Hot SEAL, Heartbreaker - Cat Johnson Page 0,4

love life, for example. They were nearing the eternity mark on this topic alone as Gage drawled out, “What’s this? Heartbreaker’s not a fan of Valentine’s Day? How can that be?”

What Brian was not a fan of, was the nickname he’d been saddled with. His teammates seemed to think he deserved it. Brian disagreed.

So he liked to play the field? So what? He never got serious with any one woman so it wasn’t like he was a cheater.

He wouldn’t even consider himself a player. He never misled the women he was with that he was looking for anything serious.

Sure, Brian believed in monogamy—for other people. Believed that once you committed to another person, you stuck with them. Forever.

Forever just wasn’t for him. Commitment wasn’t for him. At least not right now. So he kept things casual. That way they could all have a lot of fun and no one got hurt.

“You didn’t know? Oh, man. Heartbreaker freaking hates Valentine’s Day,” Liam told Gage.

Liam was right about one thing. Brian’s hatred of Valentine’s Day was right up there with his loathing of the name Heartbreaker. But how did Liam know that?

He shot a sideways glance at Liam and wondered how the hell he was so well-versed about his hatred of all things Valentine related.

His aversion to Valentine’s Day wasn’t something Brian talked about—or even usually thought much about, except for during a couple of weeks in February.

Hell, often the team was in some foreign country on an op for the dreaded holiday.

He enjoyed those Valentine’s Days the most. When in the middle of a sausage fest on some outpost the fake holiday he was sure the greeting card companies and floral industry had invented didn’t matter. Not at all.

Then, it was just another day on the calendar. As it should be. The thought was making Brian long for the deployment that had just come to an end.

But apparently he wasn’t so good at hiding his aversion to the holiday, if Liam had guessed his feelings.

That didn’t mean Brian couldn’t try denying it now. “Pfft. I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He shook his head and then focused on staring at the level of beer in his mug.

“Sure you don’t.” Liam laughed.

“What do you have against Valentine’s Day?” Pops frowned, looking seriously interested in this ridiculous conversation.

“What do I have against Valentine’s Day?” Brian’s eyes widened in shock.

What kind of a question was that?

He barely recognized the group of battle-hardened operators with him.

Brian didn’t know how they’d gotten to this point, sitting around talking about hearts and flowers instead of guns and bullets, but as long as they were here, he felt it was his responsibility to set the guys straight about the worst of all the holidays.

How could anybody like the made-up, commercialized day, when roses quadrupled in price and normal things like having dinner took on a significance of enormous proportions?

But none of that was the real reason why Brian truly hated the holiday.

It was what the day did to the females of the species that had him wishing for an op to whisk him out of the country on February fourteenth.

“It’s because it makes women fucking nuts, that’s why,” he told Pops.

“Gotta agree with him there.” Ray offered a rare opinion from behind the bar as he walked past on his way to the beer taps.

“See. Ray knows.” Brian tipped his head toward the old man.

Being raised by a single mom, Brian had seen the crazy himself.

The years she had a boyfriend on Valentine’s Day, she’d get excited, dancing around the house, expecting it to be some hugely romantic day. A day that might change her life . . . and his.

Of course the day, and her date, inevitably fell short, which left her disappointed and usually led to the end of the relationship altogether.

The years she didn’t have a boyfriend on Valentine’s Day were just as bad. Maybe worse. Then, depression set in.

For a week before and a week after the holiday, she’d drag around the house like her life was over. A trail of empty wine bottles left in her wake.

It had been more than a boy should have to handle on his own, but handle it Brian did. At least until he left for the Navy.

“So no plans then, Heartbreaker?” Joker asked, no doubt being a smart ass. Knowing the question would piss him off.

“Yeah, I got plans. Hey, Ray! You working on Valentine’s Day?” Brian called to him.

“I work every day,” the old man