Teasing Her Seal (Uniformly Hot!)(33)

He shook his head and patted her on the shoulder. Then he buckled her in. “You take care.”

As if she was a dog he’d ordered to stay? She opened her mouth but, really, she was out of words. And options. He backed away, swung out the door and disappeared. And...that was that. Vacation hookup sex? Done and done. Except she’d wanted a last kiss. And maybe some meaningful words to go with it. A phone number. Anything.

Fantasy Island fell away beneath them, a green jewel in the middle of the bright blue Caribbean sea. The weather had finally cleared, and pink-and-orange light shot over the ocean’s surface. The helicopter banked steeply, heading west. The vacation and the fantasy were over.

She didn’t want them to be.

Or she wanted Gray to be sitting here. Not where Remy was—God, not that—but headed somewhere with her. A scrap of pink fluttered in her peripheral vision. Gray had fastened her ponytail with one of the ties he’d used on her. They’d had crazy, hot, fan-fucking-tastic sex. She thought she’d been looking to get over her breakup with Harlan, but what she hadn’t realized was that she she’d actually been looking for Gray. He was more than a fantasy lover.

He just wasn’t hers.

Not anymore.

She turned her head, but Fantasy Island was gone, the ocean sliding away beneath the chopper. Tears prickled behind her eyes and she blinked them away.

She hadn’t thought in terms of forever or mine, and now that it was too late? Yeah. She was all over that. There was something about him and, even when he’d been on the job and running a covert op, he’d made time for her. He’d shown her a side of herself she didn’t know she’d even had. And she liked that new, bold Laney.

And she more than liked Gray.

She loved him.





15

THE BLACK HAWK swung out over the water and headed away. The wash from the rotors that had kicked up stray bits of sand faded, and the windy racket in the palm trees died down. Remy would get the help he needed, and that was what mattered.

Funny, though, how the chopper resembled any other chopper from the outside. The bird tilted, sun glinting off its side, and banked away from the island. The door was shut, so his chances of spotting Laney were slim, but Gray still watched the chopper go until it was a dot on the horizon. He’d helped her load up, had given her the green light to accompany Remy, but he hadn’t really thought about what it would mean. She was gone.

Mason elbowed him. “You’re going to ruin your eyes.”

And that was why God made sunglasses. He thumbed his down over his eyes. “I suck at relationships.”

Unfortunately, Mason didn’t disagree. He turned to face the jungle, ready to beat feet. “Maybe you just need a dress rehearsal or some practice.”

“Laney wasn’t a rehearsal.” He couldn’t imagine feeling anything more, anything better, than what he felt when he was with her. And now she was miles away from him and getting farther every second. Yeah. He was brilliant. “She was the real deal.”

“Did you tell her that?” Levi rocked back on his heels. He didn’t seem surprised that they were still standing on the helicopter pad.

“If I had, do you think she’d be somewhere between here and Belize?”

“She’s a doctor,” Mason pointed out.

True. “I’d have her number. We’d have plans.”

Instead, everything was over.

“Personally, I’m anti deep feelings.” Levi shrugged. “I find sex-only keeps things simpler.”

Mason ignored Levi. “So you’ll work it out.”

Right. How? “She’s a doctor. She has a job. I’m a SEAL and I have a job.”

The logistics were overwhelming, but it was easier to focus on the physical difficulties of getting together with Laney than on messy things like emotions.

Mason eyed him. “Are you really going to make me play therapist here?”

Gray flashed him the bird. “If you’ve got something to say, say it.”

“Fine. You’ll work it out. You go after her, you tell her about these feelings.” Levi looked pained, but Mason kept right on talking. “And then you’ll probably have to do some groveling.”

“Lots of groveling,” Levi added helpfully. “Fall on your knees and beg. There are other options after that, but it depends on how the groveling and begging was received.”

“Hello. She’s Belize-bound. I’m here. How am I supposed to find her?”

Levi gave him an incredulous look. “You’ve got government resources. Use them.”

“Ashley’s a mean hacker,” Mason pointed out.

“Or just mean,” Levi muttered.

“You’re a SEAL. You don’t quit. You finish the mission.” Mason shrugged. “Blah blah blah.”

It was the blah blah blah part that had him worried because, holy shit, he was mentally substituting three different words. I love you. Of course, those were words he should have used earlier, preferably before Laney had gotten on that chopper and out of Dodge. Instead, he’d pushed her away.

“Go after her,” Mason said quietly. “See what happens.”

He was going to have to do that. Find her, say the words I love you and see what happened. He might fall on his face, but he knew one thing. He didn’t have the potential to fall in love with her—because he’d already fallen.



THE STOCKTON HOSPITAL actually wasn’t bad. In the two weeks since she’d left Fantasy Island and landed here, Laney’s new emergency room had received a decent number of cases, and she’d had two actual trauma cases to go with the small-city onslaught of uninsured people with flu and twisted ankles. Not that the trauma victims were happy about their role in her current state of mind, but she’d keep her thoughts to herself.

Bottom line? Her mom had done well by her. She’d pony up a thank-you during their next call.

Since tonight was slow and she had a double shift, she’d commandeered an empty exam room for a catnap. Unfortunately, the bedding didn’t come close to what she’d had on Fantasy Island. When she made head of ER, she’d order real pillows, not these wafer-thin excuses bulk-ordered from a medical supply catalog. Maybe some of those white duvet things, too. Sadly, bedding aside, sleep played coy. Maybe because every time she closed her eyes, she saw a certain unobtainable SEAL and her blood pressure shot up. And it wasn’t as if she could take out a billboard ad: Have you seen this undercover SEAL?

That thought amused her for the next five minutes of her non-nap. Maybe she’d get a nice five-car pileup. Or an explosion. Okay, not really, but she needed something to do. Stockton was a pleasant enough city. She had a rented condo. With real estate prices down, the prudent thing to do would be to purchase. After she finished digging her credit card out from her Fantasy Island jaunt. All she had now were the bills and the fading tan lines.

And a few purloined souvenirs, including the mason jar on her desk that she’d filled with sand and shells. Bringing the stuff home probably violated all sorts of US custom rules, but bonus, because she’d ridden with Remy to the hospital in Belize City, her luggage had followed her virgo intacta and she hadn’t been forced to prevaricate to a crusty border agent.

Her phone buzzed, signaling she had a text, and she fished it out of her pocket with a sigh. The number was unfamiliar, however, so it wasn’t an urgent case.

Incoming.

Uh. Right.

Who is this?

The answer, when it came, was explanatory.

Our next round of margaritas are on me.

Ashley.

How did you get this number?

The door opened as she read Ashley’s answer.

Go easy on him. He’s flirting with the L word.

She stared at the text and then looked up. Gray stood there in the spill of light from the doorway. He was in faded blue jeans, a black T-shirt stretched tight over his chest beneath a battered leather jacket. If that wasn’t hot enough, he wore motorcycle boots. Temporarily blinded by the sudden blast of light, she squinted at his face. A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

“Hi,” he said.



LANEY BOLTED UPRIGHT, clutching the lapels of her white coat together. He’d caught her sleeping. The pillow on the gurney sported a dent from her head, and her face was flushed. She had a crease down her cheek from lying on her hand. He flicked on the light and watched her pull herself together, although that only made him want to muss her up. Get her hot and bothered until the only person she saw was him.

Although the seeing part of today’s visit might not last long.

She shot off the hospital bed, and the nurse who’d accompanied him cleared her throat, but he was too distracted by the sight of Laney to notice anyone else. He was wheels-down on this mission.

“Can I buy you a drink?” When the nurse coughed, more loudly this time, he stepped inside the room and shut the door. He didn’t need an audience for this. Laney folded her arms over her chest and watched him come. Hell. Was that a good sign? Bad?

She looked good, though. She wore a pair of green hospital scrubs beneath an open white lab coat that was askew from her catnap. She looked rumpled and sleepy and not totally in control, although she was getting there fast.

“What are you doing here?” She shot him a cautious look, but she had a smile on her face. A tentative and surprised smile, but it was still gorgeous.