by KaLyn Cooper
“You do not have real homework.” Preston looked across the table at Jillian and spoke without the thick Chicago accent that Greyson had somehow developed. “May I please go to the museum with you today, Aunt Jillian? Since I’m missing school, I must write a report on something educational that I did while here.”
“I’ll be happy to take you.” Jillian looked happy to be part of a different conversation than the rest of the family. “I have a meeting with the new summer interns from the university that will last about an hour. When I’m finished, I’m sure your uncle Kuk and I can answer any of your questions.”
Even though Kuk was actually Lilly’s cousin—their grandmothers were sisters—she had taught her children to call all familial adults uncle and aunt. The titles had driven her ex crazy while in Mexico where she had such an extended family that it seemed to permeate the Mayan Riviera. She saw it as a matter of respect.
With a smile, Preston added, “Mrs. Stanly will be impressed when I mention that Dr. Kukulcan Chel helped me with my report. He’s a real Mayan.”
From the end of the table, his grandmother finalized the cruise conversation, “Then we all agree, we’ll sell no more than twenty percent of the new cruise company stock to the CEC. Lilly, you’ll draw up the sales contracts, and Jack, you’ll notify the members?” When all agreed, she stared at her grandson. “My darling Preston, you, too, are Mayan.”
“But not like Uncle Kuk and you,” Preston protested. “You look Mayan. I look American, like Dad.”
“Your father’s genetics did prevail,” his grandmother sneered, “but you are one-quarter Mayan, traceable to the time long before the Spanish even knew this part of the world existed.” She then addressed Jillian. “I think it would be good for Preston to learn more about his heritage. This family has a long history of supporting the Mayan section of the museum. Someday, Preston will be in charge of the Girard Foundation and responsible for its contributions.”
“I’m going to be a doctor, like my dad,” Preston blurted out. “I want to be just like him.”
“God, I hope not,” Jack said under his breath, but everyone at the table heard.
He shot Lilly an apologetic glance, but she knew what her brother meant...and agreed. She hoped Preston would be a much better man than his father ever was. Lilly shrugged in silent answer to Jack. Appeased, he returned his attention to the beautiful little girl next to him scarfing down blueberries as fast as they appeared on her tray.
“It’ll be my pleasure to give him a personal tour of the Mayan collection.” Jillian smiled at Preston. “I’ll even take the golden Goddesses out of the case and let you hold them, since technically they belong to this family.”
Jillian had nearly died for those damned statues, and so had Jack. The Chel side of their family had protected them since the arrival of the Conquistadores in the 1600s, hiding them in a sacred cenote where they had been forgotten for generations. Jack and Jillian, with Kuk’s help, had deciphered ancient texts and eventually found two of the four Mayan Goddesses that had stood in the temple on Isla Mujeres for centuries. Now, the golden idols resided in the museum where Jillian and Kuk often worked, when they weren’t teaching at the university.
“Are you sure you don’t mind taking him?” Lilly asked Jillian. “I can drop him off. I need to go into Cancun to do some shopping. Or I can pick him up, and we can all go shopping together.”
“I don’t mind if he goes in with me. And thanks for the shopping invitation, but I’m going diving with Jack and Josh when the boat gets back from today’s tours.”
Jillian’s excitement for the underwater world baffled Lilly and worried her. What if something happened to Jillian while she was scuba diving? What about Addison?
That problem would be solved within days. Once Jack and Jillian were married, Jack would legally adopt Addison the following week in Chicago. The two seemed to enjoy diving together and did so often. Lilly shouldn’t worry but the thought of that precious little girl...parentless. Alone. It bothered her. Addison deserved to be spoiled the way Lilly had been as a child, and the way she'd planned to spoil a daughter if she had one.
Lilly found she’d been staring at Addison as the child devoured a pancake using both hands to stuff her face. “Then let me reciprocate and take care of Addison while you’re out.” Before the other woman could protest, Lilly confessed, “The boys help care for Addison, so it’s easy to watch all of them at the same time. They’ve missed their little cousin.”
“That would be wonderful.” Jillian smiled at Addison. “Will you be good for Aunt Lilly this afternoon and play nice with the boys?”
“I get to play with Peston and Gayson?” Addi’s eyes widened, hope sparkling in the toddler’s brilliant blue eyes.
“We’ll work on the correct pronunciation of their names.” Jillian’s apologetic eyes looked up at Lilly.
She smiled and shrugged. “No problem. I’ll get the boys working on it this afternoon.”
“You’re not going scuba diving with us, Lilly?” Josh’s voice wasn’t exactly accusatory, but she got the notion he disapproved of her choice.
Obviously, choosing shopping over chasing parrot fish and gawking at coral while breathing through a tube attached to a tank with only a little bit of air in it baffled him. She’d pick a root canal without anesthesia over scuba diving every time.
Jack jumped in. “Lilly doesn’t dive.” He looked right at her, lips pulled tight. After the...accident...he’d tried for years to get her back down. None of his coaxing her, berating her, or cajoling her to dive again had worked. She’d never been able to make him understand that she would never put herself in that situation again. He’d been there when she...when her lungs...he’d seen the blood she coughed up. He’d helped their dad put her and Gramps into the cramped hyperbaric chamber. He of all people should understand. But he didn’t.
Jillian grew excited. “Jack can teach you. He’s an excellent instructor.”
Lilly took a deep breath before she spoke. “I’m certified. I know how to dive. I just don’t anymore.” There. She’d said it. Out loud. Another step to retaking her life. Kind of. She hadn’t admitted that it had been her own damn fault. She’d ignored her training and panicked.
Changing the subject, she turned to her mother. “Mom, want to go shopping with me? I’m redecorating my old bedroom.”
“Thank God.” Her mother set her empty coffee cup down and stood. “Yes, as long as we can get rid of those depressing dark colors, I’ll even foot the bill. Let’s start now before you change your mind.”
“Mom, the stores are closed for another two hours,” Lilly reminded her.
“My darling daughter”—she patted Lilly’s cheek as she headed into the house—“the Internet works extremely well here. We need to choose a new color palette to start.” She stopped and paused. “Maybe we should call Zal. I bet she’d come up with some wonderful color combinations.” Her mother’s eyebrows drew together as she looked Lilly up and down. “You will change first though, right?”
Only then did she realize that all she’d worn to breakfast was a lightweight, white sports bra that was more sheer than she’d thought and low riding spandex short shorts. She slapped her arms over her naked belly and looked around. Normally it would never have bothered her. It was family and no one cared what she wore, especially since the men had on nothing but swim trunks.
But Josh had been there. She’d had two children and her body wasn’t ever on display like this morning. Sure, it covered more than her swim suits did, but she never wore anything revealing in public. They had a private beach and the pool was completely hidden from anyone outside the family. Her husband wouldn’t want—
Lilly stopped herself. She was headed down a road she no longer traveled. She didn’t care anymore what he-whose-opinion-would-not-be-considered would think about her body on display. Yes. She was almost thirty-five years old, but as she unwrapped her toned arms from her midriff, she took a good look at her body.
She could no longer see her ribs from starving herself to be the rail thin woman he wanted her to be. She had a relatively flat stomach. Being truthful with herself, yes, she had a little, very little, baby belly. After two kids, that was to be expected. She remembered their argument last year about a tummy tuck. His suggestion. Her refusal.
Yes. She had been taking back Lilly Girard one muscle at a time for over a year.
Jillian walked up holding Addison’s hand. “Thanks so much for taking care of her this afternoon. She might still be down for her nap when we leave, so let her sleep as long as she wants.”
“No problem,” Lilly said. “Greyson might be down then, too. He’s gotten into taking a short nap after he gets home from preschool. They wear him out, and with his heart, I’d prefer he rested.”
Deep voices grabbed their attention and both women gawked at Josh and Jack who stood like matching Greek gods in the quad. “He’s here early for diving, isn’t he?”
“I’m not sure what’s going on,” Jillian admitted. “Jack was headed for his work out this morning when he got a text. The next thing I knew, he left for Cancun in the Jeep, and returned with Josh. They ran and swam this morning, but he doesn’t seem in a hurry to leave.”
The men talked as they walked toward the women.
“Try to get some sleep.” Jack slapped Josh on the shoulder. “If you need anything, Mateo’s and Calita’s numbers are next to the phone in your room.”
“Thanks, Jack. I really appreciate this. I’ll find a hotel this afternoon.” Josh said the last with confidence.
“You’ll do no such thing,” Jack insisted. “You’re our guest. You will stay here whenever you’re Cancun from now on.” In a quieter tone, Jack added, “It’s safer for you here.”
“What?” The word exploded from Lilly’s mouth. Josh was staying there? Sure, the compound had nine ensuite bedrooms, but she and the boys took three since Jack, Jillian, and Addison had moved into the three bedroom pool house where Lilly’s family usually stayed. Their brother, Levi, had arrived yesterday for the week, along with their mother. Okay, so that only filled five bedrooms. One was set aside for Jillian’s Matron of Honor, a friend from the university where she used to teach.
So they had room for Josh. Why was she getting so upset about the idea of this man spending the week there?
“I gave him my old room,” Jack explained. “His hotel had a sewer line bust in the middle of the night.”
Calm down, Lilly ordered herself. Besides, these days the compound was more like Jack’s home than the family vacation house. He’d lived there since leaving the SEAL teams nearly four years ago. He could invite whomever he wished to stay and the man needed somewhere to sleep. How disgusting, a sewer line break.
“Ew.” Jillian then offered, “Call Calita and she’ll have your clothes smelling fresh and clean before you wake up from your nap.”
“I can do my own laundry.” Josh shook his head.
“I know you can.” Jack’s tone offered no questioning. “However, if Calita catches you in her laundry room, she’ll have both our asses. Besides, you look like shit warmed over. Go get some sleep or as dive master, I won’t let you go down.”
Jillian smacked Jack’s bicep. “Little ears. Watch your language.”
Jack looked down at Addison. “We’ve talked about this haven’t we, Princess? There are words adults say that little girls don’t.”
“Yes.” Blonde curls bobbed as she nodded. “Like shit. Not ’posed to say shit.”
“Well, there you go.” Jillian crossed her arms. “You can be the one to tell Sister Pauline why Addison has a potty mouth when she uses that word at daycare.”
“I’m rethinking the whole nanny idea,” he admitted. “Calita was a wonderful nanny.”
Lilly stood up straighter at that comment. “No, she wasn’t. She ran the Little Hitler Youth Camp. She got us up at the butt crack of dawn and we had to be in bed by seven-thirty. Even as teenagers.” It had been so embarrassing.
“She did not,” Jack countered. “It was eight o’clock when we were teenagers. Not that it kept you in bed. Or even inside the compound. She knew you used to sneak out.”
Lilly was ready to take on that line of bull when Jack got a glint in his eye.
“She let you get away with murder,” he accused.
“I did not murder that iguana.” Lilly insisted, fists flying to her hips. “It...it surprised me.”
“And you beat it to death with a croquet mallet.” Jack’s smile and demeanor said gotcha.
Lily noticed Josh and Jillian following the sibling interchange like a tennis match, with smirks on their faces, as they looked right, then left, and back again.
“Well, yes.” Lilly admitted. “Damn thing deserved to die. That huge iguana jumped from the tree and attacked me. I was only defending myself. Besides, we gave the damn reptile a proper burial.”
Josh burst out laughing. The deep, very male rumble took Lilly by surprise.
“What?” she demanded.
He was laughing at her. How dare he? But the reverberation from deep within him...and the smile changed his whole face. He was no longer the fierce force to be reckoned with...he was...handsome beyond belief, in a George Clooney kind of way. Lilly was rendered speechless.
“I just can’t picture you—” He laughed again. “You’re such a refined woman, so totally in control––beating the hell out of a defenseless iguana.”
“That son of a gun was three feet long.” Lilly spread her arms out to demonstrate its length.
“Lilly is a take-no-prisoners kind of woman,” Jack announced. “She’s much tougher than you’d think. Growing up, she was fearless and as tough as any boy in the neighborhood, whether here in Mexico or in Chicago. Mom sent her to Cotillion classes to become a lady.”
“I wasn’t that bad,” Lilly protested. “Mom and Dad insisted that I be a debutante. It was expected of a Girard daughter.”
“Don’t let her kid you,” Jack continued. “She fights dirty. And can protect herself.” Jack and Josh exchanged a glance.
“Thanks to your self-defense lessons.” While Lilly was no match for either of these men, she could put a hurt on a mugger.
Jack threw an arm around his sister. “I worry about you, sis. You’re a single mom with two small boys living in Chicago, sometimes working late into the evening. And you are very independent.”
Lilly wasn’t sure about the last statement. He-who-she-refused-to-think-of-as-a-human had forced her to become so dependent on him that it pissed her off she’d allowed him to control her so much. She was regaining that independence more every day. “Just because I’m a woman and look beauti—” She scanned her scantily-clad body. “Well, I usually look much better—doesn’t mean I’m not a tiger underneath the linen suit I wear every day to work.”
“Just ask the cruise line’s attorney.” Levi joined the conversation. “She chewed him up and spit him out last week during negotiations.” He too slid an arm around his sister. “Proud of you. Always.”
Lilly loved her brothers. Yeah, they fought like siblings, but in the end, they would do anything for one another. “I love you, too.”
She slipped an arm around each brother and gave them both a little squeeze. “Now, if this little lovefest is over, Mom is waiting for me, so I need to shower and change.”
“Yeah.” Jack scrunched up his nose. “I wasn’t going to say anything but...”
“Good thing you didn’t, little brother,” Lilly warned. “Paybacks are mothers, and I’ve been a mother for seven years now.”
Jack leaned in next to her ear so no one else heard. “Tomorrow morning you might want to consider a different top. Yours was nearly transparent when soaked with sweat, but I’m quite sure Josh appreciated the show. Watching him fight to keep his eyes off you all through breakfast was the most fun I’ve had with him since SEAL Team Two sent him a stripper for his promotion to captain.”
Lilly looked down at the light-weight white
top, now stiff with perspiration.
Oh, shit.
Chapter 5
In Josh’s life, there were a few good days and too many bad days to count. Every now and again, there was a great day. Today was among his top ten best days ever, especially considering its stinking start.
The run in the sand and five-mile swim at dawn were as natural to him as ocean waves rushing to a shore, but the water in the Caribbean was so much warmer than his BUDs days in the frigid surf of the West Coast and the years spent swimming in the Gulf Current that passed Norfolk, Virginia. He’d been reinvigorated.
Playing in the pool with the little children reminded him of lazy Sundays at his brother Sean’s house in Virginia when his niece and nephew were young and carefree. Those were good times. Honey’s current problems with the two, and the phone call while at the club, were shoved aside in favor of the memories of the euphoric day.
Josh wasn’t sure if it was his constant situational awareness or if he was just tuned in to Lilly somehow, but he felt her presence before he caught her walking across the quad in his peripheral vision. Backlit by the pool lights, her curvaceous outline could be seen through the bright yellow sundress that hugged her full breasts and trim waist then flared over rounded hips.
He’d seen those dark nipples pebble that morning through the barely-there crop top when her brown eyes had melted to liquid chocolate from an inner heat. The idea of licking the sweet confection off those hard nubs made his cock jump to life...like it had that morning sitting across the table from her. It had taken everything he had not to stare as she had checked him out. Her reaction to his half-naked body had kick-started his libido and forced him to pay attention to her every nuance at breakfast. She’d been thinking about him. He knew it. And if her thoughts had gone in the same direction as his, he hoped they would end up in bed before the week was over.
While he might not be Jack’s commanding officer anymore, he still wasn’t sure that would be a good idea. He was there to conduct the wedding...and track down human traffickers who were going to smuggle a terrorist cell into the U.S.A. He had to remember his mission and couldn’t afford a constant distraction like Lilly Girard. On the other hand, he wasn’t working all the time.
