Read Brianna's Navy SEAL for Free Online

his hand and said his name, or so Cable thought, but the sudden roar of the bean grinder drowned him out. He shook his hand, then looked, bemused, at the business card the guy had slipped him.
    "Taxes, bookkeeping, some financial planning, investment management, you know, a little of all of it.” He leaned back and forth, pointing repeatedly at the card as he talked in a patter that reminded Cable of an instructor he'd had while getting his teaching certificate. “So anything you need, I can do."
    "Thanks,” Cable said, pocketing the card. “I do my own. But I'll keep you in mind.” Before the guy could continue trying to sell him, Cable reached the counter and ordered his coffee, their robust blend. Large.
    And smiled the evidence surrounding him that he was, as he'd intended, planted firmly in the center of what he'd once fought to protect.
* * * *
    "Most guys never get a taste of this, you know?” He was trying out something else new for him later that day, actually talking about the things he thought and felt but never articulated. He'd brought a book he'd borrowed for his advanced reading group back to Brianna, then helped her get her room in order, moving chairs back to the tables and putting away pillows and blocks. And somehow, he started talking about that morning in the coffee shop.
    "A taste of suburbia, you mean?” Brie stacked oaktag scraps on top of a cabinet, then picked up stray crayons and tossed them into a bin.
    "Something like that. This place where everyone feels safe. Where the most important things on the worry list are who's building what on the corner of Lexington and Boston Road."
    Brianna stopped moving. “Someone's building something on the corner of Lexington and Boston Road?"
    He nodded. “Looks that way. Traffic got held up by a backhoe, and they had a parcel of land on the north corner marked off."
    "Shit."
    "What's the matter?"
    She shook her head. “McDonald's. She's building her McDonald's. Which means she's staying.” She actually stomped her foot, then grimaced when he laughed at her. “Sorry. Old family business. You were saying, about us feeling safe."
    "Yeah, well, we all have this ideal in our heads of what we're fighting for. It helps when you start thinking about how likely you are to die in the next sixty seconds. And most guys don't get to live it. They're career Navy, or they go into the private sector doing the same things, or they wind up in back alleys and VA rehab. It just showed me how lucky I am, that's all.” He leaned his weight against the shelf running under the wall of windows and watched Brie glance around for anything she'd missed. Then she turned speculative eyes on him, her mouth curved in a knowing smile.
    "You're not the only one, Cable Addison."
    "No?” He unfolded his arms and rested the heels of his hands on the counter next to him. “Who else is lucky?"
    Her eyes definitely said, I am , but her mouth started listing the school, the town, her family, and she backed away. He ignored the urge to grab her hand and pull her into his arms. They had to be careful on school property. He still had enough wary parents that he didn't want to stir up anything else. But at home was a different story.
    "How's your groin pull?” he asked, suddenly realizing he hadn't asked at dinner Sunday.
    "Fine.” She blushed and avoided his gaze while she filled a soft tote bag with papers and her lesson plan and myriad other things from her tiny desk. “Just a twinge now and then."
    "The club you go to, it's the one up the hill?” He knew it was, he'd seen her coming out one night and had immediately considered joining. He'd checked the place out and it had the equipment he liked, a broader range of free weights and machines than he had in his basement, and he liked the versatility that gave him. He may not need to be in top condition anymore, but he didn't intend to get lazy, either. Brianna's membership was double incentive.
    When she nodded, he said, “Mind if I