She put the dress back and pulled out the color he suggested. “Shouldn’t you be at work? It’s the middle of the day.”
“Command picnic today. I bailed, given my mood.”
Dark clouds passed over her eyes. She reached out and cupped the side of his face. “Work or home?”
He kissed the palm of her hand. Either she hadn’t heard or just didn’t connect the dots. In case it was the first, he didn’t want to be the one to ruin her weekend. “Things at home are actually better. Everything okay with your family?”
“Supposed belated birthday celebration for my dad.” She waved it off like it was nonsense. “So why the anti-social mood?”
“My girl ruined my surprise for tonight and now it’s just me and Princess PITA. Not the same thing.”
Her eyes lit up. “Think of them as delayed, not ruined.”
She put the boring dress back and pulled out the one that was cut low and probably could pass as a long shirt even on her. He smiled and nodded. She looked it up and down, shook her head and put it back on the rack. “Maybe when all of this is over. It can be my celebration outfit.”
“You could get it now and do a trial run when you come over to my place tonight.”
“What did you have planned for tonight?”
“Nope, not telling. It’s a surprise and that dress is perfect. That dress screams sex.” He kissed the tips of her fingers, sucking one into his mouth before gently biting down on it.
Nic’s eyes widened and her face went beet red.
“What dress?” A smaller, older version of Nic elbowed her way in between them. The woman inspected Kyle, her lips compressed in a tight line as she took in everything about him. For several moments she quietly stared into his eyes. Not sure what she saw, but the sudden smile let him breathe again. “So you are Kyle Hutchinson.”
“Mom, meet Kyle. Kyle, meet my mom, Leeann Riley.”
Mrs. Riley didn’t give him a chance to say anything before she turned and plucked the dress off the rack. “Buy it in red,” she said to Nic. “Your young man has good taste, but don’t wear that tonight. Your father will keel over in his pot roast. You will be joining us, won’t you, Kyle?” She’d turned those sparkling almond eyes on him and he felt himself melt.
He didn’t know what he was saying yes to, but he knew he couldn’t say no.
Which is how he found himself walking across the parking lot of the Daniel Packer Inn later that evening dressed in pants and a button-down shirt when the temperature still read 101 degrees on the dash of his Charger. Sweat dribbled down his spine and dampened his undershirt.
Great. Way to impress the lady’s family, Hutch. Smell like a locker room.
Nic turned to wait for him as he stopped to tug his shirt away from his sticky body and then tuck it back in. Women had it easy. Throw on dress and they were done. Did she even have anything on underneath? The dress she’d chosen was one of those thin strapped ones that didn’t allow for a bra so he knew at least half of her was only one layer away. The loose skirt left him guessing on the lower half. And it was red. She looked like a siren and he could feel her pull. He’d gladly risk his life for a taste of her.
“You didn’t have to dress up. It’s just family.”
“Your dad found me alone in your room. Your mom’s first impression was of me talking about sex. I’m not blowing it with your brothers too.” He pulled her into his arms.
“She also said you had great taste.” Nic wove her hands behind his neck and kissed him quick. “Relax. Liam and Reece will like you and even if they didn’t, they don’t get a say in who I date.”
Right. She might say that now, but when push came to shove he’d bet a month’s pay she’d cave to her family’s wishes. There was no way she could live without their approval. He saw it in her eyes when her dad showed up on the boat and earlier when he’d met her mom, not to mention when she talked about them.
The thought of losing her struck him hard and fast. They’d weathered the past couple of weeks, but a person could only take so many blows before they caved. How many more before she called mercy? What would it take for her to give in and take her dad up on one of his many friends’ job offers? He’d taken the job in Groton because of her. Stupid since they weren’t even dating at the time and now, he didn’t know what he’d classify his feelings as. He just knew he wasn’t ready for it to be over.
“What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” She glanced up at the former inn, now a successful restaurant. “They say it’s haunted.”
He kissed her. Not some quick, barely there kiss. A kiss that seared his brain faster than the scorching August temperature. One hand slid up her back to cradle her head while he slipped the other around her waist and pulled her in tight up against him. He wanted to feel every inch of her. Hell, he wanted to pick her up and haul her back to his place, strip the sexy, little red number off her and kiss every inch of her. For now, he’d settle for her soft lips under his, her sweet taste that called to him like honey to a bee.
When he released her she staggered back a little, eyes glazed. She lifted her fingers to her mouth and ran her tongue over her bottom lip.
Maybe he could talk her into skipping dinner?
A piercing whistle cut through the night causing Nic to sigh and roll her eyes. She grabbed his hand and started walking.
“That would be Liam telling us he’s hungry and to hurry up.”
They greeted her oldest brother at the door and followed him to the table. Walking behind Liam, Kyle couldn’t help notice the guy’s impressive size. The dude was huge, with shoulders meant to take down opposing forces and forearms that could crush a guy’s head like a walnut.
Reaching the table, where the Vice Admiral and Mrs. Riley sat, along with Nic’s other brother, Kyle made a mental note not to piss off either one. Apparently the Riley men were all from the same mold. The only difference being neither of the brothers sported their mother’s dark hair nor their dad’s red. Kyle wasn’t sure of the proper term, chestnut maybe, brown with red and where Liam had the same eyes as Nic, Reece had ice blue ones like his dad.
While Nic introduced him to Reece and he said hello to her father, Kyle watched Liam take his seat at the table. Kyle could either sit in between the brothers or one of them and their dad. Very strategic.
Nic tapped Liam on the shoulder. “Will you please move over a seat?”
“Have Reece move. I like the view from here.”
“Liam, she asked you first. Plus, I need to talk to Mom about some stuff,” Reece said.
They were good—surround the enemy and separate him from his only ally. He imagined if he’d had a younger sister he’d do the same. Kyle pulled out the chair in the middle of the two brothers and smiled. “It’s fine. I’ll sit here. This will give you a chance, babe, to catch up with your dad.”
The table went deathly silent for a split second. Normally not something one would notice, but this was the summit meeting and every move, ever word was a calculated choice. He got that.
The waitress appeared as soon as they were all seated and took their drink orders, rattled off the daily specials and answered Nic’s questions about the haunted history of the inn. They exchanged the normal pleasantries while everyone perused the menu and then made their choices when the waitress popped back over. He wasn’t sure which tactic they’d take, but he was ready.
“Kyle, where are you originally from?” Mrs. Riley asked.
“A small town in Northern California, ma’am. Citrus Park is mostly farmland and not a place you’d find on the state’s attraction list.”
“My family were farmers back in Korea before they came here. Tell us about your family,” Mrs. Riley said.
He gave them the basics, skipped over the part about his brother being in jail, and even to him his family sounded normal, almost boring. Just like they should be.
The rest of the family let their mom run the conversation, but he not
ed all eyes were on him. Nic worried her bottom lip, chewing it until he was sure it would start to bleed. The vice admiral seemed interested yet preoccupied, while the brothers studied his every move, probably looking for a sign of weakness.
“Mom, Pops, did you two finally decide on where you were going to go on your vacation?” Nic absently buttered one of the rolls, purposely passing the basket to her dad instead of Liam who had reached for it.
Apparently irritating sibling syndrome took place in every family, not just the dysfunctional ones like his.
Her dad snorted and ripped his roll apart to lather it with a couple of tablespoons of butter.
Her mom clapped her hands in glee. “We did. We’re going to take a cruise down the Rhine River next spring. I’m so excited. I’ve always wanted to go on a cruise, but your father always balked and said he went on cruises all the time. That it was no vacation.”
“Well, it’s not,” the vice admiral responded.
“It’s not the same, Pat and you know it.” She swatted his hand before he could take a bite out of the roll and snitched it out of his hand. Calmly she scraped off all but a smear of the butter and handed it back to him, an ‘I-dare-you-to-complain’ gleam in her eye. “For one thing, this boat doesn’t go underwater.”
“At least you hope it doesn’t, Mom.” Liam winked at her and took the breadbasket that had finally made its way to him and set it far out of Nic’s reach.
“I’m with Pops, why would he go on a cruise? They don’t submerge, no angles and dangles, and no shooting your enemies. There’s also rumor you get liberty every day or two and see daylight out your window,” Reece said.
“I raised a bunch of smart asses.” Patrick looked at him. “Do you talk to your father this way?”
“Only if I want to get smacked upside the head, sir.” He said it jokingly, keeping to himself that he’d suffered his fair share and then some of head smacking as well as getting his butt beat a time or two. If there was anything the old man didn’t tolerate, it was lip of any kind.
“See, now here’s a man who knows how to show proper respect. Unlike you, boyo.” Patrick jabbed a finger in his youngest son’s direction.
“Boyo? Watch out world, Patrick Michael Sean O’Riley’s letting loose his Irish, even though he’s never lived on the Emerald Isle a day in his life,” Liam’s attempt at an Irish accent had the whole table busting up as it sounded more like a cross between a drunken leprechaun and every American on St. Paddy’s day.
Nic started laughing. “Next he’s going to break out into song with ‘Danny Boy’ or what’s that lullaby he used to sing to us, ‘Too-Roo-Loo-a-Doo.’”
“‘Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral,’ and I’ll have you know, you slept like an angel when I crooned to you at night.” Patrick shoved another chunk of roll in his mouth, glaring at his offspring.
“Aw, Pops, if we didn’t give you a hard time you wouldn’t know we were yours. You’d be accusing Ma of making hay with the milkman when you were away.” Reece’s accent was a little more dead-on, but brought on more fits of laughter especially from his siblings.
“It’s called nature vs. nurture, brother dear and I’m still not sure you are blood related. Unlike me—who’s clearly Mom’s—I’m not convinced they didn’t rescue the two of you from a band of baboons.”
The three of them went back and forth, slinging good-natured insults at each other while their parents sat back and watched with amused looks on their faces and sparkling eyes. Kyle had to wonder if he had stayed put, instead of escaping the minute he graduated, if he and twins would be as close. Not once during their little tirade had he felt any heat behind the words, no intent to hurt the other, just simple teasing.
Maybe he and his brothers would have reached this point. Hopefully he and Keith would get there sooner rather than later.
The waitress arrived with their food and the group settled down while she got everyone situated, but he could see Nic and Liam giving each other looks. On the ride over, she had given Kyle the run-down on her family. Liam, in her eyes, was a perpetual teen, always looking for the fun in life and avoiding anything too serious. He might be that way with his family and even in his personal life, but no one with that attitude made it as far and as fast as he did.
Reece was the forgotten middle child. Quiet, observant, serious enough for them all and then some. Yet, Kyle had seen more such as his sense of humor and a protective streak, especially when it came to his baby sister. Every look he gave Kyle said “Dude, you aren’t good enough for her.”
Maybe so, but she had picked Kyle and he wasn’t arguing with her.
The waitress left and Liam stole a fry from Nic’s plate. She promptly stole one of his in retaliation.
“Children,” Leeann Riley’s sharp tone brought them both to a stop. “Behave. And to think they’ve eaten at the White House before. Thank goodness they didn’t act like this then.”
Kyle glanced at Nic, his brow arched in question. She’d eaten with the President of the United States? Nic shrugged and dug into her dinner. Hell, his family didn’t dine with the president of the Elks Club.
“Pops, I need your advice,” said Liam. “I’ve got a young sailor. Twenty-one. At work, he’s the poster child for the Navy. Does his job—4.0 across the board on his last eval—shows promise as a leader, nice kid. The kind you’d want to clone because they make your life easier.”
“Like a mini-you, except for the nice part and wanting to clone you,” Nic responded.
Instead of giving her shit, Liam nodded. “Pretty much. The problem is when he clocks out for the day. He goes from exemplary sailor to frat boy. So far he hasn’t broken any laws, just skirted the edges and I think it’s only a matter of time.”
“What’s his LPO say?” Patrick’s forkful of pot roast sat suspended in air as he waited.
“Petty Officer Maynard doesn’t seem to know or won’t say. The chief’s talked to him, the COB’s talked to him, I have. None of us can get anything out of him except he’s letting some steam off but knows what he’s doing. The thing is, I can see it in his eyes, the pain. Something’s off.”
“Does he have a wife, fiancée, or girl back home?” Reece asked between bites. “Maybe there’s a family member who’s sick and he doesn’t want to face it or is feeling helpless being so far away. He wouldn’t be the first to drink his troubles away.”
Liam turned to him. “Kyle, your thoughts?”
“It could be any of those. Or he might be experiencing his first taste of freedom away from a controlling family. He’s on task at work, because if he screws up there, it’s back to the control freak parents. But once quitting hour hits, he lets his freak flag fly and is having fun, but not enough to land him in trouble.”
He’d known a few kids like that in college. The kind of who never stepped out of line at home while growing up, never gave their parents an ounce of trouble, joined the clubs, played sports, volunteered for everything and then they were set free. Suddenly they had all these options before them and no mommy or daddy telling them what to do or which option to pick or that they couldn’t stay out until five in the morning, so they did it all. Most dropped out by the end of their freshmen year. A few mellowed and some didn’t make it to see another day.
“Talk to his friends,” Kyle and Nic said at the same time.
Their eyes met and locked and he didn’t need to look around the table to know everyone else watched the two of them. The weight of their judgment, the questions flashing through their minds could be felt throughout his entire body. The silence hung heavy until Nic’s mom laughed.
“Well, there you go. You have your answer.” She pushed her empty plate away. “I don’t know about any of you, but I’m ordering the flourless chocolate torte for dessert.”
Looking at the plate that once held a good-sized serving of pasta, he now knew where Nic got her healthy appetite from, which was fine with him. He loved to cook and he loved women that loved to eat.
All three kids and Patrick Riley laughed and groaned.
“Mom, I don’t know how, but you can still out-eat me and Liam. I’ll stick with coffee,” Reece said.
“Me too. Some of us have fitness standards to meet,” Liam pushed back and turned to Nic. “Suppose you’re going to make the rest of us look like wimps too?”
“You bet. But I’m getting the chocolate fudge brownie sundae.” She gave her brother an evil grin.
“That’s low, sis.” Liam turned to Kyle. “I love ice cream and can’t eat it. She never passes on a chance to torture me.”
“Kyle, you up for dessert or—”
His phone cut her off. Keith. He excused himself and answered thinking his brother needed a ride home early from work.
“You what?” Kyle’s blood boiled as he listened to Keith on the other end. He tried to walk away, but his feet were glued to the floor. His head spun. “Yeah, I’ll be there as soon as I can. Just keep your mouth shut and your hands to yourself.”
He hung up the phone and met five pairs of questioning eyes.
Crap.
Of all the lamebrain stunts and piss poor timing.
“I’m sorry, I’ll have to pass on dessert.” He shoved his phone into his pocket, dreading what was next. “My kid brother needs me to pick him up. Thank you for dinner. Nic, can you get a ride home with your family?”
“I’ll come with you.”
“No, stay and enjoy your sundae. There’s no reason for you to cut your time short because of my family.”
“It’s okay. I’m getting a little tired anyway,” she persisted.
Great. What was he going to do? Wait and tell her in the parking lot if she came with him it might be while before they got home? Better to come clean now and take it like a man. She’d tell her family eventually.
“Then you really should catch a ride with them. It’s going to be a while before I can get you home.”
Walking up to her, he dropped his voice and leaned into her to explain the situation convinced once she knew the truth she’d let him slip out and make his apologies to her family. Nope, he should have known better. The argument went on for several minutes, the whole time he was fully aware of the awkward conversation at the table.
Love Runs Deep Page 18
