Chapter 7
SHORE LEAVE for SEAL Team Atlantis was usually a matter of fun, travel, and adventure. They’d brought the cabin cruiser in and docked it at the Key West Marina. While the town was growing, it was still easy enough to walk around and play tourist. That said, they’d been stationed on Ambergris Key for so many years, Key West felt like their backyard. Duke would have preferred the anonymity of Miami. He was horny as hell and he didn’t want to hook up with one of the locals. That got sticky. He wanted a “one and done.”
Unsurprisingly, he now occupied a stool at the end of the bar in Mother Goose’s. Mother herself presided behind the bar, along with the grizzled veteran who’d tended bar for as long as Duke had been coming in. Bear was a big man with full sleeves of tattoos. Rumor had it he’d been in an outlaw biker gang once upon a time. Caught in a shootout, he would have died if Mother hadn’t dragged his sorry ass to the emergency room. Duke didn’t doubt the story. When Bear was behind the bar, no one was stupid enough to walk a tab. What they didn’t understand was that Mother was far more dangerous. People saw Bear coming. Mother just flat out snuck up on you.
Mother Goose was an enigma. She was older, but no one had a clue as to her real age. She was over fifty, under seventy. Maybe. She kept her silver hair short, her voice sounded like she’d smoked a couple of packs a day for forty years, but he’d never seen her light up. She was silent on her feet and quick. And mean as a copperhead. No one knew where she came from. She didn’t have family, at least none her staff or customers were aware of. There were stretches when she disappeared with no word, but Bear and a couple of the others ran the bar in her absence. Duke had seen her take out a drunk NFL linebacker with her bare hands, and it was done before anyone else could react and come to her aid. She didn’t need it, except to haul the guy’s carcass up off the floor and toss him out.
While he’d been musing, a bottle of his favorite beer, sweating ice chips, appeared in front of him. He glanced up to find Bear leaning on the bar across from him.
“We gonna have problems, Duke?” The bartender nodded his head toward Dalton and the others.
“I’ll keep ’em in line, Bear.”
“Good. Tell Dalton no more fuckin’ the coeds up against the back wall of the building. Dude can afford to buy a room and it pisses Mother right the hell off.”
Duke snorted laughter even though he knew Bear wasn’t kidding. “Yeah, Dalton has no sense of propriety.”
“Beer’s from the broad at the corner table.”
He nodded at the other man but didn’t immediately check out his benefactress. Lots of lonely woman showed up in the Keys, most of them with more money than sense. Then there were the coeds who came down for a good time. He shifted on his stool so he could check out his guys. As expected, Dalton occupied a full table, surrounded by a gaggle of cute girls oohing and ahhing over his biceps. The rest of his team had appropriated a table near the stage. Tonight was karaoke. They wanted to be close so they could harass Dalton. The surfer never met a microphone he didn’t like. Too bad the mic didn’t like him back. So far, alcohol intake was within reasonable limits.
Duke eventually scanned the woman who’d offered up the beer to get his attention. She was attractive enough. Dark hair. Dark eyes. A salon tan. He didn’t have a type. Women were women. Getting involved wasn’t in his mission statement. He considered hooking up with her for the night. She’d have a hotel room. Or a guest house. He’d never seen her before so he doubted she was a local. That part appealed. His dick was hard on general principles, not because this chick turned him on. Fucking was fucking but doing it without some spark of interest wasn’t any better than paying a hooker. Decision made, his gaze didn’t linger on her.
One of the waitresses hit the stage and Bear lowered the house lights. She fiddled with the equipment, tapped the microphone and launched into her spiel. Duke rolled his eyes as Dalton perked up. He glanced over at the corner table, but the brunette was gone. Just as well. The strains of the first song filled the room, hushing the crush of conversation, and the waitress launched into a decent rendition of “Margaritaville.” Jimmy Buffett’s songs were a staple on karaoke night. By the time the waitress had finished, three more people were in line. Thankfully, Dalton’s lap was occupied by a cute girl wearing short-shorts and a halter top.
Ready to find a quieter place to drink, Duke dug into his pocket for cash to pay out his tab. He froze when a hand landed on his shoulder. Small. Delicate. The scent of gardenias choked him. Damn but women needed to learn that when it came to perfume less is more.
“I bought you a beer.” The voice rasping in his ear was low and husky, but it didn’t sound real. More like the woman was pretending to be a phone-sex operator. It didn’t work.
“Thanks.”
She slithered around his side, brushing her full breasts across his biceps as she grabbed his thigh and swiveled his bar stool around. The woman inserted herself between his knees. “I like your looks.”
Duke didn’t reply or respond in any way, despite the urge to arch a brow. He almost felt sorry for her. She wore desperation like a winter coat—thick and wrapped around her in layers. This was not a woman he wanted to hook up with.
She pursed her heavily lipsticked mouth and fluttered her lashes at him. “I like to fuck.”
Yeah, there was no easy way to get out of this one. He didn’t like to hurt feelings unnecessarily. He felt sorry for this woman and a flat-out refusal would further damage whatever self-esteem might be hiding beneath her brittle veneer of boldness. Duke wasn’t a bad guy, or cold. He just had no patience for needy people. Before he could figure out what to say to get the woman to move along, Mother saved him the trouble.
“You, scram.” Mother jerked the woman’s hand off Duke’s shoulder, spun her around so she no longer stood between his knees and gave her a nuanced shove that sent the woman staggering away on her platform sandals without knocking the woman to the floor. “You,” she turned to Duke. “Need to take care of that.” She tossed her head in the direction of Dalton’s table.
The coed was now straddling Dalton’s lap. Her halter had disappeared and Dalton had both hands shoved down the back of the girl’s shorts as she dry-humped him. “Well, hell. Dress that boy up and I still can’t take him out in public without a leash.” He slid off his stool. “I’ll get him out of here, Mother.” He dropped his chin to acknowledge her rescue. “And thanks.”
She rolled her eyes, but he was still thankful for the intervention. Duty called. Good excuse to escape and not hurt any feelings. Of course, Mother had pretty much nipped the predatory woman in the bud. Duke killed his beer, slapped money on the bar, and strode toward Dalton. The rest of the team pushed away from their table. They had no reason to stick around if he wasn’t going to let Dalton serenade the place. Mother’s patrons would thank him.
They swarmed the table before he reached it, each one glomming onto one of the girls in Dalton’s posse and in moments, only Dalton and the girl in his lap were left. Duke grabbed the back of the other man’s shirt and hauled. Dalton came to his feet, the girl clinging to him like a little monkey, arms around his neck, legs around his waist. Dalton’s hands were still jammed inside her shorts, cupping her butt.
“You better hope she has a room nearby,” Duke growled. “Otherwise, I’m gonna let your ass sit in jail for public lewdness.”
Dalton broke off the kiss to offer a lopsided grin to his team leader. “She started it, boss.”
“Well, if you plan on finishing it, you’re going to do it in private. Jeez, Dalton.” He steered them toward the door, pausing to grab the girl’s discarded clothing. He glanced toward Bear who indicated the tab had been paid. The team didn’t need to get on Mother’s bad side by stiffing the place. Out on the sidewalk, Dalton had the girl’s back pressed against a tree trunk just outside the bar’s front door. A flat shape in one of her back pockets caught his attention. Duke went fishing and found a key card for a nearby hotel.
“Dalton. Room. With a bed.” Duke waved the card at Dalton. “Go now. That’s an order.”
“Aye, aye, Master Chief.”
Duke stuffed the card back in the girl’s pocket, turned them toward the hotel in question and pushed them off. He stood on the sidewalk until they disappeared inside the hotel. Good thing that boy was a born navigator. Duke glanced around. The girl’s friends and his team had disappeared, probably in search of another bar and more drinks. As long as they weren’t in Mother’s, he didn’t care. If it hadn’t been karaoke night, he would have gone back inside and reclaimed his stool at the bar. He just wanted a quiet place to drink a beer, maybe play a game of pool or watch whatever was showing on the sports channels. He was stuck here until the team regrouped in the morning, since they’d all come together. Of course, if he really wanted, he could hit the beach, strip down and swim home, but just as sure as he did, there’d be a situation.
Someone bumped into him and immediately apologized. “Oh, I’m so sorry. Excuse me.” Soft hands landed on the small of his back as the woman steadied herself. “I wasn’t watching where I was going.”
He glanced over his shoulder. The girl—woman—was taller than most, but not supermodel tall. She was round in all the right places. Laugh lines feathered the corners of her blue eyes and bangs of indiscriminate color teased her forehead beneath the Key West baseball cap she wore. The woman she was with gave him the once over and then lingered the second time she raked her gaze over him. She made him feel like a piece of meat, but the woman who’s hand still rested against his back just looked sweetly bemused.
“I’d offer to buy you a drink to make up for my clumsiness, but I’m already at my limit.” She flashed a smile and he caught a glimpse of a shallow dimple.
Smart girl. He appreciated she wasn’t sloppy drunk. Her eyes lowered and when she realized she was still touching him, her hand dropped and her smile turned a little saucy. He liked saucy. A lot. Maybe his night wasn’t a total loss after all.
“C’mon, Ms. New Doctor. He doesn’t have a friend and you don’t share.” Her friend tugged her arm and they headed on down the sidewalk, both of them weaving slightly.
Duke watched until they turned the corner and realized he needed to adjust the front of his jeans. His dick had perked right up at the thought of getting to know that little gal. Ah, well. He gave up and stepped back into Mother’s. At least he knew the beer was cold and Bear wouldn’t run him out until daylight.