SEAL: A BWWM BAD BOY NAVY SEAL ROMANCE (4 page)

CHAPTER FIVE

DEVLIN

My mind traveled back with the speed of light to the night
before I deployed for the Middle East, six years ago.

A SEAL isn’t supposed to be afraid of anything, but that
wasn’t stopping me from consuming an enormous amount of booze that evening.

I had never forgotten that extraordinary girl I was with,
even if the little details were blurred by time and alcohol. Her name was Allie
and I remember she was wearing a sexy little red dress. She wasn’t the kind of
girl I’d usually go for… I knew she was too good for me the minute I saw her,
but I went for it anyway. I’d seen her type before… A good girl out looking to
be bad for a night. I put my needs first. My very hard pressing needs……

After bringing her up to the hotel room, I intended on
showing my lovely lady no mercy by giving her every inch of my sexual prowess. Before
I could so much as pull that pretty red dress off her stunning body, she went
limp in my arms.

Guess the girl had more to drink than I did…

I carried her over to the bed and covered her with a
comforter then called myself a cab. I always regretted not leaving her a note,
but at the time I figured it was useless anyway.
What was the point?
I’d be flying to Kabul in the morning, and I
knew she would be better off if I completely disconnected.

CHAPTER FIVE

CALI

 
Did
he just call me Allie?

And at that precise moment, the light bulb went on in both
are our heads, at
exactly
the same
time. I could see it on his face. It suddenly dawned on Devlin and me that
I
was his Allie. I was unsure if I
really wanted to go through with things that night. When he asked me my name, I
made up the first thing that came to mind. “My name is Allie.”

Maybe it was a little too close to my real name, but I was
too far gone to care.

Just then, another revelation occurred to me; he actually
had
remembered me, and he had also
remembered my name, or rather, what he thought was my name. Either way, that
was somewhat flattering
. Right?
I
wasn’t forgettable after all! But, the fact still remained that he had left me alone
that night. Disappeared without so much as a goodbye…

My mind was swimming with confusion. Unprofessional
confusion. Devlin’s physical therapy session had come to a standstill. I wanted
to run out of the gym in humiliation, like a high school girl who just realized
she got her period while wearing white pants. Tears started welling up in my
eyes.

Devlin turned out to be a quick study. The range of emotion
displayed in his facial expressions, told me we were on the same page. It was
apparent that he had always assumed he hurt “Allie” but since he had no way of
knowing for sure, he could probably easily dismiss it. Except now, he positively
knew he hurt her. Even more importantly, he also knew that I was her………. and
that I
still
hurt.

“Cali, I’m sorry. I acted like such an asshole that night.
Can you ever forgive me?”

Devlin Dane’s eyes were filled with pain and humility. He had
me believing he was truly sorry but was he really? Or was it just another ploy
that players like him used to get naïve and trusting girls like me back in the
sack? I didn’t have the time, energy or patience for games.

“You should keep pedaling the bike, Mr. Danes, so I can at
least justify charging you for this session.”

“Now I’m Mr. Danes again? Come on Cali. I would think especially
under
these
circumstances that you
would call me by my first name.”

“These circumstances? What circumstances? The fact that you
suddenly feel like you know me INSIDE and out? The fact that I had SEX with you
six years ago? Are those the circumstances that you’re talking about?”

Apparently, I said the word SEX a little too loudly, because
when I did, several heads in the vicinity immediately spun around in our
direction.
Shit!
This was my business
as well as my work environment and I felt like I was losing my professional
credibility with each passing minute. I just knew everyone in the gym was
shaking their head saying, “Tsk, tsk, what a shame. Look at that poor, scorned
bimbo.”

“Wait a minute, Cali…. What the fuck are you talking about?”

It was clear we would not be able to continue our discussion
with all the curious eyes and ears on us, so I helped Devlin off the bike and
led him back into my private therapy room.

“Are you
gonna
tell me what’s
goin
’ on babe?”

I closed the door behind us as I held back my tears. One
thing I wasn’t going to do was cry over some cocky bastard from the past, who,
until today, didn’t even know my name.

“First of all, don’t call me babe. And secondly, I’d like to
know how you can apologize for what you did one minute and then the next
minute, you pretend like it never happened?”

“I don’t even know what it is you think I’m pretending I
didn’t do!”

I had to admit the conversation was taking a rather
convoluted turn.

“I thought you were genuinely sorry for what you did that
night we were at the hotel.”

“I am. I
totally
am. I feel horrible about it. Look, I was a different man
then. I was headed off to war. I thought it was better if I didn’t stay till
morning.”

“Then you admit it?!”

“Here we go again……Admit what?”

God he was frustrating! And apparently
very dense!

“You lured me to a hotel when I was clearly not in my right
mind, had sex with me, and then left without saying good-bye or even leaving a
note or anything! I know what we were doing… I
wanted
it to happen… But what kind of person does that? What kind
of man fucks and forgets?”

“I don’t know, but I’m not one of them.”

Devlin grabbed me by the hips and pulled me over to him. He
brushed my hair from my forehead and looked tenderly into my eyes.

“I’m sorry I brought you over to the hotel and I’m damned
fucking sorry I left without a word, but you and I did
not
have sex that evening. You passed out on the bed before
anything
happened. I might not be the
nicest guy in the world but I’m definitely not going to take advantage of an
unconscious woman.”

“But… I…”

“Cali, if we fucked that night, you’d have
known
it the next morning.”

I was numb. I’d been carrying around unwarranted resentment
and shame about him and myself. The questions about what I’d done that night,
the way everything blurred to black in my memory… The sudden relief from that
mental and emotional burden was liberating.

“I’m sorry I thought the worst of you.”

“It’s ok… Look… I think we’ve gotten off on the wrong foot.
Can we start over, Cali?”

“Are you going to take your physical training seriously?” I
asked, staring him down.

“Okay…” he replied.

“Lets get started.”

CHAPTER SIX

DEVLIN

I’d been a good boy the rest of the afternoon, going through
with my treatment, but my mind hadn’t stopped reeling.

The girl has a hold on me…

I’d never been so mentally preoccupied with a woman I hadn’t
fucked yet. I just couldn’t get her out of my head, and it wasn’t the first
time she’d done that to me. Thinking about that red dress had gotten me through
a few dark nights in Kabul. I’d even tried to look her up once I got back from
my tour, but nobody at
Mobey’s
remembered the girl,
and nobody knew an Allie.

She’d given me a fake name. She was trying to use me… All the
time I’d spent thinking about her over the years, for what? For a girl who saw
me as nothing more than a night of anonymous sex?

I was so lost in thought I barely remembered driving back to
La Jolla.

As I entered the sprawling house, it suddenly struck me how
quiet and empty it was. I envisioned how nice it would be to have a dog greet
me at the door. I had never wanted to take care of anything before, so a pet
never sounded appealing. But, for some strange reason, it did now.

I headed straight for the bathroom medicine cabinet with the
predictability of a homing pigeon, and grabbed the Vicodin bottle from the
shelf.
 
I was about to pop a couple
in my mouth when I was struck with the realization that I didn’t have
any
pain, anywhere; physical or mental.
Cali’s “medicine” was already working wonders on me. I put the pills back on
the shelf.

 
The whirring
sounds of a computer printer coming from down the hall told me my father was
home; busy as usual, hunkered down in his office. A United States congressman’s
work is never done……

Richard M. Danes had been the Republican representative of
California’s 52
^nd
congressional district for five years now. He
split his time between coasts; La Jolla and Capitol Hill. My father and I
didn’t see eye-to-eye very often, politically or otherwise.

We didn’t see each other much at all, come to think of it.
His career was always more important than his family.

He had given me the name Devlin because it meant “fierce
courage”, but it took me a long time to live up to it. For the most part, I was
pretty sure I was a major disappointment to him growing up. He wanted me to
follow him into government work. Being the son of a politician brought me many
unearned privileges, but I wanted to make my own way in the world.

After my mom passed away from breast cancer my life took a
serious downturn. I was out most nights getting into trouble. My father was not
about to tolerate his son derailing his political career, so he steered me (with
a
very
heavy hand!) into a military
academy. Said it would “make a man out of me”, and “give me direction”. I think
he just wanted me to fall in line…

Maybe he was right to do it. I was on a destructive path.

It still shocked the hell out of him when I enlisted.

He tried to stop me. He called in a few favors, pulled a few
strings, but I wasn’t turning back. It wasn’t long before I signed up for Navy
SEAL training.

I made it through the program and I went through hell over
the last few years, but I regretted nothing. The military was going to be my
life…

And now, it was over.

I’d been honorably discharged after the explosion. I could
have gotten my own place, but my father was quick to take me back in during
recovery. Beach access and the knowledge I’d have the estate to myself for most
of the year made the decision an easy one…

Still… The less I had to see of him, the better.

I stopped in the doorway to his office. “Can I come in?”

“Devlin! Good evening son. Of course, come in and take a
seat.”

He waved his hand toward the upholstered wing chair in front
of his desk. His office was decorated in classic “old world” style: Lots of
dark wood paneling and furniture, thick boring books on the shelves, framed
accomplishments on the walls, and photos of him shaking hands with other
politicians.

“What’s on your mind son? How have you been? How’s your leg?
I’ve got a talk show hounding me to bring you in when you’re ready. The
Congressman and his hero son.”

My dad seemed unusually chipper, but I didn’t think too much
about it. He had probably taken advantage of the limo bar.

“I’m okay, but I think I’ll pass on the goddamned television
appearances. I started back on my physical therapy today. It’s going pretty
well.”

“I’m sorry to hear that, but I’m glad you decided to give the
rehabilitation another chance. Is the therapist going to be coming by the house?”

 
“No. Actually,
I’m doing my rehab over at Bayside Fitness now, with a new therapist. I really
like her too.
 
Her name is Cali
Jamison.”

“A woman? You’re being trained by a woman? Sounds like a
distraction to me.”

“She’s very good at what she does. She’s already motivating
me.”

 
It was impossible
to hide the smile that that statement brought to my face, and it wasn’t lost on
my father:

My dad leaned across his desk toward me and peered over his
bifocals. He parted his lips like he was going to say something, but then no
words came out of his mouth. He sighed, shook his head slowly, and just stared
at me. After what seemed like an eternity, he finally spoke:

“Don’t tell me. Let me guess. Your physical therapist is hot
and you’re already fucking her. Am I right?”

With that, he abruptly pushed his giant chair away from his
desk, walked over to the window, and stared out at the sea.

“No, dad. It’s not like that at all. She
is
beautiful, for sure, but it’s not what you think. She’s
different. I actually met her once before, back before Afghanistan…”

As my dad turned to look at me, his stern face softened.

“Nothing would make me happier than not having to worry about
the possible fallout from your scandalous behavior. I prefer to keep myself and
my family out of the tabloids if possible. Elections are coming up and I need
you on the straight and narrow. If you’re not willing to stand by me on the
campaign trail, the least you can do is keep your hands clean. What’s this
girl’s name?”

“It’s Cali Jamison, and she’s a nice, wholesome, sweet girl.
She’s focused on her work, and I think she’s exactly what I need right now.”

His face returned with a scowl.

“You say her name is Cali Jamison? For some reason, the name
Jamison sticks in my craw. Jamison
…..
Jamison…..”

“You don’t have anything to worry about dad. I’m going to
bed. See you in the morning.”

As I stood up to leave my father’s mahogany man-cave, the
answer to his unsettling intuition finally came to him:

“I got it! Jamison is the last name of that annoying tree-hugging,
radical, activist woman who hounds me on almost every bill I sponsor or
initiate.”

“What a menace she is! Amari Jamison, that’s her name! A
complete liberal menace!”