Ride the Tide (Deep Six #3) - Julie Ann Walker Page 0,90

about 2 percent of the human population are natural-born killers. Spec-ops guys. Mercs. SWAT. Most, if not all, of us fall into the 2 percent.”

When her brow wrinkled, he was quick to continue. “I’m not saying that makes us bad. We’re not psycho killers who indiscriminately murder people. But I’m saying it makes us different from the rest of the population. Abnormal.”

He gazed at her then. He wasn’t sure why. Wasn’t sure what he was hoping to see in her eyes. Sympathy? Understanding? Repulsion?

Or did he just have the need to look at her? As much as he could, for as long as he could?

“For the sake of argument”—she went back to stroking his chest hair—“let’s say I buy this whole 2 percent idea. How does that answer my question of how the navy changed you?”

“Because I didn’t know I fell into that category before I became a frogman. And maybe I coulda gone my whole life not knowing. Maybe I coulda gone my whole frickin’ life thinking I was normal.”

He wished he could be different for her. He wished he could be what she needed. He wished—

“You said earlier that for some people, things from their past continue to inform their present. You said you never wanted to fall in love again because you’d be a disappointment. I thought both of those statements alluded to your bad divorce. But it’s more than that, isn’t it?”

Trust Alex to figure it all out. To figure him out.

“Sarah knew me from before I became a SEAL.” His voice was low. Hoarse. “She watched the change happen, and she couldn’t bear it. Hated it, in fact.” He shook his head. “I don’t blame her for wanting out of a relationship with a man who was no longer normal.”

Alex’s eyes narrowed. “I’ve never met your ex-wife, but when you spoke just then, I got the feeling I was hearing her words. Not yours.”

He shrugged. “Doesn’t matter who’s saying it. It’s still the truth.”

“Mason, I think—”

“Enough talking,” he interrupted because he’d reached his limit. He’d spoken more words in the last two days than he’d spoken in two years. Besides, the truth was out of him. She knew the whole of it, and he didn’t want to waste one more minute of this day with her. “Let’s get back to more important activities.”

Just as he was leaning in to claim her mouth, the entirely heinous sound of Doc’s voice boomed out of the tree line. “Finish digging sand crabs, you two, and get your asses back to the house—preferably with clothes on! Just got an email from Special Agent Fazzle! He’ll be calling us on the satphone in twenty minutes! They found the speedboat and the third body and got a hit on some prints!”

Alex had squealed and pulled the edge of the blanket over herself after hearing the first word out of Doc’s mouth. But not before Mason watched her skin blush with so many shades of rose and pink that he was reminded of the dawn. When the sun first sent its warm rays across the sky.

Fucking piss-poor timing, he thought, silently calling Doc a litany of unkind names.

“We’re coming!” Alex yelled, and then her cheeks flamed red when Doc chuckled and she realized her double entendre.

Wrinkling her nose, she whispered, “I’m assuming ‘digging sand crabs’ is another of the colorful euphemisms you guys have come up with for sex?”

While Mason would like to say he had no idea what she was talking about, the truth was that right behind dick jokes, the next thing his former teammates and current business partners enjoyed best was coming up with creative phrases for the act of procreation.

He avoided answering her by calling out to Doc, “We’ll be right behind you!”

Only after he heard the crunch of Doc’s footfalls grow faint did he stand and offer Alex a hand up.

“A return to reality, huh?” She swiped up her glasses and slipped them onto her face.

“One way or another,” he reluctantly agreed, “it always creeps back in.”

She sighed and bent to retrieve her bra and panties. The sight of her bare butt, all sweet and plump and heart-shaped—not to mention the peek he got at her womanhood, still swollen and ripe—had his recently spent manhood twitching with interest.

Do we really needa be present during this phone call? Couldn’t we get the information from the others…after?

Alex saw what was happening between his legs, and her eyes pinged to his face. His intention must’ve been written there in indelible