The SEAL’s Surprise Mate - Rachel McNeely Read online

  The SEAL’s Surprise Mate (Special Forces: Operation Alpha)

  Rachel McNeely

  Contents

  Foreword

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Untitled

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Books by Rachel McNeely

  More Special Forces: Operation Alpha World Books

  Books by Susan Stoker

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.

  © 2019 ACES PRESS, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  No part of this work may be used, stored, reproduced or transmitted without written permission from the publisher except for brief quotations for review purposes as permitted by law.

  This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, please purchase your own copy.

  Dear Readers,

  Welcome to the Special Forces: Operation Alpha Fan-Fiction world!

  If you are new to this amazing world, in a nutshell the author wrote a story using one or more of my characters in it. Sometimes that character has a major role in the story, and other times they are only mentioned briefly. This is perfectly legal and allowable because they are going through Aces Press to publish the story.

  This book is entirely the work of the author who wrote it. While I might have assisted with brainstorming and other ideas about which of my characters to use, I didn’t have any part in the process or writing or editing the story.

  I’m proud and excited that so many authors loved my characters enough that they wanted to write them into their own story. Thank you for supporting them, and me!

  READ ON!

  Xoxo

  Susan Stoker

  To Susan Stoker for giving me the opportunity to write in her World.

  Also much thanks to my friend and writer, Fiona Roarke, who is always there when I need her.

  Thanks to:

  My editor: Raina Toomey, for all her good suggestions.

  Cover Artist: Pat Dengate, for finding me the right covers for my books.

  Thanks to Amy Hrutkay for all your assistance in helping me get all the pieces together for my books. And thank you for your understanding and encouragement. Your smile and kindness come through your emails. You are a pleasure to work with.

  About the book

  FBI agent Haley Quinn is very used to taking care of herself, whether it’s advancing in a demanding career or guarding her heart against mysogynistic men like her overbearing father. The only time she needed to lean on someone was when a particularly sexy SEAL named Ranger came to her rescue after a mission in the Middle East went bad.

  Dirk “Ranger” Foster never minded his reputation as the lone lothario in his team of happily married SEALs until he met a redhead who made it all too clear she was less than impressed with his charms. How could a man not fall for such a stubborn, brilliant, gorgeous woman?

  Haley isn’t playing hard to get. She’s determined to stand strong in the face of the undeniable attraction she feels for Ranger. But SEALs have a knack for turning impossible situations into very possible victories.

  Chapter 1

  Dirk Foster, better known as Ranger, felt a hand on his shoulder. When he opened his eyes, Captain Buchanan smiled.

  “Sit up. We’ll be landing in about fifteen minutes. You were tired. You slept the whole way.”

  “Yeah, it wasn’t a long mission, but fast and hard.”

  “I agree. Enjoy your downtime. You need to check in on Monday at eight o’clock sharp.”

  Ranger chuckled. “You mean we get Friday, one whole extra day off for the weekend.”

  “Don’t get smart, or I’ll find something for you to do tomorrow.”

  “Please don’t, Captain.” He sat straight and saluted as Buchanan laughed and moved on to wake the others.

  Heath Kenyon sat beside Ranger. “Do you have plans to do anything special tomorrow?”

  Ranger shrugged. “Like what?”

  “I thought you might be looking up the lady we rescued during the mission before this one.”

  “No, I’d better leave that one alone.”

  Jackson walked down the aisle and handed them each a bottle of water before moving on.

  “You’re afraid to call her.”

  Ranger shook his head and frowned. “When have I ever been afraid to approach a woman?”

  “We all noticed the way you reacted to her. She’s special to you, and I’d guess that makes you afraid.”

  “I’m a SEAL. I’m not afraid of any woman.”

  “None that you’d met before, but you were looking pretty lovesick. What was her name?” Heath pretended to think. “Oh, yes. Haley.”

  Several teammates were clearly listening in, one going so far as to yell, “Lovesick is the right word.”

  “All right, guys, straighten up. We land in a few minutes,” Captain Buchanan hollered above them.

  Heath belted himself in beside Ranger. “If you aren’t scared of her, invite her to come to the barbecue at my house tomorrow afternoon. Our place has plenty of room for a party.”

  “I suppose if I come alone, you all will razz me the whole time.”

  “It’s your choice.”

  The plane touched down and made a turn before stopping. Ranger watched as his friends deplaned and rushed to the parked cars, where their waiting wives and children waved to welcome them home.

  Since Marcel moved to the East Coast and joined a team there, I’m the only single SEAL on our team. He shook himself. My teammates will not influence me. Although, the wounded FBI agent did throw me a curve. I thought I’d fallen in love at first sight. Me, a man who trusts no woman.

  He strolled to his car. As he unlocked the door, Hawke yelled at him, “We’re going to Aces Bar and Grill tonight, join us.”

  “Will do. I’m dry. I need a few beers.”

  Hawke waved and drove off. Ranger was the last to leave. “Maybe I will try and call Haley Quinn.” He snorted and mumbled, “She won’t even remember my name.”

  As was his habit after a mission, Ranger drove into his garage and sat a moment while the tension left his body, a feeling of peace replacing it.

  Then he grabbed his bag of dirty clothes, unlocked the inside door, and dropped them in the laundry room on his way to the kitchen to start the coffee perking. Soon the smell of fresh coffee filled the room.

  Tired to the bone, he carried a cup into his bedroom, pulled back the covers on his bed and stripped. He’d take a quick shower, finish his coffee, and lie down.

  As he scrubbed off the dirt and smell of his trip to the Middle East, he thought of Haley. He liked the softness of her smile, her short dark-red hair, and bluish-green eyes that reminded him of the ocean in the islands he’d visited on leave.

  Ranger shook his head. I must be tired. I never fantasize about women. He turned off the water and grabbed a towel to dry off. When he got to his bed, he fell into it. “Damn, I am tired.” In se
conds, he slipped into sleep.

  Haley Quinn poured a cup of coffee and surveyed the room. She wrinkled her forehead as she spotted her father.

  I prefer not to see him, ever. What’s he doing in my meeting? His job is in Washington, D.C.

  Seeing an empty seat beside a friend, she strolled in that direction. When she settled in her seat, Ava leaned toward her.

  “Your father is here today.”

  “I noticed. I wonder why.”

  “Didn’t you hear?”

  “Hear what?”

  “He’s going on the next mission. Since you asked for time off, he volunteered to take your place.”

  “I wonder why he decided to go on what would have been my mission?”

  “Maybe he’s being nice and filling in since you’ll be snuggled away in your cabin,” Ava said.

  Haley started to turn and glare at her father, but she forced herself to ignore him. “My father always has an ulterior motive for what he does.”

  “He sure made you distrust men. When’s the last time you went out on a date?”

  “I don’t have time to date or the interest.”

  “Hmm, I bet if you met the right guy, he’d change your mind,” Ava said and poked her in the side.

  “You like men and dating. I don’t. Don’t try to change me. It won’t work.”

  “Ah, you just put a dare out in the universe. I see a handsome man in your future.”

  For a second, a picture of the man they called Ranger came to mind. She’d tried to forget him after a woman answered his phone at the hospital, but his face insisted on popping up with memories of her trip back to the States.

  “You smiled. Are you hiding something from me?” Ava asked.

  Just then, Mike Powers rapped the gavel on the podium to get their attention. “We have a lot to get done today,” their supervisor said. “We will begin to plan for the next mission. Mr. Quinn has joined us to take notes for his son, Scott, who’s been with the FBI in Washington. He’ll take Haley’s place. Scott couldn’t come today, but he’ll be here for the rest of the planning.”

  Haley jerked around and stared at her father. Before she realized what she was doing, she’d surged to feet, trembling with anger. “You want him to have my slot permanently!”

  “Be seated, Miss Quinn,” Powers ordered with a glare. “We will discuss any questions you have after this meeting.”

  “Then I see no reason for me to stay.” She walked to the door and slammed it on her way out. She knew she had acted badly, but the incident brought back so many memories of when her father put her brothers before her.

  A painful band of tension tightened around her forehead. When she got to her office, she pulled out a drawer and reached for the bottle of pills the doctor had given her to ward off her worst headaches. They mostly occurred when she and her father had a confrontation.

  “I hate him,” she mumbled under her breath and collapsed into her chair. She wrestled the cap off the bottle and tossed the pills into her mouth swallowing them with the thermos of water she kept on her desk.

  “Are you all right?” Ava asked.

  The sound of her friend’s voice startled her into looking at the office doorway. “What are you doing here?”

  “I asked to be relieved. I told Mr. Powers I had a lot of paperwork that needed finishing. Thankfully, I had my recorder with me, and I left it on the podium to catch anything we might miss.”

  Haley closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

  “Why did you get so upset when Mr. Powers said your brother would fill in for you?” Ava pulled over a chair and sat beside Haley’s desk.

  “It’s typical of him. He wants his younger son to have a more active role in the FBI, and if Scott shows himself well overseas on missions, then our father can maneuver him into higher positions in Washington.”

  “He’d cut you out for your brother?”

  Haley snorted. “In a heartbeat. My father believes women belong at home, having children, preferably boys, and keeping the home fires burning while manly men get the job done.”

  “He’s rather backward,” Ava said.

  Haley smiled. “I appreciate someone finally understanding how I feel.”

  “How about your mother?”

  “She is the ideal wife for him and agrees with how he feels about me. I was expected to be married by now and have given them at least three grandsons. They would then grow up and follow in my father’s and brothers’ footsteps.”

  “You need to meet some real men. Not all of them are like your father. Not even most of them.” Ava brightened. “I think you need a night out, a chance to unwind. A friend of mine suggested I join his group tonight. They like to relax at Aces Bar and Grill on Friday nights. Why don’t you come?”

  “I don’t know. I’d rather go home and beat my head against the wall.”

  “Nope. You are going to turn up your nose at your father and brother and join me at Aces. I told my friend I’d drive there.”

  “What kind of friend? Are you dating?”

  “No, we met a few months ago at a mutual friend’s house.” She sighed dramatically. “I decided I might lose my heart to him, so I’ve kept him at arm’s length.”

  “Why?”

  “I guess I’m afraid I’ll fall hard, and he’ll be one of those SEALs that loves you and leaves you when the next mission comes around.”

  “And you want me to hook up with one? But, now that I think about it, that type might fit well with my job of coming and going on missions.”

  “Not with just any SEAL, but the one you talked about when you first got back.”

  “I told you he’s probably married.”

  “Pfft. I don’t know how you came to that conclusion just because of one phone call. It could have been a nurse or anyone.”

  “Maybe.”

  “Say you’ll go tonight.”

  Haley almost said no, but Ava batted her eyes and clasped her hands under her chin in an overblown pantomime of begging. Haley couldn’t help but laugh. “All right, I’ll go. Put away the puppy-dog eyes.”

  “Great! I’ll pick you up at seven, and we’ll eat there. The place serves good food.”

  “Fine. Now go away and let me get some work done.”

  Dirk groaned and opened his eyes. His clock showed it was six-thirty. Experience told him many of his teammates and their wives would already be eating dinner at Aces.

  A quick, cold shower will get me going. I think it’s too late to call Haley. I’ll do it tomorrow.

  It didn’t take him long to get ready and drive to Aces. The group hollered at him as he walked inside.

  “It’s about time,” Heath said. “We were going to deploy a reconnaissance party to your house to make sure you were alive. You never miss the invitation for a cold beer and good company.”

  Kijika, better known as Shadow, pulled out a chair for him. His wife, Anais, leaned across Shadow and welcomed Dirk.

  “We just ordered,” she said. “But here comes the waitress. She must have seen you come in.”

  Dirk settled back in his chair and enjoyed listening to the group talk. The presence of the wives had added a different atmosphere to their homecoming nights, then when they were all bachelors. At least now they didn’t get rowdy enough to be thrown out, as had sometimes happened before his teammates, except him, had tied the knot. He smiled when he thought about those times. He had to admit the next day was better without an awful hangover.

  The waitress returned to set a cold beer in front of him. The first swallow was always the best, cold and tasty. It helped banish some of the sand that seemed to get into everything when their missions were in the Middle East.

  He glanced around the room. The bar filled up in a hurry on Friday nights, and tonight was no exception. He was about to join his table’s conversation when he saw two women walk in through a side door. Dirk straightened in his chair.

  A SEAL from another team hurried to join the women. As they walked further in
to the room, the dim lights overhead glinted on the shorter woman’s red hair.

  Ranger swallowed, and his whole body went on alert. The other SEAL led the two women toward a table at the back of the room.

  Before he realized what he was doing, Ranger stood and walked quickly in their direction.

  “Where are you going,” Jackson called after him.

  “I think he saw someone he knows,” Heath said.

  Ranger heard their words, but he had one mission: To discover if Haley Quinn had just entered Aces.

  A chair was pulled out for Ava and another for her friend. Haley had just sat when her neck tingled in warning. She turned, looked up and saw the man she hadn’t forgotten walking in her direction.

  Her breath caught in her throat. She’d thought Ranger handsome enough when she’d met him months ago, grungy and sweaty and masculine. Cleaned up, he was something to behold. His tall, well-muscled body and golden-brown hair had every woman near their table whispering.

  Ava leaned close to Haley. “I’m betting the man heading toward us is the one who rescued you. You kept his good looks to yourself.”

  “Neither of us looked very good. We were covered in dirt and dust, bitten by too many mosquitoes and hoping the plane ride would be over soon.”

  “I don’t know.” Ava shook her head. “I’d bet he’d raise my blood pressure even in that condition.”

  Haley chuckled. “Any halfway good-looking man gets you going.”

  Ava shrugged. “I can’t help it. I like men, unlike you, who seems to stay as far away from them as possible.”