Page 7 of Wrong Number Right Grumpy Navy SEAL

“I’m sorry,” she says. Nothing else. No but you seem fine. No have you tried therapy.

I look at her across the table, and my heart pounds so hard in my chest that I think it’s going to explode. “What about you?”

“I’m angry at myself.” She looks past me at the lanes, at nothing. “Two years. Supposedly, almost everyone I knew was aware of what Jason was doing. I don’t have words to describe how much that hurts. I don’t know if he was just good at hiding he was cheating, or if I was clueless and didn’t see obvious signs. I keep looking for the moment I should’ve known and coming up blank.”

“That’s on him. Not you.”

Her eyes come back to mine. “I picked him, Cole.”

“He lied to you. You trusted someone, and he wasn’t worth it. That’s not a failure of your judgment. That’s a failure of his character.”

She blinks hard and looks at her beer. When she looks up, her eyes are wet. Fuck. This was not supposed to happen tonight. I want to find Jason and put him through a wall.

“What made you come?” Her voice is lower now. “Friday night. You got a text from a stranger. Why didn’t you just write back sorry wrong number?”

“Someone was clearly in distress. Wasn’t something I could ignore.”

“Most people would’ve ignored it.” She watches my face.

“I’m not most people. I’ve run blind into situations far more dangerous than going to help a stranger in need. And Dahlia, look at me,” I wait for her to look up. “Believe me when I say it wasn’t your fault. You’re smart and gorgeous, and he was a fucking fool to cheat on you. That’s his failing, not yours.”

“We are a bunch of doom and gloom,” she says, but she smiles and stands up. “Come on. My arm isn’t sore anymore. Teach me how to hit the bullseye.”

“Takes more than one lesson.”

“Can you deny me?” She tilts her head and I just stare at her. She’s flirting with me and it’s absolutely more dangerous than running into a firefight without body armor. “Come on. Jason thought stuff like this was trashy. He would never.”

“Yes.” I’m off my stool.

That piece of shit wouldn’t show up for her. I will. I’m going to show her she’s worth everything in the world, and I damn sure will do everything he wouldn’t do if that’s what will make her smile. I’m going to lift her up until she realizes that she’s a fucking queen.

I step behind her again, resting my hands on her hips. She presses back into me, and my cock goes harder than I knew was possible. Fuck, I’m so hard it hurts. I stop breathing. Does she realize what she’s doing to me? Jared would kill me for what I’m thinking right now.

I don’t care.

“Loosen your grip. Let the handle do the work.”

She throws. It sticks two rings from center. She whips around and grabs my arm, shaking me and laughing, her whole face cracked open with it. I look down at her, and everything else is gone. Just her. Chalk dust on her fingers, hair in her face, that laugh coming up through her body into mine.

I’ve never seen anyone so fucking beautiful.

And I know she’s the one. The way you know a bullet will make the target the second it leaves the barrel, even before it hits.

She looks up at me, breathing hard, grinning. “Did you see that? Thank you for bringing me here!”

I am in love with this woman.

CHAPTER 4

DAHLIA

This is the second time in two days you’ve taken me out. I’m not sure convincing me to call in sick today was smart, but I really didn’t want to work today anyway.” The scent of fried sugar hits me the second we step out of the truck, the county fair entrance blazing so bright I have to squint. “Don’t you get tired of it?”

Cole’s hand presses into my lower back, steering me through the parking lot. “No.”

I tilt my head up at him, but he’s looking straight ahead. “That’s it? Just no?”

He looks down at me, unreadable except for the faintest pull at the corner of his mouth. “You asked a question. I answered it.”