“I do work with words for a living so I pick up on that.”
“You should meet my brother Warsong and my sister Pike. My parents did it on purpose.”
“For reals?”
“For reals.”
The guys at the bar came out of their seats and high fived each other. Cannon didn’t so much as glance at them. In a booth on the other side of the room, a group of servers started loudly singing a happy birthday song, but Cannon might as well have been deaf. The server came back to the table and Cannon seemed to have to force his eyes away from Daisy’s.
They put in their orders and he turned all the way back to Daisy. She’d never felt so special in anyone’s eyes, and imagined herself standing on a pedestal.
“I know you’re from L.A.,” said Cannon. “Do you have brothers and sisters?”
Daisy started to roll her eyes, but caught herself. “One sister and two parents. I don’t get along all that great with any of them.”
“I can’t imagine you not getting along with anyone,” he said. “You’re like … an angel.”
That wasn’t true, but dang it felt good to have a guy feel that way about her.
“I won’t bore you with details, but Talia was the Olympic-hopeful gymnast. She never made it, but she was an alternate more than once. It just seemed like the Close Family Culture was Talia. Everything revolved around her.” That didn’t paint Daisy in a very good light. “Maybe I’m being petty, but I was always a side note since my singing career never had the same potential.”
“Tell me more about your singing. What would it take to get you to belt something out?”
She laughed. “No way. Some other time. It’s just as a hobby, really.” She smirked and said, “Not as good as you, I’m sure, if Pasha’s right.”
Cannon laughed. Oh how she loved it when he laughed. It was the layers to him, she thought. Easy-going, smiley guy on the outside, but underneath that there was a tough layer that he didn’t show, and wasn’t easy to get to. The tough layer kept the darkness from taking over, but it required a lot of control. When a laugh came out, it was uncontrolled and unforced, but oh so true.
“Now that I know you are a singer, I can’t even conceive of singing for you.” He took a drink of water. “Ask Pasha in a couple years and I bet she’ll have a different opinion of my singing voice.”
“Tell me about the military,” she said. Maybe that would get back to the inner layers of Cannon Culver.
He shrugged and his eyes dropped to the table in front of him. A lifetime of emotion glassed them over in the few seconds that passed before he looked back up at her. She’d never seen him so serious; she’d actually caught him without the grin on his face. “Some guys who were only in for four or five years write entire books about it. I was in for ten. Even in a 36-hour train trip, I could only scratch the surface.”
“That bad?”
The old Cannon came back instantly. Was this a mask? Or was this who he was now, but still had to keep some things way down deep?
“No, not at all. I mean, there was plenty of bad, but that is so inadequate of a description.” He considered for a moment, then said, “Have you ever run a marathon or a 10k or anything?”
“Two marathons!” said Daisy.
“Was it bad?”
“No,” she said, automatically thinking of the sense of accomplishment. Then Mile 15 came to mind, when she’d dropped the water cup at the aid station and decided not to go back for more. And as she thought of the running itself, as well as the months of training, her mind changed again. “There were more hard times than good times, but if I compare the good versus the bad, the good moments are so much more powerful. They’re worth so much more that they completely outweigh the bad.”
Cannon looked at her with … adoration. “If I ever write my book, I’m putting that in there. No, actually if I just say that, I won’t have to write a book.”
Daisy chuckled nervously under the praise. “A marathon doesn’t compare to a decade in the military.”
“A marathon is the ultimate large-scale display of the indomitable human spirit. The Oakland Marathon ran under an overpass by my house when I was in high school. I wasn’t the most social kid, but I’d go out and watch people for hours and feel like I was connecting with them more than I did with the kids on my own school bus, who I didn’t know how to talk to.”
“The indomitable human spirit?” repeated Daisy. “I love that.” She wanted to know more about him and felt like she might actually be penetrating the inner crust again. “Do you still have a hard time talking to people?” There had been a couple of times where this strong, confident guy had fumbled when talking to her.
He got that amused, knowing smile, and she could tell he was going to say something ironic or teasing. “Only beautiful women.”
Oh, Cannon, you charmer.
“Becoming a Navy Chaplain cured me of my reluctant tongue.”
“Chaplain,” exclaimed Daisy. “So maybe Peaceful Warrior isn’t as ironic as I thought.”
“Peaceful Warrior,” he said, nodding. “I really like that.”
“So you never fought? Didn’t use guns or anything?”
Cannon chuckled, but there was no amusement in it, just warning for anyone who messed with him. “I admit I’m a peacemaker, but if anyone ever pushes me or my country to the plowshares-into-swords mode, it’s on. I’ll avoid a fight, but once it starts, I intend to win.”
“Oh.” Daisy hadn’t seen even a hint of that side of him as he’d interacted with Pasha on the train. After a little bit of internet research she’d discovered that Pasha was the only daughter of billionaire entrepreneur Rasmus Gold. Which meant that not only was Cannon the best in the business of private security, but also had a soft enough side to be a five-year-old’s best friend. Could anyone ever be such a perfect mix of gentleness and strength?
The server arrived with the food—a steak for Cannon and grilled shrimp for Daisy. The garlic and pepper aromas made Daisy start to drool. She picked a skewer and lifted it toward her mouth, but froze when she noticed a strange look on Cannon’s face. He was slowly pulling out his silverware, but he looked reluctant for some reason.
“Everything okay?” she asked.
“Oh, the food, yeah. But I have to admit something.” He looked at her like he didn’t know how to say what he needed to tell her. “I snooped in your bags. On the train.”
“You … what?” Was this some kind of joke?
“When you went to the restroom on that first train trip, I went into your room and looked in your purse and carry on.”
Daisy felt her mouth hanging open. She set the shrimp down and said, “What it the world makes you think you had the right?”
“I had to make sure you weren’t going to hurt her?”
Pasha. Even though the little girl wasn’t even at the restaurant, she was still coming between them. Well, technically, the deed had been done over a week ago. “Do I look like the type of person who would hurt a little girl?”
“No,” said Cannon. “Which is why I had to be sure.”
They stared at each other. Cannon hadn’t said he was sorry and he didn’t even look remorseful even though he’d voluntarily confessed.
“I’ve thought about what I did a lot since that day, and I’m still twisted around in my mind. I even talked to Sutton, my … boss, about it. He was behind me 100 percent. But I’m still torn. I can’t tell you that I’m sorry, because I would do that same thing with any stranger. The only way to avoid having done that was to not invite you to stay in that room, and it would have been inhumane to leave you in your condition in coach.”
It made sense, logically, but emotionally Daisy felt betrayed. He hadn’t apologized.
“In my business, when someone doesn’t do their job, people get killed. If anyone ever messes with Pasha, like a full-on attack, the chances are I’m sending them straight to hell. I’d die for her, Daisy. That’s how much I care about her and about the sacred trust,
as I see it, that I owe her.”
So that did explain a little why he’d casually go through her bags, but she wasn’t sure she got the sacred trust about his job. “You’d die over money? Or is your job a sacred trust or something?”
“Over my word,” said Cannon. “I promised to keep her safe, no matter what. I don’t take that lightly.”
Daisy didn’t know exactly how that made her feel. What if someday Pasha came between Cannon and her and he had to choose one or the other? She already knew what his choice would be. What else in his life would turn out to be more important than her? His job? His Dodgers obsession? His weekly golf game even if they hadn’t been out on an actual date for over a month?
He’s not Sterling, Daisy reminded herself. Give him a chance.
She slid one shrimp off the skewer and chewed it to give herself time to think. It wasn’t as good as it would have been before he’d outed himself. Things weren’t over between them, but a lot of the good he’d done by being all hers on this date so far had been undone.
“What is it?” she asked, staring into his eyes. “What is there inside of you that gives you such a strong sense of protection?”
One of the guys at the bar was blabbing something about, “…when I was a Navy SEAL, we shot first, asked questions later and …” They were all getting drunker and louder, but the SEAL comment made Cannon wince, but just barely. So he was aware of what was going on in the restaurant, just not letting himself get distracted. That was even more touching to Daisy than thinking he was oblivious.
“I …” he blew out a breath. “That’s a deep question. Another idea for an entire book.”
“Give me the teaser. The back cover blurb.” She slid another shrimp off the skewer with her teeth.
Cannon slowly cut his steak as he thought, then took more time chewing a bite before answering. “When you tell someone you’ll do something, you do it. If you are strong enough to protect yourself and someone weaker, you do it. Cannon Culver has a big heart … but it’s the heart of a warrior.” He grinned at his own melodrama and said, “I’m sorry, but you asked for it.”
Daisy was almost in tears over the emotional impact of what he’d said, and a little shaky. The puzzle pieces of Cannon were coming together and he was deeper than she ever imagined. She dabbed her eyes and took a few hidden breaths, then leaned forward, fixed her gaze on him, and drank him in. “I … want to read that book.”
Cannon leaned forward, standing somewhat, hands reaching up and cradling her face. Finally the stone veneer of him was crumbling completely and she was face-to-face with a flesh and blood man. Their lips drew closer, closer, closer, locked in a tortuously sweet eternity of ever nearer, but never touching. Then their lips met and his kiss was as soft and strong as she’d come to realize Cannon himself was.
The kiss only lasted a moment, a delicious moment, and as he backed away, she savored the tingling of her lips and the fading smell of his cologne.
“You with me?” Cannon was back in his seat, watching her with one eyebrow raised.
Daisy licked her lips and gulped. She hadn’t even gone away that time to her fantasy land, but was still swooning in the aftermath of the kiss. “Yeah. You, uh, caught me by surprise there.” The room had never swayed quite so pleasantly
Between wiping her eyes when he’d gotten all sweet and sexy, and now the kiss and feeling all flustered, Daisy needed a minute. “I’m gonna run to the restroom real quick.” She popped another shrimp as she stood and started walking off, but then she thought of something so she turned back. “Can I trust you with this?” she asked, reaching for her small purse.
Cannon exhaled and said, “I deserve that one. Yes, I will protect it, but I won’t snoop.”
With a wink she turned away. It only took a few seconds to check the mirror and see that Daisy didn’t look as flustered as she felt, so she went back out.
Cannon had gotten up and was standing near the loud guys at the bar. His back was to Daisy so he didn’t see her approach. He was talking to the biggest, most intimidating of the group, a bald guy in a tank top with tattoos on his arms and neck.
“… Stolen Valor Act makes it illegal to benefit from claiming to be a SEAL. Now, my hearing’s not what it used to be, so I probably heard you wrong, but if these guys are keeping your glass full because they think you’re some sort of hero, and it’s not true, that’s a crime, my friend.”
The bald guy had his back straight, staring down Cannon but Cannon stood there like he was having a conversation with a buddy. They were the same height with the guy sitting on that bar stool. Cannon pulled out his phone.
“What’s your name, man? I’ve got the website right here, I can prove to your buddies you were over there.”
Daisy couldn’t see Cannon’s face, but she could see the muscles around his eyes tighten.
The bald guy didn’t say anything.
Cannon’s cheek rose in a smile. “Unless I heard you wrong. Go ahead and correct me if I misheard you.”
Why wasn’t this huge guy coming out of his seat and giving it back to Cannon? I mean Cannon was intense, but the guy at the bar was bigger and Daisy had always thought of guys with neck tattoos as having nothing to lose.
“Yeah, you heard wrong,” said the bald guy, looking like a puppy backing down from a big dog. With his eyes down still he looked side to side at his buddies. As he turned back to the bar, he said, “Get your ears checked or something.”
“Sorry to bother you, buddy,” said Cannon. He turned and escorted Daisy the short distance to their table. He had known she was there the whole time.
The old Cannon was back, life-is-good smile and all. But that wasn’t the vibe he’d been putting out at the bar.
“How’s your shrimp?” He scooped a bite of baked potato into his mouth.
“So good.” It really was better now that she had kind of moved past the whole snooping thing. She wasn’t ready to forget about it, but she’d keep seeing how this went as she kept an eye on him and his priorities.
The interaction at the bar still had her a little confused and she wondered how well she really knew him. But it wasn’t like he’d freaked out and started a fight. Apparently he just wanted the loud drunk guy to admit he wasn’t a Navy SEAL. They’d already been in deep conversations enough so Daisy passed on bringing it up again.
The dinner conversation was light and fun. She liked everything she learned about him and really wanted to know him even better. The guys at the bar kept talking in low tones and glaring at Cannon, but he didn’t even seem to notice. When they got up and left, Daisy breathed a little sigh of relief, but Cannon still acted oblivious.
When they were done with dinner they ordered a Chocolate Thunder from Down Under to share. Sharing a desert was always a sign to Daisy that a first date had gone great. Of course, the kiss was a dead giveaway of that.
The kiss. So much better than any fantasy she could dream up.
While they waited for dessert, Daisy asked, “So what else did you do in the military, Peaceful Warrior?”
“After I was a chaplain, I was a weapons expert,” he said with a light in his eyes. “Oh, we had the best toys.”
“You miss that aspect of it?”
“I do,” he said. “I still like gadgets, but the ones I play with now just aren’t as effective. Or expensive.”
“Like what?”
Out of nowhere he was holding a black grip thingy that fit all four of his knuckles.
“Brass knuckles?” asked Daisy.
“Better,” said Cannon. His hand flexed ever so slightly and the device made a small electrical arc along the flat end. “Stun device.”
“Wow, where did you …”
It disappeared as quickly as it had appeared, tucked into a pocket maybe. “I’m kind of a big nerd about stuff like that.”
“What else do you have?”
“I’m not just going to flash all my goods out there on the first date,” he said with mock shock, but he did no
d her over so they were both leaning over the side of the table looking at his shoes. They were nice dress shoes, but she didn’t see anything special.
Then he lifted his heel and some small, hard ridges appeared through the laces all along the tongue.
“What the?”
Cannon said, “Those give a little more punch to my kicks, no pun intended.”
“I bet that comes in handy a lot,” she said as a joke.
She expected a courtesy chuckle out of him since he was so spare with his laughs, but he just said, “A few times, actually. I do some … odd jobs sometimes.”
Daisy chuckled. “I’m not sure odd is the right word, but why do you carry those around and go through the trouble on a normal day?
His smile turned amused. “The way I see it, the only reason so many of us get to enjoy this wonderful world is because of people who are willing to step into the line of fire to defend the rest of us. Soldiers and cops mostly. I’m neither of those, but if anything ever goes down near me, I’ll step up.”
“You are so stinking humble,” she said. “Oh, and what you just said … that’s totally going in the book I’m going to write about you.”
Now he did laugh. “When you write your book, I’ll point you to real heroes.” His eyes went vacant for a minute, then he was the one blinking and trying to pretend like he was tougher than he actually was.
“You were thinking of someone right there.”
“Doug Smith,” said Cannon solemnly. “I wouldn’t be sitting here today if he hadn’t …” He let out a long breath. “It was an ambush. Doug acted quickly and selflessly, knowing he’d never survive. But his actions, his sacrifice, saved over a dozen SEAL lives that day.”
Daisy had to wipe her own eyes again. She didn’t even know Doug Smith, but she felt eternally grateful to him.
“Sorry,” said Cannon. “Too deep.”
“No, I—”
The server came back with dessert, and the conversation stalled as they filled their mouths with chocolate thunder.
The Peaceful Warrior: Navy SEAL Romance Page 8
