Rescued (Navy SEALS Romance Book 1) by Rachel Hanna Page B

then I'll tell you – " he paused, took in the huge men around him, and grinned, a five-foot-four Pakistani man about to tell the giant military dudes – "About your new cane."

    T he teasing didn't stop for hours .

    T anner didn't stop thinking for hours after that.

    " H e didn't call ," Taylor said, her voice a pitched whisper that still suggested a wail. "He didn't call , he didn't text , he didn't email , he didn't do anything!" She was aware of her heart beating a mile a minute under her plain white t-shirt and the margarita sliding too fast and too cold into her stomach, the tequila detonating there and making girlfriend solidarity that much more important. "He said he would! He said it as he was going! And I know he didn't want to go!"
    "He'll call," Jessie said, her dark hair pulled back and her freckled face intent on offering all the girlfriend sympathy she could manage. She reached across the table and caught Taylor's wildly gesturing hands before Taylor could further endanger her alcohol. "He'll text. He'll send smoke signals. Sweetie, the man is search and rescue. Things happen. There could be a perfectly good reason why … what?"
    Taylor's stomach went stone cold. Everything stilled into one horrible circle of scared. She grabbed Jessie's comforting hand and held it in a death grip. "Jess – what if? "

    S he didn't sleep . She didn't eat. She went to work because not working would be worse.
    Tuesday became Wednesday. He didn't call or text or email or come by her work or leave a message at her house.
    "What's wrong with you, girlfriend?" Jason asked, not even via text in the Boring World approved way of looking like one wasn't shirking.
    "He didn't call or text or write or come over," Taylor said in a flat voice. All her plans to volunteer and get in better shape and change her life and have a boyfriend – everything just vanished.
    "He might still," Jason said. "People sometimes work during the week." He stroked her hair, having ventured all the way into her cubicle.
    "He's search and rescue," she said dully. "I don't think they plan out searches or rescues like that."
    Jason leaned in close, fey and concerned. "You could call him ," he said. "Twenty-first century and all."
    Taylor just nodded. "I did."

    T here wasn't any breaking up to do. As long as he did it now. They'd had one date, one wonderful date, and he wanted to see her again, wanted to fulfill all the promises unstated but evident from that date. He wanted to take it slow and burn, on fire every anticipatory minute until they ended up in bed. He wanted –
    To cut her loose. Because what had happened to Mike could happen to any of them. That, or something much worse.
    He couldn't do that to her and he didn't know how to handle a girlfriend in those circumstances.
    Even then his thumb hovered over his phone, wanting to text.
    Tanner called on self-discipline, put his phone away, went back to work.

Chapter Twelve
    O ne week after her only date with Tanner, Taylor got up, went for a run, washed her hair, ate a high protein breakfast, gave Monster his breakfast, homemade and expensive but not as bad as the cow or two a day she'd told Tanner, shook herself to get Tanner out of her head, and called the volunteer organization. Could they use an IT person to game with their rehab kids? They could, and there were morning and evening hours as well as weekend. Just to make certain she really felt guilty if she got this far, balked, and told herself she was too busy. Taylor didn't promise the person on the phone anything but she promised herself and went to work.
    "You look better, girlfriend," Jason told her, gliding past her in the halls.
    "So do you, girlfriend," she quipped and he smirked, flipped her off, turned it into a friendly wave as one of the supervisors passed them.
    And I feel better, too , Taylor told herself firmly.
    Lied to herself firmly.

    " I could get myself here ," Mike said as they left the bright sunlight and stepped into the