SEALionaire Book 1: A Military Romance Read online

  SEALionaire Book 1

  A Military Romance

  M. S. Parker

  Shiloh Walker

  Belmonte Publishing, LLC

  Contents

  Copyright

  SEALionaire Book 1

  1. Reaper

  2. Reaper

  3. Reaper

  4. Reaper

  5. Reaper

  6. Olivia

  7. Olivia

  8. Reaper

  9. Reaper

  10. Reaper

  11. Olivia

  12. Olivia

  13. Reaper

  14. Olivia

  15. Olivia

  16. Reaper

  17. Reaper

  Ex-Con

  Copyright

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Epilogue

  Also By Shiloh Walker

  Also by M. S. Parker

  About Shiloh Walker

  About M. S. Parker

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2015 Belmonte Publishing LLC & Shiloh Walker Inc

  Published by Belmonte Publishing LLC

  SEALionaire Book 1

  A Military Romance

  Shiloh Walker & M.S. Parker

  1

  Reaper

  Standing on the ridge, I stared out into the night.

  “Reaper.”

  I held up a fist, and he lapsed into silence while I continued to recon the desert stretching all around us.

  Behind me, the rest of my squad, all members of Seal Team 3, were gathered while we tried to salvage a mission that had been fucked up from the beginning.

  Fucked, rushed, and if I ever got my hands on the son of a bitch who had insisted–

  Stop! I told myself. Getting pissed about it now wouldn’t do me or the squad any good.

  “See anything out there?”

  I looked over at the lieutenant and shook my head. Big and lean, he ran the show out in the field, and I knew he had to be taking it personally, every last thing that had gone wrong. But if he could stand there and not look like he wanted to rip one of the scraggy little excuses that passed for a tree up from the earth and beat something with it, then I’d hold my temper in too.

  He told me once that if I could get my temper under control, I might one day step into his position. I told him, respectfully, that I’d sooner step into a river full of piranha – bleeding and buck naked with a red target on my dick.

  He laughed at me and said he could see my obituary.

  Adam Dedman, known to his friends as Reaper, chose death by piranha rather than command. Those who knew him best weren’t surprised.

  Under all my gear, I was tired, hot, and pissed off, but I managed a level voice as I said, “Nothing but night. Sand.”

  “Lots of sand.” He clapped me on the shoulder and went back to the others while I continued to keep watch.

  One recon unit was a little farther out, patrolling. The extraction team was still an hour out, and if we got pinned down, we were fucked.

  We might just be fucked anyway. The lieutenant – we all called him Dog, short for Bulldog – had been in contact with command, speaking in low, barely audible tones, but we all knew what he was doing. The extraction point would be almost impossible to reach in an hour.

  Especially considering how fucked up things had gotten.

  “Aw…fuck…” The last word was rasped out in a low, hoarse cry that was more whisper than scream, and it raised the hair on my arms. I didn’t let myself look away though.

  That was my friend back there on the ground, getting his tibia set by the medic. Rake broke his leg when our hostage had tried to take off running. Of all the dumb luck. He’d grabbed her and hauled her back just as she was about to fall down into a cave, deep enough to do damage, as evidenced by Rake’s injury. She was saved, but he’d crashed down into the dark hole and now the squad was effectively handicapped.

  “Easy, Rake.” I heard Duke’s soft, steady voice, the cadence of the Carolinas heavy in his words as he spoke to his patient. “Okay, buddy. It’s done. You with me? Come on, don’t pass out on me, you pussy–”

  “Fuck off,” Rake said, his voice thin.

  The retort made all of us smile a little. He was still solid. Rake couldn’t use any of the painkillers, not with us being this close to the hot zone and this close to being extracted. We needed to get his leg stabilized and get him back on the move.

  A low, whimpering sob rose in the air. “You killed them,” the woman cried. “You killed all of them.”

  It was the ninth – no, the tenth time. I was damn tired of it.

  “Look, cupcake, it was them or us,” Ice growled at her. “And if we died, you were probably next.”

  Ice, a cold son of a bitch, and while I might not disagree with his statement entirely, he didn’t need to antagonize the woman we’d extracted just hours before.

  “Ice, why don’t you take over?” I called out.

  He gave me a lazy smile. “I’d be delighted, Reaper.”

  We swapped out positions and I settled down on the rock closest to the civilian we’d been sent to rescue, one Kylie Hudson-Wallace. Kylie was pretty much what passed for royalty in America, the daughter of a senator and a former movie star turned philanthropist. She’d been visiting the Middle East on a goodwill mission – or so we’d been told. Personally, I had some doubts and I don’t think I was the only one.

  She’d been pretty damn cozy with the so-called kidnappers and had started screaming, not just in terror, but in rage when we hauled her butt out of there.

  One of them had charged after us, fury in his eyes, and all of them had very real weapons they’d been more than happy to use. They were all dead now, although the group of ten we’d been expecting had been more like thirty. Not bad odds for us, but the entire time we’d been getting shitty intel, and we needed to know why.

  “You’re going home,” I said bluntly, staring at her tear-stained face. Mascara and eye shadow had run to form a messy mask, but she was still beautiful. “Your mother and father are anxious to hear about you. In a few hours, this will all be over.”

  She stared at me, her lower lip trembling. She opened her mouth, but nothing came out when I lifted my hand and pointed a finger at her.

  “You’ve already reminded us that we killed them. Trust me, I know. That was the job.”

  Her face transformed into a mask of fury, and she swung out. I caught her hand before she could make contact.

  “Don’t try that again,” I said softly, deadly, meaning every word.

  She jerked back, rubbing at her wrist and glaring at me with a look that might have worked on her parents back home.

  Over her head, Dog was staring at me. I met his eyes only briefly, but in that look, we both shared an entire, unspoken conversation. Something was seriously fucked up here. T
he woman gets rescued, and you’d think she’d be happy, nearly gushing with gratitude. Instead, she tried to slap the hell out of me.

  2

  Reaper

  For the rest of my life, I knew I’d remember that night.

  And her.

  Dog.

  Rake.

  The way those two looked at the rest of us.

  The helicopter was hovering overhead. We’d changed the extradition point to a closer location, making getting out even more dicey, and we all knew it. They’d sent down a rig for Rake, and the son of a bitch adamantly insisted that the majority of the team go up first. There was a mad light in his eyes, and we should have seen it, should have done something, but while his leg wouldn’t do him shit, nothing was wrong with his hands.

  He jerked up the Beretta M-9 and pointed it at his throat. “You boys get safe before you worry about me.”

  “That’s not how this works, Rake,” Dog said calmly while the rest of us swore at the dumbass. Like that would do a fucks worth of good.

  Rake gave us all a mad little smile. “I had this funny feeling, you know. Like this would be my last dance. But I’ll be damned if I let any of you get fucked just because that princess took a run.”

  The hair on the back of my neck stood on end, and I started toward him.

  For the longest time, Rake had insisted he’d die on a mission. I’d always told him he was wrong, that the two of us were going to retire, open up a bar in Chicago, and grow old and ugly together.

  His eyes slid my way. “You want me up in that helo, you all go first.” His finger tightened on the trigger.

  Swallowing hard, I looked at Dog. “He’ll pull it.”

  “I know.” Dog nodded and looked at the rest of us, his gaze stopping on Ice. “Get him rigged up. You’ll go up right before I do. I’ll go up with him.”

  “You son of a bitch,” I said, glaring at him while Ice and Roper escorted the princess over to the ladder that had been dropped down. She was really freaking out now, and I didn’t pity either one of them. Ice snarled something at her, and she lapsed into silence. Guess she’d finally picked up on just why he was called Ice.

  Duke and Dog were hustling around the gurney, strapping Rake in, getting him ready to lift up once they had him secured. Duke tossed a rig to Dog, and I moved in to help him fit it over his gear, muttering under my breath. “This is crazy.” A string of curses followed. “Crazy. Damn it, the skinny bastard doesn’t weigh much more than my gear. I’ll just strap him to my back and haul his ass up.”

  Dog chuffed out a laugh. “You might just make it, Reaper.”

  He punched me lightly before shoving me toward the ladder. “Get on up. It’s just the four of us.”

  I looked over my shoulder and up, saw that Ice had managed to hustle the civilian almost to the top. The wind kicked up from the helo was beating at her hair, tearing at all of our clothes. “Now or never,” I said, gritting my teeth.

  Giving Rake a quick look, I paused by his feet. “You and I are going to rumble over this, you dumb bastard.”

  He laughed weakly. “I’ll kick your ass any day of the week, pretty boy.”

  Sneering at him, I gave one more look out and then caught hold of the ladder and started up. It was smooth sailing, one hand over the next. Duke was making good time too and was only a couple yards behind me.

  But then…

  I sensed more than heard the shouts.

  Then the deep concussive boom of ammo echoed through me, bringing all five senses alive.

  Looking down, I saw men erupting out of the scraggly cover where we’d just been. Swearing, I went to draw a weapon even as Dog bellowed up at me, his powerful voice carrying over my mic. “Move your ass; that’s an order!”

  Had to move – they couldn’t pull Dog and Rake up while I was there.

  Had to move – had to move…

  I climbed those last few yards quicker than I’d ever managed before and swung my way into the helicopter, looked down to see Duke right on my ass. We laid down cover fire while the extradition team worked to haul Rake and Dog up.

  It was like it happened in slow motion, the bullets that blasted up through the gurney, tearing through Rake.

  I was staring into his eyes when they hit, staring into his eyes when he died.

  And Dog…agony twisted his face and blood bubbled out of his mouth.

  But he kept his eyes on us, even as he lifted his hand.

  “No!”

  I screamed. Duke screamed. Maybe we all did.

  But none of us could stop him from drawing his combat knife and sawing away. We scrambled harder, trying to help the team get them up.

  It was a waste of time.

  The last I saw of Rake’s mutilated body and Dog’s pain-bright eyes was right before he made the last, desperate drag of the blade. And over the radio, we all heard his voice. “Go…you…sons of bitches.”

  His radio kept right on working though.

  He died before he even hit the ground, and we listened in grueling, excruciating detail to what those bastards who killed them planned to do. It wouldn’t happen because both Dog and Rake’s bodies were fucked up beyond all repair. They’d been tortured enough.

  Go you, Dog, I thought, dazed.

  As the helicopter sped off into the night, I looked over at the woman we’d been sent to rescue.

  She was smiling.

  3

  Reaper

  Six Months Later

  A beautiful blonde was curled around me, her hand wrapped around my cock as she moved her head up and down.

  The body was willing, but the brain was disengaged. Even when she climbed on top and began to move, nothing other than my dick was interested. She made hungry little noises, and because it wasn’t her fault that my mind was a few miles – a few thousand miles – away, I rolled us over and began to drive into her, finding a rhythm that had her moaning, then mewling and finally begging me…don’t stop, don’t stop…

  When it was over, I slid away and grabbed my clothes, moving into the shower.

  She was lying on her side, smiling at me when I came out.

  She wasn’t at all bothered to see me sliding my feet into my shoes or grabbing my wallet.

  I couldn’t even remember her name, although I was sure she knew mine. I knew her type. She hung out at the bars nearest the base and looked for her type – SEALS, generally. I’d seen her before, and for the most part, avoided her. I didn’t have anything against her. She wanted a certain rush, the same way I did. I got mine jumping out of planes. She got hers by screwing the men she viewed as badass. No harm, no foul.

  “Can I see you again?” she asked.

  “No.” Shaking my head, I turned to the door. In the mirror, I saw her mouth form a pout, but I knew it was only a display. There was always another man in uniform to take my place.

  She’d gotten what she needed from me.

  I wish I’d gotten what I needed – a little bit of amnesia.

  But I hadn’t forgotten a damn thing.

  I’d read the report from cover to cover at least five times now.

  I kept hoping it would change, but every single damn word was the same.

  Looking up at my commanding officer, I finally placed it face down and got up. I moved over to the far side of the room and stared outside. “Do the others know, sir?”

  “They’ve all been debriefed, yes.” Lieutenant Commander Michael Hawkins had a face that could have been carved from granite, and he gave no sign as to the emotions he was feeling. I had a good idea though.

  “What will happen to her?”

  For a moment, LC Hawkins didn’t respond, and I turned to look at him.

  “At ease,” he said irritably, already reading the expression on my face. “No, she’s not getting off. Trust me, Senator Wallace tried damn hard to make it happen, but this was treason. Both Kylie and her mother…”

  Treason.

  My gut soured, and I thought I might get sick. I moved back t
o the table and braced my hands on the cold metal, staring down at the report. “Dog and Rake, they died for a traitor.”

  “They died for their country, doing a job you all believe in,” Hawkins corrected me.

  I looked up at him to see if he really believed what he just said, as I heard a knock at the door. Hawkins’s dark eyes narrowed a fraction. Officers didn’t much like being interrupted. He moved to the door and opened it.

  I tuned out the low voices, right up until I heard the visitor say my name.

  That tone of voice. I recognized it.

  He spoke, and the words connected, in an odd sort of way.

  They connected. But they didn’t make sense.

  They couldn’t be real.

  “Adam, son…did you hear me?”

  4

  Reaper

  Twelve hours later, I was speeding down I-71, heading toward a hospital in Cincinnati. From Coronado, California to Ohio in the span of hours.

  I’d done longer jaunts, but none of them had ever taken as long as this one. It had been interminable, lasting lifetimes.

  I kept hearing the voice over and over…

  Your mother was in an accident.

  Kidney damage, extensive blood loss, collapsed lung. My brain had glossed over almost all of it, but it had latched onto the first – and vital – injury. Mom only had one kidney. If the damage was severe…

  I pounded a fist on the steering wheel of the SUV I’d rented and shoved it out of my mind.

  My dad had disappeared not long after knocking my mother up. I had no idea who he was, nor did I care. My mom was – and had always been – everything for me. And now she was lying in a hospital bed because of some drunk-ass driver.

  Your mother was in an accident.

  Navigating the streets with the ease that came from a lifetime of living in the area, I hit the exit ramp going way too fast and hoped there weren’t any cops. I couldn’t say luck was going my way, but maybe fate decided to take pity on me. No sirens went off as I blasted down the stretch of road going sixty. I laid rubber as I slammed on the brakes, turning into the hospital.