SEAL.
Guys don’t advertise that they’re in Special Ops, Tyler had
once told her.
Maddox Kerry hadn’t lied to her so far, and from the
high-pitched whir of a power drill she heard in her house right now, he’d also
been honest about the tools.
She felt some semblance of relief.
Feeling curious, and just safe enough to venture beyond her
door, she went to the kitchen to grab a couple bottles of Sam Adams. Lord knew
he deserved one if he was actually fixing that damn doorknob.
The floor creaked beneath her feet as she approached him. He
sat in front of the open door on the floor of her foyer, a pile of tools
alongside him, looking like the best fantasy she could have possibly conjured
up tonight.
Tyler? Tyler who? Maybe having a hot former SEAL hanging
around her place for a while might actually be good for her.
“This is really nice of you,” she said when he glanced her
way with a grin. She extended a beer toward him.
“Hey, thanks,” he replied, acknowledging the drink. “And no
problem. I broke it, after all.”
“Oh, I think it would have broken in the hand of anyone who
grabbed it next. Kind of like everything else breaks in this house.”
“Is it that bad?”
She shrugged, settling herself onto the floor near him. “Well,
it’s a lot better than it was .”
He cracked a smile. “How long have you lived here?”
“Only a couple months. My aunt died earlier this year and I
took over her bed-and-breakfast. But it was in pretty bad shape. So I’m fixing
it up before we reopen.”
Setting the beer down on the floor, his hand stilled a
moment. “I’m sorry for your loss,” he said.
They were the same words she’d heard so often from people
these past months. Everyone in this town seemed to like her Aunt Lydia and were
shocked by the car accident that cut her life short. But from him, the words
seemed intensely sincere, as though loss was something he understood on a
deeper level than most.
“Were you close to her?”
She shifted on the tile of the foyer as she sipped her beer.
“Yes, we—” she started, then shook her head. “No—I don’t know. Sort
of. It’s complicated.”
He grinned slightly. “Family often is.”
So, he’s hot and smart , she thought. Dangerous
combination .
“Why aren’t you open? The place is in great shape.” Nudging
aside the drill, he picked up a screwdriver and gave it a few turns. Then,
setting it down, he tugged the doorknob. “Especially now that you have a
working doorknob.” He flashed a grin that made her heart melt.
“Thanks… Maddox.” She tacked on his name as an afterthought,
almost hoping that saying it would make her feel more comfortable sharing a
roof with this guy. “I’ve never met a Maddox before.”
“Yeah. It’s kind of unusual. Made my SEAL name pretty easy
for the guys to come up with.”
“Your SEAL name?”
“The nickname your teammates sometimes give you.”
“So what’s your SEAL name?” she dared to ask.
“Mad Dog.”
“Mad Dog.” She smirked. “I think I prefer Maddox, especially
since we’ll be sharing the same roof for a while. So, are you still in the
Navy?”
Shaking his head, he wound the cord of the drill around its
handle. “I left the Navy when I left the SEALs a few months ago.”
There seemed to be a lot of weight in that one sentence, and
she could see a story hidden behind his eyes. But seeing as she just met him an
hour ago, she decided not to pry.
She angled herself as she sat near him so that she wouldn’t
miss out on a single flex of those muscles as he packed up his tools. She was a
woman, after all.
Her eyes diverted from him only an instant to glance in the
direction of the Academy gate. “Did you go to the Academy?”
“No, I went through OCS.” He laughed suddenly. “If I went to
the Academy, then I’d have known better than to try to get a hotel here last-minute
during Commissioning Week.” He tossed back a gulp of his Sam Adams. “And you’re
evading my
Annabel Joseph, Cara Bristol, Natasha Knight, Cari Silverwood, Sue Lyndon, Renee Rose, Emily Tilton, Korey Mae Johnson, Trent Evans, Sierra Cartwright, Alta Hensley, Ashe Barker, Katherine Deane, Kallista Dane