Brianna's Navy SEAL

by Natalie Damschroder

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  Amber Quill Press

  www.amberquill.com

  Copyright ©2007 by Natalie J. Damschroder

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  NOTICE: This work is copyrighted. It is licensed only for use by the original purchaser. Making copies of this work or distributing it to any unauthorized person by any means, including without limit email, floppy disk, file transfer, paper print out, or any other method constitutes a violation of International copyright law and subjects the violator to severe fines or imprisonment.

  * * *

  BRIANNA'S NAVY SEAL

  By

  NATALIE J. DAMSCHRODER

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  ISBN 1-59279-653-3

  Amber Quill Press, LLC

  www.amberquill.com

  Also By Natalie J. Damschroder

  Blue Silver: Lost Our Forever

  Cat's Claw

  Elemental Passion

  Indulgence

  Institutional Sex

  Kira's Best Friend

  A Matter Of Choice

  The Passion Of Tanner Black

  Slow Build

  Sophie's Playboy

  To Catch A Cowboy

  The TreeKeeper

  Under Control

  DEDICATION

  For Ethel, for being the type of mother-in-law everyone wishes they could have.

  CHAPTER 1

  "He's going to terrify those poor kindergartners."

  "Forget the kids. He terrifies me!"

  Brianna Macgregor paused as she passed the teacher's lounge. The room was always busy the first day back before school started, as everyone caught up on summer activities and gossip. Brianna never had time to linger. She was always too jazzed about the new kids and busy preparing for their wide-eyed arrival.

  Today, though, something made her turn and enter the stuffy room. She'd heard they had hired a new kindergarten teacher for the year, a temporary replacement for the regular teacher, who was on maternity leave. She hadn't heard it was a male.

  "Who are you talking about?” she asked Wanda Perez and Celie Reinhart, the second and fourth grade teachers. They turned to her, apparently eager for fresh ears.

  "Cable Addison. The new kindergarten teacher. Have you seen him?” Celie asked. Brianna shook her head.

  Wanda faked a swoon. “Oh, my God, the man is incredible. A giant. An Amazon."

  "An Amazon is a female,” Celie corrected.

  Wanda glared at her from under the hand pressed to her forehead. “Who cares? He's huge. And intimidating. They say they called him Tank in the Navy. As if Cable isn't enough of a nickname.” She snorted. “I don't know what on earth made the administration hire him."

  "Well, it's only temporary,” Celie said. “But I can imagine the harm it will do to those poor little children."

  Brianna was suddenly aware of a presence in the doorway. Not just any presence. A ... huge presence. She turned and felt her eyes widen. Wanda had been right. The man was incredible. Astonishing. Amazing. Extraordinary. Brie wished for her thesaurus so she could find more superlatives to describe him.

  He stood at least a foot over her own five feet three inches, and his chest was as wide as a battleship. He wore jeans and a biceps-clinging, pectoral-hugging knit shirt in a way that had Brianna's mouth watering. His bright blond hair was cut in a flat-top and his clean-shaven face had a ruggedness reminiscent of early Robert Redford. Brie guessed him to be about thirty-seven or eight. Until he looked at her with laser-blue eyes. Then her brain went numb.

  Wanda and Celie babbled something incoherent, obviously mortified at being caught talking about him. But Cable smiled at them all and strode to the coffee machine on the far counter.

  "The kids will be fine.” His voice was deep, the kind that carried well without a lot of volume. Brianna knew that would help him in a classroom full of noisy five-year-olds. “I'm very gentle.” He poured a cup of coffee and added cream and sugar, then leaned his hips against the counter. “Discipline isn't a problem for obvious reasons. They learn what they're supposed to, and I provide a positive role model that shatters stereotypes.” He grinned over his coffee mug and the two chatterbox teachers fled.

  Brianna didn't move, and when he turned that devastating smile on her, she couldn't. Despite the wide chest he wasn't that brawny—more like a wide receiver than a running back—but he dominated the room nonetheless. In a completely male way.

  Wake up! her brain yelled, and she snapped back to herself. She hoped she wasn't drooling.

  "Brianna Macgregor,” she offered, holding out her right hand.

  "First grade. You're right across the hall.” He set his mug down and shook her hand. His was as she expected it to be, rough yet gentle while engulfing her entire hand. She had to look waaaaaayyyyy up to make eye contact.

  Something inside her quivered, and she considered making her own escape. But curiosity was stronger and she poured herself a cup of coffee, pleased when he sat with her at the table.

  "I, for one, am thrilled to have a male kindergarten teacher at Brook Hollow Elementary,” she told him.

  "I'm sure you are."

  Brie cocked her head. “What does that mean?"

  His smile was a bit wry. “'Ms. Macgregor has a reputation in the community for fostering programs and activities that are alternately considered innovative and subversive.’”

  Brianna choked. “Really?” Brook Hollow was a fairly even blend of conservative and liberal, with people both willing to stretch boundaries and defend them like tigers. But she had never imagined people talking about her in those terms. Though why not, she didn't know. She knew they talked about everyone else. But ... “Why are people talking about me to you?"

  He shrugged. “Not really people. Your brother-in-law. Jake picked me up at the airport yesterday and showed me around."

  "How did I come up?"

  He shrugged. “Logic. We were talking about school, and he mentioned his sister-in-law."

  That made sense. Brianna relaxed, less wary but also a bit disappointed that he hadn't been seeking the information. Stupid, she told herself. How could he have been interested before he even met her?

  How could she be interested now?

  She looked at her watch and stood. “I have way too much to do before school starts. Let me know if you need anything.” She smiled, glad he hadn't stood when she did. It was nice to look at him without craning her neck. “As you said, I'm right across the hall."

  She tried to shift her thoughts to semester theme activities and setting up her room, but they insisted on focusing on Cable. When she got to her room, she dropped heavily into her desk chair. She couldn't remember ever feeling this way on first meeting a man. Any man. Not even that guy in college, the rugby player with the smile that said you were all he cared about. Her attraction to Cable blew them all away.

  And why not? The guy oozed charisma and sex appeal, as well as power harnessed by exquisite control. He was exactly the kind of guy she wanted a year ago, and exactly the wrong kind now. She had to squelch the attraction.

  She was stacking items in the supply closet when, unbidden, a memory popped into her head. Her older sister, Kira, cheekily predicting that Brianna would fall in love with a Navy SEAL.

  Her heart tripped. It was a silly thing that sisters do, she told herself. Kira wasn't psychic. Sure, she knew her sisters, knew what they liked, what they needed, but Brianna had changed since then. It didn't matter that Kira had said Sophie would fall for a playboy and she'd married one last year.

  It didn't matter at all.

  * * * *

  As soon as Brianna was done for the day she made a beeline for the marina. Jake would be there until late tonight, when the last boat piloted by the die-h
ardest lake lover came in. As both mayor of Brook Hollow and a member of the school board, Jake would have the skinny on Cable Addison. She'd make him tell her. She had ways.

  As expected, Jake balked. “I don't gossip, Brie. You know how I feel about rumors."

  "I'm not asking for gossip.” She leaned on the glass counter where Jake was sorting lures. “I just want to know his background."

  Her brother-in-law considered, then shrugged. “He's ex-Navy, went to school for elementary education, got his degree and teaching certificate, taught for two years in Boston, and answered our ad. That's all I can tell you."

  Brie propped her chin in her hand. “Is he married? A father?"

  Jake shook his head. “We're not allowed to ask. But I don't think so. He came alone."

  "If he taught in Boston, where did he fly from?"

  "Poor grammar for a teacher,” Jake mused.

  Brie wrinkled her nose at him. “From where did he fly?"

  "Florida, I think.” He looked up from the lures for the first time. “Some special op, I take it. Big adventure."

  Brianna's mouth dropped open and Jake laughed.

  "You're so easy, Brie."

  "Stop teasing me."

  "Maybe he'll take you with him on the next one. You know, the life never leaves the blood."

  Brianna tossed her hair and tried to look nonchalant. “Thanks for very little, bro."

  "Always glad to help."

  Over the last two years or so Brianna had had an obsession with the idea of adventure. She'd been watching too many action-adventure movies. The strong heroines who rescued sexy heroes had caused Brianna to cast herself in more than one dream sequence. She'd traveled, a lot, trying to find the thing that would fill the emptiness that seemed to be growing by the day. Last summer, she'd joined a treasure-seeking crew for two months. They dived on shipwrecks, she did grunt work. It had been fabulous and terrible, and the events of that July had cured her forever. But she hadn't told her family, and they ignored her protests that she'd lost interest and constantly teased her about her quest.

  She sighed and helped Jake gather up the loose tackle. “Are you guys at Mom's for dinner on Sunday?"

  "Of course."

  Brianna sighed again. She loved the once-a-month family dinners, playing with her nephew, teasing Sophie and Parker about when they were going to supply their own toy for her. Lately, though, the gathering had become a forum for her family to lecture her on settling down, following her sisters’ leads and making a happy new family. She couldn't convince them that wasn't what she wanted, any more than she could convince them she wasn't seeking adventure, either.

  "Aren't you going?” Jake asked, and she snatched at the suggestion.

  "I'm not sure. I have some wrapping up to do for Ken. He needs July's financials done."

  "And you have to do them on Sunday?"

  "School's starting. When else will I have time?"

  Jake studied her, so she ducked in front of the counter to pick up a couple of lead weights that had fallen. He'd known her since she was a baby, and could read her as well as he could read his wife. When she stood, though, he left her alone. Mostly.

  "So, Cable Addison, huh?"

  "Oh, shut up.” She tossed the weights at him and spun on her heel. What had she been thinking, to try to grill Jake? Especially about something she didn't even want.

  Not really.

  * * * *

  Cable dragged himself up his porch steps and collapsed onto the swing. He was too tired to go inside, and since he'd left the air conditioning off, it would be unbearably hot. Not that he couldn't stand the heat, but now that he didn't have to, he preferred to avoid it. He straightened his legs and moaned at the stiff soreness. He hadn't felt this bad since Hell Week.

  As he was now the tallest guy in the school, every teacher had called on him at some point in the last week to help hang stuff from their ceilings, to retrieve boxes from supply closets, then to put them back. He'd gladly obliged, wanting to establish himself as a team player and get to know his fellow teachers. But with all his own classroom preparation to do, he'd had to spend extra time at the school. Even the five-foot-two principal had called him in to hang a certification at the top of his “attaboy” wall.

  At the staff meeting today he'd watched Brianna Macgregor on the other side of the auditorium. She was the one person who hadn't asked for his help, and he was just across the hall. Of course, she'd been doing this longer than he had, even though he was years older. And she'd no doubt found ways to compensate for her lack of height. Still, he wondered why she wasn't as curious about him as the others.

  She'd looked at him only once during the meeting. He hadn't been watching her the entire time, but had felt her eyes on him at one point. When he turned his head, though, she was facing Principal Dvorak on the stage.

  Cable weighed going inside his oven of a house versus sitting here and thinking more about Brianna Macgregor. Brianna won easily.

  He didn't know why she intrigued him. There wasn't anything mysterious about her. Cable figured he understood her pretty well. She was a teacher because she wanted to do good things. She lived quietly but didn't hesitate to speak out when necessary. There was a hidden something, passion or drive or thirst that she hadn't quenched. She was seeking the quencher. And she was attracted to him.

  Cable could say without an ounce of arrogance that most women found him attractive. He smiled at a bird flying overhead. Well, maybe not most women. He seemed to scare Wanda and Celie more than attract them. But he was aware of his rugged good looks and powerful build and their usual effect.

  With Brianna, though, there was something deeper. He could get fanciful and say she was a nurturer type and drawn by his alpha maleness. In a primitive way, she wanted a powerful mate to provide her with healthy children. Or it could just be that she liked the juxtaposition of warrior and kindergarten teacher. Whatever it was, he wouldn't be averse to encouraging it.

  He'd just about decided to haul himself out of the swing when the door to a house across the street opened. A small, stacked blonde came out, dressed to run in a sport bra and bike shorts. Cable watched her stretch for a minute and enjoyed the sensation of mild, disconnected arousal.

  Then the woman looked up and he realized it was Brianna. The general tingling became a full-on burn, and he swallowed hard when she jogged across the street.

  "Hi!"

  Cable wondered where she got her energy when she bounded up his porch steps. He shifted to lean forward and hide any ... embarrassing sights.

  "Evening."

  "Wanna go for a run?"

  He grimaced. “I hate running.” He'd done a lifetime's worth during training and his tour in the military.

  Brianna just shrugged and stepped lightly back down to the sidewalk. “I'm off to the club, then. See you tomorrow?"

  "Sure."

  Cable watched her jog slowly down the street. She didn't bounce, like he'd expect a nicely rounded woman like her to. She was tauter than she'd seemed, and he found his interest piqued even more.

  He sighed, finally rising to brave the furnace. He lifted his leather briefcase and bounced the keys in his hand until he found the house key.

  Tomorrow, maybe he'd find the energy to ask Brianna Macgregor for a date.

  * * * *

  Brianna had to run more slowly than she was used to until she got her breath back. Nothing attracted her more than a tired-looking man relaxed on his porch. Unless it was a towering man getting ready to teach tiny five-year-olds. Or a scary-looking yet friendly man leaning against a counter drinking coffee.

  Okay. Nothing attracted her more than Cable Addison.

  The man oozed sensuality and charisma. And adventure, dammit. Some part of her had apparently not been crushed by last summer's fiasco. She'd missed most of the staff meeting today, working to convince herself that was the old Cable. A kindergarten teacher was about a totally different kind of adventure.

  She'd found herself wan
ting to join him on the porch and ask him questions, but the man knocked the breath out of her so she couldn't think, much less converse. That had to change. Cable would definitely not be interested in a brainless twit. At least, she hoped not. Then she'd have a lot more competition.

  She smiled and sped up as she neared the gym, then mopped her face with the towel around her neck while she signed in.

  "Hey, Brie, did you get a load of the new kindergarten teacher?” The front desk clerk was a college student who would be student teaching at the elementary school this year.

  "Yes, Rachel. His room is across from mine."

  Rachel sighed and tipped her head back. “Man, do I hope I get to teach in his class this year!"

  "Something tells me he won't need much help.” Brie grabbed an extra towel and headed for the free weights. It was ridiculous to feel jealous, she thought. Of practically a teenager, even.

  But her annoyance grew when she heard other women in the weight room talking about the new hunk in town. Women who'd never before ventured beyond the aerobics room or the treadmills. Brianna tried to hide her scorn as she took over the leg press from a scrawny woman in a leotard and leg warmers.

  "He came into the store today,” the woman told her friend, who was struggling to do old-fashioned sit-ups on a slant board. “His head practically dented the door jamb on the way through."

  Yeah, they had to be talking about Cable. She tried to pretend she wasn't listening while she removed the ten-pound weights from the sled and added two forty-five-pound plates.

  "What ... was ... he ... doing ... in ... your ... store?” Slant Board panted.

  Leg Warmers grabbed her foot to stretch her right quads. “Believe it or not, he was buying art supplies."

  Brianna recognized the woman now. She owned the education store in the strip mall. She finished her set and rested.

  "Art supplies! Is he a fairy?” The sit-up woman had given up and was now flopped in a heap on the mat.

  "Of course not!” the other woman protested. “He's alllll man!"

  Brianna abruptly stood and yanked another forty-five-pound plate from the plate tree. She added the weight, then another to the other side.