The idea of not being able to protect those that he loved burned through him. Rage clawed at his chest. Pushing himself harder and harder in training and losing himself in a woman night after night were about the only ways he could deal with the reality. He just couldn’t handle losing someone like that again. Ever. If he didn’t get close to anyone, he couldn’t get burned.
No fault in that logic.
“You can’t keep up with us?” Mike laughed, drawing Brent’s gaze back toward him. “At least we’re with the same woman every night. There’s gotta be like ten women you’ve slept with here in Anchors tonight.”
“Don’t remind me,” Brent muttered. Normally he’d be the first to brag about the women he’d been with, offering up all the sordid details to his buddies. The amount of pussy he’d scored. At the moment, however, it was just a grim reminder of the fact that he couldn’t fucking live with the guilt without distracting himself with a woman. Or twenty.
Mike raised his eyebrows. “What bit you in the ass?”
“Just having an off night.”
“You’re losing your touch, Cobra,” Matthew said, calling him by his nickname. “Three drinks in, and there’s still not a woman at your side being seduced by your charm?”
“A woman?” Mike laughed. “Usually he’s got an entire posse of them.”
“Just needed to clear my head,” Brent muttered.
Matthew raised his eyebrows, and Brent drained the last of his beer, catching a reflection of the women in the mirror that stretched across the back of the bar. Matthew’s fiancée Brianna was laughing, her blonde hair shimmering under the lights. Evan was animatedly telling a story, his strawberry-blonde girlfriend Alison smiling beside him. They all laughed again, and Brent’s eyes roved over the group. Why they’d all come here before heading off to the pool hall was beyond him.
But that wasn’t what had him clenching his fists in frustration.
Ella.
She stood up, her glossy, dark hair swinging through the air. Bright blue eyes lit up as she smiled at the others, her face slightly flushed. The tank top she had on highlighted her small but supple breasts, and her jeans clung to hips a man would love to wrap his hands around as he tugged her closer. Palmed her ass. And buried himself deep within her tight heat. Hell. She was wearing more clothing than half of the women here, but the curve-hugging jeans and form-fitting top she had on were sexy-as-fuck.
And making him harder than steel.
A couple of dudes at the table next to them all looked her way, and Brent ground his teeth together. One of the men walked over, apparently interested in her, and she shook her head ‘no.’
Well thank fuck for that.
He didn’t want to have to bust some frat boy’s balls for touching Ella.
She shouldn’t even be here since she lived down in Florida. Their paths never even should’ve crossed. But the gorgeous brunette fascinated him. Aroused him. Made him want to beat to a pulp any man that came near her. Especially that shitty manager of hers. Her face had been etched in his brain ever since the night they first met. Which was kind of crazy considering he’d been with countless other women. He could barely keep their faces straight despite knowing their bodies intimately, and he hadn’t so much as touched Ella.
But her long, dark hair, those big blue eyes, and that lithe little body with curves in just the right places had made his pulse pound. Not to mention that just the sight of her had sent his protective, possessive instincts surging to the surface. He’d stood up to her asshole manager down in Florida the first time they’d met. And seeing her again tonight? He had all sorts of images running through his head of kissing her pink lips, moving his mouth down the slender column of her neck. Maybe bending her over a table, taking her from behind while he cupped her small breasts. Showing her just how crazy she made him. Making her moan his name.
God. What would it be like to thrust into her pussy while he massaged her breasts and sank his teeth into the tender flesh where her neck and shoulder joined? She was so goddamn young. Unaffected by him. Still in college while he was thirty-two. And he had no doubt that he could pleasure her beyond her wildest imagination.
“Shall we go join the ladies?” Mike asked, jarring him out of his thoughts.
Brent glanced over to see his buddy draining the last of his beer.
“Hell yeah. They’re much better company than this sorry ass,” Matthew joked, punching Brent in the shoulder as he stood up. “Better looking, too.”
Fucking idiot. The most Matthew had to worry about was moving his gorgeous fiancée in with him and picking out new bedding and shit. Buying a few baby clothes for the kid they had on the way. He hadn’t lost someone in his own family. Failed to protect his own sister.
“I’ll meet you guys there,” Brent muttered.
Maybe a ride on his Harley down to the pool hall would clear his head. Watching his friends play happily-ever-after sure wasn’t going to erase the nightmares in his head. Maybe he should’ve left earlier with one of those women. The redhead, the other one—what the hell did it matter? It figured that the one woman who’d piqued his interest tonight was the one he shouldn’t fucking touch.
He’d lost track of his conquests over the years, and the number was almost something to be ashamed of. Almost. Because he didn’t answer to anyone but himself. And there was something exhilarating about pleasuring a woman—discovering her body, learning her secrets, making her whimper and beg and cry out his name. He was a goddamn master at sending a woman straight to ecstasy. And if a woman beneath him made him forget for a couple of hours about all of his failures and gave him sweet release as well, then that was just the cherry on top.
So why the hell was he still sitting here at Anchors with his buddies and not rolling around in the sheets?
His fists clenched as Ella’s face once again flashed through his mind.
Damn it to hell.
Chapter 2
Ella made her way back to the table, glancing around the bar she and the others had gone to for a few drinks. According to Brianna, Anchors had always been popular with the guys on the SEAL team. The place was filled with attractive military men with cropped hair and bulging muscles and pretty women in high heels and flirty little sundresses. She felt cute and casual in her pink tank top, snug jeans, and flat sandals. Not that she was looking to meet anyone.
Absentmindedly, she fingered the long pendant she wore. It was dainty and delicate, and hung low, dangling close to her cleavage. Music thumped from the speakers as she made her way back to her friends, and waitresses wove their way between tables serving piping hot food and cold drinks.
But they weren’t clad in the revealing outfits she and Brianna had worn as cocktail waitresses at the lounge they’d worked in down in Florida. Tiny little dresses that flaunted their cleavage and barely covered their ass. That wealthy clientele loved looking at as they served them drinks. That sometimes made them ask for more.
A job she’d tried to quit a few weeks ago but was somehow slowly getting sucked back into.
Ugh.
She glanced again at the text she’d just gotten from her former manager, Frank.
I know you need the money. I’ll put you on shift for the weekend if you get your sweet ass back down here.
Don’t screw this up, Ella.
Her heartbeat sped up and pulse erratically pounded as she re-read the words. Before she could even type out a response, her phone buzzed again.
You know tips alone are worth it. Men love watching you in that sexy little dress.
So do I.
Her stomach churned as she shoved her phone back into her purse. Had her former boss even heard of sexual harassment? Maybe technically he wasn’t her manager now since she’d quit. But holy crap. Even hundreds of miles away, up here in Virginia Beach, that jerk was getting to her. Trying to control her. She didn’t exactly enjoy serving drinks to men while they ogled her, but the money was better than any other part-time job she could find as a coll
ege student. And she’d never had a problem with her manager until she and Brianna had quit weeks ago.
Or tried to quit, in her case.
Matthew had come to Brianna’s rescue when a drunk man attacked her in the back hall of the cocktail lounge. Some of the other guys on Matthew’s SEAL team had been there, too, with one of them, Brent, even shielding her when their manager came rushing toward them in an angry rage. But Ella had made the mistake of letting it slip a few days later that they were all Brianna’s friends from out of town. Frank had been spooked for the night with those big, tough SEALs protecting Brianna and her, but he’d been texting Ella ever since, pressuring her into returning.
And when she’d gone back after the incident demanding her final paycheck, nearly in tears because she needed to make her student loan payments, Frank had sensed the desperation in her and pounced. Oh, he hadn’t done anything—not really. Not yet. Just stood a little too close, glanced at her chest one too many times, and insinuated she could be making even more money if she spent some of her off-hours with him.
Implied that’s what would be required if she wanted her job back.
She shuddered.
It was ironic how quickly Brianna’s and her lives had diverged. She was still working her way through college while Brianna already had an MBA, but they’d met and bonded while serving cocktails. Brianna and been laid off and needed the cash, and Ella needed the job to scrape by. Now Brianna had a new marketing career in Virginia Beach, a handsome fiancé, and a baby on the way. Ella had a pile of student loans, more than a year of college to finish, and no family to help her out. She needed the money, and her slimy manager knew it. Although he’d begrudgingly agreed to let her come to Virginia for the week, he expected her back.
In the cocktail lounge and in his bed.
She could always say no, she told herself. It’s not like he’d forced her to do anything.
So he was a little controlling. And too old for her. She’d work there until she was done with college, get her degree, and get the hell out of there. It wasn’t so bad. She’d calmly explain they were keeping things strictly business between them and that she had no intention of spending time with him outside of work.
Ever.
Too bad that was easier said than done.
Everyone was rising from the table when she returned, gathering their things. After dinner out tonight, Ella didn’t think she could afford to waste money on a few games of pool. She’d had only water instead of alcohol, claiming she wasn’t feeling great, and had ordered a salad for dinner. Even that was more of a splurge than she could afford, but she might as well enjoy one night out with her friend before she had to go back to Florida.
Unexpected tears smarted in her eyes as Brianna laughed happily and Matthew bent down and caught her in a long kiss. She was happy for Brianna but couldn’t believe she herself was even worse off than she’d been a few weeks ago. She’d never exactly loved working at the cocktail lounge, but no lines had been crossed. Nothing else insinuated. She wanted to laugh at the absurdity of how she was spending her week off from school. Other spring-breakers went down to Mexico or hit the beaches in Florida. Her own town of Pensacola was a big spring break spot—full of drunk college students and overzealous frat boys. Some of them even used to turn up in the cocktail lounge—understanding that she only served drinks but begging for her number for a little after hours fun.
Which was never going to happen.
Even though Ella was only twenty-two, she was used to being on her own. Relying on herself. And if worse came to worst, she’d drop out of school and get some boring job elsewhere. She wouldn’t finish her degree, but if she couldn’t afford it without serving up drinks at the cocktail lounge, then she couldn’t afford it.
She blew out a sigh as she walked up to the table.
“We thought we’d head to the pool hall now,” Brianna said, giggling as she finally broke free from Matthew’s embrace. “You know, show these guys up.”
Evan’s girlfriend, Alison, laughed and grinned at Brianna. “I’m down for showing the boys how it’s done. Us pregnant ladies have to stick together.”
Evan beamed at Alison, and Ella felt a funny little stirring inside her. They were all so happy, so content, and her own life was in complete shambles. True, she was the youngest one here, but other students her age weren’t all struggling just to make ends meet. Or dealing with managers who demanded some inappropriate off-hours time just to let them keep their job.
“Hey, even us non-pregnant ladies want to show up the men,” Kenley joked. “I’ve got to keep my guy in line.”
“What are you going to show us?” Mike asked as he walked over and wrapped his arm around Kenley’s shoulders.
“Show you up,” Kenley said. “Us ladies have decided to win a few rounds of pool.”
“Maybe we need a friendly little wager,” Mike said as he gazed at Kenley, his eyes heating. “You know, winner gets whatever they want tonight….”
“Oh, stop you two,” Brianna scoffed. She looked back over to Ella. “I still can’t believe you have to leave in a few days. It won’t be the same not seeing each other every week. I mean, I’m glad neither of us are working for Frank anymore, but I’m going to miss you so much when we’re living in different states!”
Ella smiled at Brianna’s tears. Her friend wasn’t normally a crier, but somehow the pregnancy hormones were getting to her. “I know, but I have to get back to school and finish the semester. Spring break is only a break,” she added wryly. “And don’t forget you’re the one that moved away.”
“And I’m damn glad about that,” Matthew said with a grin.
“I remember my student days. College, business school—it felt like it would never end. It just won’t be the same living in separate states,” Brianna said, tears smarting her eyes again. “And I wouldn’t have moved if Matthew wasn’t stationed here.”
“I know,” Ella said. “I’m happy for you guys. But I’m allowed to think it also sucks, right?” Her own voice wavered, and she chastised herself for being so silly. She was happy for her friend. Plus Brianna and Matthew’s parents both lived in Florida. They’d be visiting at some point. She wasn’t really all alone.
“Hey ladies,” Alison interrupted. “No tears. Tonight is supposed to be fun!”
“Easy for you to say,” Ella laughed. “You have a job, a boyfriend, and a baby on the way.”
“College sucks,” Alison agreed. “I mean, not the fun parts—” She was cut off by laughter from the others. “But,” Alison continued, “the living on a limited budget, writing endless term papers, and eating a diet consisting mostly of ramen noodles part can suck. And doing rotations on the graveyard shift,” she added, referring to her own nursing career. “But you’re almost done, right?”
“Yeah,” Ella agreed. “One more year after this.”
“Then you can move here,” Brianna said, cheering up. “I’ll hire you.”
Matthew laughed. “One thing at a time. Let her finish school first. She might find a kick-ass job down in Florida for all we know.”
“That’s true; maybe you’ll be the one hiring me,” Brianna said with a grin. “I’m sure big financial institutions need marketing help. I’ll go where you go.”
“Not if I have anything to say about it,” Matthew protested. “I rather like having you here in my apartment—and in my bed,” he murmured. Ella flushed as she unintentionally heard his whispered words to Brianna. What would it be like to have a man whisper to her like that? To look at her that way and want her that much? Her exes had treated her more as a friend with benefits. They sure hadn’t acted like she’d made the Earth move just by standing beside them.
She sure the heck wasn’t going to meet a man like Matthew at school. Or serving drinks. Or really ever. She blew out an exasperated sigh.
Ella caught sight of Brent shucking on his black leather jacket and heading for the door without so much as a backward glance at the rest of their group. With
his jet black buzz cut, bulging muscles, and piercing gaze, he had the whole bad boy image down pat. Some of the other women didn’t seem to like him that much, but he didn’t seem that bad. He’d scared Frank the night he was yelling at her, jumping in front of her to tell her manager off, and she didn’t even know him. Hadn’t even asked for his help. Too bad she couldn’t drag Brent down to Pensacola with her, asking him to stand up to her manager one last time. Frank would probably piss in his pants if he ever saw Brent again, she thought with a grin. He sure the hell didn’t have issues bossing her around though.
A busty blonde in a skintight dress sidled up to Brent as he was leaving, and Ella resisted the urge to gag. If that kind of Barbie lookalike was the type of woman Brent went for…. Jesus. Maybe she’d just caught him on a good day the night they’d met. There were plenty of waitresses like that blonde at the cocktail lounge where she used to work. Possibly still worked, she thought with a cringe. They enjoyed being the center of a man’s attention and loved dressing the part. Ella and Brianna had worked there for the money alone—and hated parading about like some sex object. It’s not like she expected customers to discuss nuclear physics with them or something, but to look into her eyes rather than her cleavage would’ve been a start.
“I guess you’ll have to stick with visiting me,” Brianna said. “Matthew’s not going to let me move away after all.”
“Damn straight,” he growled as the others laughed.
The door to Anchors swung shut, and Ella was surprised to see the blonde still standing there.
Alone.
“All right,” Mike said, helping Kenley put on her coat. “Gator’s getting entirely too sappy for me. Cobra already blew out of here. Let’s hit the pool hall.”
The others agreed, and Ella walked out with Brianna and Matthew, feeling more and more like a third wheel. Or seventh wheel, since she was currently with three other couples.
Protected by a SEAL (Alpha SEALs, Book 6) Page 2