KissedByASEAL
Authors: Cat Johnson
KISSED BY A SEAL
Hot SEALs
Cat Johnson
Retired Navy SEAL Chris Cassidy knows the bro code—no messing around with teammates’ sisters. But Chris never was one for following rules. Besides, Rick’s sister Darci is worth breaking the rules for.
Darci Mann is tired of being alone. Since Zane, the bad boy she had a crush on, fell in love with someone else and her best friend Ali found her own happy ending, Darci’s feeling her single status extra keenly. Though she suspects her brother’s buddy Chris would be willing to change that if she decides to let him.
When a routine assignment turns deadly and Chris switches from charming joker to capable trained warrior willing to kill or die to save Darci’s life, she might have to reevaluate her feelings about the perpetual bachelor and her own future.
Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1
Chris watched the sway of Darci’s hips as she skirted the stool that stuck out from beneath the kitchen island. She headed toward the fridge and pulled open the door.
When she bent at the waist to grab a can of coke from the bottom shelf Chris got one hell of a nice view. The fabric of her pants stretched across the ass he’d been itching to get his hands on for many years.
Good God almighty, that girl could work it.
A sight like that was enough to make a man’s mouth water. Sometimes it seemed as if the doggone woman put a little extra sashay into her walk just to torture him. But if she was doing it on purpose, Chris knew it wasn’t for his benefit.
There had only been one guy Darci Mann had her eye on, that Chris knew of.
Sadly, in spite of what he considered his good looks and unending southern charm—if he did say so himself—that one man in Darci’s sights wasn’t Chris Cassidy.
For better or worse, that honor belonged to his teammate, Zane Alexander.
Meanwhile, Zane had always been such a self-centered player he’d never even noticed how Darci couldn’t drag her eyes off him whenever he was in the room.
Chris had noticed, though.
Man oh man had he noticed, and it ate a hole in his gut every time he saw the expression on Darci’s face when Zane would hook up with one random woman or another, while not giving Darci more than a passing friendly hello.
Jealousy was an ugly trait, but Chris couldn’t fight it, any more than he could fight his feelings for Darci.
Now, Zane was off the market, thanks to his new and surprisingly serious girlfriend, Missy.
Zane apparently settling down hadn’t helped the situation much. It was like Darci was extra determined to prove to Zane what he’d missed out on.
It seemed her skirts were shorter, her lips more pouty, her glances sexier . . .
The results were enough to have Chris walking around like a dog drooling over a bone any time he was near her, and it had him waking up to some pretty steamy thoughts at night.
He was like a damn schoolboy when it came to Darci. It was as if he was forty going on fourteen, and thanks to circumstances Chris couldn’t have stayed away from Darci even if he’d wanted to, which he didn’t.
“So what do you guys think?” Jon’s question tore Chris’s attention off Darci, and how hard she was working it, and back to actual work.
This was supposed to be a team meeting. Since they were at Rick and Darci’s house, it had been easy to forget that.
He hadn’t been listening, so Chris had no clue what exactly Jon was asking his opinion on, but if he knew one thing it was that Jon put one hundred and ten percent into whatever he did. That had been true when they’d been active duty SEALs, and it was true now in the civilian world as they worked to make their new company a success.
Chris felt safe in saying, “Good job, bro.”
Jon accepted the compliment with a nod. “But is there anything else we need to worry about for the presentation?”
If Chris had paid attention to the sales presentation in the first place, he might know that answer.
“I don’t know. Rick, you see anything?” Chris deferred Jon’s question to Rick.
He had no problem throwing his friend in the line of fire. It was Rick’s fault Chris was distracted. Darci was Rick’s sister, after all.
After Rick had been medically retired from the Navy because of knee issues, he had moved in with Darci and the woman had been a fixture in all of their lives ever since.
When Chris stopped by to have a beer or to watch a game with Rick, she was here. When Rick invited him over for a barbecue or a party, she was there.
Not that Chris was complaining about her constant presence. Far from it. Some pretty blonde for scenery was always nice to have around when his life in the military, and even after retirement, had been one big sausage-fest.
He was happy to have her there as a distraction, but make no mistake, she was exactly that—a distraction.
Strange that he let himself be sidetracked by her so easily. When he’d been active duty, he had razor sharp focus both during missions and during the prep.
Today, Chris realized he was lucky if he’d heard even half of what Jon had said.
He figured he could write his inattention off to the fact he wasn’t the one traveling to the meeting to pitch their company’s services to the potential new client. If he had been the one making the trip and the presentation, he would have been able to focus—hopefully.
Luckily, he didn’t have to test that theory. For this one, Chris and Rick were just a sounding board for Jon. In fact, in the total scheme of things in the corporate hierarchy, Chris and Rick were basically just the muscle.
GAPS had been Jon’s brainchild, funded by Zane’s investment. It made sense that Jon and Zane would be the ones going to the big wig’s offices to pitch the precision security offered by Guardian Angel Protection Services.
Jon could speak as well as any politician about his corporate baby, and Zane had been raised around rich folks. He could probably talk the money out of the business owners’ wallets as easily as he used to talk females out of their panties back in his single days.
Speaking of Zane—he’d left ten minutes ago to take a phone call. He was just now slipping back through the sliding glass door that led to the back deck where he’d gone to talk in privacy.
He wondered who had kept Zane occupied for so long. He figured it was safe to assume it was Missy.
“Sorry.” Zane sat and looked around the table. “What did I miss?”
“Pretty much everything. You want Jon to go over it again for you?” Chris heard the dose of judgment in his own tone, but judging by his lack of reaction, Zane hadn’t.
“Nah. Jon and I went over it last night while he was putting it together. What do you guys think?” Zane glanced from Chris to Rick.
Rick leaned forward. “It’s good. Hell, I’d hire you.”
Lucky for Chris, Rick had apparently paid attention and had an opinion, since he didn’t.
“You really think it’s good? It’s our first presentation to a major corporation. If we land this gig and do a good job, we’ll be set. In fact, if they gave us all their security jobs, we’ll have to hire out some of the work because we won’t be able to handle it all.” Jon’s excitement was palpable.
He couldn’t blame Jon for being excited or concerned since Jon had taken a huge chance on GAPS.
When Jon came up with this idea and asked who wanted to join him, Chris had already put in his time in the Navy and was collecting retirement pay. Rick was in a similar situation. He was out of the service after being medically retired.
They’d both been killing time working as civilians. Rick had a good position working security at the nuclear plant. Chris had a part-time job at a local gun shop to keep him from going insane with boredom.
But Jon had left active duty with the SEALs to open GAPS. So had Zane, though Zane came from money. His trust fund would make it a lot less painful for him than it would be for Jon if the company failed.
Jon needed GAPS to succeed and Chris was more than willing to help him—if that damn woman would stop parading around the house . . .
Darci caught his attention one more time. It never failed that every damn time she entered his line of sight he had to stop what he was doing and watch her sashay by.
Was that the outline of a thong he could see through the material of her slacks?
Damn
.
Chris wrestled his attention back to the conversation.
Darci had sat down on the sofa and was watching the television with the sound turned low. Now that his favorite asset of hers was being sat upon and he couldn’t see it anymore, he had some hope of paying attention to Jon.
“I think you hit on all the major selling points. They can’t argue with our collective experience and training. I mean, not every run of the mill security company can boast combat experienced DEVGRU operatives.” Rick leaned back and folded his arms, looking cocky in their credentials.
Everything Rick had said was true. GAPS didn’t employ just any old Joe who could shoot a gun. They were staffed by the best of the best. Men who had been hand chosen from the ranks of the SEALs to be trained by the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, and sent to fight terrorism around the globe.
Yet to date, GAPS had yet to land a major contract and they’d been in business for months. Jon had to be getting twitchy.
They’d had a few small assignments. A security consultation here. A personal protection detail there. But the company could only survive without more work for so long.
Chris leaned forward. “You know, I’m thinking proving to the client we’re the best at what we do isn’t your problem. I think the hurdle y’all have to get over is proving to the client that they
need
the best.”