For Auld Lang Syne (Navy Book 1)

Chapter 8

Looking at her watch, Devon realized she had less than an hour to get home and changed before her sister and mother arrived. They had called her the day before telling her that they would be in town and would love to stop by and see her new place. She had also agreed to have dinner with Kellan at her place that night, so she had to get rid of them fairly quickly. She couldn't help but wonder what they really wanted, and if she hadn't been so frustrated and tired she probably could have figured it out in time for their visit.

Devon had found that having the SEALs in her classroom the last three weeks was exhausting. Part of it was the stress of knowing she was teaching the men something that they already knew. Their jobs put them in life or death situations on a regular basis and learning how to read a person's body language and facial expressions, for them, was a necessary skill. Devon was at a complete loss as to why the Navy felt these men could learn something from her, so she had been trying to delve deeper than she normally did. Her usual classes were basic information that could be handled in a month, which was the average time that one of her classes would last, but for the SEALs, she was starting with the more detailed information. The stuff they might not be aware of, and she knew the other handful of people in her class were getting the lesser end of the deal.

The other reason Devon was having such a hard time having them in her class was because of Josh. For three weeks he had sat in her classroom and watched her teach the class. He was always careful to keep his expression carefully blank, even when the rest of his team were joking around. She wondered if he was always like that or if he was playing it cool because of the embarrassing admission she had come out with three weeks earlier. She shuddered when she thought about it.

However, while Josh's eyes were on her, the few females in the class eyes were on Josh.

The men had spread out leaving vacant chairs between them but the ones around Josh were always full. This irritated Devon to no end, and she knew that Kellan had guessed it because he kept shooting her amused glances, especially when the women were coming on strong to Josh. Devon would try to distract the women and take their attention away from the man sitting next to them.

There had been one instance when she had called on a woman and Josh had helped her by pointing to the answer on the paper in front of him. He then had looked at Devon, his face its usual calm mask, and she had almost snapped the pencil in her hand in two out of frustration.

Devon couldn't understand it at all. She understood their attraction to Josh, she had known it for over fifteen years, but she didn't understand why they always seemed to chase after only him. The other SEALs were just as good looking and maybe, in the case of a few, even better looking. Perhaps it was an overreaction on her part, she did have a certain sensitivity where Josh was concerned.

One day after class Kellan had taken pity on her and flung his arm around her shoulders as she gathered up her stuff while the classroom emptied. As usual, Josh was the first one out the door, and the girl who had sat next to him on that particular day, who had been less than subtle with her hints while batting her eyelashes, had been right behind him.

"How are you holding up?" Kellan asked looking down at the top of her head as she continued to pack her things.

"I'm doing O.K., you?" Devon tried to force a smile into her voice but couldn't manage it.

"You know why all the girls want him right?" Kellan asked, ignoring Devon's question.

"Who?" Devon asked, trying to play dumb while realizing that she hadn't been wrong, and all of the girls were taking an extra interest in Josh.

Kellan was silent for a moment before he decided to play along, much to Devon's relief.

"Josh." his voice was droll in its response.