SEAL Ever After
AN ALPHA SEALS NOVEL
Makenna Jameison
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2020 by Makenna Jameison.
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.
Table of Contents
About this Book
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Epilogue
SEAL’s Desire Excerpt
Books by Makenna Jameison
About the Author
About this Book
A NAVY SEAL COMMANDER will risk it all to save the woman he loves...
Sarah Foster’s dreams are about to come true. She’s engaged to the man she loves, moving to Virginia Beach, and planning her wedding. Just when it seems life can’t get any better, she puts her trust in the wrong person. Kidnapped and sold to a sex-trafficking ring in Mexico by men intent to get revenge on her fiancé, she’s never been so frightened and alone.
Navy SEAL Captain Ryan Mitchell is ready to make free-spirited Sarah his wife. The SEAL teams he commands are there to celebrate their wedding day, but the one person missing is the bride herself. Although she’s exactly the type to be late to her own wedding, Ryan immediately knows something is wrong.
When the men begin retracing her steps, they discover sinister clues that she hasn’t been dealing with who she thought.
Ryan will stop at nothing to track her down. He’ll risk his career to join his men on a dangerous operation to save her. But will he make it in time for their own happily-ever-after?
SEAL Ever After, a standalone novel, is book fifteen in the addictive Alpha SEALs series.
Chapter 1
“YOU’RE DOING GREAT!” Sarah Foster encouraged her patient, watching the woman continue the physical therapy exercises they’d been working on for the past hour. “Fantastic job. Practice those daily at home, and I’ll see you back here next week. We’ll have you running again in no time.”
“Awesome. Thanks again Sarah. I can’t believe how much better I’ve been feeling lately.”
The two women said goodbye, and after wiping down the equipment, Sarah walked down the hallway toward her office in her scrubs.
Her friend and fellow physical therapist Dawn was working with a patient in another therapy room, and Sarah grinned and waved before heading into her own office and sitting down at her desk. Papers were stacked in haphazard piles, a well-worn paperback rested near a package of organic trail mix, and a vase of fresh wildflowers stood to the side.
Reaching into her mini fridge, she grabbed a bottle of Kombucha tea, twisted the cap, and took a sip.
Her cell phone buzzed with a text, and she looked down to see her boyfriend Ryan’s name flash across the screen.
I’ll be here on base again tonight. Make sure you set the alarm after you get home.
Love you.
Sarah frowned, not liking that he was stuck at Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek dealing with whatever mission he was commanding for another night. Ryan was in charge of an elite team of Navy SEALs, one of which happened to be her own brother. He sent them into battle and held down operations from home while the men he commanded deployed all over the world.
Although she understood the importance of Ryan’s career and was thankful he didn’t have to deploy on ops like his men, it was still hard knowing he was busy working twenty-four hours a day, unable to come home until the mission was completed.
She snapped a quick selfie blowing him a kiss and thumbed a response.
Okay, baby. Miss you.
Pressing send, she set her phone down and took another sip of her tea. Although he’d probably appreciate her reply and photo, she knew she wouldn’t hear from him again for a while. When Ryan was wrapped up in his work, it required his complete attention.
Giggling to herself, she imagined what the men on base would think if Ryan took his own selfie and sent it to her.
Not that that would ever happen in a million years.
Sarah was as free-spirited and carefree as he was rigid and controlled—at least outwardly. He had an image to maintain on base and an entire chain of command to follow in the Navy. Ryan was excellent at what he did, and his teams of SEALs literally trusted him with their lives.
One bad decision could lead to someone being injured or killed, and she knew that responsibility weighed heavily on his shoulders.
Still, she knew Ryan didn’t exactly mind the spontaneity and craziness she brought to their relationship. They balanced each other out, for better or worse.
She and Ryan had danced around their attraction to one another for nearly a year, as opposite as night and day, but once they’d finally gotten together? It hadn’t just been fireworks in the bedroom—it was more like a damn nuclear explosion. Which made it all that much harder when he was gone for several nights. She missed him—both talking to him in the evenings and snuggling up beside him in bed every night. And the sex?
Off-the-charts spectacular.
She’d have to surprise him when he finally got home, she decided. Maybe some new lingerie or something just to show Ryan how much she missed him.
Sarah hummed to herself as she stood, planning to grab a salad at a nearby café for lunch. Maybe her best friend Morgan would want to meet up tonight for dinner or drinks. She could use a little girl time if Ryan was going to be gone again.
Heading down the block, she breezed into the smoothie place and pulled her phone from her hobo bag. As she stood in line, she texted her best friend.
Drinks tonight?
Her phone buzzed almost immediately with Morgan’s reply.
Commander Hottie is still busy on base, huh?
Sarah laughed, remembering how she’d lamented to her best friend yesterday that Ryan hadn’t been home. She knew other women had to deal with a heck of a lot more—long deployments, husbands or boyfriends who’d been injured or killed. She shuddered, remembering her own brother’s brush with death not that long ago. Patrick had been injured on a mission and airlifted to Landstuhl.
Ironically, that entire situation had brought her and Ryan together, not to mention prompted Patrick into proposing to his girlfriend. And now, after all that, Patrick was married and she was practically living with Ryan.
She quickly texted Morgan back after she placed her order.
I miss him! It sucks sleeping alone at night.
She smirked as she saw the row of eggplant emojis her bestie sent back to her. Good lord, she and Ryan would indeed make love for hours whenever she saw him next. Things were always spectacular between them in that regard anyway, but after a couple of nights apart?
Damn.
She couldn’t wait to see him again.
Grabbing her green smoothie and salad from the counter, she texted Morgan back and walked down the block toward her office. Her Mini Cooper was parked on the street, and she grinned as she stopped besi
de it and answered her phone.
“Hey hun!”
“Please tell me you didn’t send him nude photos or something,” Morgan said.
Sarah finished sipping her smoothie and leaned against her car. “God no, nothing like that. I sent him a selfie blowing him a kiss.”
“Thank God,” Morgan said. “He’d probably die on the spot if he opened a text like that around his military buddies.”
Sarah smirked. “You’re terrible. And he can see me nude any time he wants—he just has to come home.”
“Amen,” Morgan said sarcastically.
“Listen, I gotta go. I’m outside my office, and I have to eat lunch before my next patient. So are you up for drinks later on or what?”
“Sure thing. Text me later, and we’ll set a time and place.”
“Perfect. Stay out of trouble!” Sarah teased.
The women hung up, and Sarah tossed her empty cup into a trash can. She smiled at a young woman pushing a child in a stroller and then passed by a Hispanic man sitting on a bench. “Are you a nurse?” he asked, taking in the scrubs she was wearing.
“Physical therapist,” Sarah replied.
“Oh, gotcha,” he replied, taking a sip of his coffee. His dark eyes met hers. “I didn’t think there were any hospitals nearby.”
“Not close enough to walk to,” she agreed. She went back into her office building, sinking down into her chair as she hummed to herself. “Well aren’t you happy today,” her friend Dawn said a few minutes later with a smile as she poked her head in the door, holding some supplies.
“You know it,” Sarah said, taking another bite of her salad. “I’m plotting how to surprise Ryan when he finally gets home.”
“That poor man,” Dawn said with a wink. “So he’s not stuck on base anymore?”
“He is. He’ll be there tonight, unfortunately for me. I’m just planning ahead.”
“I see,” Dawn said, waggling her eyebrows. “I need to find myself a man like that!”
“For sure,” Sarah said with a laugh, pulling her long hair back into a ponytail. She tucked her necklaces back inside the shirt of her scrubs so they wouldn’t get in the way when she was working with her patients. “Morgan said the same thing when I talked to her earlier.”
“Girl, you’re holding out on us. I know there have got to be some single and available sailors down at Little Creek.”
“There are tons. Ryan’s not really into playing matchmaker though—neither is my brother, come to think of it.... Oh, I’ll ask Flip when he gets back.”
“Flip?” Dawn asked, looking confused.
“Evan. That’s just what the guys call him. Anyway, he’s taken, too, of course, but—”
Dawn laughed. “How about you invite me to the next beach bonfire? The guys still have those, right? I’ll come along and find myself a man.”
“Sounds good,” Sarah said with a laugh, standing up. “I’ve got a patient to get to. When the guys get back, I’ll find out when the next bonfire is and make sure they bring along some of their single friends.”
“Sounds like a plan!”
Sarah said goodbye and headed off down the hall, shaking her head. That’d be something if she set up all her friends with their own Navy SEAL.
LATER THAT EVENING, Sarah cruised down Atlantic Avenue, the busy stretch running up and down Virginia Beach’s boardwalk, to an oceanfront bar to meet her bestie for a drink. She parked her Mini Cooper on a side street around the block and sauntered down the sidewalk, grinning from ear to ear.
Damn, it had been a good day.
Ryan had texted her that afternoon saying he hoped to be home tomorrow, but she hadn’t actually talked to him at all. She was looking forward to hopefully spending tomorrow night with him, but for now, she was excited to meet up with Morgan for happy hour.
“Hey hun!” Morgan called out with a grin as she stood up from a bench and hurried over. Her eyes ran over Sarah’s scrubs. “Cute outfit,” she teased.
Sarah laughed, pulling her long hair free from the ponytail it had been in all day. She ran her fingers through it, the ocean breeze blowing it around. Waves crashed on the shore down past the boardwalk, and she already felt more relaxed and carefree. “That’s what I get for planning an impromptu girl’s night. You like?” she asked, doing a little twirl.
A guy jogging by whooped and gave her the thumbs up, and she rolled her eyes at her friend.
“I’m sure Commander Hottie would have no complaints,” Morgan said, waggling her eyebrows. “Are you sure he was too busy on base to join us?”
“Right. Even if he was free, I doubt he’d be rushing over here,” Sarah said dryly.
“Oh, he’ll get over that one day,” Morgan said, linking arms with Sarah as they headed toward their favorite bar.
“One day. In this or the next lifetime?” Sarah asked.
Morgan giggled as they walked up to the outdoor bar area.
The first time they’d all gone out together for drinks, Sarah and Morgan had stripped down and gone skinny dippy in the ocean afterward. Technically it hadn’t even really been skinny dipping—Sarah had kept on her bra and panties. And while Sarah, Morgan, and Morgan’s date had splashed around under the stars, Ryan had been less than pleased.
That didn’t mean he didn’t enjoy skinny dipping with her in the privacy of his own backyard pool though. Sarah knew firsthand he enjoyed that a little too much.
“What’s so funny?” Morgan asked, catching the expression on her face after they’d each ordered a margarita.
“You know how Ryan has a pool in his backyard, right?” Sarah asked, brushing her hair back as it blew in the breeze. “Well one time we were skinny dipping there—”
“Ryan—skinny dipping?” Morgan shrieked. “Hold up because hell has definitely frozen over.”
Sarah threw her head back with laughter. “Yes, but only in the privacy of his own backyard. He still hasn’t forgiven us for that little beach incident. Anyway, someone from base came to the front door while we were in the pool, and he was frantically running through the house naked to grab a towel. Now he always keeps clothes nearby just in case.”
Morgan nearly choked on the drink the bartender had just put down in front of her. “Those SEALs are always prepared. Good lord, I still cannot imagine that.”
Sarah shrugged, taking a sip of her margarita. “He’s all business on base, for sure. And around town, he’d got his image to maintain, you know? A lot of guys fall under his command.”
“Like your brother,” Morgan needlessly pointed out.
“Hey, you know I think all the military protocol and such is a bit much. I’m the last person in the world who’d want to follow those rules. But even the most strict and stoic among them have to let loose and live, you know? I mean, sure, training and going into battle is one thing, but there’s no reason to be that disciplined all the damn time.”
“Amen,” Morgan said, raising her glass in the air.
Sarah shook her head with a smirk, enjoying the feel of the warm sun on her skin. She relaxed back in her chair, glancing out at the beach. Families played together and couples strolled hand-in-hand.
“You’re lucky Ryan doesn’t get sent out like the others on missions and stuff,” Morgan commented. “I swear, you can barely handle a night or two with him gone.”
“For sure,” Sarah agreed. “He used to, but being the commanding officer has its benefits. I’d be worried out of my mind if he was deploying all the time like Patrick. It was bad enough when Patrick was injured—I don’t think I could handle if anything happened to Ryan.”
“I hate to say it, but Rebecca and Patrick have the worst luck. First with her stalker and then with his injury.” She shuddered.
“That was horrible, but it brought Ryan and me together and prompted Patrick to propose. I think we’ve all had enough drama in our lives for a while though” Sarah said, taking a sip of her margarita. “And believe me, I’m thankful. Life can be boring and safe for a while.�
��
“I’ll drink to that,” Morgan agreed.
Chapter 2
NAVY SEAL CAPTAIN RYAN Mitchell frowned as he got home the next night, shutting the door to his black SUV and walking up to his house. The late afternoon sun shone brightly in the Virginia sky, and birds chirped around him, but his senses were heightened, and he instinctively scanned the area.
His gaze slid to the cars parked on the suburban street, and he watched a couple of kids a few houses down kicking a ball around. A lone car signaled and turned the corner, but nothing was outwardly amiss.
His eyes tracked the area once more, and then he entered the numbers into the keypad on his front door. He’d been on duty for so long, his mind must be playing tricks on him.
No one was around.
No one was watching his house.
He clicked the remote, setting his car alarm, and then he walked inside. “Hi honey, I’m home!” he quipped, his lips quirking.
The front hall inexplicably smelled of coconut sunscreen, and he dropped his bag of gear down on the floor. He hadn’t seen Sarah in over forty-eight hours, having been stuck at Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek dealing with an op. A SEAL team that he commanded was on a flight back home at the moment after a successful mission, and he was looking forward to getting a little shut-eye.
After he took his woman to bed, that is.
“You’re here!” a female voice shrieked, and a second later, a bikini-clad Sarah came bounding toward him, jumping up into his arms.
He chuffed out a laugh, easily catching her in his muscular arms as she clung to him. “Holy hell, sweetheart, is this all for me?”
“I was getting ready to sunbathe out back,” she protested, kissing him hard on the lips.
“Not anymore you’re not,” he grumbled.
“Then you’ll have to come out to the pool with me,” she teased. “Because I just changed into my new bikini. You like?” She licked her lips as she looked up at him, mischief in her hazel eyes.
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