SEAL Next Door
Page 13
Poppy leaned in and kissed him. Damn, did she taste good. If he wasn’t so sore—and sitting a few feet away from a damaged nuclear weapon—Sam thought he might like to see where the kiss could lead. But then Poppy pulled back, a tired smile on her face.
“Good,” she said. “Because after this, I never want to go in the field again for the rest of my life. You can keep this adrenaline crap all for yourself.”
A small part of him was disappointed that this would be their only adventure together like this. But then he kissed her again, thinking that it was probably for the best. He decided he didn’t deal well with seeing Poppy in danger.
“Guys,” Wes’s voice sounded over the radio. “You know we can see you two kissing from back here, right? We’d tell you to get a room, but that isn’t an option right now.”
Chuckling, Sam started to pull away, but Poppy reached out and stopped him. “Let them watch,” she murmured against his lips. “I don’t care.”
Sam decided that he didn’t either.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“So, we’re doing this again?” Poppy asked, staring out the passenger side window of Sam’s truck at the extremely familiar house they were parked in front of. “It seems like we were here a couple weeks ago, and that time didn’t end so well.”
Beside her, Sam let out a warm, soft laugh, and Poppy couldn’t help but turn to look his way, her heart warming for the dozenth time today at the sight of him.
“It seems like two weeks because it’s been two weeks since we were here.” He leaned over to kiss her gently. “Fourteen days exactly, actually. But I promise, this time, the day will end differently.”
He kissed her again, making it difficult to think about anything else. Maybe she could talk him into going back to her place and spending the day making out instead of facing another Travers family cookout.
Not that she was expecting any issues at the party. Everyone who’d known the make-believe version of Poppy were now fully aware of the real her. After the mission to Indonesia, Sam’s Teammates accepted her as one of their own now. But even though Sam’s parents knew the truth, it didn’t make facing them again any easier. She couldn’t help thinking that they were never going to think she was good enough for their son.
“Come on,” Sam whispered as he pulled back and opened his door. “It’s going to be fine. I promise.”
Poppy didn’t say anything as Sam led her through his parents’ house and into the backyard. The tables had been set up exactly the same, with the same tablecloths and the same dishes full of sides and desserts. Like the past two weeks had never happened and she was right back here for the first time.
Chasen and Lane were the first two people they ran into, and the conversation immediately devolved into a discussion of what had happened after the mission.
“I’m still tearing down the weapon,” Poppy said. “But we’re going to gain mountains of intel on where the North Koreans are with their nuclear program. What about you guys? Did you ever figure out what happened to Colonel Kam and Abyasa Alatas?”
Chasen frowned. “Unfortunately, we have no idea where either of them are. Lucero has confirmed that Kam never went back to North Korea, not that anyone expected him to. Beyond that, we don’t know if Kam and Alatas killed each other or went into hiding.”
Their conversation was halted when Sam’s sister, Madison ran up to hug Poppy. “I made a ninety-eight on my calculus test,” she said with a grin. “Highest in the class!”
At fifteen, Madison was Sam’s youngest sibling. He’d brought her over to Poppy’s apartment a few days ago to get some help with her math homework, and the two of them had bonded over double integration techniques. It turned out that Madison was a math nerd, and after finding out that Poppy was a math savant, the younger girl pretty much thought she hung the moon.
Sam smiled as Poppy and his little sister stood there in the middle of the yard getting excited over test results. Poppy loved helping Madison with math, but even more, she loved seeing Sam smile.
Madison took her around to meet everyone at the cookout she hadn’t met before, even though Poppy insisted that wasn’t necessary. Though truthfully, it helped having the girl around for some of the introductions. Like Dalton’s wife, Kimber, and his little girl, Emma. Everyone had decided that Poppy and Dalton dating was classified beyond belief, but she still felt a little uncomfortable meeting his family, even if Kimber was as sweet as all get out and Emma was completely adorable.
Poppy didn’t relax until she’d made a complete circuit of the party and talked to everyone—including Sam’s parents. This time around, Melissa surprised her by hugging her.
“Kurt told me that you saved Sam’s life on that mission you went on with him,” she said softly in Poppy’s ear. “Thank you.”
She and Sam chatted with his parents for a while, talking about the classes Poppy was teaching this semester and what movies they’d been watching on Netflix.
“So, when are you two moving in together?” Melissa asked casually, looking back and forth from Poppy to Sam. At the stunned look they gave her, she added, “Madison mentioned you still haven’t unpacked any boxes, Sam, so it wasn’t hard to figure out you haven’t been sleeping there.”
Poppy exchanged looks with Sam, who simply grinned.
“We’ve talked about moving in together, but figured maybe we should take our time,” Poppy said.
“Yeah,” Sam added. “No reason to do something that might put added stress on our relationship. We can see where things stand in a few months, when Poppy has to renew the lease on her apartment.”
It was Melissa and Kurt’s turn to exchange looks.
“That’s a very smart decision,” Melissa said, her lips curving into a knowing smile.
Sam’s parents wandered off a little while after that, but only after she and Sam promised they’d come over for dinner the following weekend.
Poppy let out the breath she didn’t know she’d been holding. “That went better than I thought it would.”
“I have no idea what you were worried about,” Sam said with a chuckle as he kissed her. “I told you my parents would love you.”
Poppy smiled up at him. “Speaking of love, have I mentioned lately that I love you?”
“As a matter of fact, you told me this morning,” he said with a grin. “Somewhere in between your second orgasm and me professing my undying love for you. But feel free to say you love me as often as you like. I’ll never get tired of hearing it.”
She laughed. She’d never imagined falling in love so quickly, but like Sam, she was never going to get tired of hearing those three little words either.
It was later, as she and Sam were sitting around with everyone that Poppy realized what being with Sam truly meant. She had an entire group of amazing friends as well as an even more amazing boyfriend. After going on that Indonesian mission and knowing how dangerous Sam’s job really was, she couldn’t help but think that having people like this around when he had to run off to save the world was going to be more important than she’d realized.
“You okay?” he asked softly.
Poppy supposed she’d zoned out there for a bit, thinking about what life with Sam was going to be like.
“Yes,” she said, leaning over to kiss him. “I’m definitely okay.”
* * * * *
I hope you enjoyed Sam and Poppy’s story!
Lane Robbins is the next SEAL to fall in love…with his Teammate’s sister!
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SEAL Next Door
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Paige Tyler is a New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author of sexy, romantic suspense and paranormal romance. She and her very own military hero (also known as her husband) live on the beautiful Florida coast with their adorable fur baby (also known as their dog). Paige graduated with a degree in education, but decided to pursue her passion and write books about hunky alpha males and the kick-butt heroines who fall in love with them.
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