Being away the past two days on a job for Alpha Mountain had been a good distraction, but it’d also kept me away from her. Kennedy and I went to New York to pick up a VIP and play bodyguards. The diplomats had wanted extra security for a bachelor party in Vegas, so we’d spent two days babysitting. Following them around as they partied at the pool and in the high stakes section of the casino had been an easy job without any firefights, explosions or helicopter extractions.
No Megan either.
I paced and eventually caught my breath, wiping my sweaty brow with the hem of my t-shirt. “We need another barbeque. Tonight.”
Kennedy rolled his eyes at my unsubtle attempt to get in front of my elusive hook-up. Elusive because she hadn’t gotten back to me. Checked in with Indi about me. Nothing.
“Jesus, did you grow a vagina?” he asked.
I glared at him but knew he was right in questioning. I wasn’t one to pine.
“Yeah, that must’ve been some pussy.” Taft tilted his head back to squirt water over his face. He was sweaty and dirty, especially his back half after taking a slide down the side of the mountain.
I growled, not liking how he considered Megan to be just pussy.
“You asked Indi for her number. She give it to you?” Kennedy asked.
“Yeah.”
“Did you call the girl? Tell her to meet you beneath the bleachers after gym class?”
Kennedy liked to push, but he was the biggest flirt of all of us. Liked all the ladies. I doubted he’d know the perfect pussy if it sat on his face.
“I texted,” I admitted to them. “Haven’t heard back.”
She worked at the sheriff’s office, and I could stop in now that I was back, but even me—and my new vagina—knew that was a little extreme no matter how I felt. Showing up at a woman’s work was definitely more stalker than past lover.
“Maybe she’s not interested in more.” Ford offered me a slow head shake of what I assumed was a mixture of disappointment and amusement at my predicament. “Women are allowed to have one-night stands.”
“It wasn’t one night,” I snapped, wishing I’d had a whole night with her instead of a quickie that took all of fifteen minutes.
“Fine, a quick fuck. Whatever. Not all women have sensitive emotions like you do. That’s all I’m saying,” Ford added as if that clarified anything.
“Yeah, pathetic isn't a good look for you, bro.” Kennedy flicked the front of my cap, making it fly off into the dirt.
I snapped the hat up, ran a hand over my sweaty head, then put it back in place. “Oh yeah? What would you do in my shoes, oh, Master of Women? When you make a real connection with one but she bails?”
Taft snorted. “I’m not sure I’d consider a quickie down at the barn a real connection, Romeo.”
No one at the barbeque had missed the way we’d snuck off or how I’d been into her since the day at Indi’s house when we’d first met.
I expected another jab from Kennedy, our resident man-whore, but for some reason, he slid a glance at Quincy, who seemed to be extremely interested in the hem of her jogging shorts.
She’d done the course with Kennedy and Ford earlier and had a towel slung over her shoulders, clearly not wanting to get involved in my problems.
She was the newest member of Alpha Mountain Security. She and her helicopter. While not a SEAL, she’d been in the Navy herself, hauled our asses out of sticky spots more times than I could remember. She was used to our stupid conversations. I didn’t know a better pilot—man or woman—and that was why she was here. Only the best for Alpha Mountain. Hooyah.
The way they were acting, I had to wonder if Kennedy and Quincy had hooked up at some point. Not in the week she’d been here but before that. While we’d been in service. Quincy was smart, and I figured she’d know better than getting mixed up with him. Kennedy was a player with a capital P, but then again, I was pining for a woman who’d fucked and fled. I wasn’t one to judge, that was for sure.
“How do you know what happened at the barn?” I asked Taft. “I could’ve been reciting Pablo Neruda to her while she lounged on a picnic blanket near the stream.”
Taft angled his head and gave me a look that screamed get real. “Uh-huh. So you didn’t give her that SEAL ride she was looking for?”
My nostrils flared, and my brows slammed down. For some reason, that irritated the fuck out of me. Of course, I’d been as eager to give her that ride as she’d been to get it, but I hated the idea of Megan thinking of it—of me—as just a SEAL ride.