“You haven’t been around all week. Where’s your girl?” He hadn’t seen Kelly, but then she could have disappeared into the restroom, as the ladies tended to do.
Ian sipped his lager, pretending to watch the college football game on the large-screen TV. Uh-oh, had Kelly dumped him?
“She’s on duty tonight.”
Brendan took a swig of Coke and eyed his brother with renewed interest. The kid had it bad, all right. About time he found himself a girl that tied him into knots. None of the blonde matchsticks had done anything for him as far as Brendan could tell.
“So you don’t have anyone to play with. Is that all that’s bothering you?”
That earned him a dark scowl. “No, that’s not it.”
Brendan waited. He knew Ian best. While five years and two sisters separated them, they’d been close growing up. They still were as far as he was concerned. Hell, that was one of the reasons he’d bought the bar in Florida. He liked living near his favorite brother, and wanted his boys to grow up knowing their uncle.
Ian turned his glass around, staring at the contents as if reading life’s answers in the foam. “She’s not in love with me.”
Brendan cast a glance heavenward and swore softly. “Tell me you haven’t told her you’re in love with her.” Obviously he was, but that didn’t mean he had any business spilling his guts. Not yet anyway.
“No, I’m not stupid.” He frowned at his beer before looking over at Brendan. “Why shouldn’t I tell her?”
He’d have thought by thirty-two, the kid would know more about women. Brendan took another sip to cover up a laugh and choked.
“You okay?” Ian asked, pounding him on the back.
“Yeah, yeah, at least I will be if you quit beating on me.” He narrowed his eyes at his brother. “Just how long have you been going out with Kelly?”
Ian gave a passable shrug of indifference. “Almost a week.”
Not bothering to cover his snicker, Brendan asked, “A week. And how many hours?”
His brother sighed. “Five hours, twenty-six minutes—if I were counting, which I’m not,” he added with a half smile.
Brendan shook his head. “The surest way to scare Kelly off would be to tell her you’re in love with her. It’s too soon to be believable.” He held up his hand to stop Ian’s protest. “Hell, I know it’s true, but only because I’ve known you all your life. For all Kelly knows, you fall in love with every girl you date.”
That sure wasn’t true. Brendan didn’t think Ian had ever been in love. Certainly not with Julie—golden goddess number one—and they’d been engaged for damn near forever. Thank God she had the good sense to run off with that journalist. But Kelly did pose another problem.
“So who was that idiot she was in here with that first night? You know, the creep getting her drunk?” Brendan asked.
Did she have a habit of getting involved with sleazy guys like that? So far his brother had avoided any serious heartbreak, but Kelly could be the one to do him in.
The frown returned. “I don’t know. She won’t talk about that night except to say if I’m still around next year, she might tell me.”
He finally picked up his beer and took a drink. Brendan recognized the delay tactic and knew he had to wait him out. He’d had years of practice.
With pain-in-the-ass slowness, Ian set his glass on the coaster, precisely lining it up with the bar’s logo. Brendan kept his own hands on his Coke to keep from smacking him. The boy would say his mind sooner or later. Well, with Ian it was usually later.
“She’s not seeing anybody else. I get the feeling she was upset because of something to do with her family. She definitely doesn’t like to talk about them. Her parents are dead but she has an older brother. I think he’s the only family she has left. And that’s the sum of what I know about Petty Officer Kelly Bishop.”
Brendan grunted. “Don’t let Mom find out she’s an orphan or she’ll adopt her. In fact, if she ever catches you two together, she’ll be sending out wedding invitations.”
Ian gave him his first grin of the evening. “Yeah, I thought the same thing—Kelly drinks Irish stout and with her dark coloring, looks Italian. Mom will definitely like it that they’re about the same height. You know how she hates that all of us, except for Cara, are taller than she is.”
Brendan put his arm across Ian’s shoulders. “There was probably a jerk in her past and now she’s afraid to trust guys again. Just give her time, she’ll learn she can count on you.” Give her time, hell, Ian had always gone slowly with women—the idiot had probably just gotten to the heavy petting stage. Of course with Ian it was hard to tell, he wasn’t the kind of guy to talk about sex and his girlfriends, even to his favorite brother.
“You know what really pisses me off? She acts like it’s just about sex. Any talk about emotions makes her defensive.”
Brendan damn near fell off his barstool. Before he could untangle his tongue, Ian continued on as if discussing his love life was something they did all the time.
“I can’t decide if it’s because her previous boyfriends were jackasses, or because we’re so damn good in bed together—”
“Whoa—TMI, too much information about my little brother-in-law!” Penny said, wedging her very pregnant body between Brendan and the bar. His wife gave him a kiss and a tired-looking smile.
“Hey honey, you’re early. I wasn’t expecting you to show up here for another twenty minutes or so. Were the kids a handful today?” Brendan asked. He was taking her out to dinner so she could have some much-needed time away from their two rambunctious boys.
She nodded but her concentration was back on Ian. “So, am I to infer you and Heather are a serious couple now?”
Brendan began kneading Penny’s lower back. “No honey, Heather’s long gone. We’re talking about Ian’s new girlfriend, Kelly.”
One delicate eyebrow rose. “Kelly? Oh my, she sounds much more promising.”
Her delight brought a deeper frown to Ian’s face. “Why does she sound more promising—you like her name better than Heather’s?”
Penny flapped her hand at him and made a tsking sound. “No, silly. She has you talking about your sex life—you never talk about that. Why don’t you invite her to Sunday dinner? I’d like to meet this one.”
“Seriously? I don’t know if she’d agree to come.”
“You’d better warn her first. Dinner at our house is a three-ring circus,” Brendan added. Ian had never brought any of his girlfriends over before.
“Just ask her,” Penny urged.
“You know, I think I might like her to meet you and the kids. She grew up a Navy brat, so I don’t think she had much of a normal childhood. But you can’t give her the third degree, and absolutely no talk about marriage. I don’t want her thinking I’m looking for a wife,” Ian said. “She’s a little phobic about emotional commitments.”
Brendan could only stare. The kid was a goner all right. Kelly had worked her way into his heart so deep, he wasn’t even acting like the boy Brendan had grown up with. About damn time that happened to him. He grinned and hugged Penny to his side. Just wait till he told their mom.
* * *
Matt Bishop sprawled back in the lumpy, slightly musty-smelling chair and watched the jockeying going on around the battered conference table. This meeting between assorted federal agencies, who probably weren’t officially in this country at all, promised to be entertaining at the very least. Maybe it would even prove useful.
“So who’s the suit?” Squirrel asked. He tossed Matt a poppy seed bagel, dropped into the chair next to Matt, and began consuming what looked like a fresh donut.
Knowing Squirrel had earned his nickname by foraging and stashing away supplies for later use, Matt sniffed his bagel before taking a cautious bite. “FBI,” he said around hi
s second, less hesitant bite. He didn’t bother asking where Squirrel had scrounged up an honest-to-goodness New York bagel in this backwater village on the edge of the Colombian jungle.
They’d been in South America for eighteen grueling months, slipping in and out of cities and jungles, trailing leads and bribing local despots to locate a new drug lord operating outside of all the known cartels. Matt’s team had been drafted to work with the numerous federal agencies tasked with shutting down this particular dealer. Why this one in particular, Matt couldn’t say, but maybe that’s what they were about to learn.
“Any idea why they invited us?”
“Nope.” Matt watched the half dozen men eyeing each other with suspicion and false bravado. None of them had a real clue what was going on in-country, but God forbid they show any weakness by asking questions.
The suit stood and cleared his throat with a theatrical flair. Oh boy, the show is about to begin.
“We have credible evidence that the drug distributor known locally as el Cerdo is funding insurgents in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria with profits from cocaine sales. He has an extensive network operating in Mexico and Florida. The next large shipment is being split up and going out of Barranquilla by boat.”
Matt listened with half an ear as the agent droned on about the different shipping points while reading text messages sent by Squirrel from right beside him.
Heard your sister stationed in FL. Think she can get good deal on place on beach?
Sure. With cocktails and steaks. He hit send then stared at the text. He’d kept an eye on Kelly ever since their father had died. He followed her career religiously, but he wasn’t very good at actually talking to her. Or emailing. Or texting.
Maybe it was time he acted like a real brother—up close and in person.
* * *
“I can’t believe I agreed to go,” Kelly said as she pulled another sundress over her head. Why in the world would Ian want her to meet his sister-in-law? It was bad enough knowing it had been his brother’s bar where she’d done her annual drunk to numb her heart. The guy probably wanted to make sure his brother wasn’t dating an alcoholic or something.
“Ah, come on, it’s only Brendan’s family, not Ian’s parents or anything,” Caitlyn said from her cross-legged perch on the bed.
Kelly smoothed the red rayon over her narrow hips. “Too bright or too short?” she asked, looking down at herself, then eyeing her image in the locker door mirror. “Too short. Oh God, I look like a tulip.” She chewed on her lower lip. It wasn’t like she had a lot of choices.
“You do not. You look great in that color. And that’s the perfect length. It shows off your gorgeous legs.”
Kelly rolled her eyes while digging for sandals on the floor of the small locker. This from a woman who had real legs—legs that made grown men weep. Kelly slipped on her shoes and absently finger combed her damp hair. Maybe she should wear a little mascara, and some blush.
“You don’t have heels?”
“What?” Kelly looked up from scrounging in a drawer for her makeup bag. Or had she gotten rid of that along with her hairdryer?
Caitlyn pointed at Kelly’s feet. “Don’t you have any high-heeled sandals?”
Kelly put her hands on her hips and glared. “Look, I’m lucky to have more than one dress to choose from, so don’t push me. I’m not a high-heel kind of girl. I don’t wear makeup, or put goop in my hair. If Brendan’s wife doesn’t like me because of that, tough patooties.”
But she did want to be liked, just not for any of those artificial reasons. And she didn’t want Ian’s family to question what he saw in her. Good Lord, enough with the self-doubt already. She shoved the drawer closed and took a final non-critical look in the mirror.
“Kelly-girl, they’ll love you if for no other reason than you make Ian a happy man.” Caitlyn hopped off the bed and gave Kelly a quick hug. “You’re ten times better for him than that marshmallow he was dating before. Now have fun and call me with all the details when you get back.”
The boat took a sudden dip and Ian called Kelly’s name from the aft deck above.
“Go, if he catches you down here in that scrap of red, you’ll never make it to dinner,” Caitlyn said. She pushed Kelly up the steps in front of her.
Sweat dampened Kelly’s palms and her heart fluttered like a flag in the wind—until she saw Ian’s expression. His gaze took a quick head to toe read, then a more…leisurely…assessment. A wicked smile kicked up the corner of his mouth. “Cait, why don’t you go have dinner at my brother’s? Give my regrets and tell him Kelly and I are on a special assignment. Might be gone a couple weeks.”
He stood by the transom door, looking better than any fantasy lover Kelly had ever conjured. Dressed in khakis and a white polo shirt that emphasized his broad shoulders, the only hunger Kelly had was for him.
“Now kids, you’re all dressed up and have people waiting for you,” Caitlyn said. She slipped her arms though Kelly and Ian’s and escorted them off the boat.
“If I remember correctly, the woman slaving over a hot stove is very pregnant, certainly hormonal, and would probably maim you if crossed. So go, have fun, then come home and tear off each other’s clothes.”
Caitlyn continued her foolish chatter while walking them to the parking lot. Kelly burned Ian’s hungry expression into her brain. There would be lonely nights in the future and she’d want to pull that memory out and savor it again, and again.
* * *
Ian stood by the breakfast bar between Brendan’s kitchen and den and accepted a beer from his brother. He tried hard not to simply stare at Kelly as the children entertained her. She’d made instant friends with Brendan and Penny’s two boys. That, of course, guaranteed Penny’s smile of approval. Four-year-old Collin held his cat up for Kelly to inspect, while twenty-month-old Riley plopped his diapered butt on the floor, grinned and latched on to one of her legs.
“Just how serious are you about this girl?” Brendan said, forcing Ian’s attention back to him.
He couldn’t hide anything from Brendan. His older brother had always had a knack for reading him. “Scary serious. Jesus, Bren, I’ve never believed in that soulmate crap, but when I’m with Kelly, it’s like I’m home.” He took a long pull on his beer and glanced into the den. “I sound like an idiot, but I don’t know how else to explain it.”
Kelly was laughing at Riley’s babbled storytelling and something warm and comforting spread through him. Yeah, he could spend a lifetime making babies and growing old with her. How the hell had that happened so quickly? Even as he had the thought, he knew the answer.
Working with her on that sailor, watching how hard she fought to keep him alive had moved him. Seeing her vulnerability later that night had awoken all of his protective instincts and she’d simply become his.
Penny looked up, exchanging some secret communication with Brendan, and a spurt of jealousy flashed through Ian. He wanted that connection, the kind where a glance spoke volumes between two people. Where shared experiences wove them closer together with each passing year. He’d grown up with parents that showed their love with those simple gestures, and he longed for the same with Kelly.
“Time to put dinner on the table, otherwise the kids will wear Kelly out. By the way, you’re on kitchen duty—Penny wants a chance to talk to Kelly alone after she puts the kids down for the night.”
Ian tried to gauge his brother’s intent. “No interrogations, that was our agreement,” he said, following Brendan into the kitchen. The aromas of pot roast and yeast bread brought to mind Sunday dinners and growing up in the Midwest. He was sure it was a far cry from anything Kelly had experienced.
Brendan grinned. “Relax, she promised no spotlights or rubber hoses. Dinner smells good, huh? Penny decided comfort food would be a good truth serum. It takes a strong person to resist pot roas
t.”
* * *
“Kelly, are you a med tech too?” Penny asked as she passed a basket of hot rolls.
“Thanks. No, I’m a paramedic.” Kelly took a roll and handed the basket to Ian with a wink. She guessed the family interrogation was about to begin in earnest.
“Tell her what you really do,” he prompted with a nod to his nephew.
“I’m a rescue swimmer.” Kelly looked at Collin. “I get to jump out of helicopters into the water.”
The boy’s eyes rounded. “Really? Aren’cha scared of sharks?”
“Nope, but I certainly respect the heck out of ‘em. Truthfully, I’ve only seen a couple since I’ve been stationed in Florida. All the others I’ve encountered have been while diving for fun.” Kelly looked over at Penny and saw almost the same shocked expression her son wore.
“Cool. I learned how to swim last summer, diden I, Mom,” Collin said.
Kelly smiled at Penny, wanting to reassure her, before turning back to the boy. “That’s great. Does your brother know how to swim too?”
Penny gave a nervous laugh. “Oh, no, he’s too young. When he turns three—”
“Actually, Pen, babies take to water naturally. Kelly learned how to swim before she could walk,” Ian offered.
Under the table, Kelly pinched his thigh. “Penny’s right, Ian. If she’s not comfortable with him in the water so young, he might pick up on her worry and become frightened. They learn best when their mother’s having fun too.”
Penny gave her a grateful smile. “I’ve seen notices posted for the water babies swim classes, but I guess I never took it seriously. Did your mom teach you how to swim?”
Warm memories washed over Kelly like a summer rain. “No, it was my dad. He was the real swimmer in our family. He taught my brother and me, but I had the better stroke, giving me an edge over Matt. I became faster than him—of course he stopped challenging me to races when I started beating him all the time.”
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