Page 33 of SEAL Mates

Alec

I was just heading to work and Paula was in the kitchen. She seemed to think that I’d brought her here to cook and clean, because whenever Carol wasn’t around then she seemed to take up her role.

“Good morning, Paula. How are you doing today?” I smiled at her. She returned my question with a smile, but didn’t respond, then she started to bite her lip which made me think that I said the wrong thing.

She tied her dark hair into a bun, then the dark polo neck that she was wearing just emphasized her breasts. Her jeans were undone. I wondered if she noticed, but then she pulled her polo neck down and shied away from me. I could tell she did, so I looked away.

“Alec, you told me to move in. You said that I would be able to interview you all. But so far, no one’s up for talking, and you’re being friendly and all don’t get me wrong, but that’s not what we agreed. If I think about…” she slumped on the stool and faced me.

“I’m not even sure what we agreed on. I mean romance doesn’t work that way.”

She was right. I should have been honest with her from the start.

“It was stupid. I talked to Rick. I speak to him once in a while.”

I cleared my throat, avoiding her stare, feeling embarrassed about my confession.

“I don’t know who Rick is. Greg’s spoken about him and you mentioned him a couple of times, but I really don’t know the guy. Oh yeah, then I remember Stan saying he had a brother called Rick. Is it the same guy?”

Of course, silly me. I was talking to her as if she was part of the support group, when clearly she wasn’t, so she had no clue about us and our lives. Hence the need for her to conduct interviews in the first place and drive all the way out here.

“I was thinking it would be a win-win situation.”

She shook her head, because I wasn’t making myself clear and I didn’t know how to do it.

“You want to write a book. And I had this idea of us being in a harem together and then somehow it all falling into place.”

Her mouth was wide open, as if she was trying to catch flies. “It had been a stupid idea. I said to you, an interview, for you to come for that and now I’m saying all this. It’s too much to handle. I didn’t mean to make you feel as if you were that type of woman.”

This time she didn’t seem intimidated, like she’d done a few seconds ago. If anything, she seemed more confident as she stood up and crossed her arms.

“What type of woman?”

“The type of woman that would move in with three men and the fuck them all day and night. The type of woman that couldn’t find a man back home, so she would come all this way to find not one, but three. The type of woman that you imagined sucking your big fat sausages and somehow you decided that type of woman was me!”

I couldn’t even say a word, or even defend myself. As I stood in the kitchen and she’d walked out. She was right, not only had I expected to just come to the house to find out our stories. I’d expected her to come to the house to get something more.

The question was what?

* * *

I couldn’t work after the time I'd spent with Paula in the kitchen. I went to the office, ignored everyone and anyone in the office. I wasn’t in the mood to work, being the sheriff, I didn’t need to do it. This part was clear, so I decided to write to Paula and tell her to meet me in the Log Head, so we could have a drink and talk. It was getting close to one, so I thought maybe we could have a bite to eat. That is if she hadn’t moved out already.

Can we talk out of the house, please? Somewhere neutral, I think we got to a bad start this morning?

I decided talking outside of the house would be better, and if she wanted to leave, then so be it. At least I tried, but then I didn’t want her to feel insulted, she deserved better than that.

“You're still looking at your phone,” Bob, my deputy, said as he walked into my office. He startled me, so I dropped the phone on the oak desk. I quickly picked it up, worried that I had broken it.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you. It’s just that I was knocking and I thought maybe something had happened.”

I shook my head, “No worries. Come in. Shut the door.”

I waited for him to do it, I heard my phone chime, and wondered if Paula had said to fuck off, or that she would come along. I felt my heart was beating so loud that it was about to explode. The suspense was killing me, I couldn’t help but ignore Bob and answer my phone.

“Whoever she is, she’s got you wound up, that’s for sure,” Bob chuckled as I picked up my phone.

“She?”

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