Jillian Burns - Her Seal Protector

“What do your parents do?”

He snapped shut his memories. “They both work at the quarry.”

“Quarry? I didn’t know Alabama had a quarry.”

“More than one. Probably the largest industry in the state. If I hadn’t joined the Navy I’d probably still be working there.”

“You worked there, too? Like, actually digging out the rocks?”

“Yep.”

“What kind of stone?”

“Marble, mostly. Some limestone, and a few other minerals, but Alabama’s famous for its white marble.”

“Huh.”

“Started when I was fourteen. Lied about my age to get the job, too, if you can believe that. It was backbreaking work. Other than my paycheck every two weeks, I hated everything about it.”

She made a sympathetic sound and he squeezed his eyes closed. How had they switched to talking about his life again? “Tell me about New York.”

She made a different sound this time, a hum somewhere between excitement and nervousness. “Manhattan is so different from my little hometown. Growing up I never would’ve thought I’d live there. I have a little studio apartment in Greenwich Village. It’s small, but I love it. There’s a library right across the street and on the weekends, I love to take my laptop and just hang out there.”

“At the library? You live in one of the most exciting cities in the world. Don’t you want to party on the weekends?”

“I’m not really the partying type.” Her voice lowered. “I told you I was a nerd. Hanging out at the library is about the most exciting thing nerds do.”

He could kick himself for bringing that self-doubt into her voice. “You sure don’t look like a nerd.”

Funny how he could sense her stillness. He winced. He hadn’t meant to use his pickup-line tone. He wasn’t at Barney’s on a Friday night trying to find some hot woman.

Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the other protein bar he’d been saving for her and held it out in front of her. “Here.”

“What is it?”

“Breakfast.”

“Oh.” When she groped for the bar her fingers grazed the back of his hand and he had the crazy urge to grab her hand and bring it to his lips. Dawn couldn’t come soon enough.

“Thank you.”

“No problem.”

He heard the crinkling of the wrapper. “You want half?”

“I have another. You eat that one.”

Out of nowhere rain began pelting down. Good. He needed to cool off. He pushed to his feet. “Gonna check the area again. Try to sleep. When I get back, we’ll head out.”

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