Desert Alpha: A Lady Boss Press Navy SEAL Novella Bethany Lopez (brene brown rising strong TXT) 📖

Lori shrugged one shoulder and said, “I don’t know. Chemistry’s a funny thing, and when you pair it with genuinely liking a person, it can make your feelings heightened. Look, my parents knew each other in grade school, were high school sweethearts, and were divorced after five years of marriage. While my grandparents met each other on summer vacation, fell in love, and were married for sixty years. There’s no rhyme or reason to love.”

“That’s true. I mean, Rich and I worked together for a year before we started dating and it was another year and a half before we got married, and I never felt for him what I feel for Rip. The butterflies, the thrill of simply hearing his name, and the sex…”

“Don’t be a tease,” Lori said, shifting in her seat so she could lean closer to me. “Tell me everything.”

I laughed and shook my head. “Some things are meant to be private.”

She huffed and crossed her arms over her chest dramatically.

“Spoil sport.”

“I’ll only say it was incredible and I wish we’d had time to do more of it before he left.”

I pulled the squadron rental car up to the front of the hotel where the salon was located and thanked the valet as we exited the car and headed inside.

The salon was a favorite among the females on our base, the phone number and names of favorite stylists passed down to incoming Airmen like a rite of passage. Not only was it a chance to get off base and break the monotony, but also spend a little time getting pampered.

The hotel was beautiful. Five star, with marble columns, pools facing the Gulf, and distinguished clientele. Being military, I often felt like an imposter walking down the pristine hallways. Lord knows I didn’t make enough to actually stay at the hotel, but I did appreciate the beauty and the grandeur.

As we took the elevator up to the salon floor, Lori sighed.

“I’m so looking forward to lunch, oh, and the cappuccinos.”

The restaurant at the hotel was amazing, so after our appointments, we were splurging and taking our new hair out for a nice meal.

“Me too,” I agreed as walked into the salon and checked in.

I’d only been to the salon on one other occasion and had been a little nervous about having someone new cutting and styling my hair, but the stylist had been wonderful, and I’d loved my hair when she was done.

“Cassandra, hello, welcome back,” Fatin, my stylist, said as she glided across the room.

“Thank you, it’s good to see you again,” I told her, before turning to Lori and saying, “See you back there.”

The salon itself had a circular setup. There were the washing stations, the cutting and styling stations, and the center where you waited while your color was setting or when you were done and waiting for a friend.

“Can I get you something to drink? Cappuccino, espresso, water?” Fatin asked as she led me to her station.

“Cappuccino would be great, thanks.”

I spent the next hour enjoying my warm beverage, the delicious biscuit that Fatin served it with, and the simple pleasure of having my hair done.

Lori and I finished up at the same time, so we were able to pay our bills and make it to our lunch reservation with a few minutes to spare.

“I love that look on you,” I told Lori as we sat at our table with a Gulf view. She’d gotten quite a few inches taken off and now wore her hair in a cute lob.

“Thanks, you look great too. Your hair looks so healthy.”

I ran my hands over it, loving how soft and silky it felt. I hadn’t gotten much cut, just the split ends, but had asked for a long bang and a blowout.

“So, there’s something else I need to talk to you about,” I said as we picked up our menus.

“Are you finally going to spill the deets?” she asked with a sly grin.

“No,” I chuckled. “But it does have to do with the … incident.”

“The incident. Is that what we’re calling it?”

“Mmm-hmmm, to protect the innocent,” I replied.

“As far as I can see, there was no one innocent present,” Lori joked.

I smiled and shook my head. “No, seriously … Rich said something to me about Rip.”

Lori slapped her menu down on the table and asked, “What did the asshat say?”

“That he knew about me and Rip … like that we’d been intimate.”

“Did he threaten you?”

“Not outright, but I knew what he meant. He knows something that could get me in trouble, and he wanted to make sure I knew. You know how he is … Rich loves to feel like he still has some kind of control over me.”

“What did you say?” she asked, her face conveying the same anger I felt whenever I thought of my little chat with Rich.

“I didn’t say anything. He took me by surprise, and I needed to get to the office, so I just glared at him and walked away.”

“You need to talk to him, Cass. You can’t let him get away with this psycho behavior.”

“I know, and I plan on it, I just needed some time to figure out how I wanted to approach him. Do I talk to the First Sergeant myself and tell him what happened? That would take away Rich’s leverage.”

“No, fuck that. You don’t need to set yourself up. Don’t give Rich the pleasure. You need to sit him down and tell him to get his own life and stay out of yours, because it’s getting downright pathetic.”

“That’s what I was thinking, without the calling him pathetic part. Pissing him off won’t make things any easier for me, but we do need to sever ties once and for all. He needs to move on.”

“So, it’s settled,” Lori said, pointing her finger at me. “The next time you see him, you’ll have a come to Jesus talk. And the next time I see him, I’m