Protecting Cheyenne (SEAL of Protection Book 5) by Susan Stoker Page A

shit after Alabama got arrested and he fought like hell to get her back. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a couple more in love and connected at the hip than those two. As SEALs, we’re born and bred to protect others, but Abe certainly fucked up by not protecting Alabama’s emotions. Thank God she forgave him.
    “Cookie and Fiona were the next to get together. Fiona was kidnapped by a sex slave ring and taken over the border. Cookie was the one to go in and find her and bring her out. Mozart and Summer are the most recent of us to get together. Mozart had been hunting the man who killed his little sister when he was a teenager and somehow the man found out about Summer and wanted to torture Mozart by taking his woman. Benny and I are the last ones of our team without women.”
    Silence filled the cab of the truck when Dude had finished speaking. He turned to look at Cheyenne. She was staring at him incredulously.
    Dude chuckled. “Yeah, it sounds crazy, but I swear they’re all normal people and they’re gonna love you.”
    “Maybe we should go back.” Cheyenne was freaking out. A chemist? Sex slave ring? Arrested? Kidnapping? She was in way over her head.
    “Nope. You don’t see it do you?”
    “See what?”
    “Think about how we met, Shy.”
    “Oh hell.”
    “Exactly. Now when people talk about us they’ll talk about how I saved your life when you had a bomb strapped to your chest. That’s just as dramatic as the way my friends met their women. Relax, Cheyenne.” Dude turned to her as they stopped at a red light and put his hand on her knee. “I would never put you in a position where you’d feel unwelcome. You might be a little uncomfortable at first, it’s hard to meet new people, but I know by the end of the night you’ll have four new girlfriends and you’ll have the respect of the guys on my team. Just relax.”
    Chewing on her nail, Cheyenne said, “Okay, I’ll try.”
    Dude pulled her thumb out of her mouth and pulled it to his own lips and sucked on it for a moment before letting go. He laughed at the wide eyed look Cheyenne was giving him.
    “Don’t chew on your nail. Anytime I see you doing it, I’m going to do that same thing. I don’t care where we are. Keep that in mind.”
    “Uh…”
    Dude just laughed and patted her on her knee as he turned his attention back to the traffic.
    Deciding to be amused, rather than pissed, Cheyenne finally laughed at him. “I’m not sure that’s really a deterrent, Faulkner.”
    He just grinned at her. “Oh, I think you’ll find it is if you don’t want to find your nipples hard as rocks and squirming in your seat in front of others. I bet I could have you doing both just by sucking on that thumb.” Dude laughed as he watched Cheyenne shift in her seat.
    He didn’t filter the words that came to his mind, just shot them out there. “Jesus, Shy, if my words can do that to you, you’re going to love what my mouth can do.”
    “Stop, Faulkner. Seriously. I don’t…I can’t…”
    Dude sobered quickly at seeing her unease. “I’m sorry, Shy. I’ll tone it down. I keep forgetting how new this is to you and that you aren’t used to it.”
    “I just…Fuck. Why can’t I talk around you?”
    “You could talk last night,” Dude reminded her.
    “Yeah, that’s because the evil doctors drugged me up. I didn’t know taking hard core prescription drugs loosened my tongue like that.”
    The car stopped in front of a small house in a cute neighborhood. There was a small porch and there were various cars and trucks parked in the driveway and along the street. Cheyenne didn’t think she was ready for this after all.
    “Hey, look at me for a second, Cheyenne.”
    She turned her head and wiped her hands down her thighs. Cheyenne was feeling more nervous about meeting Faulkner’s friends than when she’d been waiting to answer her first emergency call at work.
    “If you want to go, we’ll go. We don’t have to do this now.”
    That wasn’t