Finding Paradise

by Barbara Dunlop

“Was it particularly unsettling, then?” He crouched down and located a black leather shaving kit. “Whatever you saw on the phone.”

  “No.”

  He dropped the razor and shaving cream into the kit and arched a brow. “Both things can’t be true. Either it was nothing and you have a terrible poker face. Or it was something unsettling that broke through your usual reserve.”

  “Why are you doing this?” she asked as he straightened back up.

  He gave a shrug. “I honestly don’t know. We can drop it. You need the soap?” He pointed to the white bar in a little plastic dish at the edge of the sink.

  “I’ve got cleanser.”

  “Great.” He closed the lid on the dish and tossed it into the shaving kit. He added his toothbrush and toothpaste then pulled back the shower curtain and paused there. “This is awkward.”

  “Fine,” she blurted out. “Someone in my family is trying to get hold of me, and I thought the unknown number might be them. I haven’t heard from them in years, and I don’t particularly want to hear from them now. That’s it. That’s all.”

  “Oh.”

  She waited. “Oh? That’s all I get after you pushed and pushed?”

  He turned back to her. “How about this? Maybe it’ll help. I know all about difficult families. I avoid mine too.”

  Oddly, it did help. “Would you take their call?”

  “Depends.” He rocked his head a little as if he was considering the question. “I’d probably do what you did, be suspicious and decline the call. Then I’d mentally run through scenarios about what it was they could possibly want.”

  “Exactly!” she said, relieved that he seemed to be a kindred spirit.

  He took another moment, just standing there taking up most of the space in the room. “But that wasn’t the awkward thing.”

  She blinked, confused.

  He cocked his head toward the shower. “I was hoping to sneak in a shower before I headed back out to the hangar. Would you mind?”

  Marnie felt her face heat. “Oh.”

  “Don’t do that,” he said with a sympathetic smile, easing slightly forward, shrinking the room even more. “I’m glad you explained about the call.”

  She closed her eyes for a brief second. When she opened them, he seemed closer still. His steel-gray eyes held a trace of humor, but it was overlaid with compassion.

  He didn’t look so rugged and untamed anymore. He looked . . . gorgeous. He also looked very strong and very sexy.

  Her heart fluttered and her chest warmed. Wow.

  “Would you mind?” he repeated.

  She didn’t mind anything, anything at all.

  “I won’t use all the hot water,” he promised.

  She brought her head back from the clouds and roused herself to answer. “Yes. Sure. Of course. Please.”

  He flicked the white plastic curtain shut again. “I’ll take all of those yeses.”

  It took her a moment to take a step away from him, and as she turned to shut the door, her mind filled with a vision of him naked and covered in soapsuds.

  “Wow,” she whispered out loud this time, leaning back against the bathroom door to catch her breath.

  Chapter Four

  “Coming out,” Cobra called to give Marnie fair warning as he opened the bathroom door. A few seconds later, he walked out and met her shocked expression.

  She stared over her tablet at his bare chest and the navy-blue towel wrapped around his hips. Clearly, she hadn’t understood his announcement was made so she could avert her eyes.

  Her gaze zeroed in on the jagged scar that crossed his lower-right ribcage. It was ugly but fully healed and his only true battle scar.

  He’d mostly worked on base when he was overseas with the air force, but he’d once been part of a relocation convoy that came under fire on a dusty road near the Syrian border. Luckily, his wound hadn’t been life threatening, and the Rangers with them had quickly cleared the area.

  His other scars had far less interesting stories. There was one beside his left eyebrow from a bar fight in Adana, Turkey. He’d been in the right that night. The other guy was being a colossal asshole. So much so that the owner hadn’t even called the authorities, just thanked Cobra for helping out. But most of them were simply from living a life around men and machinery.

  “I didn’t mean to startle you,” he told her apologetically.

  “No.” She waved away his concern. “My fault. I was caught up in reading.”

  He saw that she’d made up the bed, removed her shoes, pulled her hair into a high ponytail and was curled up against the wall, leaning on a pillow.

  He’d never brought a woman to his room. But if he ever did, he hoped she looked exactly like Marnie, all fresh, sweet and gracious.

  The outside door suddenly opened and T-Two stepped inside. “Hey, Cobra, what’s—” He stopped short, took in Marnie, took in Cobra’s state of undress and quickly took a step back. “Sorry, man.”

  Marnie’s eyes went round with embarrassment.

  “It’s not . . . that,” Cobra said, turning to his dresser to get himself some clothes.

  “I’m staying here,” Marnie quickly told T-Two, pointing to the bed, then switching direction to point to the room.

  “None of my business,” he responded, still looking apologetic.

  “I mean I’m staying here. And he’s not . . . staying here.” She gestured to Cobra. “He’s just showering.”

  It was obvious to everyone she was only making things worse.

  “What’s up?” Cobra asked T-Two.

  “I can come back—”

  “Get a grip,” Cobra told them both with frustration. To T-Two he said, “I’m not sleeping with her.” To Marnie he said, “T-Two won’t gossip.”

  “There’s nothing to gossip about,” Marnie said, her voice going slightly high-pitched.

  “Then we’re all good,” T-Two said to her. He looked her over with obvious interest, and Cobra’s core tightened with reflexive jealousy.

  “You are fully dressed,” T-Two casually observed.

  “I am,” Marnie agreed, with a ring in her voice that said it proved her point.

  “You here for a reason?” Cobra asked him. “Or just to shoot the breeze?”

  T-Two gave him an odd look.

  Too late, Cobra realized his impatient tone made him sound like he was interested in Marnie. “I’ll get dressed.” He grabbed a T-shirt, a pair of boxers and some jeans, and headed into the bathroom.

  As he put on his clothes, he heard the soft mutter of T-Two’s and Marnie’s voices. He couldn’t make out the words, but she did laugh at one point. Great. He was so glad to be helping T-Two chat her up. He raked back his short, damp hair and walked barefoot to the bedroom.

  T-Two was in the desk chair, while Marnie was cross-legged on the bed, her tablet set aside.

  “—even though I was born seven minutes before him, and I’m slightly taller,” T-Two was saying, obviously relaying the story of how he and his brother both ended up in Paradise two years ago.

  “Tobias,” Marnie said, as if trying his real name on for size. “That suits you. I think I’ll use it.” She looked up. “Not like Conrad here.”

  Part of Cobra was happy she remembered his real name, another part wondered why she didn’t like it.

  T-Two seemed to consider her pronouncement. “He needs a three-piece suit and a pair of Oxfords to pull off a name like that.”

  “Even if you shorten it,” Marnie said. “Con? Rad? Nah.”

  “But you like Tobias?” Cobra couldn’t help but ask. He considered joining Marnie on the bed but settled instead for bracing himself against the dresser top.

  “Tobias is cute.”

  Cobra scoffed out a laugh.

  “I’ll take cute,” T-Two said with a waggle of hi
s eyebrows in Marnie’s direction.

  “She’s not here to meet anyone,” Cobra told him.

  T-Two looked at Cobra in puzzlement.

  “She’s a lawyer.”

  “I’m a lawyer,” Marnie concurred with a nod.

  “She’s one of the organizers,” Cobra said. “Of the event. She’s Mia’s friend.”

  “O . . . kay,” T-Two said slowly and searchingly.

  “I’m not looking for a husband,” Marnie added. “And I’m definitely not staying in Alaska.”

  “What have you got against Alaska?” T-Two asked, clearly rising to the defense of his adopted state.

  “It’s . . . uh . . . cold and remote and empty?”

  Cobra couldn’t argue with that.

  “It might not be for everyone.” It was clear T-Two was going to take a shot at selling Alaska to the LA lawyer.

  Cobra settled back to watch. He didn’t know much about Marnie, but what he did know told him T-Two was going to lose the debate.

  “Twenty hours of daylight in midsummer,” T-Two said.

  “Only four hours in January,” she countered.

  Cobra was surprised she knew that.

  She caught his doubtful expression. “I’ve done a lot of research on Alaska in the past couple of months.” She turned back to T-Two. “Go ahead. Bring it on.”

  “Freshest air in the entire country,” he said.

  “Hawaii,” she said.

  Cobra smirked.

  “Wide-open spaces,” T-Two tried.

  “With nothing in them.”

  “Wildlife.”

  “Grizzly bears, wolves, moose that can kick as high as your head.”

  “The foxes are cute.”

  Marnie grinned. “I’ll give you that one. But Pomeranians are cuter, and they’re domesticated.”

  “You have a dog?” Cobra asked. For some reason, he hadn’t pictured her as a dog person.

  “No dog. No pets. I’m out of my apartment too much. It would be cruel.”

  “See that,” T-Two told her with aplomb. “Foxes take care of themselves. They wander by, look cute then go off and hunt up their own dinner. Now that’s a low maintenance pet.”

  Marnie shook her head. “No. Not buying foxes as pets.”

  “What about the beautiful vistas?”

  “I can see the ocean from my balcony.”

  “Man.” T-Two shook his head. “You’re a tough sell. But I’m not giving up.”

  “You wanted something?” Cobra asked him, not particularly excited about listening to T-Two chat up Marnie any longer.

  “Oh, yeah. The rear brakes are squealing on the blue F-150. Brodie asked if you could take a look before Dean takes it down the road tomorrow.”

  “Sure.” Cobra straightened away from the dresser, trying to give T-Two the signal to leave. “I’m headed back out to the hangar in a bit.”

  T-Two got it, rising and glancing from Cobra to Marnie and back again, a speculative gleam coming into his eyes.

  Cobra gazed levelly back. If speculating on Cobra’s interest in Marnie kept T-Two away from her, great. She’d made it clear she didn’t want to be bothered with any of the Paradise guys. And Cobra liked Marnie. He figured this was doing her a favor.

  T-Two said goodbye and left, closing the door behind him.

  “He seems nice,” Marnie said. “And he sure loves Alaska.”

  “The Erickson brothers are talented bush pilots. Alaska’s a good place for them.”

  “What about you?” She moved forward to the edge of the bed.

  “What about me?”

  “Is Alaska a good place for you?”

  “Yes.” Of that, he was certain. There was room to breathe here. Hard work was respected. And it was far, far away from Seattle.

  “Hmmm.”

  “You’re hmmm-ing me now?”

  “Yes. I’m waiting for you to give something secret away.”

  “Not going to happen.”

  She interlaced her fingers together and touched them to the bottom of her chin. “Where did you grow up?”

  “Seattle.”

  “You didn’t even make it that hard.”

  “It’s not a secret.”

  “What do you consider a secret?”

  He grinned and sat himself down on the chair T-Two had vacated. “Nice try.”

  She seemed to contemplate a moment longer. “I’ll give up one, if you give up one.”

  Her green eyes were shining in the light, her skin glowing smooth silk. Her full red lips flashed a smile that showed off perfectly straight white teeth, and it struck him that she was spectacularly gorgeous. He didn’t know how he’d missed the full force of it before now.

  He propped his elbows on his knees and leaned forward, speaking softly. “You first.”

  * * *

  * * *

  Marnie tried to come up with the right secret, something innocuous enough to share with a stranger but juicy enough to get Cobra to dish when it was his turn. She wanted to know what lurked beneath that tough, scarred exterior.

  “I’m a thief,” she said.

  His eyes widened. “You steal things?”

  “Stole. Once. It was before I passed the bar.”

  He made a show of glancing around the room. “Are my things safe around you?”

  “I’m over it.”

  “What did you steal?”

  “Cake, a cupcake. A beautiful, wonderful cupcake. It was confetti vanilla, piled high with fluffy pink buttercream icing with silver sprinkles and a little star on top.” Even now she fondly remembered the sweet, creamy taste.

  He looked distinctly entertained by the confession. “Why did you do that?”

  “My family wasn’t very well off, so we never spent money on frivolous things. I was thirteen. My mother had died that year, and it was my birthday, but nobody remembered.”

  “Your family forgot your birthday?” Cobra’s brow furrowed, his expression going from entertained to troubled.

  “It was only my dad and my brother then, plus my uncle. They were . . .” She chose her words carefully. “Well . . . focused on work and . . . on other things. But it was grocery day. So, my dad took us all to the Town Market. I spotted this elaborate cupcake just sitting there on the bakery table in a little plastic container that would fit so neatly into my shoulder bag.” It was crystal clear in her memory to this day. “I couldn’t resist. I snagged it, took it home, and when everyone else had gone to bed, I lit a candle. I didn’t have a real birthday candle, just the regular kind. So, I lit it and held the cupcake in front, so the flame danced over the icing and kind of looked like a birthday candle.” She smiled, remembering the satisfying effect. “I sang Happy Birthday to myself, really quiet so nobody would hear, then I blew out the candle.” She paused for a breath. “Best cupcake I ever ate.”

  Cobra sat still, his dark eyes clouding. “That’s a really sad story.”

  “You think?” She looked back on it with a bit of amusement now, a little bit of guilt too since a willingness to steal had to say something about the core of her moral fiber. The memory sometimes gave her a shiver of fear, because she would have been in deep trouble if she’d been caught. “I cut the container into teeny, tiny little pieces before I hid it way down in the trash bin. And nobody in the world knows except you.”

  “I can’t believe your family forgot your birthday.”

  “We weren’t a celebrating kind of family, not for anything. Your turn now.” She waited, but he didn’t speak. She inched a little closer. “You can’t wimp out on me, Cobra.”

  He cleared his throat. “Mine’s nowhere near as endearing as yours.”

  “Thievery’s not endearing. Come on. Give.”

  “All right. I betrayed my brother.”

  “You h
ave a brother?”

  “That’s your question?”

  “Yeah. You have a brother?”

  “Two. Barrick and Miles.”

  “Are you oldest?”

  “In the middle.”

  “Which one did you betray?”

  He cocked his head. “Are you going to let me tell the story?”

  She made a zipping motion over her lips.

  “It was Barrick. He had this girlfriend in college. He went to UW, so he still lived at home. Anyway, the two of them had a big fight one night. I was out in the garage working on a car, and she stormed from the house and saw me there. For some reason, she decided I needed to know what an ass of a brother I had. I didn’t disagree, and well, one thing led to another and we—”

  “You slept with your brother’s girlfriend?” Marnie was thinking that definitely beat a pilfered cupcake.

  “No.” Cobra looked appalled. “I kissed her.”

  Marnie sat back. “You kissed her? That’s your big secret? Some little kiss back in college?”

  “It was a big kiss, a long kiss, a kiss that almost turned into something else. But I stopped just in time.”

  “But that’s it?”

  “I felt guilty about it for years. I might not have been crazy about my brother, but it was a jerk move.”

  “Did you steal her from him? Did you start dating her yourself?”

  “No.” Cobra compressed his lips over what looked like a smirk. “They made up. They’re married now.”

  Marnie fought her own reflexive grin. “That must make for one awkward Thanksgiving dinner.”

  “She pretends it never happened, and I sure never gave her away. Plus, I moved to Alaska, so we don’t see each other much.” He paused. “Nobody knows that secret either. Well, Josephine, but she’s not telling.”

  Marnie couldn’t help but think about the burden that had to cause for Josephine. “That must be hard. To be married to someone and have to hold that in your soul forever.”

  “It would bother you?”

  “I’m barely over the cupcake, and I don’t live with the baker.”

  Cobra chuckled. “You don’t know Josephine—cold as ice and twice as determined. I’m sure she blocked it from her mind years ago.”