by Cat Johnson
He watched her stomp barefoot across the grass, until she reached the gravel path. There she did a little dance as the gravel dug into her feet. She hopped around until she got her shoes back on before she finished her dramatic exit from the garden by yanking the sliding glass door to the dining room with what looked like all her strength.
Tomorrow's brunch was sure going to be interesting. So was every other family gathering . . . for the rest of their lives.
Shit.
FIVE
Present Day
It was just a stupid family barbecue.
So why was she standing there in front of her closet surrounded by a mound of discarded outfits, agonizing over what to wear?
Dani knew why, though it put a bitter taste in her mouth to admit it.
Nick Nelson. That's why.
Ten years after that one crazy—and crazy hot—kiss and she still got heart palpitations at the sound of his name.
Nicky had been the boy next door. The one who got away—or more like ran away. From her. After kissing her breathless.
Ugh! How could she still be attracted to him? She hated him.
Her treacherous body's reaction was even worse when she was in the same room with him, or in the same backyard as the case may be today at her sister and brother-in-law's barbecue.
Grrr. She should have let her sister Jessica leave Nick's brother standing at the altar a decade ago.
That would have solved everything. It definitely would have insured their two families wouldn't be all chummy still, forcing her to spend time with the one man who could affect her this way.
Every holiday and gathering she held her breath to hear if he was going to be there. Far too often the answer was yes.
You'd think a freaking Navy SEAL would be away more often. Wasn't Nick supposed to be off saving the world somewhere far, far away?
Apparently not today. Jessica had said he'd be there, hence the Mt. Everest of outfits on Dani’s bedroom floor.
Gah! She was being ridiculous.
She let out a huff, shaking her head at herself and her own indecision about the outfit.
What did it matter what she wore? It wasn't like she was trying to win him over. She wasn't going there to flirt with the man who thought he was God's gift to women.
Definitely not.
He'd had his chance with her and he'd walked away.
The rejection had hurt like hell back then. She was simply still pissed off now. Time might heal all wounds, but it hadn’t tempered her anger all that much.
Making a decision, she reached down and grabbed the black tank dress with the pink flamingo print on it. While she was bent over, she also scooped up her black sandals from the heap on the floor.
Yes, the dress showed off her boobs and her legs nicely.
No, she didn't care if Nick noticed or not. She didn't dress for any man. She dressed for herself, dammit.
She was a strong, independent, twenty-nine-year-old up-and-coming production assistant. And today might be her last day off for a month. She intended to enjoy it, no matter what.
The sound of the ringtone she'd assigned to her sister yanked Dani away from her misery. The screen lit and the display showed Jessica’s photo and name.
Dani swiped the screen to answer, then tapped the icon to put the cell on speakerphone. "Hey."
"Hi there. Do you think you can get here a little early to help me get everything ready?" Jessica asked.
"Sure." Dani hesitated, the familiar knot forming in her gut. "Is Nick still coming?"
"Yes, Nick is still coming."
"Shit." Dani had barely breathed the word but judging by Jessica's gasp, she'd heard.
"Danielle Angelica Garcia, if Mom heard you—"
"Yeah, well, she and Dad are off at their dance lesson this morning. So she can't hear, now can she?"
It seemed as if that now Dani could finally afford to get her own place and move out, her parents were behaving more like honeymooners, rather than empty nesters.
"Not the point. And what is with you and Nick anyway? You act like you can't stand him. I don't understand where this one-sided animosity on your part is coming from. I swear, I thought you two barely even knew each other in high school."
Dani scowled. "Humph. Did you ever think maybe that's it exactly? He was too good to talk to me in high school. Maybe I'm too good to talk to him now."
It wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t the whole truth either.
Dani and Nick weren’t friends in school. Far from it. She had always thought her next-door neighbor was a jock snob. And he’d always ignored her.
But this level of red-hot rage stemmed from the rejection that came well after high school, when she was in college and Nick in the Navy. The rejection no one knew about except for her and Nick.
And thank God no one else knew. She couldn’t handle that extra humiliation.
The bride and groom and wedding guests had all been too busy having fun to notice what was going on between the two of them in the hidden corner of the garden during the reception.
"Dani, he was a year ahead of you in high school,” Jessica said, interrupting the memory. “And it wasn't as if you two ran in the same circles."
"Because I was a nerd, you mean?"
"No. Because his life was all about sports," Jessica answered.
Dani scowled. "Whatever.
"You really should be nicer to him."
"Why?" Dani asked, already deciding she wasn't going to like the answer before she heard the reason.
"You know what he does for a living. You'd feel horrible if something happened to him after you've been nothing but nasty."
She hated when her sister was right. Unfortunately, the only defense she had against so much logic was more nastiness. "Are we even sure he really is a SEAL? He's home more than he's away."
"He can come home so often because his base is so close. And you know there are plenty of family holidays he's missed because he was away."
"Not enough," Dani mumbled, wondering how she could get Nick transferred out of Coronado to somewhere far, far away. Possibly on another continent.
Jessica sighed. "All right. I'm done arguing with you."
"Good." Finally. Victory!
Her sister ignored Dani’s comment and asked, "When do you think you'll be here?"
"An hour, I guess. Depending on the traffic. There's not a Padres game today, so it shouldn't be too bad."
"Okay. Good. See you soon."
"Yeah. See you." Dani disconnected, noticing there was no thank you from her sister for her agreeing to come early to help.
Par for the course. Though arriving early meant she'd at least have some time to enjoy the day before Nick arrived. Once he got there, she could always hide in the kitchen to avoid him.
That's where the wine would be.
That was a good plan actually. She should start drinking the moment she got there. Have a nice buzz going by the time Nick arrived.
Not too much of a buzz though, because that's when she started remembering that kiss.
That was definitely something she needed to forget.
SIX
The first thing Nick spotted as he pulled up to his brother's house was Dani's car.
The familiar vehicle—one of those little tree-hugger hybrid electric things—was parked there along the curb. And judging by the lack of any other vehicles, they were the only two guests there so far.
His and Michael’s parents had moved to Arizona last year, but he’d been hoping at least Jessica and Dani’s parents would be there to help keep Dani on good behavior. Although, who was he kidding? He enjoyed Dani best when she was behaving badly.
He was a sick man for still wanting her in spite of how she so obviously felt about him.
Yup. He should have waited a bit to arrive so the Dani effect that he felt whenever they were in the same room with each other would be diluted by more people. He sighed. Nothing to do about it now.
Nick pulled his Je
ep behind her tiny toy car, eye-balling the space between the vehicles and parking as close as he could without actually touching the bumper.
That should piss her off nicely . . .
Theirs was a complicated relationship. Love-hate didn't quite cover it. More like lust-hate, although all the lust was on his part and all the hate on hers.
He'd say they were frenemies, but that would require them to actually be friends. They definitely weren't that, unless he counted those few hours during his brother's wedding.
As he walked around to the back of the house, the first person he saw was her—and she saw him, judging by her scowl.
Oh, yeah. He should have kept his hands to himself that day, no matter how surprisingly tempting she’d looked in her yellow maid of honor dress. He'd been paying for that mistake for ten damn years. He’d probably be paying for it until the day he died.
"Dani. Don't you look nice," he said, employing his usual kill her with kindness tactic.
Though nice didn't come close to covering how she looked today. Holy hell, smoking hot was more like it.
Good thing he had on his sunglasses so she wouldn't see his gaze sweep over body parts he shouldn't be looking at.
"Nick." She narrowed her eyes at him, as expected.
He could handle her hateful looks. Being here with her on his day off, even if she did hate him, was a hell of a lot better than getting shouted at by his commander or shot at by the enemy.
He'd given the compliment knowing it would piss her off. The nicer he was the madder she got. He found it ridiculously, inexplicably amusing.
Oh yeah. He'd take a cold beer and a hot—and hot tempered—girl any day of the week.
"Where's Jess and my brother?" he asked.
"Inside discussing the marinade."
"You mean fighting over whose recipe is better." He laughed.
The rivalry of which spouse was better in the kitchen was legendary among friends and family and had made for some interesting Thanksgiving dinners over the years.
In fact, given how heated the unrelenting competition between Jess and Michael could get, Nick shouldn’t be surprised by how Dani stuck to her hate of him like a bulldog with a bone. It must be hereditary.
He didn't miss the slight twitch of a smile on her lips before she hid it and pulled her unhappy expression back in place.
God, she was fun to play with.
At that thought his mind went to bad places—the memory of her mouth on his as she straddled him amidst acres of yellow dress.
Jesus. Ten years was way too long to remember one damn kiss.
It was like they had unfinished business and his brain wouldn’t let it go until they’d completed it.
This was his own fault. He'd stopped it that day, leaving them both unsatisfied—and apparently her pissed off forever.
"Hey. I didn't know you were here." Michael slid the screen open and came out onto the deck, a plastic container of meat swimming in marinade held in one hand.
Saved from his own memories by his brother . . .
Nick stepped forward and clasped Michael in a one-armed hug. "I just got here. I was about to make my way inside to see you."
"You mean to get a beer." Michael shot him a glance as he moved toward the grill.
"That too." Nick grinned.
No doubt feeling the icy chill in the air between them, Michael glanced at Dani then back to Nick. "So, did Dani tell you her news?"
Of course not. She wouldn't. That would have required civil conversation.
"News?" He cocked up a brow and turned to face Dani, enjoying pinning her down and making her have to talk to him, even though she obviously didn't want to. "No, she didn't. Do tell, Dani. What's your news?"
She screwed up her mouth unhappily, which only made his focus drop to her pretty lips. He yanked his attention off that dangerous body part and back up to her amber-flecked brown eyes.
Finally, Dani answered, "I got a job."
"About time too," Jessica said, emerging from the house.
"Thanks, sis." Dani rolled her eyes.
Jessica handed one of the two beers in her hand to him and the second to Michael before turning to Dani. "I'm not slamming you. I'm blaming the stupid industry you choose to work for. You graduated top of your class from USC and it took you this long to finally get a decent job."
"I had decent jobs before this," Dani mumbled, pouting.
Meanwhile, Nick tried not to enjoy that at least she treated her sister with the same grumpiness as she did him.
"Not a job worthy of you. You deserve to be running that show. Instead you're some producer’s lackey."
Dani's eyes narrowed at the word. "I'll have to be sure to add lackey to my work experience."
"You know what I mean." Jessica waved away Dani's comment. "You're too good for that job."
"Well, thank you for the compliment." Dani's tone was anything but thankful.
Nick smiled and hid it behind the beer bottle before Dani turned her ire toward him.
"I need more wine." Dani stood and headed for the door.
"Grab the guacamole and chips while you're in there. Oh, and the napkins too."
Dani paused at the door and turned, brow cocked high. "Sure. Anything else?"
"No, that's it." Jessica smiled sweetly in the face of Dani's heavy dose of attitude.
His lips twitched again with amusement. Something else twitched too.
Damn, how come the bitchier she got, the hornier he got? It was a mystery. One he wouldn't mind exploring further.
Planting his beer on the railing of the deck, Nick hoisted himself out of the chair. "I'll help her carry it all."
"Brave man," Michael mumbled.
Nick laughed as he followed the path Dani had taken inside, less worried than his brother.
Verbal shots he could handle. It was the copper and lead kind he worried about.
He found her in the kitchen leaning against the counter, eyes closed as she took a slow deep breath and held it, before letting it out.
Her eyes opened and it took almost a full two seconds before she narrowed them to glare at him.
He decided to preemptively kill her next insult before she could lob it at him. "Congratulations on the new job. I'm sure you'll work your way up to be the boss in no time."
She pulled her mouth to one side. "Not sure I want to be the boss."
"Why not?" he asked. "More pay. More power."
"More bullshit. More blame."
What was this? Were they actually having a conversation?
Afraid to jinx it, he nodded to agree with her. "That's true too."
She shook her head as she let out a breath and damned if he didn't manage to keep his eyes off her chest this time. Good, boy.
"This isn't the job I wanted. And not because I'm an assistant. In television, you have to work your way up. It's just when I applied to the network, I was hoping for something . . ."
"Something?" he prompted her to continue.
She gazed off into the corner of the room unhappily before finally bringing her gaze to him. "Something less embarrassing."
His brows lifted.
Embarrassing? What kind of show was she working for? With all the channels available today, it could be pretty much anything.
Oh God. If it was some sort of soft porn, he was going to have to head to the bathroom and rub one out immediately because damn, he was already getting hard just thinking about it.
After an agonizing few moments during which he was trying to figure out how to question her without pissing her off, she finally said, "It's a reality show."
She rolled her eyes before he even had a chance to reply.
"Go on. Mock me. Everyone else will," she continued.
"I wasn't going to mock you." He couldn't resist and added, "But please tell me it doesn't involve housewives."
She huffed out a laugh. "No. But it's just as bad. It's a bride and bridesmaids."
"At least you have firsthand experi
ence with that." He hooked a thumb toward the deck where Jessica sat.
Jessica hadn't exactly been a bridezilla, but that wedding day hadn't been easy for anybody, starting from the moment she declared she wasn't sure she wanted to marry Michael and started looking for the exit.
One look at Dani's reddened face and Nick realized his mistake immediately. The day of the wedding had been ground zero for the start of her war against him. And here, in the middle of a perfectly civil conversation, he'd gone and brought it up.
"You're right. And if I never go to another wedding again it'll be too soon." Eyes narrowed she spun and yanked open the refrigerator door.
Yup. The cease fire was over. Battle stations.
SEVEN
Twenty-five obstacles comprised the O-Course at Coronado.
It broke men. It broke bones.
And for the next six and a half minutes or so, it was the most effective way Nick could think of to clear his mind of a certain sexy, angry woman he couldn’t seem to forget.
A ten-foot wall to get over. A thirty-foot cargo net to climb, up one side and down the other. A two-hundred-foot-long rope suspended between a three-tier and a one-tier tower to slide down—headfirst, mind you, since that was by far the fastest way down the Slide for Life.
Heights weren't a problem for Nick, so he was golden on the obstacles that involved climbing. They were easy compared to some of the others. Specifically, the one they called the Dirty Name.
That leap onto the Dirty Name’s high log was tough for everyone. At least at first. But Nick had mastered it, like a pro, by the second phase of BUD/S.
Guys who surfed, Nick being one of them, also usually excelled at the challenges involving balance, such as Burma Bridge and the Balance Logs.
Then there were the obstacles that weren't all that hard but were annoying as hell. Not to mention time consuming. The Hand Walk. The Hooyah Logs. The Belly Crawl.
Trainees were required to run the course at minimum twice a week during BUD/S.
Nick was about to run it for fun.
All right, maybe less for fun and more from frustration.
