The SEAL's Best Man (Special Ops: Homefront Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page B

back to Joe. “Let me
give you my number.”
    Joe glanced over to see Jack approaching.
“No need. I’ll find you.”
    As Jack’s eyes met Joe’s he snapped a salute.
“Sir.”
    Standing, Joe returned the salute. “Falcone,
heard you were joining Team 10 this summer.”
    “Yes, Sir. Just found out today.”
    “They’re a good team with a hell of a
CO.”
    “Yes, Sir.”
    Joe turned his attention back to Maeve. “Good
to see you again, Maeve,” he said and strode off.
    Maeve’s eyes couldn’t resist following
him down the stairs and across the street. Joe had a magnetic presence that she
imagined worked well for him in the Navy. He commanded attention with no effort
at all.
    Jack’s voice was clipped as he offered a
hand to Maeve, and eased her off the step. “Do you know him?”
    “Joe?” Maeve shrugged carelessly as they
walked toward the parking lot. “I ran into him at Mick’s house once.”
    He stopped. “Joe?”
    “Yeah. Joe.”
    Squinting his eyes against the late day
sun, Jack looked surly. “He’s Captain Shey to the rest of us.” Raising an
eyebrow, he must have noticed that she hadn’t yet pulled her eyes from Joe
disappearing into the distance ahead of them. “Isn’t he older than you go for?”
    “If older men all looked like that, I
wouldn’t have to date younger men.” She smiled, and then let her grin fade. “Why
did he say you’re going somewhere this summer, anyway? You’re not leaving
Annapolis till next year.”
    “I’m slated for an augmentee position
with Team 10. Just found out myself, actually. That’ll teach me not to get
behind in email.”
    “What’s Team 10? Some team of physics experts
or something?”
    Jack laughed. “No. SEAL Team 10.”
    Maeve frowned. “But you’re not a SEAL.”
    “Right. But sometimes they need guys with
particular experience to augment a mission.”
    Panic edging into her heart, she froze on
the sidewalk. “Why would they want you?”
    She hadn’t meant it to sound insulting. She
just didn’t like the idea of Jack on dangerous missions. She’d rather picture
him in his cute khakis at the front of a lecture hall, droning on about formulas
or some other nonsense.
    Safe. That’s what guys like Jack were
supposed to be. Safe. Didn’t he know that?
    Jack narrowed his eyes. “My nuclear
experience.”
    “But you’re an academic. You’re a
teacher, right?” Maeve had always thought of Jack as a nerdy brain trapped
inside an Oh-My-God-bod that was too damn handsome to be risked doing anything
dangerous.
    “This Academy post is actually the first
time I’ve ever taught. Most of my time, I’m on nuclear submarines.” Resuming a
brisk walk toward his truck, he didn’t even glance her way as he said, “Do you
want to write out the invitations today, or not? Because insulting my career
isn’t part of the plan this evening.”
    “I’m sorry. Really.” Reaching out for his
hand, she felt a connection when they touched, just as she always did. “I’m
just shocked. That’s all. And worried.”
    His eyes met hers. “That’s the nicest
thing you’ve said to me so far today. Come on. My truck’s just over there.”
    Silently mulling the situation, Maeve
followed him. “Why don’t you live on base like Mick?”
    “I’d rather get the housing allowance and
live someplace cheaper. I’m saving for something special.” He opened the
truck’s door for her. “Besides, I don’t feel like I’ve got some senior officers
looking over my shoulder all the time this way.”
    “Okay, I’ll bite. What are you saving
for?” she asked, climbing into his truck.
    Jack grinned, eyes cloaked in mystery. “Maybe
you’ll get lucky one day and I’ll show you.”
    On the short drive to Jack’s, Maeve
watched the streetlamps whiz by as they crossed the Naval Academy bridge. They
turned onto a neighborhood street lined with puffy cherry trees, and Maeve’s
eyes wandered to the picket fenced houses they passed. Each one, she would