I raced down the beach, glancing back and taking another look at Aria. She had emerged from the pool, and her wet swimsuit clung to her body, showing off her incredible ass. In the water, I had seen the outline of her hard nipples. I couldn’t believe that was really her. An Olympic gold medalist in my sights. Not only was she beautiful, but she was also smart and dedicated.

And flexible as fuck. I remember watching her gold medal winning routine on television last summer with my sister. At first, I thought the entire sport was creepy—the women were done up with a ton of makeup and had way too shiny hair. But once the routine started, I was blown away. Her breath control was incredible, as they were underwater for most the routine. I remembered her perfect straddle split and another part where her leg went behind her ear. I wanted to spread her legs wide on my couch and bury myself in her pussy, eating her until she came all over my face.

I couldn’t wait to fuck her.

Devin hit me on the back. “Man, did you see the way that redhead opened her legs?”

Great men thought alike. “No shit, dumbass. She’s Aria Clements.”

Devin’s gaze clouded, his expression was distant. I never knew if he was just playing with me or if he was having a flashback to his glory days.

“Who?”

“The Olympic synchronized swimming gold medalist. America’s Little Mermaid. She’s on a Wheaties box.”

He licked his lips. “I’d love to eat her box.”

I punched his arm. “Fuck off, dude. I saw her first. Did you even watch the Olympics last summer?”

“Not synchro. A bit of the swimming.”

We ran back toward base. As we left the resort part of the beach and entered the restricted area, I was grateful that my place of work had multi-million-dollar views. BUD/S candidates lined the beach holding swift boats above their heads. Next year, I’d be one of the instructors. I couldn’t wait to torture the next generation of SEALs.

“Well, I did. My sister is a huge fan. Aria is sexy as fuck.”

Devin smirked. Nothing had changed from his rock star days—he was still a player. A different woman every night. Just as many chicks would drop to their knees to suck off a SEAL as they would to blow a rock star.

But I wasn’t like him. I was picky. I wanted a woman who I could admire and respect. A woman who had goals and a life of her own. A champion, an overachiever.

Someone like Aria.

She intrigued me and was hot. Hell, she’d be a perfect partner for me in TritonFix, my side hustle.

On my rare weekends off, I provided consulting to local entrepreneurs—teaching them effective project management skills and how to work with their employees by conducting team building activities. To some of my Teammates, it sounded boring, but honestly, I loved helping the civilian world apply military discipline to business practices. And I hoped that one day it would grow into a company that could support my family.

Aria and I would make the perfect team—a SEAL and an Olympian. Clients would be knocking down my door to work with us.

In a few weeks, I was a pitching a huge client. If I could promise him a session with Aria and me, I’d definitely close the deal.

But first, I had to get her to go out with me.

Devin and I hit the locker room and showered after our run. Today we had an intelligence briefing. And we’d soon deploy on an operation.

But it would be my last mission for a while.

No, I wasn’t leaving the Teams. Not until I retired or died. But after eight years of training, deploying, fighting overseas, I had one more mission, and then I’d be assigned three years of shore duty. Maybe I’d be around long enough to finally have a real relationship.

I grabbed my phone and logged into the Del’s website. Mermaid fitness. Tomorrow at eight a.m.

Perfect.

Grinning, I picked up the phone to call my mom.

She answered on the first ring. “Erik? What’s going on, honey? Are you leaving again?”

My poor mom. Clearly, I didn’t call her enough. Every time she answered the phone, she assumed that I was going to tell her I was about to deploy.

“No, Mom. I’ll be around for a bit. Was just wondering if Holly would join me in Coronado for a class tomorrow.”

“Of course. She’d love to go anywhere with you. What kind of class?”

“Mermaid fitness at the Del. Olympic Gold Medalist Aria Clements is teaching it.”

My mom gasped. “Oh Erik, she’ll be thrilled! Wow . . . Aria Clements. I love her. Do you mind if I tag along?”

Damn it. I was trying to hit on Aria. The last thing I needed was my mom cock blocking me. But I couldn’t say no to her. “No, of course not. Meet me at the Del at 7:30. Traffic’s pretty bad on the bridge at that time so be sure to leave early.”

“I will. She’ll be so excited. See you tomorrow. Love you.”

“Love you, Ma. Bye.”

Ah, fuck. That didn’t go as planned at all. But it was my own damn fault for using my sister to get a date.

I googled Aria and watched her Olympic medal winning performance. My cock hardened as my mind flashed to the millions of positions I could fuck her in. She was so graceful, so precise. She made the moves underwater seem so effortless.

But I knew from personal experience combat dive training that learning to hold one’s breath under the water for that length of time was no easy task.

Hell, plenty of men in my own BUD/S class flunked out during dive training.

I bet Aria would pass Second Phase with flying colors.

Ha. That would be the day. There had been rumors for years now that the first female would trickle down the pipeline. A few women even passed Ranger course.

But I’d passed Ranger course, too. It was challenging, no doubt, but nowhere near as intense as BUD/S.

And the Teams weren’t ready for the first female SEAL. I was so sick of arguing about it with my feminist mother. Yes, women were completely capable of achieving whatever they wanted to achieve.

But that didn’t give them the right to serve in combat.

There was no place for a woman on a Team. I thought about my last deployment and couldn’t imagine hiding out in the middle of the desert with a woman upsetting the balance of my men. Our Team bonded together about how much we missed pussy, liquor, and the comforts of home. We didn’t need a distraction on our top-secret missions.

But I didn’t need to stress about that now. I had only one thing on my mind.

Getting a date with Aria.