SEALs of Honor: Dane by Dale Mayer Page A

her critically.
    “I’m fine.”
    “You look great,” he admitted with a big grin. “Nice to see. No headache? No lingering pain?”
    “No. I’ve been hyper and having trouble settling but the yoga helped.”
    Then she spied her suitcase. “You brought my clothes.” She laughed and grabbed the bag to lug upstairs, but he grabbed it out of her hand.
    “I’d say hi,” Mason called from behind her, “but apparently the suitcase has more importance than the other people in your life.”
    She gasped, spun and launched herself into his arms.
    He chuckled and gave her a big hug.
    “I’m so sorry. I’m so happy to see you. Of course if you’d been here earlier I might have been more likely to have slugged you instead.” She grinned. “But time and distance and understanding…”
    “And a suitcase?” He smirked.
    Swede’s head popped up behind Mason. “Geesh and I thought I’d get a little appreciation for bringing your laptop.”
    “Oh my laptop,” she cried. Mason stepped aside in time for her to hug the big man and snatch the laptop out of his hands. “I’ve been wanting this all day.” She shot them a guilty look and added, “Actually all week. I use my phone for most things, but it’s not the same.”
    Swede still had his arm around her when Shadow walked up and tilted her chin so he could check her head wound.
    She chuckled. “A couple of hours ago I figured I was all alone, and you guys had dumped me forever.”
    “Never,” he dropped a kiss on her cheek. “Glad to see you looking so much better.”
    Hawk was the last one inside. He lifted the two bags he carried and asked her, “Hungry? I believe someone mentioned food.”
    The aroma hit her first.
    “Chinese?” He was hugged with the same fervor that the others had received. Laughing and talking, they all moved into the kitchen where she dug out plates for everyone. Dane returned to find all the chairs full and everyone busy scarfing food.
    The others took one look and grinned at his sour expression.
    “Sorry you were too late,” Hawk said.
    “We can make room for you,” Marielle said, standing up and trying to figure out how. The men completely dwarfed the small room, taking up the whole kitchen. “Somehow…” but her voice trailed off.
    “I have a solution to that,” Dane said. He quickly took Marielle’s spot and tugged her down onto his lap. Then he grabbed the last plate and dumped food onto it. With the last fork, he shifted her slightly to the side, picked up his plate and proceeded to eat.
    Marielle wasn’t too sure how to handle the new situation. She hadn’t considered this option, but as a solution, it worked for her. And she quickly lost her sense of discomfort as everyone accepted the situation as normal.
    It was far from normal, but if this was the “new normal,” she was more than happy with it.
    They polished off all the Chinese food with the men looking at the empty containers with sad expressions. She laughed. “If someone puts on coffee, I’ll share the pack of cookies I found today.”
    There was a mad scramble as everyone raced to clean up and get coffee on. When she brought the package over, it lasted about three seconds.
    “Boy, you guys can eat.”
    Swede snorted. “Hasn’t been any food to eat yet.” He stretched up his fingers to spread across the ceiling. “Down home we’d eat real food. Good stuff there.”
    “Where’s there?” She looked at him as she walked into the living room with a cup of coffee. She knew by the time everyone got a cup the last person was going to have to put on a new pot, and she wasn’t going to be it. “I presume Sweden.”
    “Hell no. I’m from Denmark.”
    She shook her head. “That makes no sense.” She motioned to Dane. “I’d have thought he was from Denmark with his name and you from Sweden from your name.”
    “Nicknames aren’t from location,” Dane explained as he sprawled across the love seat. “He’s got a great reason for his nickname,