Free Hot SEALs: Protecting Julie (Kindle Worlds) (SEAL of Protection Book 0) by Susan Stoker

Jolla this weekend. They’re usually over at Coronado, but everyone wanted a change. I’d love to get the apology out of the way beforehand, so you can join me there and we can move on, together.”
    He waited a beat, then said in a low, urgent voice, “I have a feeling you’re it for me, Julie. I know we didn’t meet under normal circumstances, but I thank God every day that you knew someone who knew a Navy SEAL there in Virginia. I’d say it’s amazing he knew Tex, but Tex knows everyone. Tex is a very important part of my men’s lives, and has had a hand in saving every single one of their women. He wouldn’t have given you my number if he thought what you wanted to do would hurt Cookie or Fiona or any of the other men and the women they love. Please, sweetheart. Be there on Saturday. Let’s do this so we can start the rest of our life together.”
    He stared at Julie for a moment, then turned and climbed out of the driver’s seat. He held her open door for her after she got out, leaned down and kissed her on the forehead. There was no making out, no getting to second base and thinking about stealing third.
    “Sleep well, and I mean that, Julie. Hopefully I’ll see you in a couple of days.” Patrick squeezed her shoulders once and then he was done.
    Julie headed to her apartment in a trance. Every single word Patrick said was seared on her brain.
    He was right. She knew he was, but she understood if she showed up to talk to his men on Saturday, it’d be one of the most difficult things she’d ever done in her life, and she wasn’t sure she had it in her, not even for Patrick. Not only would she be opening herself up to his men, and possibly have them treat her with indifference at best and censure at worst, but she’d be letting Patrick know in no uncertain terms that she wanted to be with him too.
    She honestly didn’t know if she could do it.

Chapter Ten
     
     
     
    The next day, Julie pulled herself out of bed, knowing she wouldn’t be able to sleep any more than the three hours she’d somehow snuck in between nightmares. She put on her bathing suit and a pair of shorts and a T-shirt. She threw on a pair of pink flip-flops and grabbed sunscreen, a towel and her phone. She jumped in her car and went to My Sister’s Closet and put up a “closed for sickness” sign for the first time since she’d moved to California. She needed a day to herself to think about what she wanted to do with her life.
    That done, she headed for the beach. She’d always loved swimming, and was actually very good at it. Back in Virginia, she’d gone to the pool and done laps for exercise almost every day. She was in southern California, she needed sun and sand. That was supposed to cure all ailments.
    Julie parked at the popular La Jolla beach, knowing she chose it partly because it was the beach she met Patrick at, and walked toward a section where a lot of others were sunbathing and hanging out. She didn’t want to be alone and being in the middle of families and others enjoying their day at the beach seemed like a place she wanted to be.
    She spread her towel on the sand and stripped off her clothes. She lay back on the sand and tried to relax. Julie closed her eyes and ran through different scenarios in her head. She thought back to the scene in her shop with Fiona and her friends. If she was honest with herself, she didn’t blame any of them for acting as they did.
    She’d been blindsided with coming face-to-face with Fiona, but if she’d been treated as badly as Fiona had been, and then come face-to-face with her tormenter, Julie knew she would’ve acted the same way Fiona and her friends had. And to be fair, Fiona hadn’t thrown her apology back into her face, she just kind of looked at her, shell-shocked.
    Julie wondered for the first time since that horrific day if maybe, just maybe if she tried again, she could get Fiona to listen to her. She knew they’d probably never be best friends, and that was