I kept telling myself that one of these days I’d snap out of it and she would no longer tempt me. But I knew it wasn’t true, and after a year of growing attraction and need, I couldn’t deny it even to myself.
My cell buzzed, and I glanced at it only to be reminded of why I could never be with her.
I was dedicated to my job and being a SEAL made up a lot of who I was. Like an extension of a limb, so cutting it off meant losing a part of myself.
I’d seen too many of my brothers’ relationships fall apart due to the nature of our deployments, unable to tell their spouses when they would happen, where, or even how long we’d be gone. But one thing was always clear—we were putting our lives in danger.
Putting my sister through these things was hard enough. If I started a relationship with Cora and it turned out she couldn’t handle my life, it would destroy me.
Besides all that, I’d learned my lesson from what my sister had gone through a few years ago when my team had been betrayed by someone on the inside. She’d been forced to go into hiding with the Silver Saints MC, who’d taken her in thanks to me calling in a favor with an old friend.
Eventually, we’d taken the traitor down, but not before Harlowe was almost killed. Granted, it had worked out in the end because she’d met her husband and made me an uncle. I couldn’t imagine that kind of luck would strike twice. And if something happened to Cora because of me...I honestly had no concept of what would happen other than to know my reaction would be nuclear.
So this was all we could have. At least until some motherfucker stepped in to do what I couldn’t, and I was forced to leave before I killed him. It crossed my mind to threaten away every male who looked at her twice. Would it be so bad for her to live her life single?
“Hey, Huntley.” Cora’s sweet voice broke through my thoughts and lit my soul with happiness. She beamed at me, and her dimples dug into her cheeks as they bloomed with pink. Her breathing increased a small amount, but it was enough to make her breasts jiggle enticingly.
Fuck, she’s gorgeous, I groaned in my head. I commanded my dick to lay low, but he ignored me and attempted to rise and salute the woman of my dreams.
“Hi, gingersnap.”
Cora giggled like she always did when I used the nickname, and the sound sent a pang in my heart and even more swelling in my leather pants.
This had to be the last time I saw her. I was leaving for a deployment soon, and I was determined to use that time to get control of myself and walk away from her. Just as I’d vowed every time I’d been on an operation since I met my ginger beauty.
1
Cora
It had been four long months since Huntley Reed had last come into the bank branch where I worked as a teller, and I’d been starting to wonder if I was ever going to see the handsome Naval officer again. The first time he’d come through my line to deposit a check, I’d stammered out my usual professional greeting because I was struggling with my body’s completely inappropriate reaction to him. My throat had gone dry as my gaze trailed up his tall body, taking in how the soft material of his shirt was stretched taut over his muscular chest, shoulders, and biceps. My fingers had itched to touch his short blond hair, and the knowing gleam in his hazel eyes had made my cheeks flame with embarrassment.
Over the past sixteen months, I’d gotten better at handling my attraction to Huntley. I’d even managed some flirtatious banter that I’d been hoping would lead to him asking me out on a date. Even though he flirted back, he’d never taken us past casual conversation. But then he’d up and disappeared—probably because he’d been deployed—and I’d started to wonder if the attraction had been completely one-sided. Maybe I’d read more into our conversations than what had really been going on. If he’d been able to walk away from me so easily without saying goodbye, then he couldn’t possibly have been drawn to me as much as I was to him.
It took almost all this time, but finally I’d convinced myself that I’d gotten over my feelings for him. But as soon as I spotted him through the glass windows that lined the front of the building, I realized how wrong I’d been. It turned out that the old adage was true—absence made the heart grow fonder. The attraction had only deepened during Huntley’s absence, and I found myself feeling even more tongue-tied than I had during our first meeting as he walked to the end of my line. My heart raced in my chest as I stammered my way through transactions for the three customers in front of him.