“You’re here now,” he said after pausing for a beat. His arm came up around me to point at a building coming into view as we were swept across the bay. “See that right there? It’s one of the oldest churches on the island. You should go check it out sometime.”
“You’ll have to take me there sometime, then.” Whenever Jordan and I were together like this, it was difficult to imagine having these experiences with anyone else. There really wasn’t anyone else I’d rather have them with.
Jordan and I had so much in common in so many ways, even if we were polar opposites in others. Our differences seemed to be in the exact right places for us to fit together perfectly despite them, though.
I flashed back to what he had asked earlier about telling Kole, my stomach knotting all over again until I remembered he’d agreed not to. My big brother finding out that I’d been sleeping with his best friend would probably be an unmitigated disaster at this point, when Kole’s crazy overprotectiveness was at an all-time high for only having just gotten me back in his life.
Frankly, I’d been surprised Jordan had even suggested it. He’d never said anything like that before and I’d thought he was good with the way things were. Although I understood how he might’ve gotten carried away in the moment with the way we’d been staring at each other right there in the middle of the museum.
Every once in a while, it was like the most intense chemistry just zapped between us at the weirdest times and we’d just kind of fallen into it for a minute. And I liked to fantasize about what it might be like to really be with Jordan at times, but it wasn’t like it would ever happen.
I supposed it was only natural that he’d have brief lapses in judgment too. In a way, it was even comforting to know he also wondered about it sometimes.
Anyway, I was determined to make the best of the time we had together. Wallowing in pointless what-ifs wasn’t really my style. In this moment, Jordan was mine. We were up here together, experiencing the warm breeze and the beautiful views together.
There was no need to dampen how awesome it was by revisiting a single question asked in a charged moment. Shaking myself out of my head, I smiled as I watched children run on the beach and remembered that this really was my life now.
As Jordan had pointed out, I could do this every day if I wanted to. It really was kind of incredible.
A few minutes later, we landed safely back on the soft sand and I turned to throw my arms around Jordan’s neck when he’d released us from our harnesses. “Thank you for doing that with me. It was so damn cool.”
He chuckled as his strong arms circled my waist and he held me tight, if only for a couple of seconds. “Anytime, Ellie. Anytime.”
I beamed up at him as I stepped away, adrenaline coursing hot and heavy through my veins. “What are we going to do now? There’s no way we can just go home after that.”
Pursing his lips, he moved them from side to side and narrowed his eyes in thought. “How about a hike? There’s a good one not too far from here. It’s also got some beautiful views of the ocean and it’s shaded most of the way up.”
“Sounds like a plan,” I said, turning to walk to the parking lot where we’d left his Jeep earlier. As we got settled into our seats and Jordan started the engine, he glanced at me in the rearview mirror.
“I’ve got some sunscreen in the glove compartment. We should probably get some on once we arrive. There’s plenty of shade, but we’ll be in the sun once we get to the top.”
“Good thinking.” I reached out and popped open the compartment, pulling out the bottle of sunscreen I found there. “I’ll keep it on my lap so we don’t forget. So, this hike? I’m assuming you’ve done it before?”
“Parts of it,” he said. “There are trails all over the mountain. I haven’t gotten to them all.”
He turned off the main road and up a narrower lane, lined by giant trees on either side. I leaned back in my seat and admired the scenery while we drove, getting to a small parking area a little while later.
Jordan found a spot and eased into it. Then we quickly applied sunscreen and grabbed a bottle of water and a backpack he had in the Jeep before setting off. We walked side by side up a dirt trail, our arms brushing every so often.
Jordan nudged me with his elbow. “So now that you’re getting more settled, have you given any more thought to going back to school?”
“Not really.” I shrugged and chewed on the inside of my cheek. “I’m in no rush. I haven’t even decided if I want to finish my degree, never mind when I want to do it.”
“Kole hasn’t brought it up again?” he asked, arching an eyebrow as he looked down at me. “I gotta admit, I thought he’d have enrolled you himself by now.”
“So did I,” I admitted, reaching behind me to twist my ponytail into a messy bun while we walked. “But he hasn’t said another word. I don’t know whether he’s given up on it or if he’s just biding his time, but I’m going to have to play it by ear and deal with him if and when the times comes.”
A low chuckle rumbled from his chest. “Solid plan, the wait and see thing. If I know your brother though, he hasn’t let it go.”
“I don’t think so either, but I’m hoping it doesn’t come up again too soon.” The dirt path twisted and wound around trees with thick roots protruding from the ground as we made our way up the back of the mountain. “I’m happy just doing this for now. I like my job. I’ve made a friend or two, if I include you. I’m exploring my new home and living my life. I don’t want to have to worry about anything more than that right now.”
He gave me a sideways glance. “Yeah, I hear you.”
I thought I heard him release a quiet sigh. “Unfortunately, the future’s coming for us whether we like it or not. It doesn’t matter what you want right now because right now doesn’t last.”
“Tomorrow is always only a day away?” I asked, letting out a soft laugh as I bumped my shoulder against his. “I didn’t take you for the musical type.”
Barking out a laugh, he shook his head and then smirked down at me. “Well, look at that. There are some things you don’t know about me.”
“For the record, I hate musicals,” I said.
He mock-gasped and pressed his hand to his mouth. “Blasphemy. How can you hate musicals?”
I shrugged. “People don’t just burst into song spontaneously in real life.”
“Movies aren’t real life, though,” he argued. “Aliens don’t exist in real life, yet you watch movies about them.”
“Yeah, but that’s fantasy. Musicals pretend to happen in real life, but no one dances and sings in cafeterias or while running down the street. If they did, they’re likely to be committed.”
Out of nowhere, Jordan sprinted off ahead of me and, when he was a fair distance away, turned and started belting out lyrics to a song I didn’t recognize. Startled and honestly a little shocked, I could only stare at him for a minute before laughter begun to bubble out of me.
I kept walking, and when I reached him, he threw his arms out to his sides and took a bow, the song cut off as abruptly as it had started. “See? People can burst into song spontaneously in real life.”
“Point made, but I still don’t like musicals.”
“Neither do I,” he said, winking at me before falling into step beside me again. “I was just kidding earlier, but it doesn’t mean that song is wrong. Tomorrow is only a day away. You got any plans at all for the future?”
I dragged in a breath and released it slowly. “No, not right now. I’m just taking things one day at a time. I’m young, I’ve just moved to a new city, I still have to find my feet at my new job. I have time to figure the future out when I get there. Tomorrow might only be a day away, but it is still a day away. For today, I’m happy where I am.”
The path evened out as we neared the top of the mountain. Jordan dipped his head from side to side, considering my impassioned speech as we talked. “All that may be true, but it makes me feel better to have some sort of plan.�
��
“Yeah?” I lifted my chin in a challenge. “What’s your plan, then? Aside from the pineapple plantation, are you going to settle down and have two point five kids within the next five years?”
He rolled his eyes at me. “I don’t have a concrete five-year plan. It could happen next year or seven years from now, but yes, I would like to settle down. I’m not getting any younger and I’m not going to look like this forever.”
“So you want to settle down before you let yourself go?” I joked. I saw the laughter shining from his eyes and gestured to his ridiculously sculpted abs. Although I couldn’t see them, I definitely knew they were there. They were among the frontrunners in terms of his body parts I liked to dream about. “I don’t think you have to worry about that anytime soon. Those things are going to take years to melt away.”
He scoffed. “You’d be surprised.”
We fell silent as we crested the top of the path, finding ourselves standing on a cliff overlooking the ocean. I whistled under my breath. “Wow, you weren’t kidding when you said there were some great views on this hike.”
Jordan nodded, but when he looked at me, there was a seriousness in his gaze that hadn’t been there before. “When you say you have no plans for the future, does that mean you’ve never even thought about settling down?”
My heart skipped and stumbled over itself. I needed this conversation to end as soon as possible. I couldn’t talk to him about this. “I didn’t say that.”
Before he could open his mouth to ask the question the frown that his brow had tugged into gave away, I lifted my arm and pointed to the edge of the cliff. “Hey, how high do you think that is? Could we jump it?”
His eyes widened a fraction. Then the frown disappeared and a brilliant smile appeared in its place. “You want to jump off a cliff to get out of talking about this?”
“No,” I lied, but Jordan knew me better than that. He let it go though, mercifully.
“We could jump it.” Without another word, he grabbed my hand and pulled me off in the direction I’d pointed.
When we got near the edge, I realized that the cliff we were on was a hell of a lot higher than I’d thought. My feet planted firmly in the soil beneath my feet. “Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.”
Jordan turned to face me, gorgeous green eyes searching mine before he shrugged. “No, it was a really good idea. We’ve come too far for it all to have been a waste. No turning back now.”
He held his hand out to me, and with a resigned sigh, I took it. “Fine, but if I crack my skull open on a rock, I’m haunting you for the rest of your life.”
Humor lit his eyes, but he didn’t let me in on the joke. Instead, he lifted our joined hands and pressed a kiss to the back of mine. “I’d never let you get hurt. You know that. Now, are we going to jump or what?”
“Count us down,” I said, tightening my grip on his hand before I let it go. After taking a couple of steps back to be able to build up momentum, I closed my eyes and wondered why I had so much trust in this guy. I believed him when he said he’d never let me get hurt, even if I knew he couldn’t know whether or not there were rocks beneath the surface of the water.
But it had been my idea, and although we could have simply hiked back down, I didn’t want to turn back now either. I sent up a quick prayer and blew a kiss at Jordan just as he reached the end of the count and we went hurtling over the side of the damn mountain together.
My breath caught in my lungs, exhilaration rushing through every one of my veins before I hit the water in a giant splash. Jordan surfaced right beside me, still wearing that beautiful freaking smile.
Unable to stop myself yet again, I threw my arms around his neck and he wound his against my waist. This time though, there was no one around.
Jordan rested his forehead against mine as we treaded water together, something passing between us before he slanted his mouth over mine and kissed me until it felt like I could fly right back up to the top of the cliff.
Chapter 25
Jordan
“Could you meet me at the base in thirty minutes in my office?” Kole asked when I answered my phone. His tone was brisk and businesslike, making me narrow my eyes at the book I was holding.
I lifted my gaze away from it to grab the attention of my waitress, my senses suddenly on high alert as I wondered what was wrong with Kole. “Is everything okay? What’s happened?”
“I just need you to come in.” His voice rang with authority and command. Under normal circumstances, I would have given him shit for trying to use it on me.
I didn’t think these were normal circumstances, though. Something was going on and I needed to find out what it was.
Finally catching the waitress’s eye, I signaled her for my check and closed the book. “Okay, I’ll meet you there but you’re really freaking me out, man.”
“Just be here,” he said, his tone softening. “Please. As soon as you can.”
“I’ll be there.” I paid for the coffee and sandwich I’d had at the beach-side cafe, then packed up my stuff, and took off.
Apprehension slivered through me as I walked to my Jeep. Kole hadn’t summoned me to his new office at the base before, and this had definitely been a summoning. During working hours, which meant whatever it was couldn’t even wait another couple of hours. It wasn’t a good sign.
The only things Kole would be willing to discuss while at work was work, but I wasn’t in the service anymore so that seemed unlikely—or Elyse. Neither of those topics could result in a pleasant discussion with as urgent as his summoning had been.
If it was about Elyse, if he’d found out about us somehow, I’d tell him the whole goddamn truth and nothing but. She might not be interested in a relationship or in settling down with me, but Kole deserved to know that she meant more to me than just being someone I was fucking.
I might not have any realistic intentions of marrying the woman but what we had wasn’t cheap either, as I was sure he would assume. Kole knew I didn’t do relationships, so his mind would jump to the worst possible conclusion. The truth was that none of my relationships since her had worked out because of her, because I’d never found what I’d had with her.
But I’d have to cross that bridge if I got there.
With my jaw set and my fingers curled into fists, I strode into his office without knocking. “What’s going on?”
Kole whirled around from where he’d been staring out of the window behind his desk, his face crumpling with relief when he saw me. “Thank you for coming so quickly.”
My own body felt numb with relief when I saw it so clearly in him. Obviously, this wasn’t about Elyse or my relationship with her. I doubted there would be any relief in that conversation if we ever had it.
“I repeat, what’s going on? Did something happen?”
He sighed, nodding as he screwed his eyes shut. “I need your help.”
“With what?” I frowned, folding my arms over my chest.
Kole opened his eyes again and sank into his desk chair, motioning for me to take a seat too. “Some shit went down with the guy I had leading the new recruits this morning. I can’t get into the details unless you accept my offer, but suffice it to say that he won’t be back.”
“Okay.” My eyebrows pulled even closer together. “What does any of this have to do with me? I’m not even in the service anymore, remember?”
“Yeah, but you could come back.”
My eyes shot wide open, incredulity shuttling from one of my organs to the next. “Are you kidding me right now?”
“No.” He placed his hands flat on his desk and leaned forward. “I need someone I can trust, Jordan. I’m still new in this position and I have a lot riding on getting everything just right. Since you’re the only person I trust to help me achieve that goal, I need you.”
“I left. They wouldn’t let me come back even if I wanted to.”
Shaking his head defiantly, he jerked a thumb at the framed appointment letter o
n the wall. “I have the pull to get you in. All you need to do is say you want the job.”
“But I don’t want the job,” I retorted. “Look, man, I’d love to help you out but my time in the service is up and I have zero desire to be back.”
Kole dragged his fingers through his dark hair, lacing them together to pull at the back of his neck. “I don’t need an answer today. So would you at least take a few days to think about it? The pay would be good and we’d get to work together again.”
“I don’t care about the pay and maybe we can work together again someday when your own time here is done.” I couldn’t believe we were rehashing all this again. “You’re barking up the wrong tree here, Kole. You’re wasting your time with me.”
He let out a heavy sigh, his gaze catching on mine. He held it there for a long second, then ripped a piece of paper from the small block on his desk and scribbled something down on it. When he was done, he handed it over to me.
“This is the amount of money I can offer you to come back. Look it over, think about it, sleep on it. Hell, eat on it or pray on it if you want. Just don’t turn me down flat out.”
I took the folded paper but shoved it into my pocket without looking at the number on it. “Fine, but I’m not making any promises. In fact, I’m strongly encouraging you to look at and interview other candidates while you wait for me to think it over.”
“I will,” he said, but I saw the spark of hope in his eyes. He wanted me for the job and my agreement to take a few days had made him think there was a chance I’d take it.
A phone on his desk rang, interrupting us. He took the call, told whoever it was he needed a few minutes, and then hung up. “I need you for this, Jordan. Please consider my offer seriously. You’d make a lot more than you’re making on that plantation and I owe you for what you did for me. I want to repay you and this is the only way I know how.”
“You don’t need to repay me.” I stood up and walked around his desk, pulling him in for a hug when he met me halfway. “You are where you are because you’re a good leader and you worked fucking hard to be here. It doesn’t have anything to do with what I did. It’s time to let that go.”
Have Your Way With Me Page 16
