Page 10 of Three Cranky SEALS and a Christmas Menace

Mercedes was on the verge of stir craziness.

Every minute that went by meant she’d lost a minute to achieving her New Year’s resolution before Christmas, all so she could leave signs for Annique that she’d gone from virgin to sex goddess. She didn’t just want to lose her virginity; she wanted the whole banquet.

But what was she doing instead? Watching three SEALs sleeping because she was stuck here with them. She may have had an opportunity to leave before, but the freak storm had picked up considerably now.

Fuck her life. Ha. If only. Literally, that was all she wanted.

She supposed she should be glad they left the bed for her. How chivalrous.

She sat on the luxuriously soft mattress, twiddling her thumbs for what felt like six hours, only it turned out to be five minutes.

She dropped down onto the bed, placed her hands on her stomach, and stared at the ceiling. But she grew bored of thatsoon enough. Sighing, she lifted herself up and paced the floor of the cabin, purposefully ignoring them.

But she didn’t keep that up for very long. Her gaze, without her permission, drifted over their sleeping forms. She took in the muscular length of their legs, their powerful thighs clad in faded denim, then forced herself to skip over the bulges in their jeans.

Through their T-shirts, she could make out the bricks for abs in their stomachs. They probably had a zero fat percentage. Their chests and shoulders were incredibly broad, with fully defined pecs, and it was hard to miss the width of their biceps.

Jaws so structured it gave them perfect symmetry and eyelashes so long, the thick, silky strands fanned out over their high cheekbones.

No wonder every girl and their mother wanted a piece of them. She wondered how many women they made scream their names in ecstasy. Eww. She did not want to think of her brother’s best friends having sex.

That had been the reason; she got a quick course in realism. She’d been eighteen then and was glad to have gotten her head screwed on properly.

So was she jealous? Eww, no. She may have thought they hung the moon when she was five years old, but she’d grown out of that kind of silliness, thankfully. Besides, she’d seen the girls they’d dated, and she was nothing like that. Tall, stunning, sophisticated, chic, smart, and the list could go on and on.

She was not tall. She was not sophisticated. She was not chic. And her smarts were dubious at the best of times; like how had she forgotten to fill her car with gas?

Also, just to be clear, she did not want to date her brother’s best friends. She’d heard it enough times from Jeff to know Holden, Waylan, and Myles had no intention of ever settling down into marriage, never mind dating seriously. Their jobs were too dangerous, and they planned to be SEALs until the day they died. That was the day she pivoted. Again, thankfully.

But what was she doing thinking about them like that again? What she wanted to do was hit them over the head with the frying pan hanging around the kitchen island, for ruining her plans.

After pacing the floor around the bed until she made herself dizzy, she sat down on it again.

Ugh.

This was ridiculous. She curled herself up on the bed, pulled the thick quilt over her, and fumed under it, hoping she would fall asleep mid-fury. She didn’t, which only made her grouchy. And the SEALs were still peacefully asleep. Forget Sleeping Beauty. She had sleeping SEALs. Maybe instead of a kiss, she should drop a bucket of ice water on their faces.

Fine. She wouldn’t. She understood they needed to rest. But, for how freaking long?

Maybe she was hungry, she decided. She went into the kitchen area, opened the fridge, and stared at what she’d brought with her.

She’d made lasagna from scratch, and she was the queen of lasagnas; let that be known. All she needed to do was stick it into the oven. She also made a beef stew that just needed heating and some butternut soup as well.

She’d baked macarons and gingerbread men, too. Her whole intention had been to replenish Todd’s appetite with amazing food and decadent homemade treats so he could keep up with her and everything she wanted to try.

She’d made extra portions anyway, and if she took out both the lasagna and the stew, it would serve as one big meal for them. Tomorrow she’d cook something else.

She laid the table for three, then stood against the counter and ate a small portion.

Another two hours went by. She decided to take a bubble bath. That would kill time. By the time she was done, her skin was glowing, and the scent of her oils permeated the air. The bath had been so hot, she fell asleep for two hours.

Then another hour went by. Then another. They’d been asleep for eight hours. How she didn’t pull all her hair out was a miracle. But she was at the end of her tether. Eight hours straight was enough to sleep to revive the dead.

She sighed noisily. Paced by stomping her feet. She moved little knickknacks around. Then she decided the wood sculpture of a bear on one side of the room needed to be on the other side. It was heavy enough that she exerted herself loudly and dropped it down with a thud. And still, they slept.

Just no. They 100% wrecked her plans, and she’d been generous enough to give them nine hours of sleep—it was eight hours and five minutes, so it might as well be nine hours as far as she was concerned. She hadn’t gone through all that trouble just to be cockblocked by her brother’s best friends.

Again, how dare they? She had two days to lose her virginity and do everything there was to do regarding sex, and they’d wastednine hours of her time already. According to her itinerary, she would have been spanked, plugged, and riled by now.

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