Chapter 2

Jesse “Jay” Moore threw back his head, laughing at Griz as he stared open-mouthed at Frog walking away with the beer he’d just grabbed from the cooler.

“I swear, Thario, your dog doesn’t like me,” Griz said.

Frog walked over to Thario, putting the beer gently in his lap. “Thanks, Frog. Good boy.”

Frog wagged his tail, happy to receive praise. Jay didn’t envy Thario, but he was glad the man had a dog that took care of him. They’d started hanging out with Thario after the guy had helped rescue Danika. The rumors may have been true before the explosion that ended his time in the Navy, but now Thario really was a great guy, and he certainly wouldn’t hold old rumors against him. People messed up. It happened sometimes, but Thario had changed.

Jay glanced over, liking how happy Sharp was now with Danika in his life. It still tickled him that Danika had known Sharp since they were kids. Based on the few things Danika had revealed, neither one of them had an enjoyable upbringing. A part of him wondered if he would even recognize Sharp from that time.

Jay turned to Griz and shrugged. “That dog has no issues with me.”

Griz huffed. “It’s because you’re a pushover, and I’m not.”

Frog came over to Jay and licked his hand. He scratched the dog between his ears before Frog went back to Thario and sat beside his chair. The guys laughed, and Jay’s lips stretched wide as he stared at Griz. Of course, Griz made a big show of rolling his eyes as he huffed.

They were out at a park, sitting in the shade of a tree next to a grill. They were trying to get together more on the weekends. It was great everyone got along. Even Griz, who had been in the Navy for sixteen years, wasn’t tired of hanging out with them. He would be sad when Griz retired. But the man was still going strong, so it would be a while. Some SEALs opted out after a few years because of the intense physical requirements. It was tough to be a SEAL. The physical training alone was enough to cut people from the ranks. Add to it the missions and deployments, and it could be a lot for some people.

Griz didn’t have a wife or kids. As far as Jay knew, the man had never settled down. But then again, many of the guys didn’t talk about past relationships, and he wasn’t about to ask Griz about his history.

They’d already eaten burgers, and he was thinking about heading home since he still needed to do some cleaning before work on Monday. He pulled out his phone and saw a notification for an email on an old account. It had been years since he’d shared that email address with anyone. Few people even knew of it, so it struck him as odd that he’d received an email.

He wasn’t paying too much attention as Apple told a joke about one of the fast-food joints nearby. As the punchline was delivered, a roar started in Jay’s ears because he’d just seen who’d sent the email. His mouth went dry as lust-filled memories slid through him. Instead of clicking on the email, he shoved his phone in his pocket, not wanting to think too much about heavenly Nichole while he was in the park with his buddies. Just seeing her name in her email address had been enough to make him half hard. Memories of that woman stuck with him, making him want to give up everything to be with her.

“Jay, everything okay?” Sharp’s eyebrows were raised, and he had an expectant look on his face.

“Sorry, just distracted.” He stood and stretched. “I’m heading home. I need to vacuum.”

“You should get yourself one of those robots,” Danika said. “James doesn’t like it, but it saves us time on the weekends.”

Squat snorted. “If he had one of those, he’d turn it into a Star Wars robot.”

Jay frowned. “Hey, don’t knock Star Wars . And yes, I would make it into a battle droid.”

Shine laughed. “You are such a geek.”

He nodded, proud of his geek status. “I sure as heck am.”

Apple rolled his eyes. “Good lord, don’t get him started on the Rebel Alliance.”

Normally, he would say something, but the email from Nichole called to him. What did she want? Maybe it was spam, but he hoped it wasn’t.

It had been a while since he’d checked what she was working on. There’d been a period of time where he couldn’t read any of her work. It was painful thinking of her being out there and not a part of his life. Then he’d gone back to reading her stuff again and was impressed with what she was doing.

Years had passed since that week they’d spent together. Why was he still pining for a woman he hadn’t seen in about four years? And they’d only spent one week together, but it had been more than just sex. It had changed him.

If he’d been smart, he would have insisted on having her information before he left the resort, but they’d wanted to be mature and not tie each other down. Maturity had lost him the best thing he’d ever experienced. He’d been too young to realize women like Nichole didn’t come around often. She was perfect and he never should have let her walk away so easily.

So much had happened in the four years since they’d spent that week wrapped in each other’s arms. He’d qualified for BUDs and become a SEAL. Now, he was living his best life. His stomach clenched as he pulled into the driveway of the duplex he’d purchased a year ago.

Before opening his car door, he pulled out his phone. The anticipation of checking the email wound through him. A part of him didn’t want to open it because if it was spam, he would be crushed. But if Nichole had written him, he needed to be inside because just thinking about her was driving him wild with excitement.