SEAL: A BWWM BAD BOY NAVY SEAL ROMANCE (7 page)

CHAPTER NINE

DEVLIN

Yesterday with Cali had nearly been everything I’d imagined…
And it’d left me with the biggest case of blue balls I’d ever experienced in my
life. I wanted to correct that at the first opportunity, but today… Things
seemed different.

Was I just being paranoid?

The texts she sent in response to mine last night seemed a
bit indifferent. Of course, it was always hard to read a person’s emotions
through a text but the overall tone seemed a bit cold. And she didn’t pick up
when I phoned her.
What’s THAT about?
No wonder I never tried to have a serious relationship with a woman; it’s
exhausting!

Fuck! Serious relationship? I never really had
any
kind of
real
relationship with a girl. Plenty of great fucking, for sure, but
it never went beyond pure fun and it was never with anybody I actually cared
anything about. And certainly never with anybody who drove me to complete
distraction and obsession, like Cali did.

In my mind, Cali could never be just a casual sex fling. That
girl could only be long-term. I wanted her and only her. The idea of going out
for something new night after night just didn’t seem appealing to me anymore.

The ever-perfect San Diego weather was beckoning me to take
advantage of it by taking a spin in my convertible. Being a Saturday morning, I
hoped I would find Cali at home. I had to go see her and find out if her she
had already changed her mind about me. I had been a bit sexually aggressively
with her yesterday, but she didn’t exactly put up a fight. I’d have to say she
even welcomed it. Still, it was possible she could be having second thoughts.
After all, I had put her in a compromising position.
And FUCK what a position that was!

Kesha
had easily succumbed to my charming,
persuasive ways and given me her address. Good
ol
’
Kesha
. I still wasn’t sure about her, though. I couldn’t
quite tell if she actually liked me, or if she loathed me and just tolerated
me. At the gym, she had a way of looking at me with an unusual combination of
lust and suspicion. I sensed she was mainly just watching over her girlfriend and
partner with a close eye.

Cruising down the southbound I-5, (known to all Californians
as simply “the 5”) I tried not to let my self-defeating thoughts keep me from
enjoying the cool Pacific breeze and the scenic view of Mission Bay on my right.
The watery playground was full of colorful sailboats, and wind surfers, and the
surrounding park was packed with families barbecuing and picnicking. I pictured
Cali and me out there, throwing a Frisbee back and forth to the rescue dog that
we would adopt – Charlie the chocolate lab.

My vision made me smile and I tried keeping a positive
attitude, but old habits die hard so my thoughts returned to the truth of the
situation:
 
I knew deep down that
Cali was out of my league. She was intelligent, breathtakingly beautiful, and a
genuinely good person. Why would she even consider getting involved with me?

My track record with women was horrible, and I had never
really cared about anybody but myself. I didn’t even know how to treat a woman
with respect. Basically, I treated most people like shit. I was obviously no
good for her. I contemplated exiting the freeway at the next off-ramp and heading
home.

But I couldn’t. I had to have her and I wouldn’t take no for
an answer. I never did; I always got what I wanted. That was partly because of
my affluent upbringing but it was also due to the intensive
mental
 
preparation
that I had
undergone during my SEAL training. Nothing deterred me. Least of all fear. Cali
would be mine if I pursued her with the same dogged determination that I
possessed during all of my missions.

As I drove through downtown Hillcrest, a new picture popped
into my head: Cali and I strolling hand-in-hand down University Avenue, window
shopping and stopping to have some espressos at one of the many cool little
coffee joints that lined the street. It was another sweet little daydream. One which,
to my surprise, inspired me to stop at an appealing little flower shop on the
corner. Five minutes later, I was carrying an oversized bouquet of daffodils
and daisies back out to my car. I had never bought flowers for a woman before,
but I intended to make a habit of it now. Cali seemed to bring out the
gentleman in me that I didn’t even know existed.

I pulled up to the curb in front of her house just in time to
see Cali bent over, trying to pick up a small wiggly, scruffy dog. She was loading
it into an SUV, along with two others. Her awesome, heart-shaped ass was poised
up in the air, with her sweet little cheeks just slightly peeking out at me
from inside her tight Levi cut-offs.
Fuck!
She has no clue what she does to me!
My dick was already stirring
…..

A woman, who I assumed was her mother, was behind the wheel.
I hopped out of my car, bouquet in hand, and called out to Cali.

“Cali, wait up! I was hoping I would catch you at home. Do
you have a moment to talk? These are for you.”

She took the flowers from me, stuck her face in the middle of
them, and inhaled their sweet fragrance with her pretty smile. The three mutts
of various sizes yapped out of the back window at me.

“Oh Devlin, they’re lovely, thank you, but I don’t really
have much time. One of mom’s bathers called in sick, so I’m going to help out
at her dog grooming shop today. We were just leaving.”

I suddenly noticed the dogs weren’t the only ones with their
heads hanging out of the car. Cali’s mom had her eyes fixed on me as well. She
was a looker herself; an aged to perfection, slightly older version of Cali.
She could’ve passed for her older sister any day of the week.

“Well, I was just wondering if everything was alright with
you. Your texts seemed kind of weird and you didn’t return my call so I got the
impression you were upset about something. Did I say or do something wrong?”

Cali’s mom made a loud throat-clearing noise from inside the
SUV, causing our attention to shift to her. Cali grabbed me by my elbow and pulled
me over to the driver’s side of the SUV so she could introduce us:

“Mom, this is Devlin Danes. Devlin, this is my mother Amari
Jamison.”

Amari Jamison… My father’s “complete liberal menace” in the
flesh.
Great. Just fucking great…….as if
the cards weren’t already stacked against me with this girl………

“So nice to meet you Devlin. Cali has told me……. well ………virtually
nothing about you, actually.”

“The pleasure is all mine, Mrs. Jamison. I certainly hope we
can become better acquainted, soon, when you have more time.”

“Ms. Jamison. I go by Ms. Jamison. I’ve never been married…
But Amari is fine, too.”

“If you’ll excuse us for a minute mom, I need to discuss
something with Devlin. It won’t take long, I promise. I know you need to get
down to the shop in a hurry. I’ll be right back.”

“We really do need to get going honey, since Joyce isn’t
there to open up this morning.”

Cali grabbed me by the elbow again and pulled me out of what
she probably thought was her mom’s listening range. She cast her eyes downward
as she began to speak, like she was feeling guilty or hesitant about something.
Definitely not a good sign……

“Devlin, I’m sorry. Yesterday just really caught me off guard
and made me examine a lot of things about myself, and about you. I’m still
having misgivings.…
…..
I’m just not sure about…
…..
”

She sounded like she could possibly still be on the fence
about me, so I cut her off before any more of her words had a chance to spill
out into the air. I needed to do some quick convincing and plead my case one
more time.

“Look, I completely get it. And
it’s
okay Cali. We can take things slower if you want. What happened yesterday was a
bit fast and overwhelming. Let’s just kind of start over, alright? What we need
is some time to talk… We can do dinner… We can just be ourselves; not therapist
and patient. Take a chance on me tonight. Give me an opportunity to properly
woo you. What time will you be done at your mom’s today? How about if I pick
you up at 7 o’clock for dinner? Will that work for you?”

I could tell by the way her face muscles softened, that my
charming ways and persuasive tongue had won her over (again!). There was also a
strong possibility that the barking dogs and impatient mother waiting in the
car may have also pressured her speedy decision. Cali probably realized it
would be much quicker to just give in, than to argue about it.
I absolutely thrived on women surrendering
to me!

“Yeah, okay
….maybe
you’re right. I think
I can be ready by seven. How fancy do I need to dress for a date with Devlin
Danes?”

“We have an 8 o’clock dinner reservation at the Pacific Vista
Terrace..
…….so I’d say pretty fancy.”

I quickly kissed her on the lips and pulled back.

“One thing, though…”

She looked at me expectantly.

“No panties.”

CHAPTER NINE

CALI

No panties?

I didn’t know what was worse… Devlin Danes asking me to a
panty-free dinner, or the way my body reacted when he said it.

The cocky bastard knew I’d go along with it. He’d already set
up the reservations!
He was that sure of
himself! And that sure of me!! What nerve!

The drive over to
Dogz
R Us was a
quiet one. The fur-babies were comfortably sprawled out on the back seat and I
could tell my mom was purposely waiting for me to say something before offering
her opinion about Devlin.
 
My mind
was too busy mulling over the brief interchange Devlin and I had just had and
how I had NOT seen his curve ball coming at all.

As we turned into the parking lot of the doggie salon, my mom
could not contain herself any longer:

“So, I presume from the kiss that you two are dating now? I
thought you told me last night that you decided not to get involved with him? Cali,
that is a very dangerous man, honey.”

“Mom. Devlin isn’t dangerous!”

I thought about that statement for a couple of seconds and
then had to qualify it with:

“At least I don’t
think
he’s dangerous. And yes, I do have a date with him.”

“Of course I’m not saying he’s a bad guy, sweetie. But he
is
dangerous. Take my word for it.
Believe it or not I see a lot of similarities between him and your biological father.
There’s a reason I found myself alone at the altar... He probably doesn’t even
know the
meaning
of the word
commitment.”

There it was again. First
Kesha
,
now mom… Couldn’t they accept that Devlin might be capable of change?

I couldn’t quite bring myself to reveal to them just how
excited and alive I felt when I was with that man. Especially to my mom; as her
“little girl”, I just wasn’t comfortable talking about the level of arousal
that Devlin ignited in me.

“Thanks for your concern, mom. I appreciate it, I really do. I
know you’re just worried about me getting hurt, but like you always told me, I
have to make my own mistakes and learn from them. Right?”

“Cali, you don’t know how much I hate having my wise and
practical advice used in an argument against me… Anyway, I can certainly see
why you’re attracted to him. He’s
gorgeous
,
no question about that!”

I never quite got used to my mom saying things like that even
though she said them all the time. Mothers weren’t supposed to have a sex life
and they definitely weren’t supposed to think your boyfriend was gorgeous. She
was asexual in my mind and I had
surely
been a virgin birth. I knew it was a completely silly game of denial that I
played in my head but that was my story and I was sticking to it.

In reality, I knew that my mother was a beautiful and
alluring woman who had had many men in her life…
 
Still, I felt compelled to play along.

“He’s mine, mom…” I replied, smiling.

We laughed in unison, both fully aware of the pretense. Mom
unlocked the door to the salon and the three pups ran inside. They had the “run
of the house” at
Dogz
R Us. As I put on a work apron,
my thoughts drifted to a mental inventory of the clothes in my closet. What did
I have to wear that was ritzy enough for the Pacific Vista Terrace Restaurant? And
did I have a dress that was sexy enough, too? I really wanted to knock that
man’s socks off tonight.

And his shirt………. and his pants………