Page 10 of Rescued by a SEAL

Chapter 3

Mason laughed, taking another swig of his beer from their table in the back of Anchors. Music blasted from the stereo, loud conversations filled the air around them, and they were all on their second round of beers.

“She was into you, man,” Hunter said with a chuckle, watching as a scantily clad woman walked away, pouting.

“Totally,” Emma agreed from beside him. “Women don’t just throw themselves at men like that unless they think it’s a sure thing.”

“Kind of like when we met, huh?” Hunter asked, waggling his eyebrows.

Emma flushed as she laughed in embarrassment. “You were hitting on me at the pub! Mason was there. Mason, tell everyone that Hunter is unequivocally making that up.”

“I don’t know,” Camila purred from beside Colton, brushing her long, dark hair back from her face as she leaned closer to him. “Colton threw himself at me, and I was anything but a sure thing.”

The rest of the table howled with laughter as Colton shook his head good naturedly. “It’s different with a woman—it’s never a sure thing.”

“Unless you meet her on the street corner,” Hunter quipped.

Colton chuckled. “We met at the airport—and Camila did her damnedest to brush me off without a second glance.”

“I had to play hard to get, no?” Camila asked innocently. “Where’s the fun in throwing myself at a man?”

“It would’ve been fun for me,” he quipped as the others burst into rowdy laughter once more. Colton was casually leaning back into his chair, his arm securely around Camila. Emma was perched beside Hunter, delicately nibbling on her hamburger. Hunter had already wolfed his down earlier, and he was nabbing fries from her plate.

Ryker was silently scanning the restaurant, and Mason followed his gaze. He hadn’t heard back from Taylor after texting her earlier but tried to shrug it off. She was a big girl.

That still didn’t explain why she’d apparently missed another shift at Anchors though.

The hair on the back of his neck prickled a moment later, and he abruptly looked up, his gaze sweeping around the restaurant.

“What’s up, man?” Colton asked, noticing his sudden change in demeanor.

“I just thought—yep, there she is,” he said, nodding at the front of the restaurant where Taylor had suddenly walked in.

He clenched his fists, resisting the urge to rise and go over to her.

Taylor worked here. She was just arriving for her shift like every other waitress who came in. And furthermore—she wasn’t his. No matter how badly he wanted to walk over and see her, flirt a little, watch her flush as he teased her, and ask her why she hadn’t been around lately, he needed to let her start her shift.

Her cheeks were pink, her dark ponytail swinging back and forth as she immediately looked toward his table. She had on her usual tee-shirt and jeans uniform that the rest of the wait staff at Anchors wore. The snug-fitting shirt did little to conceal her curves though. He noticed the swell of her breasts, her narrow waist and the slight flare of her hips. She flushed slightly as their eyes locked, looking away from him.

Mason frowned.

Had he been reading her wrong?

But no, she glanced over at him again and gave him a smile, her eyes lighting up as he grinned at her. She paused, her eyes locking with his for a moment longer, and then she was talking to her manager, gesturing toward the front door.

Mason’s gaze swept over, half expecting someone to walk in after her. A friend? Roommate? Boyfriend?

His jaw tightened.

But no, she wasn’t the type to give him her number and lead him on if she had a boyfriend.

Which made it all the more strange that she’d seemed somewhat elusive lately. He suspected she was the type of woman who didn’t give out her number very often. Hell. He’d been in here week after week with his buddies before she felt comfortable enough to give him her number.

For such a seemingly small thing, he sensed it was probably a big deal to her.

“I wonder why they said she called out tonight,” Colton said as they watched her talking to her manager. Another waitress walked by, giving Taylor a quick hug. Apparently she really hadn’t been around much lately.

“Maybe she’s been avoiding Mason,” Ryker said with a smirk.

---