Protecting Summer Read online

  “Jesus. You’re killing me, Sunshine.”

  “I love the feel of you on me.”

  Mozart lowered himself onto Summer. She brought her arms up in between them and Mozart could feel his wetness on her fingertips as she caressed his chest.

  “I love you.”

  “I love you too.”

  They lay on the bed for a few minutes before Summer broke the silence. “I’ll go to the doctor soon and start on the shot again.”

  “Okay, Sunshine.”

  “I want to feel you fill me up.”

  “Yes. I want that too.”

  Mozart peeled himself off Summer’s chest and he smiled as she giggled once again.

  “Uh, I think we need a shower.”

  “I recall you saying that when we first met too. Didn’t you promise me ‘one more round in the shower’?”

  “I’m never going to live that down am I?”

  “It was the best day of my life, Sunshine. I hope neither of us ever forget it.”

  “Me either.”

  “Let’s go rock each other’s world.”

  Summer smiled and took the hand Mozart held out to her as he stood by the side of the bed. She thought back to what Fiona had said earlier that night. Things happen in our lives for a reason. While being kidnapped and tortured by Ben Hurst hadn’t been fun, it was a part of her being able to be where she was right now. Summer loved Mozart so much she couldn’t imagine her life without him.

  She took Mozart’s hand and smiled all the way to the bathroom, ready to rock his world and to have hers rocked in return.

  Epilogue

  The team sat around the table at Aces Bar and Grill enjoying each other’s company and ribbing each other good naturedly.

  Jess, their usual waitress, put down a round of beers.

  “Here you go, guys.”

  “Thanks, Jess. Hey, you got your hair cut,” Benny said.

  Jess looked up in surprise at the good looking group of men, locking eyes with Benny.

  “Uh yeah, it was…uh...always in my face.” Jess nervously smoothed a stray lock of hair behind her ear.

  “Hmm, I guess I’ve never see it down, you’ve always had it pulled back when we’ve seen you here.”

  “Yeah, well, I needed a change.”

  Hearing the bartender calling her name, Jess looked over and saw the bartender gesturing at her. She turned back to the table. “I’ll be back in a bit to see if you guys need anything else.” She then turned and limped over to the bar to pick up another order to deliver.

  Dude brought up the subject they were talking about before their drinks arrived. “As I was saying, you guys are pathetic!” He rolled his eyes at the men sitting around the table. “Seriously, you never want to go out anymore, you stay home all the time. You’re all a bunch of fuddy duddies now that you have women.”

  “Hey, you’re just jealous,” Mozart shot back, laughing at his friend.

  Dude wouldn’t admit it, but he knew Mozart wasn’t exactly wrong. He’d never really thought about settling down until he’d watched his friends find women to love one by one. And the women they’d found were awesome. He didn’t like that they’d had to rescue Ice, Fiona, and Summer from awful situations, but he was pleased as all get out that they were now safe and with his friends.

  Because most of their team was married now, the CO had backed off sending them on some of the more extreme missions they’d been on in the beginning of their careers. And both Dude and Benny were okay with that. They weren’t as young as they used to be and the last thing any of them wanted to do was come home and have to tell one of their women that they’d lost their SEAL.

  But Dude wasn’t sure where he was supposed to find a woman of the caliber of his teammates’. He knew he wasn’t the best candidate for a woman. He was too stubborn and needed too much control in his life. He tried not to let it bother him, but every time he saw Ice run her fingers down Wolf’s face and laugh when she felt his stubble on her skin, or when he’d watch Fiona run her hand over Cookie’s head, Dude knew in his gut he most likely wouldn’t ever have that.

  His left hand was too badly scarred, too mangled, too ugly to have a woman really take him seriously. He’d seen it time and time again. He’d meet a good looking woman while out at the bars and they’d be hitting it off, but when they saw his left hand they’d always back off.

  He looked down at his hand. He was missing parts of three fingers that were blown off by the toe-popper on one of their missions. He was actually lucky it had been his left hand, and even more lucky to have only lost part of his fingers. He could still be a SEAL and he could still work with explosives, but it’d really put a crimp on his love life.

  His wants in the bedroom was another reason Dude figured he’d never find a woman to settle down with permanently. It was one thing for a woman to want to play in the bedroom with him for a while, but another to accept the way he was full time. It was a novelty for a few nights to be told what to do and how to do it while in his bed, Dude had learned that more than that, women just plain didn’t want long term.

  Dude mentally shrugged. The hell with it.

  The men were startled when Wolf’s cell phone rang. They watched as he answered it and they all sat up straighter when they saw his muscles get tight.

  “Right, yeah, I’ll get him on it. Thanks.” Wolf hung up the phone and turned to Dude.

  “Bomb threat at the big grocery store on Main Street. They’re asking for an ordinance expert.”

  “I’m on it.” Dude stood up quickly, already thinking about what he might find. The local police department would sometimes call on the military when they needed extra help. This apparently was one of the times when they felt like the extra help would be needed.

  “Be safe. Let us know if you need anything.”

  Dude raised his hand in acknowledgement of Wolf’s words, then he was gone.

  About the Author

  Susan Stoker has a heart as big as the state of Texas where she lives but this all American girl has also spent the last fourteen years living in Missouri, California, Colorado, and Indiana. She is quite the romantic and even met the love of her life on "Hotmail classified" before online dating and sites like match.com even existed!

  Susan has been reading romance novels since middle school and once crossed out the names of the main characters in a book and changed them to her own and to the name of her crush. She's been writing scenes for years, developing her unique writing style.

  Susan loves writing but her true passion is adopting dogs from rescue groups and shelters. Susan and her husband have had a total of nine "rescued" dogs since 2000 including a variety of basset hounds and bloodhounds. She has recently branched out and adopted a basset/terrier mix who acts more like a terrier than a basset (i.e. digging, eating a couch and being hyper). If you love romance and want to help her support adopting great dogs, be sure to check out her work listed below.

  If you enjoyed this book, or any book, please consider leaving a review.

  Discover other titles by Susan Stoker

  SEAL of Protection Series:

  Protecting Caroline

  Protecting Alabama

  Protecting Fiona

  Marrying Caroline (novella)

  Protecting Summer

  Beyond Reality Series:

  Outback Hearts

  Flaming Hearts

  Frozen Hearts

  See all Susan’s books at Amazon: www.amazon.com/author/susanstoker

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