“I’ll have a beer, I guess.”
He raised his bottle to her in a toast. “A woman after my own heart. Stay right here. I’ll be back.”
By the time Jon got down the stairs, Rick was already at the cooler sticking bottles of water into the ice. Rick glanced up at him as Jon reached past and grabbed a bottle of beer. “So, I saw you talking to Darci’s friend.”
If there was a question buried in there, Jon didn’t hear it. Even so, he nodded. “Yup.”
“Do you like her?” Rick’s expression seemed to light up. Why, Jon didn’t know.
Even if Jon was the type to get serious with a girl, which he wasn’t, he sure as hell wasn’t going to do it on what could literally be the eve of a six month deployment that would drop him directly into the armpit of the war zone.
When they packed all their gear in three days—or tomorrow or the next day for all he knew—he needed his head to be firmly in the game, not on some piece of ass back in the States waiting on him.
Zane came out of the house and onto the deck at that moment. Jon saw Zane’s own bad decision hanging on his arm like he was a buoy and she was in open seas. It worked to cement Jon’s resolve on the matter. No relationships for him. At least not now.
Jon wrestled his attention away from squinting through his sunglasses at Zane’s date. He’d been trying to determine if she was the same girl he’d seen riding a pole at the strip club in town last time he’d been dragged there by the guys.
He turned to Rick and finally answered the man’s question. “I don’t know if I like her or not. I just met her. Why are you so concerned about me and Ali?”
Rick shrugged. “No reason. Just wondering.”
Apparently civilian life and boredom had turned Rick into a busybody. “Have another beer. You can’t be called in anymore. You can get as drunk as you want now, so go for it.”
Jon, on the other hand, had to throttle his own consumption. Even on an official “day off”, they still had to be mission ready on a moment’s notice. All of their pagers could go off at any time, and then they’d have to be at base and ready to go within an hour. He had become an expert on exactly how many drinks he could metabolize and still be okay if he got called in—just another of the many skills he’d picked up over the years.
It was good he couldn’t get sloppy drunk though, because a few too many often led to poor decisions. Thom came around the corner with his two kids and cemented Jon’s resolve further. Little Tommy had been conceived during a night when Thom had forgotten how much he could consume safely, which had led to the unplanned pregnancy and as a result the failed marriage he’d just signed the papers to end.
Rick’s snort brought Jon’s attention back to him. “I’d rather be deploying with the squad, than getting drunk here.”
“I know, buddy. I know.” Jon slapped his friend on the back and tipped his head toward the house. “Let’s go get a closer look at Zane’s date, shall we?”
If she was indeed who he thought she was, Jon wondered what name she was going by here. He rarely forgot a face—or any other body part—and he doubted she’d be using her stripper name, Mistress Mona, here at the barbecue. Then again, who knew?
Throttling down in concession to the heat and the fact his belly was empty and grumbling thanks to the barbecue on the horizon, Jon grabbed a bottle of water for himself and carried it to the deck along with Ali’s beer.
Grant had arrived at some point while Jon had been talking to Rick. He came out of the house now, his wife carrying a platter of what looked to be cheese and crackers.
The small roster of attendees was complete, but there was only one person Jon made a beeline for after climbing the stairs. He told himself it was because he had the beer he’d promised her, but deep down he knew that adorable little frown over the number thirteen coupled with the very attractive cleavage she was sporting had long since won him over.
Too bad a one-night stand was out of the question given who she was, and he didn’t do long term.
Maybe Ali had been correct. Karma, being a bitch, had dropped the smoking hot friend of his best friend’s sister in his path right before a deployment. If that wasn’t cosmic payback for his sins, he didn’t know what it was. After all the shit he’d done in the name of God and country while fighting an enemy who claimed the same, he supposed a larger neutral presence—if one existed—could find plenty to judge him on.
She was facing away from him, talking to Darci and Grant’s wife, Molly. He tapped Ali on the shoulder and thrust the bottle toward her when she turned.
“Thanks.” The smile she sent him was enough to make him silently curse Fate one more time.
Chapter Four
‡
“Are you sure you’re okay to drive?” Darci’s asked.
“I’m fine. I had like three beers over the course of five hours on top of so much food I doubt my pants for work will fit in the morning.” Ali dismissed her friend’s concern with the wave of one hand while she cradled her clean, empty container from the long gone potato salad with the other.
Cell phone in his hand, Rick walked up to the conversation happening right inside the front door. “Grant just called. He wanted to warn everybody. He just drove through a drunk driving checkpoint.”
Darci’s eyes widened. “Is he okay?”
“Oh, yeah. Molly was driving and she hadn’t had anything at all to drink. He was just worried because they’re really cracking down for the holiday and some of the guys have had a couple.”
Darci spun back to Ali. “I think you should stay the night.”
“Darci. I’m fine, and we have work in the morning.” It sucked that the Fourth of July provided for only one day off but in the age of twenty four / seven customer service she supposed she should be lucky to get even that anymore.
“I’ll take her home.” The deep voice coming from behind Rick heralded Jon’s joining the conversation.
Ali’s heart knocked against her ribcage at hearing Jon’s offer. “Then my car will be here. And isn’t there no street parking overnight? I’ll get a ticket.”
“No, you won’t. I’ll move your car into the driveway as soon as it’s clear tonight. And I’ll pick you up in the morning. You can get it tomorrow after work.” Darci’s solution was going to make it impossible for Ali to get out of being alone with this tempting man offering her a ride home.
Ali had managed to keep Darci from throwing them together during the party, but she hadn’t quite managed to control herself. All throughout those five hours she kept finding herself glancing to see where he was. Turning at the sound of his laugh. Noticing the flex of his muscles as he helped Rick carry the cooler up the stairs once the sun had moved behind the trees to shade the deck.
Being with him, in his truck, at her door, would be too damn tempting. “Thanks for offering, but you don’t have to do that.”
“It’s no trouble. Really.”
“But you don’t even know where I live.”
He shrugged. “I’m assuming it can’t be too far.”
“It’s not. Ten minutes, max.” Darci jumped in and dispelled Ali’s last objection.
“That’s nothing. I can drop you off.” Jon’s brilliant blue eyes, framed by the tan line left from his sunglasses, pinned her with such intensity that she felt like she had to agree.
She held in her sigh. It seemed there was no fighting this. She handed over the car keys in her hand to Darci. “Okay. Thank you, Jon.”
“No problem.” Bottle of water in his left hand, Jon turned and extended his right to Rick. “Dude, thanks for a great party.”
“You’re welcome. Hey, keep in touch. Okay?”
“You got it.” Jon dipped his head.
Rick’s last comment felt heavy as he held Jon’s hand for a bit longer than necessary for a casual handshake between friends. It almost sounded like a final goodbye and Ali realized since Jon was deploying, it could be—at least for the next few months, if not for forever.
&nb
sp; That thought stuck with Ali as she and Jon made their way through the deepening shadows of the path toward his truck. He leapt forward to open the door before she reached it, and took the container from her while she grabbed the handle inside and hoisted herself into the high truck.
“Thanks.”
“Sure.” He smiled when he handed the plastic tub back to her, and then walked around to the driver’s side. That gave her time to recover from the effect his intense gaze had on her now that it was evening and he’d taken his sunglasses off.
Jon was the kind of man who opened doors for a lady . . . and he was shipping off to war. For every pro, there was an equal and opposite con. Yup, that sounded about right as far as Ali’s usual bad luck in the man department.
He fired up the big engine and pulled smoothly away from the curb, leaving her little car behind them. When he stopped in the middle of the street, and turned his head to look at her, she waited, wondering what the hold up was.
He finally asked, “Which way should I go?”
“Oh, sorry.” She’d forgotten to tell him. Jeez, she was a mess. “Head out to the main road at the end of this street. I’m a couple of miles past the Big Mart shopping center.”
He nodded. “Got it.”
Renewed guilt for putting him out had her angling in her seat to face him. “I really could have driven.”
“I know, but why take a chance?” He shrugged.
“I guess. Thank you again.”
The corner of his mouth lifted in a smile as his eyes remained focused on the road ahead. “You’re welcome. Again.”
“So I guess you’ll be leaving soon. To deploy.” Maybe she had consumed too much to drive. Considering how ridiculously bad her attempt at small talk was, that had to be the reason.
“Most likely.” He dipped his head in a nod.
“I just wanted to apologize for Darci.” Sucky conversational skills or not, Ali still wanted that out there. Ali had to make sure Jon knew it was Darci trying to set them up and that is hadn’t been her idea.
“Apologize for what?”
“She had this crazy idea to fix us up. Of course, I set her straight but she was still kind of obvious about it.” Ali wouldn’t be surprised if Darci had engineered the whole police check scenario with Rick just to get her in the car with Jon.
“Why of course?” He shot her a look from across the specious cab.
“Excuse me?”
“You said that of course you set her straight. Why of course?”
“Well, because you’re about to leave the country for who knows how long. It would be crazy to try and start anything.”
“You’re right. It would be.” He nodded, his tone giving nothing away so she couldn’t tell if he was surprised by her words or not. “What did she say when you told her that?”
Ali felt her cheeks heat. When she hesitated answering, he turned his head to her.
“What’s wrong? What did she say?” Jon repeated the question.
“That we should just have a fling instead.” Unable to come up with a lie on the fly, Ali opted for the truth, but then laughed as if it was a big joke rather than an idea that had her insides twisting.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw his brow rise as he asked, “What did you say to that suggestion?”
Was his voice huskier than before? No. It was probably just her imagination. Even so, her heart rate sped. Not believing they were actually having this conversation, she swallowed hard and said, “That I couldn’t do that.”
“No. You’re not the one-night stand type.” Not sure whether to take his comment as an insult or a compliment, Ali frowned.
“Well, no. I haven’t been in the past.” With her bad judgment when it came to men firmly in place, she decided she wouldn’t mind being that type now. “Besides, you SEALs probably have dozens of women throwing themselves at you day and night . . .”
Pure unadulterated lust was the best excuse she could come up with for her continuing this conversation about one-night stands with Jon.
He let out a short laugh. “Not quite as many women as you’d think.”
“I’m not sure I believe you.” She remembered Zane’s well-endowed date at the party.
Jon shrugged. “I don’t go out all that much and aside from my cleaning lady, there’s no women hanging around my condo.”
“Oh.” Crap. She wanted this man. Good thing he didn’t want her.
His lack of interest came through clearly in the flat tone of his questions and answers. At least one of them was thinking clearly. Her long dry spell in the sexual encounter department would surely lead them down a dangerous path if things had been left solely up to her.
“We just passed the shopping center.”
“Oh, um sorry. Make a right at the next light.” Her cheeks heated again as she looked like an idiot for forgetting to tell him where to go. Ali wrestled her attention off her burning desire for this man and onto the road as he flipped on the blinker and made the turn. “Then it’s a right at the stop sign.”
He nodded and followed her directions right up to the driveway of the duplex she rented. It was dark since she hadn’t left any lights on when she’d left this afternoon but Jon’s headlights would light her way to the door.
She’d get to the door fine. That wasn’t the issue. The problem was that she knew it was locked and the key was with her car keys she’d left with Darci.
“Crap.” Ali let out the curse beneath her breath when she realized the full impact of what she’d done.
“Problem?” he asked.
“You’re not going to believe this.” Ali forced herself to look at him, even though she was so embarrassed she felt her cheeks warm.
He cocked one brow. “Try me.”
“My house key is on the ring with my car keys—”
He nodded as an expression of comprehension dawned. “At Rick’s place.”
“Yup.” Now she really did look like a complete idiot.
Jon reached for the handle and swung the door wide. Where he thought he was going Ali didn’t know, but as he rounded the hood and came to open her door it appeared she’d be going with him.
“The door’s locked.” She felt the need to clarify that point since judging by his actions her tale of the absent keys hadn’t seemed to resonate with him. He strode for the door and tried the knob as she came up behind him.
“Yeah, I figured. Just checking.” He turned to glance at her. “You have a back door?”
“Yes.” Which would be locked too but she had a feeling he was going to want to check anyway.
“Okay. Wait here.”
She was about to tell him she was absolutely certain that door was locked, but he was too fast as he jogged around the dark corner of the building.
Crossing her arms, she figured she’d hang out and wait. It would only be a matter of time before he was back and they’d have to face the fact they’d have to go all the way back to Darci’s to retrieve her keys. Embarrassment heated her cheeks at the thought. As if it weren’t enough of an imposition that he’d had to drive her home, now he’d have to do it twice.
The sound of the lock turning right before the front door swung in had Ali turning wide-eyed to see Jon smiling in the doorway. He took a step back and swept one arm. “Would you like to come in?”
“How—” She shook her head, at a loss for words.
He grinned wider. “Lock picking is just one of my many skills.”
“Does the Navy teach you guys breaking and entering?”
“Shh.” Jon pressed his finger to his lips. “Don’t tell.”
She stepped inside, happy at least that he hadn’t wasted a trip while not so happy the locks on her home were such a joke it took him seconds to get in. Flipping on lights, which he hadn’t bothered to do, she glanced toward the back of the house. “I’m a little freaked out.”
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have—”
“No, it’s not that you got in. More at the thought that any
body else could.”
“I understand. You might want to invest in an alarm service. I have one.”
“You do?” Big strong SEALs had alarms on their houses? That was news.
“Yup.” He dipped his head. “You can never be too careful.”
“I guess not.” She drew in a breath and let it out slowly. Glancing up, she caught Jon watching the rise and fall of her breasts beneath the sundress.
Maybe he was interested in her after all.
He took a step forward and laid one big hand on her shoulder. She felt the heat of him against her bare skin. That was one way to get her mind off her security. “I’m sorry I freaked you out. This is a safe neighborhood. I really wouldn’t worry.”
Ali nodded, having trouble coming up with a coherent response while he touched her. “You want to stay for a little while?”
It wasn’t a hard question but he hesitated for long enough, she wondered what was going on inside his head.
Finally, he let out a sigh. “Yeah, I do wanna stay, which is why I’m going to go.”
“I don’t understand.” She did however take note his hand had remained on her shoulder. For a man intent on going he hadn’t made a move to leave yet.
“I’m afraid if I stay, I won’t want to leave.”
Ali swallowed hard and leaned just a bit closer to him. “Then don’t leave.”
She saw his chest rise and fall, watched his focus drop to her lips before he brought it back up to her eyes. “You don’t do one-night stands.”
“I said I hadn’t in the past, not that I was opposed to having one. With you.”
“This can’t be anything more than tonight.”
Pulse racing, Ali nodded. “I know.”
His breathing grew more rapid as his eyes narrowed. Taking a step forward, he slid his leg between hers as he cupped her face with his palm. He leaned low, his lips nearing hers when he halted and mouthed a silent curse.
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