Matched with a Hot SEAL (Hot SEALs)

by Cat Johnson

  The old man scowled. “Enough.”

  Will’s eyes widened. “Oh my God. Grandpa, do you have an account on there?”

  The old man grumbled something inaudible. That was enough of an answer for Will to suspect the truth. And he knew from his recent app research that Matchmaker had launched a senior version a few years ago. He’d bet his grandfather’s gold watch that the old man had taken a shot on that.

  “You might as well tell me, Gramps. I have the resources to find out these things and I’m not afraid to use them.”

  “All right. Yeah, I did. But I shut it down. It’s all a bunch of bull anyway. Bunch of people pretending to be who they’re not.”

  “I agree. Which is why there’s a need for my new app. Do you know what Facebook is?” Will asked.

  “Of course, I know what Facebook is. Jesus. I’m old, not stupid.”

  “Okay, fine. Sorry. Anyway, my app will utilize the Facebook database of users, which was over two billion worldwide as of last count.”

  “How the fuck you gonna choose someone for Amanda out of all those people?”

  Will loved that his grandfather still cussed like the bad ass US Marine he once was. Will’s mother, on the other hand, didn’t like it so much.

  “We’re not going to choose from everybody. We’ll only use a small group. It’ll be limited to hers and our Facebook friends, and the friends of her friends whenever privacy settings allow.”

  The old man’s wrinkles deepened as he scowled. “In my day we would have went to a dance or a party.”

  “Exactly. This is the same thing, just online. One big virtual party.”

  “You kids nowadays.” He shook his head.

  Will rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. I know. Back in your day . . . I can’t count how many times I’ve heard you say that before.”

  When Will’s cell vibrated and the display lit with a text alert, his grandfather glanced at it and then at Will. “Little late for a call, no?”

  “It’s a text, not a call and no, it’s not late. I asked her to text me.” He read the short text from Jessa saying she was safely inside his apartment then put the phone down.

  Glancing up he saw his grandfather react. The old man’s eyebrows shot high and Will realized his mistake immediately.

  “Her? A woman, eh?” He let out a raspy chuckle.

  His grandfather’s body might still be weak and his voice scratchy, but his mind was still sharp as a tack.

  Will shook his head at the old man, looking for what wasn’t there. “She’s just a friend, Gramps.”

  “Yeah, yeah. I’ve heard that before.” The old man’s mouth twisted into a wry smile as he turned Will’s own words back on him.

  Will couldn’t help but laugh. “I’m sure you have, but it’s true.”

  “Mr. Wilson. You’re awake.” The night nurse stood in the doorway. Her gaze moved from his grandfather, sitting up against the pillows, to Will. “Why didn’t you call me?”

  Cowering a bit, Will said, “Um, he told me not to?”

  She huffed out a breath and strode forward. Suitably chastised Will slid off the bed and cleared the way as she barreled forward.

  “Chicken,” his grandfather mumbled beneath his breath so only Will heard.

  “I know how to choose my battles,” he whispered back with a grin.

  That earned him a glare from the unhappy nurse, which had his grandfather chuckling.

  Will had to think laughter was probably a better medicine for the old man than anything this woman was about to pump into him. Feeling lighter than he had in a month, Will decided it was good for him too.

  CHAPTER 11

  I will not snoop. I will not snoop. I will not—

  Crap.

  Jessa couldn’t stop herself. She snooped.

  She scowled at her own behavior and lack of self discipline as she stood in front of the open medicine cabinet in Will’s bathroom.

  She’d only wanted to see if there was room in there for her toothbrush. At least that’s what she told herself.

  If that were the truth, it didn’t explain why she held her breath as her gaze swept the contents. She was looking for any remaining evidence of Sara because, obviously a masochist, Jessa liked to torture herself.

  In spite of her self-destructive searching, she didn’t find anything of her sister’s. Only Will’s stuff occupied the sparsely filled shelves. A razor, some shaving cream, deodorant, aspirin, dental floss, nail clippers. Nothing earth shattering. No surprises.

  Not even a box of condoms, for which she was enormously grateful. That would have been TMI.

  Still, her pulse raced. Looking for trouble was stressful. But she had to give Will credit. So far it appeared he’d purged the apartment of Sara pretty completely.

  Well, except for that pesky door lock code.

  She huffed out a breath over the memory of having to punch in her sister’s birthday, as well as at the thought that Will did it every day, maybe more than once.

  Closing the mirrored cabinet door, she turned and took in the rest of the space.

  It was clean and neat. The towels matched and looked fairly new. And she was happy to see they were in a nice masculine navy blue and not pink or floral or something that would have indicated Sara had been the one to choose them.

  Jessa really needed to get over this obsession. Sara was gone and she was here . . . at least for the time being. Until her place was safe or Will returned, whichever came first.

  The fact remained, Will had wanted her to stay at his place so she could get some rest and that’s what she should be doing. Sleeping late this morning because she’d been up most of the night. Not getting up at the crack of dawn after barely a few hours of rest and snooping.

  She moved from the bathroom, across the living room and into the bedroom.

  Inside she was once again reminded how tidy Will kept his place.

  When she’d arrived here in the middle of the night, the bed was even made, which was a bit of a surprise since she knew he’d rushed to his grandfather’s hospital bed on a moment’s notice.

  The only indication that he’d been in a hurry was the open closet door and the hamper filled with laundry that he hadn’t taken the time to do before leaving.

  Jessa briefly entertained the idea of washing the contents of the hamper for him until she saw the boxer shorts half hidden beneath the T-shirt.

  Yeah, no. Washing a man’s underwear, a man she wasn’t dating or married to, had to be crossing some sort of line.

  Putting that idea out of her head, Jessa turned toward the bed and stared at it.

  She’d dozed on the sofa in front of his television for a few uncomfortable hours. Meanwhile there was a perfectly good bed empty and waiting.

  Why was she hesitating pulling back the comforter and sheets and climbing in? Why did it feel so strange, so intimate, to slide between the sheets that Will slept between?

  Would the bed smell like him? Like that combination of deodorant, soap and pure clean male?

  She leaned down and pressed her face against the pillow, drawing in a deep breath and realizing she was crazy and should leave immediately.

  A woman gone enough over a man to sniff his pillow should definitely not be spending a night in his bed.

  But dammit she couldn’t go home. The only reason she’d even had the nerve to bolt the distance from her apartment door to her car was because she saw a police car cruise through the parking lot.

  At least the 9-1-1 operator had taken her call seriously enough to forward the report to the local police. At the site of that cop car, Jessa hadn’t wasted any time.

  She’d already thrown what she’d need in her overnight bag so she made a run for it while the coast was clear of black-clad scary men. She certainly wasn’t going back there at this time of night. She’d just have to suck it up and deal with the specter of Will in bed with her.

  If only he were in bed with her.

  Stop it! She mentally chided herself, climbe
d into bed and forced her eyes closed. She’d get to sleep tonight if it killed her.

  Jessa did eventually drift off only to be woken by the ringing of her cell phone some time later.

  Groaning, she saw the sun had risen high in the sky and it was time for her to be rising as well, even if she hadn’t gotten more than a handful of hours sleep.

  Forcing her weary brain and her sleepy eyes to focus, she rolled toward the nightstand and grabbed the cell.

  Lo and behold Sara’s name was on the display.

  That woke Jessa up.

  Eyes wide now, she answered, “Hello?”

  “Hey. I wanted to get you before you left for work. I think I left my quilted jacket in the closet of the apartment. Can you look and send it to me?”

  As if Jessa didn’t have enough to worry about, didn’t it figure that Sara would decide to call now while Jessa was camped out at Will’s place?

  She shouldn’t feel guilty about being in his apartment. Nothing was going on. He was just helping her out because her apartment wasn’t feeling all that safe at the moment.

  “Um, yeah. I’ll look when I get home.”

  “Where are you now?”

  Crap. Jessa realized her mistake immediately. She was too tired for this conversation. “I’m, uh, not home right now.”

  “Where could you be? It’s like the crack of dawn.”

  It was not the crack of dawn. Jessa had already seen the crack of dawn while trying to fall asleep in Will’s bed.

  By the look of things, it was currently full morning. Daylight filtered through the blinds. She heard morning traffic out in the street.

  The world was awake and moving—and that’s what she should be doing. Moving. Getting out of Will’s apartment before she got comfortable there.

  Jessa took a shot, hoping Sara’s inability to reason eastern versus central time still held. “No, it’s not that early here. Remember, you’re in a different time zone now.”

  “Oh, yeah. I keep forgetting.”

  “I know. It’s okay.” Phew. Breathing out in relief that had worked, Jessa decided it was time to get off the phone before Sara could come up with more questions to trip her up. But then something struck her. “But wait. I don’t remember seeing your jacket and I just cleaned all the closets in the apartment.”

  Nervous energy—not to mention pent up sexual frustration—made for a very organized space. Was that why Will’s place was so neat? Jessa drove that thought out of her mind and focused back on the call.

  “Oh, no. Did I leave it at Will’s?” Sara asked.

  Lips compressed tightly, Jessa hauled herself out of Will’s bed and stalked to the closet by the front door—the one closet she didn’t peek in last night.

  Not feeling at all bad about it, she yanked open the closet door. There was nothing in there but some manly looking coats. Definitely not Sara’s bright orange quilted jacket. That Jessa would have spotted.

  Will had said everything of Sara’s was out of his apartment and in the bag he’d brought over.

  It was probably in there. But how could Jessa tell her sister that not only were all her belongings currently in a trash bag stashed in the bottom of her closet, but that Jessa hadn’t bothered to send it to her because she was feeling pissy and petty and refused to spend the money for shipping?

  She couldn’t, so she decided to lie, which she realized she was doing far too often lately. “Actually, you know what? I remember now. I didn’t get through the one closet. I bet it’s in there. I’ll check and if it’s there, I’ll mail it to you right away.”

  “Okay. Thank you so much.”

  “No problem.”

  “I’ll talk to you soon,” Sara said.

  Jessa didn’t believe that was true. Not one little bit.

  Phone calls with Sara were few and far between and always initiated by Jessa, except for when Sara needed something, as evidenced by this call. But while Jessa’s life—and feelings—were so complicated right now, it was probably better that way.

  “All right. Bye.” Jessa disconnected the call and felt the overwhelming relief.

  Why she’d felt the need to lie about where she was she didn’t know. It wasn’t like there was anything going on between her and Will.

  Yet.

  The word flew unbidden into her brain and she realized exactly how much she wanted there to be more between her and Will. And how bad it would be if there were.

  She didn’t want to be the rebound girl. Nor did she want to be that girl—the one who swooped in and scooped up her sister’s ex the moment they broke up.

  But what she wanted or didn’t want didn’t matter anyway because so far, even though Will had been incredibly sweet and helpful and generous, that was where it ended.

  As far as Jessa could tell, he had no interest in her as anything other than a friend.

  She sighed. His lack of interest sucked but that at least would save her from herself. Because apparently when it came to Will Weber self control was futile.

  Jessa flopped back onto the pillow, turned her head and drew in the scent of him one more time.

  CHAPTER 12

  “Good to see you awake, Mr. Wilson.”

  The old man’s grunt of a response to the doctor’s greeting was followed by his grumbling, “I’d be better if I was out of this place.”

  Will’s lips twitched at his grandfather’s surly reply to his doctor.

  “I’m sure you would and we’ll see what we can do about that.” The doctor glanced over the records, before raising his gaze to Will. “Is this the famous grandson I’ve heard so much about from your daughter?”

  “Definitely not famous, but yeah, I’m Will.” Will answered for the old man.

  It was probably safest to have his grandfather’s answers kept to a minimum given the mood he was in. Confinement in a hospital bed obviously didn’t sit well with him.

  The doctor nodded a greeting to Will and then turned back to his patient. “So it seems you have cardiac arrhythmia. That’s a heartbeat irregularity. It can cause palpitations, or a sudden drop in blood pressure that can lead to unconsciousness, which is what we think happened in your case.”

  “I don’t care what it’s called that you think I have. I feel fine,” Grandpa growled.

  “And let’s see if we can keep you feeling fine, shall we? I’m going to start you on blood thinners to reduce the risk of stroke. And we’ll get you upstairs for an electrocardiogram and go from there.”

  His grandfather frowned at that plan. Apparently tests and more time in the hospital were not what he had been hoping to hear.

  The doctor should be up for sainthood for his steady patience and cheerful disposition in the face of his grandfather’s less than cheery reception.

  Will decided to make up for his grandfather’s lack of manners with his own and said, “Thank you, doctor.”

  “My pleasure. You keep up the good work, Mr. Wilson and we’ll see about getting you out of here.” With a nod, the doctor left and Will dared to look at his grandfather.

  As expected, a scowl was firmly in place.

  “I’m sure he’ll release you as soon as he can.”

  “You’re sure, are you?” He let out a bark of a laugh. “I’m not.”

  “Then I’ll just have to break you out myself.”

  The older man’s eyebrows rose. “That plan I like.”

  “I’m sure you do.” Will laughed, envisioning the great escape.

  Him and the old man, bare-assed in his hospital gown, shuffling down the hall in the dead of night. Ducking behind corners to avoid the staff. It certainly would be a story to tell for the ages.

  Will’s mother and Megan would kill him if he ever really did it. Amanda, on the other hand, would probably help.

  “Did we miss the doctor? What did he say?”

  Speak of the devil . . . Will’s older sister Megan walked through the door, followed closely by his younger sister Amanda, just as he was thinking about them.

&nbs
p; “Yeah. He just left but I can tell you what he said—”

  “I can tell you myself,” his grandfather interrupted him. “I’m ready to leave, so get me out of here.”

  Amanda, who was still considered the baby of the family even in her twenties, moved closer to the bed. “Stupid doctors always want to keep people longer than necessary. Right, Gramps?”

  Megan rolled her eyes at Amanda egging on their already disgruntled grandfather and turned to face Will. “So what is it? What did the doctor say?”

  “Cardiac arrhythmia.”

  She cringed.

  Will shook his head. “Don’t worry. I don’t think it’s as bad as it sounds. I was about to get online and look it up when you came in. I want to see for myself what’s up but from what the doc said it seems like the standard course of treatment is to prescribe anticoagulants. They’re going to run an ECG.”

  Megan let out a short laugh. “How can you sound more like a doctor than the doctors do?”

  Will smiled. “Because I’m the smart one in the family. Remember?” When his sister scowled he added, “And you’re the pretty one.”

  Megan rolled her eyes one more time. “That might be a comfort if you weren’t so pretty yourself.”

  “I’m not sure that’s a compliment.” Will frowned. “But anyway, are you ready to talk to that one over there about the new app?” He tipped his head toward their little sister.

  Once he’d finally determined there wasn’t another app out there like it, he’d told Megan about the concept and she was on board with the idea one hundred percent.

  “How much longer until it’s ready?” she asked.

  “Not long. I’m not too far from having a version we’ll be able to test.”

  “Jesus, Will.” Megan’s eyes widened. “You only just started working on it when you got here.”

  That had been a couple of days ago and he’d been really putting in the hours, day and night. Who needed sleep anyway?

  And he hadn’t wasted time on branding or design for this version. He was anxious to get to the test phase. That was the exciting part. He could iron out any issues in the back end later.

  He lifted one shoulder in a half hearted shrug in response to his sister’s comment. “The initial development wasn’t hard. And, I’ve had a lot of time on my hands while I’ve been here.”