Ryan walked over to a group of his men standing by the grill, shaking his head.  Good God, that woman was going to be the death of him.  Half the time he didn’t know if up was up or down was down when he was talking to her.  Not with the way his head spun.

He didn’t know whether to give her what she dished up right back or to duck down and kiss those pink lips of hers.  Because that would be one way to end their constant bickering.

Sarah looked sexy as sin again today in another flirty sundress and those goddamn sandals.  You’d think he’d never been around a woman before with the way his body reacted around her.  The second she was in his line of vision, it was all systems go.

And Jesus Christ.

Even things he’d never considered attractive before were enticing on her.  Her silky hair had blown in the wind as they’d been talking, revealing the three piercings she had in each ear.  Small, subtle.  Nothing over the top.  Just a hint of defiance in her look.

Briefly, he wondered if she had piercings anywhere else on her body.  He wasn’t really into that kind of thing, but on Sarah, it could be sexy as hell. He wanted to explore her entire body and see what else he discovered—see how she reacted to his touch.  To his kisses and caresses, to his tongue tracing over her skin.

Hell.

If she wasn’t Patrick’s sister, he might be tempted to cross the yard to stand beside her now.  See if she smelled as feminine and sweet as she looked.  Ask her out to dinner.  Steal a goodnight kiss.  He knew the rest of the men were always bedding random woman they took home with from Anchors—or they had been, prior to meeting their girlfriends.  But he was old-fashioned enough to at least want to take a woman out on a proper date first.

Wasn’t opposed to bringing a woman home with him after that though.

Or to making love to a woman all night long.  Until they knew each other intimately.  Thoroughly.  Until he’d memorized every line on her body and she was thoroughly sated.

Even in his wildest fantasies, that wasn’t about to happen with Sarah.

“Captain Mitchell, glad you could make it,” Matthew drawled, grinning as he stood beside his girlfriend Brianna.

Ryan’s gaze flicked over the happy couple, amazed that every man on his goddamn team had somehow ended up with a woman over the past year.  Wonders never ceased.

“I was beginning to doubt it with the craziness on base today,” he admitted.  “Barely had time to go home and change before making it here.”

“Sir,” Matthew nodded.  Ryan wordlessly exchanged a glance with Matthew and Brent.  They couldn’t address the hostage situation in the company of all the others, but all the men on the team had been briefed on the possibility they’d be sent out on an op in the imminent future.  U.S. forces on the ground in Afghanistan were doing their best to locate the missing American.  Until then, there wasn’t much Ryan or his men could do.  But the minute they got word, his men would be on a transport plane, flying halfway around the world.

Just like any other mission—only not.  This time an American woman’s life was in danger.  The stakes were even higher.

“Do you have any other plans for the weekend?” Brianna asked, interrupting his train of thought.  If he understood right, she’d grown up next to Matthew and they’d only recently gotten together.  Then she’d moved up from Florida to be with him.

It was hard to imagine a woman following him around the world with his career, but now that he was based out of Little Creek, he supposed it could work.  If he hadn’t been too busy to have a girlfriend.

Good God.  He was forty-one years old and single.  Some men thrived on that.  He was single more due to his circumstances.  He served God and country, and there was little room for a relationship when working his way up the ranks in the Navy.  When he’d been a SEAL himself, it was the last thing on his mind.

And now?  Who the hell knew.

“Probably just more work,” Ryan said.  “I’m up at 0500 every morning for a run but then need to be back on base.”

“Doesn’t sound like much of a day off,” Brianna admitted.

“Ma’am,” he said, nodding in agreement.  “I shouldn’t need the team tomorrow.  Spend some time with Gator,” he said, referring to Matthew by his nickname.  “You never know when the men will be otherwise occupied.”

Brianna worriedly looked to Matthew, who ducked down and brushed a chaste kiss across her forehead.  They’d gotten together so recently, he doubted they’d ever had to deal with a deployment yet.  What would it be like having a woman worry about him like that?  When he’d been on a SEAL team, he’d made damn certain never to get seriously involved with a woman.  And now?  There was always too much at stake.  Too many hours that needed to be logged in on base.  Too many situations to handle.

That and he hadn’t met a woman who’d seemed worth the trouble.  He’d go out on a date or two, bring a woman home…but the whole wining and dining and wooing?  That wasn’t his game.  He had no time for frivolities, let alone the mind games so many women seemed to play.

Maybe that was all the more reason he enjoyed when Sarah stood up to him.  That and the fact that she was drop-dead gorgeous.

His gaze swept the yard, finally spotting her near her nephew.  She was covering her eyes and counting aloud.  He smirked as he saw Logan hiding in plain sight behind a small tree.  But Sarah.  Seeing her standing there, her sexy little dress blowing in the breeze so that it clung to her breasts, hips, and thighs was arousing as hell.  She was playing a child’s game for fuck’s sake.

“I have more in the house,” Rebecca called out.  Ryan’s gaze swept to the puddle of lemonade on the picnic table and broken pitcher beside it.

“What do you need?” he asked, watching as Patrick swept the broken glass into a large trash can.

“Paper towels,” Rebecca said.  “There are plenty in the kitchen.”

“I’ll grab them,” Ryan said, turning and heading toward the house.

Voices from the other couples drifted across the yard.  Christopher “Blade” Walters was playfully arguing with his girlfriend Lexi about some new computer hackers overseas.  Ryan had thought Blade could hack into anything until he met Lexi.  If anyone gave him a run for his money, it was her.  Brent was trying to convince his girlfriend to go for a drive up to the secluded north end of the beach tonight.

He shook his head.  Who would’ve believed those guys would all end up with a woman of their own?  Hell.  Some of them were engaged.  Had a kid on the way.  He ground his jaw and pulled open the back door.

***

Sarah headed toward Patrick’s house, calling out to Logan that she’d play with him more later.  Right.  Patrick was about to haul that kid off to bed at any second.

Maybe she didn’t want to be where any of them were right at this moment anyway—pregnancy didn’t sound fun, kids were cute but a boatload of work, and she enjoyed her freedom.  Heck, she was meeting up with Morgan later at a bar down by the beach. 

Drinks with her bestie two nights in a row?

All in all, a perfect weekend.

The house was completely dark as she entered, which wasn’t entirely surprising since everyone was out in the backyard.  Still, it felt a little eerie to be inside all alone, surrounded by nothing but silence. She knew it was perfectly safe—Patrick kept all his doors locked, and everyone knew he was a Navy SEAL.  It’s not like someone would go breaking into a house with a group of rough and tumble alpha males out back.  There were cars parked in his driveway and up and down the street.

Nevertheless, a small niggle of worry crossed the back of her mind, and she shrugged it off.

The air conditioning chilled her bare arms, and she absentmindedly rubbed them as she walked through the darkening living room, lit only by a few beams of the setting sun.  Her cute, strappy sundress was perfect outside in the balmy weather, but the contrast in temperature inside the home was more than a little noticeable.

Give her some warm weather any day.

And leave it to her brother to crank up the AC to Arctic-like levels.  How did Rebecca and the kids put up with that?  She should do them all a favor and turn the thermostat up a few degrees.

Ha.

Like Patrick wouldn’t notice that in a second.

A sudden noise in the kitchen startled her from her thoughts, and she paused in the hallway.  A beat passed, but there was nothing but absolute silence.  Wrinkling her brow in confusion, she silently crept forward, thankful she had on her flat sandals.  Still…it had to be nothing, right?  Everyone was outside having fun.  Enjoying the last of the burgers and beer.  But anyone coming in to use the bathroom or grab something from the fridge would have walked in and turned on the light.  Maybe even called out hello.  Not prowled around in near-darkness.

She was being silly, she rationalized.  She was used to living alone.  Hearing things go bump in the night.  Why should she be worried in Patrick’s own home?

She rounded the corner, ready to flip on the light switch and tell herself she was letting her nerves get the best of her, when a large figure appeared in the doorway to the kitchen.  Her blood-curdling scream was probably load enough to wake the dead, but before she could run away, a large hand landed on her bare shoulder.

She stumbled backward, shoving at an immobile chest as her heart beat a million times a minute.  The dainty sandals and cute little sundress she had on suddenly made her feel practically naked in this man’s presence.

He loomed above her, large and frightening.

“Get off me!” she shouted, trying to pull away. Her fist flew in a punch toward her assailant’s face, but a strong hand stopped it midair, the man’s fingers closing over hers.

Icy cold dread filled her stomach.

Rebecca had a stalker a while ago.  Was he somehow out of jail and back?

Was this him?

“Sarah.”

She swung with her other arm, only to be stopped again, so that the man in Patrick’s kitchen now had both of her hands in his grip.

“Let go of me!  Stop!” she shouted, wrestling against him as her blood ran cold.  He was a wall of muscle and could hurt her in an instant if he wanted. 

“Sarah,” he said again, his voice firm.

“Wh—what?”

The lights suddenly came on as he released her, and she almost cried in relief as she realized Ryan was standing in front of her.  Towering over her was really more apt of a description, because holy hell, the man was huge.  He must’ve been a foot taller than her, with broad shoulders and large pecs exactly at her eye level.  The type of man she usually wouldn’t mind curling up against.  If she wasn’t busy throwing punches at him, that is.

She stepped back in confusion, shaking.

Concerned gray eyes watched her, and the briefest flicker of an expression she couldn’t quite read crossed his face as he glanced down at her still clenched fists. 

“What the hell were you doing here in the dark?” she asked.

“I think the circuit breaker blew.  A light bulb went out in the kitchen.”  He stepped infinitesimally closer, heat practically radiating off his large frame as she trembled.  “Are you okay?”

She crossed her arms.  “I’m fine.”

“You’re shaking,” he murmured, eyes running up and down her body as if he were checking for injuries.

“You grabbed me!  I thought Rebecca’s stalker was back and prowling around Patrick’s house.”

A look of anger flashed across his face.  “I apologize.  I didn’t mean to frighten you.  I thought you were going to hurt yourself in the dark when you screamed.”

“Didn’t you know I was there?”

“I heard someone coming down the hall.”

“Then why didn’t you say anything?” she asked, feeling exasperated.  Jesus Christ.  He’d given her the scare of her life intentionally?

His lips pressed together.  “It’s not like I jumped out yelling.  I was coming out of the kitchen to check the breaker.”

Her gaze slid to the door of the kitchen then back to him.  “If you’re still in here, then how’d the lights just come back on?”

“I texted Patrick and asked where the breaker was.  He must’ve already gone into his garage and flipped the switch back.”

“Oh.  Right.  Well you didn’t need to grab me like that.”

“I thought you were going to hurt yourself swinging at me like that.”

Sarah’s cheeks warmed.  She wasn’t the type of woman to go around blushing at every word a man said, but holy hell that was embarrassing.  She felt as ridiculous as a kitten batting at a lion for all the good her attempted punches had done.

“I guess I should take a self-defense class,” she muttered.

“You’ve got a pretty mean right hook.  I’m trained in combat though.”

“Yeah, I don’t usually go around sparring with Navy SEALs,” she said, letting out a deep breath.

“I could put you on the roster,” he said, cocking an eyebrow.

Holy hell.  Now the man was teasing her?

What was next? The floor would open up and swallow her whole?

“Everyone okay?” Patrick asked, poking his head in the door.  His eyes swept from her to his CO.  “I thought I heard shouting when I was in the garage.”

“Everything’s great,” Sarah said with an innocent smile.  No sense in telling her brother that she’d been fighting his CO.  As in, literally throwing punches at the man.

“I think I frightened your sister.  She throws a mean punch.”

“Jesus,” Patrick muttered.  “Sir, I apologize—”

“No apologies necessary.  I was at least partly to blame.”

“Partly?” she protested.

Crying suddenly coming from the back door caught their attention, and Patrick excused himself to go tend to his son, shooting Sarah a look of disbelief.

“I’ll take the blame,” Ryan assured her.

“Very funny.  You know he’d never blame you for anything.”

Ryan reached out, his thumb and forefinger lightly brushing over her forearm, causing electricity to shoot straight through her.  “He will if I say so,” he added, taking his hand away as she relaxed her stance, letting her arms fall to her sides.  “So who do you want to fight against?  Blade?  Cobra?”

“Ha ha,” she said sarcastically.  “How about none of the above?”

“Your call,” he conceded.  A hint of humor filled his eyes.

Voices from the back door drifted in, and Sarah looked over to see Evan and Alison walking into the living room.  “We’re going to call it a night,” Alison said.  “I’ve been on my feet too long as it is.”

Another couple followed them inside.  It was hard to keep all the guys on the SEAL team straight sometimes, but she recognized Lexi’s dark hair.  Which meant the man beside her was Christopher, the computer whiz.  Interestingly enough, Lexi was the only woman who seemed to like Ryan.  Not that he’d really talked with her much tonight, either, but apparently they’d worked on a case together way back when.  Some kind of hacker scandal or something.

And then Lexi had been kidnapped.

Seriously, this entire group needed a whole new profession. Stalkers, kidnappers—who knew what else?

Alison yawned, drawing Sarah’s attention over to her.  “Let me just grab my business card for you before you go.  Um, excuse me,” she added.

Ryan turned to let her pass through the doorway, so close that the cotton of his polo shirt brushed against her bare arm.  The woodsy scent of his aftershave filled the air between them, and she resisted the urge to shiver—it was that damn air conditioning anyway.  She still hadn’t adjusted the thermostat.

No, it had absolutely nothing to do with the arrogant man she’d almost decked earlier.

A man who commanded this entire group of Navy SEALs.

Shit.

Evan was saying goodnight to their CO, but Sarah could swear she felt Ryan’s heated gaze on her as she grabbed her purse from the table.  Couldn’t she have tried to punch one of the other guys instead?  She rummaged through her hobo bag, turning and handing her business card to Alison.

“No ice baths,” Ryan quipped.

“What?” Alison asked in confusion.

“Never mind him,” Sarah said smoothly.  “I already explained earlier that I’m a physical therapist.  Seriously, give me a call.”

“Thanks so much, I really appreciate it,” Alison said.

“No problem.”  Sarah’s phone buzzed in her handbag, and she pulled it out, seeing a text from Morgan.

She might as well duck out now while some of the others were leaving.  She’d meet up with Morgan and get the heck out of here before anyone else asked any specifics about her encounter with Ryan a few minutes ago.  The other guys would no doubt get a kick out of her sparring with their CO.

“Bye Captain Mitchell,” Lexi said.  “See you on Monday.”

“You work with them, too?” Sarah asked.

“Yes, I’m an IT specialist.”

“More like a hacker,” Christopher said, slinging his arm around Lexi’s shoulders as the three of them headed out the door.

“I didn’t realize you were on base.  I thought Patrick said you worked at the Pentagon.”

“I did,” Lexi said, her violet eyes brightening.  “But then I ended up down here.  Ran into Christopher again after ten years—and the rest is history.”

“And believe it or not, we regularly work together now.  Lexi’s the best at what she does—it’s awesome to have her on base with us.”

“Plus your CO loves me.”

“That’s hard to imagine—no offense,” Sarah added.

“None taken,” Lexi laughed.  “Trust me—he’s more bark than bite.”

Christopher unlocked the passenger door of his pick-up truck, pulling open the door for Lexi.  “Can we drop you off at your car, Sarah?”

“I’ll see her to her car,” a deep voice behind them interrupted.

“Sonofabitch,” Christopher muttered.

Sarah’s face heated as she slowly turned around.  Ryan’s eyebrow was cocked.  “No punches this time, okay?”