Page 8 of Changing the Game

Jim nods at Ford, then grabs his boys and heads to the dartboard, and I let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding now that I know I’ll get the chance to see Carys again tomorrow.

Her perky little ass is going to pay for leaving without saying goodbye.

“Don’t worry, Linc. Nobody’s gonna cock-block your girl. But you could have just asked her out. It’s called ‘a date.’ You don’t need to throw a damn party.” Trick’s not what you would call a people person. He gets along with Wanda much better than he does with most humans.

Linc hangs his stick back up on the wall. “Yeah. I got nothing. Party sounded like a good idea at the time. Less stress.” He looks around at the guys. “You’re all gonna come, right?”

Everyone laughs as we exchange knowing looks. The poor bastard gets so nervous around women.

Ford grins, then finishes his beer and grabs his keys from his pocket as Jessie hugs Linc. “Call me tomorrow if you need help. I love throwing parties.”

“Thanks, Jessie.” Ford’s wife often takes pity on us.

Not only is he our team leader, but he’s the only married guy in the unit. And he really out-kicked his coverage with her. She’s everybody’s big sister. She already tried shooing away the girls hanging on Trick and Axe. She doesn’t like it when we hook up with women she doesn’t deem worthy.

Ford nuzzles his nose in her hair, and she giggles. “We’re outta here, boys.”

“Lucky fucker,” Linc says what we’re all thinking as Axe orders us another round.

The truth is SEAL marriages don’t usually last. We’re gone more days a year than we’re home, and our partners are expected to hold everything together on their own. They give birth alone, more times than not. Birthdays, holidays, bad days... You handle them all alone, while we’re off kicking down doors. You’ve got to be a really strong person to marry someone on a team.

Hell, I had a girlfriend in high school break up with me because she saw what this life did to her brother. We hadn’t even graduated yet, and we ended. As much as I want the wife and the white picket fence, this is the life I chose. No turning back.

* * *

Linc, Trick, and I walked through the door sometime around one a.m., wide-awake and a little buzzed but far from drunk. Fortunately, one of the good things the Navy beats into you early on is to sleep when you can, where you can. We can fall asleep so fast it borders on narcolepsy, and I know the second my head hits the pillow, I’ll be out.

As I lie down on my own bed in a room I’m not sharing with Linc for the first time in months, I’m grateful I can stretch out without my feet hanging off the foot of the bed. At six foot four, I’m one of the taller guys on the team, and the ability to stretch out on a bed in a room that doesn’t smell like Linc’s dirty fucking socks makes me happy.

Just as my eyes close, the phone on my nightstand vibrates with an incoming text. I roll over to grab it, and my chest does a funny kind of squeeze when I see who it is.

Carys:You awake?

Cooper:I am now.

Carys:Sorry. I shouldn’t have texted this late.

Cooper:No. Don’t worry about it. You OK?

Carys:I never got to say goodbye earlier.

Coop:I noticed.

Carys:Sorry I bailed.

Cooper:Why did you?

It bugs the hell out of me that I care and have never been able to control it. Once I saw her, I wanted to spend time with her. The dots stop and start a few times before she answers.

Carys:Your roommate invited us over tomorrow night.

Carys:Well... I guess technically it’s tonight now.

Cooper:Yeah. Pretty sure he’s interested in Emerson. You gonna come?

Carys:Why Cooper Sinclair... If you wanna know what makes me come, you’re gonna have to work harder than that.

My heart pounds against my chest as I reread Carys’s answer again, and I have to adjust my cock in my boxer briefs at the realization that I’d very much like to know what makes this woman come.

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