Badass: A Stepbrother SEAL Romance (2 page)

I grabbed my equipment and headed to the water. Gorgeous sunset as usual in La Jolla, though nothing compared to the sunsets back in my home state of Montana. I missed the cool mountain breeze, the peaceful silence from the lack of tourists.

Well, at least the Southern California women were the sexiest, bar none. Tanned, incredible bodies, dressed year round in bikinis and skimpy sundresses. Most liked to party as much as I did, so I never had problems finding a hookup who wanted what I wanted—nothing but a good time.

As I took off my clothes, I saw some chick staring at me from the awning over Children’s Pool. She was pretty far away but I could see her red hair, white tank, and jean shorts. I gave her a friendly wave. Maybe if she stuck around until I finished my dive, she’d be lucky enough to go home with me tonight.

The water was calm and dark. I was usually the only one out diving here at this time of the evening. But after a rough day sleeping off a “balls-to-dawn” shift busting the balls of wannabe Navy SEALs candidates on base, I could think of no better way to relax and spend my last day in the States than a sunset dive in the La Jolla Cove. The nocturnal creatures and predators appeared, their colors that looked dull in the daytime shone vibrantly with a diving light.

Most people always dove with a buddy, but I didn’t need a goddam babysitter checking my equipment for me. I had enough fucking oxygen, and if I ran out I could hold my breath for five minutes—a useful skill for stalking pirates. Also came in handy when eating pussy.

I descended into the waters, slowly swimming through my favorite cave. Saw a beautiful ray, a horn shark, a few sheep crabs, and some spiny lobsters. A yellow eel saw my light and dug itself into the sand. I spent so much time in the ocean for work, it was nice to come down here and just be able to appreciate the beauty of the marine life without having to worry about catching a terrorist.

I began my ascent, bidding goodbye to my hobby for at least nine months or quite possibly forever—I was set to deploy to the Middle East tomorrow night.

As the waves buckled under the wind and closer to the shore I saw what looked like a flame. A few strokes closer and I realized that the flame was a flash of red hair, attached to the head of a beautiful woman. The girl who’d been staring at me earlier.

I swam over to her and saw her hands touching the pup’s neck. What the fuck was this bitch doing? No one was allowed down at Children’s Pool, the La Jolla beach area where all the seals and sea lions reside. There was a reason the place was roped off. A fucking tourist no doubt, probably taking one of those goddam selfies with a sea lion.

She released the pup who scampered into the water. I noticed a mother sea lion rolling toward this woman.

I grabbed the girl from behind, took a moment to gaze at her plump ass. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” My cock pressed against her soft curves, the heat from her body warmed mine up instantly. “You fool around with the baby and now the mother is coming for you.”

I threw her on my back and carried her out of the water. She didn’t protest, and I wouldn’t have given a fuck if she had.

Now she owed me.

I placed her on the warm sand and checked her out. Curvy, tan, flat belly. Definitely fuckable.

I released her and she jumped back on the sand. Her nipple buds poked through her wet tank top and I wanted to suck on them.

“The pup had plastic wrapped around his neck. I removed it—otherwise he would have died.”

“Well he will die anyway. That’s the cycle of life. And due to your dumbass rescue attempt, you probably killed a bunch of other sea lions in the flush to get away from you.”

Her head tipped back and her lips turned up. I couldn’t wait to see those same lips sucking my cock.

“There were no other sea lions on the shore. I’m a marine biologist. I know the risks. Now he at least has a chance.”

Marine biologist? This bitch was probably one of those dumb-ass SeaWorld trainers who exploited animals by making them dance around to music and retrieve cola cans. “Okay, Dr. Doolittle. Leave the sea lions alone. If I hadn’t gotten you out of there, the mom would’ve attacked you—or you could’ve been arrested.”

“Well, thanks, I guess.” She didn't sound too grateful. “Nice meeting you,” she added, sounding snarky now. She blinked back at the moonlight, and though she tried to look away, her green eyes glossed over and softened when she glanced at me.

Yup, she wanted me. I’d make it easy for her. “No, you aren’t getting away that easy, babe. You broke a law. There’s something call the Marine Mammal Act. I’m sure you know all about it, since you’re a marine biologist.”

“I’m aware of it, yes. You won’t tell anyone, will you?”

Bitch looked up at me through her eyelashes and gave me a sweet smile. I laughed. She must’ve mistaken me for a man who fell for that kind of crap, the kind of guy who wanted a girlfriend and cared about making a woman happy. I was not that man.

I walked up closer to her, right in her space. “No, I won’t. My lips are sealed. But I’m gonna have to fuck you first.”

Her pupils dilated at my request. I’d throw in some incentive. I removed my equipment and peeled off my wet suit, revealing my tattoos and rock-hard body. There, that should do the trick.

Chapter 3—Cassie

Whoa. Had this jerk really just
said
that?

He had. He was standing there in the sand, with sparkling droplets of sea water cruising slowly down some of the sweetest muscles I had ever seen, cocky as hell, demanding that I buy him off with sex? What a jackass!

Did he seriously think I might consider it? Did other women lie down for this asshat and spread their legs?

Damn, they probably did. It wasn’t just his gorgeous pecs...and abs…and quads… It was the whole package. He had that “I’m so bad, babe. Nobody can fuck you like I can” thing going for him. The wicked grin, the jutting chin, the way he’d swooped down and carried me out of the water, the “I dare you” glint in his blinding blue eyes.

I was a total sucker for bad boys. I know. It’s a weakness. It had never brought me anything but heartache.

I ramped myself up to resist. I had to forget the hot flash that shot through me when he’d bumped his body up against mine in the water. That totally hadn’t happened. No way.

He was hot, but so what? There were gorgeous, super well-built guys aplenty in the San Diego area. Marines, Navy guys. SEALS, even. But I didn’t usually hit the bars where the military types hung out. What with keeping up with my courses and working part time at the Birch Aquarium, which was associated with my grad program at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, I didn’t have time for a social life. I didn’t want to get mixed up with those guys, anyway. Not that this creep looked all that military, especially with his longish hair. But how did he get that buff bod?

Stop staring at his body, Cassie! God, I could swear the boy was preening—showing off what he had to offer, jutting out his pelvis to show off what I could see was a big, hard dick. Dude was seriously packing.

His hair was long and he had scruffy whiskers that were not quite a beard—as if he only shaved once or twice a week. I would
not
think about how those rough whiskers would feel against my bare breasts. Between my thighs…

Stop it, girl! Get a grip!

Maybe he was some kind of surfer dude, hanging out day after day on the beach, waiting for the perfect wave. And the horny chicks.

“You’re thinking about it, aren’t you?” His voice was deep and had some kind of sexy Western drawl. “How it would feel to have me inside you. How you’d writhe and pant and clench your pussy around me. How you'd scream out my name as you came hard around my cock.”

Whew! I wanted to fan myself. “I don’t even know your name.”

Um, why had I said that? I needed to distract myself from the absurd feelings of lust his stupid words inspired. What was wrong with me? Had it been that long since I’d last gotten laid?’

Yeah, sadly it had. What with finishing college, settling in at UCSD, and fretting that I was in over my head with grad school and a job, I hadn’t gone looking for hookups.

“Name’s Shane,” the big jerk said. “Can’t wait to hear you scream it out loud.”

“Asshole suits you better.” I turned my back and stalked away. But stalking on a sandy beach isn’t that easy to do. I was just trying to keep my dignity, not that I had much left.

The worst of it was, I knew he’d been right to call me out over the baby sea lion. I was a serious ocean wildlife researcher, and I knew better than to interfere with the natural order of things. Rescuing injured sea mammals was not my job, and it could do more harm than good. Only the strong survive. In the wild, whether on land or in the sea, fitness was everything—that was how nature worked.

I couldn’t regret it, though. Not when I thought of the way those big, soft eyes of the sea lion had looked into mine. Now that the foreign material was off his neck, he would do fine. I had probably saved a life today.

My tormenter came after me. Of course. He wasn’t the type to give up easily.

“You don’t think I’m letting you walk away, do you? Think about the trouble you could get into if I told someone.”

“Yeah, right. Who’re you gonna tell? Anyway, your word against mine.” But I stopped. Was it because I really thought he could cause trouble for me?

I don’t think so. I think I stopped for other reasons altogether. I remembered the sweet sensation I’d felt when his body had pressed up against mine in the water. Damn! I wanted to feel that again.

“Okay.” He gave me a thousand watt smile. “Forget the sea lion. Forget getting in trouble.” He took a step closer so he was in my space, blotting out the beach and the sea and the moon. There were crystals of sand dusting his tan skin. Tats—beautiful whirls of ink. Marble-hard flesh, muscle, and bone. “Forget everything but this.”

I felt his hands grip my hair and my shoulder just before his mouth captured mine.

When his lips smashed into mine, it was hotter than, I don’t know, just about anything. Crazy. Wild. There I was, out on a beach at night, pressing myself into the rock-hard body of some stranger who had grabbed me and hauled me to shore without even asking permission to touch me. And now he was doing it again. Touching me. And, wow, it felt so incredibly good.

It was as if I’d been given a hit of a powerful drug. As soon as he pulled me into the cradle of his thighs, where I could feel his cock jutting into my belly and jerking as if it were already inside me, I turned into some kind of wild woman. I’d seen marine animals go into a mating frenzy—sharks went nuts sometimes—violent fucking that left blood in the water. If he—what did he say his name was, Shane?—if Shane was a shark, then I was a goner, because I needed that fat, hard dick inside me in the worst way.

I was kissing him back, grabbing his hair, his shoulders, his ass, and digging my nails into his hard butt as we ground our bodies together. “Not here,” I said, with my last trace of rationality. I wasn’t going to screw in the sand like a couple of sea lions, was I?

“Come with me,” he ordered, looping a strong arm around my shoulders and leading me up the steps away from the water.

I went. It was crazy, I know. I’d probably regret it, but I was going to fuck a cocky, arrogant bad-boy jerk.

I should have been ashamed of myself. But something deep inside me was fizzing with the thrill of my own wildness, my own daring. I never did stuff like this. But, dammit, I was doing it tonight.

Chapter 4—Shane

Well, that was even easier than I thought it would be. She didn’t even put up a fight. Just hopped on the back of my bike, wrapped her tight body around mine, and let me take her back to my place.

The cool ocean air blew around us, and I savored this peaceful drive. My last few hours of freedom were always the ones that remained ingrained in my mind during my deployment.

Our ride along the coast had us leaving pretentious La Jolla for rowdy Pacific Beach. I pulled up to my apartment. It was small, had bars on the windows, and was a short walk to one of my favorite watering holes.

She removed the spare helmet I’d given her and her hair cascaded over her face. Her red locks were wild, wet, and sandy. I couldn’t wait to see her naked, her hair brushing her nipples as she rode my cock.

I led her inside and she sat on my couch, rubbing her hands on her thighs. No matter how sexy she was, I could tell she was nervous. I wanted to put her at ease, at the very least assure her that I wasn’t a serial killer.

“You want a glass of water? All that salt water dehydrates you.”

She nodded yes and I poured two glasses and sat down next to her. I tried staring deep into her green eyes, but she was avoiding eye contact.

After she gulped down her water, she looked up at me. “So, what do you do? Besides diving solo at night.”

That was what I did. Though I was usually wearing night vision goggles and jumping out of a zodiac boat. “I’m a diver. Working for a boating company. Maintenance on the ships, scraping barnacles off the bottom.” I didn’t flinch. Navy SEALs never told people what they did for a living. Unless we wanted to get laid. She was already in my apartment after only knowing me for less than an hour, so I decided impressing her wasn’t worth the effort.

“That’s cool. I’ve done some diving, too, but I don’t do it much unless it’s for research. I love the ocean. We have a sailboat—my dad, that is. He loves to sail and to fish.”

“Yeah?”

“That’s how I got interested in marine biology. I started out in biochemistry, but I was also interested in environmental science, so marine bio seemed like a natural fit. Did you go to college?”

I took a sip of my own water and studied this girl. She was smart, smarter than my average lay. “I’m self taught.”

Her eyes focused on the door, probably trying to plan an escape route if she deemed I was a psycho. “Really? That’s cool. School’s not for everyone. I love it, but sometimes you learn even more by just observing. That’s why I was out there tonight. Watching the sea lions in their natural environment, listening to their vocalizations, you learn so much more than you ever would by reading a book.”