Page 4 of Rescued by a SEAL

Mason frowned. “Me either. I was just saying earlier that something seems off with her. She used to be working practically every night, and she’s hardly around anymore.”

A young, blonde waitress walked over to their table, notepad in hand. “What can I get you boys tonight?” she asked, her pink lips shining with some type of lip gloss. Her gaze raked over Ryker, and Mason smirked.

“How about your phone number?” Noah teased.

She batted her heavily made-up eyes at him. “I’m not sure if you’re my type,” she teased him.

“Well, you’re certainly mine,” he quipped.

Hunter’s gaze swept from Noah to their waitress. “A round of beers for everyone. On me. We’re celebrating tonight.”

“Hoorah!” Noah said with a grin.

“Hell,” Ryker said as the blonde waitress walked away. “Colton and Camila aren’t even here yet.”

“So we’ll order them a round when they get here,” Hunter said. “No reason we can’t get started.”

“Hey fellas,” a voice drawled, and Mason glanced over to see Matthew “Gator” Murphy walking over with Brent “Cobra” Rollins. The two men were on the Alpha SEAL team at Little Creek. Both the Alpha and Delta teams worked together at times, deploying jointly on missions. The Delta team had just gotten back from Colombia though while the Alpha team had been in the Middle East.

“Where’s your better halves?” Jacob asked.

Brent smirked at them. “Ella’s busy taking a class. She’s actually going to graduate early in December but wants to get her Master’s Degree after that. She was accepted to a graduate program here.”

“Hell, that’s awesome, man,” Mason said, nodding at the other SEAL. “To transfer schools and finish early is pretty sweet. And grad school, too? Fantastic.”

Brent had met Ella down in Florida. He’d come to her rescue when her sleazy boss at the cocktail lounge where she worked had pawned her off on some men he owed money to. Ella had ended up moving to Virginia Beach to finish college here.

Such was the life of a SEAL. They went where the U.S. Navy sent them—and their wives or girlfriends had to come along, for better or worse.

“Yep. I was looking forward to seeing more of her,” Brent said. “She was planning to get a job after graduating, but it looks like now she’ll be spending more of her nights studying and writing papers. She’s more serious about school than I ever was,” he added with a chuckle.

“Bri’s at home with the baby,” Matthew said. “I did daddy duty the other night while some of the women went out. Now it’s my turn to have a breather. Man, that little fella can scream.”

“Shit,” Hunter said as Emma stood and headed off to the ladies’ room. “You boys could open a goddamn daycare with all the kids you have.”

“Not me,” Brent said. “I don’t know a damn thing about babies. Nor do I want to.”

Hunter chuckled. “And what does Ella say about that?” he asked, crossing his arms as he leaned back in the chair, his mouth quirked up in a smile.

Brent shrugged. “She’s busy with school now—no time for a kid.”

“But grad school won’t last forever,” Mason needlessly pointed out. “Give it a few years, bro.”

“We’re meeting some of the other guys here,” Matthew drawled.

“Well hell, pull up a chair and join us,” Hunter said. “We’re celebrating our latest successful op.”

“Another time,” Matthew promised. He and Brent headed off to the bar area to wait for the rest of their team, and the blonde waitress sashayed back over, holding a heavy tray of drinks.

Mason’s gaze landed on her name tag. “Emily,” he said, watching as her eyes flicked over to him. “Have you seen Taylor around?”

“She called out again,” Emily said with a wry smile, handing out the bottles of beer to the guys.

“Called out as in she’s sick?” Mason asked, his eyes narrowing.

“I’m not sure,” Emily said. “She’s missed several of her shifts. She was sick a couple of weeks ago, but I’m not sure why she hasn’t been around lately.”

“Is she having car trouble again?” Mason asked. The last time the team had been in here, she’d told him how she’d paid $400 for a tow. Mason had wanted to wring the neck of the tow truck driver who’d taken advantage of a single woman. Hell, he’d have changed her damn tire himself. Now that he had her number, and vice versa, he’d hoped she’d be in contact with him more. After a string of flirty texts though, he’d disappeared with his team to Bogota a couple of weeks ago.

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