Saved by the SEALs: A Military Reverse Harem Romance

by Cassie Cole

  Cairo: You must have made one hell of an impression on our LC

  Me: What do you mean?

  My mouth went dry while I waited for him to respond. Had Logan told them what happened already? I glanced over at the shirtless SEAL. He’d been on his phone most of the time, texting or reading emails. He didn’t seem like the kind of guy to brag about his sexual conquests…

  Cairo: I can’t believe he’s letting you stay there. If anyone else fled in the middle of the night he’d drag them back in a cargo crate with their mouth covered in duct tape.

  Cairo: By the way, don’t give out any details over text message. Keep it vague, if that wasn’t obvious. Just in case.

  I sighed with relief. Logan had told them we were on Mallorca now. That made a lot more sense than him bragging about banging me.

  Me: I made a convincing argument! Logan’s not unreasonable.

  Cairo: Hunter thinks you’ve put a spell on him.

  Cairo: Or killed him and have been sending emails from his address. Definitely one or the other.

  Me: I promise Logan is alive and well. I can send a photo if you want!

  Cairo: If you did that, LC would REALLY lose his shit.

  I started to say that Logan was presently drinking a piña colada, but then deleted the text. That might give too much of a hint that we were on a beach, if someone happened to be reading our texts.

  Me: Do you still miss me?

  Cairo: Nah, not really.

  Me: HEY

  Me: THAT’S NOT FUNNY

  Me: I bet Hunter misses me. Maybe I should text him.

  I switched contacts on my phone:

  Me: Do you miss me?

  Hunter: New phone, who’s this?

  Me: …

  Me: I’m going to give you another chance to give a girl a proper response.

  Me: Do you miss me?

  Hunter: Nah I’m good

  Me: NO YOU ARE MOST CERTAINLY NOT GOOD

  Cairo opened up a group text for all three of us:

  Cairo: Nice going, now Hunter has a case of the giggles

  Hunter: No way, bro. Guys don’t get the giggles.

  Me: I can picture it. You’ve got a high-pitched voice.

  Cairo: He’s like a squeaky toy a chihuahua would play with

  Hunter: WTF DUDE

  Me: Tell me you miss me and I’ll compliment your voice as being very deep and masculine.

  Hunter: We’re over you.

  Me: Oh really?

  Hunter: Uh huh. We’ve got a new bitch in our lives.

  I scoffed out loud, which drew a questioning glance from Logan. I ignored him and began to respond, but then a photo came through on the text. It was a photograph of Hunter sitting in the corner of a dark, featureless room. The only light was the flash from the camera. He wore tan cargo pants and a tight shirt, and his blond hair was all a mess.

  And in his arms was a golden retriever puppy, its tongue so long it hung at least five inches out the side of its mouth.

  Me: OH MY GOD IT’S SO CUTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

  Cairo: Calm down, it’s just a dog

  Me: I WANT TO NIBBLE ITS LITTLE FACE

  Cairo: Woah there, Hannibal.

  Hunter: I named him Bocadillo. It’s Spanish for sandwich!

  Me: That’s simultaneously the dumbest and cutest name I’ve ever heard.

  Me: I can see why you don’t miss me anymore.

  Cairo: Okay, Hunter misses you a little bit. You’ve got a nicer ass than Bocadillo.

  Hunter: Bro, don’t be gross

  When the sun finally dropped to the point where the beach was chilly, we all went up to the resort to get some dinner. Everything was buffet style, self-serving since it was an all-inclusive resort. Logan wasn’t wearing one of the required wristbands to access the resort amenities, but the resort employee standing by the front door took one look at him and decided not to force the issue.

  “I’ll be ready to go dancing in an hour,” Linda said. “Knock on my door when you’re ready.”

  “See you then.” I went into my room, with Logan escorting right behind. “Oh. I didn’t say anything to you, but the resort has a night club. We’re going dancing, if that’s okay with you.”

  I waited for him to argue. He grabbed his laptop out of his bag and sat in the armchair.

  “Knock yourselves out.”

  He pulled out a small device which plugged into a wall outlet, and then unfolded like a tiny radio antenna. The light on the side turned from red to green, then blinked happily.

  “The resort has Wi-Fi,” I pointed out.

  He let out a deep laugh. “Public Wi-Fi is the least secure thing on the planet. This is a VPN hotspot.”

  “Well aren’t you fancy?” I plugged my phone charger into the wall by the bed, then wiggled the plug in my phone until the charging icon appeared. It was still being a pain in the butt about charging, but I had 45%, so as long as it charged a little bit I would be good for the rest of the night.

  I hopped in the shower to get to the beach smell off me. When I walked out in my towel, Logan was still typing away on his laptop, not paying any attention to me.

  “So… the club,” I said. “You haven’t said anything more about it.”

  “There’s nothing to say.”

  “Do you disapprove?”

  “No.”

  “But you don’t approve,” I tried.

  “I’m decidedly neutral, Karen.” He stopped typing and looked up from his laptop. “The CLF was able to kidnap you off the beach in Barcelona because they have friends there. People who want to see Catalonia gain independence. Here, any separatists are on their own. They wouldn’t kidnap you from a crowded night club because it would draw too much attention.”

  “So you’re not going to go with us?” I asked.

  He chuckled as if that were a joke. “If they want to abduct you, they’ll do it here in the privacy of your room. Which is why I’ll be staying here in case anyone tries to break in and lay a trap.”

  “Oh, okay,” I said, hoping he couldn’t hear the disappointment in my voice.

  “Besides, you don’t want me going along,” he said. “The way Linda was talking about it on the beach, you two are intending to hook up with two beautiful Spanish men.”

  I flashed him a grin. “I can’t do that with you camping out in my room, now can I?”

  “You could always go back to their room instead.” He said it plainly, without emotion. I couldn’t tell if he was joking, or jealous.

  And I was the right mixture of emotions not to care. Disappointed that he wasn’t coming with us, and annoyed that he thought I wanted to randomly hook up with some dude at the resort after being with him this afternoon.

  “Maybe I will,” I said as I put my makeup on.

  Logan was quiet until I left, when he gave me a halfhearted goodbye. “Hold down the fort,” I told him, hoping it was appropriate.

  The club attached to the resort was a lot of fun. The music wasn’t the best, but it was adequate, and everyone was dancing and enjoying themselves. It helped that, as an all-inclusive resort, the drinks at the bar were free. That meant you didn’t have to wait for the bartender to close out your tab, and people got drunker—and more entertaining.

  Linda and I remained reasonably responsible—two drinks each, enough to get a nice buzz but not enough to lose control. Linda was on the prowl for a hookup, and she wanted to make sure she was at the top of her game rather than sloppy. And me? I wasn’t really looking to hook-up with anyone. I just wanted to relax and have a good time.

  I was also cognizant of the potential for some CLF thugs to show up and drag me out of the club, no matter what Logan said.

  Linda found a gorgeous olive-skinned man without much trouble. I did a good job of mingling with whoever came up to dance with me, while always moving on to someone new. I didn’t want to give anyone the wrong idea—I wanted to dance. Nothing else.

  Because even though several of the Spaniards who danced with
me were stunningly handsome, all I could think about was the rugged SEAL waiting back in my hotel room.

  Linda and her new friend left the club at 11:30, which was about when I’d had my fill. My summer dress was already drenched with sweat at my pits and down my shoulder blades, so it felt good to follow them out into the cool evening air. I stayed a respectable distance behind Linda and her hookup, who intertwined their fingers and laughed way too hard at each other’s jokes as they made their way back to their room. It made me smile to see her having a good time. After all the trouble she’d gone through in the past few days thanks to me, she deserved a night of harmless fun.

  As we went through the lobby, something in a side room caught my eye. I watched to make sure Linda was still okay as they went upstairs, and then I followed my curiosity into the room off the lobby.

  It was an indoor lap pool, two narrow lanes divided by a buoyed rope. A very long rectangle. The room was warm to the point that all the windows were foggy. A single man was swimming laps.

  Somehow I recognized Logan even though he was almost fully submerged in the water. He swam freestyle in long, smooth strokes, muscular body gliding through the water effortlessly. His legs kicked softly behind him, but mostly he relied on his arms. He reached the far end of the pool, disappeared under the water as he performed a flip-turn, and then began swimming back in this direction.

  I expected him to stop and tease me about my night, but he never looked out of the pool. The only time his head left the water was when he turned his head to the side every fourth stroke to breathe.

  I watched Logan for several laps with a smile on my face. It was impossible not to admire how graceful the water made him look. This tremendously strong, powerful man who should have been too bulky to glide through the water. Instead, he was as natural as a dolphin.

  Finally, when I accepted that he wasn’t stopping any time soon, I stripped out of my summer dress until I was wearing only panties—I hadn’t worn a bra with the dress. When Logan neared my end of the pool I jumped in, doing my best cannonball right in front of him.

  I plunged under the water for a split second. Then, in an instant, a hand closed around my neck and pushed me up against the wall of the pool so hard it made my back hurt.

  The look Logan gave me behind his swimming goggles was pure death. This man was a weapon, one which knew only how to kill. The look flashed as bright as the sun, and then it quickly faded when he realized it was me.

  “Karen,” he said as water trickled down his handsome face. “You startled me.”

  I rubbed my neck where he’d been grabbing. “That was the idea!”

  He removed his goggles and tossed them to the side of the pool. The goggles left white rings around his green eyes. “Sorry.”

  I gave his shoulder a playful punch. It was like hitting a brick wall. “I should have known not to startle you.”

  His calm stare said yes, you should have known that.

  The pool was heated, which made it surprisingly pleasant. And I noticed a lack of overpowering chlorine smell, which meant it was a salt water pool. I dipped my head under the water and came back up so I could pull my wet hair behind my head into a semblance of order.

  “Your bruise is looking better.” I nodded at his chest. “Can barely see any discoloration.”

  “Still stings like hell,” he said.

  “What happened to guarding my room?”

  He turned his head and tapped his ear, where a black receiver was wedged. “I put a sensor on the door. I’ll get a ping in my ear if it opens.”

  “Had to get your workout in, huh?” I flexed my arms above the surface of the water. “Do you even swim, bro?”

  His glare could’ve peeled paint. “Exercise is a better way to spend time than sitting in a chair. I wanted to swim in open water, but the signs on the beach said night swimming is prohibited.”

  “You do strike me as a rule follower,” I teased.

  “Part of laying low means following the rules. Getting dragged out of the water by Mallorca police is a great way to draw the eyes of every person on this island.”

  “Oh, honey,” I said with faux condescension. “You drew every eye on this island when you took your shirt off at the beach.”

  The handsome SEAL blinked. “There were plenty of other good-looking men on the beach.”

  “You blow them all out of the water, so to speak.” I splashed the water for emphasis. “And I’m not just saying that to flatter your fragile ego.”

  I put my arms around his neck and put my face close to his.

  “Besides. Breaking the rules can be fun.”

  The kiss I gave him was soft and intimate. His lips were warm and wet and salty.

  He smirked. “You two weren’t successful at the club?”

  “Successful doing what?”

  “How did I overhear Linda phrase it on the beach?” he said. “I want to find a delicious Spaniard to give me a proper send-off. Her exact words.”

  I laughed. “You sound like you’re jealous.”

  “Just discussing how your night went.”

  “Linda is upstairs with such a man as we speak,” I said.

  “But not you?”

  I wrapped my legs around his wet body. “I already had my fill today.”

  “If you already had your fill,” he pointed out, “then there’s no need for rule-bending pool activities…”

  “Shut up and kiss me.”

  He did. Soft and loving, his hands beginning to move up and down my wet body. I leaned into him, eager to taste the salt on his tongue. Logan reached down between us and rubbed at the front of my crotch, causing me to moan softly in the pool room. Then his fingers pulled apart my panties, and he began untying his own bathing suit.

  I arched an eyebrow at him. “You’re not afraid of breaking any rules in here? We might get caught.”

  His grin was victorious. “I scoped out the room the moment I walked in. There are no cameras.”

  He used one hand to pull down his shorts an adequate amount. The water must have given him a sense of concealment that didn’t make him uncomfortable. And the sensation of his long cock sliding inside of me, while we were in a public place, made me moan louder than if we were in the privacy of my room.

  “God damn you feel good,” he growled into my lips.

  “Yeah?” I breathed as he fucked me.

  “I’ve been thinking about you all night. Waiting for you to get back.”

  “I’m back,” I whispered as his thrusts pushed my back into the edge of the pool. I wrapped my legs around his body tighter.

  “I’ve been imagining fucking you again,” he said through gritted teeth. “The feel of your tight little pussy wrapped around my dick.”

  I squeezed my pussy muscles around his shaft. “Like this?”

  He thrust harder, slamming his cock into me. “Just. Like. That.”

  “Harder,” I pleaded. “Fuck me harder, and harder. You can do better than that.”

  “I’m not going to last very long with you talking to me like that, you dirty girl.”

  I raked my fingers over his wide, powerful back. The angle was making his cock hit me in just the right place. “If you think that’s dirty, when we go back upstairs maybe I’ll beg you to stick it in my ass.”

  His grin was feral. Animal. A desire more than conscious thought. Then his face went blank, and he stopped pumping me. He froze.

  “Shit,” I said. “Did I go to far?”

  “No.” He shook his head and tapped his ear. “The sensor on the door went off. Someone just went inside your room.”

  37

  Logan

  Stopping in the middle of making love to Karen was torture. It was practically impossible—a woman like her deserved to be fucked to completion, with every ounce of attention and strength.

  But I stopped with the willpower that came from over a decade in the Navy. My earpiece made the unmistakable tone signaling that the sensor upstairs had been breached. T
he door had been opened, and remained open for longer than a second.

  The tone chimed again, deeper this time. The sensor was reconnected. The door had been closed.

  Someone had gone inside.

  I slipped out of Karen and pulled my bathing shorts back up, not bothering to tie the lace. The huge bulge in the front that normally would have crippled me with embarrassment was only an afterthought as I grabbed the pool ladder and pulled myself out.

  “Are you sure?” Karen asked, reaching under the water to adjust her panties.

  I went to the stack of towels on the nearby bench and checked underneath. My P226 pistol was still there, loaded and ready. I maneuvered it to take out one towel and wrapped it around my waist, then shoved the gun down into the waistband of my bathing suit.

  “Maybe it’s Linda.” Karen pulled herself out of the pool, her beautiful body dripping water all over the edge of the pool. I felt a pang of regret at being interrupted in the act. “She has one of my keys.”

  I pulled my shirt over my wet chest, then tossed Karen a spare towel. “Let’s go find out.”

  I led her around the side of the lobby, down a back hallway toward the rear stairwell. Streams of water ran out of my wet hair and down my ankles, leaving wet footprints on the stone floor. Although there weren’t cameras in the pool room, there were plenty in the halls and stairwells. I was acutely aware that should anything happen in Karen’s room, my movements right now would be viewed on security footage by police. Too late to worry about it now, though. The best I could do was act natural until we reached our floor.

  “Do you want me to stay back?” Karen whispered. “Maybe hide out in the lobby, just in case?”

  “No,” I said. “I need you with me.”

  “Why?”

  “You’ll see.”

  When we reached our floor I peered down the hallway. It was empty, and silent except for the distant sound of music coming from the stage by the beach where people were drinking and dancing. I walked down the hall on quiet feet, eyes locked on the door ahead and to the right, my right hand lingering above my waistband in case I needed to suddenly grab my gun. Karen let out small, worried noises behind me as we neared our room. I stopped at the door before it.