Page 9 of SEAL’s Paradise (Alpha SEALs Hawaii #6)

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S AWYER SAUNTERED INTO the locker room on Monday morning, a shit-eating grin on his face.

His teammates were already there, readying for the day of training on the water.

They’d heard nothing else about Luciana, the missing nurse, but the team had other pressing matters to deal with in the meantime.

And Sawyer had big plans of his own.

After dropping his duffle bag onto the bench, he spun the combination lock and opened his locker, methodically grabbing his other gear. He glanced to the side, noting that Wyatt was already gathering his own supplies. “Wildcard, I need the name of your jeweler.”

Silence descended in the locker room, each of his teammate’s heads swiveling his way.

“Come again?” Wyatt asked, shooting him a confused look.

“Your jeweler,” Sawyer repeated slowly, trying not to smile. “Didn’t you have a ring made for Callie when you proposed? I need to get in on that. Maybe something simpler, though, already in a display case.”

“Holy shit,” Hudson muttered, his jaw dropping.

Sawyer eyed him with a smirk then glanced back at his team leader. “I’ve seen the light when it comes to Riley. Maybe I was struck by lightning or something,” he joked. “Don’t you fellas always say, ‘when you know, you know’? I need a ring for my fiancée,” Sawyer clarified.

The locker room was so silent you could hear a pin drop. Then everyone started moving at once.

Aaron “Anchor” Nielsen stalked over to Sawyer, frowning. “Did you get hit in the head this morning? Fall out of bed or something?”

“Negative, my friend,” Sawyer said with a grin.

“What the fuck?” Hudson asked, moving beside Aaron to stare at Sawyer. “You’re shitting us. You barely banged the chick and now you think you need to marry her? Even I can’t knock up a woman that fast.”

Sawyer snorted. “Nice touch, buddy. And no, much to my dismay, I didn’t sleep with her yet—not that it’s any of your business.”

“Since when don’t you kiss and tell?” Hudson joked.

“Since now,” Sawyer said firmly.

Wyatt frowned, studying him. “So what’s your angle then? You haven’t slept with her. You’ve been on exactly one date, after she called you for help this weekend. She’s a single mom who needs your military benefits? That’s nice of you, Saint, but I have to say—”

“Wrong, wrong, and wrong again,” Sawyer said, pointing to each of them. “All of your speculations are way off, although Wyatt’s story is no doubt what most people will assume.”

“So, what’s the deal then?” Ryan asked, crossing his arms. “There’s no way in hell you’d marry a woman for no reason. You do realize you can’t date other women once you tie the knot, right?”

“Ha ha,” Sawyer said sarcastically. “Riley isn’t a waitress,” he added in a low voice, meeting the eyes of each of his teammates. “And she doesn’t have a child. She’s working undercover while here in Honolulu. The gig at Coconuts is just a cover.”

His teammates were silent for a beat, and then everyone was talking again.

“Undercover?”

“Whoa—hold up. Her working undercover, if it’s true, doesn’t mean you need to marry the girl.”

“Why the hell would you agree to this?” Aaron asked with a frown.

Sawyer shot him a pointed look. “Agree to it? You’ve got this wrong, Anchor. The wedding was my idea.”

Austin “Storm” Eckhart walked into the locker room just then, catching the tail end of the conversation. “What wedding?” he asked in confusion.

Sawyer smiled. “I’m getting married.”

***

“Y OU’RE CRAZY,” HUDSON said twenty minutes later as the team walked outside for the day’s training. “Even if Riley is telling the truth—married? She could fight you like hell when you eventually get divorced. Demand your benefits. Turn it into some long, messy, drawn-out battle.”

“Nah. We have a mutual agreement.”

“So they all say,” Hudson muttered. “There’s no telling the woman won’t go batshit crazy and try to take you for all you’re worth.”

Sawyer frowned, eyeing his buddy. He wasn’t loaded by any stretch of the imagination, but he was comfortable.

The team got hazard duty pay for all their missions, and he lived below his means.

Sawyer was content spending his free time on the beach, not tossing his money around buying shit he didn’t need.

A night out at the bar was easily the most he spent on his regular weekly activities, and that hardly counted. A couple of beers was nothing.

“She needs my help, and this was the easiest way to go about things,” Sawyer admitted. “Plus, the commander’s been on my ass lately. You guys are all settled down now. You each have women. Kids on the way,” he added, shooting Hudson a pointed look.

“What’s the CO pissed about?” Hudson asked.

Sawyer muttered an oath. “Apparently, some of the officers from base saw me leaving Coconuts with a couple women a few weeks back. Nothing happened,” Sawyer stressed.

“I’m not actually into threesomes or anything of the sort.

I wasn’t in uniform, either, but it’d do me some good to make the higher ups think I’m a responsible, married man now. ”

“Jesus,” Hudson muttered. “Not sure getting married is the way to handle that, especially if you’re planning on a divorce or annulment not long afterward. Is it really worth the risk of the problems she could cause?”

Wyatt was quiet, mulling it over as he walked beside them. “If it’s a short marriage, she wouldn’t necessarily be entitled to anything. You could get the marriage annulled in a month—if that’s what you wanted.”

Sawyer chuckled. “It’s not forever, Wildcard. It’s for the moment. You know I’m a fly by the seat of my pants kind of guy. It’ll get her access to base. It’ll get the higher ups off my back.”

“And get you into her pants?” Hudson questioned.

Sawyer tried to bite back his smile. “I mean, if it happens, it happens. Say we’re stuck sharing one bed, pulling off this whole marriage thing. Who am I to deny my wife all of this?” he joked, gesturing to himself.

Ryan snorted. “She’s always had the hots for you. You’d have to be blind not to notice that.”

“Exactly,” Sawyer said. “I’ll probably be fighting her off by the time the week’s over.”

“Maybe she’s just a really good actress. Do you trust her?” Aaron questioned.

Sawyer lifted a shoulder. “She’s given me no reason not to.

We went back to her place after our date Saturday—not for what you think,” he added sarcastically.

“She showed me the intercepts. The text messages where some asshole in uniform was selling out his country to earn some cold, hard cash. I don’t think some random waitress could make that shit up—or get access to classified data.

She couldn’t know what she does without telling the truth. ”

“And what? She just happened to have it all on her hard drive?” Aaron asked, clearly still in disbelief.

“The data is all encrypted,” Sawyer said. “There’s no way she’d have access to what she did unless she’s telling the truth or she’s the one buying government secrets. And I did a little digging myself—she’s who she says. Former government, originally from Idaho, has a twin sister named Radley.”

“She’s a twin?” Wyatt questioned.

“Affirmative,” Sawyer said. “I found out a little more about her, too, but I know there’re secrets Riley isn’t telling me. I respect her sister’s privacy, but apparently, Riley originally came to Oahu to track down a man who’d hurt Radley. He’s in jail now,” Sawyer added darkly.

“Shit.” Hudson looked pissed on her behalf.

None of the men tolerated abuse toward women.

The idea of any man taking advantage of a woman simply because she was smaller and weaker than him made Sawyer’s gut clench.

Sawyer didn’t know the details, but he got the gist of it.

Some dick Radley worked with had hurt her then sold her out.

She’d quit her government career, followed soon after by Riley.

And then they’d ventured out on their own.

He wanted to learn more about their current employment, and he would in time.

Riley had mentioned her contact at DOD, but what were the rest of her connections?

Earning Riley’s complete trust would take time, but if Sawyer was a betting man, he figured he’d have it before their fake marriage was over.

She’d open up to him, hopefully in more ways than one.

Sawyer would love to figure out what was going on in that mind of hers.

If he killed a few birds with one stone, all the better. Find the fucking traitor, get the commander off his ass, and oh yeah—get Riley naked and beneath him.

“Are you bringing her to the commander’s barbeque in a few weeks?

” Wyatt asked, jarring Sawyer from his thoughts.

His gaze landed on his team leader. Their commanding officer had organized a large barbeque for the team and other sailors on base, assuming none of them were deployed on an op.

It would be good to meet up and enjoy a good time without thinking about training, briefings, or missions for a change.

“That’s not a bad idea,” Sawyer mused. “Wouldn’t it shock the shit out of everyone if I showed up a married man? Hopefully Riley is down with a little PDA. We will be newlyweds after all,” he joked, waggling his eyebrows.

“People will probably think you knocked her up,” Hudson pointed out.

“What? And took a play from your book?” Sawyer retorted. “People around here already think Riley’s a single mom. Our only problem is not having an actual kid if we show up at the party together.”

“Babysitters exist, Saint. Even for fake children. Tell anyone who questions it that you hired a nanny. I mean, hell. Riley must have a “babysitter” for when she’s at work, right?

” Hudson asked, using air quotes. “She’s never had a kid with her anytime we’ve been at the bar. No one questioned it then.”

“Good point. I hadn’t really thought about that angle....”

“Hudson’s already thinking like a dad,” Austin said with a chuckle as he fell in step beside them. “It’s pretty complicated though. You’ll have a fake babysitter to watch your imaginary kid while you bring your pretend wife to the barbeque. What could go wrong?” he joked.

“Not pretend. I’m getting a ring, and we’re tying the knot,” Sawyer insisted.

Hudson grinned. “We all know Sawyer’s only thinking with his dick. Sure, he’s helping out Riley, assuming this story she fed him is real. But I’m sure your real priority is getting her naked,” he razzed.

Sawyer shot him an annoyed look. The trouble was, Hudson wasn’t completely wrong.

He wasn’t entirely sure what had come over him when he’d suggested the fake marriage idea to Riley.

It had seemed like a quick solution that would get her access to base but then would potentially cause a tangled, sticky mess to get out of.

They’d probably have to let it ride out for at least a month to avoid questions.

Meanwhile, hopefully he could convince Riley to ride him. Repeatedly.

It would be a blip in his life, and someday he’d remember that month he was married. Wasn’t the honeymoon period supposed to be the best part? He didn’t think he’d have to work too hard to convince her to be his, even if it was only for a fleeting moment. They’d part ways eventually.

And if they both enjoyed themselves during their days—and nights—of matrimonial bliss? All the better.

“When are you seeing her again?” Wyatt asked. “We’ve got training all day, and if you’re pulling this off quickly, like you explained in the locker room, you don’t have much time to get the ball rolling.”

“Tonight. My future wifey and I have a date.”