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

“I didn’t come here to pick up chicks like the others obviously did,” he began.

“I don’t date that much at all. My job takes me away from home way too often for me to be a good candidate for a relationship.

The first night here, Afton came onto me.

Actually, she cornered me in the hallway, put her hand on my dick, and invited me to her room.

I’ve never pushed a woman away so damn fast.”

“Right. Good for you,” Kelli mumbled, looking away again.

“The only woman I’ve noticed since I got here sat beside me on the beach and told me that things couldn’t be that bad.”

Kelli’s gaze, which had gone back to her food, whipped up to meet his own.

“In fact, you’re the only woman who’s managed to catch my attention in years.

” The admission wasn’t hard to make. And now that he had, Flash couldn’t stop there.

“You’re funny, down-to-earth, easy to talk to, and…

this is most definitely inappropriate—but I think frick and frack already crossed that line, so I feel the need to make this point very clear—I fell asleep with my cock hard as a rock last night, thinking about how you’d feel under, over, and next to me. And I woke up the same way.

“You have the body of a Greek goddess, Kelli. Curvy in all the right places. There’s nothing wrong with you.

In fact, seeing you sitting across from me in that coverup makes me want to strip it off you slowly to reveal the gift that’s underneath…

which is much sexier to me than your cousin and the Three A’s showing off their goods to the world. ”

Kelli’s mouth was hanging open slightly, as if she was in shock.

Flash had said too much. Had been way too crude. But he needed this woman to understand that all the bullshit Rowan had spewed about women with some meat on their bones wasn’t the way the majority of men felt.

“Um…thanks?”

Flash let out a huff of laughter. “I think we can both agree that the people we came to Jamaica with aren’t the best examples of how adults should act.”

“True. But that now includes me. I was lying about Charlotte. I never heard her talking to her friends about an STD. ”

“I figured. But it should keep those assholes from making a move on her. Maybe save her marriage.”

Kelli shrugged. “I’m not sure about that. And I don’t really feel bad about what I did. Serves her right for talking about me behind my back. Are you going to talk to Charles?”

“Oh yeah, Chuck and I are gonna talk,” Flash said. Based on what Rowan said, it sounded like his future brother-in-law hadn’t stepped out of line last night. But better safe than sorry.

To his relief, Kelli chuckled. “Ah, to be a fly on the wall for that conversation.”

“In any other situation, I wouldn’t give a shit who the man fucks. But he’s engaged to my sister. There’s no way I’m gonna let him cheat on her before they even get married. Not if I can help it, anyway.”

Kelli glanced across the room, and Flash followed her gaze to his sister’s fiancé. He was still sitting at a table by himself, still staring at his phone. This time, he had a small smile on his face. The rest of his friends were at a large table with the Three A’s and Charlotte.

Kelli looked back at Flash. “It seems to me that he’s not all that interested in the same things his friends are.”

Flash had to agree. He could be putting on a front because he knew his fiancée’s brother was watching him, but it didn’t seem like it.

He was completely absorbed in whatever was happening on his phone.

As he watched the man, he saw him talking, and it dawned on Flash that he was FaceTiming someone. Probably Nova.

Flash turned back to Kelli. “Are we good?” he asked.

She frowned. “Good?”

“Yeah. You aren’t…upset by what I said to you? ”

To his amazement, she smiled shyly at him. “No. How can I be when I had the same thoughts about you last night when I got into my own bed?”

And just like that, Flash’s dick hardened under the table. Fuck. He hadn’t had a spontaneous woody in years.

“Good.” Then, worried that she’d think he was saying good to her statement that she’d thought about him in bed, he quickly clarified, “Good that we’re on the same page. I mean…that we’re good. Good that we’re good.”

He sounded like an idiot. Could he say good any more in one sentence?

Kelli giggled. “Yeah, good that we’re good,” she echoed.

Reaching for the pitcher of OJ—idly marveling over the fact her giggles didn’t annoy him, like the other womens’ did—Flash filled her glass. “Make sure you eat enough breakfast, I’m guessing the ‘snack’ we’re promised while on this excursion is gonna suck.”

“You don’t have to tell a fat girl to eat,” Kelli joked.

But Flash didn’t find that funny in the least. He reached across the table and put his hand over hers.

Her gaze flew up to his in surprise. “Don’t,” he ordered.

“You aren’t fat. Not even close. You’re curvy.

Sexy as hell. Greek goddess, remember? And in my eyes, that’s a hundred percent sexier than looking as if you’re two seconds from being blown away by a stiff breeze.

Or hearing your stomach growling because you aren’t eating enough to keep a gnat alive. Okay?”

“Okay,” she said softly.

“Good. I see you got some of the cheesy bacon potatoes. They’re amazing. I don’t know what they put in the cheese…crack? But they’re so damn delicious, I’m gonna miss this place for these potatoes alone.”

His words seemed to ease the tension in the air, and Kelli smiled. “No. It’s the bacon. Everyone knows bacon makes everything better.”

“That it does,” Flash agreed.

The rest of breakfast was uneventful, thank goodness.

Everyone else in their parties headed upstairs to get ready for the excursion, but he and Kelli stayed where they were.

Nursing their cups of coffee and juice, and talking about nothing and everything.

And laughing. So much laughter. Flash couldn’t remember being this entertained by another human being.

Usually he was the first to want to leave a meal.

He wasn’t much for idle chitchat. But with Kelli? He could listen to her talk for hours.

Eventually, it was time to head out for the tubing trip.

Flash’s anxiety returned as they headed to the lobby.

He wasn’t bringing much with him, just his wallet in the pocket of his swimming trunks, holding his ID and a credit card.

Kelli had also packed light, with a small bag over her shoulder.

The tour company was providing towels and, of course, the tubes they’d be riding down the White River.

To his surprise, when everyone began to board the vehicles, the guys were getting into one minibus and the women in the other.

Flash would’ve thought the horndogs he was with would take every opportunity to stick close to the women.

When he neared the minibus already loaded with his brother-in-law-to-be and his friends, he heard Seb and Rowan talking about who might be hooking up with who later that night .

He understood then; they were using the time it took to travel to the river to plot. It just disgusted him further.

Flash met Chuck’s gaze—and blinked when the other man rolled his eyes.

It seemed as if maybe, just maybe, he’d underestimated his sister’s fiancé. It made him feel better, but he was still going to withhold his approval until the man had proved beyond a doubt that he was loyal to Nova.

Looking over at the other minibus, Flash could see Kelli sitting in the back seat by herself, looking out the window, doing her best to ignore the other women…just as they were doing to her.

“I’m gonna ride in the other vehicle,” Flash told Chuck and the guys, before slamming the sliding door. He didn’t wait to stick around and hear the crude comments his announcement was sure to evoke.

He jogged toward the other minibus and opened the front passenger seat and hopped in. It didn’t sit well with him that they would be heading off the safety of the resort’s property in two vans, one filled with women and the other with men. That wasn’t smart or safe.

The driver nodded at him, and Flash turned around to face the women. “Ready?” he asked.

“Hey, Flash!”

“Ready!”

“Ooooh, we’ve got a big bad bodyguard!”

“Is it getting hot in here?”

Flash ignored the comments and kept his gaze on Kelli sitting in the very back. She gave him a small smile, and that was all Flash needed to see to know he’d made the right decision.

The driver started the minibus and they made their way from the posh beach resort to the heart of Jamaica.

The second they passed the resort’s security gates, Flash’s anxiety increased tenfold.

This was a horrible idea, but it was too late now.

All he could do was get through it. They’d be back at the resort that afternoon, and tomorrow he’d go home to Riverton.

But Flash felt naked. Wearing only a pair of swim shorts and a T-shirt, without his usual assortment of knives and guns and other SEAL gear, he was completely out of his element.

Doing his best to put his fears aside, Flash concentrated on memorizing the roads they were taking to get to the place where the rafting company put their customers into the river.

Without thought, he entered “SEAL mode,” as he and his teammates called it.

Hyper-alert, ready for anything. Hopefully it was overkill and he was just being paranoid.

But better safe than sorry. It had saved his and his fellow SEALs’ lives more than once.

He’d be an idiot to let down his guard now.

In the back of his mind, Flash had no doubt he was feeling extra protective because of the woman sitting behind him.

Kelli had gotten under his skin in the space of a day, and the thought of anything happening to her on his watch was enough to make him even more tense.

She, and the others, would have a fun-filled afternoon if it killed him.

He might be the only one on alert, but that was all right. He’d keep watch over them all. It was what he did.