Protected by a SEAL (Alpha SEALs, Book 6) Read Online Free Page A

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.
    “Maybe I’ll just head back,” she said as
they walked toward Matthew’s pick-up truck.
    A car honked in the street, and she briefly
glanced up, watching them speed away. This kind of spring night had
everyone racing around, enjoying the beautiful night. It made her
antsy for something—anything. Soon enough she’d be back to
reality.
    “You don’t want to play pool?” Brianna
asked, concern etching across her face as she looked over at her.
“I thought you wanted to come with us tonight.”
    Ella shrugged. “It’s been a busy week. I
might just call it a night. I can always walk down to the beach or
something.”
    “Come for a little while,” Matthew insisted.
“I promise to drive you home as soon as you want to leave.”
    “Well….”
    “Yeah, come with us!” Brianna said. “You’ve
only got a few more days in town. You don’t want to sit around
Kenley’s apartment by yourself all night.”
    “Just for a little while,” she conceded.
“And don’t worry, Matthew. I can always catch a cab back.”
    “No way, darlin’. The second you’re ready to
leave, we’ll drive you home.”
    “They should clone you,” Ella joked.
    Brianna grinned. “He’s a great guy. But it
did take him a lifetime to ask me out.”
    “Flattery will get you everywhere, ladies,”
Matthew joked, opening the truck door so the women could climb in.
“And are you kidding me, Bri?” he asked with a wink. “Your brother
would’ve killed me for asking you out.”
    “Maybe,” Brianna agreed flippantly as Ella
laughed. Brianna slid to the center, and Ella climbed into the
passenger seat beside her. Matthew rounded the truck and then
climbed in beside Brianna. “And about that whole lifetime thing—you
were worth the wait.”
    Brianna beamed beside him, and Ella couldn’t
help but smile. Brianna and Matthew had grown up together, and
although Brianna had apparently been in love with him for most of
her life, it was only recently that they’d connected. And now they
were engaged. And expecting a baby. The speed with which everything
had happened for Brianna and Matthew was mind-boggling. But when
you know, you know, Ella supposed. And it’s not like they just met.
Brianna had fallen quite literally for the boy next door.
    She relaxed into her seat as she watched the
people walk down the crowded sidewalk. A group of what had to be
college students walked by, and Ella couldn’t have felt more
different from them. She could never afford to be that carefree.
Thoughts of