“A very short-lived, if fun, tradition.” Regan smoothed a hand over her pregnant belly. “I will not have my kids growing up with this kind of thing going on.” But her lips were twitching at the prospect in front of her and Sarah didn’t blame her. The men were down to their skivvies and damn, if this wasn’t a sight to see.
“Okay, boys! When I yell go, drop your drawers and run,” Mason called. “On your mark, get set, go!”
Sarah joined in the other women’s laughter as the men peeled off their shorts and took off. Regan leaned way over the railing as they quick turned the corner around the Hall. “Now that is a sight.”
“Yes, it is,” Sarah agreed. “Too bad they’re so damn fast.”
“I think Dan’s running a hell of a lot faster now than he did earlier on those snowshoes,” Ella said.
“If we were smart, we’d run through the Hall and catch them on the other side, too.” Regan gestured for the front door.
A mad dash ensued, with some good-natured pushing and shoving along the way. The pack of women reached the back porch just in time to catch the men racing past again. Regan let out another wolf-whistle, eliciting more laughter. Sarah caught Dan’s eye as he went past and he saluted her.
“Back to the front,” Regan yelled and the women charged through the Hall again. This time they moved faster and got a full frontal view of the running men.
“All right! That’s what we like to see! Come to Mama!” Ella yelled.
Austin did a front handspring and the women cheered. The men disappeared around the side of the Hall again.
“To the back!”
Sarah charged to the back porch with the rest of them, laughing so hard she could barely keep up. As they raced back and forth and the men progressed to cartwheels, back flips and other tricks to elicit cheers, all her pain and worry about the future slid away. She didn’t know when she’d had such fun. She was going to miss Regan and the rest of the crowd when she was gone.
Even Dan.
“I don’t think I have a shred of dignity left,” Zane complained as he got dressed.
“I don’t think any of us do,” Mason agreed.
Dan chuckled. “I bet every one of us gets laid tonight.” The sudden silence among the others had him backtracking. “Every one of us with a wife does, anyway.”
“Sarah’s fair game, buddy, but she is Regan’s friend. Don’t fuck things up there.” Mason buttoned his shirt.
“I won’t fuck things up. I know what I’m doing.” Dan threw his shirt over his shoulder and went indoors, thinking that was a laugh. He didn’t have the slightest idea what he was doing. All he knew was that he’d liked her gaze on him when he raced around the Hall. He liked that she was getting an eyeful. He had no qualms about nudity—he knew what he had to offer a woman. He hoped Sarah had liked what she’d seen.
He found her climbing the stairs to her third floor bedroom. “That was some race,” she said.
“You liked that?”
“It was… amusing.”
“Did it get you hot?”
“From what little I saw, it must have made you cold. You better go finish getting dressed.”
Hmm, he didn’t buy her indifference for a minute, nor her implication that he’d been less than impressive nude. In fact, she seemed downright flustered by his bare chest. He flexed his muscles and moved closer. “You could warm me up.”
“You never give up, do you?”
“You wouldn’t like it if I gave up. Admit it.”
“I’ll admit I beat your pants off on the firing range.” She laughed unexpectedly. Bit her lip.
“Beat my pants off? Ha, ha.” But he liked hearing her laugh. He had a healthy respect for her abilities—especially after that very cold dash around the house—but he didn’t want to relate to her sailor to soldier. He wanted to relate to her man to woman. “Did you like it when my pants were off?”
“Please. Nothing I haven’t seen a hundred times before.” But she let him hook his fingers through her belt loops and tug her in against him. Her fingers rested lightly on his biceps. He quirked a smile. Was it his imagination or had she just slid those fingers over his muscles? She wasn’t immune to him after all. He slid his own hands down her back and up again, giving himself an excuse to flex another time or two. Yeah, she liked that all right. Women were women, even one as buff as Sarah.
“You haven’t seen me a hundred times before. Don’t even pretend I’m anything like those other guys.”
“What makes you different?” She accepted his caresses, but stayed alert, which told him that as much as she enjoyed them she’d be gone in a flash if he pushed his luck.
“I’ve done what you’d like to do and I understand how badly you want it.”
That surprised her. She cocked her head. “Do you understand? You actually got to join the SEALs,” she said softly.
“I did, and I enjoyed the heck out of living out that dream.”