Page 5 of Recovering Ivy (Red Team #4)

Zane

I was in a foul mood. I should’ve been fucking ecstatic I’d woke up drained and satisfied.

The sexy brunette from the bar last night was hands down some of the best sex I’d ever had.

When Ivy let go, she was goddamn magnificent.

After we finished against the wall and made our way to the bedroom, I’d fucked her in all manner of ways.

The woman gave as good as she got. She matched me stroke for stroke and begged for more.

And her mouth? Soft and warm. Shy and tentative at first, but once she caught her rhythm, I had to fight back blowing in mere minutes.

I couldn’t remember a night I’d come so many times.

Then why was I so pissed? Not only had she fucked the hell out of me, but I didn’t even have to give her the morning after talk.

She was gone.

I was so exhausted I hadn’t heard her get up and leave. No goodbye. No thank you for the fuck. No asking for my number, my last name, if we could meet up again, nothing. I should’ve been walking into the office with a smile on my face, not feeling like I wanted to shoot someone .

“I sent Declan to check out Forester’s PA,” Linc told me as I made my way through the main area of the office.

“Great.” I didn’t stop to talk; instead, I took the stairs two at a time up to my private space wondering if it was too early for a drink. I needed something to pull me from my funk.

Before I could slam the door Linc’s hand shot out and stopped it.

“What crawled up your ass?” The bastard chuckled and followed me.

I was now finding there was a downside to employing family. They were nosey pricks and thought they could barge in for a stop and chat instead of actually doing their job.

“Nothing. How’s your wife?” I asked, hoping by mentioning Jasmin, Linc would stop butting in my personal business.

“She’s fine. Nothing, my ass. Everything okay with Anderson’s daughter?” he inquired about an open investigation, guessing that was what had me in a bad mood. I thought about lying and allowing him to think he was right, but I’d never lied to my brother and I wasn’t about to now.

I sat on the couch in my office and contemplated my words. Too much information and Linc would never leave it alone, not enough, he’d press for more.

“Nothing is wrong. I’m tired that’s all. I’m too old to pull all-nighters.”

“Ahh, I see. Not much sleep last night.” He chuckled. I wasn’t lying, I was too old for this shit. I’d had maybe two hours’ worth of sleep by the time Ivy and I had finished. “I never thought I would see a flavor of the night wear you out.”

Irrational anger welled hearing Linc call Ivy my flavor of the night.

Never in the past had it bothered me. My brother knew I didn’t do repeats.

I hadn’t since joining the Navy. I found early on the women around the bases I was stationed at were mostly frog hogs , their only requirement before fucking you was that you were a SEAL.

Most of the women were so good at spotting us, their pickup line was color or number .

I’d been asked the question so many times it was laughable.

Somehow the women felt taking a member of DEVGRU, which designates their teams with colors instead of the regular teams who were known by numbers, to bed held more bragging rights.

My standard answer then, as it is now when asked what I do, is to tell women I’m in waste management.

It was true, I was a garbageman of sorts.

I just didn’t take household trash to the dump. I disposed of the human kind of trash.

“Where the fuck did you go?” Linc pulled me from my thoughts.

“Nowhere.”

I was losing my touch. Since when did I daydream and zone out? Ivy. This was all her fault. She’d fucked with my head and cast some kind of spell over me with her magical pussy. That was the only logical explanation.

“Right. I know not to push for answers; your stubborn ass is locked down tighter than a virgin in a foxhole.” Linc stood and made his way to the door.

“You know that doesn’t make any fucking sense at all, right?” I chuckled.

“Whatever. You’re tracking, that’s all that matters.”

Linc closed the door behind him and I walked to the bank of windows and stared out over the Naval Academy yard.

Young, fresh minds hard at work earning their commissions.

What would it be like to be young and na?ve?

Not knowing what I know or having seen what I’d seen.

Would I be different? Would I have the desire to keep a woman?

Fuck, would I even know how to be a husband, never having a real man in my life growing up to teach me.

My phone vibrated, breaking my useless thoughts. None of that mattered. I had seen the atrocities of combat, I had taken lives, I did know everything I wished I didn’t. There was no sense wasting time on stupid shit I didn’t want anyway.

I needed a woman like I needed a hole in the head.

The day dragged on and with each passing hour my mood seemed to deteriorate.

Maybe I needed to go back to the bar, find Ivy and fuck her until she was out of my system.

I was man enough to admit that her disappearing act had also bruised my ego.

No one dismissed me, ever. Did that make me an arrogant prick?

Yes, but I never claimed to be anything different.

I couldn’t shake the memory of her. And not just the sex.

Her smile. Her pretty hazel eyes. Fuck. I’d memorized the flecks of green in them while she was on top of me.

They were big and expressive, and she held nothing back.

Maybe the part that held my attention the most was the pain behind them.

There was a worldly experience one gained from deep, soul-crushing pain; it was the same knowledge I’d gained over the years.

I didn’t like that she seemed to have the same understanding.

I hated that for her. I would never wish that pain on any woman, especially one as beautiful as Ivy.