SEAL's Embrace - Makenna Jameison Page 0,54

waist, seemingly not caring that his buddy was right there, and kissed the top of her head. It was sweet and comforting, but her body immediately responded to his touch. Someday, when she was better, she wanted to kiss this man for real. To have Grayson pull her into his arms and kiss her like he meant it. Show her she wasn’t imagining the chemistry and sparks between them.

Now wasn’t the time or place, and she didn’t want him to catch the flu she was recovering from anyway. But goodness, she was certainly looking forward to the day when they went to dinner together, a real date, and a real goodnight kiss.

Chapter 14

Grayson glanced around his living room at his teammates. All five other men were there, Raptor even coming back early from his camping trip. He’d brought Clarissa along, too, and she and Hailey were sitting on the balcony sipping cups of tea. Grayson didn’t even know if she was usually a tea drinker like Hailey, but she’d seemed to want to put the other woman at ease and had immediately started talking to her about San Diego and life out here on the west coast.

He shook his head, stunned for a moment as he watched them. A couple of months ago every guy on the team had been single. They’d head out to bars on the weekends, maybe take home a woman for the night. It had been a few months since he’d been interested in that. After his last fling had fizzled out almost immediately, and he’d seen what Raptor had with Clarissa, he knew he’d eventually want something more.

And then—bam. He’d seen Hailey when they were in Bagram and felt like he’d been hit with a bolt of lightning. Sure, he’d been instantly attracted to women before, but this was different. She wasn’t like the types who chased after the guys on his SEAL team and bedded every man they met. She was special—intelligent, independent, maybe a little shy, with the way she blushed as he flirted with her, but damn. Something inside him had immediately stood up and taken notice.

It was crazy how fast it had happened, but he was falling for her. Hard.

He’d taken more time to get to know her than just about any woman he’d been with in the past. And he hadn’t even slept with her yet.

“They seem to be getting along,” Blake said in a low voice.

“I’m glad,” Grayson admitted. “Hailey could use some female friends out here. She doesn’t know anyone. And of course I’d want her to get along with your woman.”

“Yep. I take it things are already getting serious if she’s staying here with you.”

Grayson blew out a breath. “It’s crazy fast.”

“And when you know you know,” Blake replied.

“She seems happy chatting with Clarissa though. It’s always tough not knowing anyone.”

“Same for Clarissa,” Blake said. “I know she’s befriended some of our neighbors, but she left everything behind in Texas.”

“Is she moving out here permanently?” Grayson asked, eyeing his teammate.

“If I can convince her to. She’s talking about teaching classes online this fall. If she’s happy, I’m happy. I guess she could teach at a university out here, but for now, she seems to like the idea of keeping her old job and doing the virtual class thing.”

“Well damn. Good for you guys,” Grayson said.

He set his plate down on the coffee table, five empty pizza boxes scattered around. The men had all shown up hungry, and Grayson had been happy to order lunch for everyone since they were here to help Hailey. They may have just gotten back from a mission, but his friends had dropped everything to be here.

“So what’s the latest?” Troy asked, getting down to business now that everyone had eaten.

Grayson filled them in on the texts, including the most recent one this morning.

Ethan glanced over at him. “She looked scared out of her mind,” he said in a low voice. “I hate that some asshole is terrorizing a woman.”

“And we’re sure it’s related to Bagram,” Troy said, frowning.

“It seems most likely,” Grayson said. “Shit goes down there, she’s injured and flown home, and then suddenly a week later she’s getting these texts?”

“It’s suspicious as hell,” Blake said. “I assume someone is looking into the numbers?”

Grayson nodded. “I spoke with the CO, and the IT guys on base are aware. They’re spoofed though—all random numbers. It doesn’t give us a damn clue about where they’re coming from.”

“Do you think whoever is sending them