by Zoe York
In a nutshell, they were so in love it was nauseating. Mel couldn’t be happier for them, even if she didn’t understand that level of devotion.
“Speaking of Jared and his unwavering plans to glue himself to me now—I’m not sure he’s going to want to go to Hawaii with you.” Cassie grimaced.
“Sweetie, of course not! I would have preferred to do the race with someone I know, but the organizers will put single registrants on teams. It’s fine.” She was pretty sure it was fine. “And besides, I might not go this year. Not if you’re sick.”
“I’m not…sick. Not exactly. They’re just worried I might get sick before the baby is due.”
“Well, let’s focus on that not happening. Nothing else matters.”
That she’d been secretly training for the race for a year? Well, that’s why she’d done it in secret. That it was also her last chance to run up the same mountain as her mother? That was the price she paid for being a secret-keeper.
If she told Cassie why she had to go, her friend would understand.
She might even convince Jared to go with Mel. The trip could be done in as few as four days and Oahu was a direct flight.
But Mel didn’t tell people her deepest, darkest desires. She was easy and breezy. So Cassie had no clue how important the race was. Now, with Cassie needing extra care, Mel’s reasons for needing to do this would stay a secret.
At least that way the only person who could let her down was herself.
I’ll find a way to do the race.
— TWO —
When Cade landed back in Coronado two weeks later, a voice mail message was waiting for him—Jared, inviting him to dinner that night. “Mel’s coming over. We’re going to grill. You should stop by.”
He went home and showered, then swung by the store to grab a six-pack of beer and some organic lemonade for Cassie. He pulled up at the Sutter house just in time to see Mel Vincent getting out of a cab.
He slowed to a stop, appreciating the bright pink skirt and teal high-heeled pumps she was wearing today. Color suited her just as much as white had the first time he’d seen her.
“Hey there,” he drawled, giving her a big, easy grin.
“Cade…hi. I didn’t know you’d be here,” she said, returning the smile.
“Last-minute invite. I just got back to town.”
“How was the training thing?” Mel lifted her hand as they walked up to the house together. “Wait, forget I asked. I know you can’t say much.”
“It was good. Productive.” He knocked twice on the screen door, then opened it, holding it wide so she could enter first.
“That’s great.” Another smile. “You’re back for a bit now?”
“Yep. My team is currently tasked with shorter missions. We’re here most of the time.” So if you wanna hang out sometime…
“That sounds like fun.” She wasn’t talking about hanging out, though. And he wasn’t even convinced she thought his job sounded like fun.
Melissa Vincent was a master at being polite when she wasn’t frazzled beyond measure. When she gave him the third identical smile, he realized he needed to pay more attention. She was a complicated puzzle.
And that’s how it went through small talk and dinner. Pleasant exchanges and practiced smiles.
But despite being friendly and almost flirty at times, Mel never actually gave him an opening to ask her out. By the time dinner was over, he realized she was doing it deliberately—she had walls around her, six feet thick.
He seized an opportunity to be alone with her when she started to clear the table. He carried the leftover potato salad into the kitchen, setting the bowl on the island. “So it looks like everything has settled down with Cassie. That’s good.”
She gave him a genuine smile. “I know. I’m so relieved.”
“Do you have any nieces or nephews?”
“Nope.” She flipped her hair over her shoulder. Her curls were different today than two weeks earlier. Looser. Totally sexy. “Only child, and Cassie’s my first friend to have a baby.”
“So you’ll be the doting aunt.” Cade grinned. “Lucky kid.”
“This one?” Cassie asked as she waddled in, her hand stroking her belly. “I know. We’re so blessed. Mel’s been there for me with everything. Way more than my own family. Number one aunt, for sure.”
“Maybe you could help me buy the little guy a present,” Cade said, sliding his gaze over Mel’s face. A test balloon.
She didn’t grab it. “Actually, I convinced Cass to set up a baby registry, so you can just pick out a gift online.”
All right. “And if I run into any trouble?”
She lifted one eyebrow. The Navy SEAL couldn’t handle the Babies R Us website? She had a point. He was being stupid.
“I’m sure I won’t.”
Her lips split into an unexpected smile, like she just figured out what he’d been doing. “You could email me.”
“Will do.” He winked at her, and she just laughed, disappearing into the dining room to get more stuff. He followed, but they were like two ships passing in the night as they finished clearing the table.
When he brought the last dish in, she’d moved on and was talking about something else with Cassie.
“So I finally got the name of a guy,” Mel said. She leaned over the island and swiped the last slice of red pepper off the veggie tray.
Cade ignored the tight yank in his gut and ever-so-casually listened.
“That’s good,” Cassie said.
Cade couldn’t disagree more—and what the hell? He’d hoped Cassie would be on Team-Cade-and-Mel.
From the doorway, Jared cleared his throat in a clear instruction for his wife to sit down, and Cassie rolled her eyes, settling on a barstool at the island before continuing. “Is he an experienced racer?”
“Well…” Mel shrugged. “He’s excited. Very excited. And went out of his way to point out that we can each carry our own tents. Like there was a chance in hell of me sleeping with him. That was kind of awkward. But we got past it.”
“Where are you going?” Cade asked, less casually than he intended, because they both gave him a “what’s with the scowl” kind of look in response.
“I’m doing an endurance/obstacle course race in Hawaii next week. Two days in the Manoa Valley and up into the Koolau Range. It’s a long story, but I just found a partner for it today. Because I put my request in at the last minute, they couldn’t fit me on a team of four, which kind of sucks, but there was another guy who had his partner drop out, too. So we’ve been matched.”
“Because Jared was supposed to go with her—” Cassie began.
“And he has his priorities straight,” finished Mel, giving her best friend a pointed look.
Cade wasn’t sure of that at all. He knew the types of guys who signed up for those kinds of racing events. “Whoa, what?”
“What what?” Mel spun on one perfect, pointy heel, suddenly bristly, and he tried to tell himself to shut the hell up. It didn’t work.
Instead, he turned and pointed at his friend, who was still leaning against the doorframe and wisely being quiet. Cade glared at him. “You can’t let her fly to Hawaii and sleep in a tent with some random asshole!”
Jared just gave him an “are you an idiot?” look and nodded back in Mel’s direction.
“Uhm…” She screwed up her face as she propped her hands on her hips. “Why would this guy have to be an asshole?”
“Because he obviously doesn’t have enough friends to get someone he knows to do the race with him.”
He heard the words come out of his mouth, and, like a train wreck, he couldn’t stop them. In slow motion, he watched Mel turn, her curls bobbing, then toss her hands up and move away. Cassie gave him a horrified look, which he totally deserved, and Jared—well, that jerk was just laughing.
“Shit, I’m sorry. That came out wrong.”
“Yeah, no kidding. Sometimes plans fall apart. And you weren’t listening, because ther
e will be two tents.” She rolled her eyes at him after she yanked the cheesecake out of the fridge. “No cheesecake for you.”
“Hey, I said I was sorry.” And he really was. He didn’t know how to explain that he’d left his brain at the door right around the time he’d been checking out her legs in that skirt and those heels. “Let’s try again. So you’re doing a race in Hawaii?”
She shook her head. “Don’t worry about it. You can have some cheesecake.”
“I really want to know!”
“And I don’t want to talk about it anymore, so…” She thrust the dessert into his hands. “Take this to the table. I’ll bring the plates.”
He waited until they were sitting at the table again. “What’s the name of this race?”
“None of your beeswax. Let’s talk about how you think you might not be able to navigate a basic baby store website.”
He squared his jaw and nodded, chuckling. “Okay. So that’s how it’s going to be? I say one wrong thing and now it’s on?”
“Nooooo,” she said, stretching it out to make the point that of course she meant yes. “That would be petty.”
“I wouldn’t use that word,” he murmured, taking the plate she shoved across the table at him. Even though he’d accidentally insulted her, and she was obviously annoyed…she was still cute. He liked the way her eyes flashed at him, and her lips plumped up as she thought about what to say next.
“What word would you use?”
He cocked one eyebrow. “I’d say you’re prickly.”
“Prickly.” She made a humming noise under her breath. “Yeah, I guess on this point I am.”
“This race is something you’ve planned for a long time?”
“Long enough that I don’t want to cancel.” Her words came out quickly, kind of sharp. He was paying attention now. Better late than never.
“So this guy is your best option.” He nodded. “I’m sorry I criticized him without knowing that.”
She gave him a surprised look and nodded. “It’s not safe to do it by yourself. So it’s a team thing, either pairs or groups of four.”
“Postponing to next year isn’t an option?” He could feel Cassie and Jared both looking at him, but his attention was fixed on Mel now.
She swallowed hard. “They’re changing the route next year. This is the last year—after twenty-five years—that the race will finish on the ridge…”
As she trailed off, Cade watched a myriad of emotions play across her face, lightning-quick. She blinked down at her dessert, and he took the cue to back off. He’d already pushed well past her limit—and he still didn’t understand why he’d done that.
“This is really great,” he said, turning to Cassie, who didn’t blink over the fact that he hadn’t actually tasted it yet.
“All Mel.” She nodded at her friend. “She came by yesterday and we made it together. And by together, I mean, she made it and I just chopped the berries for the sauce.”
The conversation shifted to the graham cracker crust that had no graham crackers in it—Mel swore by Arrowroot cookies instead. Then to the baby shower that was tentatively happening as soon as she got back from her trip.
That conversation continued as they finished eating and moved out onto the deck.
As the sun was setting, Jared’s phone rang at the same time as Cassie excused herself to pee—again—and Cade decided to take another stab at apologizing. It was starting to feel a bit hopeless, but he had another idea, and Mel giving him a solid chance would be necessary for it to work.
He leaned back in his chair, arms wide and relaxed. Non-threatening. Hopefully still filling out the black t-shirt nicely, although she hadn’t seemed overly impressed so far. “Listen, I’m sorry about pushing you at the table.”
“Don’t worry about it.” She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes.
“I want to make it up to you.”
“Not necessary.”
“I have an idea. I just want you to give it some thought. You don’t need to say yes or no right away.”
“No.” The way her lips twitched when she said it, and how that smile actually did reach her eyes…he liked that a lot.
“Too bad. You’re missing out.”
“Doubtful.”
“I’ll go with you. To Oahu. Be your race partner.”
She just blinked at him.
Yep. This was a good plan. Eventually she’d see it. He grinned. “Just think about it.”
— —
Mel stared at Cade. Ridiculously good-looking, oversized, well-meaning Cade. “Think about how you are a better choice than a random guy?”
“Right. Because I’m not completely random.”
“No, you’re worse than a random guy. I can’t ignore you when you’re annoying, because that would be rude.”
“If I’m annoying, I’m sure you’ll set me straight.”
“When you’re annoying, you don’t take the hint that you should drop it.”
“If—” He shot straight up in his chair. “You think I’m being annoying?”
It was fun to push his buttons. But Mel was exhausted and she had more packing to do. She stood. “Good night, Cade. It was nice to see you again.”
“Don’t say that if you don’t mean it,” he grumbled, standing and following her inside.
“I’m being polite,” she pointed out. He was close enough she could feel his warmth, and the most annoying thing about Cade was how, despite the fact he didn’t get her at all, he was still…nice. Nice and warm, nice smelling, even nice in his annoying questions and ideas.
If it wasn’t completely beyond the realm of normal behavior to offer to fly to Hawaii with a perfect stranger, she’d take him up on his crazy plan. But that would be asking someone she barely knew for a huge favor, and that broke all of Mel’s personal rules.
Cassie waddled back into the living room.
“I’m going to get going home, sweetie,” Mel said.
“Okay. Do you want Jared to give you a ride?”
“It’s a nice night. I’ll walk.”
“You sure?”
“Definitely.” She kissed her friend’s cheek.
“You’ve got your phone?”
“And my rape whistle and my pepper spray.” She didn’t actually have either of those things. She lived halfway between Orange Ave and the Sutters’ cute little bungalow not far from the SEAL campus. It was a safe, pleasant walk she’d done many times before.
She heard Cade saying goodbye behind her, but she headed out. She didn’t like the weird, unsettled feeling in her belly. Like she was a fool not to take him up on his offer.
Like spending four days in paradise with him would be awesome, not annoying.
Like Cade looking at her with those piercing, all-knowing eyes wasn’t such a bad thing after all.
“Hang on,” he called from behind her as she stepped onto the sidewalk.
She turned slowly. No need to give his already inflated sense of self more reason to puff like a peacock.
“Let me give you a ride home.” He held up one hand. “I’ll be a complete boy scout, no annoying suggestions.”
She thought about saying no, but declining would really be for the principle and nothing else. “Sure. Thank you.”
He pointed to his truck, and then opened the passenger door for her. Once she’d given him the simple directions—two lefts and a right—he pulled onto the street.
“You don’t have a car?” he asked as he slowed at the first stop sign.
“Nope. I’m walking distance to everything I need on a daily basis. I do drive, but I use a car-share program for that. It’s so much more cost effective. My apartment doesn’t have a parking spot, etcetera. Lots of reasons.” She looked at the snorkel beside her foot. “You drive up the coast a lot?”
“Yeah. And into the foothills, too. I’m not so much a city guy. Gotta live here for work, but I like to escape it as often as I can.”
“Big on camping?”
&n
bsp; He laughed at the dry tone in her voice. “And you’re not?”
“Not usually, no.”
“Have you practiced putting together your tent for this race, then?”
Now it was her turn to laugh. It was currently set up in her living room. “A few times.”
“Did Jared run through your kit list?”
And just like that, he was back to annoying her. She pressed her lips together. The guy was giving her a drive home. Another ninety seconds and she’d be able to say thank you and good night and leave it at that.
“What did I say this time?”
She shook her head. “I think it’s just a SEAL thing. That whole ‘alpha male taking care of everything’ routine.”
“Ah.”
“What, ah?”
“Nope. Nothing.”
“I want to know.”
“And I want to retain a chance in hell in maybe being able to ask you out sometime.”
Mel froze. The spacious cab of his truck was suddenly small and overheated. She wanted to look over at him, but she didn’t dare. The last stop sign, now, and she could feel his eyes on her skin. She licked her lips. “I didn’t expect you to say that, exactly.”
“Then I didn’t do a good job of expressing my interest earlier.” His voice was laced with humor, a warm, rolling sound that loosened the ties around her. She slid a glance toward him and found his attention back on the street.
“Is it possible that we’ve gotten off to the wrong start?” she asked softly, looking at his profile.
“I’d say so, yeah.” The corner of his mouth turned up, a sudden bright crack in the shadows. “Maybe a rocky start. Not entirely the wrong direction, just not the easiest path.”
“Why did you offer to come to Hawaii with me?” She nibbled on her lower lip, worrying it as she waited for his answer.
