me.”
“Is that why you joined the
military? To impress your parents?”
“Hell, no. I did it to get laid.” His eyes
sparked with amusement.
“Are you serious?”
“Dead serious. I was this really skinny
kid in high school. The guy no one would date, you know? But I was smart, and I
got into the Academy. Got the Navy uniform and suddenly women are slipping me
their numbers.” He gave a wink, and then his face grew serious. “No, I’ll admit
there was a little more to it than that. I needed direction. The Navy gave me
that. Then the war broke out and that’s when I knew I wanted to be a SEAL. And
that wasn’t to get laid, believe me. I knew I’d be good in the action.”
“Your parents must be proud.”
“My mom died of lung cancer when I was
nine.”
“I’m sorry.”
“My dad’s proud, but we’re not very close.
I have one brother, but he’s ten years older than me. I guess that difference
in age stopped us from developing much of a relationship.”
“That’s a shame.” Lacy reflected on her
own relationship with her sister. It may have had its struggles, but she couldn’t
imagine not having her in her life.
“He lives in New Mexico now with his
second wife. I saw them once before I was deployed to Afghanistan the first
time. They drove up to San Diego to see me off. But, you know, life just goes
on. I haven’t seen him since. We email once in a while.”
He reached for his water glass and swirled
around the ice cubes. “I really should go out there and visit. I’ve been away
so much, but that’s just an excuse. Now that I’m stuck in Annapolis, I’ll have
nothing but time on my hands, compared to my time in the SEALs.”
“You don’t seem too happy about being here.”
A fierceness washed over his face,
disappearing so quickly Lacey questioned whether she had even noticed it. “I
was slated for another SEAL job in San Diego, but things changed and I ended up
here.” He gave a slight nod out the window to the Naval Academy across the
water, with the distinctive profile of its Chapel dome illuminated against the
evening sky. “Don’t get me wrong. I love the Academy. But teaching isn’t what
guys like me are meant to do.”
“How long will you be here?”
“Two years at most. Hopefully I’ll be
headed to San Diego, and after that, deployed. I need to get back in the
action.”
Lacey felt a sadness that she couldn’t
understand. She reminded herself that he was only—could only be—a
friend. How long he stayed here shouldn’t matter so much to her.
But it did.
“Well, I hope that’s what happens, then,”
she forced herself to say.
***
If Lacey had looked tempting to Mick in
the candlelight, then the drive home was pushing him over the edge. He had
never thought the blue lights of his dashboard could make a woman look so
appealing. He wished he was a teenager again, and could park the car in some
deserted lot for a while before returning her home before curfew.
There was a warmth, a pure honesty about Lacey
that he found so refreshing. He glanced in her direction as her tongue caught a
renegade drip of chocolate ice cream dribbling down her waffle cone. Smiling, her
eyes sparkled.
God, she was sexy in that sweet,
girl-next-door kind of way. He was sitting in the car with the kind of woman
most men dared to wish was waiting home for them after a deployment.
No wonder he avoided this kind of woman
like the plague.
As they reached a stoplight, Mick stole a
long look at her, just as a drip of ice cream fell onto her shirt. Right on the
peak of her breast, Mick noted, biting his tongue to stop himself from offering
to lick it off.
“Nuts,” she said quietly, her hand
brushing lightly against her breast. Pulling his eyes away from the profile of
her tight nipples against the thin fabric, the blood in his head rushed south.
Any other woman, and he’d offer her a
drink at his place right now. Any other woman and he’d be using his best
lines—the ones that
“Is that why you joined the
military? To impress your parents?”
“Hell, no. I did it to get laid.” His eyes
sparked with amusement.
“Are you serious?”
“Dead serious. I was this really skinny
kid in high school. The guy no one would date, you know? But I was smart, and I
got into the Academy. Got the Navy uniform and suddenly women are slipping me
their numbers.” He gave a wink, and then his face grew serious. “No, I’ll admit
there was a little more to it than that. I needed direction. The Navy gave me
that. Then the war broke out and that’s when I knew I wanted to be a SEAL. And
that wasn’t to get laid, believe me. I knew I’d be good in the action.”
“Your parents must be proud.”
“My mom died of lung cancer when I was
nine.”
“I’m sorry.”
“My dad’s proud, but we’re not very close.
I have one brother, but he’s ten years older than me. I guess that difference
in age stopped us from developing much of a relationship.”
“That’s a shame.” Lacy reflected on her
own relationship with her sister. It may have had its struggles, but she couldn’t
imagine not having her in her life.
“He lives in New Mexico now with his
second wife. I saw them once before I was deployed to Afghanistan the first
time. They drove up to San Diego to see me off. But, you know, life just goes
on. I haven’t seen him since. We email once in a while.”
He reached for his water glass and swirled
around the ice cubes. “I really should go out there and visit. I’ve been away
so much, but that’s just an excuse. Now that I’m stuck in Annapolis, I’ll have
nothing but time on my hands, compared to my time in the SEALs.”
“You don’t seem too happy about being here.”
A fierceness washed over his face,
disappearing so quickly Lacey questioned whether she had even noticed it. “I
was slated for another SEAL job in San Diego, but things changed and I ended up
here.” He gave a slight nod out the window to the Naval Academy across the
water, with the distinctive profile of its Chapel dome illuminated against the
evening sky. “Don’t get me wrong. I love the Academy. But teaching isn’t what
guys like me are meant to do.”
“How long will you be here?”
“Two years at most. Hopefully I’ll be
headed to San Diego, and after that, deployed. I need to get back in the
action.”
Lacey felt a sadness that she couldn’t
understand. She reminded herself that he was only—could only be—a
friend. How long he stayed here shouldn’t matter so much to her.
But it did.
“Well, I hope that’s what happens, then,”
she forced herself to say.
***
If Lacey had looked tempting to Mick in
the candlelight, then the drive home was pushing him over the edge. He had
never thought the blue lights of his dashboard could make a woman look so
appealing. He wished he was a teenager again, and could park the car in some
deserted lot for a while before returning her home before curfew.
There was a warmth, a pure honesty about Lacey
that he found so refreshing. He glanced in her direction as her tongue caught a
renegade drip of chocolate ice cream dribbling down her waffle cone. Smiling, her
eyes sparkled.
God, she was sexy in that sweet,
girl-next-door kind of way. He was sitting in the car with the kind of woman
most men dared to wish was waiting home for them after a deployment.
No wonder he avoided this kind of woman
like the plague.
As they reached a stoplight, Mick stole a
long look at her, just as a drip of ice cream fell onto her shirt. Right on the
peak of her breast, Mick noted, biting his tongue to stop himself from offering
to lick it off.
“Nuts,” she said quietly, her hand
brushing lightly against her breast. Pulling his eyes away from the profile of
her tight nipples against the thin fabric, the blood in his head rushed south.
Any other woman, and he’d offer her a
drink at his place right now. Any other woman and he’d be using his best
lines—the ones that
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