Protected by a SEAL (Alpha SEALs, Book 6) (8 page)

“The other women seem a bit, uh, intimidated
by you,” Ella admitted.

“The other women are scared of me?” Brent
asked curiously. The guys on his team loved to rib him about his
womanizing ways, but he was surprised to hear the women had talked
about him. He sure the hell didn’t so much as look at his buddies’
women, let alone hit on them. Then again, maybe it shouldn’t be
such a shock they’d talked about him—he was the odd man out. The
black sheep of the group.

“You just, uh, don’t have the best
reputation.”

Brent chuckled. “I’m a Navy SEAL just like
their men.”

She shrugged, not meeting his gaze. “You
know what I mean.”

“You don’t seem scared of me,” he said, his
voice growing quiet.

He was egging her on earlier, yes, but
somehow this mattered to him. Maybe he did want her more than he
wanted his next breath, but he didn’t want her frightened of him.
Not now. Not ever.

She was silent for a moment before finally
meeting his penetrating stare. “You saw where Brianna and I worked,
right? A lot of those guys were just there for a night of fun. A
couple of drinks with their buddies. A night hitting on pretty
women. But some of them? They weren’t good guys. They wanted more
than just a drink and didn’t always like when they got ‘no’ for an
answer.”

She unwittingly shuddered, and ire roiled
through his gut. It felt like someone had jabbed him in the chest
with a hot coal poker—the pain was so immense and immediate.

“Did someone hurt you?” he asked. The gravel
in his voice surprised him. As did the way his pulse pounded at the
idea of anyone causing Ella harm. Seconds ticked by, and he held
his breath as he waited on her response.

“What?”

“Did someone hurt you?” he repeated.

“No, nothing like that,” she hastily
answered. “But you saw what happened with Brianna. Some guys just
think they’re entitled to more. That any woman dressed in a
revealing outfit is asking for it.”

“They need to have their—”

The waitress brought over their pizza just
then, cutting him off, and Brent wanted to curse at the bad timing.
Ella had gone straight back to that shit manager to demand her last
paycheck. She was holed away up here in Virginia, spending her
spring break with Brianna and Matthew, not at home. Not with her
other friends. Deny it all she wanted, but he had a gut feeling
that something was going on.

And just now? When he’d questioned her?

She’d answered too quickly.

Something was up, and she wasn’t sharing it.
So, question was, why did that bother him?

Ella thanked their waitress and slid a slice
of pizza onto each of their plates. Gooey cheese stretched from the
piping hot pizza, and his stomach rumbled. Hell. He’d eaten hours
ago, but after the hours of training they’d put in today, he felt
like he could polish off the entire thing himself. Not that he was
unwilling to share it with her. A strange sort of satisfaction
flowed through him at feeding her. Providing for her.

Hell, the only time he’d shared a meal with
a woman was if you counted licking chocolate sauce off of one.

Ella handed Brent a plate of pizza, and he
felt an unexpected feeling of gratitude wash over him. When was the
last time anyone had fixed him a plate of anything? Forget making
him a homemade meal; the women he hung around with probably
wouldn’t even buy him a drink, let alone offer him a plateful of
food. It was such a small, insignificant gesture. Why did it matter
to him?

Ella took a bite of her pizza, a smile
coming to her face. “This is damn good pizza. Thanks. I was
actually a little hungry.”

Brent nodded, taking a bite himself, and she
looked at him thoughtfully.

“What?” he finally asked.

“Even though you seem to enjoy your
reputation, you’re not a bad guy, Brent.”

“Honey, the amount of women I’ve been with
would make your head spin.”

“Probably.”

“I’ve spent most of the night imagining what
kind of panties you have on.”

She blushed, and that made him wonder even
more. His gaze roamed lower, and her nipples pebbled beneath her
little tank top. It took everything in him not to comment. Because
goddamn that was fucking hot.

“You’re just trying to embarrass me,” she
finally said.

He chuffed out a laugh. Had a woman ever
called him on his shit…ever? “Maybe so,” he agreed. “But even if I
was just trying to rile you up, doesn’t mean it isn’t true.”

She nervously swallowed. “I’m leaving soon.
Back to Florida, I mean.”

“Yep. And Matthew already said he’d bust my
balls for touching you.”

“And I’m still right,” she said, taking
another bite of her pizza. She looked almost smug, and Brent raised
his eyebrows.

“About?”

“You.”

“I’ve made mistakes,” he muttered.

“We all have. But those men that I
mentioned? The ones who acted like women should fall at their feet
trying to please them? You’re nothing like them.”

He nodded, uneasiness stirring in his chest.
Hell. He’d helped her, maybe. Been there when Matthew rushed to
Brianna’s aid. Kept Ella’s piece of shit manager out of her face.
But what would Ella think if she knew that despite his career,
despite his connections in the Navy, his training as a SEAL, he
couldn’t even protect his own flesh and blood? That when it came
down to it, Lizzie had all but been murdered on his watch.

He’d sworn to protect his country. He
should’ve done more for his own family.

“Brent,” she insisted, looking at him until
he met her gaze.

“I wouldn’t go after a woman that way—no,”
he agreed. “Not when she wasn’t interested.”

Not when there were countless others who
were.

“Exactly. So whatever you’re beating
yourself up over—don’t. You’ll never be like some of those
men.”

He grunted in affirmation, polishing off his
third slice of pizza. Maybe he wasn’t like them, but he had his own
damn problems. His own failures. And that shit would never go
away.

“Let’s head out,” he grumbled, rising to his
feet.

She looked slightly confused at his abrupt
announcement they should go but agreed. As she stood up, he could
see the questions in her eyes. Hell. He wasn’t anyone’s hero. The
sooner she realized that, the better off they’d both be.

“I parked a couple of blocks down,” Brent
said, his piercing blue eyes meeting hers as they exited the
pizzeria. He waited until she’d walked through the door to let it
shut behind them, and Ella resisted the urge to shiver as she
brushed past him. His warmth and heat were so tempting, even with
his abrupt decision to call it a night. His clean, masculine scent
filled the air, and she had the craziest urge to go to him, letting
him wrap her up in those muscular arms. She barely came up to his
shoulder, and he’d practically engulf her in a hug. Shelter her.
Make her feel safe.

Geez. The only time he probably held a woman
was when they were in bed together. If that. He certainly wasn’t
the type of man to stand around embracing her under the stars.

“I’ll come pick you up,” he said, his voice
deep. “Wait right here. It’s late.”

“I can walk.”

They started down the sidewalk in silence,
Ella clutching Brent’s leather jacket around herself. This entire
night was starting to feel surreal, like a dream she was about to
wake up from at any moment. She didn’t belong here, in Virginia
Beach. She shouldn’t be out for a midnight stroll with Brent. Hell,
it was like she’d left her life behind in Florida for a little
fantasy vacation. That didn’t stop reality from bearing down on her
though. She was barely scraping by, could hardly afford to pay her
regular bills let alone tuition, and she had some sleezeball
texting her endlessly, reminding her what it would take to get her
job back after she’d walked out.

Brent had obviously taken pity on her and
paid for their pizza tonight, but he was more clued in than Brianna
that she was on an extremely limited budget. Part of her felt
embarrassed that he seemed to guess she didn’t have a lot of money.
Another part of her didn’t really care—he didn’t make her feel bad
about it. Didn’t seem to expect anything despite paying her way
this evening. And like he said earlier, it was just a pizza. It’s
not like she owed him her undying gratitude or something.

Too bad every man wasn’t like him.

She’d made the mistake of checking her phone
again when she’d ducked into the ladies room, and sure enough, she
had six more messages from Frank. Plus a voicemail. Reluctantly,
she’d finally sent him a text saying she’d be there that weekend.
But was leaving the second her shift was over.

His reply wasn’t too promising:

I need you here early. My office.

He was probably just going to go over her
schedule, she told herself. Certainly he wouldn’t expect anything
from her in the middle of the day, with the others arriving any
minute. Coming in early wasn’t the same as going home with him.
There wasn’t anything untoward about arriving early for a meeting
with her boss. With absolutely no one else around.

She stifled a groan as she ground her teeth
together. Not for the first time, she wished Brianna would still be
working there with her. She’d never put up with that crap. Plus
there was safety in numbers and all that. Neither of them had loved
serving cocktails, but it was a job. And it hadn’t exactly been a
safety hazard until recently. How had everything gotten turned
upside down so quickly?

“Damn, it’s late,” Brent muttered, seemingly
to himself. They walked under a lamppost, and she could see the
shadows beneath his eyes. She assumed he was out late every night
though, judging from his reputation.

“I can catch a cab,” Ella said.

“I’m not the type of man to offer a woman a
ride home and then send her on her way,” Brent said, his voice
rough. “It’s almost midnight.”

“You seemed in a hurry to leave. Chill out.”
What did she care? He’d see her safely home and be on his merry
way.

“Ella,” Brent said. They way her name
sounded in his deep voice sent shivers racing down her spine. Or
maybe it was just the cool ocean air. Blue eyes blazed down at her.
“There’s a lot you don’t know about me.”

“Right, I got it,” she assured him. “I won’t
pry into your life if you won’t pry into mine.”

He narrowed his gaze, and she neatly changed
the subject. “You guys have early training in the morning?”

His eyes met hers, but he didn’t say
anything. “I haven’t told Brianna I have to leave sooner than
expected,” Ella explained. “If Matthew’s gone at the crack of dawn
for PT or whatever you guys do, maybe we can have some girl time
before my flight. You know, grab breakfast or something. And I have
to get Kenley’s key back to her.”

“You didn’t tell Brianna you were
leaving?”

“I wasn’t planning to fly out for a few more
days. New job lead,” she said without elaborating.

It wasn’t so much a new job as an old job
that she now dreaded returning to. It wasn’t exactly Brent’s
concern though. He was probably too busy saving the world to pay
any attention to her problems. Why worry about her when there were
entire damn countries in trouble? Of course she didn’t know for
sure where his SEAL team deployed, but she wasn’t a fool. There
were plenty of terrorists and insurgents in the Middle East
declaring war on the Western World. Plenty of drug cartels in Latin
America smuggling their goods stateside. Plenty of bad guys
everywhere.

“Is that who was texting you so much
earlier?”

She looked up at him, surprised he’d
noticed. “Sort of.”

“You didn’t seem too happy about it. Tell me
what’s going on.”

“It was nothing I can’t handle,” she
mumbled.

A group of drunk college guys came pouring
out of a bar they passed, and Brent tugged her to his side,
preventing one of them from accidentally knocking her over. She
tensed up in surprise at the feel of Brent’s arm around her
shoulders and his hard body against hers. Damn. The guy probably
didn’t have an ounce of fat on him. And the solid weight of his arm
around her felt way too good.

“Jackasses,” he grumbled. “Are you okay?” he
asked, shooting them a glare over his shoulder.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks,” she added as an
afterthought.

They walked a few more steps before Brent
released her. She felt an immediate loss at the sudden lack of
contact between them but shook her head, telling herself she was
being foolish. This wasn’t even a date or something, just a friend
giving her a ride home.

Right.

Like Brent had lots of female friends.

“I’m right over there,” he said, taking her
hand as he tugged her across the street.

She jolted in surprise at the feel of his
large hand wrapping around hers. Was he…holding her hand? Just
hurrying her along? Did it even matter right now? His hand was
warm, with thick fingers that carefully held her own. He could
crush her in an instant if he wanted but was surprisingly gentle.
Careful. And she liked being linked to him, like it was the two of
them against the world.

Which was crazy, because a man like him
didn’t need someone to face his battles for him.

“Here we are,” Brent said, dropping her hand
and gesturing to a hulking motorcycle parked beside the curb as he
released her. She knew exactly nothing about motorcycles—but the
shiny chrome, expensive-looking tires, and huge cylinders screamed
speed and danger. Which pretty much seemed right up Brent’s
ally.

And totally not hers.

“Uh….”

“You can wear the helmet,” Brent said,
pulling it from some compartment on the back. “I wasn’t exactly
expecting company tonight. Not that I mind,” he added, flashing her
a grin. “I kind of fucking love the idea of your body pressed tight
against mine.”