Hot SEAL, Heartbreaker - Cat Johnson Page 0,7
him there.
“Are you with him?” the tall, dark and handsome stranger asked, his green-rimmed, copper-flecked eyes focused on hers.
He’d surprised her. She wasn’t prepared to finally be included in the conversation. They’d basically been speaking over her head the whole time.
Alicia was very happy to answer the stranger’s question. “No. I’m most definitely not with him.” She shook her head.
Her self-appointed protector leveled a stare on Andrew and waited. It was the heaviest silence she’d ever felt.
Finally, Andrew read the room and took the hint that he wasn’t wanted there.
He narrowed his eyes and glared at her. “You know what? You can tell your sister to lose my number. I’m not interested. You’re both batshit crazy.”
With that, Andrew stomped out of McP’s, leaving Alicia to watch him go.
Heart pounding, she glanced around the room and saw all eyes on them. Now she was a public spectacle.
Looking up at the man who’d come to her rescue, even though she’d never asked him to, nor had she wanted him to, she let out a sigh. “You shouldn’t have done that.”
She could have handled Andrew on her own. And in a less embarrassing manner too. One that wouldn’t have all of McP’s patrons staring.
He laughed. “You’re welcome.”
“I didn’t ask for your help.” And she certainly wasn’t going to thank him for making a scene with her in the center of it.
“You might not have asked for help, but you needed it.”
“No, I did not.” She folded her arms across her chest. “I could have handled him myself. I took a class.”
“You took a class?” He snorted. “You’re what? Five-foot nothing?”
“Five-two. And what’s the point?” she asked.
“The point is, he had almost a foot on you. And a good hundred pounds.”
“I wasn’t planning on wrestling him.”
He let out a short laugh. “Well, I think he had hopes of wrestling with you.”
She scowled. “That’s crude.”
“It’s the truth. Some guys don’t know how to take no for an answer. Especially when it comes to attractive women.”
He thought she was attractive—
No. Focus.
It didn’t matter if this stranger was a walking, talking wet dream. She was annoyed with him and his interference, even though he had come up with the same assessment as she had regarding Andrew’s ability to hear and accept the word no.
“Do you know how to take no for an answer?” she asked him.
He smiled, and damn it took him from just plain hot to panty-melting. “Well, to be honest, I don’t hear no all that often.”
The sheer self-centered narcissistic quality of that statement had her laughing. Which was strange because the same traits in Andrew had completely turned her off.
“Modest much?” she joked.
He lifted a shoulder, still smiling.
She blew out a breath, frustrated he wouldn’t even argue with her. “And it doesn’t matter if he was bigger. I still could have kicked him in the balls.”
“You could have. And that is always a good option. But this time I was here to help so you didn’t have to.” He shrugged again.
“Even though I didn’t ask for your help,” she reminded him.
“Point taken. Again.” He nodded.
When her cell phone rang, interrupting their mostly one-sided debate, she glanced at the readout . . . and groaned.
“Problem?” he asked, apparently not going away.
“Yes. That’s my sister. She set up that little blind meet-up with Mister Won’t-Take-No-For-An-Answer.” Alicia silenced the ringing and flipped the cell face down, unanswered.
Had Andrew called Jason to complain about her behavior? Good. Let Jen stew for a bit. She deserved that and more.
He watched her action. “So that’s why he was saying something about your sister.”
She raised her gaze to meet his and was struck again by his eyes—green and copper woven with the darkest brown, like a kaleidoscope.
Intense. Gorgeous.
She batted those thoughts aside and focused on what she’d been about to say. “Mm, hm. Right before he called us both batshit crazy.”
“I think he might have a screw or two loose himself, so I wouldn’t take what he said to heart.”
It was nice of him to defend her—that seemed to be his MO, defending women—but this time he was wrong.
“Oh, he was half right. My sister is crazy. I made the mistake of telling her I was here. Not even fifteen-minutes later, this guy shows up. Coincidence? I don’t think so.”
She didn’t know this guy. She hadn’t asked for him to be here. But she had to admit, it felt good to rant to someone about what Jen had done.
He cocked one dark brow high. “I don’t like to judge, but your