Cowboy Seal: A Navy Seal Romance (The Navy Seal Collection Book 2)
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Cowboy SEAL
A Cowboy Navy Seal Romance
By Angela Blake
I’m Angela Blake and I love a good steamy story. Why? Coz life is hard enough as it is. I don’t want real. I want to escape. Into a world of love, sexy cat-and-mouse and the explosive, satisfying reward at the end of it.
Between working from home and juggling two tiny kids and a Labradoodle, writing is my escape.
I write an enticing blend of all things naughty. The things we’re not supposed to want but do. The things we deprive ourselves of but crave. Acting out on paper the dirtiest, darkest parts of my mind for your pleasure.
Join my Naughty Little Secrets Club, where naughty dreams cum to life: http://bit.ly/2rvjbUp
Stalk me on fb at https://www.facebook.com/kateblakepublishing/
Some of my Books:
Bang & Bounce
Grunt & Grind
Slap & Swallow
The Virgin’s Contract
The Virgin’s Promise
The Virgin’s Arrangement
Proposition
Breaking Daddy’s Little Virgin
Table of Contents
Cowboy Seal
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
EPILOGUE
WARNING: This book contains sexually explicit scenes and adult language. It may be considered offensive to some readers. This book is for sale to adults ONLY.
Please ensure this book is stored somewhere that cannot be accessed by underage readers.
Copyright 2018 by Angela Blake - All rights reserved.
In no way is it legal to reproduce, duplicate, or transmit any part of this document in either electronic means or in printed format. Recording of this publication is strictly prohibited and any storage of this document is not allowed unless with written permission from the publisher. All rights reserved.
Respective authors own all copyrights not held by the publisher.
Cowboy Seal
CHAPTER 1
The sound of yelling permeated the air. Gunshots echoed loudly, one after the other, screaming as his comrades were hit.
He stood in the center of it, watching, but not really feeling the jolt of pain that was to be expected as a bullet ripped open his flesh, inches away from his heart.
Shouldn’t he be yelling in pain? Or collapsing.
He waited for the burning sensation to spread through his chest but nothing happened.
His best friend and brother-in-law had a look of horror as he raced across the field towards him, forgetting protocol. His mouth moved but no sound emerged.
And then he stopped, stumbled, the horror in his face dissipating as a blankness overtook it.
Why was he stopping?
He stumbled, and then fell on his knees, those familiar blue eyes going blank and then he collapsed, face forward, in the dirt.
Zack’s eyes flew open.
He stared at the blue ceiling, not comprehending where he was.
His heart was beating loudly and his chest still felt heavy.
And wet.
His eyes flew down and he saw a tiny human curled up on his chest, drooling all over his tank top.
For a moment, he considered lifting Sam off of him, but then decided against it.
Instead, he put his hand on his small back, making the child snuggle even more into his hard chest.
The boy was about to hit his four year birthday but Lily was no longer around to celebrate her baby’s birthday.
His sister had thrown a huge birthday party when her son had turned one.
But Tom’s death had broken her in a way that he hadn’t quite comprehended at first, and she had passed away in her sleep a week after he had returned home.
Green eyes moved over his sleeping nephew.
Sam had not spoken since.
The boy had been a curious child, always babbling, asking incomprehensible questions, getting into trouble. But now, after the loss of both his parents, he had become withdrawn, a ghost of himself, those mischievous blue eyes haunted, filled with shadows.
He had tried his best to get him to speak again. He had coaxed, begged, demanded, but it was as if Sam had lost his tongue when he had been unable to wake his mother up.
He had taken to crawling into his uncle’s bed at night, and the man did not have the heart to remove that fragile presence.
Zack shifted, and eyed the clock on the wall. It was nearing five in the morning. The sun was minutes away from creeping out, and blasting everyone with the sweltering July heat.
The air conditioner was making a wheezing sound and Zack made a mental note to check it out after the morning tasks. He gently lifted Sam off of him and sat up, swinging his legs over the side of the huge bed. Leaning on his knees with his forearms, he rubbed his face and then stared at the picture of his sister and Tom that lay on the mantel of the fireplace.
His eyes shifted to the slumbering boy on the bed. He was completely tuckered out. The nightmares came less and less but he would still find his nephew awake and trembling from the force of the night terrors. He wished he could soothe him but there was nothing he could do. He knew next to nothing about raising children. Hell, Lily had practically raised him.
He refused to abandon her child on some random nursemaid. He knew he could hire a woman to look after Sam, but he wouldn’t do that to Lily or to Tom. They had adored Sam, showered him with love and affection.
No.
Zack stood up and grabbed the shirt that he had thrown over the bed post last night, and tugged it on.
There would come a day when he would manage to coax Sam out of his grief stricken state, and he would do it. He would be patient in the meantime. Staring at his reflection in the vanity, he took a deep breath.
He would be patient and attentive.
And then maybe one day Sam would learn to trust him.
A soft noise made him glance over his shoulder and he saw green eyes watching him.
“Sorry, Sam.” He apologized. “Did I wake you?”
Soft golden hair shook at the gesture of denial and Sam sat up.
Zack sat down and ruffled his hair, “I’m going out to go check on the fences on the East side. Some repairs to be done. Why don’t you go back to sleep?”
Sam shook his head and clambered down the bed, his ragged brown bear held in one hand.
Those familiar green eyes looked at him expectantly and Zack sighed.
“You want to come with me?”
A nod.
“Well,” Zack ran a hand through his hair, “Why don’t you go get dressed then? I’ll wait for you at the front door.”
Sam scurried out of the room, barefoot, dragging his stuffed toy with him.
Zack whistled and loud thumping was heard moments later as a rather large German Shepherd barged into the room, his tongue hanging out.
“Morning, Fabian.”
Fabian was a few years old but he was loyal. Sam had found him a few weeks after Lily had passed away and had brought him home in the rain, and Zack hadn’t had the heart to turn out the dog.
As it turned out, Fabian had belonged to one of the ranch hands who was moving away. The man had been looking to give the German Shepherd to one of his friends but had acquiesced to give i
t to the care of the young Sam when the boy had clung to the dog’s neck and cried when told to return him. Now, Fabian had become a part of their three unit family and he was extremely protective of the quiet boy.
The dog followed Zack down the stairs and ate his breakfast whilst they waited for Sam to come down.
He didn’t take long.
His shirts were buttoned the wrong way and Zack quickly fixed them after he handed his nephew an apple.
“Did you brush your teeth?” He questioned.
Sam nodded.
“Good job.” Zack straightened. Then eyeing the young child, he warned, “You stay close to Fabian, all right. Don’t wander around and don’t go near the horses. You remember the rules?”
Sam bobbed his head up and down, and Zack grinned at him, “Come on, then.”
Leaving the house, the ranch was a bustle of activity.
Although it was still the early hours of the day, there was work to be done. The family ranch had been huge in the early eighteen hundreds, but when Zack had returned he had expanded the family business to cover both horses and cattle and had also expanded into guest ranching. He had billions to his name, but this ranch was something he intended for Sam to inherit. And it was a good way to distract himself from his best friend and his sister’s death.
Running this ranch was his way of coping, and keeping himself in shape.
He had been forced to retire as a Navy SEAL, the wound near his heart too vulnerable for strenuous tasks. He missed his life as a SEAL, the danger, the missions. He had been born for that.
And now.
He swung Sam up onto his shoulders and ignored Fabian as he danced around his ankles, wanting to play too.
“Zack! Morning!” His foreman approached him, wiping the glistening sweat off of his temple as he neared them. “It’s fucking hot out here, today. Well, hello there, Sam. Want to come with old Billy today to see a calf being born?”
Sam gripped Zack’s hair in his small fists and shook his head mutely.
Billy chuckled, “One of these days, eh?”
“You got a hand with you?” Zack asked as he walked with his friend towards the stables.
Billy nodded, “One of Jack’s boys. New kid. Bright. Good with the animals.”
“Isn’t he after your girl?” Zack asked, frowning.
Billy smiled cheerfully, “Not after today, he won’t be.”
Zack shook his head, “Don’t scare him too bad.”
Billy just smirked and then plucked Sam off Zack’s shoulders and settled him on his own, as Zack went about saddling his horse.
Thunder was a brown and white beauty, with the temperament of an arrogant lord. The only person he let handle him was Zack, albeit reluctantly. With Sam, however, he was extremely gentle, something unbeknown to his nature. That wasn’t strange considering he had belonged to Lily. He, too, had been devastated at Lily’s untimely death and in the initial few weeks when Sam had used to hide in the stables to cry, it had been under Thunder’s protective eyes.
Right now, he leaned over to nibble on Sam’s soft blond curls, and Sam patted him on the face, offering him the apple that Billy handed him.
Satisfied when Thunder gently accepted the apple from him, he blinked when he was lifted from Billy’s shoulders and then placed on the saddle. Zack swung over to sit behind him.
“You okay there, Sam?”
Sam nodded.
“Okay, good. Come on, Fabian.”
Thunder moved fast, careful of his delicate charge, but he still attempted to kick Billy who jumped out of the way barely avoiding the blow, cursing at the smug horse.
Zack made sure his nephew was securely in his seat and looked out at the vast fields and wondered when this place would begin to feel like home.
He had no woman in his life, hadn’t had one in years. His retirement as a SEAL had been followed by this responsibility that now tied him to the ranch. He hadn’t really had time to explore his options with women.
His mood darkened as he remembered his own childhood.
As long as Sam was still vulnerable, he wouldn’t bring any woman into their domain. His own experience with his father’s frequent lovers had scarred him as a child. Each vying to marry his father. Their cruelty towards him and Lily.
One in particular crossed his mind and his hands clenched on the reins. Tabitha had been one of the most vicious and calculating ones. She had been loving on the surface, but manipulating at the core. The things she had done to them, the mind games she had played with them, the small acts of torture; they were still imprinted in his mind.
That had been the first time he had had to step up and protect his sister.
No.
He glanced down at the quiet Sam.
He wouldn’t subject Sam to that.
Oh, he knew not all women were like that. His father had been a weak bastard, who had been a terrible judge of character.
But he wasn’t going to take the risk.
Not till Sam was legally an adult, capable of taking care of himself.
The ride to the damaged fences took near to half an hour and finally Zack let Sam off, “Make sure Fabian is with you. And don’t go too far.”
Sam nodded and ran off with Fabian at his heels. Zack watched the two scamper off. When sure that they were at a reasonable distance, he disembarked himself, and had to hold on to Thunder’s reins to keep him from following after Sam.
“No.” He growled. “I can’t have you wandering off right now.”
Thunder glared at him and he glared back, finally making the horse turn his head away with a snort.
Zack scowled at the sulky behaviour and then tied him to the fence before taking out the tool kit to start fixing the damage.
***
Ivy held her crumpled shirt against the bleeding wound on her abdomen as she stumbled off the road. Her head was starting to swim with all the blood loss.
She stumbled, and swallowed her cry of pain when she heard the audible snap in her side. She had been walking for hours now.
Her green shirt was matted with dried and fresh blood and her face was streaked with grime and sweat.
But she wasn’t going to give up.
Just a little further and she could hide in the fields she had seen on the map. It was early so nobody would be around to see her.
Hearing a car in the distance, she forced herself on the ground, trying not to sob. Her dark black hair was tangled up, and there was a huge gash in her forehead from where her captors had struck her with the iron rod.
Oh, why had she been so stupid as to think she could handle this?
She should have just ignored the patterns and looked the other way.
The car didn’t stop. It was a truck and it drove by amiably.
Taking a breath of relief, she found her balance and used the balls of her feet and her already scraped palms to stand up. Her lips quivered as she thought of her friend.
She would know what to do.
Her husband was in the army or something.
She had to get to Lily.
Lily always knew what to do.
She saw the fenced land and making her way towards it, she grabbed it with one hand, wincing at the pain. It wasn’t too high.
She could climb over it.
But the effort it took drained her of all the remaining energy she had, and as she stumbled onto the ground onto the other side, she forced herself into a sitting position, her hand still over her shirt, an attempt to stem the blood flow, and her eyes whispered shut.
That was how Sam found her moments later.
CHAPTER 2
Zack frowned at how neatly the fence had been broken and he glared at the neighboring ranch. If one of the fools there had thought to steal their cattle, he’d go knock a few heads together to teach them a lesson. All the cows who were near to birth, grazed here. He wouldn’t have some fuckheads traumatize his animals.
Hearing barking, he turned to see Fabian in the distance, running towards him.
He straightened and his heart nearly sank till he saw Sam’s small figure following behind.
Sam was waving his arms at him, and he didn’t need to hear his voice to see that the child was panicked.
Dropping his hammer and the box of nails on the ground, he used his long legs to cover the distance between them, till he had scooped Sam into his arms, and demanded, “What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”
Sam held his uncle’s rugged face in his small hands to get his attention, and then pointed towards the area where Zack had dropped them off. There was a small pond there, not deep and Lily and he had often used to play there, so he had had no qualms dropping him off there. Maybe there was something wrong there?
Snakes?
There had been a few incidents of snakes being found in this area.
But that had been months ago.
Fabian danced around his legs, alternating between whimpers and growls. He pawed at Zack’s jeans, and with Sam insistently pointing towards where the pond lay, Zack had no choice but to let himself be guided.
His legs were longer, hence he was faster. Striding across the greenery, the ground swallowed the impact of his booted feet. Sam had one hand around his neck and the other clenched in his shirt.
It took Zack a couple of minutes to reach the place where he had dropped his nephew off. He looked around.
There was nothing there.
Aside from evidence of someone throwing sticks in the water, which had clearly been Sam as could be seen from his splashed shirt, there was nothing out of the ordinary that would freak him or Fabian out.
The child in his arms wriggled, wanting to be let down and as he released the handful, Sam and Fabian made a beeline for the fences.
“Hey! You two! Stay behind me, you idiots!” Zack growled at them, not that it had any sort of impact.
However, he was bigger, and taller, and definitely faster than the two of them, and in a matter of seconds he saw what the large bushes hid behind them.