Finding Carly (SEAL Team Hawaii #5)(101)

When Carly turned and gestured for him, Jag didn’t hesitate. She was the best thing that ever happened to him, and he’d spend the rest of his life exactly where he wanted to be…right by her side.





Ashlyn was standing near the front doors to Aleck and Kenna’s condo complex as she waited for the taxi Robert had called for her. Slate exited the building and seemed surprised to see her.

“Hey, what’s up?” he asked.

Ashlyn gestured toward the long drive. “Waiting for my taxi.”

“Why didn’t you say something? I can take you home.”

“It’s fine. I didn’t want to bother anyone.” Ashlyn had taken a taxi to the barbeque that afternoon because she wasn’t sure if she was going to drink or not, and she didn’t want to drive if she got tipsy.

“I’m taking you home,” Slate said firmly. He turned around to go back inside, probably to tell Robert that he could cancel the taxi.

Ashlyn sighed at his high-handedness. But the more she hung out with Slate and the other guys on his team, the more she realized being overprotective was just a part of who they were. Slate couldn’t help it. So there was no point in protesting.

He strolled back out, and Ashlyn couldn’t help but admire—for the millionth time—how good-looking he was. She’d had her eye on him for quite a while, ever since she’d first met him in fact…despite all the protests otherwise to her friends. She wanted to think he was equally interested. But so far, neither of them had made a move to do anything about it.

Without a word, Slate took her elbow and steered her toward the parking lot and his Chevy Trailblazer. Her skin tingled where he touched her, and Ashlyn couldn’t keep the smile off her face as he held the passenger door open for her.

“What’s that smile for?” Slate asked.

“Nothing,” she said immediately.

He stared at her for a moment as she buckled herself in, then shut the door.

The ride to her apartment was comfortable, and for once they weren’t sniping at each other. When Slate pulled into her parking lot, he put the vehicle in park and turned off the engine, twisted toward her. “I was thinking…”

“Dangerous,” Ashlyn teased.

Slate rolled his eyes. “You want to go out sometime?”

She stared at him in surprise for a long moment, waiting for him to start laughing or something. When he didn’t, she asked, “Seriously?”

“Yeah. We hang out all the time already. I like you, even if I do think you take too many chances with your safety. And yes, I know you’re careful when you deliver meals, and I know you’re perfectly able to look after yourself, but I still worry because there are a lot of assholes out there. I thought that maybe you might…you know…want to hang out sometime. Without the others around.”

Ashlyn grinned. “Yes.”

It was Slate’s turn to look surprised. “Really?”

“Yeah. But I don’t want anything serious,” she added quickly. “Don’t think you can make up some excuse to move me into your house, or think that I’m going to fall madly in love. I wouldn’t mind hanging out and…you know. But I’m not looking for a relationship anytime soon.”

“‘You know’?” Slate repeated.

Ashlyn grinned wider. “Sex. Friends with benefits…that kind of thing.”

Slate returned her grin. “I’m perfectly all right with that.”

“Good.”

“It’s still early,” Slate mused. “You want to come over to my place and watch a movie or something?”

“We could go up to my apartment,” Ashlyn said. “I’ve got Netflix.”

“Netflix and chill?” he drawled, one brow quirked.

Ashlyn’s nipples peaked. She was more than ready to sleep with Slate. She’d been hot for him for what seemed like forever. And she liked sex. A lot. Missed it. Wouldn’t mind breaking her cold spell with the hot Navy SEAL. “Oh, yeah,” she said, a little more breathy than she’d intended.

Slate’s eyes dropped down her body, and she liked the way he was looking at her a hell of a lot. He climbed out of the car and walked around to her side. When Ashlyn hopped out, he shut her door and immediately backed her up against it. The metal was still warm from the earlier sunshine.

He leaned close and took her lips without a word.

Ashlyn threw her arms around his neck and held on as he kissed her with all the pent-up sexual tension they’d been tiptoeing around for months.

When he finally lifted his head, Ashlyn could feel the dampness between her legs.

“Nothing serious,” he murmured as he studied her.

“Nothing serious,” she echoed.

Then Slate wrapped an arm around her waist and they walked toward the entrance to her apartment building.

Her friends were gonna die when they heard she and Slate were finally acting on their attraction. They’d probably go overboard and assume they’d get married in a week or something, since they were all madly in love with their own SEALs. But Ashlyn was more than satisfied to merely hook up. She was practical, and they were too different to actually end up together in the long run…but in the short term? Ashlyn was all for casual dating and sex.

She couldn’t keep the smile off her face as Slate led her up the stairs.