Page 1 of Her Devoted HERO

Chapter One

The motto of the Navy SEAL’s was ‘The Only Easy Day is Yesterday.' Dex Evans had watched the members of Midnight Delta, a rival SEAL team, drop like flies as they fell in love. So, he and his buddies from Black Dawn had cooked up the idea of making a new motto for them. They’d crossed out the normal team logo and inserted ‘Happily Ever After is Possible’ on a banner and hung it between two of their trucks so that it was waiting for them the day the naval carrier docked in San Diego. An entire ship of sailors and SEALs had seen the damn thing that morning in the harbor. Two months later, and the men were still giving the Midnight Delta team a ration of shit.

That prank had been a highlight that warmed Dex’s heart.

It least it had been until he had opened his personal e-mail in-box.

Dex sat back with his second beer and did what he’d been doing for the last four nights, politely telling persistent women, that his identity had been hacked and he hadn’t really reached out to them on the CaliSingles dating site. Most of the women took it well, but out of the two hundred and twenty-eight women that he’d contacted so far, seventeen had been angry and bitter, and two had been downright scary.

He was almost done with this project, and ready to start plotting his revenge on the technical guru of Midnight Delta. But he couldn’t quite seem to force himself to hit send on the last rejection e-mail. He looked at the woman’s picture again.

She was cute.

She had a hint of an overbite that was a real turn-on when you paired it with her long strawberry blonde hair. But come on, he’d seen at least twenty women with more beautiful photos. Still, there was something about this girl who called herself ‘SNMP.'

He’d laughed his ass off when he’d read what she’d written. None of the others made him almost spit up his beer.

He re-read her introductory letter.

Hello SailorBoy69,

SNMP stands for So Not Mary Poppins. Take it to heart. My photo is me, but it’s pretty much a fake since it took me two hours and twenty dollars worth of product to achieve the look. If we were to meet in person, I probably wouldn’t look anywhere close to this, soak in this picture. Actually, don’t worry, we won’t meet, but I’ll get to that.

Here’s me in a nutshell. I live in the good part of town because I work my ass off handling my full-time job as a nurse, plus a part-time gig. I do this so my son can go to school in a decent school district. Being a good mother is the single most important thing in my life, I have no earthly idea why I’m responding to your profile since I don’t have time to date. Did I mention I have a kid, two jobs and really don’t look like this?

I like the fact that you’re serving our country. That’s part of the reason I’m reaching out to you. But the real reason I’m writing is that I’m ninety-nine-point nine percent sure you won’t respond, so this is a safe letter to write. I can feel good that I’ve finally put myself out there, without enduring the humiliation of a first date, which I’ll fail at because I’ll never in a million years figure out how to reach this level of pretty again.

But in all seriousness, I wanted to take aim for a good guy, and you’re it. I like the fact you’re in the Navy. I like the fact that you work with disenfranchised kids. I think you’re a nice man. Hell, I don’t even care if that’s not your real picture because responsible men do it for me. Of course, in my world they’re like mythical unicorns, they just don’t exist, at least not for me. But the dream of a responsible man makes my panties damp. See I can say this safely, ‘cause you’re not going to respond, and I’m never going to meet you.

So, that’s my story, SailorBoy69. Just know that out there in this big bad world a woman thinks you’re pretty exceptional, except for the atrocious cyber name you’ve given yourself. Now, if you have a thought of responding, for God’s sake don’t. Remember, it’s me. I have a kid, two jobs, and I’ll look like crap, and you’ll ruin the fantasy.

― Signed, So Not Mary Poppins

Dex considered his problem. It wasn’t just that he wanted to respond to the woman, it was the fact that she was responding to someone who wasn’t him. He, Dexter Anthony Evans, had not created this profile.

“Yeah, but it’s you,” he admonished himself. Clint had done an exceptional job writing up his online resume. He’d even found a formal picture of him in his dress whites that was fairly recent. Dex shouldn’t be surprised that Clint had every detail right about him, after all, if Dex wanted to spend eight hours, he could compile an equally comprehensive profile on Clint Archer. The only fake thing had been the initial e-mail to Mary Poppins.

He took another swallow of his Dos Equis beer and really thought it through. He hadn’t felt this punch of interest in years. Even if it had started out as a joke, he had to follow through. Now he had to figure out a way to keep her from going into hiding when he responded. Because let’s face it, his response was going to panic the hell out of her.

Dex paced the length of his living room. He was going to have to use finesse. His e-mail would need just the right tone, so she didn’t run and hide. She was definitely a runner, he grinned. It was his job to coax her out to play. He wanted to get her to agree to meet in person, and these first few back and forths were the way to make it happen. This was going to be fun.

Dinner was four hours ago, he needed some brain food before he started his composition. It needed to be funny, he knew that. He could be funny, but seriously, she took the cake. He perused the contents of his fridge. Yogurt and fresh cherries would be the smart way to go because tomorrow was a training day and he’d just had two beers, but the left over Chinese food was calling his name.

His phone rang as he was snatching the white carton of beef lo mein out of the fridge.

“Evans,” he answered.

“We’ve got a live one,” he heard his lieutenant say. “How soon can you report?”

Dex lived in a townhome thirty miles from the base.

“I’m at home,” he told Gray. “It all depends on how traffic is on the Five.”

“We’ll be wheels up as soon as the team gets here. Let’s hope the freeway gods are smiling tonight.”

The line went dead. Dex turned off his laptop, then swung to his bedroom and pulled out the duffel he kept packed at all times. He toed out of his sandals and tugged on socks and boots. When he went back to the living room, he snagged his laptop and tucked it into the vinyl laptop sleeve and shoved that into the duffel bag and then grabbed his phone, keys, and wallet and headed for the door.

When he got into his jeep, he made a call to his grandfather.