Night with a Seal (Hot SEALs #1)

by Cat Johnson

  “What the hell, dude? We both decide to leave the unit we’ve worked our asses off most of our careers to be part of and you’re leaving?” Frowning, Zane asked, “To go where?”

  “I think to go to who is a more accurate question.” Rick grinned and glanced at Jon. “She should be home. When I left my place less than an hour ago, she and Darci were on the phone. Ali said she was going to take a bath. I guess that’s how girl’s celebrate not getting blown up. I myself would rather celebrate with a nice stiff one.”

  “Oh, I think Jon’s fixin’ to help Ali celebrate with a nice stiff one too.” Chris waggled his eyebrows.

  Smiling, Jon shook his head, but that was the only response he was willing to give these guys, in spite of the interested looks he was getting from every man besides Rick.

  He’d let them all in on his and Ali’s growing relationship eventually, but this afternoon he was feeling selfish. He wanted to keep her all to himself. And she deserved to know his plans and how they’d affect her before these guys got to know more about her and about how her presence in Jon’s life had played a role in his decision.

  He wasn’t exactly leaving his career for a woman, but he was leaving it so he could have a life, hopefully with her as a part of it.

  CHAPTER 16

  Ali got out of the tub and dried off.

  A hot bath. Her big fluffy bathrobe. Nothing to do for the rest of the day but relax. Maybe she’d crack open a bottle of wine.

  Hell, she deserved it after yesterday, as much as she deserved the time off with pay her boss had given her . . . and all it took was getting taken hostage and nearly blown up.

  The doorbell ringing yanked her mind away from that morbid thought while at the same time the sound startled her enough she jumped.

  Her nerves were still a little jittery. The bath obviously hadn’t helped that. Maybe the wine would.

  Pulling the robe more closely around her, she tied the belt tighter and headed for the front door. She moved the curtains to try to see who was on the front stoop. If it was anyone other than a good friend, she wasn’t going to open the door. It was bad enough that a reporter had somehow gotten her number and called. Them showing up at her door was totally unacceptable.

  She needn’t have worried. One look at the pick-up truck in her driveway told her who the visitor was.

  Smiling, she flipped the locks and pulled the door wide. “Jon.”

  “Hi.” His gaze raked up and down her body as he stepped inside and pushed the door closed behind him. He turned to lock it and then he was moving toward her.

  “I guess I missed the bath. Too bad.” He fingered one wet tendril that had escaped from the messy bun she’d captured her hair in before getting into the tub. He looked like he was feeling frisky. She liked it.

  Ali smiled. “Maybe I’ll take another one.”

  “Later.” The need showing clearly in his eyes told her he had other plans for the immediate future. “Oh, I almost forgot.”

  He pulled a small crushed brown bag from his back pocket and handed it to her. She frowned at it. “What’s this?”

  Before she could open the bag, he said, “Condoms.”

  “Oh.” Ali didn’t have time to come up with a better response to that information because Jon’s mouth was just a breath away from hers.

  He nipped at her lips with quick kisses as he backed her across the apartment.

  “Where are we going?” She had a feeling she knew.

  “To bed.” He moved his hands to cup her face as they continued the slow but sure journey toward the bedroom door. “That okay?”

  Brown bag still clutched in one hand while the other held onto his waist, Ali smiled. “Yup.”

  “Good.” They reached his goal—the bedroom doorway. Jon backed her all the way to the bed, tumbled her onto the comforter and crawled onto the mattress after her. “Nice robe.”

  He ran his hands down her sides, pausing at the belt, but he didn’t untie it. She reached for the knot herself and did him the favor of opening the belt and the sides of the robe while his eyes tracked her movements.

  “Damn.” He breathed the word under his breath and moved his hands beneath the robe.

  She felt the heat of his big, rough palms against the bare skin of her waist.

  His eyes made a sweep from where his hands rested, up to her face. “Unless I get recalled, I’m staying all night.”

  “All right.” She nodded.

  “Probably tomorrow night too.”

  Ali smiled. “Not a problem.”

  Of course, they might need to go out for more supplies, depending on the number of condoms in the brown paper bag nearby.

  “After that, then maybe I’ll be able to keep my hands off you long enough to take you out on that date I talked about.” He leaned low, nuzzling her neck with his mouth as he moved his hands up to her breast.

  “Unless you get recalled.” She regretted the statement the moment it left her mouth.

  At her words he pulled back, his hands stopping dead in their path. One day, Ali would learn to keep her mouth shut. The only thing she wanted right now was for Jon to make love to her and then hold her all night long afterward. And when it looked as if she was about to get exactly that, she opened her stupid mouth and ruined it all.

  “About that—”

  “No, it’s fine.” She shook her head and tried to pull him down to her again to prove she was fine with what he did, as long as she could have moments like this in between the long absences and secret missions. “I understand.”

  “No, you don’t understand.” He was stronger than she was and all her efforts to tug him back to where he’d been were fruitless. “I’m getting out.”

  His words stopped her struggle. As much as she wanted to kiss Jon, she wanted to hear this more. “What?”

  “I’m putting in my paperwork. So is Zane, and he, Rick, Chris and I are opening our own security company.” Jon paused, watching her, waiting for a reaction.

  Ali had no problem giving him one as her eyes widened. “Wow. Can you do that? Just quit?”

  “My current contract is up soon. Zane’s too. I’ve been procrastinating reenlisting.” He shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe deep down I knew I was ready for a change.”

  No more deploying. No more missions. No more secrets. Just a normal job in a security company. He’d be able to have a normal relationship. Ali’s heart raced at the possibilities. “So you’ll be what? Like security guards?”

  “No.” Jon cringed. “Not quite like security guards.”

  From his expression, she guessed she might as well have compared him—one of the most elite special operatives in the US military—to a mall cop.

  “Well, of course not. I didn’t mean it like that. You guys are much better trained.” She backpedaled to undo any damage she’d done to his pride. “But this means no more getting shot at and no more flying all over the world, right?”

  “I can’t quite promise you that.” He made a face again and bobbed his head from side to side. “We’re hoping to get work worldwide and bad guys tend to carry guns, but I can say for certain there’ll be no more deploying. And I’ll be my own boss instead of the Navy, so I’ll choose what jobs I take.”

  She liked the idea of that. “That sounds wonderful, Jon. I’m really happy for you.”

  “So you’re going to be okay with all of this? My getting out of the military and opening the company. All of it?” he asked.

  Ali shrugged. “Yeah, sure. The decision’s yours, of course. It’s your life.”

  “Yes, but I’m hoping you’re going to be a part of that life.” Jon honestly looked uncertain as he added, “If you want . . .”

  Could he really be unsure that she’d want to be with him? To be part of his life?

  She could relieve his worry with one word, but it would be so much more fun to show him too. Ali moved and he moved with her, until he was lying on his back and she straddled him.

  “Yes, I definitely want.�
� Ali leaned low, closing in on his lips as she said, “You’re overdressed. I want you naked.”

  A smirk quirked up the corner of Jon’s lips. “Yes, ma’am.”

  It was nice to be with a man good at following orders. Ali had a feeling she was going to enjoy it immensely.

  If you enjoyed Night with a SEAL please consider leaving a review. And look for Zane’s story, Saved by a SEAL, Book 2 in the HOT SEALs series.

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  SAVED BY A SEAL

  Hot SEALs, Book 2

  CAT JOHNSON

  Zane Alexander was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, but the rebellious bad boy traded it in for a Navy SEAL trident.

  Now, Zane’s teammates are depending on him to get the startup capital they need to open their security company and he’s gambling on his skills at covert operations. For a million dollars, he’ll fake interest in Missy Greenwood, the Senator’s daughter his father wants him to date in exchange for the investment.

  But when Missy is kidnapped and Zane and his team are sent to Nigeria to rescue her and the schoolgirls being held, bullets as well as sparks of attraction start to fly. There’s no more faking when both the danger and the emotions are all very real.

  CHAPTER ONE EXCERPT

  Zane watched as Jon strode across the bar toward him.

  “Good. You’re here.” Jon dumped a binder on the table.

  The papers inside were heavy enough to make the beer in Zane’s pint slosh when it landed. Zane raised a brow as he picked up his glass. “Whatcha got there, bud?”

  “That’s the completed business and marketing plan, all put together.” Jon pulled out a chair and sat. “Rick and Darci looked it over and then both Ali and I proofread it twice, so it should be ready to present to your father.”

  Grateful he’d been left out of that incredibly boring stage of this project, Zane eyed the tome. “That’s all? Nothing else?”

  Frowning, Jon flipped open the front cover of the binder. “I think so. Brody’s artwork for the logo is in there, along with a complete company branding section. I also cited and included all the materials I used for research to back up the idea. You know, as proof there’s a need for this kind of operation—” Jon glanced up, scowling as his shoulders slumped. “You’re fucking with me.”

  “I am.” Amused that Jon had finally figured it out, Zane raised his glass in a toast to his gullible friend. Apparently Jon was a little slow in detecting sarcasm.

  Zane took a swallow of the brew that was already getting warm. He’d arrived early for this meeting with his current teammate and soon-to-be business partner.

  Truth be told, he’d needed the drink. Zane had faced the enemy with less trepidation than he felt now on the way to see his father. . . and the enemy had been carrying automatic weapons with the intent of killing him.

  His father utilized weapons that were more subtle than machine guns and explosives, but no less destructive. Zane should know. He’d been dodging his father’s verbal shots for as long as he could remember.

  He still had yet to figure out how his mother, bless her heart, had survived this long married to his father. By keeping her head down and remaining below the radar, most likely, while Zane had a tendency to get right in his father’s face. Or he had until that day he announced he was joining the Navy and walked out with nothing but what fit in his bag.

  Thank God for the trust fund his maternal grandfather had set up. Zane’s father could—and had—cut him off from the family’s wealth and support, but even he didn’t have the power to take away the trust fund in his name or the monthly allowance it yielded him.

  Not that Zane’s expenses were huge—living in the bachelor barracks when not deployed was cheap—but Zane did like having nice things. Big trucks. Fast cars. Hot women. That all took a good amount of cash. More than he made from his military pay, so the check was surely welcome when it appeared in his account each month.

  “Do you want to take a look at what I put together?” Jon looked a little disappointed, almost crestfallen that Zane hadn’t jumped to devour the binder page-by-page.

  Even with the kick ass winged anchor logo and company name they’d come up with on the front of it, the binder looked too much like the schoolwork he’d always hated.

  Though he supposed he would need to review the material before he met with his father later that day, it could wait.

  “I will. Later.” Procrastination was one of the many things Zane excelled at.

  He took another sip of his beer and ignored the book Jon had nudged toward him. He’d be drinking whisky if he didn’t have to get behind the wheel and leave for his drive to the capital region in an hour or so.

  When Jon looked ready to crawl out of his skin, Zane decided to relieve his friend’s pain. “Look, Jon. I know you, and you are incapable of giving less than one hundred percent to anything you do. I trust you that everything I’ll need is in that thing, plus some. But the truth is, it doesn’t matter what’s in your plan. My father is going to give us the money for this company.”

  Jon pursed his lips. “I wish I could be so sure.”

  “You can be. Trust me. When my father sees I’m willing to leave DEVGRU for this, he’ll jump on investing as much money as we need.”

  GAPS—Guardian Angel Protection Services—was Jon’s brainchild and it was a great idea. A company comprised of a group of men with the best training the Naval Special Warfare Development Group had to offer. As combat-seasoned SEAL operatives, they would be experienced experts-for-hire at a time when precision security was a growing need in so many areas across the globe.

  With their friends and former teammates Chris and Rick already out, and with Jon and Zane’s current contracts about to expire, they had a four-man team to staff GAPS out of the gate with the promise of more of their teammates joining them in a few years, if they could make a go of it.

  Zane traced the tip of one finger over the letters of their tagline printed on the paper slipped beneath the clear plastic front of the binder.

  We cover your six when God’s too busy.

  Was he covering his friend’s six now or leading them down a path of fruitless hope?

  Nothing was certain when it came to his father. Well, nothing except the fact that the one thing George Zane Alexander the second could never get over was his son joining the Navy against his wishes. And Zane didn’t stop there. He’d taken it one step further by trying out for the SEALs. Then, as soon as he’d proven himself, he went for DEVGRU’s Green Team training and selection—the infamous Seal Team Six the media liked to shout about.

  Even if those actually in the elite unit didn’t like or want the fame the media had thrust upon them after the Bin Laden raid, Zane was indeed among the best of the best, in spite of his old man’s wishes. The problem was that once he’d reached the top, there was nowhere left to go to piss off his father.

  Zane saw Jon’s vision for GAPS as the right opportunity at the right time.

  To be able to take their skills and use them as they saw fit and be their own bosses—it was tempting. A dream come true.

  Of course, that was only if Zane got through this meeting with good old George without taking a swing at the man, which is what had happened the last Christmas he’d tried going home to play at being a happy family. You don’t talk bad about the troops or make disparaging remarks about the war to a man who’d watched friends get blown up. Zane clenched his jaw and pocketed the anger.

  Read the rest of Zane’s story in

  Saved by a SEAL

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  I could not have created the characters in this series without having read No Easy Day written by Mark Owen with Kevin Maurer. This autobiography of a SEAL provided me with a glance into the minds, attitudes and characters of the men who sign up for this challenging life. It also would not be the story it is without the eagle eyes of my personal military consultants who check for the civilian mistakes I make. Tha
t said, any mistakes or liberties taken with the facts are purely my own.

  ABOUT CAT JOHNSON

  A New York Times & USA Today bestselling author, Cat Johnson writes contemporary romance featuring sexy alpha heroes, men in uniform, and cowboys. Known for her unique marketing and research practices, she has sponsored pro bull riders, owns a collection of camouflage and western wear for book signings, and a fair number of her friends/book consultants wear combat or cowboy boots for a living. She writes both full length and shorter works and is contracted with Kensington and Samhain.

  For more visit CatJohnson.net

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