Page 17 of SEAL Mates

Alec

It was crazy. I watched her on stage, while she was telling jokes and others were laughing, but I couldn’t get my eyes off her. It was as if she reminded me of myself in a way. Maybe I could read between the lines and see that she was hiding behind the laughter.

There was something in her dark eyes that told me she was sad. A sadness I’d witnessed before and knew all too well. As soon as she was walking around, I took the opportunity to talk to her as I saw she was getting some coffee. Not only because of her sadness, but I was attracted to her in more words than I could explain, in her black jeans and matching shirt. She had a round-shaped face with soft green eyes. She reminded me of the girl-next-door type, but not just a girl, more of a woman. Her brown hair was twisted up into a bun, unlike when she’d taken to the stage. I decided as I approached her, that I loved seeing her exposed neckline.

“Hi. Paula. I thought you were pretty amazing up there.” It was a bit too much. I was excited, and felt as if I was ready to burst. She was a lot smaller up close, then on stage. I smiled as her eyes turned to meet mine. She said nothing so I kept talking. I was a cop, so I knew that it intimidated some, especially when I wore my uniform which I wanted to get out of before coming to the meeting, but didn’t have a chance to do it.

I followed her like a mouse, cautious about the piece of cheese on display and wondering if I should move ahead to eat it, or if I would get caught in a trap.

“I love what you want to do.”

God, I sounded like a sap, that I thought about what was coming out of my mouth and wiped my hand on my pants. I wanted to turn and walk away, but something kept me close to her like a magnet. I can't give up now. Shit, I’d never been so wound up.

“I think that it would help talking. Not so much me, but my brother. For sure, my twin. He keeps so much locked up inside of him. He acts as if he’s going to explode every minute. One thing you never said in your talk is about how we sign up?”

I couldn’t believe I was talking like a jock. She reacted the way I would expect someone to behave if they were spoken to, the way I’d spoken to her. She shoved a card in my hand, grabbed her invisible coffee, which wasn’t in her hand, but as she turned away from the table, I could see that she left it there. Then, my eyes glanced at her card, before noticing that she was headed out of the door.

“Wow, you really have an amazing effect on women!” Ryan said as he came up close to me. He used to work with Blake at the garage before Blake sacked him, for reasons no one is clear about, not even Blake who couldn’t explain it properly his motives for doing it.

I chuckled, feeling a little confused about the trail of events.

Was I to chase after her with the coffee? Or just act like none of this never happened?

“What did you say to her?”

I shrugged as I started talking to Ryan, Blake sacked him like he did everyone else at the garage. Maybe he could see what I did wrong, and maybe I could rectify it somehow, because I was totally confused.

“I applauded her on her speech and asked how to get in touch. I mean, I was a gentleman. As nice as pie, yet she ran away.”

“Damn, were you mesmerized by her? I mean she said how to get in touch with her,Alec. She said it at the beginning and repeated it at the end.”

There was something about Paula, I was still focusing on where she was standing and where she was headed too, and couldn’t figure out what to do next.

“Really?” I said scratching my head. Thinking back to the speech and if she really did say it or not? She must have done one thing I knew about Ryan, he wasn’t the type of guy to lie. He moved out here with his sister when she got married here. He said being in town with a bunch of ex-SEALs was a dream come true. No one understood us, especially if they’d never walked in our shoes.

I couldn’t get her out of my mind. I’d spent the best twenty minutes since she left the stage trying to get the courage to speak to her. I did and it went completely pear shaped. Maybe I hadn’t talked to a woman in a while, I’d completely lost the art of flirting and I felt that Paula could be the ticket to learning it all again.

“Shit, I really need lessons on how to talk to women!” I laughed, thinking about what had happened right now.

“You do. I could teach you.” He put his hand through his spiky blonde hair and then his blue eyes lit up as he said.

“Maybe if I taught you then you could help me get my job back.”

I shrugged. “You know that Blake’s as stubborn as anything.”

He choked, “As stubborn as an old goat. That was the line he liked using to describe himself, and he did it proudly.”

He stuck out his hand. “We got a deal?”

I shook his hand, I’d never thought of taking a woman out on a date. Yet, it was all I’d been thinking about lately, but it was one to think about and another to have someone in mind. I needed help with Paula, even if I didn’t want to admit to myself.

I was a pillar of the community, the local sheriff. How pathetic was I to need dating help, especially from the local playboy, Ryan.

“Ryan, this is nuts. I’m not looking to get her in the sack!” I said as we walked away from prying eyes and eager ears.

Yeah, I loved this town, but there was no denying that everyone loved to talk. I just didn’t want to be the center of everyone’s conversations when it came to matters of the heart.

He whispered as we got to the door. “So, what do you want? To take her out for a coffee and sign umber ya?”

He shook his head as he walked away from me. Once he opened the door and started to leave, I realized he was right. I was acting all defensive and shit, which was stupid. Sure, I wanted a woman. It would have to get past the first stage of going out on a date, coffee etc. and then it would lead to something more. Something more intimate. Otherwise what was the point? We were all grownups, so I chased after Ryan thinking of apologizing and thinking how to deal with matters of the heart.

“Ryan, wait!” I called out. As I saw he was near his truck.

“Now you’re talking!” He yelled out. He had free time and I didn’t have much going on today. Maybe we could both help each other. I could tell Blake that he was a fool and needed to hire his number one mechanic and he could teach me not to scare women away by just saying hello.

Especially a hot vixen like Paula.

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