by Jaime Lewis
Bear had seen the woman take the table in the corner of the patio. It was one of the best spots to sit when someone just wanted to relax and be left alone.
When he saw the man walk out onto the patio and approach the secluded area where the woman sat, he got a bad vibe. There was just something about the guy’s body language that seemed off. He almost chalked it up as a mistake, but then he heard the chair hit the ground and just knew something was wrong.
He had no idea that it was the same woman who had caught Irish’s attention. It wasn’t until his teammate Joker recognized her.
He wasn’t normally one to get involved in other people’s drama; however, when a person is being assaulted, then all bets were off. In her case, when Joker told him who the woman was, it became more of an urgency to diffuse the situation. He didn’t hear most of the conversation, but he had heard enough to know the situation could have taken a turn for the worse if he hadn’t intervened.
As he looked her over, he had to admit she was cute. Knowing Irish had his sights set on her, he wasn’t interested in her that way. Although Irish better shit or get off the pot because the pretty lady wasn’t going to stay single for too long. Not with the way men had been looking at her all night. She had an innocence about her, and that made Bear laugh. She was totally not Irish’s type.
He stuck his hand out. “I’m Bear, and that’s the rest of my team over there,” he said, pointing to the table.
She shook his hand. “I’m Bailey,” she replied shyly.
“And I’m Duke.” The other guy said then grabbed her bag off the table.
Bear took her elbow and started to lead her toward their table. “Come on, I’ll introduce you to everyone, and then you can tell me what all that was about.”
Bear had a feeling that they hadn’t seen the last of that guy, and if Irish was interested in her, then he needed to know what he was dealing with. Plus, who knew if the guy wasn’t sitting outside in his car, waiting for her to leave. She definitely wouldn’t be traveling back to her home alone.
Bailey gave him an unsure look as she nibbled her lip. It was like she needed to be persuaded. He turned toward her and put his hand on her shoulder, and she looked up into his eyes. Being in the military, especially Special Forces, you acquire the skills to read body language, and her eyes told him she was unsure. “Bailey, I would feel a lot better if you hung out with us and waited a little while before you left.”
Her eyes widened. “You think Randy could be waiting for me in the parking lot or something?”
She was smart too, again, not like the women Irish fucked around with. “Yeah, honey. I’d be much more comfortable if you sat with us for a little bit, and then one of us can walk you to your car and follow you home.”
“Oh, I didn’t drive here,” she told him, and he raised his eyebrows in question. “I live about a mile and a half down the road. I walked here on the beach.”
There was no way in hell that he was letting her walk home. “Okay, would you object if I drove you home?” He knew for a fact that he wouldn’t be the one escorting her home. Joker was on the phone with Irish already, and he was pretty sure Irish was already on his way.
He watched as she pondered his question. Then she looked at him. “Would you feel offended if I called Alex just to make sure you really are who say you are? I mean, a girl does have to be careful, right?”
He chuckled. “It wouldn’t offend me in the least. Actually, it makes me happy to know you take your safety seriously. There are too many people in the world that don’t take the necessary precautions and then end up in big trouble.”
She smiled. “Okay then, lead the way. I think I need a drink anyway after dealing with that prick.” He laughed again and guided her over to the table. Irish was a damn lucky man.
◆◆◆
Bailey was enjoying the conversation with Bear and his team even though she couldn’t stop thinking what Randy’s next move was going to be. There was no doubt in her mind that he wasn’t already planning his revenge.
She looked around the table at the guys. Aussie, who was freakishly tall, and Bugs were in the middle of a debate about which one of them was a better grill master. Some of the recipes they were describing had sounded delicious. All eight men were unique in their own way. They asked questions about her job and how she liked the town and made some suggestions on some of the sights she needed to see. They even offered her a tour of the base. The conversation flowed, although it seemed to be a little one-sided as they didn’t really leave much room in-between the questions they threw at her.
She glanced down at her watch and saw how late it was. She hadn’t realized it had been a little over an hour since the ordeal with Randy. She’d tried to leave several times already, but then one of the guys would ask her a question, which led to another conversation. She got the feeling that they were purposely stalling her. She really needed to go home. She was tired and her neck was really sore.
“Hey, are you okay?” Bear asked, setting his beer down on the table.
She covered her neck with her hand. She would be surprised if it weren’t already bruising as she tended to bruise easily.
“It’s a little sore. But I’ll be fine.” She told him.
“Bastard…I should’ve done more than just throw his ass out of here.”
She gave him a soft smile. Bear was a nice guy and very protective. “It’s okay. I’ll survive. I’ve done it before.”
Duke, who sat next to her, brushed her hair back over her shoulder so he could get a better look. One of the guys mentioned he was a Combat Medic. “Son of a bitch,” he said out loud, and now he looked pissed off.
“Is it bad?”
“Not too bad, but it’s noticeable,” he told her with a scowl on his face.
“Shoot.”
“Who was that asshole anyway?” He asked her.
She nibbled on her lip. She had managed to avoid that topic up until now. “Just my past.” But then she jumped when she heard the angry voice behind her.
“That isn’t a good enough explanation?”
Irish stood there with his arms crossed, looking mighty fine in a pair of casual black track pants and a long-sleeve t-shirt. His angry expression only added to his sexiness. She looked at Bear and glared at him. “You called him!”
Bear gave her a fierce look, a look that made her think twice about raising her voice at him again. But he just shrugged his shoulders and calmly replied before taking another sip of his beer. “When one of our own is in trouble, we make sure they’re taken care of.”
She took a step back and wondered what he meant by that statement. She didn’t need or want babysitters. She had dealt with enough of that shit from her parents. She didn’t need to be controlled by a bunch of domineering alpha-males.
“What does that mean?”
Irish stepped close to her. He turned Bailey toward him. She knew the moment when his eyes settled on the bruising on her neck because his eyes turned cold. The blue darkened, and his expression became hard.
“He did this to you?” He asked, lowering his voice to almost a whisper as his fingers gently touched her skin, causing a slight shiver.
“She should ice it,” Duke stated from her other side. He was still looking at her neck.
“I’ll be right back,” Irish told her. She watched him through the window as he went to the bar and spoke with the bartender. A brunette approached Irish, and he smiled wide at the woman before hugging her. She kissed him on the cheek. From Bailey’s view, the woman was strikingly beautiful with long wavy chestnut hair that fell to the middle of her back. It wasn’t one of the women she encountered last week. Jesus, did he have a different woman for every night of the week. She felt like a fool. She wasn’t going to stick around and be his flavor of the week or, in Irish’s case, the flavor of the night. She wasn’t into playing the damsel in distress and have the hot military guy come and rescue her for a reward of a night of fun. She wanted someone who would be faithful,
compassionate, and loving.
She felt sick to her stomach. She grabbed her bag and purse from the table and started to walk inside when a hand landed on her arm. When she turned, she met Bear’s curious gaze.
“Where are you going? Irish will be back in a minute. He went to get you some ice. He said to wait here.”
She raised one of her eyebrows at him. “Well, Irish isn’t my handler, and I need to use the ladies’ room,” she stated with an attitude and shook herself from his hold and made her way inside. Irish was still engrossed in the brunette and had his back to her. She saw the sign for the restrooms and headed down the short hallway. When she got to the ladies’ room, she noticed a side door a little further down that led to a pathway to the beach. She could easily slip out, and nobody would ever notice until it was too late. Although she felt a little guilty for sneaking around, she also wasn’t going to sit around and be someone’s puppet. She headed outside and walked toward the water, where it was darker and harder for anyone to notice her. With it being such a beautiful night, there were other people out for an evening stroll.
She pulled her hoodie tighter against her as a chill swept through her body. The entire walk home, she never let her guard down. Not knowing if Randy had left the area made her feel vulnerable. Once she was safely home behind her locked door with the alarm set, she would give her cousin a call and see if he could offer any advice on how to deal with her family.
As far as Irish went, it was a pity because she thought there could be something there. She felt a connection with him but seeing him with the other women had her wondering what type of a man he really was.
◆◆◆
Irish quickly made his way back outside to the table. He hadn’t meant to take so long, but when Lauren, an old friend, spotted him and started talking, he didn’t want to be rude.
When he reached the table, he looked around for Bailey. “Where’d she go?” He asked Bear, who was talking to Joker and Duke.
Bear looked around and grimaced before banging his fist on the table. “Son-of-a-bitch! She said she was going to the bathroom.”
“Okay, what is wrong with that?”
“Because that was like fifteen minutes ago. What in the hell took you so long?”
“I ran into Lauren. Remember the Marine with the K9 who saved our asses last year in Iraq when he sniffed out that IED?”
“Fuck…don’t remind me. That was too close of a call. Shit, it would have wiped out both of our teams.” Bear gave Irish a look. “Wait, didn’t you hook up with her shortly after that?
Irish winced. “Yeah, but I haven’t seen her since. We left that next day.”
“Is she stationed here?”
“No, she left the Corps a few months after she returned home from that deployment. She’s married now to a Colonel. He’s stationed at the Pentagon. She’s here in town visiting a few friends.”
Bear rubbed his chin. “I see…well, I think your reunion with Lauren is the reason your little pixie gave us all the slip. She watched you the entire time and saw Lauren hug you. She made us all look like fools, too, if she left the same way she got here. She had to have walked past this deck.”
“Walked?”
“Yeah, she walked from her condo.”
Irish then remembered her mentioning she didn’t live far from here. “She shouldn’t be out walking in the dark alone. Not when some man comes here threatening and touching her. What the fuck was she thinking?”
“No, it wasn’t smart. But she was pretty adamant that she wanted her independence. When I told her, you wanted her to wait, she commented that you weren’t her handler.”
Irish wondered about that. Then he remembered the night he met her and the faint bruise on her cheek. He grew angry.
“Whoa, what’s with the killer face?”
Irish explained. “Shit, do you think this guy is the one who hit her, and she’s been running from?”
Irish shook his head and ran his hand through his hair. “I don’t know. But I intend to find out.”
Bear took a swig from his beer. “She’s cute. But I’m having a hard time understanding why you of all people are so hung up on her.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Irish asked, wondering why Bear would say something like that.
“She is far different from the women you associate with. And when I say different, I mean that in a good way. She’s shy, almost innocent like. Shit, wait until word gets around here that you’re off the market.”
“Well, I don’t have her yet. But you’re right; she is different. That’s what I find so attractive about her. Plus, she’s easy to talk to. She could care less about my status as a SEAL. She is someone that I actually feel comfortable around besides you guys.”
Bear tipped his bottle Irish’s way. “Well, just a friendly suggestion. You’d better claim her soon; otherwise, some other guy is going to swoop in and carry her off into the sunset.”
Irish took a seat at the table. That’s twice now his past had come in-between him and Bailey. He needed to make it right and convince her it was her that he wanted.
Chapter Twelve
Randy watched from afar as the group of men cared and catered to Bailey. She was gorgeous and being the new girl in town, Randy knew men would be all over her, especially with her sweet, bubbly personality. But she was naïve and inexperienced.
He was almost positive the men who were fawning over her were in the military. They just had that demeanor and vibe about them. But the one he was the most curious about was the blonde guy who had shown up a few minutes ago. He seemed awfully in-tune with her, especially the way he touched her neck. The beautiful, slender neck that he could have broken if he wanted to. He wondered if she was dating him, which led to the thought of her fucking him. He snapped the pen he was holding between his fingers. For her sake, he’d better be just a friend.
She was meant to be with him. At least long enough for him to get his hands on the main prize, then he couldn’t give a rat’s ass what she did and even what happened to her. He wrote down the license plate from the Lincoln Navigator the guy showed up in. He would send it to Leonard back in Alabama to see what kind of information he could pull up on the guy. He needed to know who he was dealing with.
As much as he wanted to stick around and continue this cat and mouse game with Bailey, he had obligations to get back to in Alabama. He was hoping that by threatening her, she would cower to his demands, but his girl seemed to have grown a backbone.
Bentley had called him to get an update on the situation and to let him know that Ralph, the loan shark Bentley borrowed money from, had paid a visit. He gave Bentley a couple of more weeks to come up with the money. There was plenty of money to cover Bentley’s loan; however, all the assets, stocks, and cash held by the Andersons could only be liquidated by one person, and that was Bailey. She had no clue that she held the family fortune in her hands. Between Bentley and his shrewd team of lawyers, they’d buried everything and made it look like that Bentley and Annette controlled it all. Of course, Bentley was given some cash and stocks when his father died, but that money was long gone, and now he needed Bailey’s money, and that included her trust fund. She thought nobody knew about that, but people talk, and eventually, gossip gets around.
By marrying Bailey, Randy was promised a large chunk of the assets. As soon as they said I do, he would start the process of moving assets into his name and then splitting them with Bentley. Bentley despised Bailey, and Randy believed it was because she was the apple of her grandfather’s eye.
Randy put the car in gear. He had a flight to catch. He would let her think she had won the battle for now. But soon, very soon, he’d have her.
Chapter Thirteen
Bailey entered the chic day spa near the boardwalk. She had been looking forward to this treat for herself for a couple of days. She had booked a ninety-minute massage. Believe it or not, in her twenty-six years, she had never had a massage but had always heard how relaxing they we
re.
When she brought up wanting to get one, the ladies at school gave her the name and number of this place. They all raved about it. She swore she saw one of the ladies blush as she talked about it. Apparently, they weren’t the only ones who thought that because when she made the appointment, she only got in because they had a cancellation. If it weren’t for that, she would have had to wait over a month for an appointment.
The interior of the establishment reminded her of a hotel she’d stayed at in South Beach. It had an art deco vibe with a modern, crisp look, a lot of white with red as a contrast color that popped in some of the décor.
She approached the front desk, and the gentleman behind the desk stood and greeted her. When he smiled, she thought she was staring at a life-size Ken doll. He looked almost fake. His teeth were super white teeth, he had an incredible tan, and his light brown hair didn’t have a single strand out of place. Not to mention that he too was dressed in white slacks and a red polo that matched the décor.
“Hi, sweetheart. How can I help you?” Smooth…
She smiled. “I have an appointment for a massage.”
“Your name?”
“Bailey…Bailey Anderson. I called this morning.”
The guy smiled again. “Oh yes, that was me you spoke with. I assume this is your first visit here?” He gave her a sideways smile as his eyes roamed over her body, making her briefly think maybe she’d made a mistake in coming.
But she quickly blew it off as the guy just being arrogant and cocky.
“Yes.”
He handed her an iPad and asked her to complete the questionnaire, which she did quickly and returned the iPad to him.
“Is it possible to request a female massage therapist?” She asked. As this was her first massage, she would feel a little more comfortable having a female masseuse. But Jock’s sly smile told her that answer was going to be no.
“All of our massage therapists are male. I can tell you’re nervous, but I promise every member of our staff is professional and highly trained. You’ll be in good hands with Manny,” he winked, and she gulped. She could do this. Her body was craving the stress release. She nodded her head.