SEAL Next Door Read online

  He was halfway down the hallway to his new place, trying to balance the stack of boxes in one hand while digging in his pockets for the keys with the other, when a woman came out of the apartment across from his. She immediately turned to check her door, twisting the knob to make sure it was locked, but in those few heartbeats that he’d been able to see her face, he decided she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever set eyes on.

  He’d be the first to admit that the word beautiful gets tossed around a lot.

  It’s a beautiful day.

  Those flowers are beautiful.

  That dress looks beautiful on you.

  You have beautiful eyes.

  It was so overused, it was almost meaningless these days.

  But the woman in the hallway wearing shorts, a T-shirt with the name of a local college splashed across the front, and well-worn running shoes, was the true reason the word had been invented in the first place. That’s all there was to it. If he looked up beautiful in the dictionary, her picture would be right there next to it.

  Her long, blond hair was pulled back in a ponytail that swung around in a mesmerizing way as she turned to walk down the hall. He tried hard not to gawk as he got a clear view of her face and plump pink lips, high cheekbones, and alluring hazel eyes. Damn, she could be a supermodel.

  Apparently, he failed at the whole not-gawking thing, because one second he was standing there with a stack of heavy boxes precariously balanced against his chest, and the next, they were on the floor, two of them breaking open, letting the stuff inside tumble across the carpet. And he had no idea how it had happened.

  He was pretty sure he’d just made a complete fool of himself in front of this goddess of a woman, though.

  Maybe she hadn’t seen him.

  Maybe he could pitch himself down the stairs before she did.

  “Oh, no!” a sparkling feminine voice said, confirming she’d seen his clumsy move and that it was far too late to sink into the floor and disappear. “Let me help you with those.”

  “That’s okay,” he said, quickly dropping down to one knee to upright the two boxes that had burst open, praying nothing too goofy and embarrassing had fallen out. “I can get it myself.”

  “Don’t be silly,” she said with a laugh that had Sam wondering if it was too early to profess his undying love and devotion.

  He opened his mouth to stammer out his thanks, but by then, she was already on her hands and knees, scrambling around to pick up some of the stuff that had rolled much further than Sam would have thought possible. The position gave him a perfect view of her perfect butt, perfectly displayed in those little running shorts. Besides the word perfect, that kept bouncing around in his head like a rubber ball, all Sam could think was Five Stars! Two Thumbs Up! Thank God for Women!

  “Oh, my gosh! You have a Rubik’s Cube?”

  Her heavenly voice intruded on his moment of worship as she turned around and held up the item in her hand.

  As captivating as her butt might be, Sam still stopped thinking about it when he got a good look at what she was holding up.

  “Yeah,” he said, a smile tugging at his mouth as he reached out to take the colorful piece of plastic from her. “My dad got it for me when I was a kid.”

  “From the way you’re looking, I’m guessing it brings back some fond memories,” she said, her soft voice pulling his attention away from the cube and leaving him to wonder how long he’d been staring at it.

  He chuckled, casually tossing the Rubik’s Cube up and down in his hand. “I guess it does. My dad traveled a lot when I was a kid, but we would sit for hours playing with it when he got home.”

  When she didn’t say anything, Sam looked up to see her smiling at him. It made her look even more stunning than before.

  “What about you?” he asked, handing it to her. “I know these things were before both of our times, but did you ever play with one?”

  She laughed again, her hands starting to twist first one side of the Rubik’s Cube and then the next, over and over, almost faster than Sam could keep up with. “Oh, definitely. I loved these things when I was a kid. There is no better example of group theory, commutator, conjugation, and disjointed permutations. And it’s a wonderful way to explore the development of mathematical algorithms for basic problem solving.”

  He was so busy attempting to understand what she’d said that he didn’t realize she wasn’t merely randomly playing with the cube. Not until she handed it back to him, with all six sides completed and a big grin on her face.

  “My name is Poppy McCoy, by the way. And if you haven’t figured it out already, I love math.”

  Sam stared at the Rubik’s Cube in disbelief. He and his dad had been thrilled when they’d somehow managed to get three sides done. He flashed her a grin. “Well, Poppy, I’m Sam Travers. And I hope you don’t take this the wrong way, but I just discovered that I find brilliant women to be incredibly sexy.”

  Poppy didn’t say anything. Instead, she sat back on her heels, gazing at him with an unreadable expression. Crap, had he pissed her off? But then she laughed.

  “You know, coming from anyone else, I think I would have had a problem with that line, but for some reason, coming from you, it seems to work,” she said. “So, I’ll take the compliment in the way I think you intended it.”

  “Well, that’s good.” Grinning, he dropped the Rubik’s Cube back in the box. “I was afraid I came off sounding like an idiot.”

  “Is that an issue for you?” Poppy asked, still smiling as she leaned over to scoop up a bunch of old pictures of him. “Sounding like an idiot, I mean.”

  He sighed as he straightened up the box closest to him, getting the last few items back into it and closing the lid. “Unfortunately, yes. But I’m working on it. Thanks for pointing it out to me, though.”

  That earned him another laugh, and Sam chuckled along with her as they finished getting all the stuff back into the second box. He couldn’t help noticing that Poppy was taking her time, looking through the last of the photos she’d picked up from the carpet.

  “If there are any naked pictures of me in the bathtub when I was in kid, I would like to point out that the water was cold.” Getting to his feet, he carried a box over to his apartment and unlocked the door, then glanced at her over his shoulder. “Just so you know, I mean.”

  Poppy smiled as she tossed the stack of photos into the other box, then picked it up and walked over to join him. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  “Not that I’m complaining about the help, but I don’t want to interrupt your workout,” he said, opening the door, then stepping back so she could walk in ahead of him. “Looks like you were about to head out for a run or something.”

  Poppy shook her head, that beguiling ponytail swinging side to side in a hypnotizing way. But when she caught sight of his dress uniform draped over the back of the couch, she did a double take. She spun around to look at him, her whole body suddenly tense.

  “You’re in the Navy?” she asked.

  “Yeah.”

  She glanced at the uniform again, then turned back to him. “You aren’t a SEAL by any chance, are you?”

  Sam had never used his job in the Navy to get girls and he never would. His father had always looked down on that, so it simply wasn’t something Sam ever considered. And if admitting it got him a date with the gorgeous goddess in front of him, then he’d be a damn fool not to. Especially since it was true. But he didn’t want any woman going out with him because of what he did for a living.

  “A SEAL? Nah,” he said casually, the lie popping into his head even as he asked himself what the hell he was doing. If he did manage to secure a date with her, she was going to find out what he was. “I’m just a plain old everyday machinist mate.”

  Luckily, his uniform was face down on the couch, so it wasn’t like Poppy could see his SEAL Trident, if she even knew what it was. But he still held his breath as he waited for her to call him out on the fib. Instead, her shoulder
s relaxed, and she graced him with that smile he was already getting used to.

  “Cool,” she said. “And don’t worry about interrupting my run. Getting in a little strength training before a I head out is good for me.”

  Sam breathed a quick sigh of relief, still wondering what it was about his uniform, or the idea of him being a SEAL that made her so uncomfortable. “Well, if you’re looking for a little high-intensity circuit training, you could always help me carry the last few boxes up from the back of my truck. That way you could get in your lifting and cardio at the same time.”

  Her lips curved as she set the box down on the floor beside the couch. “So, you get help moving it, but what do I get? Besides the workout, I mean.”

  He chuckled, not sure he’d ever met a woman so quick-witted. He found it incredibly attractive.

  “Pizza?” he offered, placing his own box on the floor. “Toppings of your choice. I’ll even throw in beer or soda if it helps.”

  Poppy tilted her head to the side, pursing her perfect lips as she considered that. “Do I have to eat it here with you or can I take it back to my apartment?”

  Sam grinned. “Sorry. One time offer. Must be present to win. Offer not valid in Hawaii or Alaska, cannot be redeemed for cash or combined with future offers.”

  She laughed. “You’re on.”

  He couldn’t describe how happy that made him.

  “Pineapple or pepperoni?” he asked, pulling his cell out of his pocket.

  “Plain cheese,” she said. “It’s my favorite. And I have beer and soda at my place…unless that violates the rules of your offer?”

  He hit speed dial for the nearest pizza delivery place and put the phone to his ear. “I’m pretty sure there’s some wiggle room in the rules when it comes to getting something to drink at your place. Hell, you might even be able to convince me to stay there to eat, if you’re persuasive.”

  “I think I can do that,” Poppy said with a smile as she walked out the door and down the hall, leaving Sam struggling to give the pizza place the order as her amazing butt bounced delightfully ahead of him. It was enough to make him completely forget about whatever deal she seemed to have with guys being in the SEALs.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Poppy walked down the hallway of the school’s physics and math building, waving good morning to the handful of students she knew out of the dozens she passed. Considering how few classes she taught, it wasn’t surprising she didn’t know more of them. But on paper, at least, she was a physics professor at San Diego Mesa College, even if she made a lot more money than one.

  Of course, if anyone followed her past the tiny generic office with her name on the door to the unmarked metal door at the end of the corridor, they’d see the expensive key card reader mounted off to one side of the frame and wonder what kind of professor worked behind a secure vault door. Nobody would ever guess she wasn’t really a professor at all, but instead worked for a government organization. The super-secret facility was known as the San Diego Project, but she and her colleagues preferred to call it The Cave, which was much more appropriate considering the place didn’t have a single window. Which, when she thought about it, sucked.

  The Cave was loosely associated with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, but only in regard to the focus on nuclear weapons. Beyond that, the two organizations had drastically different missions. Lawrence Livermore focused on the U.S. stockpile while Poppy and her coworkers worried about everyone else’s. And with all the countries out there that had nukes, it was a full-time job.

  Glancing over her shoulder to make sure no one was watching, she slid her ID card across the face of the reader. There was a metallic click, then a buzz as the door unlocked. Once she got inside, she closed it securely behind her.

  “Morning, Doc McCoy.”

  Poppy smiled at the security guard’s warm greeting. For someone so big, Roy Booth had one of the softest voices she’d ever heard. “Good morning, Roy.”

  Behind the desk, Roy sat back in his chair, swiveling back and forth ever so slightly. “You’re rather chipper this morning.”

  Only Roy would use the word chipper. It was one of the things that made him so endearing.

  Since she was, in fact, chipper, Poppy didn’t bother to deny it. Besides, Roy had a whole bank of monitors tucked away beneath the countertop that shielded the front of his desk, and she knew from experience that he watched everyone who approached the building. If he said she looked chipper this morning, then it was almost certainly true.

  Poppy hadn’t thought it would be so obvious, but in her defense, she had a good reason. One who stood a little over six feet tall and had a face that could make a woman forget herself.

  “You met someone, didn’t you?” Roy pressed, a huge smile crossing his face as Poppy moved over to the door near his desk and placed her hand against the biometric scanner there. “Someone who’s not a total jerk, am I right?”

  “I’m not telling you anything about my social life one way or the other, Roy,” Poppy said with a laugh as she opened the door. “Everyone knows you’re one of the worst gossips in the building,” she added as it swung closed after her.

  “Gossip? What gossip?” a light, feminine voice asked.

  Poppy looked over to see Nyla Higgins standing there holding two mugs of coffee. Tall and willowy, her dark eyes were filled with excitement. “Don’t tell me you went on a date last night without telling me? You’re not allowed to do that.”

  Grinning, Poppy gratefully took one of the creamy coffee-filled mugs, eager to inhale her dose of morning caffeine. There was no way she’d get out of telling her friend everything that had happened last night. There weren’t many women working in The Cave, and she and Nyla had become best friends since Poppy’s first day there. Nyla was a hopeless romantic and endlessly obsessed with getting Poppy into a long-term relationship. If there was even a small possibility that Poppy had met someone, her BFF would keep digging until she unearthed every tidbit of information.

  “It wasn’t a date,” Poppy admitted, sipping her coffee and heading in the direction of her office, only for Nyla to grab her arm and turn her toward one of the classified briefing rooms. Okay. Obviously, there was something her friend wanted her to see.

  “But Roy was right. You did meet someone, didn’t you?” Nyla pressed as they slipped into the conference room.

  Poppy grabbed a seat near the stack of folders on the table, but ignored them for the moment. There’d be no work for either of them until she filled her friend in on all the details.

  “I met a guy moving into the apartment across the hall from mine,” she said, choosing her words carefully. Not because she wanted to hide anything, but because she didn’t want to jinx anything with Sam. “I helped him carry up some of his stuff and we ended up getting pizza afterward. And before you ask, yes, we hit it off.”

  “Excellent!” Nyla beamed, dark eyes dancing as she slipped into the chair beside Poppy. “Tell me everything about him. What’s his name? What’s he like? Is he cute? Are you two going out on a date?”

  Poppy couldn’t help but laugh. “I know you’re excited, but slow down a little. I’ll tell you all the juicy details. Not that there are many.”

  “You let me decide that,” Nyla said, gesturing with her coffee mug before taking a sip. “Now, spill! And don’t leave anything out.”

  Grinning, Poppy told her friend about stepping out of her apartment to go for a jog and seeing this absolute Adonis trying to hold up a stack of boxes at the same time he dug around in his pocket for his keys. “He ended up dropping them and some of his stuff went flying. I think it might have been because he was checking me out.”

  Nyla oohed and aahed over that, sounding more like a teenager than a fellow nuclear engineer. “Adonis, huh? That sounds promising. Tell me about him! What’s he like?”

  Poppy smiled as she thought of the handsome sailor she’d met the previous evening. “Sam’s amazing. And different than any guy I’ve ever met. I m
ean, he’s gorgeous as sin, but I swear, I don’t think he even has a clue how hot he is. He’s quick on his toes and clever, but completely grounded at the same time. It was like we’ve known each other for months instead of just meeting last night. We ended spending hours discussing toppings on pizza and our favorite TV shows, and I wasn’t bored for a second. If we both didn’t have to get up early for work this morning, we probably would have stayed up half the night.”

  Nyla grinned so big Poppy thought her friend might pull a face muscle. “So, does this Sam of yours have a job? If he’s as hot as you say, I’m thinking stripper is a real possibility.”

  Poppy almost snorted coffee out of her nose. “No. He’s not a stripper…promise.” Although, she’d be lying if she didn’t say she hadn’t been seriously wondering what Sam’s body looked like under that tee and jeans he’d been wearing last night. “Actually, he’s in the Navy.”

  The smile faded from her friend’s face, a serious expression taking its place. “I thought you’d sworn off Navy guys after that last one. In fact, I clearly remember you saying you’d rather date an unemployed zombie biker before going out with another sailor.”

  Poppy winced, because she had said that. It wasn’t that she had anything against zombie bikers, but at the time she’d been reaching for a good analogy and that had been the first thing to come to mind.

  “I probably shouldn’t have been so extreme,” she admitted. “The guy I had a problem with was a SEAL, so it was stupid to exclude everyone in the Navy. Especially here in San Diego, where you can’t throw a ball without it bouncing off someone in a blue uniform. Sam’s not like that other guy and he definitely isn’t a SEAL, so I think he’s worth taking a chance on.”