Protecting Willa (Loved by the SEAL #7)

Chapter 1

Carter “Cy” Dresden couldn’t stop the smile spreading across his face or the laughter spilling from his lips.

They were at Aces to celebrate Dog’s remission.

The place was packed with Dog’s friends, both current and former SEALs.

His cancer treatment had been brutal, but now it was over, and Dog was happy to party with the crew.

On his way in, Cy had talked to Kevlar and Blink, then stopped to chat with Trip and Hop. In the corner, he spied Wolf and Caroline speaking with Zip and Rider.

There were so many people here to celebrate the great occasion.

Most of the guys had their women with them, some of the wives, others were girlfriends.

Honestly, he didn’t remember most of the women’s names.

He remembered Flora and Talia, but he didn’t spend much time with the married guys.

Everyone knew Caroline, though. She was a legend.

He wasn’t thinking of settling down anytime soon, but Wolf had found a good one in Caroline. Not that there were too many women out there like her, but at least he had an example of what to look for. Besides, he liked his freedom too much to get tied down.

Bang, one of the guys on his team, stepped close. “That woman is checking you out.”

Cy threw his hands up in the air and shook his butt to the rhythm of the music blasting over the speakers but didn’t turn to look for the chick checking him out. “I don’t care.”

Bang chuckled. “So you don’t want to get laid.”

He shook his head. “Not tonight. I just want to dance and party. We’re celebrating life.”

Bang snorted a laugh. “What guy doesn’t want to get laid? I bet you could take her out back.”

Cy shook his head. “I said I don’t care. I’m not doing that tonight. I’m happy and free. And if she’s here, she knows someone we know. I don’t want that pressure. I am not getting busy with someone who can find me. I’m a free agent, and I’m not looking for more.”

Bang slapped him on the shoulder. “Just checking.”

Cy rolled his eyes as Bang walked away. It had been two years since he’d extracted himself from a mess that he wouldn’t call a relationship.

It had certainly been a situation, but not more.

She’d wanted to tie him down, and no matter how many times he said no, she kept coming back at him.

She even found out where he lived and started showing up at all hours of the day and night.

That experience had cured him of dating and messing around. She absolutely made him regret dropping his shorts to get busy with her.

Not hooking up with women at parties was one of his major rules. If he needed to have sex, he would head out of town and lie about his job. The old him would have been balls deep in whatever babe wanted his body. Not anymore. He was a changed man.

The song ended, and Dog stood at the front of the room, microphone in hand. “Thank you all for showing up to celebrate. Trixie and I appreciate everything you’ve done for us over the last few months. It has been difficult, but I’m on to new things.”

Guys shouted and whooped, applauding his victory over cancer. Dog chuckled and shook his head. Trixie moved closer and put her arm around his waist.

Cy’s throat grew tight as he watched Trixie stare up at Dog, her eyes bright with emotion. Dog leaned down, brushing his lips over Trixie’s, which led to more whoops of approval. The crowd cheered even after their kiss ended.

“This year has shown me what matters.” Dog lifted his glass to the crowd. “To family, to my brothers, and to everyone who supported us.”

Cy raised his beer before taking a sip. He wasn’t jealous of Dog.

The guy was older, had gone through cancer treatments, and had lost his hair.

There wasn’t much to envy. But the tightness Cy felt in his chest watching how Trixie and Dog looked at each other felt like some kind of green-eyed monster rising up.

He was happy just being himself. He didn’t need a woman in his life to be fulfilled.

Someone bumped into Cy’s back, and he glanced over his shoulder, seeing a woman dressed like the other waitresses wiping beer from her leg.

“Sorry about that. I didn’t spill any on you, did I?”

Cy shook his head, noticing the bruise under the woman’s eye that she was trying to cover up with makeup.

Maybe the heat in the bar had made some of her makeup come off, or maybe she’d been working too long for the makeup to still be on, but this close, he could see the spread of the bruise, and it looked bad.

His fist tightened around the bottle in his hand.

“I’m fine. No worries.”

“Sorry.” The woman stepped away, her lips dipping in a frown as she made her way back to the bar.

Cy noticed someone he didn’t recognize slipping out the door of Aces. He took a few steps to follow, but Q was there in front of him.

“Hey, Cy, I hear we’re doing some training together this week.”

Cy turned to Q and forgot about the man he’d seen slipping out of the bar. “Yeah. I heard that, too.”

“I guess we’ll be heading out on a mission together.”

“I guess so.” That would be cool. He liked combined missions. Working with other teams could be frustrating, but Q’s team was easy to work with.

Someone tapped the microphone, and both of them turned to see Wolf close to where Dog had been standing when he gave his speech. Wolf, like Caroline, was a legend in the community.

“Old man speaking,” Q said with a laugh.

“Oh, you’d better be careful. If Wolf hears you calling him old, he would kick your ass.”

Q nodded. “That’s true.”

“It’s good to see everyone here supporting each other.

Remember this support. This is what it’s all about.

The work you do matters, but remember what it matters for.

These people back home are able to take time for medical treatments, for children, their spouses, their family, because the work you do keeps everyone safe.

Cheers to everyone who fights to keep our lives safe. ”

Another cheer went up inside the bar as a door leading to the back of the place swung open behind Wolf.

Cy could see the waitress who’d bumped into him earlier.

She had a phone pressed to her ear. Her lips were down in a frown.

Her shoulders were slumped, as if she’d suffered a defeat. Who was keeping her safe?

Willa Cagney couldn’t believe her ex, Robert, had shown up at her work. She’d told him multiple times to stay away, but the jerk wouldn’t take the hint. Now, he was threatening her ability to earn money. She needed this job, plus she really liked it here at Aces.

When he found her three days ago at the beach early one morning, she told him to leave her alone.

He hadn’t liked what she said and threw a punch.

It hurt, but no more than what he’d dished out when they were still together.

He would have done worse, but someone had seen him hit her and threatened to call the cops.

He’d taken off then, but now he had found her here at work.

Maybe she should leave? She’d left San Francisco, moving south to San Diego, thinking he would give up and stay away.

But he hadn’t left her alone. Instead, he found out where she was and where she worked.

He said he wanted her back, that he’d changed, and then he’d punched her, proving he hadn’t changed.

She’d had freedom from him for months. Why was he still chasing her? It was over, but she guessed it wasn’t over for him.

No doubt running again wouldn’t change anything. He’d followed her this far south. He would follow her across the country.

Telling him to stay away and leave her alone never worked, but she had to do something to shake him off. He was obsessed, and it was getting ridiculous.

She had no clue how he’d found her. In searching for how to escape a terrible ex, she’d taken notes, ditched social media, told very few people where she was going, and kept her plans private. She hadn’t even told her old work she was leaving town when she’d quit.

Very few people knew she’d moved to San Diego, and yet Robert had tracked her down. It had taken him months to find her, and she thought she was safe. When he’d walked in tonight, she’d almost dropped the beers she’d been carrying. Luckily, that guy hadn’t been angry she’d spilled stuff on him.

A shiver slid down her spine. She didn’t think Robert knew where she lived. At least he hadn’t shown up at her place yet.

For now, she was safe when she slept, but for how long? Would she wake up one day with Robert standing over her?

“Hey, are you taking a break?” Cindy asked.

Willa shook her head. “Not yet. Sorry, I was just thinking.”

Cindy had started working here just a few weeks before Willa had shown up. They were friendly, but Cindy seemed to toss out a few digs at her each night. Maybe she was a shit waitress, but she was trying.

Cindy’s lips curled into a sneer. “Think out on the floor.”

“Sure.”

Cindy was right. She needed to go out and take more orders, not sit around stressing about Robert. The group celebrating their friend’s clean bill of health wasn’t difficult. She’d dealt with some real jerks waiting tables both here and in San Francisco, but these people were nice.

She didn’t mind her job. Actually, she liked waiting tables. The money was good, and interacting with different people most days was fun. Sure, there were a few regulars she served, but there were always new people coming in, and most people were cool.

In San Francisco, there’d been tourists who came through, along with the rotating military members.

Here, there were more regulars who came in.

Since this wasn’t an officer’s bar, she met a lot of enlisted people.

Some of the guys got a little boisterous, but so far, none of them had been disrespectful.

The enlisted women were all cool. A few of them were awkward like her.

Their stories that she overheard while working were funny.

She delivered six drinks to the crowd and was back by the storage room when she felt someone standing next to her. She turned, about to apologize to whoever it was, when she realized Robert had come back in. She’d told him to leave. But here he was again, and in her space.

“Why are you here? I don’t want to see you. Get out.”

He grabbed her arm, pulling her close. “You need to come with me.”

She yanked against his hold, not able to break free. “Leave me alone.”

Cy hadn’t been able to get thoughts of that waitress out of his mind. When he saw the guy he didn’t know follow her down the hall, something didn’t sit right with him. Maybe he should mind his own business, but something felt off, and he needed to check on her.

He didn’t know the woman, and he certainly didn’t know the man. Maybe he should mind his own business, but something was off. He could always just head into the bathroom if nothing bad was going on between them.

The second he entered the hall, he could tell the vibe was wrong. The woman didn’t seem to like how the guy was holding her. Paired with her black eye, he didn’t think this guy was up to anything good.

“Hey, is there a problem back here?” Cy asked.

The man glanced over his shoulder, a sneer curling up his lips. “Go away, dirtbag. We’re busy.”

Though the hallway was darker than the main area of the restaurant, he could see the woman clearly.

Fear vibrated from her. He’d seen that kind of fear on faces the world over.

People who looked at him like that didn’t feel safe and wanted his help.

In his work, he couldn’t always deliver, but with this situation, he wasn’t going to walk away.

“Why don’t you let go of the woman and let her speak for herself?” Cy wouldn’t put up with the jerk bullying this woman. It was obvious she wasn’t comfortable with the way the guy was holding her.

The jerk let go of the waitress and spun to face him.

Cy had about four inches in height on the man.

Growing up, Cy had been called multiple things.

One of the first names he’d received in teasing, and maybe some malicious bullying, was monkey boy because of the length of his arms. He knew his reach was longer than this guy’s, and based on the way the man was balling his fist, Cy would need to rely on his extended reach fairly soon.

The current nickname his buddies used had been given to him because when they did some boxing just for fun, they found out how long his reach was. They said his punches were as deadly as cyanide. He could ring his opponent’s bell, and they would drop without being able to land a punch on him.

Sure enough, the man swung, his fist flying toward Cy’s face. He’d kept his legs loose, his knees bent just enough that he could dodge the punch. The guy grunted and threw another punch, this one glancing off his shoulder.

Cy didn’t want a fistfight, not here at this bar where getting thrown out would put a huge damper on the celebration, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to let the guy pester this woman any longer.