Adored by You: A Sweet, Celebrity, Military Romance (San Diego Marines Book 7)

by Jess Mastorakos

  I burst out laughing so hard I had to wipe a tear from my eye. Molly was pretty reserved and even with me she was not one to talk like that normally, and it was so out of character that it had me rolling.

  “I’m partial to Noah, of course, but yes. I do think that must be a rule.” I slapped her leg and stood up. “Now, let’s go join them at the pool before we have to start getting ready for Friendsgiving.”

  18

  Noah

  Just like yesterday’s buffet-style dinner, Molly arranged for our Friendsgiving dinner to be served in the grassy area in front of the cottages. This time, a long table had been set with an extravagant array of plates and silverware. I only made one joke to Paige about the number of forks present confusing my friends. These Marines usually only went to one fancy dinner per year, and that was the ball.

  Molly had shown us the menu earlier that day. Apparently, Paige had talked to her about making sure our meals were more laid-back and less refined than the one we’d shared at the Hotel del Coronado that first night.

  With that in mind, Molly had gone with a more traditional Thanksgiving menu, and I was glad. I couldn’t imagine Brooks eating some kind of cranberry sauce aspic, but there were still some exotic flavors that were unique to being in Hawaii.

  We’d have classic turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, macadamia nut cornbread stuffing, cranberry apple relish, candied yams, and sweet Hawaiian rolls. For dessert, the standard pumpkin pie and pani popo, a Samoan dessert made with sweet bread and coconut milk.

  When the servers finished laying out the food, we moved forward and took our seats around the table, ready to dig in. Vince, Sara, and their daughter sat at one end across from Cooper, Angie, and their son. Murphy and Ivy took a seat next to them, with Ivy’s brother, Brooks, and his wife Cat, sitting down next to him. Molly, Paige, and I finished up that side of the table, sitting across from O’Malley, Rachel, and Finn. Amelia Mills was smitten with Finn, so she practically ran to that seat, leaving space for Olivia, Matt, Hawk, and Ellie to take the last four places.

  I knew I was the newest member of the group, having only been with them for about a year and a half, but the rest of these guys have worked together or been friends for nearly six years now. After two deployments together, with one resulting in an attack and a near-death experience for Mills and Brooks, this group had an unbreakable bond. I was just grateful to be part of it.

  Even though I missed the guys from my other squadrons, I loved that I had found a new home with this group. While it lasted, anyway. Like most things in the Marine Corps, this group being together was only ever temporary. Half of us had already moved to different bases, and the rest would follow soon enough.

  When you live this life, you learn to be grateful for the friends you have at any given time, because the chances of the entire group reuniting again were slim to none. That is unless your girlfriend could fly you all to Hawaii for annual Friendsgiving trips, of course.

  I looked over at Paige, chatting happily with Molly and Rachel about their mutual obsession for leggings with pockets. I didn’t get the hype, personally. It didn’t seem comfortable to keep your phone up against your leg like that while working out, but I enjoyed watching them bond over something they had in common. The topics of conversation changed from apparel to hiking, which led to us telling them about our favorite hiking spot in Arizona. Plans were quickly made to go for a group hike at Torrey Pines in San Diego.

  “Aw, man,” Olivia lamented. “I’m really going to miss San Diego. We leave so soon.”

  “I know, I hate it,” Ellie replied, pouting at her best friend. “But at least you’ll have Cat.”

  “Right,” Olivia agreed, raising a glass at Cat. “I’m very grateful you guys will be there. But Ellie, I’m just praying you guys will get orders to the East Coast soon, too.”

  “Actually,” Hawk said, clearing his throat, “we do have orders.”

  You could have heard a pin drop if it weren’t for the sound of the ocean nearby. Hawk had been stationed in San Diego for the entirety of his career so far. With his outgoing personality and the fact that he could make friends with anyone, I was sure he’d be missed around the hangar if he left. I cut a glance at Finn, who had only just moved there and found out he had an uncle. He was probably going to be devastated by his move. He leaned forward and looked at Hawk with wide eyes. Even at eight years old, he knew what getting orders meant.

  Olivia’s eyes widened as she turned to him, her head swiveling from Hawk to Ellie and back again. “You what?”

  “A couple of months ago I got put on the HSST list,” Hawk replied.

  “Again, what?” Olivia asked with a laugh at the unfamiliar term. She looked at Mills. “Did you get put on the list, too?”

  Mills shook his head. “Nope. But I bet I will next year. It’s only a matter of time for most Marines when they hit sergeant and above.”

  “So what exactly does it mean?” Rachel asked, being the most unfamiliar with our world next to Paige and Molly—though the acronym was foreign to Olivia as well, so she wasn’t that far behind.

  “If your name is on the list, it means you have to volunteer for a special duty assignment,” Hawk explained.

  “If you have to volunteer, is it really volunteering?” Finn asked, making us smile.

  Hawk leaned forward and winked at him. “It’s what we call being ‘volun-told’ to do something. You don’t really have to, but if you don’t, then you better plan on getting out when your contract is up because they won’t let you stay in.”

  “Sheesh,” Finn said, shaking his head. “Marines are bossy.”

  “Anyway,” Hawk said after we all laughed, “I put in my paperwork like I was supposed to, and on Tuesday the CO sent out an e-mail that had everyone’s name who got selected this round, and I was on it.”

  Hawk looking pointedly at me. He didn’t say anything aloud, but the almost imperceptible nod of his head told me what I needed to know. My name had been on that list a couple months ago too, but I didn’t know if I’d also been selected for a special duty assignment or if I got to stay put.

  I swallowed. I’d heard a rumor from my higher-ups that there was a chance I could be on it, even though I’d only moved to San Diego last year. I looked at Paige out of the corner of my eye. She was listening to the conversation with mild interest since it didn’t mean much to her, but I knew this was a huge disruption for Hawk and Ellie’s life. And if my name was also on that list, it would be crazy for us, too. I hoped I was wrong about Hawk’s expression.

  “What’s a special duty assignment?” Rachel asked.

  “There are a bunch of them, but the HSST list is for recruiting duty, drill instructor duty, and embassy duty,” Owen answered her.

  “Which one are you going to do?” Olivia asked Hawk, eyes unblinking.

  “They’re sending me to the drill field in March,” he replied, meaning he’d be a drill instructor at one of the nation’s two Marine Corps Recruit Depots. One of them was in San Diego and the other was in Parris Island, South Carolina. That meant he was either staying in San Diego with his newfound family or he was heading to the East Coast with half of our group.

  “Which freaking coast, man?” Mills asked impatiently.

  Hawk grinned at Ellie, and she nodded in encouragement for him to tell the rest of the group. He leaned forward and looked at Finn again. “Finn, which coast did I tell you was the best coast?”

  Finn’s eyes lit up, and he yelled, “The West Coast!”

  “Amen,” Hawk said, grinning at his nephew.

  The relief at our end of the table where I sat across from Owen, Rachel, and Finn was so real I felt like I’d been blasted in the chest with it. On the other hand, Mills, Brooks, and their wives all hung their heads and groaned. Since Murphy wasn’t active duty anymore and lived in Texas as a civilian contractor for the military, he and Ivy just laughed at all of the funny reactions to their drawn-out announcement. Lastly, our two gunnery sergeants at the opp
osite end of the table—who had met while on recruiting duty all those years ago—congratulated him on not getting sent to recruiting school instead.

  Thanks to Hawk’s announcement, the conversations quickly broke up into smaller groups, giving me a spare moment to pull out my phone and text Hawk under the table.

  Me: I was selected for an SDA, wasn’t I?

  I watched as Hawk fished out his phone and his shoulders raised once as he snickered at the text.

  Hawk: Yep. I thought you knew and we just hadn’t talked about it yet. Didn’t you check your e-mail before you left on Tuesday?

  We could only check our government e-mail accounts from a certain type of computer with government access enabled, so I couldn’t do that from Hawaii. I’d been so distracted by talking to Paige about the trip that I’d totally forgotten to check my e-mail before I left work on Tuesday.

  Me: No. Tell me!

  Hawk: You’re going to BRC in March.

  I stared at the words on the screen. BRC. Basic Recruiter’s Course. March. I sighed. The one good part was that BRC was in San Diego, so I wouldn’t have to leave for the schooling part. I could commute from home. The bad thing was I could wind up literally anywhere in the United States and its outlying territories as a recruiter. Any small town in America that had a hole-in-the-wall recruiting office was up for grabs. And I wouldn’t know where I would be going until halfway through the eight-week recruiting course. By my calculations, that meant living in limbo until early April.

  I put my phone away, forgetting to reply to Hawk. He was already engrossed in conversation with Mills and Brooks about drill instructor training, and everyone else around me was still talking about their own topics. I ate my food in silence for a moment, trying to let the delicious flavors and the fact that I was dining beachfront on one of the most beautiful bays in the world distract me from my uncertain future.

  After a while of bonding with my friends, Paige leaned over and whispered in my ear. “I love you and your people.”

  I smiled at her, her statement momentarily distracting me from my concerns. “I love you and the fact that you love my people.”

  It was a sweet moment, sealed with a kiss, but then a camera flash went off right in our faces. We jumped, startled, and looked up to find a dozen paparazzo jumping out from behind the bushes like a herd of gazelle with giant camera bags. They hurled questions at us faster than we could even think about answering.

  “Paige, who are your new friends?”

  “Are you walking away from fame, Paige?”

  “Noah, are you just with Paige for her money?”

  “Noah, are you having fun showing off your new girlfriend to your friends?”

  “Is this your new life, Paige? Hanging out with regular people all the time? What about Chase and your real life?”

  “What’s the story here? We heard there’s a wedding this weekend. Is it yours and Noah’s, Paige?”

  They got off a few more shots before Paige’s security team rounded them up and got them out of there. And it wasn’t soon enough, in my opinion. I’d never once wished Joe and his team could hang out a little closer to her, but I understood now why they needed to be around. Not that I couldn’t have handled these jokers with the help of my friends.

  “Thanks, Joe,” Molly called, heading back to the table from where she’d run over to yell for security. “So sorry, everyone. That won’t happen again.”

  The group of Marines at the table had varying reactions to the intrusion. Most of us had stayed seated and just watched the scene with alarm, but Mills, who struggled with PTSD after getting shot on deployment, had sprung from his seat and put himself directly between the cameramen and his wife and daughter, fists up and ready to fight. Hawk had been sitting next to him, so he’d also stood, just in case he needed to hold Mills back.

  When the dust settled and Joe and the guys had sufficiently removed the threat, we all looked at each other in stunned silence for a moment. Mills and Hawk retook their seats, playing it off like it was no big deal. I looked to Paige to make sure she was okay, and I found her with her face in her hands.

  “Hey, you okay?” I rubbed her back.

  The rest of the table moved on, laughing about the incident and keeping it light. Mills had gotten better and better at coming back from his various outbursts as the years since the incident progressed, but when a bunch of guys jumped out of the bushes and converged on our table, he had a right to be a little on edge.

  “I’m mortified,” she replied in a low tone.

  “Don’t be, it’s not your fault. Everyone’s fine, see?”

  She peeked out at the rest of the table. They’d all switched gears from nervous to amazed. They chattered in small groups—Sara said how funny it had been and Ivy said she’d never been on the receiving end of the paparazzi’s attention before. Since Cat was a photographer, she broke down the type of long-range lenses she’d seen on their cameras. No one was mad or upset or scared. They were back to enjoying their meal like it never even happened.

  “Don’t sweat it,” I said in her ear. “This dinner is great, it’ll be a trip none of us will ever forget.”

  She gave me a small smile and shook it off, turning back to her own plate. The food really was amazing, I had to admit. As a single Marine with no family, I only had a couple of options for Thanksgiving and had spent a few at the chow hall with other single buddies in the early days. We’d sit at the cold, metal picnic tables and eat lunch-line turkey, mashed potatoes, and green beans. It wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t a home-cooked meal either. Those came from the families of my superiors on the years I’d been invited, along with a handful of single Marines, into their homes to share in their family dinner. Last year was my first time at the annual Friendsgiving dinner with these guys and the meal was awesome thanks to most of the ladies seated around the table.

  Thinking about past Thanksgivings led me to wonder about future ones. Especially now that I knew I had orders to BRC. What would happen if I got sent to a recruiting office on the other end of the country? This whole thing started because I’d finally, after eight freaking years, made it to California. Was I really going to get sent away right after we’d reconnected?

  Something Hawk said snuck into my brain at that moment. I wasn’t being forced to do recruiting. I was being volun-told to do it. I could say no. I could deny the orders, stay in San Diego, and then instead of moving somewhere else when my three years in San Diego were up, I’d just get out of the military. I’d be in eleven years at that point. Only nine left to retirement. Getting out at that point wouldn’t be the stupidest thing I could do, but it would be pretty close. Hitting that halfway mark had been a milestone. I’d be throwing it all away with this plan.

  But what could I say? Falling in love makes you do stupid things.

  19

  Paige

  After dinner, the group broke away from the table and took our party down to the beach while the staff cleaned up the lawn area. Molly told me she’d have them set up a couple of portable fire pits and chairs so we could roast marshmallows. Finn bounced up and down with excitement watching them set it up.

  “Can I talk to you for a minute?” Noah asked, pulling me aside.

  “Sure,” I replied. “What’s up?”

  “That special duty assignment thing that Hawk was talking about?”

  I swallowed, already nervous. “Yeah?”

  “I got selected for one too.”

  The silence hung in the air between us for a moment. So many thoughts swirled around in my head ranging from confusion about what it meant for us to excitement for him since I’d heard them talking at dinner about how good it would be for Hawk’s career. Finally, I just shook my head to clear it and blew out a breath.

  “Okay. Which one and what does it mean?” If I was going to date a Marine, I needed to be like the ladies I’d had dinner with tonight. Able to roll with the punches and ready for change at a moment’s notice. At least that’s the advice
they’d given me when I’d asked for it.

  Noah chuckled, tucking his hands into his pockets. “Recruiting.”

  I wrinkled my nose. “Those other guys, the ones at the opposite end of the table—”

  “Moore and Cooper?”

  “Yeah, them. They didn’t say many good things about recruiting.”

  “It’s apparently pretty rough.”

  Again, there was so much silence hovering around us. It felt heavy and loaded.

  “Noah, words. I need more words.”

  “Sorry,” he said, huffing out a heavy sigh that sort of combined with a laugh. “Okay. So, getting orders for recruiting duty means I’ll go to school for two months in the spring, then I’ll do three years of recruiting. I won’t know until April where I’m going, and it could be anywhere.”

  I let his words sink in for a moment. He wouldn’t know where he was going until April, but he was definitely going somewhere. “Bright side, I tend to travel by air on short notice.”

  He smiled. “Yep. That’s true. But I’ve heard I probably won’t get much of a weekend on recruiting. We really won’t see each other much if I’m not local, PW. We need to prepare for that.”

  I looked out at the ocean, searching the horizon for answers. How had this perfect, beautiful day taken such a turn?

  “Or,” he said, reaching out and gently turning my face back toward him. “I could turn it down.”

  “Turn it down? But they said if you turn it down you have to get out at the end of your contract.”

  He nodded. “Yep. So I stay in San Diego, finish up my contract, then I get out. And I move to LA. And we get to stay together.”

  I launched myself at him, throwing my arms around his neck. “Ah, Noah. I would love that. I know it’s still two years away, but Molly is getting married in January, so you can take the guest house while you get on your feet if you want. That way we can be close, but you know, not move in together unless we’re ready by then.”