"That sounds wonderful, but I think I need to call my carrier first. I believe it is time for a new phone number."
"Going to cut ties?"
"With a big, sharp pair of scissors."
"That could come back to bite you."
"It could, but I'd be stupid not to try to find a new normal."
"They know where you live."
"And where I work, but they've never called the office." She ducked under his arms and headed to the bathroom.
"I'm still looking for an apartment. Maybe you should go apartment hunting with me?"
Meg stutter stepped and reached out to grab the couch because she'd spun around so quickly. "What?"
Rio glanced up from his phone. "Oh… no, I'm not asking you to move in with me, but like move complexes so they don't have ready access to you." His face turned a rosy red under his closely trimmed beard.
Meghan threw back her head and laughed. "Oh, thank God!" She leaned on the couch, still laughing.
"Hey now, I'm a catch I'll have you know." Rio flopped onto the couch and pulled her down on top of him.
She squealed as she dropped onto him. The sound was totally unintentional and very embarrassing. "I'm sorry. I wasn't laughing at you, more at the entire situation." She carefully moved off him so she wouldn't crush him.
He pulled her back up and pushed her hair out of her face. "Sometimes you have to laugh. I get that, but I was serious. Look for apartments with me. I have seven more complexes lined up. Even if I don't find a place I like, we can look for you, too. You move, your family is contacted on your terms, you have the power in the relationship."
"I like it." She pushed up a bit. "I'm sorry you had to witness that."
"I'm not. I get what you were saying about them the other night. They are not nice people."
"No, but I believe they mean well."
He lifted one eyebrow, the look he gave her made her laugh again. She laughed a lot with Rio, and she liked that.
"Really. I think maybe they have a messed up way to show it, but there you have it. Messed up family." She shrugged, suddenly embarrassed again.
"Hey, you don't corner the market on families with issues."
She lifted her eyes and stared at him. "When are you going to talk to your brother?"
He shook his head. "I don't know. I'll work that through my old man. I know pushing Mason wouldn't necessarily be a good thing. He'll come to me when he's ready."
"What are you going to do in the meantime?"
"I'm going to find my apartment, get the government to deliver my household goods, and work for my dad's company while I develop the employment clearing house I want to build." He stared past her, lost in thought for a moment before he blinked. "And I want to date you."
"Yeah?"
He nodded and smiled so wide she could see he had dimples under that beard. God, was she ever going to stop marveling at the fact that he'd chosen her?
"Meg?"
"Yeah?"
"I was serious before."
Her brow furrowed as she thought back over their conversation. "Which part?"
"I want to eat. Go. Shower before we both waste away to nothing."
Meg laughed and pushed off him, catching her robe before it slipped open. She still wasn't comfortable being nude, even when she was alone. Her body issues were a struggle she had to work on, but she was looking forward to the future. Her future.
Meg shut the bathroom door and used the facilities after turning on the shower to give it time to run the hot water through the pipes. She lifted her hair into a high, sloppy bun and pulled her new bottle of body wash out from under the sink. A quick glance told her that Rio had used the bar of Dial she reserved for after workouts. She smiled as she stepped into the hot water. If someone had told her two weeks ago that she'd meet someone like Rio she would have laughed. If they told her she'd be sleeping with him, she would have called the psych ward and asked if they'd lost any patients. But...
It took no time to wash up, rewrap her wrist and get dressed. She stood in front of the mirror applying her foundation when Rio walked up behind her. "You don't need that, you know."
"Makeup? Ahh... yeah, I do. I don't want to frighten polite society." Her poor cheek and eye were an ugly combination of green and yellow and red. Capital U.
He stared at her in the mirror. "I like your freckles."
"You... what?" She glanced at her nose. A spray of light freckles sprinkled across both cheeks and the bridge of her nose.
"Seriously. You do you, but if you are covering up those freckles for any other reason other than it makes you feel good don’t." He winked at her and walked out of the bathroom.
She lowered the foundation and shook her head. Her routine was gone today. She grabbed her lotion and went to town. Out of necessity, Meg slathered on SPF lotion. She'd turn into a lobster in Savannah, Georgia without it. Red hair and light skin, at least for her, equaled burn, peel, repeat, so she doused herself with protection from the sun's rays almost religiously. Not vanity as much as self-preservation.
Meg stared at her face and lifted her foundation sponge again. Did the makeup she wore make her feel good? She blinked and then shook her head. She'd ponder that question later. The bruise under her eye needed to be covered. She smoothed the foundation and concealer on and worked it over the black eye and small cut on her cheek. She turned this way and that, assessing the coverage carefully. Yeah, in two days she could totally cover the bruising so no one at work would be the wiser. Today, the black and red still presented through the makeup. She could deal with it.
She hit her lashes with some mascara and put on lip gloss. Her hair was tied back in a ponytail and she was ready to go. The shorts she wore were mid-thigh. She didn't do short shorts. Her summer shirt was light and flowy. She'd gotten it off the clearance rack, but she liked it.
"I'm ready." She announced her presence and Rio glanced up from his phone.
"You look good enough to eat," he growled as he strode the short distance across the room to meet her at the front door.
"No. Breakfast first, you promised," she quipped as he opened the door. She grabbed her keys and purse and almost skipped out the door when he laughed at her joke.
Chapter 18
Rio sucked air and doubled over. God, his gut hurt. He hadn’t laughed so damn hard in fucking years. Pushing an arm out, he braced himself against one of the nearby obstacles while he tried to control his laughter. There was no way… He glanced back up and laughed so hard he spun, flopping against the wall. His gut hurt and his eyes were leaking.
“Stop, it isn't funny!” Meghan’s exasperated words came with a foot stomp.
“Oh… ok…” Rio tried to stop, he really did.
“Stop or you will regret it.” Meghan’s words should have registered, but fuck him, she looked like a tie-died experiment gone horribly wrong. Neon orange, lime green, cobalt blue and splashes of bright yellow obliterated the old DCU's he’d given her to wear. The only non-paint coated surface of her body was where her face shield had been. He took a deep breath and pushed away from the obstacle.
The manager of the paint gun course they were playing on walked up beside her. Her wide eyes shifted from Meghan to Rio and then back again. “What happened? Did you stand on top of the mountain and say, ‘shoot me’?”
“Not funny. Whatever happened to leave no man behind?” Meg put her hand on her hip, the other still held the paintball gun he’d given her to use.
“Oh, no, no!” Rio lifted a hand still laughing. He’d warned her. “I told you this round was a capture the flag campaign and that it was too fast for you.”
“The flag was right there!” Meghan pointed to the small hill not more than fifty feet from where they were standing.
“Low ground, visible approach from three hundred degrees and a minimum of ten players in the field. The only one who didn’t shoot you was me. Babe, you should have sat this one out like I told you.” He’d captured the flag after clearing the field. He had
n’t seen what the others were shooting at but took the opportunity to take out all but two of his opponents. The two he'd missed didn’t last much longer. Not very challenging, but it was fun. Meghan had been such a good sport while he taught her how to fire the weapon and the safety requirements of the course and the gun. If the velocity was turned up too high, the paintballs could sting like a motherfucker. Rio let the shoulder strap of his paintball gun take the weight of the weapon and headed over to her.
“Did you even get a shot off?” The manager was still staring at Meg like she was an alien life-form.
Meg face lit up with an evil grin before she rolled her head toward him. Her gun swung out and she pointed it at him. He froze but couldn’t help the rumble of laughter as he lifted his hands in the air. “You can’t shoot someone if they’ve surrendered.” Rio stopped halfway across the distance and fought another debilitating bout of laughter.
“Really? I don’t remember that rule. Maybe you should explain them to me again.” She pulled the trigger and a sharp whap hit his chest. This close the paintball stung. He froze for an instant, processing the fact that she’d actually shot him. He slowly dropped his eyes. The pink paint splat that now adorned his DCUs was damn near center target. Not bad, but...
Rio dropped his arms and homed in on his target. With a smug smile he warned, “You’d better run.”
Meghan shrieked. Her laugh echoed off the inflatable obstacles that surrounded them. She ducked behind the manager, pulling her along like a shield.
“You shot me.” Rio prowled across the open expanse with a menacing swagger. He knew how to intimidate, but this was all for fun and show. She got it. Her throaty hysterics while dancing away from him and keeping the manager between them gathered a crowd—most of whom had annihilated her with a rainbow of paint when she’d made the decision to follow him onto the course.
“You deserved it for laughing at me.” Meg swung around, keeping the manager, who was now laughing as hard as Meg was, in front of her.
“I told you to sit that one out.” Rio faked a move to his right. Meg moved left at the exact time he shifted. He caught her and pulled her into him. Her gun smashed between them, but the armament didn’t matter. Her laughter as he picked her up and swung her around was priceless.
"Put me down! I'm too heavy!"
"Heavy?" He tossed her up and swept his arms under her legs, bouncing her a couple times. "You are not heavy." He bent at the knees and popped up, tossing her about a foot in the air before catching her again.
"Oh my God, Rio, Stop! You're going to throw out your back!"
"Are you kidding me? You weigh less than a loaded fifty caliber machine gun, and I toted that thing for miles. Besides, I like your soft curves and warm, sexy body. So much better than sleeping with a machine gun, although you are as explosive as hell."
"Explosive?" Her arms snaked around his neck and he held her against him. Her soft curves, even encased in his old DCUs, were irresistible.
"Uh huh, mind-blowing."
"Maybe you should take us some place I could blow your mind?"
"Oh, babe, hang on." He jostled her again and pitched her over his shoulder.
"Rio!"
"Hold on, doll!" He was on a mission. One that promised to blow his mind.
Chapter 19
> Working tonight?
Rio hit send and rolled his shoulders. The tie he wore had long ago been loosened and hung in a wide lasso around his neck. His shirtsleeves were rolled up and he'd dropped his jacket in one of the many offices he'd wandered through today. His assistant, Mickie, always showed up with the damn thing. Dress codes sucked. After twelve years of uniforms you'd think he'd be used to being told what to wear, but nah...
> I am. You?
Fuck him. Between his setting up this business, working for his dad at the nonprofit arm of the company, and her boss from hell, they hadn't seen each other in over a week.
It had been two months since they’d started dating. Two months of fun, action-filled dates. Paintball, running 5k’s, jogging on the beach before playing in the surf at Tybee. They meshed.
They’d both found apartments. Unfortunately for him, it was too late for a door-to-door delivery of his household goods. So he bought the basics, a bed, a couple of recliners that would go with the couch he had inbound and a small table for the kitchen. Summer was a busy time for the carrier with all the permanent change of stations for the military in the area. Since he didn't have an apartment in time to receive his household goods, they were warehoused. He'd asked for a delivery, but he wouldn’t get his household goods for another three weeks. He’d survive. Besides, he spent most of his time at Meg’s apartment. She now lived two buildings away from him in the same complex.
It was the best of both worlds. Close enough that they could be together when time permitted and far enough away that they could grow the relationship without making it feel like they’d moved in together.
When life got in the way, they texted and talked at night. He lived for those few hours of connection where he could vent, or she could. He drank her voice in. It settled him. Centered him. Strange that he became dependent on these late talks. Savannah at night had new definition and it was delicious.
He keyed in a response to her question. >I am. Call when done?
Her immediate reply made him smile. She’d just started using the heart emoji. He was such a fucking sap. He could hear Dutch’s comments now. The team used to think he was a player and he did little to dissuade the perception, but fuck him if he wasn’t completely gone on this woman. Physically they meshed and the sex was fantastic. Rio’s cock plumped in agreement with his thoughts. Meg did it for him on every level.
He dropped his phone and rubbed his eyes. He’d wanted to learn about his business, not just have others set it up for him, and that meant a lot of long-ass days. He worked through every piece of paper and asked his lawyers and business consultants an endless stream of questions. This was a true labor of...well hell, it wasn't love, but rather respect. He respected the people in his prior career field too much to let them languish without assistance.
He could make this business work. God knew he had the assets, the drive, and the determination to do so. All he needed now was a complete understanding of the entire process. He was getting there. At least the broad strokes that outlined what he was looking for were in place. The detail work? Well that would take time and more effort but, by the time he inherited, he'd have everything in place.
His brain was on overload, and he needed a break. Being so far behind the power curve on everything, he’d have to suck it up and pick apart the business plan he and his team at the nonprofit arm of Northern Nova had started to develop. Other than word of mouth, he wasn’t sure they had a way to let the separating personnel know about the company, and it hadn’t been addressed yet, at least not that he could see.
There had been a marketing mock-up. Where was it? Rio stood and reached across the conference room table to grab a stack of files when he heard a knock on the door.
He slid a glance to the door. Well, hell. “Mason?”
His brother’s shirtsleeves were rolled up, exposing his forearms, his jacket discarded, and his tie hung in a loose knot around his neck, mirroring Rio’s own attire. Except his brother had a bottle of whiskey and two tumblers in his hand.
“Yeah, may I come in?”
“Only if you plan on sharing.” Rio nodded to the glasses.
“Definitely.” Mason pulled out a chair with his foot and set down the glasses. He poured three fingers in each, sliding a crystal tumbler to Rio as he sat down.
Rio took his glass and leaned back in the chair. On his father’s advice, he’d steered clear of Mason. They hadn’t talked since Rio had put Deanne on the spot. It was his gut instinct to ask Mason what was going on, but he’d learned long ago that Mason couldn’t be pushed into anything… except when Deanne was involved.
Mason took a long pull off his drink before he spoke. “I
really don’t know where to start with this.”
Rio took a sip of the family’s reserve bourbon before he spoke, “The beginning? I’d like to know how you and Deanne hooked up.”
Mason’s eyebrows popped up in surprise. “She showed up at the house looking for you. I was home that summer, no internship.”
“She was looking for me?”
“Yeah, she had a little box of your things. A sweatshirt, your earphones, stuff like that. We started talking, and she made me laugh. I couldn’t understand why you broke up with her.”
“I didn’t. She broke up with me. She didn’t love me, she loved my money, or the money she assumed I’d have.” Rio shrugged. That breakup was water that had flowed under a bridge, and that bridge had vanished from his rearview mirror a long time ago.
“She told me you broke up with her because you wanted to date when you were in the Navy and that you didn’t want her to go with you.”
Rio shook his head. “Not true.”
“As it seems most of my life has been built on her lies, I don’t doubt it.”
Just how many lies had Deanne told? “Meaning you’ve found out that she lied about the invitations and letter?”
Mason gave a dry, cynical laugh before he slugged down the rest of his bourbon. “I loved her, you know? I really loved her.” He shook his head slowly for a moment before he grabbed the bottle and poured himself another tumbler full of liquor. Rio put his glass down and slid it to the side. Looked like he’d be the designated driver tonight.
“I know you did. You’re an all in kinda guy. No matter what you do, you are all in or you’re not going to do it. Hell, look at what you’ve done for this company.”
Mason snorted. “Pops knew about her. Hell, he tried to warn me about her after the prenup fiasco.” He lifted his eyes from the liquor in his glass. Mason’s stare exposed his soul, and it was bleeding. “I couldn’t believe it about her. She… she was my everything. Was.”
“When did that start to change?”
“Seven years into the marriage.”
Hot SEAL, Savannah Nights Page 15
