Chapter 2

Harry couldn’t get Rory out of his mind. At first glance, her hair looked brown, but it also had a lot of red. She had beautiful green eyes, and her skin was pale, but she didn’t have a lot of freckles. She seemed fit, actually felt fit when he’d run into her—also good in his arms, like she belonged there. He’d touched her too much, but he couldn’t help it.

He wanted to ask her what she did for work but didn’t want to say he was a SEAL. Too many women were only interested in him for fake reasons, like him being in the Navy and a SEAL, because they wanted to brag about him, not love him. Then there was the condo issue. They saw his unit and thought he was loaded with money. He had some money saved up, but he wasn’t rolling in it rich. At least not by today’s standards. Unless something drastically changed, he wouldn’t ever be one of those billionaires shooting themselves to space in giant phallic rockets while spending millions on yachts they couldn’t even pilot.

He had a condo his dad had bought him to assuage his guilt. That made dates think they could take advantage of him. He knew the score and tried to downplay where he lived and what he did for a job. He loved being a SEAL but hated being used because of his position.

Based on his first impression of Rory, he didn’t think she would use him. Of course, he couldn’t really tell based on one encounter, but from how he’d read her, he thought she was solid.

His alarm went off early the next morning, and he groaned. Usually, Sunday was his sleep-in day, but he’d agreed to go jogging with Rory, and he didn’t want to miss her. He still needed to get her number, which he hoped to rectify today.

The thought of her got him out of bed and dressed in jogging clothes. Though it was winter, the weather was still mild. That’s what he loved about San Diego. He grabbed a light jacket in case she wanted to go out to eat after they finished their run. He hoped she did. He wanted to extend his time with her and get to know her better.

He wasn’t sure what she’d been afraid of when he’d run into her, but it had been easy to see that there was something she didn’t feel comfortable about. They’d talked about a lot of stuff while they ate, but they hadn’t gotten personal. If they went out again, he might bring up some personal stuff. Nothing too deep, but he wanted to get to know her.

He pulled into the lot a little before seven and spied Rory with her arms over her head, stretching to the right. If he didn’t watch his reactions to her, he’d end up with a tent in his shorts. He couldn’t run like that. If he kept going on runs with her, he would need to invest in some strong compression pants to keep his half-hard dick hidden .

“Hey there. I’m surprised you showed up,” Rory called out as he stepped from his car.

“I’m a man of my word,” Harry said.

Her lips spread into a wide smile. “That’s a rare man indeed.”

He chuckled as he grabbed his bottle of water from his car. “Do you need hydration?”

She held up a pink and raspberry-colored water bottle that looked like it had some sort of pattern on it. On closer inspection, he saw that the pattern was cats.

“Nice bottle,” he said.

“Are you making fun of me?” Rory asked as she stretched her hamstrings.

He shook his head. “No, I like it. It’s cute. Do you like cats?” He took a moment to stretch out the kinks from sleep.

“I do like cats. I don’t have any pets right now, but maybe one day I’ll get a cat.”

“I don’t have pets now either. I’d like one, but I just can’t swing it.”

She nodded but didn’t ask him what he did. It was refreshing. After a few more minutes of stretching, Rory hopped around a few times and then grabbed her bottle.

“Are you ready to go?”

He stood tall, then stretched to the left and then the right. “Sure, let’s run.”

“Are you okay if we run the first mile slow, like an eight or nine-minute pace?”

He nodded. “Sounds good.” He didn’t want to tell her that was more like a jog for him without his pack, but slow would be good for starters. If he needed more of a workout later, he could do something.

She had on a very tight sports bra, so he wasn’t distracted by her boobs bouncing. He would be lying to say he didn’t look, though. She was a few inches shorter than him and was wearing her hair up in a ponytail. Her hair bounced as she ran, which only slightly distracted him. The scent of strawberries wafted off her. It had to be her hair that smelled like the fruit. He liked the scent. He wanted to take down the ponytail and run his fingers through her hair.

“You doing okay?” Rory asked after about a mile.

“Sure.” He needed to think of something other than kissing and holding her, or he’d have to pull up and walk off his hard-on.

“Can we speed it up?”

“Sounds good.” Running harder would distract him.

Rory picked up her speed, pulling ahead a little until he adjusted to her pace. He was enjoying the run with her. It wasn’t often he ran with women. She smelled much better than the men he ran with and looked so much better, too. He liked that she was active. It would be something they could do together.

She glanced over and smiled. “You run well.”

“Thank you.” He wasn’t going to be snarky and tell her that, of course, he ran well. Since joining the Navy, his life had been about honing his body to perfection. He worked on strength and endurance, making sure he could perform whatever task the job required. Being a SEAL was physically and mentally taxing. The job demanded a lot from him, which meant his strength had to be there for him when needed.

Rory pointed out into the field. “I like running out here in the morning because sometimes I see deer. But of course, if deer are around, there could be mountain lions.”

“Have you seen any mountain lions out here?” Harry asked, not at all out of breath .

She shrugged. “Yeah, back when I first moved here. I was running with a group, and we saw a big cat take off. I guess we scared it.”

“Wow, you’re lucky it didn’t attack.”

She shrugged. “Yeah. I figure since the sun is up, other people are out here on the trails and they’ve scared off the wildlife.”

He grunted. They’d seen a few other groups out here running around. It made him feel better that they probably wouldn’t be attacked because other runners had already scared off any predators. He could deal with mountain lions if he had a weapon, but he wasn’t carrying one now.

They’d run about four miles and were still a little away from the parking lot. He didn’t mind running more but wanted to make sure she could make it back. He was about to ask her if she was okay when they rounded a bend and heard someone shouting. Rory slowed, and so did he as he tried to figure out where the shouting was coming from.

He put his hand on her shoulder, slowing them more. His gaze connected with hers, and he saw she wasn’t afraid. Instead, she was calculating how best to handle the situation. When she reached for her hip, right where a weapon would be if she were in a battle situation, his heart expanded at the same time he felt conflicted. He’d vowed to never date anyone in the military, and yet clues were pointing to her being a part of the military or law enforcement.

“I swear to God, if you don’t fucking change, I’ll kill you!” a male voice yelled.

“Fuck you, bastard!” a woman yelled back.

He didn’t like this at all. They had no idea what they were running into and had no weapons. They should turn around and head back the way they’d come. He was about to suggest they do exactly that when a woman popped out on the trail from behind a set of trees and bushes. The man she’d been arguing with raced after her. He had something in his hand that wasn’t a knife or a gun, but he was using it as a weapon.

Harry didn’t know these people but couldn’t stand by and watch as the man raced closer to the woman and them, too. The jerk seemed hell-bent on attacking the woman he’d been yelling at, and their being close wasn’t stopping him. He guessed all the predators hadn’t been scared off by the other runners.

Harry jumped into action, hitting the guy in the shoulder, then the knee, dropping him to the ground. Rory was right there, making sure the man stayed down. The woman who’d almost been attacked turned and started freaking out when she saw the man on the ground. It took a second to realize the woman wasn’t mad at them. Instead, she was yelling at the guy on the ground.

They would have to call the cops. They weren’t too far from the baseball fields, so the officers would be able to get to them. He hated getting involved, but this had been a situation he couldn’t avoid.

Sirens sounded not too far away, so he guessed someone had already called the police. A police car pulled up fairly close, and Rory stood, allowing the officer to cuff the man. Then Rory was up, asking if the woman was okay. It was odd. The man wore jeans and a T-shirt, but the woman wore running clothes.

He looked at the weapon the guy had dropped. It was an extendable metal baton, like what the police would use. He could have killed the woman if he’d hit her hard enough in the back of the head. Harry wished he’d hit the guy harder.

It took about thirty minutes for the cops to sort everything out. After they were finished talking to the police, they headed back to their cars, neither of them talking much on the way.

“That was interesting,” Harry said as they entered the lot with their cars.

“Yeah. Weird. Had we not been there, he probably would have killed her. She told me she broke up with him three weeks ago, and he followed her out here.”

“That’s wild. Stalking is weird.”

Rory turned to study him. He was about to ask what she was thinking when she angled her head toward her car. Was this a brush-off?

“Do you want to go grab something to eat? I have a coupon for two at a place that isn’t too far from here. It would take probably ten, maybe fifteen minutes driving to get there this morning.”

He was impressed she wasn’t expecting him to take her somewhere expensive. Her attitude was refreshing. She knew what area he lived in, and yet she didn’t see him as a money bag.

“Sure. Give me the address, and I’ll follow you there.”

“Awesome.”

She pulled up the address on her phone and told him where to go. He noticed her phone was different from the one she’d had yesterday. That was odd but not totally unusual. Some people had work phones and personal phones. If she didn’t want to be bothered by work on her days off, he could understand not carrying the work phone all the time.

He got in his car, watching her slide in behind the wheel of an ancient sedan that looked like more than one side panel had been replaced. The engine turned over but with a whimper, like the car just wanted to give up. Obviously, the car was old. She had to have taken care of it to get it to last this long, but it needed some heavy work. There was no way she knew about his car repair abilities. Maybe she really was who she appeared to be. No subterfuge, just a cute and sexy woman he met who had no designs to manipulate him. But he would watch for it because he just didn’t trust people after seeing so much crap in the world.