A SEALs Promise Jennifer Lowery-EPUB Read online

  A SEAL’s Promise

  a SEAL Team Alpha novelette

  by

  Jennifer Lowery

  Website | Newsletter

  A SEAL’s Promise

  By Jennifer Lowery

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  Table of Contents

  Free Book Offer

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Author’s Note

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  About the Author

  Connect with Jennifer

  Other Books by Jennifer Lowery

  A SEAL’s Promise

  By Jennifer Lowery

  Copyright ©2016 by Jennifer Kamptner

  All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owner of this book.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  License Notes

  This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-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 person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author’s work.

  Cover design by The Killion Group, Inc.

  Author photograph by Trent Anderson of GreatScotMan Photography https://www.facebook.com/GreatScotManPhotography

  This book is dedicated to my JTT’s-you know who you are! Without the help of my fabulous street team I would never have completed this book. My JTT’s rock! Love you guys!

  Author’s Note:

  Hello and thank you for purchasing this book! I appreciate your support and generosity more than you know! A SEAL’s Promise is the 4th book in my SEAL Team Alpha series and features Navy SEAL Brogan Steele and spa owner Myranda Sullivan. This is a novelette first published in the SEALs of Summer 3 Superbundle. When I finished this story I was left feeling like Brogan and Myranda still had more to say-yeah, they pretty much insisted, lol. So, I’m thinking about expanding their story in the future. If you haven’t signed up for my newsletter, please do—You’ll get a free book! —so that you can keep up to date with my new releases, contests, news, etc. And, of course I’ll love you for it!

  Chapter One

  Exhausted, Brogan Steele braced a hand on the wall of the shower, dipping his head so that the water pounded away the tightness in his neck. If it could wash away the ache in his shoulder that would be a relief. He’d landed wrong on that last training exercise. Screwed up his neck and shoulder. Nothing major, just an annoying pain.

  Gettin’ old, buddy. His teammates teasing voice echoed through his head.

  “Fuck you, Mikey,” he said to the empty stall, scrubbing a hand down his face. Michael ‘Mikey’ Kreegan got a kick out of ribbing Brogan who happened to be the oldest member of SEAL Team 5. Hell, thirty-six wasn’t that old.

  After turning off the water he pushed the curtain back and grabbed a towel. With it wrapped low on his hips he walked into his bedroom and put on a pair of shorts and t-shirt. He picked up his discarded cammies, preparing to toss them into the laundry. A letter fell out of the pocket and to the floor.

  He picked it up, dropping the clothes. The mail carrier had caught him on the stairs on his way up to his apartment, claiming he’d been trying to deliver the letter for weeks. It required a signature or he would have left it. Brogan had signed and stuffed it in his pocket, too tired to be concerned with it.

  What the hell?

  Tearing open the envelope he pulled out the letter and started reading. He rubbed his forehead, then grabbed his cell phone off the bedside table and dialed the number given by the lawyer who requested he call and set up a meeting regarding an inheritance. Which couldn’t be right because he had no family.

  The attorney’s office allowed him to make an appointment, but refused to go into detail about the inheritance. By time he disconnected his curiosity had overridden his exhaustion. Who would leave him an inheritance? His parents had been killed in a drunk driving accident a couple years ago. They hadn’t had much. A condo they owed on, which he’d had to sell in order to pay off the loan. Everything in it was sold with the condo except for the few keepsakes he held onto. Photo albums, pictures, things like that. His parents may have lived outside their means, but they were happy. His mother always used to say, ‘You can’t take it with you so live happy.’ They’d lived happy all right, but not free. Their happiness resulted in unpaid bills, credit card debt, loan debt and creditors hounding him for the money after his parents passed. His savings had been drained paying off all the creditors. He’d moved from his upscale apartment to this one to save money. Not that he minded, he wasn’t home enough to matter where he laid his head at night. And, this place wasn’t too bad. Had everything he needed including peace and quiet. Most of the time. There were families in the complex and the kids woke him up on occasion, but he could deal with that if it meant staying out of debt.

  His truck he’d paid cash for. Wasn’t brand new, but it ran like a top. He had no credit cards or loans. If he couldn’t pay cash for it, he didn’t get it. His parents had made life fun. Traveling, exploring, having adventures, but there had always been a dark cloud following them. He’d hated the uncertainty, the fear of wondering when they would come take his home, their car, their stuff. It had happened more than once and he swore he’d never let it happen to him when he grew up.

  So who had left him an inheritance? His parents had been the only family he had. No siblings. No aunts or uncles. Hell, he didn’t even have any living grandparents. He glanced at the clock on the bedside table. In sixteen hours he’d find out. For now, he needed sleep.

  ****

  A spa? What the hell?

  Brogan stared at the balding middle-aged man sitting behind the extravagant mahogany desk. The lawyer simply stared back with understanding in his deep brown eyes.

  “You’re telling me I inherited fifty percent of a spa in Michigan?” The news refused to sink into his brain.

  “Yes, sir.” He picked up a file and opened it. “Serenity Spa. New Haven, Michigan.”

  Head spinning, he asked, “Who left this to me?”

  With patience, the lawyer repeated his earlier words. “Henry Sullivan.”

  The name triggered a memory of a blue car twisted around a tree, flames shooting from beneath the hood. How he’d burned his arm fighting to release a redhead from the passenger seat.

  Absently, he rubbed the scar on his forearm. He’d managed to save both people from the car before it exploded. Practically broke his damn neck humping it down the rocky cliff to get to the accident.

  That had been two years ago. The day had been chaos. Onlookers taking video on their phones from above, gasps and cries when he pulled a man from
the car then went to retrieve the other passenger. Sirens from cop cars and the ambulance. The man begging him to save his daughter. There had been no time to exchange pleasantries. Hell, he’d drove away after the paramedics took over and worked the rest of the day. After they had bandaged his arm and told him he should go to the hospital—which he refused. He’d had worse injuries than a second degree burn.

  “You share ownership with Henry’s daughter, Myranda.”

  Myranda. The redhead who’d been unconscious when he rescued her. She’d still been out when the paramedics took over. How many times had he thought of her over the past couple years? Wondered if she’d made it. Whether or not she’d walked away with minimal injuries. She’d been pretty banged up by time he got to her.

  “And the will stipulates I can’t sell or trade my half?”

  “That’s correct.”

  “Not even to Myranda?”

  The lawyer shook his head.

  Brogan scrubbed a hand down his face, the beard he’d grown for months now gone, leaving him feeling more flummoxed.

  “I don’t know anything about running a spa. I live in California. How is this supposed to work?”

  The lawyer closed the file, neatly tucking the signed papers inside. “You’ll have to work that out with Miss Sullivan. Her contact information is in the paperwork I gave you.”

  He glanced at the thin stack of papers in his lap, gripped so tightly in his left hand they were crinkled.

  “Is there anything else, Mr. Steele?” The lawyer stood, buttoning his suit jacket.

  Brogan rose to his feet. “No.” He stretched out a hand. “Thank you for your time.”

  After a firm handshake he left the office and stepped into the bright morning sunshine. He slipped on his aviator sunglasses and strode to his Jeep. Since he’d removed the doors he climbed in and stuffed the papers in the glove box. And sat there in stunned silence.

  He owned half a spa. How in the holy hell did he wrap his head around that? Navy SEALs didn’t run spas. They ran security companies, became contractors. He had a couple years left in him before he retired. That didn’t include running a spa.

  Spas were for women. Frilly and girly and pink. Not for men who carried an M-4 for a living. He’d be like a bull in a china shop.

  Yeah, not happening. He’d have to be a silent partner and Miss Myranda Sullivan would just have to accept that.

  Chapter Two

  Rubbing her eyes which had begun to blur from staring at the computer screen too long, Myranda leaned back in her chair and let out a quiet sigh. She missed her dad more and more every day. Since his passing six months ago, she’d been unable to fill the void in her life. Running the spa felt even more devoid now that he wasn’t here. Her assistant, Hallie, was amazing, but her dad had brought something special to the business. His smile alone brightened everyone’s day, made their customers feel like kings and queens. He made the spa a success and was the reason they’d been in California two years ago scouting out locations for a sister spa.

  The breath trapped in her throat. A slow ache spread through her chest. The same as it had every time she thought of her dad. That fateful day two years ago had almost taken him from her. They’d survived a horrific car accident during the scouting adventure, only for a heart attack to take him a year and a half later.

  She didn’t remember much from the accident. Just the sound of squealing tires, her dad’s arm shooting out to hold her in place, trying to protect her. The total disorientation as the car rolled down the cliff. Then blackness. She’d woken in the hospital with her father sitting at her bedside, looking like he’d been in a fist fight and lost. He’d cried when she opened her eyes. Kissed her hand and held it tight. According to him and the doctors she’d been in a coma for three days. Had it not been for a good Samaritan taking time to stop and help that day they wouldn’t have made it out alive. The car caught fire during the crash and this good citizen pulled her and her father out before the car exploded.

  All she knew about this good man was his name. And that was only because her father had named him in his will when he gave his fifty percent of the spa to him. A man named Brogan Steele. She knew nothing of him. Just that he owned half of her spa and she hadn’t heard a word from him in six months since the lawyers contacted him.

  When she’d found out her father gave away his half of the business she’d been stunned. Sick. Angry. Already dealing with the loss of her father, she hadn’t been prepared for the news. The spa had been their baby. They started it from the ground up and built it into something amazing that drew people from all around the country to experience their renowned organic sea mineral body treatments.

  How could her dad do that to her? How could he give away an equal share of the business to a complete stranger? Even after six months she couldn’t wrap her head around it. Yes, the man had saved their lives, but giving him the spa?

  Myranda slipped her heels off under her desk and dug her toes into the carpet. This shouldn’t surprise her that much. Her father had a generous, compassionate heart. He’d give you the shirt off his back without thinking. If he felt he owed this man for rescuing them it really shouldn’t be so hard for her to believe he would give away his half.

  Still, it stung. Her hands were tied when it came to big decisions with the business. She couldn’t make any major changes without the approval of her partner. A partner who hadn’t acknowledged his part or even picked up the phone to introduce himself. If she’d just inherited part of a booming business she’d at least pick up the phone and introduce herself.

  Her assistant, Hallie, poked her head in the door. “You have a visitor.”

  Myranda slipped her feet back into her heels. “I don’t have any appointments today.”

  Hallie slipped through the door and closed it. “No, but you’ve been waiting to hear from this guy for six months.”

  A wave of anger and nervousness washed through her. “Are you serious? He’s here?”

  Her assistants head bobbed.

  Myranda rose to her feet. Nothing for six months and then he shows up out of the blue. For what? Had he finally decided to take over his half?

  The thought of working with a partner she’d never met, of giving up control made her stomach hurt. She ran the spa the way she wanted and her dad had always been on board. He preferred the more personal side of the business, interacting with clients, making the spa more intimate. Where she preferred to run things behind the scenes. What if this new partner wanted to change things?

  Straightening her shoulders, she motioned toward Hallie. “Send him in.” She didn’t know what finally brought Mr. Brogan Steele to her door, but one thing was for certain. This was her spa and she had no intentions of sharing.

  Hallie nodded and left to retrieve her guest.

  A few moments later a tall, dark haired man with piercing gray eyes strode in. Not at all what she’d expected. His black t-shirt stretched across a broad, muscled chest, his long legs clad in cargo pants that looked military in style. To say he appeared unfriendly put it lightly. Intense seemed more appropriate. Like a cougar stalking its prey. Right now that prey happened to be her.

  Not a woman to back down from intimidation easily, Myranda rounded the desk and extended a hand. “Mr. Steele. I’m Myranda Sullivan.”

  His hand enclosed around hers, firm and calloused, sending an unusual tingle up her arm. Frowning briefly, she pulled her hand from his and motioned toward one of the two chairs positioned in front of her desk. “Please, take a seat.”

  She returned to her chair and folded her hands on top of her desk. “I’m glad you finally decided to address our situation.” A fight she was prepared for. Although this man threw her slightly off balance with his direct stare and forceful demeanor.

  He appeared to weigh his words carefully before speaking. “I just received news about the inheritance two days ago.”

  “Really?” Did he expect her to believe he hadn’t been sitting on this, executing a stra
tegy to take over his half? The spa was worth more than she or her father had ever dreamed. Only a fool wouldn’t want a piece of that. But if he thought she’d just roll over and let him take over she had news for him. “The lawyers sent paperwork over six months ago.”

  “I’ve been out of the country for nine months.”

  Doing what? Hallie had urged her to do a background check on her new partner but Myranda had refused. Her father would never have left the business to someone he didn’t trust. Even if they barely knew this man. Her dad tended to see the good in people. Especially those who risked their life to save his. Myranda, she didn’t trust quite so easily. She acknowledged that this man saved her life and for that she would give him the benefit of the doubt, but her guard would remain up until she discovered his true intentions.

  “I see,” she said. “And what do you do for a living, Mr. Steele?”

  His eyes narrowed slightly. “You didn’t run a check on me?”

  She resisted the urge to bristle. “No. I prefer to make my judgements in person.”

  He seemed satisfied with that answer. “I’m a Navy SEAL. Stationed in California.”

  That took some of the steam out of her sails. A SEAL. That explained so much. Her father had been a Navy man. Retired with honors. Not a SEAL, but one of the best. He’d fought for their country with pride. The stress of being married to a military man had taken its toll on her mother, driving her away when Myranda was only six. She hadn’t seen or heard from her since. Her father retired from the Navy soon after to take care of her, although she knew he missed the service every day. He’d never showed it, but she knew. That was part of the reason they’d chosen California to scout out a sister spa location. Her dad had wanted to cater to military wives and girlfriends, making it affordable for them to get away and be pampered while their husbands and boyfriends fought for this country.