by Cora Seton
When a final thrust pushed her right over the edge, and she cried out with a sound as wild as any a creature of the woods might make, Kai followed her, bucking into an orgasm that rocked both of them until they finally fell back, spent.
A few minutes later, Kai pulled out, slid to the side and gathered her against him, whispering her name against her hair.
“Can we stay here forever?” she asked him.
His answering chuckle rocked her. “Probably not, but it’s tempting.”
“I love the moon.”
He nodded. “We’ll slip out here whenever we can.”
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
She snuggled against him and pulled him close again.
“HI, I’M KAI Green,” Kai said into the camera Byron was holding. “Welcome to A SEAL’s Meals! Today I’m going to show you how to feed a whole horde of hungry Navy SEALs, among other people, with food you can grow yourself or source locally. Let’s get started.”
Kai couldn’t believe how freeing it was to know he had control over every aspect of his cooking show. He’d picked the recipes, the ingredients, the length of the show, its title—and if he felt like pontificating over the incredible taste of a homegrown heirloom tomato, he could do just that. He would upload it to an online video site. Maybe not the same as being on national television, but like Avery had said, it was only the start.
It had been more satisfying than he could describe to turn down Linkley’s offer. He’d expected Renata to be pissed. Instead, she’d agreed to lend him Byron, the cameraman who was always trailing around after Avery.
“Linkley’s an ass” was all she said in explanation, but her private smile made him wonder if she bore the man an old grudge she didn’t mind seeing answered.
As he mixed, stirred, chopped and cooked, Kai found it wasn’t hard at all to keep the patter going. He was talking about all the things he loved to talk about most. And having a ball while he was doing it.
“Let’s see what the test group thinks of this freshly grown cauliflower,” he said, and the camera pulled back to show the members of Base Camp perched around the room. They quickly passed a plate of cauliflower florets around and everyone took one. “We had a minor disaster here at Base Camp, and lost most of our vegetable stores. Lucky for us, hardy vegetables like cauliflower can be harvested well into fall, if given a little protection from the elements.
“It’s really good, even plain like this,” Riley said.
“Way better than store bought,” Clay put in.
“Definitely. I’d know; I grew them myself,” Samantha said.
“It’s great to know where your food comes from,” Kai said to the camera. “If you’re not a gardener—or a full-on farmer—make friends with someone who is. Purchase a CSA subscription or frequent a farmer’s market. There are lots of options these days. And if you can, learn how to grow a variety of foods yourself, so when trouble comes, you’ve got a backup plan. We had a bumper crop of cabbages, cauliflower and other hardy vegetables, which is going to help us get through what could have been a lean winter. We’re also growing more greens and other vegetables in our greenhouses, but we’ll talk about that next time.”
When the show was done and his friends had clapped and cheered, Avery said, “We’ll work on the post-production and get something to you to look at as soon as possible.”
“Thank you. I don’t know what I would have done without you two.” He included the cameraman in his praise.
“You would have filmed it on your phone and it would have sucked,” Avery said with a smile. “Or you would have said yes to Linkley.”
“Ugh,” Addison put in.
“I like this a lot better. Can’t wait to see the final result.”
Kai waited for Avery and Byron to hurry off and turned to Addison. “What did you think?”
“I think you’re going to be a star.”
“Will you still love me when I am?”
“Hell, yeah!”
“ADDISON,” NORA CALLED out later when Addison was crossing to her tent to grab her warm jacket. It had grown cold as the afternoon waned. “Can you come up to the manor for a minute? We’re having a meeting. Just us women.”
“Okay.” Addison knew she had nothing to fear, but somehow the request sounded ominous, and as she followed Nora up the path to the large house on top of the hill, she wondered if the rest of the women had something to say about the circumstances under which she’d come here.
Or maybe they wanted to talk about the awkward happenings at the Halloween ball. She’d been happy to hear from Evan that he and her sister had reached Rome safely and were beginning to talk about what had happened that night.
“You’ll hear from Felicity soon, I think,” Evan had emailed her. “She’s very embarrassed, and I’ve come to understand that leaving New York was a bigger deal than either of us made it out to be. We’ve held on to the penthouse for now, and we’ll take our decisions a bit slower from now on. Your mom’s been calling every day, so we’ve had to set some ground rules. Felicity’s going to be the one to call her—once a week at a prearranged time. We’ve filled in your dad on what’s going on, and he’s going to try to help persuade your mom that something has to change.”
When they reached the manor, Nora went in the back door, which led straight into the kitchen. Addison followed apprehensively and came to an abrupt halt when she saw that someone had laid the table with a linen cloth and the fancy tea service that had come with the place.
“Sit down.” Avery gestured to a vacant seat at the end of the table.
“What’s all this about?” Addison asked. She looked along the table at the faces smiling back at her.
“Well, aside from the little disturbance your sister caused, the Halloween ball was really lovely,” Savannah began.
“And we’ve had so much extra time these last few weeks to work on our personal projects,” Avery continued.
“This last batch of guests was the happiest group we’ve had,” Nora put in.
“You obviously run rings around us as far as organizing and getting things done,” Riley said.
“So, this is our way of asking you if you’d like to step into that role for good,” Samantha said.
“To become our B and B’s director,” Avery explained. “We’d pay you a salary to run things, and of course we’d still be involved.”
“But we’d give you creative control to come up with special events, develop our wedding business and grow the B and B,” Nora said.
“What do you think?” Riley asked.
Addison blinked back tears. “It’s more than I could ever have hoped for,” she said truthfully. “I’ve always dreamed of running an event-planning business. I had no idea that when I came here I’d… get an opportunity like this. I love it here,” she said. “Just love it here. I don’t know what I’d do if I had to leave.”
The women pushed back their chairs and came to surround her, each of them offering assurances she’d never have to.
“We love having you here, too,” Savannah said.
“We didn’t know what we were missing until you arrived,” Samantha said, “and I’m not just saying that because you do all my chores at the manor.”
With a laugh, Addison allowed them to help her into her seat, pour her some tea and pass her the plate of cookies Avery had baked.
“Yum, these are good,” she said.
“Not as good as my films. Just wait until you see the final version of the first episode of A SEAL’s Meals.”
“It’s turning out well?” Addison asked.
“It’s going to be a hit.”
Chapter Fourteen
‡
A RAGGED CHEER went up from the group when the last roof was finished on the tiny houses. Kai had spent far more time this past week helping to frame in walls than he had cooking—or gardening, although he’d helped with that, too. The interiors were far from finished on the four new dwellings that dotted the h
illside, but there’d be enough housing for the couples who married during the winter. Everyone else would have to hunker down the best they could in the bunkhouse.
“Almost makes me want my turn,” Curtis joked. Daisy barked.
“Don’t you?” Kai asked, angling his head to look at the high clouds sheering over the sky. Snow was coming. Even a California boy like him could smell it in the air.
“You know what they say: twice bitten, shy as fuck.” Curtis ruffled his dog’s ears.
Kai chuckled, but he felt for the man. “You know what they also say: third time’s a charm.”
“Hear that?” Curtis yelled to the sky. “Send me a keeper.” Daisy barked again, as if in agreement.
Kai wasn’t the only one who laughed at that.
“We’ll know who goes next in a couple of days,” Anders said. “Maybe it’ll be me this time.”
“Or Walker—seems like it should’ve been his turn ages ago,” Angus said.
Walker only shrugged.
Kai’s phone buzzed, and he pulled it out, frowning at the unfamiliar phone number.
“It’s Felicity,” a female voice said when he accepted the call. “Addison’s sister. Do you have a minute to talk?”
“Sure.” He took a few steps away from the other men. “What’s up?” He knew Addison hadn’t talked to her sister since the night of the ball.
“I… need to apologize.”
He bit back a sharp retort. She sure as hell did—but not to him. She’d ruined the ball for Addison after all of Addison’s hard work.
“I drank too much, and I acted so badly. I don’t remember too much of it, but my husband does, and he’s made sure I know every detail.”
“Ouch.” Sounded like a rotten week in paradise to him.
“Yeah… ouch. How is Addison?”
“Why don’t you ask her yourself?” He could tell this was meant to be a warm-up call. Felicity was testing the waters, but that was the coward’s way out.
“I will. I know I should be talking to her, not to you, but… I’m chicken.”
“She loves you, you know. You’re her sister. She needs you in her life.” Kai found himself pacing.
“I know she does, which makes this all worse. I never should have played games with her. I thought I knew better than she did what she needed, but all I ended up doing was breaking her heart. She wanted the penthouse so bad. I should have just given it to her, but I thought she needed more than a place to live—”
“Felicity, you have to have this conversation with Addison.”
Felicity drew in a breath. Let it out again. “Yeah. I know. Like I said, I wanted to apologize. I ruined what looked like a lovely night for you two, and I almost ruined everything. It’s just… watching the show—I could see her falling in love with Base Camp and with you. I knew she was going to stay in Montana, and I was going to Rome. I felt… like we were never going to see each other again.”
Kai stood still. Suddenly, he got it, and despite himself compassion flooded him. He wasn’t the only one who feared losing the ones he loved. “You wanted her back in New York. In your penthouse. So even if you were away you could picture where she was and feel close to her.”
“Yeah.” Felicity was crying. “I’m such a jerk.”
“You can come here anytime, you know. Stay at the manor. Dress up like a Jane Austen character. Have a little fun.”
“I guess.” She was quiet a moment. “Actually, when you put it like that, it does sound fun.”
“It will be. And Addison will love seeing you. Call her, okay?”
“Okay. She’s pretty lucky to have found you. I should get some credit for that, right? Maybe enough to make up for what I did at the ball?”
Kai thought about it. “Okay, I can go for that. The slate is clean. Call your sister; she’s dying to hear from you.”
Addison had taken charge of gathering up the costumes to return to Alice after the ball. She’d managed to round up all of them except Kai’s missing toga. No matter where they looked, she and Kai couldn’t find it.
It had been Addison’s experience, however, that this was an honorable group of people, and if someone had taken the costume for any reason, she had a hunch they’d give it back, if given the opportunity. She assembled the costumes she had in a large box and left it inside the door of the bunkhouse. As she prepped and cooked with Kai, she tried as best she could to keep her eye on it.
Sure enough, she spotted Avery lingering near it a little before lunchtime. Addison kept watch as Avery carefully slid a rolled-up bundle of white material into the box. Before Avery could slip out of the bunkhouse again, Addison stepped out of the kitchen and shut the door behind her.
“Busted,” she said quietly.
“Shit.” Avery spun to face her. “Addison—I can explain.”
“You don’t have to if you don’t want to. I’m sure you had your reasons.” Although she couldn’t guess what they might be. Had Avery needed a toga for some short film she was making? If so, why not simply ask to borrow it?
She remembered Avery hanging around Boone’s desk. Remembered Boone asking about a missing paperweight.
Was this the first time Avery had filched something?
Addison took the toga out of the box again, shook it out, refolded it carefully and put it back. “Come here.” She led Avery outside to the fire pit and sat down with her on a log. “I need a favor.”
“What kind of favor?” Avery eyed her suspiciously.
“The kind of favor you’re good at. I need you to steal something for me.”
Avery straightened, her face tight with offense, but Addison took her arm and kept her from jumping up. “It’s Kai’s binder—where he has his recipes and notes. You know what I mean?”
“Why don’t you just ask him for it?”
“I want to surprise him. I need to make a digital copy. He has no backup, and he doesn’t have a version he can edit, either. I want you to take the binder, scan every page and turn it into a document I can use. Can you do that?”
“Why? He’ll be pissed if he catches me, you know.”
“I do know that. I also know you’re hiding something—something important. Even if I don’t know exactly what it is, I can put a stop to it. Do you want me to do that?” Addison held the other woman’s gaze until Avery looked away.
“No.”
“Do we have a deal?”
“Yeah, we have a deal.”
“UP FOR SOME nighttime birdwatching?” Kai asked when they were prepping for dinner.
“Does that mean what I think it means?” Addison asked, stopping midway through slicing one of the last onions. She’d been out in the greenhouses with Kai earlier that day and had admired the new lettuces that were growing well. There were green onions poking their heads up and even potato plants. They hadn’t solved their food problem completely, but there was hope, as Kai had told her.
“That means exactly what you think it means,” Kai said, brushing a kiss over her cheek as he passed to fetch something else from the refrigerator.
There weren’t any camera crews in the room today. As soon as they stepped out of the kitchen, however, they’d be trailed all day, which is why a nighttime excursion was his only chance of proposing to Addison alone. He’d done it once already, but he wanted to do it again. With a ring, this time. He wanted proof of her pledge on her finger—not because he didn’t believe her, but because he wanted to be reminded every time she was nearby that he was going to get to be with her for the rest of his life.
Besides, making love to Addison under a canopy of stars was one of his favorite things to do.
First, however, he needed a ring. He waited until they’d served lunch and Addison had gone off with the other women to the manor to prepare for their next round of guests.
Curtis met him in the door to the kitchen. “Boone sent me,” he said. “Wants to know if we’re having a wedding this weekend?” He must have left his dog with someone else; there was no sign o
f Daisy.
“One way or the other,” Kai said. “I’m off to buy a ring right now.”
“I’ll come with you,” Curtis said.
“Sure. I could use the moral support.”
Curtis was too quiet on the ride into town to offer much support, however, and Kai wondered what was on the man’s mind. He expected him to head off on an errand of his own when he parked on the street near Thayer’s, the sole jewelry store in town, but Curtis stuck close, even when they entered the store.
As Kai searched for an engagement ring to give to Addison when he proposed, Curtis perused the trays of rings, too. It took a long time for Kai to settle on a gold ring with a sweep of diamonds like a wave crashing against the shore. It was elegant, and he thought it suited Addison. He turned to show it to Curtis and found the man holding a ring of his own.
“Have you been seeing someone?” Kai asked him, intrigued. Since Harris had stolen the bride Boone had chosen for Curtis, the man had seemed far too withdrawn from the world to get up to much of anything. Now Kai wondered if Curtis had fooled them all.
“Nope.” Curtis shook his head. “But I thought about our talk the other day, and I’ve decided I’m going to. I’m not going to wait to draw a straw or for someone else to pick me a bride. I’m here at Base Camp. I’ve pledged to get married. I’m going to find my own woman. And this is the ring I’ll give her.” He held up a ring Kai hadn’t seen—a large oblong diamond surrounded by smaller ones set in a platinum band.
“That’s a hell of a ring.”
“My future wife deserves it. I won’t pick a woman who doesn’t.”
Curtis was a man on a mission. Kai was impressed.
“You two gentlemen finding everything okay?” A petite woman with dark hair came to help them.
“I’d like to buy this ring,” Kai said and handed the pretty bit of jewelry to the clerk. “I’m Kai Green. From Base Camp.”
“I recognized you. I’m Rose Johnson. Nice to meet you.” She held the ring in the palm of her hand, and her gaze grew distant for a moment. When she focused on him again, she smiled. “You and your fiancée are going to be very happy together.”