Slow Ride: Sleeper SEALs Book 2

by Becky McGraw

  Teasing her was another of his new favorite pastimes, because her methods of trying to make him talk were incredible. He was thankful she reserved her knife-to-the-balls move for terrorists.

  “Tonight, and I promise you will love it,” he replied, his smile widening.

  His gift to her which he had custom made, a helmet with Keegan’s Bitch written on it, had nothing on this gift, though. He hoped she wouldn’t be disappointed. Maybe he’d find a bike to rent as the second part of his gift. They could ride back here after he gave her the helmet and have sex at this beach on the bike. Another of his fantasies come true, but he knew she’d like that too.

  His grin widened so much his cheeks hurt, but not as much as another body part right now. Her eyes fixed on his mouth and she licked her lips. After eight months together, he could almost read her mind. She wanted to have sex right now to distract him from what they were here for to get out of doing this.

  Not happening, baby.

  “Don’t look at me like that until after you come back,” he said, and her face flushed.

  He leaned back on his elbows to watch her and his shoulder twinged, but it was so much better he barely noticed. He was back to eighty-five percent mobility now, and the therapist said if he kept working out like he had been, he might just hit ninety soon. So now, he could lift his smoking-hot wife and carry her to bed, work, and ride his bike. All he cared about now.

  “Someone is going to see me! They will videotape this and it will end up on YouTube. If that happens, I will kill you,” she growled, her eyes sparkling as she pointed a finger at him.

  “If you kill me, I won’t be around to give you your present tonight,” he said, rubbing his chronically hard cock.

  When she rolled her eyes and unfastened her belt he laughed, but his smile faded when she dropped the robe at her feet and walked bare-assed to jerk her board out of the sand. This little trick could backfire, he thought, fighting the urge to tell her he’d changed his mind and carry her into the copse of palm trees to try out sex in the hammock there.

  “It’s Tuesday. The guy at the front desk who told me about this place assured me it’s only a weekend hangout for the hedonistic crowd.”

  “That guy will die, then, if anyone shows up,” she said, turning back to face him with her board under her arm.

  The sight of her curvy, naked body backlit by the bright sun, her wispy blonde hair blowing in the tropical breeze, and every inch of her deliciously tanned skin on optimal display stole his breath. His fantasies had nothing on this reality.

  “I changed my mind. Let’s go try out the hammock,” he growled, as he pushed up to his feet. Her full lips curled as she shook her head.

  “Too bad, SEAL Boy. I’m doing this now. Don’t dare me to do things and expect me not to follow through,” she said.

  “But what if it ends up on YouTube, babe?” he asked, not really liking that idea now. This woman was his and if anyone touched her, he would and could kill them now.

  “If it ends up on YouTube, every man on the planet, including your horny buddies, will be ogling your wife. Think about that before you issue another challenge.” She smiled and it hit him right in the chest. “You asked for this and it could be the wedding gift that keeps on giving.”

  With a laugh, she turned and ran into the surf and he stood there stunned as he watched her carry her board to the second cut, before she laid on it to paddle. He wanted to be that board right then, to have her oily body sliding all over him. Fuck, he was a moron for not choosing the hammock first, he thought adjusting himself.

  When she reached the fourth cut, she turned her board toward the beach and Keegan held his breath as she pushed up and her board rose on the horizon with the swell of the wave. She gripped the edge, pushed up to put her feet under her. The wave crested and she stood to gracefully ride the peak, twisting her hips to keep the board under her.

  The sun glistened on her skin, the frothy white foam danced under her board as the perfect wave carried a sea goddess toward him. Neptune’s beautiful daughter turned mortal, a gift from the King himself for his end of watch.

  The perfect woman for him.

  m

  Read the first chapter of Michael’s Mercy: Sleeper SEALs Book 3 by Dale Mayer, the next book in the Sleeper SEAL’s series here: http://wp.me/P8ivnH-3J

  Preorder Michael’s Mercy: Sleeper SEALs Book 3 here: http://sleeperseals.com/series-books/#jp-carousel-31

  If you enjoyed Slow Ride, I’d greatly appreciate you leaving a review for me where you purchased your copy. Hot SEAL hero Keegan MacDonald first appeared in the third book in my Deep Six Security series, HELL BENT. If you’d like to read more about him before he met Jules, you can find it here: www.books2read.com/HellBent

  The Sleeper SEALs series is a multi-author branded series which includes twelve standalone books by some of your favorite romantic suspense authors. You can check out the rest of the books in the series on our website: www.SleeperSEALs.com/series-books or click the links below.

  Susan Stoker – PROTECTING DAKOTA – 9/5/17

  http://sleeperseals.com/series-books/#jp-carousel-39

  Becky McGraw – SLOW RIDE – 9/26/17

  http://sleeperseals.com/series-books/#jp-carousel-32

  Dale Mayer – MICHAELS’ MERCY – 10/3/17

  http://sleeperseals.com/series-books/#jp-carousel-31

  Becca Jameson – SAVING ZOLA – 10/17/17

  http://sleeperseals.com/series-books/#jp-carousel-30

  Sharon Hamilton – BACHELOR SEAL – 10/31/17

  http://sleeperseals.com/series-books/#jp-carousel-34

  Elle James – MONTANA RESCUE – 11/14/17

  http://sleeperseals.com/series-books/#jp-carousel-38

  Maryann Jordan – THIN ICE – 11/28/17

  http://sleeperseals.com/series-books/#jp-carousel-33

  Donna Michaels – GRINCH REAPER – 12/12/17

  http://sleeperseals.com/series-books/#jp-carousel-48

  Lori Ryan – ALL IN – 1/9/18

  http://sleeperseals.com/series-books/#jp-carousel-49

  Geri Foster – BROKEN SEAL – 1/23/18

  http://sleeperseals.com/series-books/#jp-carousel-50

  Elaine Levine – FREEDOM CODE – 2/6/18

  http://sleeperseals.com/series-books/#jp-carousel-51

  J.m. Madden – FLAT LINE – 2/20/18

  http://sleeperseals.com/series-books/#jp-carousel-52

  m

  To keep up with my upcoming releases, get advance sneak peeks at covers and exclusive excerpts and contests, please join my newsletter: http://bit.ly/2vMzIte

  To find more of my edge-of-your-seat romantic suspense novels, please check out my Deep Six Security series here: http://authorbeckymcgraw.com/deep-six-security-series/

  All of the books in the Deep Six Security series have crossover characters, but can be read as standalone novels. Here’s a little sample from Gray Matter: Deep Six Security Book 5, my latest release in the series.

  Gray Matter Universal Buy Link: http://www.books2read.com/GrayMatter

  PROLOGUE

  “Uncle Vinny?” Mickie called as she walked into the too-quiet office at Girabaldi Enterprises on Friday morning at nine-thirty. When there was no answer, her brow knotted as she put her purse down beside her desk, then leaned around the corner to glance down the hallway.

  The light was on in her uncle’s office and the door ajar, so he had to be in there. Vinny never left his door unlocked when he wasn’t in, because his safe was in the closet. She strode down the hall and frowned when she passed her cousin Teresa’s office and found the light was still off.

  She was thankful to see it, because that meant her reaming from her cousin for being thirty minutes late would not happen until she had her latte, but it was odd. Teresa was never late, but then she’d never left sick before either, and she had yesterday afternoon during a heated argument Vinny was having with an associate. But her arms and bags had been loaded down with work when she left, of c
ourse.

  Mickie had no idea what the argument was about, because Vinny and Teresa didn’t include her in their business dealings, but she heard every word. It was that loud. She didn’t ask questions, because she didn’t want to know. She was perfectly happy being the oblivious office worker, errand girl, and barista here, who was given as much notice as the potted plant beside her desk. She was paid well to keep her nose in her own business, and she did.

  Hear no evil. See no evil. Speak no evil. Get a paycheck.

  Stopping at her uncle’s office door, Mickie pushed it open wider and walked in, but stopped in her tracks. Her fingers went numb and she dropped her lunch bag. She ran over to drop to her knees beside her uncle, who lay face down on the Persian rug in front of his desk. From the doorway, the red rug masked the red blood that had soaked in all around his head.

  Her hand shook as she reached to feel his throat for a pulse. When she didn’t find one, she started to try to turn him over, but her eyes landed on a small, charred hole at his hairline, which told her she wouldn’t be finding one. The biscotti she’d eaten on the way in lunged up to her throat to choke her as she shrank back to put a violently shaking hand over her mouth.

  Her eyes darted to a pistol laying in front of the chairs across from her uncle’s desk. It was her uncle’s thirty-eight that he kept in his drawer. He must’ve tried to defend himself, but the gunman shot him first.

  What if the killer came back? Mickie’s heart raced as she scrambled on her knees toward the chair, but her eyes darted to the open closet door. She saw the light, heard someone ruffling through things in there and froze.

  Oh, Dio! The killer was still in that closet!

  Mickie grabbed the pistol, but it slipped through her sweaty palms twice before she got a good grip on it. Her hand shook so badly, she dropped it again as she crawled back to her uncle. That told her she would never be able to shoot it at whoever was in that closet anyway, so she left it there.

  The best thing she could do was sneak out of there like she’d come in. Before whoever was in the closet realized she was there and shot her too! The rug burned Mickie’s knees as she race-crawled to the office door and used the door jamb to pull herself to her feet.

  Feeling a bullseye between her shoulder blades, she ran on the toes of her stilettos toward the front door and her heart didn’t beat once until she was outside. A junky, beat up car on the other side of the lot caught her eye, and her heart stopped again when she saw a head in the passenger side of the vehicle.

  God, how could he have missed her going into the office? How could she have missed that car?!?

  Thank God she relied on the bus instead of driving, and that it was later than usual today. Well, she wasn’t going to give that lookout another chance to see her, she thought, streaking down the sidewalk, toward the side of the building. When she rounded the corner, she saw her only hiding place in the wide open space would be the garbage bin.

  The thought of climbing inside that bin nauseated her, but not enough to make her want to die to avoid it. Mickie ran there, lifted the lid and gagged as the odor of hot garbage surrounded her. She held her breath, stepped up on a cardboard box beside the bin and fell inside on top of the pile of refuse. Eventually she had to breathe, and lost her biscotti for her first few breaths. After an hour or so, she got used to the smell and settled in. Every so often, she’d lift the lid to look down the alley, but she stayed there.

  Three hours later, Mickie got brave and decided to go to the corner to see if they had gone. She had to go back inside the office to get her purse and call the police, but she would not be there when they arrived. They would ask questions to which she didn’t have answers. She knew who did have those answers, but that woman was conveniently absent today.

  The day her uncle was murdered.

  Mickie was not going to be Teresa’s scapegoat. They didn’t pay her enough for that.

  She lifted the lid on the bin, light poured in along with fresh air that reactivated the rank odor, making Mickie gag again. She looked down as she started to climb out and the flowered straps of a familiar canvas tote bag caught her eye. It was obviously the bag that Teresa had used for many years to carry work home with her. One she’d had with her when she left yesterday afternoon.

  Mickie stopped, rested the lid on her back so she could see, then pulled the bag out from under the mound of paper it was buried under, which appeared to be company memos and documents, but Mickie was more interested in what was inside the tote. Unzipping it, she spread the sides apart and saw a journal and several notebooks.

  The odor inside the dumpster overwhelmed her and alerted her that this was not the place to examine those things. She quickly re-zipped the bag, tossed it to the ground, then climbed out of the dumpster. She would do that in Teresa’s office, where she might also find other things that could tell her what was going on here. Before she called the police.

  Uncle Vinny was dead, and a few hours wouldn’t make him less dead.

  Gray Matter - Universal Buy Link: http://www.books2read.com/GrayMatter

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author Becky McGraw writes happily-ever-afters with heat, heart and humor. A Jill of many trades, Becky knows just enough about a variety of subjects to make her contemporary cowboy and romantic suspense novels diverse and entertaining. She resides in Florida with her husband of thirty-plus years, is the mother of three and grandmother of one. Becky is a member of the RWA, Sisters in Crime and Novelists, Inc.

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