“Yeah. Sure. Let’s eat and then head back to my place.”
“Sure thing, Butterfly.”
He laced his fingers between hers, and they walked down the block toward the restaurant where they’d planned to have dinner. Troy was talking about his day, but she was still a bit distracted thinking about Harper. Hopefully her friend was okay.
***
Troy strode into the bullpen the next morning, ready for their briefing with the CO. He’d had to wake up way too damn early for his liking, but he’d made sure Caitlyn was thoroughly sated before he’d headed off to PT. He softly kissed her to wake her up, moving over those gorgeous breasts. Troy swore he could spend hours feasting on them, but he knew he’d had to get going. He’d ended up burying himself between her legs, slowly making love to her until she orgasmed, crying out as she clung to him. Caitlyn was so soft and sweet beneath him that it had been hell to leave. And damn. He’d been half-hard when he showed up for PT, still thinking about her gorgeous body.
It had only been a matter of days since he’d first spent the night last weekend, but hell. He couldn’t get enough of her.
He grabbed a seat at the table, listening to his teammates banter. Logan glanced over at him, raising his eyebrows. “How’d everything go last night?”
Troy chuckled. “With Caitlyn? Just fine. What was up with you and Harper though? Caitlyn was worried when you both stormed off. She texted her a few times to make sure she was okay.”
Logan lifted a shoulder. “It turns out we’d met before—last summer. I’d gone out with this other girl a few times, but it wasn’t working out. I was ready to break it off the weekend I met Harper.”
“And what? You slept with her?”
The other guys were looking over at them with interest. “Who’s Harper?” Ethan asked.
“No one,” Logan said as Troy answered at the same time.
“She’s friends with Caitlyn.”
Ethan smirked. “And Logan pissed her off?”
“I met her last summer. She was picking up stuff at a damn bridal shower or something. There were all these women around, and I was waiting for my date. Harper came outside carrying all these fancy serving plates and shit. I helped her carry it to her car.”
“And?” Troy asked, waiting for the kicker. No way in hell Caitlyn’s friend was pissed that Logan had helped her.
“I might’ve kissed her.”
Troy raised his eyebrows. “You were there picking up your date and making out with another woman?”
“Something like that. But I was actually getting ready to break up with my date. I was her ride, so I couldn’t just leave her there.”
“Damn,” Grayson said, shaking his head. “You do know how to woo the ladies.”
The rest of the men chuckled, ribbing Logan some more. Blake glanced over at Troy. “Speaking of Caitlyn, you’re bringing her to our BBQ in a couple of weeks, right? Clarissa wants to meet her and introduce her to all the other women.”
“Yep. We’ll be there,” Troy assured him.
A moment later, their CO stormed into the room, looking irritated as hell. “As everyone is aware, there’s been a change in plans today. The drill on the water has been postponed. Admiral Rice received another threat last night. This time someone sent him explicit photos of his daughter.”
“What the hell?” Raptor asked, his eyes narrowing. “They sent the admiral the photos?”
“Apparently, she’d sent some nude photos to an ex-boyfriend. He was picked up but is clean. He wasn’t involved in any of it. It appears someone hacked into her cloud account to obtain the illicit photos. They made copies and sent them in a letter to the admiral and are threatening to post them online.”
“God damn,” Troy said. “That’s all kinds of messed up. But what’s up with teenagers these days? She kept nude photos of herself? I need to talk to my sisters and make sure they’re not doing shit like that.”
Grayson frowned. “Teenagers don’t realize that what they post online is forever. She probably assumed no one could access her photos or files.”
“So what are they demanding?” Raptor asked. “He already gave them bad codes.”
The CO frowned. “Same thing. The codes to the nuclear warheads. They figured out the other system was bogus—a dummy system set up to ferret them out. The assumption is they waited a few weeks after the incident for things to settle down.”
“And they think the Navy will just give those up? That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard,” Logan muttered.
Ethan crossed his arms, looking around at the others. “Where’s the sub located?”
“It’s still in Kings Bay,” their CO said, referring to the naval submarine base in Georgia. “Even if the admiral had given them real information, we all know the codes would be changed in a heartbeat.”
“Which is why they stormed the yacht. They thought it would all work in their favor if the admiral, his wife, and their friends were all held hostage.”
“What about all the missing IDs from the admiral and other officers?” Troy asked. “That’s tied into this somehow.”
“They still haven’t turned up. We thought the missing gunman had them, but according to the timeline, he boarded a small vessel near the beginning of the incident. Ms. Rice is the only witness who spotted it, but it doesn’t add up to when the wallets and personal belongings were taken. The men were frisked and tied up as the yacht was sailing into the Pacific. None of the other women saw a small boat.”
“They were scared,” Jackson said.
The CO nodded. “They were. It’s possible they missed it if they were lying on the deck, in fear of their lives.
