“Nelson,” the senior chief greeted him. “Thought you guys could use some extra hands to make fast work of the unloading. I ran into Harper at the gym, and he offered to tag along.”
Ha. A SEAL did not “offer” with the senior chief, although he had a talent for making a guy think that a direct order was really one’s own idea.
“Happy to help, bro. So is this the new roomie?” Harper asked. He was tall and built like one of Zack’s sister’s Ken dolls—gleaming golden hair and skin with perfectly proportioned muscles. Zack didn’t have to look back over his shoulder to know that Pike was unashamedly checking him out. Because of course he was. It was what Pike did.
And if Zack had been unable to resist doing the same more than once, then Pike was sure to be powerless under the spell of Harper’s charm. Introductions were made all around and sure enough Pike’s gaze lingered just a bit too long on Harper. Pike’s eyes slid to Zack, and Zack gave what he hoped was a subtle shake of his head. Do not flirt. That was all they needed.
“Let’s get this done.” Introductions done, the senior chief rubbed his hands together. “Dorrell can handle the light stuff.”
“Plenty of that.” Pike laughed in a way that made a warning prickle go up Zack’s back. What exactly did Pike have in there? Zack approached the back of the truck like it might be an IED, but Pike’s stuff was stored in perfectly ordinary brown boxes, most of which seemed to have held organic food or Prime purchases in past lives.
Idiot. Were you really expecting rainbow boxes? Loose sex toys? Stacks of go-go shorts?
Wait. He could not be thinking of Pike owning shorts like the guys had worn at the gay bar. And he really couldn’t be thinking about Pike and sex toys in the same sentence. Or getting curious about which ones Pike might own—
“Here.” Josiah interrupted Zack’s internal flailing by unloading a stack of electronic equipment into his arms.
“Whoa. You’ve got Xbox, PS4 and one sick-looking gaming machine.” Harper paused from his own stack of boxes to inspect the goodies Josiah and Zack were carrying. Even Zack had to admit that Pike had a pretty sweet setup.
“Hey, Mountain Boy, do you like pizza?” Harper called to Pike. Zack was glad he had a quasi-normal name—like most of the guys on the team, Harper was totally the type to latch on to a name’s nickname potential.
“Yup.” Pike grinned way too brightly at Harper.
“Good. I’m going to be over. A lot. No one in the barracks has a setup this sick.”
“I love a great gaming night,” Pike said, clearly intent on ignoring the death glare Zack was sending him. “Anytime. And bring your friends.”
No. No. No. Zack did not need Pike spending more time around Harper—or God help him, the rest of the team. “We’ll probably be too busy doing the work around here,” Zack groused.
“No, you won’t.” The senior chief gave him a stern look. “The work will get done. Make sure you get your R and R in too. I don’t want you dragging in drills because you’re killing yourself here.”
“That’s why he has me,” Pike said a bit too brightly. “This place has decent bones. It’ll be fun work.”
Zack did not “have” Pike, but he knew that any protesting was only going to make him look more suspicious, so he settled for a noncommittal noise.
“Which room is Pike’s?” Dorrell called.
“First open door on the left.” Finally, a question Zack could answer. He’d given Pike the larger of the bedrooms, not that any of the rooms were particularly huge. He took his stack into the house, figuring that Pike would want his gaming stuff in the living room, like he’d had it at his apartment.
“No couch?” Harper set the boxes labeled Games in the living room, next to the electronics Zack unloaded. “That’s shitty for gaming.”
“No couch,” Zack said. See, you don’t want to hang out here. All we’ve got is musty carpet that needs pulling.
“I can fix that.” The senior chief passed through, carrying a desk with Josiah. “Dorrell, call your mama. Tell her I’ve got a taker for the couch in the back garage.”
“You don’t have to—”
“Take him up on it.” Harper slapped his back. “Doesn’t matter how crappy—no offense, Senior Chief—free is better than sitting our asses on the floor.”
Damn. Harper seemed pretty serious about making himself right at home.
“I’m down with a free couch.” Pike came through with an office chair that looked like it was made out of spare rocket parts. “All I’ve got is the bed, and we could all squeeze in—”
Zack made a warning growl, a low sound that escaped entirely of its own impulse.
“—but a couch would be way more comfortable,” Pike finished with a grin.