“Hey, everyone. I’m Declan.”
The first guy stepped forward, “Ewen.” He was the shortest, other than Scott. His haircut was the typical Marine Corps high and tight. He had a lean, ripped look to him and a scar on his left cheek.
“Slone.” I shook his hand. We were similar in height, weight, and coloring, but he had deep chocolate-brown eyes.
The bean pole who stood in the back reached through the other guys and said, “I’m Cameron.”
The last guy gave me an appraising look from my boots to face, pausing on my cock. “Howdy, cowboy. I’m Priest.”
If it weren’t for Hayden living and breathing in my head and invading every conscious thought, the guy in front of me would be right up my alley. He gave off a vibe that usually would’ve made my dick take notice, but not now. One, I was utterly wiped out, and two, he was cute, but he was no Hayden.
“Nice to meetcha.”
Priest licked his lips and said, “Damn that accent” while staring at my mouth.
“Don’t get any ideas, Priest. I’m not sharing.”
Every one of their heads spun, and I followed their gaze to the stairs behind me. If the words he’d spoken hadn’t been enough to get my engines revving again, the way he looked certainly jump-started things.
Hayden came down the stairs carrying a duffel bag. Dressed casually like the rest of us, he shouldn’t have had much of an impact on me, but the way the man filled out the plain white t-shirt that stretched tight across his enormous chest and the tapered black cargos made my mouth water. Add the backward ball cap and the white and black Adidas, and I probably needed to wipe my face.
“It’s not like you to be a stingy motherfucker, Marin.”
“You’ll live,” Hayden said as he came to a stop behind me, wrapping a hand around the back of my neck.
I’ve never once felt short. Even as a kid, I was always the tallest. Then, as I filled out, I was broader than most of my peers, as well. But Hayden Marin topped me in more ways than one, and I loved how it made me feel.
“Where’s everyone else?” he asked.
All the guys looked at each other before Scott said, “Lucia said she wasn’t feeling well and decided not to go.”
“And Lemasters and Haverty?”
Scott cleared his throat and said, “They didn’t want to leave Lucia alone since she wasn’t feeling well.”
Hayden grumbled behind me, then sighed. “Okay. If it’s just us, Declan offered up his car.”
“You mean the fed mobile sitting at the curb?”
I laughed. “I work private security. It’s my work truck.”
Scott whistled, “Nice.”
“It has its perks,” I replied. “But I’m happy to drive.”
“Whaddya say, guys, you ready to hit the town?”
11
HAYDEN
Darkness had fallen by the time we rolled into Vegas. The bright lights of the strip lit up the interior of the SUV, burning my eyes, and I nearly reached for my sunglasses. They’d sat on my head for most of the trip, but I tossed them on the dash when I got behind the wheel because they kept hitting the ceiling. Declan had driven about three-quarters of the way, but I finally put my foot down and made him let me drive. He hadn’t wanted to let me. I knew it was a work car, but I didn’t want him too damn tired to have a good time.
While he drove, I tried to get Lucia to confess she didn’t come because Declan came with us, but she kept saying she was sick. She even sent me a photo of a bottle of anti-nausea meds and that nasty electrolyte stuff the sick bay doled out whenever someone got a bug.
I finally relented and told her to get better soon but made a note to talk with her when we got back to base. I didn’t want there to be any hard feelings between us because Declan and I were… well, the best I could come up with was fucking, so that’s how I labeled it, but it didn’t sit quite right.
I shoved away the tangled web my thoughts became every time I thought of Declan and how he made me act and feel. I asked, “Where are we staying, guys?”
