Defender (Navy SEALS Romance Book 4) Read Online Free Page A

in—
    “Veronica! You made it!” Madison called out, jumping out of her seat and racing towards the door that led inside the restaurant. Jake followed her with his gaze and immediately felt a punch to the gut. The black-haired woman who’d twice snarled at him was shaking Madison’s hand and smiling warmly, but her expression turned soured when she saw Jake still standing there. She leaned closer to Madison, who nodded happily, then forced a smile.
    Good, she’s as pissed about this as I am , he thought with a small measure of triumph. With any luck, I can make her completely sorry she showed her face tonight.
    “I’m Veronica,” the woman said, turning to Jake briefly. He mumbled a hello, then turned to glare at Angel on his other side, effectively ignoring her.
    “What’s this all about, buddy? I thought I said I could find my own victims,” he said mostly under his breath.
    “The fact that you just referred to a gorgeous woman as a ‘victim’ is why you need help finding a date. Besides, this wasn’t my doing. This one was all Madison. And from the looks of her friend, you can thank her later.”
    “Trust me, I plan to say something, but it won’t be ‘thank you.’ It’ll be more like, ‘What the he—’” Jake started to say, but was interrupted by an overly cheery voice on his other side.
    “So, Madison tells me you work with Angel. Search and rescue work, huh? That must be pretty exciting!” Veronica said, waiting expectantly for a response. Jake almost didn’t bother answering, but after a long swig of his beer, he finally turned to her and spoke.
    “Yeah. If you think dead bodies washing up on shore are exciting.” He turned back to Angel, leaving Veronica to look wide-eyed at Madison, who could only shrug and shake her head.
    “Dude, that was harsh,” Tanner hissed, leaning around from Angel’s other side to call him out. “She’s just making conversation.”
    “I’ve made it pretty clear that I don’t want to have a conversation, especially with a self-centered, uptight, entitled snot. Got it?” Jake said a little louder than he’d meant to. He leaned back and took another sip of beer, looking around the table at the others. They all looked so happy, so unconcerned.
    Why can’t I have that? he thought miserably. How come they can put aside all the uncertainty and just enjoy the moment?
    Jake cleared his mind and tried to focus on just enjoying his best friends’ company. He turned back to Veronica and said, “Hey, I’m sorry I was rude just now, I’m just in a strange kind of mood, I guess. But I’m sorry.”
    “You should be,” she answered, turning towards him only long enough to answer. “And you and your strange mood just blew your only shot with me. I don’t give second chances.”
    “Wow, that’s cold. I’d love to say I deserve that, but I don’t. Enjoy the rest of your night.” Jake finished his beer in one swallow and threw some bills on the table to cover it. “You guys have fun, I’m gonna cut outta here.”
    “Jake, wait… you’re gonna miss out on all the fun?” Michael called out, a fresh look of concern in his eyes. But Jake didn’t stick around long enough to explain. He left through the patio gate and got on his bike, turning over the engine as he put his helmet on. He flipped the visor down, but before he did his eyes met Veronica’s. She wore a haughty look, knowing she’d just won.
    She didn’t know anything yet…

Chapter 5
    J ake rode around for an hour , catching up on some errands. He grabbed some groceries, took his laundry to the drop-off, any stupid thing that would keep his mind off the evening. When he ran out of pointless tasks to fill the time, he thought about heading back over to S&R to spend some time working out his injured back. Along the way, his phone lit up with a text. He waited for a stoplight then pulled it from his pocket to take a glance.
    “EMERGENCY”
    The simple text was all Knox had to send. Everyone got