Page 32 of Summer with a SEAL

Jessica sighed. “Yeah, she would. I just worry, you know?”

“I know. I like that about you. But the good news is there’s only one more day until the weekend. Tomorrow should be crazy for me again, but are we still on for Saturday?”

“Absolutely,” she assured him. “What’s the plan?”

“We’ll hang at the beach with everyone in the afternoon. But then I’ll take you out to dinner. I play a mean game of putt-putt,” he added.

“Putt-putt?” she asked with a laugh.

“Hell yeah. If we’re still doing touristy things, putt-putt golf tops the list. Haven’t you seen all the courses around here?”

“I have, I just haven’t been to any yet.”

“Perfect,” Jacob said. “Hey, didn’t you say you and your roommates were making spaghetti?”

“I did,” she said with a laugh, glancing back inside through the sliding glass doors. “Actually, it looks like Michelle is burning something,” she said with a frown. “I better get going. I can call you later if you want.”

“Sure thing, angel. Call me before you go to bed.”

“All right, bye Jacob.”

“Bye sweetheart.”

The call ended, and she stared at her phone a minute. He’d been calling her angel since she first met him. ‘Sweetheart’ seemed more intimate somehow. Maybe just because he’d never said it before. She smiled to herself as she stood up.

As much as she was trying to avoid getting closer to Jacob, he was getting harder and harder to resist.

Chapter 14

“Incoming!” Jacob shouted Saturday afternoon, spiraling a football toward his buddies. Ryker ran across the sand and jumped up, nabbing it out of the air, as Noah and Mason whooped and hollered.

“Hell yeah!” Noah shouted, adjusting his aviators.

“They’re such boys,” Bailey said, rolling her eyes as her eyebrow ring gleamed in the sunlight. “Give them a football and cooler full of beers, and they’re happy.”

“They don’t look like boys,” Michelle protested, adjusting her bikini top. “And I promise you, Ryker is definitely all man.”

Jessica giggled, grabbing a beer from the cooler. “I think I could sit here and watch them play football on the beach all day.”

“With the way Jacob keeps looking over here, I don’t think he’d mind that,” Amy said with a grin. “But seriously, couldn’t they have brought a spare guy for me? I’m the third wheel. Or ninth wheel,” she joked, “since there’s four couples.”

“Jacob and I aren’t a couple,” Jessica protested.

“Neither are Ryker and I. We’re having fun, but we totally aren’t serious.”

“But they’re both with you,” Amy said. “I’m the only one without a date.”

“There are tons of military guys in Anchors,” Taylor said. “You guys should come by one night. I’ll introduce you to someone.”

“Or shoot, come back to my bar,” Bailey said. “I’ll set you up, lady. No worries. Believe me, I’ve got an eye for matchmaking now with all the people I meet.”

Jacob came jogging over, his tanned, muscular chest a sight to behold. Jessica tried to resist the urge to ogle him. Heck, all the guys were in great shape, but seeing Jacob shirtless and standing right in front of her made her pulse pound.

“Let’s go for a walk, angel,” he said, holding out a muscular hand. “The guys can toss a football around without me for a while.” She reached out and took Jacob’s hand, his sure grip steadying her as she stood up from her low beach chair.

He smiled appreciatively as his gaze swept over her red bikini. Her skin heated at his appreciative look. The string bikini was skimpier than the one she’d been wearing when they first met, and from the way he was looking at her, he seemed to like it even better.

She twisted her hair back into a loose ponytail, then took Jacob’s hand again. “Which way?” she asked.

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