Bailey was at work, about ready to head back inside and finish her shift. And as much as he loved chasing after a beautiful woman, even he wasn’t dumb enough to try to get the friend of his buddy’s woman into bed.
Not when his teammate would’ve been pissed as hell at him.
All of the single guys on his Delta SEAL team enjoyed a gorgeous woman, but the ones who’d met a woman of their own? Who were serious about their girlfriends? They wouldn’t let anything happen to their woman—or her friends.
And as tempting as Bailey was, that would’ve been playing with fire.
He crossed Atlantic Avenue, walking over to the parking garage on the corner. Anchors was on the other end of the beach, so he climbed into his Jeep, expertly backing out of the spot and pulling onto the road.
A few minutes later, he was sauntering into the popular bar, glancing toward the back where he and his SEAL team usually sat. Three of his teammates were seated at a table there tonight: Jacob “Joker” Olson, Ryker “Bulls-Eye” Fletcher, and Hunter “Hook” Murdock.
Jacob had a woman sitting close to him, his arm slung around her shoulders. Ryker was talking with two young blondes, facing away from the other guys, and Hunter was watching the entire scene, looking amused.
“Viper,” he said with a nod as Noah walked up. “Did you meet up with your old friend earlier?”
“Yep,” Noah said, pulling back a chair. He sank down into the seat, stretching out his long legs. “I had a shot of whiskey and a beer,” he said with a chuckle. “Those guys are doing a bar crawl along the strand. Hell, maybe they’ll end up here later on. They’re going to have a hell of a hangover tomorrow.”
“Can’t say I miss that feeling,” Hunter said with a smirk. “Hangovers are brutal.”
The Delta team was at Uncle Sam’s beck and call 24/7. Although the men all enjoyed grabbing a beer or two at Anchors, the SEALs didn’t get wasted like some of the younger guys in the military. Or the tourists in town. They had to remain vigilant, in top shape in case they were called up on a last-minute mission.
“Hell, I haven’t done that much drinking since I was an eighteen-year-old kid,” Noah said. “And Owen’s wedding is tomorrow night. It’s going to be a hell of a day for him.”
Hunter let out a low whistle. “Sounds stupid as hell.”
“Yep,” Noah agreed, ordering a beer when the waitress came over. “Is Taylor working tonight?”
“Do you see Mason here?” Hunter countered, his eyes gleaming with amusement.
“Guess that answers my question,” Noah said with a chuckle. “Those two are inseparable now.”
“Can’t say I blame them after what happened,” Hunter said. “Hell, when those assholes were after Emma, it was all I could do not to kill them with my bare hands. Completely rip them to shreds.”
Jacob glanced over at them as the woman he was with excused herself to go to the ladies’ room.
“Don’t be long, sweetheart,” he said with an easy grin.
She blew him a kiss, and Jacob leaned in closer as she walked away. “I think I’m about to get lucky.”
“Me too,” Hunter said. “Emma’s waiting at home.”
Jacob waved him off. “That doesn’t count. She’s your girlfriend. It’s a lot more work being single.”
Hunter guffawed. “Easy to say when you don’t have a woman.”
“Emma didn’t want to come out tonight?” Noah asked, taking a pull of his beer. “And I’m with Hunter on this—women are a hell of a lot of work. Which is why I’m single myself.”
“Negative,” Hunter said, answering his question. “Emma got home late and didn’t want to deal with the crowds here. But tomorrow is Saturday, so I’ve got all weekend to spend with her.”
Noah crossed his arms, glancing around the crowded bar. Waitresses were weaving back and forth between the tables, loud laughter erupted from time to time, and glasses clinked together. His mind drifted back to Bailey over at the bar where she worked.
Normally he loved hanging out at Anchors with his buddies, but at the moment, it was hard to get the blonde bartender out of his mind.
“Yo, Earth to Viper,” Jacob joked.
He glanced back at his buddy, frowning. Ryker turned back around to face them as the two blondes he was chatting with walked away.
“Where are they off to?” Noah asked, nodding in their direction.
“They’re seventeen,” Ryker said with a shake of his head. “I sent them on their merry-fucking way.”
“Hell,” Hunter said, letting out a low whistle. “How’d they get in here?”
Ryker shrugged, taking a pull of his beer. “Fake IDs? Who knows. I told them to come look for me here when they turned eighteen.”
Noah chuckled. “There’s plenty of other women around, man.”
“Amen to that,” Ryker said.
“You fellas want to hit up the beach tomorrow?” Jacob asked. “It’s supposed to be a hell of a hot day for late fall.”
“I’m game,” Noah said. “We won’t get many more chances until the spring. We can toss a football around, grab some food from a spot on the boardwalk.”
“Not me. I plan to spend a relaxing morning in bed with my girl,” Hunter said.
Ryker cleared his throat. “I might. Text me in the morning.”
“What? You got better plans?” Jacob asked. “We’re talking sunshine, sand, and women in bikinis.”
“There’s something I might have to do,” he said.
“That’s vague as hell. Whatever, we’ll have the ladies to ourselves,” Noah said.
“Speaking of ladies, I see the one I was with heading back my way. Gentlemen,” Jacob said, rising from his seat with a smirk. He pulled out his wallet and tossed some cash down on the table.
“Gentlemen?” Ryker asked in disbelief.
“He was talking about me,” Hunter quipped. “Just ask Emma.”
Jacob said hello to the woman and then wrapped his arm around her shoulder, pulling her close as they walked to the front door. Noah shook his head, turning back to his buddies. “And then there were three.”
“I’ll drink to that,” Hunter said, tipping his bottle at Noah and Ryker.
Noah chuckled, taking a swig of his beer. His gaze drifted across Anchors, and he thought again about Bailey. He wondered what she was doing and if his buddy Owen and those other guys were still there.
Probably not given they were out on a Bachelor’s party bar crawl. And he had no reason to go back there to see her again. He rejoined the conversation with his friends, trying to relax and forget about standing there on the beach with her.
This town was full of single, beautiful women. There was no need for him to get hung up on her.
Chapter 3
Bailey walked down the Virginia Beach boardwalk Saturday morning, her flip-flops slapping against the wood. The ocean breeze blew through her hair, and her lightweight sundress ruffled in the breeze.
She grinned at the group of guys jogging toward her who were appreciatively checking her out. Each shirtless, showing off enviable ripped abdomens, with tanned skin and muscles upon muscles, they were a sight to behold.
The three guys looked like they could’ve been SEALs from Little Creek or sailors stationed over in Norfolk, except they didn’t have their hair cropped in the standard military fashion. That, and the military guys around here usually trained together on base.
Still, she didn’t mind a little eye candy on her way to meet her bestie for brunch. With the long strand of restaurants and hotels on one side of the boardwalk, and the wide stretch of beach on the other, it was already filling up on this gorgeous day.
“Looking good, sweetheart!” the last guy called out as her gaze slid over his muscled chest.
“Right back at ya!” she said, waggling her fingers at him as he jogged by.
She glanced over her shoulder, seeing him do the same, and he nearly crashed into a couple pushing a stroller.
Pausing briefly to apologize
, he looked back at her and shrugged with a lopsided grin.
She laughed and kept on walking. Guys like him were a dime a dozen around here. Sure, he’d flirt with her if she encouraged it, but he’d be happy to be with any attractive woman, she was sure.
The beach would be filled soon with families playing in the surf, couples strolling hand-in-hand, and friends hanging out, sunbathing, and relaxing together. A few seagulls swooped through the air, the sunlight gleamed off the water, and the salty scent of the ocean blew in.
She adjusted the stack of bracelets on her arm, admiring her sun-kissed skin. She spotted Taylor already sitting at a table on the deck of one of their favorite restaurants, waving as she walked closer.
“You nearly caused a collision back there,” Taylor said with a laugh, her brown ponytail bobbing back and forth as she took a sip of her ice water.
Bailey stepped up onto the deck, laughing. She dodged a dog on a leash that leaped up happily wagging its tail to greet her, nodding at the couple seated there. “And that was my fault...how?” she asked her best friend. “I was just innocently walking along.”
“Innocently? Right. Trouble follows you wherever you go,” Taylor said with a knowing smile.
“Now that I can’t disagree with. And I’m glad you snagged a table. I parked a couple of blocks away so I could walk down the boardwalk.”
“It’s a perfect day for it. Mason dropped me off,” Taylor said, a slight flush creeping over her face.
Bailey waggled her eyebrows. “I get it; you were running late. Or was there more rolling around in bed than running?” she teased. “Congrats, my friend!”
“Shhh,” Taylor chastised her, looking mortified.
“Oh stop,” Bailey said, shushing her. “No one knows what I’m talking about. No one’s listening. And you two are practically living together anyway. We should probably start planning the wedding right now.”
“We’re not engaged,” Taylor said, looking embarrassed. “And we don’t even live together. I just stay at his place a lot.”
“Meaning all the time,” Bailey quipped. “Honey, if I had a hot Navy SEAL boyfriend, I probably would, too. Shoot, you probably wouldn’t be able to get me out of bed. Because the last couple of guys I’ve been with? Less than satisfying.”
“He’s got friends you know.”
“Uh-huh. And they’re all the biggest flirts imaginable. Not that I’d mind that if I was interested in a one-night-stand type of thing, but with one of Mason’s friends? No way. Because as much as I love hooking up with a hot guy for a night, I’d prefer it to be one I never see again.”
Taylor rolled her eyes.
“I’m serious. I tag along to one of your beach bonfires and see the guy I slept with snuggling up to someone else?” She shrugged. “No thanks.”
The waitress walked over, and the two women ordered mimosas. “Sorry for the wait,” the waitress apologized. “It’s filling up early today. Warm Saturday and all that,” she said, looking frazzled.
“No worries,” Bailey said. “I bartend further down the beach, and Taylor’s a waitress over at Anchors.”
“Believe me when I say we understand,” Taylor agreed.
“Thanks ladies. I’ll bring your drinks right out and then get your orders,” the waitress said.
Bailey pulled off her sunglasses, wiping them with a cloth napkin. She put them back on, eyeing her best friend. “So aren’t you going to ask about last night?”
“Let me guess. You went home with some random guy from the bar.”
“Actually, I didn’t. What I was going to say was a group of tourists gave me a $100 tip. Pretty sweet, right?”
“Were they drunk?”
“More like rich. Hey, I’ll take it. Most people are good about tipping their bartender, but there are definitely still some cheapskates around. Guys who drink too much and can’t calculate a decent tip if their life depended on it. And now I can splurge on those new shoes I wanted.”
“Sounds good to me. I was off last night—Mason said some of his buddies were there, but we went out to dinner alone. He would’ve gone with them if I was working.”
“It’s cute that he still shows up there all the time.”
Taylor shrugged. “The guys hung out there long before they knew me. It’s some kind of tradition with the SEAL teams.”
“Are you and Mason still trying to plan a trip together soon? I know his schedule is super iffy.”
“That’s the understatement of the millennium,” Taylor said. “Nature of the job, I suppose. They go when and where the military tells them.”
“I was at the grocery store the other night and saw one of the guys from the other SEAL team. Patrick, I think? He had a few kids with him.”
Taylor nodded. “He’s the Alpha SEAL team leader. Hunter leads Mason’s team.”
“Yeah, I met them both at the bonfire a few weeks ago. I remember distinctly because they both have wives or girlfriends and weren’t trying to hit on me all night long.”
Taylor laughed. “You’re single, some of them are single. What’s the problem? You should go out with one of the guys sometime.”
“Oh please,” Bailey said. “They were flirting with all the women there. And no one asked me out. Besides, I wouldn’t spend the night with one of Mason’s friends anyway.”
“Who said it had to be just one night?” Taylor asked.
“Uh-uh. No way.”
“Anyway,” Taylor said, rolling her eyes. “Speaking of the other guys—Noah wants to tag along on our Florida trip for the fishing and boating.”
“Oh, I ran into him last night. His friend was having drinks at the bar. Noah stopped by to see him and have a beer.”
“He came into your bar?”
“Yeah, to meet his friend. It took me a second to recognize him—he wasn’t at that bonfire I went to. I know I’ve seen him around though.”
“You’re right, he wasn’t there that night. He must’ve had something else going on. But he heard Mason and me planning our trip. He wanted to come along but wouldn’t if he was going to be the third wheel, so....”
“So you want me to go and keep him occupied?”
“Please! Mason and I are dying to get away for a long weekend. Mason racked up frequent flyer miles going to see his family or something, and this is the perfect time for us to go.”
“Too bad the military doesn’t give them frequent flyer miles for deployments,” Bailey said dryly. “They’d be taking a vacation every couple of weeks.”
“Right? We could take a few trips around the world with all the deployments Mason’s been on.”
A shriek from the beach drew Bailey’s gaze down toward the water, but she saw a group of men and women around their age goofing off. A guy was running down toward the surf, carrying a woman in a dress, who clung to him, laughing hysterically.
The water splashed his legs, but he held her high above the incoming water, grinning as their group of friends howled with laughter.
“Goodness, that looks like Noah right now,” Taylor said, leaning closer. “I think he’s with Jacob and one of the other guys.”
“Doesn’t it though?” Bailey asked. “Like I said, all those guys are major flirts.”
“I wonder if Mason knew his friends were here.”
“Probably not, because Mason is attached at the hip to you. The rest of those guys still like to go out and have a good time.”
“Hey!” Taylor said, playfully sticking her tongue out.
“Oh, you know what I mean. They wouldn’t call up Mason to go chase after women on the beach because he has you.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know. So anyway, what do you think? Are you in for a long weekend in Florida? We’ll get you a plane ticket with Mason’s frequent flyer miles. And you said you had over a week’s vacation saved up—you’d just need a day or two off.”
“Sounds good,” Bailey said, taking a sip of her mimosa as soon as the waitress handed it to her. “Ahh, this is amazing.”
“I told our bartender that he was serving one of his own,” the waitress said with a wink.
“It’s extra good. What is that, an orange liquor added in?”
“Yep. House specialty. But don’t worry, you won’t get charged extra or anything.”
“Well it’s fantastic,” Bailey said, taking another sip. She took a menu from the waitress and scanned over it as the woman hurried off to her next table.
“God, this is good,” Taylor agreed. “You need to make these for us sometime.”
“Maybe down in Florida. I don’t see the guys going for mimosas though.”
“So we’ll keep them supplied with cold beers. Anyway, we’re renting a three-bedroom condo in Florida, so you can have your own room.”
“And is Mason planning to cook the fresh catch every night?”
“Absolutely. He says he knows what he’s doing and honestly? I don’t doubt him. The guy’s a Navy SEAL for heaven’s sake.”
“I could go for a mini-vacation. I just need to check and make sure I can take the days off. I’ve got plenty of leave though, so it shouldn’t be a problem. And there are worse ways to spend my time than boating with my best friend and a couple of Navy SEALs.”
“Yay! Oh my God, I can’t believe this is really happening. To vacation!” Taylor said, raising her mimosa.
“To vacation,” Bailey repeated, grinning as she clinked her glass against Taylor’s.
A few days down in Florida with a gorgeous Navy SEAL had to be a good thing, right? She just needed to make sure they kept the flirtations to a bare minimum. Because there was no way she was sleeping with him.
Chapter 4
Noah chuffed out a laugh as Jacob ran through the incoming tide, splashing water onto the women they’d met earlier on the beach. The group had just graduated from college and were a little on the young side for him, not that he’d turn down the chance to spend the day flirting with a couple of beautiful women.
Bikinis and curves to kill for weren’t exactly a problem.
“Yo, Viper!” Jacob called out a moment later. “Incoming!”
A football spiraled through the air, and he jumped up to grab it, feeling the gazes of the women on him.
Stranded with a SEAL Page 2