Hot SEAL, Alaskan Nights (SEALs in Paradise)

by Cynthia D'Alba

  “Don’t you want to ask me about Doug?” she said, looking Levi dead in the eye.

  He shifted in his seat. “Um, not really.”

  “Well, your friend is an ass and a jerk, and I hope he dies a slow painful death.” She smiled sweetly at the table. “Now, anyone need anything from the kitchen?”

  Dinner was winding down when two of Levi’s friends came through the door. Mark Longley and Don Matters didn’t knock. They just opened the door and walked in, like this house was home. Of course, they, along with Doug Howell, Macy’s ex, had practically much lived at his parents’ house as they were growing up. He’d known the Mark and Doug the longest, since peewee ice hockey, but Don had joined as the fourth musketeer in the second grade. The four had been inseparable until college and the military had put them on different life tracks.

  “About time you showed your ugly mug in town again,” Mark said as a greeting to Levi.

  Levi stood and buddy-hugged each guy. “What are you two doing here?”

  “Well, after your mother flashed the bat signal that you were coming home, the gang put together a little welcome home party tonight.”

  “I did not flash the bat signal,” his mother protested weakly. “At least finish eating before you head out. Boys, grab a plate and get something to eat. We have plenty.”

  Levi arched an eyebrow. “Yes, Mom always likes to pretend the entire neighborhood is coming by when she cooks.”

  “So, sue me,” his mother said, and took a sip from her wine glass.

  “Thanks, Momma Vee,” Mark said. “But we’ve got food at the bash.”

  “And where is this bash?” Momma Van der Hayden asked.

  Levi laughed. He was a Navy SEAL who faced death with every deployment, and his mother was making his friends tell her where they were going together. Felt like high school all over again.

  “Bishop’s Beach,” Don said. “Got a nice bonfire blazing, along with some tunes playing.”

  “Have fun,” his dad said with a wave. “Chief of Police is still Baxter Donahue. Don’t get arrested.”

  Levi rolled his eyes. Chief Baxter Donahue had hated him since he’d broken it off with Leslie Donahue, the chief’s daughter.

  “Let’s go,” he said. “I’ll see you when I see you,” Levi said to his family. After grabbing his cane, he followed the two other men out the door.

  Chapter 3

  Bailey Brown lifted the plastic cup of beer to her lips and took a small sip. She wasn’t much of a beer drinker. Being a born and bred Texan, she preferred bourbon neat with a glass of ice on the side. However, she’d discovered in her two months in Homer that the guys in this small town found a bourbon drink order odd coming from a female, so she usually settled for wine or beer. It wasn’t that she didn’t like beer. It was okay, especially if it was a craft ale. Tonight’s selection was a tapped keg of something brewed locally and was non-offensive, but not memorable either. Oh, and the requisite red Solo cups were present tonight. She held one, aware she’d blend in better holding that iconic American symbol.

  When the staff at her office had insisted she just had to come out tonight for the beach bonfire, she’d let them convince her. She’d grown up watching her mother’s old beach movies from the sixties, and they always had a fire at the beach at night. Being that Homer was certainly a beach town, albeit in Alaska, she felt like she’d have missed something by not coming. However, a June beach party in Alaska wasn’t much like the California beach party movies of the sixties.

  The evening temperature was cool, and the fire was nice against the wind coming off the ocean, but she still couldn’t get past the weirdness of a beach party bonfire in basically broad daylight. She’d discovered that if she wanted to experience nighttime darkness in June in Alaska, she had to stay awake until eleven-thirty to midnight, which was way past her bedtime.

  She took another sip of her beer and sighed. She was bored. In the time she’d worked in Homer, she was fairly sure she’d met every single guy close to her own age. She glanced around. Yep. Most of them were here tonight. She wasn’t sure what the beach party was for, or if there even was a real reason. One of her nurses had said something about someone coming home for the first time in a long time. As good a reason as any, she supposed.

  She wandered over to the keg and refilled her cup, being sure to tilt it just so to avoid too much foam. However, these cups seemed to produce foam no matter the angle.

  “Having a good time, Doc Bailey?”

  Bailey turned toward the voice and nodded to Shelly, one of the office staff here tonight. “I am,” she lied and accompanied her lie with a bright smile. “I love the beach.”

  “I knew you would love this.”

  Her cell phone dinged with an incoming message. She didn’t have to pull it from her pocket as she would have bet a million dollars on the identity of the texter. Still, she pulled it out in case of an emergency and read the text.

  Curtis: I’m sorry, babe. Won’t happen again. I promise. I love you. Come home.

  She hit delete and blocked his number. Should have done it before now, but she’d actually believed he wouldn’t bother her again after telling him repeatedly not to call or contact her. In fact, she was fairly confident his text was a violation of her restraining order. Delete. Block. Done.

  A murmur ran through the group of people closest to the keg. People moved toward a threesome of men walking up the beach. She recognized Mark Longley and Don Matters, both men who’d asked her out, and she’d turned down. Nothing wrong with either of them, but she was only in Homer for a short time. She wasn’t looking for ties and both seemed to be on wife hunts, and that certainly disqualified her. Come fall, she was headed home to Texas.

  The three men were quickly engulfed by the townspeople wanting to shake the hand of the new guy, the one with the cane. He looked a little young to need a cane. She wondered what the story was there.

  “Who’s that?” she asked Shelly.

  “Where?” Shelly asked.

  Bailey didn’t want to point and be obvious, so she tilted her head toward the new arrivals.

  “The guy with Don and Mark. Who is he?”

  “That’s Levi Van der Hayden, the town hero. Navy SEAL home on leave.”

  The answer came from behind her, and she whirled toward the man speaking. Tall, dark-haired with piercing green eyes, here was someone she’d not met yet. He wore khaki cargo shorts, a white polo shirt, and sandals. Plus, he had a wonderful smile that crinkled the corners of his mouth and eyes.

  “Doug,” he said, extending his hand. “Doug Howell.”

  “Bailey Brown.” She shook his hand. “I don’t believe we’ve met, have we?

  “We haven’t. I’ve heard wonderful things about you,” he said.

  Bailey felt her cheeks warm. “Really? That’s always nice to hear.”

  “Can I get you something to drink?”

  Before she could reply, a hand appeared on Doug’s shoulder, and he was shoved backwards a few steps.

  “You low-life bastard. I should break every bone in your body.”

  Bailey stepped back, shocked at the vitriol in the man’s voice. She looked at the speaker, the one who’d done the shoving. It was the new guy, the one Doug had said was named Levi. Why in the world would he be upset that she and Doug were speaking?

  Doug regained his footing. “Look, man. I don’t want any trouble.”

  “Maybe you should have thought about that before you knocked up my sister and dumped her.”

  Bailey’s mouth gaped a little. She waited for Doug to deny the accusation.

  “She asked for it,” Doug replied.

  Her immediate thought was that Doug’s reply probably wasn’t the best response. When Levi pulled back his fist and landed a solid blow on Doug’s chin, she felt vindicated in her response.

  “You son of a bitch,” Doug said and charged Levi, lowering his head to butt Levi in the stomach.

  Bailey stepped backwards. She didn’t have a
dog in this fight. She didn’t know either man, or understand exactly what was going on, other than apparently Doug had a pregnant girlfriend or pregnant ex-girlfriend, who seemed to be the newcomer’s sister.

  When Doug tackled Levi, the cane Levi had been leaning on flew out of his hand. The two men dropped to the ground and began seriously slugging each other. She felt so helpless. Getting between them in an effort to break them up was not going to happen, at least not by her. However, saner minds and stronger men intervened to separate the two men.

  “How could you?” Levi spat out as he was held back by his friends from additional jabs. “How could you break my sister’s heart?”

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Doug said, jerking away from the guys holding his shoulders. He wiped blood from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand. “You’ve been gone. You need to get your story straight before you go accusing old friends of heinous crimes.”

  Levi glared at him, but didn’t reply. The guys closest to Doug murmured some words, but Bailey couldn’t hear what was said.

  “Fine. I’m leaving, but this isn’t over, Van der Hayden.” Doug stomped off toward the parking lot.

  “Hey. You’re bleeding, man.”

  Those words got Bailey’s attention, and she looked toward Levi. A bright red, bloody spot was growing on the left pant leg of his shorts.

  “Fuck a duck,” he muttered. He stumbled over to a log and sat. Someone handed him his cane.

  “Doc Bailey,” Mark hollered at her. “Can you give our American hero a look?”

  Bailey nodded and headed toward the log.

  “Bailey Brown,” she said and extended her hand toward Levi. “Can I trust you won’t take a punch at me?”

  Levi smiled, and Lord have mercy. Angels sang, and then wept that nothing they could do could compete with this man’s smile. Bright white and incredibly straight teeth shone between lips spread wide with pleasure. His eyes lit up like bottle rockets. Dimples dropped into both his cheeks. Her stomach clenched as every female cell in her body sat up at attention.

  Not good. She was only here until the fall. No getting involved with a local guy. She was headed home to Texas. Six months away from home should be enough.

  “I can’t promise I won’t try to sneak a kiss,” he drawled.

  “No kissing either. What’s going on?” She struggled to maintain her professional tone and manner when what she wanted to do was trace those lips with her tongue before seeing if he tasted as good as he looked.

  He laughed, and her heart rolled over like a dog.

  “Got it. No kissing. So, Doc Bailey, huh?”

  “Yes, on the nickname, but misleading on the doctor part. I’m an advanced practice nurse. I hold a doctorate in nursing. So, Doctor is accurate, but not in medicine. Confused yet?”

  “No, ma’am. Following you completely.”

  “Great. Now, want to tell me about the blood trickling down your leg?”

  He sighed and looked disgusted. “Gunshot exit wound.”

  She nodded. “How long ago?”

  “Five, no, six days.”

  Nodding again, she said, “You may have popped a stitch. Want me to take a look?”

  “Sure.” He stood and began pushing down his shorts. A number of the women around them whistled and shouted their encouragement for him to continue. Their shouts made his smile turn into an oh-baby-let’s-do-it grin.

  “Wait,” she said with a laugh. “Let’s take this some place a little more private.”

  Shouts of “No” and “You just want him for yourself” came from the women, which made Bailey shake her head with a chuckle.

  Levi waggled his eyebrows. “Whatever you say, darlin’.” He pulled the waist of his shorts back up to its proper placement. “Lead on.”

  As he followed her, he called behind him, “Don’t wait up, maw.”

  That brought chuckles and wolf whistles from the guys.

  As soon as they were outside of shouting distance, she saw his shoulders slump and his strut became more of a stagger.

  “Hurting?” she asked.

  He straightened. “Does a bear shit in the woods?”

  “I’ll take that as a yes. My truck isn’t too far. Can you make it, or do you want to wait here and I’ll drive back to you?”

  “Hell, no. Lead on. I can take anything.”

  She nodded. Cowboys. Bull riders. Navy SEALs. All of them thought they were oh so tough. Who was she to argue? Heck, this guy had probably enjoyed SEAL Hell Week.

  When they reached her truck, she thought she heard him sigh, but when she glanced his way, he stood ram-rod straight as though at attention.

  “You have any pain medication?” she asked.

  “I don’t need any.”

  Even though she saw through his bullshit lie, she nodded. “I’ve got some ibuprofen in my kit.”

  He scoffed. “Got any M&M’s? They both work about the same.”

  She tried, really tried, not to snicker, but suppressing it was impossible. She snorted by accident. “Sorry.”

  He gave her a wry look, then grinned. “Don’t take much bullshit, do you?”

  “Nope. Now let’s drop those shorts and let me see your ass.”

  He threw his head back in a laugh.

  She frowned. “Been a while since you heard that, sailor?”

  “SEAL, and maybe. I was on a mission for a long time. Just got back.” He gestured to his thigh and rear. “My souvenir.”

  “Next time, consider a T-shirt.” She opened the front and rear doors of her truck and took a place at the rear seat, effectively making the open doors a semi-private exam area. “Come closer and face the door. Drop trou, but don’t hang your wiener out the window.”

  He got into position per her instructions and looked over his shoulder with an arched eyebrow. “Wiener?”

  “I’ve more names for that appendage of yours than you can imagine.”

  “Umm,” he said. “Now, I’m wondering if this is all a ruse to see my ass.”

  She sat on the rear seat and grinned up at him. “I’ve done worse. Now, let’s see what I’m working with.”

  The waist of his shorts loosened, and he dropped his shorts to the ground.

  Commando. Jesus save her.

  Now, she’d seen a lot of rear ends, some on a professional basis and some on a more personal level. But this one? Lordy. God had worked overtime making this one. Perfectly round and rock-hard globes without a mar, except for the dirty bandage on his left cheek.

  “First, I only needed your left side exposed. And second, when the hell did you change this bandage last?”

  “Change the bandage? Was I supposed to?”

  “Good God. Save me from alpha men,” she growled under her breath.

  Instead of being embarrassed that he had a dirty bandage, he looked back at her with another of those blinding smiles…the kind that makes women do stupid things, like forget she’s going home in October.

  “You think I’m an alpha man? That’s good, right?”

  She groaned and ripped off the four-by-four gauze and massive amount of tape holding it on in one jerk.

  He jumped. “Damn. That hurt.”

  “Sorry about that.” She wasn’t, but fast was better than slow…at least when removing bandages. Other things are better slower…not that she wanted her brain to fill with that vision.

  “You’re not, but that’s okay. This alpha man can take it.”

  She rolled her eyes, but it was a wasted action as he was facing forward. Still, he was making her smile, something that’d been missing from her life over the past year.

  The stitches were tight. Early healing looked healthy. He’d have a nice scar to impress future women. Something about that idea didn’t sit right with her.

  “Looks good back here,” she said.

  “I know,” he replied. “I worked hard for that ass.”

  She chuckled. “I meant the stitches and wound, but yes, your hard work s
hows.”

  She put a fresh bandage on the site. “Done. Pull up your shorts and show me your leg.”

  “I could just turn around.”

  Yeah, no. She would have his cock all in her face.

  “Don’t think so. Pull up your shorts, please.”

  He did and turned toward her as he was finishing zipping.

  “Pull up the material and let me see your leg.”

  The bleeding was from that area. “This your exit wound? In the rear and out the thigh?”

  “That’s right.”

  “You’re a lucky man there wasn’t more damage.”

  “While I agree, I didn’t feel too lucky when that blaze of fire roared through me. But I know. Nitro, our SEAL team medic, told me it was a one-in-a-million shot.”

  “Looks like one of your stitches popped, but I don’t think it’ll cause you any problems. I’m going to put a skin closure strip across the area, and that’ll hold it. But you need to keep these areas clean and change the damn bandage every day for the next couple of days.”

  “Hmm. The leg is no problem but…” He reached around trying to see his rear. “This one might be tough.”

  “Don’t you have family here? Get one of them to do it for you.”

  He scoffed. “Please. My mom hasn’t seen my butt since I was five. No thank you.”

  She laughed. “Come by my office tomorrow, and I’ll change it for you.”

  “Where are you?”

  “I’m working with Dr. Braverman. Know him?”

  “Of course. Everyone knows the doc.”

  She finished covering the wound with a large bandage strip. “Done.”

  “Hey, got any of those M&M’s we talked about?”

  She smiled. “Absolutely.”

  She pulled an individually packaged envelope of ibuprofen from her bag and handed to him. He ripped it open and dry-swallowed both pills.

  “Next time,” he said, “I prefer my M&M’s with more chocolate.”

  She gave him a grin. “I’ll try to remember. Ready to rejoin the party?”

  From behind her on the truck’s rear seat, her cell phone danced and buzzed.

  “You need to get that?” he asked, looking around her at her lit-up cell phone.