SEAL the Deal(20)

Mick shrugged. “I’ve seen guys go to war to try to impress their parents. It doesn’t sound too unusual to me.”

“Is that why you joined the military? To impress your parents?”

“Hell, no. I did it to get laid.” His eyes sparked with amusement.

“Are you serious?”

“Dead serious. I was this really skinny kid in high school. The guy no one would date, you know? But I was smart, and I got into the Academy. Got the Navy uniform and suddenly women are slipping me their numbers.” He gave a wink, and then his face grew serious. “No, I’ll admit there was a little more to it than that. I needed direction. The Navy gave me that. Then the war broke out and that’s when I knew I wanted to be a SEAL. And that wasn’t to get laid, believe me. I knew I’d be good in the action.”

“Your parents must be proud.”

“My mom died of lung cancer when I was nine.”

“I’m sorry.”

“My dad’s proud, but we’re not very close. I have one brother, but he’s ten years older than me. I guess that difference in age stopped us from developing much of a relationship.”

“That’s a shame.” Lacy reflected on her own relationship with her sister. It may have had its struggles, but she couldn’t imagine not having her in her life.

“He lives in New Mexico now with his second wife. I saw them once before I was deployed to Afghanistan the first time. They drove up to San Diego to see me off. But, you know, life just goes on. I haven’t seen him since. We email once in a while.”

He reached for his water glass and swirled around the ice cubes. “I really should go out there and visit. I’ve been away so much, but that’s just an excuse. Now that I’m stuck in Annapolis, I’ll have nothing but time on my hands, compared to my time in the SEALs.”

“You don’t seem too happy about being here.”

A fierceness washed over his face, disappearing so quickly Lacey questioned whether she had even noticed it. “I was slated for another SEAL job in San Diego, but things changed and I ended up here.” He gave a slight nod out the window to the Naval Academy across the water, with the distinctive profile of its Chapel dome illuminated against the evening sky. “Don’t get me wrong. I love the Academy. But teaching isn’t what guys like me are meant to do.”

“How long will you be here?”

“Two years at most. Hopefully I’ll be headed to San Diego, and after that, deployed. I need to get back in the action.”

Lacey felt a sadness that she couldn’t understand. She reminded herself that he was only—could only be—a friend. How long he stayed here shouldn’t matter so much to her.

But it did.

“Well, I hope that’s what happens, then,” she forced herself to say.

***

If Lacey had looked tempting to Mick in the candlelight, then the drive home was pushing him over the edge. He had never thought the blue lights of his dashboard could make a woman look so appealing. He wished he was a teenager again, and could park the car in some deserted lot for a while before returning her home before curfew.

There was a warmth, a pure honesty about Lacey that he found so refreshing. He glanced in her direction as her tongue caught a renegade drip of chocolate ice cream dribbling down her waffle cone. Smiling, her eyes sparkled.

God, she was sexy in that sweet, girl-next-door kind of way. He was sitting in the car with the kind of woman most men dared to wish was waiting home for them after a deployment.

No wonder he avoided this kind of woman like the plague.

As they reached a stoplight, Mick stole a long look at her, just as a drip of ice cream fell onto her shirt. Right on the peak of her breast, Mick noted, biting his tongue to stop himself from offering to lick it off.

“Nuts,” she said quietly, her hand brushing lightly against her breast. Pulling his eyes away from the profile of her tight nipples against the thin fabric, the blood in his head rushed south.

Any other woman, and he’d offer her a drink at his place right now. Any other woman and he’d be using his best lines—the ones that always got him laid. He’d be talking about the war, the loss, his duty to his country, and all the other patriotic bullshit that generally sent women to their knees…literally.

But something about Lacey made Mick want to coldcock any man who used a line on her. Including himself.

Lacey was right. It was smarter to just stay friends. A woman like her might convince him to kick his Navy career to the curb, especially since he was already pissed off at his chain of command.

He had a career to focus on, just like she did.

He just hoped she didn’t give him the proverbial friend-hug at the end of the evening. Holding her that close without ripping her clothes off might kill him.