Coyote Heat (SEALs On Fire)
Thank you for purchasing this Wild Rose Press, Inc. publication.
Coyote Heat
by
Desiree Holt
SEALs On Fire Series
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.
Coyote Heat
COPYRIGHT © 2012 by Desiree Holt
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author or The Wild Rose Press, Inc. except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
Contact Information: [email protected]
Cover Art by
Diana Carlile
The Wild Rose Press, Inc.
PO Box 708
Adams Basin, NY 14410-0708
Visit us at www.thewilderroses.com
Publishing History
First Scarlet Rose Edition, January 2013
Digital ISBN 978-1-61217-772-4
Published in the United States of America
Dedication
To all the military who put their lives on the line
every day that we all may live in freedom.
I wish for all of you a woman who loves with understanding and understands with love.
And to the Sassy Seven, best friends ever.
PRAISE FOR AUTHOR
Desiree Holt
AND HER BOOKS
CRACK THE WHIP
“…Desiree Holt is a master writer of erotic romance and she unapologetically pushes the sexual envelope in Crack the Whip. Readers are going to love this latest installment in the Cowboy Kink series!”
~Long and Short Reviews
SLAPPING LEATHER
“
SLAPPING LEATHER
teases and engages reader's hearts and minds with its claiming, raw and untamed desires between two lovers meant for each other.
~The Romance Studio
BITE THE BULLET
“An erotically charged tale that shows the pleasure that a strong man can derive by giving control and trust to a unique woman…”
~Night Owl Reviews
BUCKSKIN, BOOTS AND BONDAGE
“Buckskins, Boots and Bondage is a story filled with deep-seated passion, erotic kink, sensual adventure and characters that are impossible to forget after the last word is read.”
~Shannon, The Romance Studio
Chapter One
Miguel Cruz, code name Coyote, stared through the wall of windows of the beach house to the azure waters of the Gulf Mexico. The sun, beginning its descent, was a shimmering ball of fire.
What a great place for a vacation.
It was a stroke of luck that Dagger was such good friends with movie star Brice Benson and they’d scored the use of this Key West beach house for a few days. Or at least until their pagers went off, recalling them to base.
SEAL Team Arapaho had just been shifted to standby after a tiring and bloody mission in Afghanistan, and they were ready for some cold beer and hot women. They could be recalled to their base at Dam Neck at any moment so they’d better get their asses in gear if they wanted to have any fun at all. He and the other team members had talked about taking the jeeps into Key West and scout the action for the evening. He glanced at his watch. Friday, five o’clock and he was ready for the weekend of sun and fun to get started.
“Who’s still here?” he called, looking up the stairs to the second floor. “Anyone need a ride to town, or did y’all run off and leave me?”
“Zeus and I are here.” Ren “Ghost” Ramsey walked into the living room from the kitchen. “The others took off earlier and left the second SUV for us. I definitely need a ride into town. I’m meeting my best friend from back home in Oklahoma.”
“Yeah? What’s his name?”
The tall, broad-shouldered man grinned. “
Her
name is Sadie. She’s a doctor and she’s taking a couple of days off so we can hang together.”
Coyote grinned. “Best friend, huh? How come I’ve never heard you talk about her? You been
best friends
for a long time?”
Ghost’s skin flushed beneath his dark tan. “Since we were kids. And that’s all it is. We’re just…reconnecting.”
“Is that what you call it? Okay, okay.” He held up his hands when Ghost started toward him. “I’ll deliver you to your
friend.”
“Let’s get it together, then.” Coyote grabbed the set of keys left on the hall table for him. “Hey, Zeus,” he called, then laughed. Jesus Calderon had taken the code name of Zeus, and the team members loved to tease him by calling out
Hey, Zeus,
a play on the pronunciation of his name. “Move it. This is the best time to hit Sunset Pier.”
And find himself a warm body for the next couple of days.
That’s all it would be. He’d long ago decided the single status suited him best. Team Arapaho often teased him that he planned to notch the name of every female he met on his bedpost. That was fine with him. If you didn’t give away a piece of yourself, you didn’t get it shredded and stomped on. He’d seen too many marriages break up because of the kind of life men like him and his teammates had to live. There just weren’t that many special women any more.
This last mission had nearly gone south so they were all glad to have a place to let it all hang out for a few days. A place with luxurious guest rooms, every amenity that a true Hollywood star could fit into a vacation home, and—courtesy of the same star—a well stocked refrigerator and bar. Being able to shower and not worry about the hot water running out was also a big plus.
Now he was ready for cold drink, a warm body, and hot sex. The hotter the better. And in the tourist town of Key West, he expected to find a veritable banquet of females from which to choose. He was already salivating at the thought.
“We’re burning daylight, guys,” he called as he cranked the ignition. He glanced at the house next door, knowing the current tenant would make Zeus’s stay in Key West one to remember. He hoped he got to see the look of surprise on his teammate’s face when he got a look at her.
“We’re coming, we’re coming,” Ghost huffed as he and Zeus climbed into the vehicle. “Jesus, keep your pants on.”
“Yeah.” Zeus laughed. “At least until later tonight.”
“I’m heading to Sunset Pier,” he said, pulling away from the house. “Ghost, I know you’re meeting your
best
friend there. Zeus, you good with that place, too?”
“Give me a cold beer and a hot woman, and I’m in heaven.”
As usual on a Friday night Key West streets were jammed with a mix of residents and tourists. Coyote had been here a couple of times on his own, and he loved the excitement and color of the city. If ever there was a place to forget his troubles and get happy, this was it. They moved slowly through the traffic on crowded Duval Street until they reached Sunset Pier at the very foot. Built where the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean met, the restaurant and bar jutted into the water.
Coyote considered himself lucky to snag a rare parking space just as someone was leaving.
“I’ll see you guys later,” Ghost said as he moved off toward the bar.
“Yeah, say hi to your
friend
for us,” Coyote teased.
Ghost grinned and flipped him the bird.
“What was that all about?” Zeus wanted to know.
Coyote explained it to him, and Zeus just laughed. “Yeah, we’ll have to get all the details on his
friend.
Okay, I’m heading straight for the bar.”
“Right behind you.”
The pier was jammed, both the covered area and the pier where tables were shaded with colorful umbrellas.
“I’ll get us a couple of beers,” Zeus volunteered. “You see if you can find us some pretty ladies to sit with.”
Coyote nodded his head and turned, smacking his elbow into something soft but solid.
“Watch it, you troglodyte,” a sharp female voice spit at him.
He would have laughed if the woman standing next to him hadn’t looked so mad. He guessed her height at five-foot-four. Her heart-shaped face was framed by a tumble of rich brown curls streaked with gold. Her eyes were the color of the Atlantic, but right now, they looked like they were spitting electric blue fire.
His gaze dropped lower, taking in her navy and white dress, a simple thing with narrow straps with a bodice that hugged her lovingly. It hugged her even more since he’d apparently knocked into her and made her spill her drink all over herself.
Holy shit!
This was better than a wet T-shirt contest. He couldn’t take his eyes from the way the material clung to her breasts, nipples outlined in detail. Nor could he do anything about his cock, which immediately stood at attention and begged to salute. He could only hope she was too distracted to catch the bulge at his crotch.
“Well?” she demanded. “What are you going to do about it?”
“Apologize? Help?” He reached between two bodies at the bar, grabbed a handful of small paper napkins, and started blotting her dress.
“Not that, you jackass.” She used her free hand to smack his away. “Keep your paws off of me.”
Coyote stepped back an inch, all the space allowed, and held his hands up in front of him. “Okay, okay. I said I’m sorry.” He flashed her what he thought of as his unbeatable smile. “How about if I buy you a drink?”
If she was outraged before, she looked to be at the screaming stage now.
“A drink? A
drink
? Are you crazy? Look at what you did to me.” She dumped what was left in the glass over his head. “Maybe that will teach you some manners.” She turned to the girl standing beside her taking it all in with unconcealed humor. “Let’s get out of here.”
“Leave? But Cori, we just got here.”
“So? Big deal. If all we’re going to find are jerks like that, then it isn’t worth staying. Besides, I’ve got to get out of these wet clothes. Damn.” She groaned. “And I was really looking forward to tonight, too.”
She turned on her heel and shoved her way through the crowd, leaving her friend to hustle to keep up with her.
“Here.” Zeus shoved a handful of material at him.
Coyote looked down at it. “What’s this?”
“Sunset Pier T-shirt. I figured you’d need something to wipe that egg off your face.” He slapped Coyote on the back. “Go change. It was worth the price of the shirt just to watch. I think I’m going to head home, if it’s all the same to you. I’m just not in the mood tonight.”
“You want the keys to the car?”
Zeus shook his head. “No, I think a walk will be good for me.”
“Okay. Later.”
“Don’t dump any more drinks.” Zeus grinned and walked away.
Grumbling to himself, Coyote pushed and shoved his way to the men’s room, stripped off the soaked shirt, and exchanged it for the dry one. In a spurt of anger, he tossed the wet garment into the trash and dusted his hands, as if erasing any trace of the spitfire who’d doused him. What was with her, anyway? It wasn’t as if he’d done it on purpose.
And what was up with his cock? Up being the operative word. It acted as if he hadn’t had any in weeks. Oh, wait. He hadn’t. He’d been fighting the grit of the sands in Afghanistan and the brutal winds of the Hindu Kush Mountains. Usually his body didn’t react so instantly to a female, but damn! This one had electrified him from the git-go. And not just because she was wearing her wet dress like a second skin. There was just…
something
about her that struck at his core.
How could he find her again? Would the bartender know who she was? Was she a tourist or a local? Shaking his head, he yanked open the door of the men’s room and headed back to the bar. The place was even more crowded than before, a feat he hadn’t thought possible. Now if Coyote could just find Miss Hot Body again, his night would be off to a better start. He inched his way through the tight jam of people, scanning the crowd for a glimpse of her.
There!
He spotted her off to the side of the bar, leaning against the railing with her friend. She held a fresh drink in her hand, but she’d apparently gone home to change or done a quick shopping trip on Duval Street. She wore white shorts and a blue tank top that matched the color of her eyes. She stood chatting with her friend, but a muscular blond surfer type was hanging over her shoulder, making Coyote’s anger bubble up.
