Page 5 of Protecting Kelli (SEAL of Protection: Alliance #6)

CHAPTER THREE

Flash resisted the urge to pace. It took a while for him to fall asleep the night before. He’d been thinking about Kelli. There was something about the woman that made him feel as if he’d known her forever. She was comfortable. Funny. Sweet. And he liked all of that. A lot.

There was a moment when he could tell she was seconds away from leaving, but he’d managed to put her at ease. He was more than grateful she’d gone outside her comfort zone and stayed for dinner.

He was also pleased she’d been so down-to-earth. He hadn’t lied when he’d admitted that he had no idea which fork to use. And he knew next to nothing about wine, about choosing it, just that he enjoyed drinking a glass or two with a meal sometimes. As it turned out, Kelli was the same.

And he absolutely loved her sweatshirt.

Or really, what he actually loved was the fact that she put her comfort above fashion. Because fashion was something else he knew nothing about and had no desire to learn.

She was also smart, and the fact she didn’t have a career didn’t concern him in the least. She’d figure out what she wanted to do with the rest of her life, of that he had no doubt.

He’d had a great time with her last night. And the only reason he’d agreed to go on this tubing trip today was because Kelli would be there.

He did try to talk Chuck out of going, explaining that it really wasn’t safe to go off the resort grounds. He figured if he was successful, he’d have a similar discussion with Kelli during breakfast. But Chuck had blown him off, insisting it would be fine.

A niggling doubt remained in the back of Flash’s mind.

He thought of talking to Kelli anyway, suggesting the two of them spend another day on the beach.

But he knew he wouldn’t forgive himself if something happened to his sister’s fiancé.

In the end, he justified going today by telling himself he was probably the only person in their group who might be able to recognize danger if he saw it.

Hell, his job was to ferret out shit going sideways before it actually happened.

So now he was standing in the lobby waiting for Kelli, anxiously looking forward to seeing her again—and suddenly she was there, walking toward him. She had on a loose bathing suit cover-up that swished above her knees. It was black, made out of a thin, lightweight cotton.

For a split second, an image of her peeling the thing over her head as she stood next to his hotel bed—revealing nothing underneath—flew through his mind.

Flash ruthlessly pushed the vision away.

Nothing was going to happen between him and Kelli.

Yes, she was gorgeous, and he felt more than the usual spark with her, but they were on vacation.

And he wasn’t the kind of man who took a woman to bed for a one-night stand…

especially while on leave far from home.

“Hey,” she said nervously, smoothing an errant piece of hair behind her ear. Last night, when he’d first seen her in the lobby, Kelli’s hair had been smooth and silky. But as the evening continued it got curlier and curlier. She claimed it was frizzy, but he disagreed.

This morning, she’d pulled it back with a barrette, but it was still curly, seemed to have a mind of its own, and that made Flash smile.

“Hey,” he echoed as she approached. “Sleep okay?”

She shrugged. “Sure. You?”

“Yup.” Flash turned sideways and held out his arm to her. “Shall we?”

With a smile, Kelli wrapped her hand around his elbow. “Lead on, kind sir.”

Flash had already been up for a few hours.

He’d worked out in the resort’s gym then ran a couple of miles up and down the deserted beach.

Kevlar, his team leader back home, wouldn’t be happy if he came home from leave out of shape.

Not that a few days off would matter very much, but Flash always felt better after a good workout.

They entered the dining room and headed toward the buffet that was laid out in the middle of the room. As they got close, Kelli dropped her hand upon seeing all their traveling companions already gathered around the food.

“Hey, about time you got up, lazy bones,” Charlotte told her.

This morning, she wore a white cover-up that had artfully placed holes, allowing everyone to see the bright red bikini she was wearing underneath. Objectively, Flash could admit that the woman had a nice body, but for him, he much preferred Kelli’s curves to her cousin’s thin frame.

“You’re up early,” Kelli noted, as she reached for a plate.

Charlotte giggled, and yet again, the sound grated on Flash’s nerves. He stepped up behind Kelli and grabbed his own plate.

“Yeah, well, I had an early night, unlike some people,” Charlotte tittered, as she looked over at one of the other women going through the line ahead of her.

“What happens on vaca stays on vaca,” the woman said with a huge smile as she nudged Ben, who was standing next to her.

“Oh yeah,” Chuck’s friend agreed, staring at the woman’s breasts.

Flash wanted to roll his eyes. He immediately searched out Chuck. Since yesterday afternoon, he hadn’t done a very good job of keeping his eye on the groom-to-be.

He was already sitting at a table, his phone in hand, scrolling down the screen. Just because he wasn’t currently fawning all over one of the women didn’t mean he hadn’t slept with any of them, but all the same, Flash was relieved to find him sitting alone.

After going through the line, Flash steered Kelli to an empty table. He put the plate down, then said, “I’m going to go grab some water, want anything? Juice?”

“Yes, please. Orange juice sounds great.”

There were waiters around, but there were also pitchers on a table not too far away, and it would be just as fast for Flash to grab one than to wait for someone to come to their table.

He’d just picked up two pitchers, one with water and the other with orange juice, when Seb and Rowan came up behind him.

“Where were you last night, man? You missed all the fun,” Seb said.

“Yeah, those chicks are fucking hot . And horny as hell,” Rowan added.

“Not my thing, man,” Flash replied. He wasn’t that much older than these guys, around four or five years, but at the moment, he felt positively ancient compared to them.

“Seriously, the one I was with did some stuff I’d only seen in pornos,” Seb went on.

“Mine sucked my dick so hard, it’s actually sore today,” Rowan said with a smirk.

The two men high-fived each other.

“If you’ll excuse me,” Flash said, taking a step to the side, intending to walk around the men acting like a couple of frat boys at some college kegger.

“You with the fat cousin?” Seb asked.

The question made Flash’s temper flare. “Excuse me?” he repeated in a low, menacing tone that any of his teammates would’ve known meant he was on the verge of losing his shit. But since these men didn’t know him, they didn’t heed the caution they should’ve heard in his tone.

“You know, that chick Charlotte was obligated to invite. She didn’t even want her to come. Said she’s a stick in the mud.”

“I’ve heard fat girls are fun in the sack though,” Rowan added, leering.

“They’ll let you do whatever you want since they’re so hard up for attention.

It’s cool that you’re showing her a good time.

Keeps her off Charlotte’s back. I know she’s the bride-to-be, but I’m gonna see if I can tap that tonight.

Ben said he’d gladly take the girl I had last night, see if she’d be interested in a threesome with him and her friend.

Or maybe we can talk Charles into having some fun. ”

It hadn’t escaped Flash’s notice that the men hadn’t used any of the women’s names. He wondered if they even knew them. If they could distinguish at all between the women they were talking about so casually, as if they were merely holes to stick their cocks into.

He opened his mouth to tell these assholes off…when he noticed someone behind them.

Kelli was standing just five feet away, frozen, a look of shock and hurt on her face.

That, more than anything these two dipshits said, really pissed him off. This woman, who’d been smiling not two minutes earlier, now looked embarrassed, as if she wanted to be anywhere but in this dining room.

But even as he watched, she straightened her shoulders and lifted her chin. She stepped toward them and shoved between the two men roughly, making them stumble to stay on their feet.

“Sorry,” she said insincerely. Then she lowered her voice, as if imparting some deep dark secret.

“I have it on good authority that my cousin just got back from the doctor before this trip. Heard her talking with her friends about some test results…something about how it takes chlamydia a week or two to go away.”

With that, she took the pitcher of juice out of Flash’s hand and sauntered back to their table.

Flash couldn’t keep the smirk off his face as Rowan and Seb immediately began to whisper furiously to each other. He quickly followed Kelli back to the table. She was frowning when he sat and refused to meet his gaze.

“Kelli?”

“Yeah?” she asked, staring at her plate as if it held all the answers to every question in the universe.

“Please look at me.”

She sighed, then reluctantly lifted her chin. “What?”

“They’re idiots. Thinking with their dicks. Don’t take what they said to heart.”

“They didn’t say anything I haven’t heard before.

It’s crazy how being fat is a bigger offense than a lot of other things.

It brings out the worst in other people.

Everyone talks behind your back. Doctors blame all your symptoms on being overweight without even doing tests to find out what’s really wrong.

And to men, it’s like we have the plague. ”

“People are morons,” Flash said heatedly.

“It’s fine,” she said with a shrug.

But it wasn’t fine. Flash was deeply disturbed. Doubly so that Kelli had heard versions of what those two idiots had said from people in the past.