Protecting Jessyka (SEAL of Protection) (Volume 6) Read Free

first. Then she’d think about it.
     
    * * *
    Benny pulled into the parking lot of Aces and turned off his engine. He had no idea what he was really doing, but something in the back of his mind wouldn’t let him let this go. Something was wrong, and he liked Jess. He didn’t really know her, but he liked her nonetheless.
    He pocketed his keys as he walked to the front door of the bar. Entering, it took a moment for Benny’s eyes to adjust to the darkness. It was later than he’d been there in a long time. Usually the team and their women came around dinner time and ended up leaving around ten or so. At eleven, the bar was busy and the lights had been dimmed.
    Benny looked around and didn’t see Jess. He made his way to the bar and sat on a stool on the end so he could see the entire room. He ordered a draft beer and took his time nursing it. Ignoring the looks the two women across the room were giving him, he wasn’t there to pick up a woman, he kept his eyes peeled for Jess.
    Finally he saw her. Jess was his age, probably late twenties or early thirties. She had pale skin, which somehow made her look more fragile than she was. She was shorter than his six feet by a few inches. She was curvy, and as Benny noticed for the first time tonight, she filled out her clothes in a way which was sexy as hell.
    She was struggling to hold on to a tray filled with empty bottles and glasses and make her way across the crowded bar. Benny stood up and went toward her.
    It looked to Benny that Jess was limping more than usual. He had no idea why she limped, he only knew that she always had. They’d all noticed it the first time they’d met her at the bar, and when Wolf had commented on it, she’d given him a death stare. No one had asked about it again. She was entitled to her secrets, and besides, it was kinda rude for Wolf to have asked in the first place.
    He reached Jess just as she got bumped by someone behind her. She would’ve gone flying, but Benny grabbed the tray with one hand and her waist with the other. He spun them in a move that would’ve gotten them high points if it was being scored, and saved her, and the tray, from sprawling on the floor.
    “Thanks,” Jess breathed, thankful she wasn’t sitting in the middle of the grimy floor surrounded by broken glass.
    “You’re welcome.”
    The voice was low and strangely familiar.
    Jess looked up. Wow, it was one of the SEALs. She wasn’t sure of his name. She’d heard all of their names more than once, but it was confusing as hell because sometimes she heard their nicknames and other times their real names. She couldn’t keep them all straight.
    The man continued to hold her to him, finally she shifted, trying to break his hold. He held on for another beat then finally let her go, brushing his hand along her hip in the process.
    Jess held back a shiver. “I’ll take that.” She gestured toward the tray he was holding up. Some of the bottles had fallen over, but nothing was broken.
    “Lead the way, Jess, I’ve got it.”
    Jessyka stared at him for a beat. “You know my name?”
    “Yeah, I’ve only been eating here with my friends for an eon now and you’re always our server. I know your name.”
    Jess blushed. Shit. Of course he knew who she was. She shook her head and tried to play it off. “Just checking. Come on.” She turned her back on him and led him back to the busy bar. When they got there he finally allowed her to take the tray out of his hands and she placed it on the bar.
    Turning back she said, “Thanks again, that would’ve sucked to have spilled all those bottles.” Looking around she asked, “Where are your friends?”
    Jess knew this guy was always here with the other SEALs. She’d watched them with a bit of jealously over the last few months. Most of the men were now either married or in a serious relationship. Jessyka had watched how they treated their woman. It was a mixture of tolerance and protectiveness with a bit of caveman