SEALs of Summer: Military Romance Superbundle - Navy SEAL Style

by Sharon Hamilton

  “I can’t wait to make some of our own.”

  Mason pitched in and helped carry the overlong table into the formal Hall dining room.

  He couldn’t wait either.

  Chapter Seventeen

  ‡

  Now two of the handsome military heroes from the Wife Wanted ad had come to life. Austin arrived at the ranch late in the afternoon on the Thursday before Regan’s wedding to Mason. Mason had been waiting for his brother’s arrival for weeks. Austin was home for good now that all his obligations to the Army were fulfilled.

  The last few weeks had been so busy Regan couldn’t believe how fast the time had gone. She’d cancelled her insemination appointment right after she accepted Mason’s proposal, and had taken a quick trip back to New York a week later to box up her things and return the key to her apartment. Since then she’d worked as hard and as fast as she could to get the Hall into shape.

  She’d gotten help from Emma, Stella and Maya to plan a small family wedding to be held on the wide back lawn. If the weather had turned rainy, they would have moved everything inside the house, but their luck held and the weekend ahead of them was forecasted to be uniformly sunny and warm.

  Stella and Maya knew everyone in town and helped her locate a caterer and party rental company. Emma insisted on making her cake and Regan spent a fun afternoon with her pouring over the possibilities and tasting several varieties of cake and frosting. All three of them had accompanied her to pick a dress out at Ellie’s Bridals.

  In the end she chose one with a sleeveless boned corset and a sweeping skirt. As she stood on the pedestal to model it to the others, she felt like she’d stepped into a fairy-tale. She’d never worn anything so beautiful.

  “There, what do you think?” Ellie, the owner of the store, asked, fluffing out the full skirt and stepping back to survey her handiwork.

  “It’s gorgeous. And your hair is to die for!” Emma fingered her own blonde ponytail. “You look like a princess.”

  “She’s got such a tiny waist!” Maya stood with hands on hips, evaluating her.

  “That’s the one. It’s got to be,” Stella said. All of them nodded.

  Regan’s heart had swelled. All of her dreams were coming true. She wasn’t going to be alone for the rest of her life. She wouldn’t have to be a single mother trying to do everything herself. She’d have a husband, a family—a home. She almost couldn’t believe it.

  While her sister would be her maid of honor, Emma, Stella and Maya had all agreed to be her bridesmaids, since it turned out to be too difficult for either of her old best friends to fly out to Montana for the wedding. Austin was to be Mason’s best man and his other two brothers would stand up with him as well. Her parents and Mason’s mother were flying in on Friday evening. Zane and Colt would arrive earlier that day. Saturday was the wedding. Every time Regan thought of it she had to take deep breaths.

  She and Mason came out to greet Austin as soon as he drove up in his rental truck. He’d flown into the Chance Creek Regional Airport, but told them he preferred to drive himself home. Regan held back while the brothers executed a semi-awkward man-hug, but then stepped forward to shake Austin’s hand.

  He was as tall and broad as Mason, with intelligent eyes and an intensity she remembered Mason possessing when she first met him. Maybe that was from his recent stint in a conflict zone. Austin shook her hand, then tugged her in for a hug. “You managed to trick this beauty into marrying you?” he said over his shoulder to Mason. “You’re a lucky son-of-a-gun!” He released Regan and she stumbled back, overwhelmed and embarrassed. “God, it’s good to be home,” Austin went on. “I can’t believe the Hall is home again.”

  “I know what you mean.” Mason grabbed Austin’s bags and led the way inside.

  “I’ve never seen the place so empty of cattle before. It’s not right.”

  “We’ll start looking for horses as soon as I’m back from my honeymoon and soon enough the place will be crawling with critters,” Mason assured him.

  “It’s nice in here. You painted. The floors look great, too.” Austin looked around the first floor appreciatively. “A lot of the furniture is still missing, though.”

  “Regan’s been tracking it down piece by piece.” He led Austin into the dining room and showed him the table and the chandelier she’d located soon afterward. “She found this at least. And we bought you a new bed. Now that you’re here you can help us with the rest.”

  Austin nodded. “I didn’t think Zeke had it in him to strip the ranch like this.”

  “Me, either. But it’s not too far gone. We’ll fix it up again.”

  Regan trailed the brothers as Mason showed Austin the rest of the repairs they’d made around the place. They walked the length of the closest pasture down to the banks of Chance Creek, talking all the way about their respective deployments and other family gossip.

  “Got a girlfriend?” Mason asked his brother at one point.

  “Maybe.” Austin smiled but didn’t elaborate. “How about the Course?” He turned toward the woods at the edge of the large lawn. “Is it still there?”

  “Still there. We’ve run it a couple of times.”

  “Oh, yeah? Bet I can beat you now. Never could catch you when we were kids.”

  “Bet you still can’t.”

  A moment later the two men had taken off, racing like boys across the grass toward the start of the obstacle course. Regan laughed, but quickly jogged after them. She didn’t want to miss this.

  “Regan, call the start.” Mason and his brother were crouched and ready at the starting line, taut with anticipation for the race.

  “On your mark. Get set. Go!”

  She stepped back as both men leaped toward the monkey bars. Across them in seconds, they were off, pounding through the woods toward the vertical wall. Regan sprang forward in time to see both men hit it at a dead run, their fingers gripping the top of the wall, their feet kicking against it for purchase until they hauled themselves up and over and disappeared.

  Regan ran forward to try to see more of the race, but they moved so fast she could barely keep up. She had a glimpse of them pounding through the tire course on the ground, another of them army crawling under the lengths of barbed wire. She raced along the central path as they hit the next few obstacles, then bit her lip as Austin and Mason charged up the incline logs to the balance beams. Surely one of them would break his neck.

  They set off across the horizontal logs at a dead run. Regan clapped a hand to her mouth. When they both made it to the far end she finally let go of the breath she’d been holding.

  They raced to the vertical salmon ladders and swung and grunted their way up to the top. Regan cut back to meet the men at the finish line while they completed the other obstacles. When she reached the edge of the forest, Mason and Austin had just begun the final dash.

  She couldn’t tell who was ahead from here. They looked neck and neck, running so fast their feet ate up the ground. These weren’t the kind of showy body builders she’d seen in fitness centers in New York City. These were men who used their bodies as weapons. Men who defended their country. Men who would fight to the death.

  She held her breath as the two men raced right past. If one of them had won, Regan couldn’t tell.

  “I won!” Austin crowed, coming to a stop, his shoulders heaving as he bent over and braced his hands against his thighs, winded.

  “Are you kidding? I won,” Mason countered, walking in a small circle and breathing hard, too.

  “It was a tie,” Regan said definitively. “Now go on home and wash up for supper.” She chuckled at their equally disgruntled expressions.

  Chapter Eighteen

  ‡

  That night, Mason settled down to sleep with Regan. “Ready for a full house?” He kissed her shoulder, drawing her close under the covers. She’d given up on nightclothes since, as she put it, he kept taking them off of her as fast as she could put anything on.

  “I think so.�
��

  “Nervous?”

  “A little. I keep thinking there’s something I’ve forgotten.”

  “I know exactly what you forgot.”

  “What?” She half sat up, but he drew her down again.

  “To make love to me.”

  “Mason.” But she giggled as he kissed her neck and then trailed his lips down to her breasts. “I’m serious.”

  He sighed. “Do you have a dress?”

  “Of course!”

  “Shoes?”

  “Yes.”

  “Food?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “Alcohol?”

  “That goes without saying.” She tweaked his nose.

  “And I know you’ve got a preacher, since I’m the one who lined that up, so we’re all set. Quit worrying!” He tugged her close and kissed her before she could think of anything else to say. He didn’t mean to be distracted from accomplishing this mission: making sweet love to her as many times as she let him.

  He allowed his hands to slide over her body, luxuriating in every sweet curve of it. He was already hard and ready to go—his body knew just what to expect when they went to bed—but he also knew they had time and he meant to make the most of it. The next few days would be busy ones and their honeymoon would be all too short before it was back to the grueling work schedule they’d kept up since they’d arrived home.

  He rolled over onto his back and pulled Regan up on top of him. She straddled him happily and he sighed when he felt her silky softness pressed up against him. It would be so easy to shift his hips and push inside her. She was as ready as he was for that, but he wanted to take this slow and enjoy every minute of it.

  She rocked her hips lightly and he groaned. “You look good up there,” he said, cupping her breasts. She always looked good.

  She smiled. “You make me feel beautiful when you look at me like that.”

  “You are beautiful.” He stroked one of her breasts lightly, then the other, then lifted them one at a time to his mouth. Regan sighed and leaned forward to make them more accessible. He took his time, used his tongue and teeth to caress her until she moaned.

  In time Mason slid his hands down her back, over her ass and up again, each time settling her a little closer until he could tell she was as desperate as he was for him to slide inside.

  Still, they spun things out, taking time to kiss hungrily, nip at each other’s skin and stroke each other until Mason hummed with longing for more.

  But when she pulled away from him, slid down between his legs and took him into her mouth, he groaned and lay back, allowing her to have her way with him. She took him in, then slid him out, her mouth caressing the length of him. She stroked her hands over his powerful thighs, pulling him in deeper until it strained his very ability to maintain control. When he tangled his fingers into her hair and moved with her, she slid her hands under his ass and pulled him closer.

  “Regan.” His voice was husky. After a few moments, he reached down and tugged her back up on top of him. “I can’t wait.” She pushed up with her knees and settled back down on top of him, pushing him slowly inside.

  Mason nearly lost it right then. She felt so good—hot, wet, inviting him to stroke in and fill her. With his hands gripping her hips, he pulled out and surged in again. Holding back took every ounce of willpower he’d ever had, but he was damned if he would cut this short. He meant to make love to her all night.

  Soon they found their tempo, the friction between them driving them to ever higher heights. Regan rode his thrusts with the abandon of full trust, letting him plunge in and out and take everything he needed. He watched the rise and fall of her breasts and his gaze on her body seemed to make her more wanton. She arched her back, met his thrusts and when her release came she cried out with the joy of it. Mason joined her, grunting as he bucked against her, fingers digging into her hips, splayed over her ass. He let himself go and she teased him along into a release that left him limp with utter exhaustion.

  She collapsed on top him and he circled her with his arms, content to stay like this for the rest of their lives.

  *

  Regan was glad she’d had a day to get used to Austin before Zane came home. If she’d met them together she would have struggled to tell one from the other. With their dark hair and piercing hazel eyes, they were almost as handsome as their older brother.

  Almost, but not quite. Zane was quicker to laugh than Austin, who could be cheerful one minute and dead serious the next. She thought of Austin as being the older twin although Zane informed her he’d come into the world five whole minutes before Austin made his appearance.

  No sooner had Zane arrived and they’d settled him in a bedroom at the Hall, then they were back at the airport picking up Colt. He was blond, with a nervous energy and quick wit that told her he’d be a handful. In a quiet moment after they returned home, Mason confirmed this. “Whatever Austin, Zane and I choose to do, Colt picks the opposite path. I can’t believe the Air Force lets him near their planes—expensive ones!”

  “Are there any other kind?”

  Later, the brothers convened on the back porch, beers in hand, to catch up. Regan’s family and other guests would arrive the following day, so this was the first and last chance for the brothers to be alone together. Regan tried to busy herself inside and give them some privacy, but Mason insisted she join them, too. “You’re family now.”

  As they filled each other in on the news, Regan found herself smiling. She liked these rough and tumble brothers with their gallant manners towards women and winner-take-all attitude toward the rest of mankind.

  “You found yourself a hell of a woman, there,” Zane spoke up. He raised his bottle. “To Regan. May we all be so lucky!”

  The others raised their beers and toasted her.

  Colt emptied his drink and set it down. “You never told us how you got Mason to change his mind.” When Mason raised an eyebrow he went on. “You said you had a few tricks up your sleeve to convince him to stay here and fix up the Hall.”

  Regan blushed at the memory of her naked romp through the obstacle course, while Mason laughed out loud. “Should we keep that one a secret, honey?” he nudged her foot with his.

  “You’d better.” But for one moment she wished all their guests would leave so they could do it all over again.

  Chapter Nineteen

  ‡

  “One down, three to go,” Aunt Heloise announced when she arrived the morning of the wedding, driven by Allen James. Mason was glad his new in-laws weren’t in earshot. Regan might understand the circumstances of the Wife Wanted ad, but he doubted her parents—a friendly down-to-earth couple who’d taken to Mason at first sight—would.

  “We’re working on it,” Austin assured her. “We’ll get ’er done.”

  “Even you?” Heloise jabbed a finger in Colt’s bicep. “I seem to remember you were always the ornery one.”

  “I guess I’ll have to find an ornery way to get married then.” He flashed her a wolfish grin.

  “See that you do. I love all my grand-nephews equally, but I’m not happy about the idea of leaving the Hall to Darren. He’d probably just undo all the progress you made. Are you working on that heir?” she added, pinning Mason with a sharp gaze.

  “It’s got my full attention, believe me.”

  “Humph. Better get a move on. When does this shindig get started?”

  “Soon.” He guided her to a seat near a table in the kitchen where Emma Larson was touching up the wedding cake she’d made.

  “Oh, that’s beautiful, dear,” Heloise was saying when Mason returned to his brothers.

  “Nervous?” Zane asked.

  “A little.” A lot, actually. He hadn’t felt this shaky since he’d been caught in a firefight back in Afghanistan.

  “You’ll do fine. I can’t believe how much you and Regan managed to do with the ranch already.” Austin nudged him. “Dad would be proud.”

  Mason straightened his shoulders.
He did think his father would be proud of him—not for fixing the ranch up so much as for finding a woman to share his life with and dedicating himself to being the best husband he could to her. His dad had always put his family ahead of everything else.

  “Think Regan’s got a friend?” Colt asked.

  “I’m sure she does. Want me to ask her to find you a wife?”

  “Who’s finding who a wife?” Mason’s mom swooped down upon them and gave them each a kiss on the cheek. “Look at my boys. All of you are so handsome. Any woman would be lucky to have you.”

  “You’re a little biased, don’t you think?” But Austin was grinning as widely as any of them.

  “I’m allowed to be biased. I’m your mother. And you’ve picked out a lovely wife, Mason. I just had a good long chat with Regan. The two of you will make a fine couple.”

  “As good as you and dad?”

  Her smile trembled as tears shone in her eyes. “I’d say better, but I don’t think that’s possible.”

  Mason spotted Regan consulting with Emma over the cake and his heartbeat sped up. Would she ever stop having that effect on him? He doubted it.

  His mother followed his gaze. “You’ll do just fine.”

  *

  As Regan’s father walked her down the aisle, the man at the end of it held her attention—and her heart—like no one else had ever done. She loved everything about Mason, from his strength and confidence, to his deeply caring soul. She’d seen him angry and she’d seen him loving and she knew he was the man she wanted always by her side.

  She said her vows with her heart pounding and listened to his careful replies, hardly believing she was the one this handsome man had picked for his bride. But when the minister pronounced them man and wife and Mason bent to kiss her, his mouth on hers was so familiar, and so right, that she knew without a doubt that it was all true.

  The rest of the day passed in a blur of family, friends, toasts, a first dance and cutting the cake. When darkness fell, they climbed into a classic limousine and were whisked away to a beautiful lodge in the mountains not too far away. With the Hall and ranch needing so much work, they’d decided time together was what they wanted more than an exotic vacation. That would have to wait for another year. For now a bed—and privacy—was what they wanted most.