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

cushions like a carefree frat boy. Wiggling her hips, she settled into a comfortable spot and pulled the thin blanket up to her shoulders. With an exaggerated, contented sigh, she closed her eyes. "So freaking comfy!"
    Snorting, he shook his head and made his way to the bathroom. After going through his nightly routine, he checked the front door and windows and shut off all the lights. He gratefully sank down on the plush, wide mattress and sprawled right in the center of it. His throbbing knee welcomed the extra pillow he shoved beneath it. He hated babying the damned thing, but it was better to be gentle with his knee than to risk a career-ending injury.
    The stillness of the cabin left him tense and uneasy. Usually, he was the kind of man who could sleep anywhere—curled up in a cold, wet cave, bouncing around in the bed of a speeding truck, smashed into the noisy, shaking confines of a helicopter—but tonight sleep eluded him. The sound of Jamie's slow breaths filled his ears. She wasn't asleep yet either. He could almost hear the wheels in her head turning.
    Eventually her soft voice drifted toward him. "You rescued the crew of the MV Thetis ."
    His heart skipped a beat. How the hell had she pieced that together? Glad for the darkness, he answered calmly, "No."
    "Bullshit."
    He smiled at the hint of amusement in her voice. "No."
    "Whatever." He imagined those coffee brown eyes of hers rolling with frustration. "I know you have to keep your secrets, but I also know a guy who knows a guy who was onboard the Thetis . I ran into them at a bar before I left Punta Cana last week. The crew had taken their families on a vacation down there, all expenses paid by the shipping line, apparently. Anyway. I heard the story about the firefight. Your wound is in the right stage of healing for the timeline. I also heard that one of the SEALs took down three armed men with bare hands after he got thrown down a flight of stairs. That sound familiar?"
    He didn't say anything. She was right about all of it.
    "I realize you didn't become a SEAL for the glory or the public adoration, but you should know that Ryan and the rest of the crew toasted your team until the bar closed. He showed me pictures of his three daughters and his wife. You did a really amazing thing for those men and their families, Leland."
    He tried to swallow around the ball of emotion clogging his throat. The covert and astoundingly dangerous work he and his teammates did was grueling and often thankless. But she was correct. They didn't do it for the glory or the fame. It was a calling for the elite group of men who survived the cut. Even so, he couldn't deny the surge of pride that hit him upon hearing her words.
    Clearing his throat and changing the subject, he asked, "What were you doing in the Dominican Republic?"
    Six long seconds of silence stretched between them. "You're not the only one who gets to keep secrets, Leland."
    Frowning, he pushed up on his elbows and stared at the silhouette of the couch. "That's different. My work is classified."
    "My work is my business." She spoke with an edge of finality. Whatever she was doing near Punta Cana, she didn't want him to ask any questions. He suspected something had happened there that had spurred her decision to hide out in the cabin and shut off her cell phone.
    Blowing out an exasperated breath, he said, "You can trust me, Jamie. I can help you if you'll just let me."
    "You don't want to get tangled up in this, Leland. It's my mess to sort out."
    "You don't have to do everything alone."
    "Says the guy who chose to hole up in the middle of nowhere to lick his wounds all by his lonesome instead of staying with his family that absolutely adores him?"
    She had him there. "Listen, I— arrgh !"
    His thigh picked that exact moment to cramp up something fierce. Gritting his teeth, he growled with pain and clutched at his knotted muscles through the top sheet. "Shit!"
    With speed that surprised him, Jamie flicked on the