Page 39 of SEAL of Valor

Someone bumps into me, and I nearly fall backward. A pair of hands reaches out and steadies me as masculine laughter fills my ears.

“Sorry, I didn’t see you.” I straighten, then look up into a pair of familiar brown eyes I honestly could have gone the rest of my life without seeing again.

The man looks me up and down, his grin spreading. “Well, well, well, if it isn’t Reeses Pieces.”

My stomach drops as sick realization settles in. Carey Wells. A boy who bullied me all through middle school.

“Carey. Sorry, I need to keep—” I try to move around him, but he slides into my path once again, his buddies all moving in on either side of him to completely block me. My heart begins to pound, my palms sweating like I’m that teenage girl again and he’s trying to trap me in the corn maze just to watch the fear in my eyes.

“Where’s the fire, Reese? Girl, you grew up good.” He looks me up and down again in a way that makes my skin crawl. “How about you let me buy you a drink. I can make it well worth your time.”

Eww. “No thanks. Don’t drink.”

“Then I’ll drink, and you can give me something pretty to look at.”

I am not a teenager anymore. I am a woman who is more than capable of knocking him on his own butt should he try anything. “Does that line really work?” Crossing my arms, I glare back at him, hoping that he sees nothing but my irritation.

“I don’t know. You tell me,” he replies, then looks to his friends, who all start laughing.

It figures the guy would be pushing thirty-seven and still acting like a teenager who has never heard the word no. “Not. Interested. Now, please move.”

“Nah. I think I’ll stay right here until you agree. We can catch up. It’ll be fun.”

I roll my eyes and try to move around him again, but once more, he blocks me. This time, instead of just laughing it off, though, he grips my arm with a large hand.

“Let me go.”

“Come have a drink with me. For old time’s sake.”

Is he serious? “I’m not interested.” I ball my hand into a fist, preparing for a fight if it should come to that. He has me on size, but I’ll do some damage one way or another.

A hard body moves in behind me, and every man in front of me pales. Including the one holding my arm. He releases me, holding up both hands and shooting me a glare before turning and leaving with his buddies.

“She’s not worth it,” he mutters just before disappearing into the crowd.

I take a deep breath, hands trembling, as I turn toward whoever chased them off. “Thanks.” I turn to see who stepped up behind me, and my breath leaves in a rush when I find myself staring up at Weston and a man I’ve never met before.

“Don’t mention it,” Weston replies.

I hate that his voice brings me far more pleasure than a voice should. That in a single instant, he has dispelled every single ounce of fear from moments ago.

The man standing just beside him looks from him to me, then juts out a hand. “Garrison Holt,” he introduces. “You must be Reese.”

“I am. It’s nice to meet you.”

While Garrison is built every bit like the soldier Tessa described him as, his eyes are kind, and he has a friendly smile.

“You, too,” he replies, then releases my hand and glances away. “I see my beautiful wife. I’ll see you around, Reese.” With a giddy smile, he rushes away, leaving Weston and me standing in the middle of a crowded street.

Yet it still feels like it’s just the two of us.

The ache in my arm has me running a hand over it, an action that Weston doesn’t miss. His gaze darkens, and his nostrils flare. “Are you all right?”

“Fine. He didn’t grab me that hard.”

“He shouldn’t have grabbed you at all,” he snarls.

“Yeah, well, seems that protection you offered me ran out.” It’s meant to be a joke. A reminder that Weston was the only reason Carey stopped harassing me when we were teenagers. But there’s a heaviness that settles around us, telling me he took it as a whole lot more. “I just mean, when we were kids, he left me alone because of you.”