by Monroe, Jill
She doubted this man ever was defenseless. Hailey crossed her arms over her chest, trying to block the attack his words had on her body. He was inviting her to kiss him again. What was that saying? That the best defense was a good offense? “Seems to me you’re stalling. You backing down from drawing a card?”
“Oh, I never back down from anything.” He made his statement with straightforward matter-of-fact calmness. Hailey knew he wasn’t trying to sound tough for her benefit.
Yeah, she’d bet money he didn’t back down. The man jumped out of helicopters.
She pulled the cards from the deck and began to shuffle. Then she fanned the cards out in front of him. “Pick a card, any card,” she said, mimicking a magician.
His callused hand rested on hers instead of the cards she offered.
“Go out on a date with me,” he urged.
She wrinkled her nose. “I don’t do relationships.”
“Good. I don’t do them either,” he said, drawing a card from the ones she held.
Which begged the question…why not? Nate glanced down at the card and read. A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.
“What does it say?” she asked, overwhelmed by curiosity.
He stood. “I’ll bring the card with me when I pick you up Saturday morning.”
A week away. Her heart pounded, and she realized she was enjoying the byplay between them. “I haven’t said yes yet.” She followed him out of the kitchen into the foyer. No no no. That yet just stole away how cool she wanted to play this.
Nate looked over his shoulder and shot her the sexiest look a man had ever given a woman. “Ten.”
Hailey couldn’t believe she was nodding. “Okay.” Man, she’d really lost control of that one.
He bent and placed a quick kiss to her unsuspecting, but very appreciative lips. Before she could say anything, he closed the door behind him. Hailey leaned against the wall, hugging the cards to her chest. She knew she wore a goofy smile.
NATE WHISTLED AS HE readied his H-gear for the next day. When had he ever whistled? If anything, the Navy had taught him to be even more silent than was his natural affinity for it. And here he was, whistling all the same. And he knew the cause.
Hailey Sutherland.
The woman was even more beautiful this evening. With her hair in a messy knot on the top of her head as she’d easily made him cookies, he’d never seen a woman as sexy. He didn’t know which he wanted more, the woman or the cookie. Actually, that wasn’t true. The woman. However, the cookie was the prudent choice.
He hadn’t any intention of asking her out tonight—he merely wanted an explanation about the kiss. Soon he’d be back up to a hundred percent and deployed, and like a lot of career SEALs, his line of work and women didn’t always mesh.
But when she told him she didn’t do relationships, it sounded a little too much like a challenge. Did he secretly want her to consider a relationship with him? Not that he wanted one.
Nate carefully inspected and attached his radio and medical kit to the standard issue H-harness. Tomorrow he’d demonstrate to the men how to get first, second and third line gear ready. They didn’t know it yet, but then the trainees would be cut loose for some land nav exercises. He smiled in anticipation. The fun part.
He made quick work of his equipment. This was the easy part, and he’d been doing it so long he could do it without thinking. Unlike how he ended up with a date with the lady from the B&B. He’d had to put a lot of effort into that because Nate felt out of his element with Hailey, a situation he’d never found himself in before, and was irritated by it.
She wasn’t like the women he usually spent his off-duty time with, women who knew what they were getting with the kind of man who liked playing sports, drinking a beer and keeping it casual.
Although the woman claimed she didn’t do relationships, nothing about Hailey seemed casual. She glided around in a flowery dress with a ruffle at the bottom that drew his eyes to her great legs. She wore heels, and her toenails were painted a sexy bright pink.
This wouldn’t be a bowling date. There wouldn’t be an evening at the batting cages or catching the Chargers practice. With Hailey, he might have to wear a tie.
But then she may take it off. A more than fair tradeoff.
Why had he made their date so many days away? Since that afternoon on the beach he couldn’t stop his thoughts straying to her sweet smile and concerned hazel eyes. If he’d made the date tomorrow he wouldn’t have to think about how much he enjoyed talking to her as she bustled around in the kitchen. Or imagine what her lips would taste like if he were involved right from the beginning.
And he definitely wouldn’t have to keep wondering about her reaction when she saw the suggestion on his Fate Delivery Card…and whether or not she’d deliver on it?
A SOFT RAP SOUNDED on her bedroom door, and Hailey scooted up against the pillows, tossing her book aside. “Come in,” she called.
Rachel poked her head around the door. “Glad you weren’t already sleeping.”
Hailey shook her head. “I was just laying here.”
With a smile, Rachel walked in and plopped herself on the pillows. Her sister had been plopping herself down on Hailey’s bed since she could remember. Over the years and side by side, they’d played Barbies, talked about boys and made plans long into the night, or at least until their parents told them to knock it off.
She knew her sister was here for a play-by-play of her encounter with Nate.
“Did you leave any dough for me?” she asked.
Hailey laughed. They both had a weakness for the raw stuff. “In a leftover butter dish in the back of the fridge.”
“Thanks. And don’t think just because you left me some that I will be forgetting that you made the man cookies. Cookies. Bringing out the big guns right from the beginning? Didn’t Mom caution about using her secret weapon too early?” she asked with a brow raised.
“Just to soften the blow for when I told him no about seeing him again.”
“Ha. So when are you going out?” Rachel asked.
“Saturday. How did you know?”
“Nate looks like the kind of guy who gets what he wants, and big sis, that man wants you. Bad.”
Every part of Hailey began to tingle. This was why she needed male isolation. Tingles equaled bad decisions. “You know, I’ve been thinking about that Navy SEAL.”
Rachel’s eyes grew wide. “Of course you have, I knew it wasn’t one-sided. That kitchen was about twenty degrees hotter after he left, and it didn’t have anything to do with you baking cookies.”
“Actually, I wasn’t thinking of him that way,” Hailey admonished. Liar. She wasn’t thinking of him that way at that moment. “Do you remember how excited all those women got when the SEALs began climbing down that rope?”
“One practically knocked me over getting to the railing.”
“Exactly. No one could take their eyes off them, and that was before the one got injured. I say, give the women what they want.”
Rachel’s head cocked to one side, the sure sign she was intrigued. “Tell me more.”
“I’m thinking bistro stools and tables out on the terrace. We’d serve some of the finger food that The Sutherland used to serve at brunch.”
“Maybe update it a bit, mojitos and champagne iced tea,” Rachel suggested, clearly warming to the idea. Food was her specialty. “And then what, we just wait for the SEALs to show up?”
Sucking in her bottom lip, Hailey thought that could be too tricky, since she knew now from first-hand experience that SEALs could be a bit unpredictable, although she hadn’t noticed they followed any set schedule. “We’ll bill it as a party night. We’ll play Texas Hold ’Em.”
Rachel’s expression turned questioning.
“Non-gambling poker, of course. Or that new game everyone likes, Bunco. The SEALs would be an added bonus.”
“But we’d all know we were there for the SEALs,” Rachel added, smiling. “I think this could actually work.
We can offer a special reduced rate on the rooms during the weeknights since we’re slower than on Fridays and Saturdays. We’d be out the expense of the terrace furniture, but eventually better off with the additional money coming in.”
“SEAL night it is.”
4
AIR WEEK FOR HIS TRAINEES was almost over. They’d begin land navigation next, Nate’s specialty. Although with his bum leg, he’d need extra help to run the drills. He hated feeling like he couldn’t take care of business.
Today they’d be practicing a Rubber Duck insertion. Men on The Teams performed this with ease, and so must these SEAL trainees.
Nate observed closely as his trainees pushed out their duck, or inflated rubber boat, now outfitted with large cargo parachutes. Then the trainees jumped from the plane quickly behind the duck. Soon parachutes filled the sky.
Now it was Nate’s turn. As a SEAL, he felt most comfortable in the water, but there was something about free falling, before the jerk of the cord and the abrupt halt of descent, that was exhilarating. Like a fine whisky, or riding with the top down, even making love to a beautiful woman, the anticipation was every bit as good as the experience.
His thoughts conjured Hailey’s lovely face. The parting of her lips after he’d kissed her. The joy of sinking his hands into her hair. Pulling her close without an audience.
Nate jumped.
The rubber ducks, or inflatable rafts, allowed them to cover more area and carry more gear than a fast line descent into the water, and already the trainees were taking care of business as they’d done over and over in the classroom.
In a flash, he was in the water, his body ready for the shock, although SEALs weren’t strangers to being wet and cold. That was pretty much his status quo during BUD/S Hell Week. Even after obtaining his Trident, and becoming an official SEAL, he’d spent some quality time in the Alaskan glacier-fed waters of Chiniak Bay. The water here off the coast of California was about fifty-two degrees—what most SEALs called toasty warm.
“They’re here, ladies!” was his welcome as he broke the surface of the water. Followed by…female catcalls?
Nate pivoted to face the beach and spotted about nine women waving and calling to him and his men. One carried a bullhorn. “Look at them getting into the boat,” she said, and the others cheered.
He looked over, and sure enough, two SEAL trainees were hoisting themselves over the sides of the rubber boat with a minimum of effort.
Had these women been waiting for them? Nate couldn’t believe it. One woman carried a sign that had what must be a phone number. All held martini glasses. Two more SEALs were approaching the boat to more cheers and catcalls.
“619–4—”
“Ensign.” Nate’s harsh tone cut the remaining phone number recitation. In irritation he turned toward the women. Didn’t they understand these men were conducting training that might save their asses one day?
The ladies stood in the approximate area where he’d received the hottest, most surprising kiss of his life. That couldn’t be an accident. He scanned the women mingling near the water, but did not see her. Where was Hailey? He’d recognize that body anywhere. He tamped down the inappropriate surge of disappointment.
Maybe she was working. His gaze switched to the large hotel, which stood several hundred yards behind the women.
And he spotted her. He sucked in a breath as his eyes alighted on her beautiful bare legs. He followed the smooth line of her thighs, interrupted by khaki colored shorts. Her midriff was also bare, and his fingers curved in the water in the same way as he ached to shape his hands around her waist. He suppressed a groan as his gaze traveled over her small, shapely breasts. Breasts he’d felt pressed against his chest and thought about as he lay in his bunk alone at night.
She lounged on one of the recliners, wearing large sunglasses and her beautiful light brown sandy-colored hair loose about her shoulders. Her lips arced in an inviting smile, and he almost returned one of his own. Then she lifted her drink glass in greeting and he knew. She was the person responsible for the shenanigans out there on the beach.
“Smile for the cameras, boys,” one of the women called.
Out of the corner of his eye he spotted another one of his men wave.
“What the hell are you doing?” Nate demanded.
“Representing the U.S. Navy, sir.”
Letting them off easy in the weight room had been a mistake. “Look,” another one of his men said.
A woman lifted her top and flashed his men something they’d been missing for weeks due to training. Okay, he was pulling the plug on this. Order was disappearing. He’d planned for a slow drift through the water for the men to practice their patient silent approach. Now they’d be working on speed, and getting back to the base as quickly as possible.
Yeah, back at the base where he’d plan an attack of a different kind. He and Hailey had some business to discuss.
HAILEY WATCHED THE MEN in their boats until they were just tiny dots in the ocean. She needed someplace cool and she needed it now. Hailey felt hot and achy and restless. Her cheeks were flushed, and even where her clothes touched skin felt uncomfortable.
The commercial icemaker would do the trick. A few fell into her hand from the dispenser and she ran the cube along the back of her neck, then across her chest.
“Is it really that hot out there?” Rachel asked.
The ice dropped from her hand and fell to the floor. Hailey hadn’t even realized her sister was in the kitchen. “I, uh, um…”
“Never mind. I know what that’s all about. Well, you keep having your male-induced panic attack. Meanwhile, the women are calling for more mojitos,” Rachel said, as she mixed limejuice and rum together in a pitcher.
“You saw that outside, right?”
“That display of capable male hotness?”
“Yes,” she said, her breath came out in a rush. “They jumped out of a plane, Rachel! That’s like the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen.”
“Woo hoo, Hailey’s living again. This calls for a drink,” Rachel said as she poured herself a small glass of the mojito.
“What are you talking about?” Hailey asked, feeling defensive. This wasn’t the first time her sister had implied she wasn’t herself. Didn’t her sister know that was exactly what she was trying to do? Remember who she was?
“You’ve been focused on nothing but getting The Sutherland back into shape and self-improvement for the last four months.”
“Both of them need some work,” Hailey responded drily.
“Maybe a little, but sis, you’ve taken it overboard. Completely distancing yourself from men, what’s with that?”
This was unfair. “I’m resetting my inner attraction switch. It’s outlined perfectly in Stop Picking the Wrong Men. That book really opened my eyes to my own destructive dating patterns. Cutting out men from my life has really worked out great. I can begin Step Two at the end of the month.”
“I’m afraid to ask what that entails.”
“It’s dating myself. Relearning me. Who I am, what I want, what I’m attracted to.”
“I think your body is telling you what you’re attracted to.”
“That’s pure animal attraction,” Hailey said with a brush of her hand. “I mean, what woman wouldn’t be attracted to big broad shoulders and a tight hard body? Or that great smile of his? And Nate’s gray eyes. When he looked at me all hot and…” Hailey sunk her head into her hands. “Ohmygod, you’re right. I want him.”
Rachel gave her a sympathetic squeeze to her shoulder. “It’s not so bad. Listen, I’m going to give you the outline of my latest, Why Hailey Chooses Dumb Moves.”
Hailey lifted her gaze. “I thought you told me it wasn’t going to be so bad. You just called me dumb.”
“I called your choices dumb. Let me keep going. You grew up watching mom and dad and their great relationship, and knew you wanted the same thing.”
“How do you know so much about what I want?”
> Her sister’s expression turned ironic. “Because, honey, I have the same problem. It’s just manifested itself in a different way. I became a waiter—waiting for Mr. Perfect, whereas you became a fixer. Take your first fiancé, the emo guy.”
“Adam? He had such talent. What a painter, remember?”
“I remember you buying a lot of canvas and very expensive paints. He never seemed to have the money for the essentials of his trade, but he had a lot of dreams and not many plans.”
“That was simply his artistic nature,” she said, shrugging.
“So you planned it all, and worked so hard to make everything come out perfect, and hide all the problems so he wouldn’t be so down all the time. So when that fizzled you went with the complete opposite. Mr. Efficient, businessman.”
“Mason.”
Rachel made a face. “I’d almost forgotten that controlling bastard’s name. At least you had something in common with the last one—you both were in love with him.”
Hailey rubbed the back of her neck, trying to prevent a knot wanting to form. “What’s the point of bringing all this up? I’m trying to fix my life now.”
“But honey, that’s just it. The fixer in you is the problem. It’s why you have a thousand self-help books upstairs in your room, but wind up at the same place every time.”
“So how do I stop attempting to fix everything?”
Rachel flashed her a wry smile. “I know the problem, but I don’t have the solution. That one you will have to figure out all on your own.” Then after tossing in a few fresh mint leaves, Rachel slid the pitcher of mojitos across the granite countertop toward her sister. “But right now, Hailey, you can deliver more drinks. I think I hear the ladies out there getting restless since the SEALs are gone.”
“This worked better than I thought it would, and we did this in under two days. Imagine what we could do with more than just phone calls and a few flyers.”
“Amy really came through for us. We wouldn’t have had nearly that kind of response if she hadn’t gotten on the horn and invited her friends.”
