Close Quarters (Her SEAL Protector #1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

Peyton, but I sometimes find myself wondering about my biological parents. I wonder why my mother couldn't stay clean, and why my father just walked away after one supervised visit with the court. I always felt loved and safe and at home with my family, but sometimes I feel like I'm looking for something that's just beyond my reach."
    She nodded as if she understood. "I wanted to know why Dad was always running out the door for some new adventure. I wanted to know why skydiving and treasure hunting was more important than being around for my cello recital or my mom's birthday."
    His heart ached for her. His real father had abandoned him the first chance he got, and her father had chosen an adrenaline rush over being present in his only child's life. "Did you find your answers?"
    Her gaze skipped away from his face to a spot on the wall. "Not all of them."
    His curiosity piqued, he watched her walk out of the kitchen and into the sleeping area of the cabin. She was hiding something from him, but he didn’t think he would get anything out of her tonight. As tired as he was, his interrogation skills weren't at their best. She was wily enough to make him work hard for the information he wanted.
    "So, um, the bed situation," Jamie said as she slipped her tablet into the suitcase sitting on the bench along the foot of the bed.
    He considered the comfortable bed and the short, lumpy couch. Though his aching knee and sore side pained him, he refused to pull the wounded card. "I'll take the couch."
    She frowned at him. "That's hardly fair. Let's rock-paper-scissors it. Best out of three wins their choice of sleeping accommodation."
    He figured his chances at a good night's sleep were better if they went that route. "All right."
    Standing across from each other, they held out their fists and counted to three. The first round, his paper beat her rock, but she won the second with a rock to his scissors. Tied, he decided she was probably going to throw out a rock again and chose paper.
    "Yes!" She squealed happily while making a cutting motion with her two fingers. She playfully blew a raspberry. "Loser!"
    He picked up the closest pillow and whacked her with it before carrying it to the couch. "Talk about bad sportsmanship, Jamie."
    She gasped with outrage at being smacked with the pillow and thumped his arm with her small fist. "Brute!"
    Laughing, he whipped free the thin throw tossed over the back of the couch. He heard the bathroom door close behind him and the splash of water in the sink a few seconds later. While he waited for Jamie to finish brushing her teeth, he stripped out of his shirt and jeans and slid into a pair of loose fitting shorts.
    "Holy—what happened to you?" Jamie's outburst startled him. He found her standing next to the bed, gawking at his naked chest and side. "Did you get shot?"
    He pressed a hand to the healing wound that had caught her attention. "It's just a graze from a ricochet."
    Her lips settled into a grim line. "Did that happen the same time you got tossed down two flights of stairs?"
    "No, this happened about two minutes before I went ass over tea kettle down the stairs."
    Her lips curved into a sad little frown. "I'm really glad you didn't go see Peyton first. She would flip out if she saw you like this. Like—I'm about to start crying from counting up the scars I can see, but Peyton? She would lose it."
    Leland didn't doubt that Peyton would lose it if she got a good look at the roadmap of scars on his body, but it was Jamie's remark and the shiny wetness to her pretty eyes that made his heart flip-flop in his chest. "It's all part of the job, Jamie."
    "My dad's job had risks like that. You remember how well that ended for him." Gesturing to the bed behind her, she said, "I'm taking the couch. You can have the bed."
    "I lost the match."
    "And I won and I want the couch," she replied.
    "Jamie—"
    "No, Leland." She strode by him and hopped over the top of the couch, crashing down on the floppy