do something about her soon.
Somehow he’d managed to piss off his new neighbor, well not so new anymore. From the moment they’d met she’d had it out for him. After a few months of her shenanigans, his patience, thin on a good day, was threadbare. No one messed with the one thing he’d devoted his life to—his team and what they did—and she done it repeatedly.
Every one of his Red Falcon teammate’s heads swiveled toward Josh as he entered the room. He tipped his chin at them and took his usual seat at the conference table between Quinn and Ryder “Ry” Purcell, their canine handler and his best friend.
Quinn’s stormy gaze would have made a lesser man shudder. It had when Josh was new to the team. Unfortunately, he’d been on the receiving end of that look too many times over the last couple of months. Yeah, he was in deep shit.
“Where the fuck have you been?” Quinn asked. “You’re lucky Knox isn’t here yet.”
“I’m sorry, boss.” There was no reason he could give that would be acceptable. A SEAL didn’t make excuses; they showed up on time, all the time. He knew it and lived it with every fiber of his being. Or he had until about two months ago when a new tenant moved into the condo next door and proceeded to try to ruin his life.
Quinn grunted. That didn’t bode well for whatever he planned for Josh’s punishment later.
Ry elbowed him in the side. “Is she up to her shenanigans again?”
“No shit.” Josh sighed and leaned back in his chair and took a calming breath and the tension eased in his shoulders. If he didn’t release some of the pent-up aggravation, it would end up spilling over into the briefing, and he’d end up with his ass kicked for insubordination.
Ry pushed a coffee mug toward Josh and grinned.
“Thanks, man. You have no idea how much I need this. Everything was going great until I got outside and realized her car blocked my driveway so I couldn’t get out. Then went I went to ask her to move the car, the shit pile got deeper. At first she didn’t answer, and by the time she did I was ready to strangle her. Three times she’s made me late now.”
The surge of desire had taken him by surprise, but he wasn’t sharing that with Ry. He’d never hear the end of it after all his bitching about her. There was just something about the woman.
The door opened a moment later and Tony Knox, their CO, walked into the room. As one, the team stood at attention as Knox made his way to the head of the table.
“Take a seat, gentlemen,” Knox said with a nod. He placed his laptop on the table in front of him and gestured to whoever was in the back of the room.
Josh didn’t bother to look as the footsteps were already approaching as he took his seat. He figured it was former SEAL and now CIA operative, Rick Kern. As their CIA liaison, Rick frequently participated in their briefings and shared any intel the agency obtained and frequently accompanied them on their missions.
The SEALs planned and trained for every possibility prior to leaving on a mission and Rick’s information often helped save their asses. But this time it wasn’t Rick walking toward the front of the room and Josh’s barely restrained temper flared. “No fucking way.”
“Watch it, petty officer,” Quinn leaned over to whisper into Josh’s ear.
Josh closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and unclenched his fists while he hoped that the woman making her way to the front of the room was a figment of his imagination. Josh resigned himself to listening to whatever Knox had to say and gave up a little prayer that it wouldn’t include his neighbor aka nemesis aka Tempest Miller.
There was no doubt the woman was beautiful, and Josh was sure she turned heads wherever she went, but she’d had a stick up her ass since they’d met. But this he hadn’t expected. Until that moment he’d had no idea she was in the Navy too. But she looked amazing in her dress uniform. She couldn’t have looked more different than when she’d opened the door earlier, her long braid now pulled into a tight bun at the back of her head. Her fair skin reminded him of the description of Snow White when his mom read the story to them. She had curves in all the right places, the kind that made a man’s hands itch to pull her close and feel the softness against him.
Her eyes were the most striking. They were such a pale blue that they looked like ice on a cold winter day.
After seeing the woman for what she truly was, Josh wouldn’t touch her with a ten-foot pole. Tempest had done everything possible to antagonize him. The kicker was he didn’t know what he’d done to cause her animosity. After unsuccessfully trying to make things right several times, he just didn’t give a fuck anymore. Or at least that’s what he told himself while trying to ignore the small part of him that did care. That part made him wince when he thought of how he was raised and supposed to treat others. A totally different part made him want to protect her from the world and kiss her senseless.Fuck.
Ry kicked him under the table. When he gained Josh’s attention, he quirked his eyebrow.
Josh shrugged. It wasn’t like he could say anything at that moment. There would be plenty of time for that later.
“I’d like to introduce Petty Officer Tempest Miller,” Knox said. “She’s a CTI—Cryptologic Technician Interpretive—and will be embedded with you for this mission. Petty officer, this is the Red Falcon team. From the left going around the table is Master Chief Quinn Gallagher, Senior Chief Josh Hartman, then Petty Officer Ryder Purcell, Luca Rossi, Fergus O’Brien, and our canine, Whiskey. Please take a seat so we can get started.”
Tempest’s expression didn’t change as she nodded at each of his team members as Knox introduced them. Then her gaze met his, and her eyes widened. She quickly nodded and took the empty seat on Quinn’s left.
Josh barely held back a groan. Who the fuck had he pissed off to earn the torture of her joining them? He’d love to know what she was thinking and if it was anything like theoh fuck nospinning in his mind.
Tempest couldn’t be any happier about the situation. The woman treated him like he carried a deadly plague and delighted in driving him to the edge by doing things like blocking his driveway to make him late. Now, they’d be stuck together on a mission.
And how the fuck did he not know she was in the Navy? Until today, he’d never seen her in uniform. How had she managed to keep that part hidden? So why did she get so pissed off when she found out he was a fellow seaman?
None of it made sense. They didn’t even need her on this mission. Each of them knew several languages. So why assign her to their team?
