Page 63 of Married to a SEAL

Chapter 19

Patrick pulled onto base at 0600 Monday morning. Hell if it didn’t feel good to finally be getting back to training. Although he’d loved time home with his family and new bride, he was itching to join the rest of his men. He wasn’t the type of man who enjoyed sitting around idly and didn’t like being sidelined during training, missing out on missions. Although he admitted that he needed recovery time in the beginning, during the second month, he’d been ready to roll out.

Not that Navy had seen it that way.

Two months of recovery had given him too much time to think.

At thirty-six, he probably had another couple of years as a SEAL, but after that? He’d be ready to move on to something else. Maybe commanding his own team like his CO. Maybe conducting BUD/S, Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL, training back in Coronado, or making a move to the Pentagon.

Rebecca’s career was here though. Their kids were happy here. Her parents and his sister were local. It seemed unlikely he’d ever end up leaving the Virginia Beach area. And something felt damn right about that. It was good to set down roots. Have a home and a family. A wife and kids. All he needed was the white picket fence, and he’d be the epitome of domestic bliss.

He smirked.

If domestic bliss included parachuting out of planes and tracking down terrorists, drug lords, and other adversaries in foreign lands.

Not a chance in hell was his life normal. And he wouldn’t have it any other way.

He parked his SUV and climbed out as Christopher was getting out of his pick-up truck a few spaces over.

“Damn, good to have you back, Ice.”

Patrick grunted in affirmation. “It’s good to be back, Blade. You know as well as I do that guys like us need to be moving. Doing something. Sitting around too long is bad for the soul.”

“You picked a hell of a day to return though.”

Patrick’s gaze swept toward Blade. “How’s that?”

“Couldn’t say anything over the weekend with everyone around, but we may be heading out on an op soon.”

Patrick nodded, concern filling his gaze. He’d always hated leaving Rebecca and the kids, but now that she was pregnant, he was worried about her. And after his last mission had gone FUBAR, he’d sensed Rebecca’s unease about his career as a SEAL. She was an independent woman, with her own career, and he respected that. Admired the hell out of it. But likewise, she’d accepted that his career was with the Navy. That he’d devoted his life to serving his country.

Unease filled his gut, nonetheless, because he didn’t like being the cause of her worry. Of being the reason there was fear in her eyes. He’d always assured her he’d be safe, but things hadn’t exactly gone as planned on the last op, now had they?

Hell.

“The CO mentioned he’d have some big updates this morning. Where to?” Patrick asked as the men walked toward the building.

“Columbia,” Christopher said, watching as Patrick’s gaze slid toward him. Well hell. That should be a piece of cake compared to the shitstorm going on in the Middle East.

“Drug traffickers?”

“Yup. The amount of heroin coming into the U.S. has been increasing exponentially. The CO said the Pentagon is looking to stop it before it gets completely out of control. We may be sent to cut it off at the source.”

“And Delta?” Patrick asked, referring to the other SEAL team based out of Little Creek.

“We may all be sent it,” Christopher said.

Patrick nodded. The last time they’d deployed with Delta was the op when he’d been injured. He’d been thankful as hell that Hunter’s team had been there assisting them that day. Who knows if his men would’ve been able to make it out of the insurgents’ camp otherwise. His injury had no doubt slowed his men’s departure, and with Delta providing cover, his team had dragged him into a waiting Black Hawk, bleeding out.

He owed Hunter a beer now that they were back in town. Hell. He owed the guy an entire case.

He smirked, thinking of how those guys were just like his own team a couple of years ago—nothing but a group of single, rowdy alpha males who loved women. They loved hitting the town and taking a pretty woman home for the night. And hell if every guy on Patrick’s team hadn’t been exactly like them.

Patrick and Christopher dropped their gear in the locker room and headed into the bullpen for their morning briefing. They usually started their days with PT, but the CO had called for a meeting since it was Patrick’s first day back.

Patrick had always thought of their CO as a hardened SEAL, destined to be single for life, a man who was married to the Navy. But after Ryan had begun dating Patrick’s sister over the summer, Patrick had begun to see another side to the man. Although normally he might take issue with any man dating his younger sister, Ryan and Sarah were damn near perfect for one another. She was a free-spirit who needed someone down-to-earth in her life. And he was a stubborn, hard-ass who could use someone like Sarah to lighten him up. Besides, he respected the hell out of the man and knew he would do right by her.

“Good to have you back, Ice,” Ryan said.

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