Page 16 of Rescued by a SEAL

He was committed to his job—to his career in the Navy. To life as a SEAL. Sure, he had fun with his buddies, but they were out risking their lives. Saving lives.

It was a lot different than her ex, who couldn’t even hold down a job for more than a month at a time.

She let out a wistful sigh.

“I wish it wasn’t so late,” Mason said, his lips moving against her hair.

“I know. Normally I don’t mind working these hours at Anchors, but I wish you and I were here earlier,” she said with a yawn. “I’m past the days where I want to stay up on the beach until dawn.”

She felt his smile against her head. “Me too. But we’ll come down here another evening. We’ll go to dinner, go walk down the boardwalk, the whole deal.”

“That’d be nice,” she agreed. “As long as we don’t eat at Anchors.”

Mason chuckled, his lips brushing against her hair. “But I love that place.”

“You’ll just have to make do eating somewhere else, I suppose,” she teased.

“I can live with that,” he agreed. “It’s almost one-thirty in the morning; I should get you home.”

“Yeah, probably,” she agreed. “I do need my beauty sleep.”

“I should’ve brought you a sweatshirt or something,” he said as she shivered again in the night air. “I keep extra PT gear in the back of my SUV.”

“I’m fine,” she insisted. He took her hand as they walked back toward Anchors. She flushed as his thumb lightly grazed over her skin, but a beat later he was already releasing it and pulling open the door to his SUV. Mason helped her climb inside, and then he was shutting the door and rounding the car. Pulling open the driver’s side door and climbing in.

“You live over by the north end of the beach, right?”

“Yeah, but I’m staying at my best friend’s tonight. Other direction.”

Mason nodded but didn’t ask any questions as he started the engine. He expertly maneuvered his SUV out of the spot on the street and pulled onto Atlantic Avenue, nearly empty at this time of night.

It felt strangely intimate driving alone with him in the dark. How many times had she waited on their table over the past few months? Twenty? Thirty? Mason always had a grin on his face and a gleam in his eye when he looked at her, but this one-on-one attention had her heart rate accelerating and nervous butterflies fluttering in her stomach.

And all she was doing was sitting beside him.

Goodness. She’d fall head over heels if she wasn’t careful. And she’d just gotten out of a relationship. Even though she knew Mason was nothing like her ex, she still needed to tread carefully. Out of the frying pan and into the fire and all that. She didn’t sense Mason would ever be a bigger problem than Eric, but what did she know?

She certainly hadn’t been a very good judge of character before.

Three years with her ex, and she hadn’t even been able to move on because he was still darkening her doorstep.

“Thanks for letting me give you a lift,” Mason said, his voice deep.

Taylor laughed and glanced over at him. “I should be thanking you for the ride, not the other way around.”

He chuckled. “Well, I have to admit I was hoping you’ll let me take you out one night. I didn’t want to scare you off by asking you out in front of everyone at Anchors tonight. You already shot me down once in front of the guys, but since you gave me your number and haven’t told me to stop texting, I’m hoping you’ll let me take you on an actual date. I promise to leave the rest of my SEAL team at home.” He glanced over at her, and although she couldn’t see his expression in the shadows, she sensed he was smiling.

“I’d like that,” she said.

“Fantastic. And aside from my wanting to take you out, my buddies have been giving me hell ever since you turned me down in front of them.”

“Oh, I didn’t mean—”

“I’m just teasing you, sweetheart,” he said with a low chuckle. “I can handle my SEAL team. Hell, we rib each other all the time. Fight like brothers, sometimes.”

“You guys do seem really close.”

“Yep,” he confirmed. “We train together, work together, fight together—know what each of the other guys is thinking. We have to in our line of work. Lives are at stake—literally.”

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