SEAL's Baby (Navy SEAL Secret Baby Romance) Read Free Page A

“This is a little piece of
advice from me to you: never, never help out when you’re not being paid to help out.”
    I rolled my eyes. “What
do you need help with?” I asked.
       “Seriously, Elizabeth,” Zach said with some frustration. “You
realize this is not a hospital or a homeless shelter right? Our boss is a
greedy, heartless bastard with a fat ass and an ugly moustache; why help him out?”
    I raised my eyebrows
playfully. “What does his ugly moustache have to do with anything?"
    “It’s hideous,” Zach
replies. “And that offends me.”
    I laughed, shaking my
head. “In any case, I don’t see it as helping him out. I see it as helping my
friends out.”
    Zach snorted. “Friends?”
    “Joni and Heather are my …
well, ok, I’m friendly with them at least.”
    “And that makes all the
difference,” Zach said sarcastically.
    “Why are gay men so
sarcastic?” I huffed.
    “It’s a natural talent,”
Zach replied with a wink.
    “Whatever,” I said, and
sighed internally. “I think I’m getting too old for words like that.”
       “That’s your problem,” Zach said handing me a stack of glasses to
wipe down. “You set all these time limits for yourself and all it does it
create unnecessary pressure. So what if you’re twenty-nine and stuck in the town
you were born in? So what if you’re twenty-nine and single? So what if you’re
twenty-nine and still using ‘whatever?’”
    “First of all, I’m
twenty-eight,” I corrected. “And second of all, those things do matter.”
    “Why?”
    “Because … because I was
meant to do something with my life. I was meant to be someone .”
       “You’re someone regardless,” Zach said firmly. “Forget about all
those goals you set for yourself when you were fourteen and you thought you could
conquer the world. Those goals were probably unrealistic anyhow. You just need
to live your life."
    “That’s what I tried to
do,” I insisted. “It didn’t work out so well for me.”
    “Ok, so you had a bad
experience,” Zach acknowledged. “You picked the wrong guy; all you need to do
is try again.”
    “I’m not sure I even want
to get married again,” I said.
    “That’s beside the
point,” Zach went on. “In order to figure that out, you need to get out there
and start dating.”
    I sighed. “It’s only been
a year.”
       Zach gave me a reproachful look. “You’re not a widow, Elizabeth.
You divorced your asshole of a husband, and when that happens, there’s no
mourning period. You get out there and get back in the game.”
    “I needed some recovery
time,” I pointed out. “I needed to learn to trust again.”
    “Fair enough,” Zach
nodded. “I think one year is plenty.”
    I turned from him.
“Easier said than done.”
       “You realize that every other guy that comes into this bar gives
you the once over, right?” Zach said. “I’m gay and even I know that you’re hot as
hell. With that red hair and those blue eyes, you’re like a Disney princess,
except with curves.”
    I laughed. “Thanks; at
least that’s one childhood goal I’ve achieved.”
    Zach looked at her
curiously. “I can’t tell: sincerity or sarcasm?”
    “Sarcasm,” I replied. “I
was a tomboy as a child.”
    “You know I’m right,”
Zach said with confidence.
       “I know,” I agreed. “The thing is, there’s only so much I can do
in this town. Maybe you’re right and the guys who come in here check me out,
but the thing is, I’ve known them all in some capacity my whole life. Sometimes
I feel like this town is so small, there’s no room in it for big dreams.”
    “Then you need to think
about whether this town is right for you.”
    “I do,” I admitted.
“Every day. It’s just that sometimes you get stuck.”
    “Sometimes you get
stuck?” Zach asked. “Or sometimes you get scared?”
       I had no answer for him.