Page 45 of Summer with a SEAL

Noah raised his eyebrows. “She still won’t talk to you?”

“Negative. I called her last night, texted. Talked to her friend Amy. Then I left another voicemail this morning. I haven’t heard a word.”

“You’ve got it bad,” Ryker said, tossing his empty coffee cup into the trashcan before grabbing a seat. “But work your shit out. Michelle didn’t even want me coming by last night because Jessica was too upset.”

“I don’t give a shit that you were cockblocked,” Jacob said, shooting him an icy glare. “Jessica won’t even talk to me.”

Mason smirked beside him, crossing his arms. “Hell, I never thought I’d see the day that you were so worked up over a woman. Or where Ryker was seeing the same woman every night.”

“We’re friends with benefits,” Ryker said. “Nothing wrong with that.”

“So what exactly happened?” Noah asked. “Did she think you were stepping out on her with Lily or something? Because she was flirting with the entire team. Pretty sure she’d flirt with anything with a dick.”

The other men chuckled.

“No kidding,” Jacob said. “It wasn’t just that. I mean, yeah, she was upset. She walked over right as Lily planted one on me. But all of a sudden, she freaked out that we’d have to break up at the end of the summer. She thought it was better just to end things now.”

“Well, wasn’t that the plan?” Ryker asked dryly. “They’re all going back to Blacksburg.”

Jacob’s pulse pounded as he glared at him. “How the hell should I know? I just met Jess a couple of weeks ago. I wasn’t planning much beyond that. I mean—shit.” He scrubbed a hand over his face.

Hunter came striding in, a smirk on his face as he caught the end of their conversation. “I told you to talk to her. How the hell would I know anything, right? Well, my girlfriend lives with me, and we’re having a baby together. Women like to make plans. To discuss the future.”

“I tried to talk to her,” Jacob said. “She’d rather break up with me than give it a go.”

“You were supposed to talk to her before she had doubts, asshole. You should’ve brought it up. If you were taking things slowly then suddenly spending nights at her house, sleeping with her, of course she’s going to wonder about the future. And worry. Women are like that.”

Jacob clenched his jaw as their commander strode to the front of the room, the men all snapping to attention.

Worry churned through his gut. Although he didn’t exactly know what he’d wanted, having the choice taken away from him was quite a shock to his system. He’d assumed things would just naturally run their course over the summer. Fizzle out.

They wouldn’t officially break up, because it would just end on its own. No harm, no foul.

But every time he’d been with Jessica, it was like he couldn’t get enough of her. Those smiles, those blushes—the way she whimpered when he kissed her and made her come. He’d pictured a million nights with her in his bed. Maybe he had figured they’d still see each other come fall. Somehow, deep in his gut, it was like he just knew—she was his.

And seeing the hurt look on her face last night had slayed him.

Had she lain awake in her bed all night, crying? Did she want him there to comfort her?

Fucking hell.

He’d go over to her place tonight whether she wanted to see him or not. Tell her they needed to talk. There was no way she’d be that upset about breaking things off between them if she didn’t care. If she didn’t feel the connection between them as strongly as he did.

Was she just trying to protect herself?

Or was he really too late to fix things between them?

***

Jessica slid her sunglasses on, starting the engine of her convertible. It roared to life, and she turned on the radio, trying to drown out the thoughts churning through her head. She’d spent the past several hours crying, which was absolutely ridiculous. She was the one who’d told Jacob they might as well break things off.

What was wrong with her, anyway?

One minute she’d been looking forward to seeing him over the weekend, and the next?

The blonde had spontaneously kissed his cheek, and she’d decided to throw it all away.

Sighing, she backed down the driveway of the beach house, the ocean breeze tousling her brown waves. Michelle was sunbathing on the beach this afternoon, and Amy had gone to a class at the yoga studio. Both of her friends had tried to get her to come along with them, but she’d just needed to clear her head.

---