Mitch gave a silent groan as his gaze meandered down legs so perfectly shaped, so temptingly long, that it’d take him hours to appreciate them the way they deserved.
“You wanna wipe the drool off your chin?”
“What?” Mitch realized what he was doing. He gave his friend a hard look. “What the hell is going on?”
Gabriel pulled a contemplative face, leaned back in his chair and locked his hands behind head.
“Hmm, if I had to guess, I’d say you’re horny for the Twinkie. And seeing as how her body has made many a man sit up and beg, that’s not a surprise.”
How many a man? And how had Romeo recognized Livi?
“Details,” Mitch demanded.
“She’s the hottest thing to hit fitness in years,” Gabriel told him. He grinned at Mitch’s haughty look. “I dated a gal who was trying to get on her workout team. Olivia Kane, The Body Babe. I watched a few of her videos with Casey. Or was it Carey?”
“You should keep records,” Mitch suggested, shaking his head. “Or maybe figure out a mnemonic rhyme to remember who’s who.”
“Not enough letters in the alphabet for that, Bro.”
But Mitch wasn’t paying attention anymore. He was busy watching Livi stretch one arm over her head and catch her fingers with the other behind her back. The move pushed her shoulder blades together and lifted her breasts higher. His body went into overdrive, lust pounding through him in throbbing waves.
Mitch wasn’t a horn dog. Not like Romeo pretended to be. He appreciated women, and had definitely had more than his share. And like Romeo, he never had to pursue them. Which made it easy to walk away. When he was redeployed. When he was sent on a mission. When he was ready to move on. Mitch only had one true passion, one focus.
His career.
Livi bent in half, her hands flat on the floor, butt high and back arched, so she faced forward. Her ponytail swung in time with the pulsing moves she made to warm up and stretch out her muscles.
For the first time in his life, he wondered if he had room for another passion.
“You looking to start something up with her?” Romeo asked, his tone low and quiet. “If you do, be careful.”
Mitch tore his gaze off the sloping muscles of Livi’s back and shoulders to the man next to him.
“Careful? Her friend might have ‘man-eater’ written all over her, but Livi doesn’t strike me as the kind of woman who needs a warning label.”
“Take it from me, she’s even more dangerous. She’s the relationship kind.” Romeo gave a sage nod. Then he eyed Mitch and added, “Course, just because I’m relationship poison doesn’t mean you are. I don’t want to be a bad influence on you. Maybe you ought to give a relationship a try. You might like it.”
And what if he did? There was no way a man could have two priorities. Could he put his career goals in second place?
“Not going to happen,” he said, as much to himself as to his friend. “I’m leaving at first light for Virginia Beach to report to DEVGRU screening, remember.”
DEVGRU, the Navy’s counter-terrorism group, was the elite of the elite. Reporting to Naval Special Warfare Command, the unit often worked with the CIA and always operated in the dark. The invitation to screen was an honor, regardless of whether Mitch made it through training—or even chose to try.
He gave a silent groan as Livi shifted. She was grabbing her ankles now, her face pressed to her knees and her butt temptingly high in the air.
Enticement like this, he’d never seen in his life. This kind of enticement made a man think twice about assignments, regret deployments.
Mitch firmed his jaw—might as well, since everything else had firmed up—and shook his head. That wasn’t going to happen to him. His old man had done that. Not that Mitch didn’t think his mother was pretty awesome, because he did. But if his grandfather, the Admiral, had pointed it out once, he’d pointed it out a million times. If Thomas Donovan had put his career ahead of his personal life, he’d have been a vice admiral instead of a captain.
Of course, the old man always responded by reminding his father that if he’d been as career-obsessed as he, he wouldn’t have his son. So Mitch couldn’t fault the decision too much.
But that didn’t mean he was going to follow it.
“You know, Irish, she’s damned good. She might actually take you.” Romeo grinned at the crowd gathering around. Tessa waved her hand high in the air, calling for the attention of anyone who hadn’t already wandered over. “It’s going to be painful when she does, too. There’s gotta be three teams here to bear witness. Good thing it’s not our platoon.”
He and Romeo usually deployed on the east coast. They were only in Coronado for the next few months to take part in a new training program. But the SEALs were a small family. What one platoon knew, the others would soon know, too. Nobody ferreted out secrets like SEALs.
Mitch wasn’t worried. He didn’t lose.
“What’s going on here?” a loud voice called out.
Greetings and exclamations flew through the room as Roz Evans appeared, a tray of sandwiches in each hand and bats hanging from her ears. This was her one concession to Halloween, Mitch knew, since the foot-tall blue hair was everyday wear.
“I hear you boys are causing a ruckus,” she said a couple minutes later, after she’d handed off the sandwiches.
“Would I do that?” Mitch asked, offering her his most charming smile.
“You might not,” she acknowledged before tilting her head at Romeo. “But this one would.”
“Only because you keep turning me down.”
Livi and Tessa arrived just in time to hear Gabriel’s declaration. Tessa’s frown was as deep as Livi’s smile was bright.
“You know these guys?” Livi asked, handing Roz a beer.
“Darlin’, when will you learn? I know everybody.”
“You’ll play ref for our little contest, won’t you?” Tessa asked.
“Sure thing. I got the deets on the contest when I came in.” She pointed to the center of the room. She didn’t have to say another word before four guys were there moving tables and chairs to clear a wide circle. “Who’s covering the bet?”
“That’d be me.” Wearing a T-shirt with the face of the Cookie Monster on it, Bad Ass Brody Lane sauntered over with a fistful of cash. “Who’re you going with, Roz?”
“Donovan, I know you’re a kick-ass SEAL, and usually I’d put all my money on you,” she said, pulling a few bills out of her pocket and counting twenty into Bad Ass’s waiting hand. “But all things considered, I’m gonna have to back my girl.”
“You got this,” Brody assured him.
More than ready to find out, Mitch got to his feet.
“Shall we?” he suggested, waving his hand to indicate the ring.
Livi took a deep breath that gave a first-rate demonstration of the wonders of Lycra and did a little stretching of Mitch’s libido, too. She walked just a step ahead, giving him an up-close and excellent view of her butt.
Mitch had been competing most of his life. Against others, against himself, against the enemy.
He’d never competed against temptation, though.
This was going to be interesting.