Page 53 of Loved by a SEAL

“Affirmative. Want me to connect you to Landstuhl?”

“Yes, put me through immediately.”

“Captain Mitchell,” Patrick said over the phone, his voice weak.

“How are you feeling, Ice? You gave us all a damn good scare.”

“I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck,” he admitted. “The damn shrapnel in my side was some painful shit.”

“You’ll heal,” Ryan said, smirking.

“Damn straight. I’d love to get a piece of the bastards who did this.”

“Wouldn’t we all. The rest of the men are on a flight back with the Senator’s daughter. They’re taking her directly to Andrew’s before returning to Little Creek.”

“I’d love to be on that flight with them and not stuck in a damn hospital,” Patrick said. “They want to keep me here for a few days though.”

“Give yourself some time to heal,” Ryan ordered. “Everything else can wait. And give Rebecca a call. She and your sister were quite worried about you.”

“You got a hold of Sarah as well?”

“Affirmative.” He cleared his throat. “And I’ll need to speak with you about that when you return.”

Patrick chuffed out a laugh. “Hell, that hurt. I’m guessing she wore you down with her charm. Because I’m damn sure you wouldn’t chase after her.”

Ryan clenched his fist. Ice would have every damn right to throw a few punches at him when he returned—never mind that he was his commanding officer. A man didn’t go after another guy’s sister.

“Hell,” Ice continued. “You’d be good for her. She’s such a free-spirit, she could use someone whose head isn’t up in the clouds all the damn time. Just don’t let her cook those vegan tofu burgers for you. I tried one at the barbeque and it tasted like recycled cardboard.”

Ryan smirked. “Not something I eat often. I expect you back here on base soon, Ice. Don’t give us another damn scare like that again.”

“Roger that, Sir,” Patrick said, and Ryan disconnected the call.

Fucking hell. That was one conversation he hadn’t been planning to have for a few more days. Patrick didn’t sound as upset as Ryan had thought he’d be though. Maybe nearly getting blown to bits put things in perspective. Life was too damn short for all of this nonsense.

“I’ll see you at 0600,” he said to the lieutenant as he walked out of the bull pen.

“Captain Mitchell,” the lieutenant replied with a salute.

Time to get the hell out of here.

***

Sarah finally pulled into her driveway as the sun began to sink below the horizon. She loved the longer summer days, but they were a tease, too, because it was already night, and she needed to prepare for her patients in the morning. Reschedule the clients she’d had to cancel on today. Find out what was going on with her brother.

She narrowed her eyes as she realized she still hadn’t heard a thing from Ryan. If he regularly left women alone in his bed without a clue to his whereabouts, then it was no wonder the man was still single.

And what was this afternoon about, anyway?

The more time and distance that she put between their afternoon together, the more her gut clenched as she realized what a damn mistake it was. Falling into bed with him was nothing but trouble.

She pulled her phone from her purse just in case she’d missed a call or text from him, and Rebecca’s name was the only one that showed up.

A text popped up a moment later, and Sarah’s eyes widened.

Patrick woke up! Just got off the phone with him.

Tears filled her own eyes, and she wasn’t sure if they were tears of joy that he was really okay or tears of hurt that Ryan hadn’t even let her know about her brother. Although she could understand if he’d needed to rush back to base for an emergency, certainly he could’ve left her a note or sent a quick text.

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