by Paige Tyler
Chasen grabbed a fleece blanket from the backseat of the truck, then came around to open her door. Pocketing the keys, he took her hand and led her toward the entrance. His grasp was gentle and strong at the same time, and she found herself moving a little closer as they walked.
They made their way past the reflecting pool then circled around the fountain with its dancing sprays of water and colorful lights, navigating through the group of people lounging on blankets and relaxing in lawn chairs. Finding an open space in the center a few feet away from a hipster couple with a cute puppy, Chasen spread out the blanket.
“Hang tight here and I’ll go get us some ice cream,” he said.
As he went in search of dessert, Hayley slipped out of her wedge sandals then sat down on the blanket. First dinner, followed by a movie in the park under the stars, and now ice cream. She couldn’t think of a more romantic date. Smiling, she leaned back on her hands and looked out at the ocean. Across the San Diego Bay, she could see the green and white flashing lights of the rotating beacon on the North Island Naval Air Station. If she looked really hard, in the distance, she could even see the glow of lights from the Naval Amphibious Base where Chasen and the rest of SEAL Team 5 were stationed. It was a beautiful view.
“Sorry it took me so long,” Chasen said as he dropped down on the blanket beside her a few minutes later. “There was an elderly couple in front of me who couldn’t decide whether they wanted nuts on the sundaes they ordered or not.”
Hayley laughed as she took the plastic bowl with the ice cream sundae he’d gotten for her. Holding the cherry by the stem, she popped it into her mouth.
“What movie are they playing tonight?” she asked.
Not that she really cared. Something told her she’d be too busy cuddling with Chasen to pay much attention to it.
He dipped his spoon into his sundae. “Top Gun.”
“Cool. I’ve never seen it.”
Chasen’s eyes went wide. “You’re kidding, right? It’s a classic.”
She shook her head. “Nope. I take it from the way you’re looking at me that you obviously have.”
“Hell, yeah. At least twenty times.”
It was her turn to be surprised. “Seriously? You must really like it.”
He shrugged. “It’s kind of a favorite whenever the Team ends up being on a ship for any length of time. We watch it like other people watch Rocky Horror Picture Show. We act out the scenes, make up new dialogue—stuff like that. We walk around for days afterward spouting lines from the damn thing.”
Hayley grinned around her spoonful of ice cream. She hadn’t even seen the movie yet, but the thought of him and his buddies acting out scenes from it sounded hilarious. “You and your Team sound close.”
“We are,” he admitted. “Those guys are like my brothers. In some ways, we’re tighter I guess.”
“How so?”
He shrugged. “The Navy takes us from all around the country and drops us into a Team then puts us in situations where we have no one else to depend on but each other. We’re all different, with our own backgrounds and experiences, but all of that gets put to the side when you’re on the Team. You have to be totally there for each other because there’s never going to be anyone else. That kind of isolation and dependency builds bonds that can’t be replicated anywhere else. Blood is important, but people don’t pick their families. We chose to be SEALs and that ties us together more than simply being born to the same parents.”
She licked ice cream off her spoon as she considered that. Chasen followed the movement with his gaze, the hunger in his eyes unmistakable. She ran her tongue over her lips in a truly innocent gesture—that was her story and she was sticking to it—and dipped the spoon in her ice cream again. She needed to steer this somewhere safe or she’d be jumping his bones in another minute.
“I’ve always wondered,” she said, purposely ignoring her ice cream for the moment. “Do you stay together as a Team on one base the whole time, or do you change duty stations regularly like everyone else?”
“We tend to be together on one Team for most of our careers,” he told her. “It allows us to build those bonds I mentioned and helps us get to know each other’s strengths and weaknesses. There are ways people can request a transfer to another Team if there’s a personality clash leadership simply can’t resolve. But that’s pretty rare.”
Hayley was relieved to hear that. She’d had a purely selfish reason for asking. If she fell for Chasen, she didn’t want him bailing after a month or two.
Hayley would have asked more, but the big popup screen at one end of the park suddenly lit up with the opening scene of Top Gun and music filled the area amid cheers. She set her empty plastic bowl on the blanket beside her and scooched closer to Chasen. He took the hint, placing his equally empty bowl on the blanket and leaning back so she could cuddle up close beside him and rest her head on his shoulder. It was a bit more forward than she might get on most first dates, but she was seriously attracted to Chasen.
While the movie was intriguing and would have definitely held her interest any other time, it was difficult to pay attention to what was happening on the big screen when she was this close to a real life hero as hunky as Chasen. So near the water, the air took on a slight chill and Hayley shivered a little from the cool breeze. The little black dress had been perfect for dinner, but it was a bit short for an outdoor movie. Chasen wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her even closer. She snuggled up to him, lifting one leg and draping it across his hips.
Yeah, that produced some serious heat for her.
She spent most of the movie enjoying the feel of his body where it touched hers, not to mention the feel of his fingers lightly caressing the bare skin of her arm. She almost sighed as a warmth she hadn’t felt in a long time started between her legs and spread from there.
She wasn’t the only one aroused. She could feel Chasen’s hard-on under her thigh. It was all she could do to not wiggle her leg a bit, just to hear him moan.
Hayley was wondering how much more she could take when Chasen sudden rolled over and she found herself flat on her back, her Navy SEAL leaning over her with a smoldering, hungry look in his eyes.
When his head came down, her mouth automatically tilted up to meet his. The kiss was gentle at first, but then became more urgent as she reciprocated with a passion matching his.
He tasted so good it was hard holding back a moan, but she did. No matter how aroused she got, they were in the middle of a hundred and fifty people in a very public place. Even so, she reached one hand up into his short hair and tugged him close, letting him know without words he’d better not even think of stopping.
His tongue toyed with hers, turning her on so much she almost said the hell with her standard rule about no sex in public. The urge to drag him on top of her and wrap her legs around him was almost impossible to resist.
Somehow, they both behaved, simply lying there on his blanket necking like two kids at a drive-in movie. But it was hard. And so was he for that matter. Something told her when they finally got somewhere private, they might burst into flames on the spot.
Hayley wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or bummed when the movie came to a close near midnight.
Chasen pulled back to rest his forehead against hers as the credits rolled on the screen. “I guess we should get out of here.”
“I suppose,” she agreed.
But neither of them moved. Instead, he leaned forward and kissed her again. That one kiss turned into another, then another. When they finally pulled away and stood up to collect the blanket and their trash, the movie screen was long dark and the park was practically empty. Well, she’d retained her gold star for no sex in public, but she’d come close.
The thirty-minute drive to her apartment was sweet torture. Sitting close to him but forced to keep her hands to herself in the interest of public safety was maddening. When they got to her apartment building, she practical ran into the elevator with hi
m so they could make out some more on the ride up to the fifth floor. Unfortunately, a nice older couple got on with them, putting that idea on hold.
Hayley unlocked the door of her apartment then grabbed his hand to lead him inside. But he resisted. She turned to look at him in confusion.
“You’re not coming in?”
Chasen reached up to cup her chin and brush his thumb over her lips. “I want to. Man, you don’t know how much. But I have training early in the morning.”
“So?”
His mouth edged up. “So I’ll have to get up around three in the morning and I really don’t want to rush our first time together. Or run out on you before I’ve had a chance to enjoy everything I want to do to you.”
She shivered at the heated look in his eyes. She was ready to let him do anything and everything he had in mind. But as disappointed as she was that Chasen wouldn’t be spending the night with her, she was equally thrilled he thought enough of her and the possibility of their newfound relationship to take his time.
“I’m not going to lie and say I don’t hate like hell that you can’t stay, but it’s nice to know you’re not a love ’em and leave ’em kind of guy,” she said. “Rain check?”
He chuckled softly. “Do you even have to ask?”
Chasen didn’t give her a chance to answer, but instead slid his hand deep in her hair then bent his head and kissed her. Now that they were alone—as alone as they could be in the hallway outside her apartment in the middle of the night—Hayley didn’t need to hold back. Chasen must have thought the same thing because he reached around with one hand to cup her ass, pulling her close even as she slid her hands up the front of his shirt to grasp his shoulders. The bulge in his jeans pressed up against her tummy, making her moan. She was so excited she was about to combust. She and her vibrator were going to spend some quality time together tonight.
“If I don’t leave now, I’ll still be here kissing you when the rest of the Team reports for training at 0400 tomorrow morning,” he groaned. “What are you doing in the afternoon?”
“Not much,” she said. “Why?”
“My senior chief and his wife are having a cookout tomorrow at his house. Want to come with me?”
She smiled up at him. “You think you’ll be up for it?”
He lifted a brow and gave her a teasing look. “And what is that supposed to mean?”
She couldn’t help laughing. Of course, she’d been talking about him being tired, but if he thought she was talking about something else…oh well. “Forget I said anything. I will never doubt your ability to be up for anything. I’d love to go to the cookout with you.”
He kissed her again. “I’ll pick you up around noon.”
“Can’t wait.”
Giving her another quick kiss, he walked down the hall. As he waited for the elevator, he turned and looked at her.
“Don’t worry about missing the movie at the park. I have Top Gun on DVD and can bring it over sometime for another screening.”
She smiled. “There was a movie?”
He laughed and stepped into the elevator. A moment later, the doors closed and he disappeared from sight.
Hayley stood there staring at the elevator for nearly a minute before going into her apartment. Then she leaned back against the door and closed her eyes, savoring the taste of his lips on hers and replaying the evening in her head. The date had been amazing. She wasn’t sure she could even pick the part of the night she’d enjoyed the most, but if she had to, she’d say the make out session under the stars in the park. Maybe the next time they went, she might even watch the movie.
She laughed. Who was she kidding? The next time Chasen took her to that park, she was going to do the exact same thing—make out with him the entire time.
Chapter Four
NORMALLY, CHASEN DIDN’T mind training at oh-dark-thirty with the guys. In fact, he usually enjoyed it. But to say he’d much rather be in bed with Hayley right at that moment instead of dragging a frigging Zodiac boat all over the place was an understatement.
Walking away from Hayley last night had been hard as hell. Not only was she gorgeous and smart, but she’d actually been interested in him as more than a uniform full of muscles. Not that he had an issue being appreciated for his body, but it was nice to know she was interested in him as a person, too.
And man, had they definitely clicked in the sexual chemistry department. He and Hayley were going to scorch the sheets when they finally made it into bed. He hadn’t been lying last night when he said he didn’t want to rush their first time together. When they had sex, he intended to make love to every part of her body—slowly.
“Dude,” Logan Dunn called. “I don’t mean to interrupt whatever daydream spread that goofy ass grin across your face, but you want to do the rest of us a favor and pick up your side of the fucking boat?”
Chasen looked down and realized he’d let his corner of the Zodiac drop down to his waist, making it damn near impossible for the other three guys—Nash, Dalton, and Logan—to carry their part of the load with any speed. He glanced up and realized they’d fallen almost twenty feet behind the other four-man team carrying the second Zodiac across the base’s amphibious training range.
He cursed and jerked his side of the boat back up to his shoulder. “Shit, guys. Sorry about that,” he said as he focused on the task at hand, namely humping the boat and the two full-weight body dummies strapped inside it.
“Yeah, yeah. Save your breath for running, not apologies,” Logan muttered.
At thirty-two, Logan was closest in age to Chasen and had been his swim buddy in BUD/s. They were good friends, which meant Logan had no problem calling him out when he screwed up.
Soon enough, he and his guys caught up with the others. Then they all settled into a comfortable pace and started eating some distance. The sun was well above the horizon now, which meant they’d been on the move for more than two hours. That meant they probably only had another thirty minutes or so to go until they finished this morning’s training exercise. Unless the chief decided they’d been dogging it and extended the course for another couple of miles to motivate them for next time.
They’d left the beach area in front of the main base a few minutes after 0400 this morning, motoring their two Zodiac boats northward up the shoreline from there, moving slowly in the pitch-black darkness. When they reached their insertion point, they’d cut the engine and paddled their way through the surf and up onto the beach. Then they’d hidden the boats and run in full tactical loadout for an hour to get to their objective.
This morning’s training scenario called for their eight-man team to assault a small, three-building compound where four hostages were being held. They were supposed to take out the guards—a series of simple silhouette targets—then save the hostages and get them back to the boats.
They’d moved in soundlessly and easily taken out the “guards” using silencers and subsonic ammo, then found that the four hostages—man-shaped body dummies that looked like creepy full-sized voodoo dolls weighing in at about a hundred and eighty pounds each—were too “injured” to walk on their own and had to be carried. So they’d taken turns in teams of two, humping the heavy ass dummies until they gotten them back to their Zodiacs. The dummies had gone into the boats then Chasen and the rest of the guys had carried the whole heavy load in a nice long jog back to main base.
It was a good thing SEALs liked to run. They already sprinted two miles and still had three more to go.
* * * * *
An hour and a half later, they sat outside one of the SEAL training buildings eating breakfast burritos from this great place right outside base while they cleaned their gear and ragged on Chasen for being so damn slow in between telling complete BS lies about how easy the morning’s joint training and PT session had been.
While Chasen laughed and talked smack like the rest of the Team, more of his thoughts were focused on Hayley and last night than ribbing his teammates. Their first date
couldn’t have gone any better. Just because you wanted something to go right didn’t mean it would though. That was why he hadn’t mentioned the whole movie night in Waterfront Park thing up front. If the dinner had gone to hell, they could have ended the evening right there and been done with it. But it turned out the movie had been the highlight of the evening.
Okay, maybe it wasn’t the movie that had been the highlight, but being there on that blanket in the park sure as heck had been. Her mouth tasted so sweet he could have made out with her all night. And the way she’d moved her bare, sexy thigh back and forth across his jean-covered cock while they’d kissed was the stuff of fantasies. The mere memory made his shaft go hard inside his tight swim trunks. He stifled a groan and rearranged his FN assault rifle a little on his lap to hide the bulge. The last thing he needed was for the guys to see him sporting wood in his shorts.
“There’s that goofy ass grin again,” Logan said suddenly from across the room.
Chasen glanced up to see everyone looking at him.
“What’s got you so happy this morning?” Wes asked, regarding him with curious blue eyes.
Petty Officer 3rd Class Wes Marshall was straight out of SQT—SEAL Qualification Training—and the newest member of SEAL Team 5. He was the FNG, as in the effing new guy, and he was finally starting to come out of his newbie shell and integrate with the Team.
“He had a date last night with that cute journo we rescued in Nigeria a few weeks back,” Nash said before Chasen could answer.
“No shit,” Logan said, throwing a shocked look at his friend. “How’d the hell did you two end up stumbling into each other? That’s got to be like a one-in-a-million type thing.”
Chasen opened his mouth to reply, but this time, it was Dalton who beat him to it. “He ran into her the other day at the dog and pony show on Imperial Beach.”
Holden Lockwood glanced up from where he sat amongst a pile of motor parts, his hands black with grease and oil. “Where’d you guys go on your date?”
