by Jaime Lewis
Irish walked over to the bar and took a seat on the stool next to Ace. Buddy, the bartender, appeared and sat a cold Bud down in front of Irish.
He looked around and saw a few women who were on the prowl looking to land a man. And they weren’t just after any man. These women were locals and knew the SEALs hung out here. They were referred to as “frog hogs,” but they didn’t seem to mind the offensive name as they came back night after night, week after week, looking for a good time and always left with a frogman on their arm. And those “someone’s” included himself on some of those occasions. He liked sex. Sex kept him grounded, especially when coming home from a mission, and he needed that stress release. But over the last few months, seeing a few of his buddies and teammates settle down with some pretty amazing women, he started to think about his future and what he wanted beyond the Navy. He questioned himself several times if he wanted a family with the career he led. The secrecy surrounding his job, the long deployments. It was so much easier to scratch the itch when needed. He was always straight forward with the women he slept with. It was always a mutual agreement before engaging in any sexual activity that it was just sex. No cuddling afterward, no sleepovers, and definitely no commitments. But seeing how his friends, Ace, Potter, and Frost have made it work, he wondered if a serious relationship was in his cards. Alex, Ace’s fiancé, was always trying to set him up on blind dates. Maybe after he got back from the weekend with the guys, he would give her a call and take her up on her offer. If he wanted to date, he had to start somewhere. He trusted Alex. She wouldn’t set him up with just anyone.
Ace slapped him on the back. “Damn, man, you just walk in the place, and they set their sets right for you. Do you have some sort of a pussy magnet on you?” Ace teased him and glanced over his shoulder. “Tell me, which lady is getting lucky tonight?”
Irish glanced over his shoulder, and sure enough, two women were staring him down, grinning and running their hands along their bodies. He knew that look. “Sorry, ladies, not tonight,” he thought to himself and took a sip of his beer.
Irish looked at Ace and shook his head as he turned back in his seat, leaving the ladies staring at his back. “None.”
Ace choked on his beer. “Excuse me? Are you feeling alright, stud?” He reached up to feel Irish’s forehead, and Irish slapped it away, making Ace chuckle. Ace could laugh all he wanted to, but Irish was determined to show everyone he too could find someone. At least he thought he could.
They spent about an hour talking and making plans, then decided to call it a night since it was getting late. Irish was envious of Ace. He had his beautiful fiancé waiting for him at home. How those two met and fell in love was something for the books. Alex was awesome in more ways than one. She was like part of the team, and all the men respected and adored the hell out of her. She could keep up with all of them in every aspect of being a SEAL. But it really wasn’t a surprise, considering her father was a SEAL and then being raised by an entire team of SEALs when her father was killed in action. Hell, his commander, a very well-respected man, was her adoptive father.
He and Ace walked outside and stood under the overhang, watching the rain come down.
“Damn, I thought this storm was going to miss us,” Ace said.
“Yeah, it’s coming down pretty good,” Irish replied.
“Well, I’m parked on the other side. I’ll see ya tomorrow morning for PT.” Ace waved and ran toward his truck.
Irish started jogging towards his car. As he neared his vehicle, his ears homed in on a sound. Was that a grunt? He looked around, and two parking spaces over, his eyes landed on a small Mercedes SUV with the hatchback open and the lights on inside. He was getting wet, but curiosity got to him. Walking closer, he realized the vehicle was jacked up on one side. What he wasn’t expecting was to find a woman trying to change a flat tire. Well, she was more like struggling.
He had to hold back his laughter when she finally got the one lug nut off but then realized she still had four more to go and then swore.
So, he used abilities to his advantage and stood back and watched silently for a few seconds. The woman had a great ass from his view. She wore a pair of tight black pants, the kind that Alex loved to wear. She was bent over, struggling with the lug wrench. Was that a southern accent he detected? He waited another minute or so, taking in the sight of her body. Not wanting to stand around perving any longer, he decided to put the poor woman out of her misery and lend her a hand.
“Do you need some help, sweetness?”
He was caught off guard when she screamed and then fell backward into a big puddle, completely soaking her. When she asked herself, “if anything else could go wrong,” he couldn’t help but chuckle.
He stood over her as she opened her eyes, and when she looked up at him, it was he who almost landed on his ass. He cleared his throat and realized he certainly wasn’t being a gentleman, and he held out his hand. “Here, let me help you up.” She looked at his hand as if it might bite her, and he smiled. “I promise I won’t bite. My mother would spank my ass if she knew I left a beautiful woman lying in a puddle.” The woman smirked and took his offering. He lifted her easily, and once she was stable on her feet, he stepped back to get a good look at her. She was a short little thing. He was six-feet-one, and the top of her head only came to his upper chest, probably bringing her around five-two, five-three. She had blonde hair that was pulled back into a ponytail. Her most notable feature were her blue eyes. He had been told numerous times by women how “pretty” his blue eyes were, but the blue eyes staring back at him were fucking insane. The color reminded him of the glaciers he’d seen in Alaska. That color surrounded by her thick black eyelashes, which were spikey from the rain was a showstopper.
He didn’t want to look away, but then she whispered a thank you and he was right, there was a southern accent.
“You shouldn’t be out here all alone, honey,” he told her, and she took on an alarmed expression and looked around nervously. Shit, the last thing he wanted to do was frighten her. As he examined her more closely, he noticed some light bruising along her cheek, and his gut clenched. Had someone hit her? Not wanting her to think he was some creep, he said, “Look, I’m not going to hurt you or anything.” He nodded toward the tire. “What happened? I can help if you’d like.”
She nibbled on her bottom lip as she ran her hands up and down her pants. He smirked. She was cute. “I hit something in the road,” she said, still looking around, seeming a little on edge. He didn’t like her feeling scared.
“How long have you been out here?” He asked, bending down to get a look at the tire. Whatever she ran over, it had slashed the tire. A plug wouldn’t fix it.
She shrugged her shoulders. “Probably about forty-five minutes or so.”
His eyebrows shot upward. “Why didn’t you come inside? There were and still are plenty of people in there who could’ve come out and helped you.” But if she had done that, he may have missed her, and that would’ve been a damn shame because out of nowhere, he was suddenly interested in this beautiful creature.
She looked back toward the building then looked back up at him. “Uh…if you were a woman new to town, would you’ve gone into a place that looked like that? Especially at this time of night?”
He glanced back at the building. She had a point. To a stranger’s eyes, it did appear a little shady, but to locals, it was by far the best restaurant around.
He looked back at the little pixie standing beside him. She was even shorter than his friends Alex and Tenley. She had a cute figure, considering he could see every curve since her wet clothes were plastered to her body. As his eyes roamed over her body, they landed on her abundant breasts, and he could faintly see her hard nipples poking through the material of her bra and shirt and damn if the sight didn’t make his cock stir. It was a good thing it was dark out. He tried to be a true gentleman and not stare, but it was hard.
She knew where his eyes were looking too because when
she looked down, she crossed her arms over her chest and squinted her eyes at him. But the movement only pushed her breasts up, giving him a better view of her glorious cleavage at the top of her tank top.
He grinned and shrugged his shoulders. “Sorry, I’m a guy, and you’re beautiful.” Her eyes widened, and her eyebrows shot upward. He had caught her off guard. He actually caught himself off guard. He never apologized for looking at a woman. But then again, most women he was around threw themselves at him. This goddess was different. He knew it the moment he looked into her eyes. They held a look of innocence—the perfect submissive type. And there went his dick again.
He needed to get the tire changed and then go home and hop into a cold shower. Or, maybe he would just run down the beach path next to the bar and go for a swim in the ocean. That should tame the beast in his pants.
As he went to kneel, he noticed she was shivering. Christ, didn’t she have a jacket or something in her car? He had seen a bunch of bags and boxes in the back seat. She mentioned she was new in town, and he wondered if she’d literally just moved.
“Honey, this is going to take a few minutes. Do you have a jacket or something you can put on?”
“No, like I said, I’m new in town. As in just pulled into town. I was on my way to my condo when I hit whatever was in the road. I only have t-shirts and shorts with me, and the movers aren’t coming with the rest of my stuff until tomorrow.”
“Why don’t you go sit in the car?”
He could tell she was thinking about it, but she surprised him. “No, I’ll wait out here. I would hate for the jack to slip or something because of me while you’re working on the tire. I’ll manage,” she said as her teeth started to chatter.
He looked up at her as she watched him closely. He was shocked she was looking out for his wellbeing over her comfort. A lot of women he knew would’ve jumped right into the car without hesitating. He meant it when he told her she was beautiful. Even with her hair wet and matted down, but he couldn’t let her just stand here in the rain.
“Hang on a second.” He got up and ran over to his Corvette. The metallic grey sports car was his pride and joy. He bought it last year using a portion of his bonus when he re-upped with the SEALs. He opened the passenger door and rummaged through a go-bag he always kept in there and found one of his sweatshirts.
“Here, put this on,” he told her, holding the sweatshirt out for her to take.
She looked surprised, and her eyes widened. “Oh, I couldn’t. I’ll be okay.” She crossed her arms, obviously cold.
He gave her a stern look. “I know you’re cold, and you said yourself you don’t have anything to put on. I don’t want to be the reason you wake up with a cold tomorrow. Please, for me.” He flashed his flirty smile.
She sighed, but he could see her hiding a smile as she took it from him and pulled the sweatshirt over her head.
Once she had it on, he looked her over. It was huge and hung on her small frame. He immediately felt his chest tighten. A sudden possessive feeling overcame him seeing her in his property. He never let a woman wear any clothing of his. It was way too personal. He shook his head and tried to focus on the task in front of him.
He reached into the back of the car and pulled the spare tire out with ease and placed it next to the car and began to loosen the lug nuts. They both stayed silent for the first couple of minutes.
He looked up at her again and couldn’t help but admire her beauty. “Where did you say you were from?” He asked but knew she hadn’t said, however, he wanted to make sure this woman had some smarts to her. According to the license plate on her car, he assumed she was from Alabama.
“I didn’t say,” she replied, giving him a sideways look, and he finished tightening the last lug. He stood up, and she handed him a towel to wipe his hands on. “I’m not in the habit of spilling my life story to men who sneak up on me in a dark parking lot. How did you do that, by the way?” She raised her eyebrow at him, and he grinned, loving her witty yet mature personality.
“Do what?” He asked as he shoved his hands in his pockets. He was afraid that if he didn’t keep them hidden, he’d try to touch her. It was like she called to him. Her change of the subject and deflection of his question didn’t go unnoticed either.
“Sneak up from behind like that. I’m normally good about sensing that type of stuff. But you’re good.” She gave him a smile that lit up her face, and damn if he didn’t feel a punch in the gut.
If she only knew the half of it, but he just gave his shoulders a shrug and smirked. “It’s a force of habit.”
They stood there for a few long seconds, just staring at each other. His eyes searched her face, locking in on that bruise again, and he bit the inside of his cheek. Then as if his hand had a mind of its own, he reached out and gently wiped some moisture from her face, right where the bruising was. Her skin was soft and smooth. He heard the slight gasp come from her, but she didn’t step away. Her tongue darted out to wet her very kissable lips as if taunting him. He came close to losing all sense of control, but then his head with a brain finally started thinking instead of the little head below. What in the hell was he doing? This wasn’t like him at all. He was a one and done kinda guy. He pulled his hand back and took a step back.
“Sorry about that. You are just so beautiful I couldn’t resist.”
Her cheeks turned pink. “Do you say that to all of the helpless ladies you find needing help changing a flat tire?” She smiled, and her eyes twinkled with mischief.
Damn, she was doing a number on him. That southern accent added to her charm. If he didn’t step away now, there was no telling what he’d do next. His conscience said to ask her out, but there laid the problem. He hadn’t dated in years. At least since becoming a SEAL. He didn’t know how to ask her out. Shit, he needed to think about this. The guy’s weekend trip coming up was looking better by the minute. He had some thinking to do. He pulled his car keys from his pocket.
“You’d better get home and get dried off before you do catch a cold.” He took a few more steps toward his car, needing to put the distance between them.
“Oh, here, let me give this back to you.” She started to pull off the sweatshirt he’d given her to stay warm.
He waved her off. “No, keep it. For now, at least.”
Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “How will I get it to you?”
“I’m sure I’ll see you around.”
“But I don’t even know your name.”
“Irish,” was all he said and winked then walked to his car, leaving her staring at him with her mouth agape. He would definitely be seeing her again even if he had to turn over every rock in the city, he would find her. As he pulled out of the parking lot, he realized he never got her name. Then a smile formed. If the guys found out about this, he’d never hear the end of it.
Chapter Two
Bailey stood in shock as she stared at the grey corvette as it roared out of the parking lot. She glanced down at the sweatshirt she wore; it was five sizes too big and completely soaked just like the rest of her. She took in the wording on the front, NAVY. She wondered if Irish was in the Navy. He was flirty and sexy but did seem bossy and commanding like someone in the military might be. But what did she know? She brought the material to her nose and inhaled. Whatever cologne the man wore smelled good. Her insides were still quivering from the interaction with “Irish.” She wondered what kind of a name that was.
She shook her head; no, this was bad. Very bad. She couldn’t consume her thoughts on a man. Not now when she was looking to start her life over here. He was a good Samaritan, helping a woman change a flat tire. A good-looking man at that. Although, Good Samaritans don’t offer their personal clothing to strangers and tell them they’re beautiful.
She got back into her car and looked at herself in the mirror. Besides being soaked from head to toe, her cheeks were pink and flushed. And she knew why. She placed her hand on the cheek he had touched. The feel of his knuckles again
st her skin had sent sparks through her body, awakening parts of her that had been dormant. She sighed, thinking about her non-existent sex life. Twenty-six and still a virgin, technically speaking, that is. Her parents and Randy think otherwise.
Ever since Randy came into her life, her mother constantly hounded her about needing to “save” herself for Randy. Like that was going to happen. She hadn’t even kissed the man, except for that one time when he forced himself on her during a party. That’d been four years ago, and shortly after she returned home from college. He had duped her, making some bullshit excuse that he needed to talk to her about her father. Being the naïve person she was at the time, she fell for it, and it had almost cost her. Once he had her in a bedroom, he forced her onto the bed. She tried fighting him off, but it was useless. He was stronger and overpowered her. As he started to remove her clothes, she was given a reprieve when his phone rang. Whoever it was must’ve been important because he leaped from the bed and headed to the door. Not that she complained, but it was odd. It was his parting words to her that still gave her the jitters. He had warned her that if she told anyone about what happened or if she let anyone else take what was his, he would hurt her.
Her life was not so private; she used the same doctors, banks, and anything else as her family did. But after that night, when Randy almost took the one thing most precious to her, she decided to take matters into her own hands, literally. She took her own virginity per se. She ordered a basic vibrator online, and when it arrived, she had a couple of glasses of wine, and as people say, she popped her own cherry. It wasn’t the way she had ever imagined her “first” time would be, but there was no way in hell she would ever let Randy touch her.