CONNOR (SEAL Team Seven) Book 1 (3 page)

This whole business with
the trafficking thing was a bother that none of us wanted to deal with. We were
all just looking to settle down and enjoy the fruits of our labor away from the
fuckery. The old guy who’d first come to us with his suspicions didn’t have too
much information but he had enough to peak our interest. An old pal of the
commander’s, he knew a little more about who we were than the rest of the town
so he knew we would want to know about that kind of action in our own backyard.

We’d cautioned him to
stay quiet about the things he’d shared with us because we had no idea who or
what we were dealing with yet. These characters didn’t take too kindly to folks
sticking their nose in their shit. And in our experience you could never be too
careful. Sometimes the least likely suspect turned out to be the guilty party.

Him and a few of his
friends who hung out down at the lodge swears there’s some kind of gang
activity afoot. Strange men in and out of town in the last few months and lots
of foot action down on the old boardwalk after dark. He’d reported some type of
vessel coming and going at strange hours every few weeks or so. It all spelt
trouble to us but we tried to play it down so as not to scare the old guys half
to death.

They all fashioned
themselves as PIs or some shit. So to keep them from getting caught up in
something that might get them hurt or worse we’d promised to look into things.
I’m not sure they’d heed us about keeping their noses out of it though. These
men were die-hard patriots who had lots of pride in their little burgh where
most of them had spent their entire lives.

I could see why they
loved the place so much. It was quaint and still full of old world charm. The
old homes here were as old as the city; those old antebellum structures that
conjured up visions of lawn parties and ladies in period dress. That’s how I
see Danielle. That old world genteel beauty and grace seemed ingrained in her.

 
“Huh, the
old guy said he thought they were using the old boardwalk; anything show up
there yet?”

“Nope, we checked over every part of that place
and there was nothing. We do have that list though and we’re still working down
the line we’ll get something. So you wanna tell your brothers why you smell
like roses?” Logan grinned as the others chimed in.

“Connor you got laid?” Zak is such an ass; my
glare didn’t keep his big mouth shut. They all kept trying to figure it out.

“You fucks wanna mind your own damn business?”
Damn it’s like we were in a hole in the desert playing the waiting game.
Waiting to blow some fuck’s head off his body for being stupid and there was
nothing to do but talk shit to and about each other to kill time. I sniffed
myself to see just how strong her scent was on me. Fuck.

“Danielle
Dupre
.”
Logan snapped the front legs of the chair he’d been leaning back in back into place
with a thud.

“Fuck Logan.” I gave him a hard glare. How the
fuck did he sniff that shit out? I calmed a little when I remembered that
that’s how she’d first caught me. It was her scent that had brought her under
my radar. After that it hadn’t been hard for the rest of her to reel my ass in.

“Thought you weren’t gonna go there brother?”

“Is
there a problem Ty?”

“Nope,
just saying. We had this long drawn out conversation where I told you to go for
it and I distinctly remember you giving me a laundry list of reasons why that
wasn’t such a good idea.”

“Yeah well shit changed.”

“Congratulations man. So when are you bringing
her home?” Logan was grinning like a proud papa the ass.

“Tonight.”

“You
need help with the move?”

“Nah
my place is already furnished if she wants to change shit she can just buy what
she needs.”

“She
knows she’s moving in here?” Quinn asked while refilling my coffee, nosy fuck.

“Yep.” That got a good laugh out of all of them
but I just gave them the finger. They pretty much knew that I’d most likely
ordered her as opposed to asking her.

“Let’s go slackers that building isn’t gonna
erect itself.” I pushed back from the table and got to my feet.

“We
were waiting for you lover boy. You sure you got enough strength left for
this?”

“Piss off Quinn.” We headed out for work some in
trucks some on bikes. I had to leave my bike home since I would be picking up
my woman and her shit after work. My woman, fuck that felt good.

We each had our part to
play when it came to the business. As equal partners in a business this size
and being
who
we are. Men who don’t trust anyone
outside our core, we had to handle everything ourselves. We had a secretary to
field phone calls because none of us wanted to do that shit but everything else
we handled ourselves.

No accountants no
lawyers none of that shit. Everything was done as a team, all decisions had to
be approved by all or it was a no go. So far we hadn’t had any problems and
weren’t expecting any. We’d protected each other in some of the worst the world
had to throw at us I saw no reason we couldn’t do this just as well. That’s
what comes from having each other’s best interest at heart. I never thought I’d
feel that way about anyone else but my brothers. Never thought I could let
anyone else get that close. Fucking
Dani
had done it
with ease.

I didn’t even mourn my
freedom. I didn’t feel constricted the way I always thought I would. Quite the
opposite, I actually felt freer somehow. Weird fucking feeling to be looking
forward to losing your freedom, this falling in love shit is a racket and women
are slick as shit. All sweet smiles and come and get it looks. Leading you
around by your dick. That wasn’t so bad I guess, but when they wrapped
themselves around your heart that’s when your ass was in trouble. Shit.

We each agreed that the
reason the commander had left his earthly goods to us was because he’d
overheard us on plenty occasions talking about what we wanted to do when we got
out. The one thing we wanted was to stay together. There was no question of
that and we had two choices of what kind of business we wanted to have,
security or construction. To a man we chose construction. After living a life
of uncertainty it was good when things just fell into place like they have been
since we came back stateside. And our new home wasn’t too shabby either. It was
a far cry from what any of us had known before.

The town had about
twelve thousand residents most of whom had lived her their whole lives. Not
exactly a metropolis but Savannah wasn’t too far away maybe forty-five minutes
if we felt the need for a big city getaway. Business was looking good so far
and we were slated for jobs as far away as Atlanta and even into the Carolinas.

We weren’t strapped for
cash. The SEALs paid pretty well and it was a good living. Especially for men
who didn’t have families and knew from early on what they wanted to do with
their lives when they got out. The commander had also hooked us up with a good
money guy after he started taking an interest in us outside of navy life.
Coming from money himself, he knew a lot of the ins and outs of that world. A
world seven young guys who at the time of their meeting were from some of the
worse neighborhoods in the country knew fuck all about.

He’d handpicked us right
out of combat training to form the special team. We were like a force within a
force, not even the navy knew what the fuck we were doing half the time. Not
only had he overseen our Ops, but he’d also taken a personal interest and
that’s how we ended up where we are now. It was hugely due to him and his talks
that we had found ourselves on the paths we’d taken in life. I guess you can
say the old man had molded us into the men we are today. Men who could be proud
not only of their service to their nation, but also of who they were inside as
men.

I knew for myself I’d
come a long way from the hell that had been my beginnings. I didn’t even want
to think about that shit today. I wanted nothing to blacken my day. I’d just
made a monumental change in my life. She was the best part of me, the best
thing to ever come into my soiled world. Fucking amazing.

We rode through town to
the jobsite no doubt looking like a caravan of thugs. I’m pretty sure this town
had never been overrun by the noise of six Harleys at top speed. I never really
gave two fucks what anyone thought of me, or my brothers before; but I’m
guessing shacking up with
Dani
might change that. I
played around with the thought in my head for a hot minute. Nah, not gonna
happen. I still don’t give a fuck. She knew what I was when she started making
eyes at me. She’ll deal.

We pulled into the lot
where the rest of our crew was already hard at work. Our present project is an
office complex that if done right would take us at least half a year from start
to finish to complete and we planned on doing it right. We charged top dollar
for anything we signed on for because we had other men and women to support.
Men and women that the government had fucked over after they’d lost part of
themselves fighting a war not of their making. We already had a waiting list a
mile long of more of our brothers and sisters looking for work. This little
town was gonna be overrun with old seadogs by the time we were through because
we didn’t plan on leaving anyone behind.

“Hey Rosie you sure you wanna get all sweaty and
shit? Might take away your girl’s scent brother.”

“Fuck
off Quinn. They all had a god laugh at that before we got ready to do our
thing.

We put aside all the
bullshit as we got to work. The foundation had already been laid and the outer
walls built up with reinforced steel. Logan had made the call to go back to the
old way of doing things. It cost a lot more but once we explained things to the
owners they were more than willing to fork over the money.

This area was prone to
hurricanes and a rogue tornado or two over the last decade. When other
matchstick buildings would blow in the wind we were building this one to last.
We were building the first thing to be erected in Briarwood since the fifties
or some shit so there was a lot of interest from the town’s folk.

There was a new business
whose headquarters were in Atlanta but it was cheaper for them to have offices
here since Real Estate prices were insane these days.

The head guy is some
type of oil tycoon or some shit with offices all over the south and Midwest.
He’s already making noises about hiring us to do some other jobs for him
because he likes our shit. At this rate we’ll be in the black for a while yet,
which for a new business is always a good thing. But for the shit we want to do
it’s excellent.

I thought of her pretty
much every other minute throughout the day. Which was fucked because I could
seriously lose a limb if I wasn’t paying attention. I can’t believe she’s mine,
fuck. It’s like my birthday and Xmas rolled into one. I felt like smiling all
the damn time for no fucking reason whatsoever. The fuck?

 
The first time I ever laid eyes on
Dani
she was with our office manager Candy. The two women
were good friends though Candy was from the complete other end of the spectrum
from my girl.
Dani
is old southern money. Her family
owns half of the fucking state while Candy’s ancestors were coal miners. That’s
another thing I like about my girl, she doesn’t put on ears like some of the
other fucks around here.

We’d thrown a little
party for Candy’s birthday and
Dani
had been one of
her guests. One look and I’d felt my heart hurt. That alone had convinced me to
stay the fuck out of her way. I didn’t like that feeling of lost control, or
the way my eyes couldn’t seem to help seeking her out throughout the night.
Everything about this fucking woman had teased my senses. Her walk her laugh;
every little thing she did. Even the way she flung her hair over her shoulders
to get it out of the way.

I’d noticed her noticing
me too and that hadn’t made shit any easier. My dick was hard for damn near
three hours that first night. And when some guy at the bar had hit on her I’d
wanted to plant my fist in his face. I’ve never reacted that way to any woman
before in my life.

Living the lifestyle I’d
lived in the service I never thought it was fair to subject a woman to that
shit. Never know when you might be called up or some shit. Plus I’d heard
horror stories of affairs and shit and knowing me I’d probably end up doing
twenty five to life so I’d steered clear. Was lucky enough to keep myself
protected. I fucked when I needed to but I kept my heart out of the fucking
equation.

But that night she’d
followed me with her eyes as much as I was trying to pretend that I wasn’t
doing the same. She stood out like a jewel in a tarnished crown in her designer
blouse and her silk skirt with those heels that made her legs look like sin. It
had been hard as fuck ignoring the invitation in her eyes. The hunger that I
saw there, but I’d done it.

I’d done it every other
time our paths had crossed too; until yesterday when she’d walked by me on the
sidewalk and acted like she didn’t see me. I guess she’d grown tired of me
ignoring her and decided to give me a taste of my own medicine. But that shit
hadn’t sat well with me at all. I guess you can say that was my wake up call.
She’d let it be known in little ways that she was interested but I’d avoided
her. Until last night!

Now she’s mine and
there’s no going back. That shit scares the fuck out of me. I’m not the
settling down type, never wanted to be. I know what I come from, the legacy the
two fucks that had spawned me had passed down, and I never wanted to continue
that cycle. But now here she was and everything she is forced me to put aside
my prejudices against anything domestic and just go full tilt.

My brothers always joked
that it would take a very special kind of woman to bring me to my knees. I
guess they were right after all. Everything about her just does it for me. From
her sweet as honey voice that just makes me want to fuck her into the wall
every time I hear it. Her laugh that reminds me of tinkling bells, and the
sweetest smile. And I haven’t even started on her kickass body; not too tall at
about five foot four, she’s a good foot shorter than my six four frame, small
and petite. She’s the beauty to my beast. She has dark hair and green eyes to
my blonde and blue and everything about her just sings to the man in me.

There’s still a lot I
didn’t know about her though, things we’ll have to talk about. I had no doubt
that she will catch hell from family and friends for her choice in a mate but
that was too fucking bad. I’d made a promise when I was buried deep in her last
night into the morning, a promise that I aim to keep.

I hope she was ready for
what she’d unleashed. There were things I wanted from her that I’m not sure a
girl like her would even know about. My body hardened just thinking about all
the ways I wanted to love her and be loved by her. I know with a woman like
that I’ll have to be on top of my game.

Thankfully I’m in a
position to keep her in the style she was accustomed to. But even had I not
been she would’ve had to learn to deal. What I wanted from her was a forever
kind of deal. One man one woman for all time. She’s the only one to ever bring
that out of me, and I’m pretty sure lightning doesn’t strike twice so this was
it.
For both of us.