SEAL Protected by Rosa Foxxe

Chapter 1
     
    The club was loud and rowdy.
     
    Dozens of men and women danced to the rhythm of the pulsating music and the bar stools were packed with half-drunk dancers and Saturday night drinkers. I perched on one of the stools, ankles crossed and high heels clicking together. Taryn and Cindy – my two best friends – were tearing up the dance floor in their new dresses. I watched them from where I sat. Taryn was in gold and Cindy was in black. They looked a bit like a high-class bumblebee together. I cracked a smile as I watched them. It was easy to spot Taryn out on the dance floor – she was the tallest woman there and her natural afro hairstyle only added to her height. Beside her, Cindy wiggled to the music, her eyes closed as she gave in to the beat.
     
    Cindy shimmied her way through the crowd and off to the dance floor She all but threw herself against the bar counter next to me. Her big blue eyes were shining but slightly dazed, and she grabbed my arm with her long, hot pink nails.
     
    “Come on, girl,” she said, tugging me toward the dance floor. “You brought us here, so you have to dance!”
     
    I rolled my eyes at Cindy and tried to shake off her hand. “Nuh-uh.”
     
    With a grandiose and sweeping bow, Cindy twirled around me and lifted me to my feet. “Milady,” she drawled, kissing my hand. Despite my best efforts, laughter bubbled up in my throat, spilling out of my lips and filling the room with its bubbles. I used my spare hand to clap it over my mouth and tried to blink the tears from my eyes.
     
    “You are ridiculous,” I said. Cindy just shrugged and dragged me to the dance floor, grinning all the while. The music picked up as the song switched. It sent a deep, pulsating beat through my body. Cindy caught my hips and we swayed together, bodies finding a rhythm in the bass. My hair, which had been tied back, came loose as I danced and it flew in my face as I spun. Faster and faster Cindy and I danced. I let the beat take me deep into the throng of dancing bodies. My arms twirled above my head, my hips swayed back and forth. The beat went deeper into my body, piercing my soul until I could feel my heartbeat syncing with the music.
     
    Song after song pounded the speakers, reverberating me down to my teeth. I shimmied, wiggled, gyrated, and even flailed a bit to the music. Eventually, I had to stumble off the floor back to the bar. I clutched it, panting hard, and Taryn and Cindy soon joined me. They were laughing and grinning and Taryn’s hair seemed a bit puffier than it had before.
     
    “That was fantastic!” said Cindy.
     
    Taryn laughed. “Stupendous, even.” I just shook my head and leaned harder against the counter, closing my eyes and breathing deeply.
     
    “You all right, Michelle?” A voice from above made me look up, eyes half-lidded. It was Dorian, the heavily tattooed bartender with the white and pink hair. He grinned at me. “Well, are you?”
     
    I managed a nod. “Just tired. Haven’t had a workout like that in a while.” Dorian grinned and slid a lime green drink across the bar to me. Taryn practically moaned as he walked away, leaning heavily against the counter and staring at his ass.
     
    “God, he is fine,” said Taryn. She licked her lips and Cindy and I shook our heads at her.
     
    “You know,” I said, “he has a girlfriend.” I sipped at my drink.
     
    Taryn flashed me a predatory grin. “I can work with that.” The words made me choke as I realized what she meant.
     
    “Taryn!” said Cindy. “You can’t break them up or make Dorian cheat!”
     
    “I don’t think she was planning to,” I replied. Taryn grinned in confirmation and Cindy went red.
     
    “Oh,” she said in a small voice. Taryn and I both laughed and Taryn clapped her on the shoulder. I looked back over the dance floor and grimaced. The room suddenly seemed too hot and too small. I pushed myself up and grabbed my purse and jacket, stumbling away from the bar and