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Stop standing there like an idiot.
“Okay, well, bye,” said the one woman with a bunch of mismatched ribbons in her hair. She caught the arm of the woman who’d called him “first man you see material” and the two of them followed along the same path his kisser had fled.
The last lady eyed him up and down. Then, with a nod to herself, she whispered, “Her name’s Hailey. She works at The Sutherland.” With a point at the large Victorian, she took off, following the others.
A slow smile spread across his face. How could he not appreciate it when the locals provided much needed intel? Or the way Hailey’s skirt cupped her ass as she climbed the stairs away from the beach. With a shake of his head, he turned and sprang into action, hitting the waves and swimming back to his trainees.
They continued to tread water; this long and cold endurance exercise would prepare them for the water insertions they’d practice next. From the tight looks on his men’s faces, they were fighting grins. And losing.
“That looked real dangerous.”
“We were considering whether or not you needed backup.”
Yeah, yeah yeah. He probably deserved the razzing. But should he end it? Instructing was still so new to him. Training was exhausting, stressful work, and handling a few cracks from another SEAL was a low price to pay for pushing them as hard as he did. Besides, he’d already played hardass once today.
“She need mouth-to-mouth?”
Low price to pay to a point. “Shut it, before I drown you.”
The water grew choppy, which signaled the helicopter’s return. The men were then forced to handle their communication by hand signals. It was just as well. Nate had a few hand signals in mind that weren’t Navy regulated.
A rope ladder descended from their transport above, and Nate supervised as each man made his way safely out of the water. He gripped the rung, and hauled himself out of the water, his knee aching with the effort. He gritted his teeth and began to ascend the ladder. It was no secret to the men he trained he’d rather be out with his Team than in San Diego, but orders were orders, and he had enough discipline to admit that until he was fully healed, he’d be more of a hindrance than a help.
It still didn’t make him wish for something different.
Nor did it stop him from glancing once more at the beach. Commander Nate Peterson knew three things: he was in for a longer stretch in San Diego than he’d planned, his need for the woman who’d kissed himhadn’t lessened, and he would see her again. He’d make sure of it.
Chapter Three
“YOU KNOW HE STOOD there even after you left. He watched you.”
Hailey put down the dishtowel she’d been using to dry the pretty yellow-flowered china that Sutherlands had served delicious meals on for generations. Gripping the delicate plate between her fingers, she stared at her sister. “No, he didn’t.”
“I think he was waiting to see if you’d turn around or something,” Rachel said as she wiped suds off a saucer.
“I’m going to swat you with this towel if you don’t stop talking about it,” she warned.
Rachel lifted her hands out of the soapy water in surrender. “Fine, don’t believe me. I was just wondering if you wanted to rinse off or something since that was the most intense eye-screw—or do you prefer eye-loving since you’re such a romantic—I’ve ever seen.”
He’d watched her? Something warm and tingly shimmied down her back, and she blinked. What was that? Some kind of shiver of desire? Nope, not going to acknowledge it. Didn’t happen. What shiver of desire? She should never have dissed fate.
“And then with the other girls laughing, it had to have been weird for him,” her sister continued.
Nope, Hailey would ignore that twinge of guilt. He was a Navy SEAL, he could handle it. “I thought we were going to drop this subject,” she said, pulling the newly rinsed saucer out of the water.
“I remember you suggesting it,” Rachel said, grinning. “Who knows, he might sort of…show up. Or maybe you could stroll up and down the beach in case Mother Nature starts raining men again.”
Hailey wouldn’t even respond to that little bit of insanity.
But she’d lived with the woman beside her almost her whole life, and knew when her sister wasn’t going to let something drop. She placed the newly dried china saucer in the cabinet above her head and faced Rachel. “Why are you pushing this? You know my track record. The last thing I need to be is within shouting distance of a man.”
The playful look on her sister’s face faded. “Maybe you need a little hair of the dog?”
“Like cures like? Use a man to get over a man?” Hailey shook her head. “No, thank you. I’m pretty sure that rationale is what got me engaged time number three.”
Rachel reached over and squeezed Hailey’s hand. “I hate seeing you this moody, Hailey. For a minute there, out on the beach, I saw the feisty, never-turn-down-a-dare Hailey. I miss her.”
If she were being honest, Hailey would admit she missed her old self, too. But something wasn’t right in her life. And hadn’t been for a while. “Yeah, well, the old Hailey made great work of her life so far. Four years of college, a degree in Art Adminstration under my belt and where do I find myself? At a complete dead stop in my career and right back at the family business. Art’s to be experienced. I should be out there working to bring the best collections to the people. Managing field trips and docents. Helping teachers present the arts in their classrooms.”
“Maybe this is where you’re meant to be,” her sister said gently.
Hailey released a heavy sigh. “Even if I gave that some credence, which I don’t, there’s still the issue of my three failed engagements. And let’s not forget, you were the first person to tell me how bad my taste is in men. So, no, we may miss old Hailey, but at the age of twenty-seven, I’m here to find myself and nothing is going to stop me no matter how great a kisser the man is.”
Or how solid his chest.
Or strong his legs.
A little shiver fluttered through her stomach.
Rachel’s lips twisted in a not-so-great effort at hiding another grin. “Did you say find yourself? Now you sound like crazy Aunt June. What happened to her?”
“I think she moved in with her sister. We called her cool Aunt June until then,” she reminded her sister dryly.
Her sister propped a hand on her hip. “See? There’s the old Hailey I missed.”
“You missed sarcasm? Now shoo—the new Hailey has a lot of work to do. I want to finish these dishes, take a nap and tackle that new self-help book.” And work on never thinking of that man and his dangerous kisses again.
“Okay, okay,” Rachel said, sinking her hands into the soapy water.
They worked together in silence cleaning the last of the china. The very modern stainless steel commercial dishwasher took care of the rest of the party utensils and serving dishes, but the Sutherland china was always washed by hand.
“This kind of reminds me of mom,” Hailey said.
“I was thinking the same thing. How many times did we talk about boys, and dates with our hands in this sink?”
“Lots.” She smiled at the happy memory.
“So, he was a good kisser?” Rachel asked.
God save her, yes. “Stop,” she said in exasperation, then swatted her sister with the towel anyway.
AFTER A CHECKING ON the Ensign and a quick debrief, Nate Peterson headed to the weight room. He worked to mask the usually slight limp to his leg, more pronounced after the arduous training swim and carrying the injured man’s weight up onto the beach.
He willed the pain away.
He’d dealt with worse. Fought with worse. Soon, the wicked scar wrapping around his thigh would be the only evidence he’d ever been hurt. His leg injury might prevent him from running, but it couldn’t stop him from strength training. Nothing would stop him from returning to SEAL condition and taking his rightful place in The Teams when he was called.
Nate may have been looking for an escape from his old man, but fate had looked out for him that day when he was in the Navy recruiter’s office at the age of eighteen.
He wasn’t half way through basic when Nate realized he’d found a home. The Navy provided rules and discipline, something he’d never experienced growing up. His father may have laughed, but Nate actually excelled when there was a level of expectation. He wasn’t a benchmark kind of guy. If there was a challenge, Nate didn’t just want to meet it, he wanted to surpass it.
With the SEALs being the most highly regarded and trained of all the Special Forces, Nate knew that Trident would one day be his. He wouldn’t let something like an injury prevent him from doing what he was supposed to do.
He adjusted the weight for the reps to work his upper body. Almost every base he’d been assigned housed a weight room. Different locales, different climates, different languages…this room with its benches, mirrors and weights, was like coming home. Working out was as much a part of his normal routine as shaving or eating. Only the physical therapy exercises were new. The movements, which would return the tone and flexibility to his muscles, he kept to himself and performed away from the eyes of others.
Nate controlled his breathing as he lifted and lowered his arms. Muscle memory took over, and his mind began to wander. To telling eyes, and soft warm lips.
What the hell had that been on the beach? With familiar discipline, he’d kept his thoughts squarely on his tasks and his men. But now…now he allowed himself to remember. And think of her. Of the flowery scent of her mixed with the ocean breeze. Or the way she felt, soft and warm against him.
His thoughts quickly turned to another kind of workout all together. Finding the zipper on the back of her dress, and drawing it down. Sliding those slender, tantalizing straps off the smooth skin of her shoulders, and letting her clothes fall to the sand at their feet.
Why had she kissed him?
Who the hell cared?
Nate heard footsteps in the hallway. His few moments alone were almost over.
“It looked to me like she just pulled him over and kissed him.”
Yeah, that’s exactly how it happened.
“He didn’t handle the attack so well,” another trainee said as they entered the weight room.
The hell he hadn’t.
“If she’d had a knife stuffed in her purse, he’d have been a goner.”
She didn’t have a purse. Just a thin, thin dress.
“Maybe it’s new Navy protocol.” The three men laughed. At his expense. He knew they were only blowing off steam. SQT was just as mentally demanding as Hell Week was physically demanding. But he’d lose their respect if he didn’t call them on it. He realized now he’d made a mistake out there in the water.
Nate lowered the weight and it clanged. Three gazes whipped his way. Followed quickly by three alarmed faces. He met each man eye to eye. His message was clear.
“We didn’t know you were here, Instructor.”
“Obviously,” he replied.
The three stood together, uneasy, but not letting one man take the heat. Whatever Nate had to dish out at them they’d take together. The Teams would do well with soldiers such as these. Like him, they’d had a tough afternoon in the water, and he was impressed by their drive to hit the weight room instead of their bunks.
One day he might be fighting alongside them. They’d learned what he needed them to know.
“It’s always preferable to make nice with the locals,” he told them honestly, then turned, letting these guys off the hook. Yeah, he was a SEAL, “instructor” didn’t sit well with him.
Relieved releases of breath made him smile as he left the room. He liked the men he was teaching; he just didn’t want to be teaching them. Nate knew he could better serve the Navy and do what he was meant to do out of the classroom. He rubbed at the muscles above his knee. Soon. He’d be out of here soon.
Besides, none of them had the sexiest woman in San Diego wrap her warm body against them and plant the kind of hot kisses a man usually thought about on long, arduous hikes out in the dessert. In fact, with their training, the men hadn’t talked to the fairer sex in awhile. However, he wasn’t in training. Nothing was holding him back.
Being laid up in Southern California hadn’t been his idea, but like any tactical move, he planned to take advantage of it. He had the whole night ahead of him, and it was no secret SEALs worked best when the sun went down. And he knew just where to find her. Hailey of the Sutherland Hotel.
She was a woman worth missing a party for.
Hoo ya.
HAILEY COULDN’T NAP LONG. Luckily, her sister’s work on their Web site had yielded a booking for the evening, and she needed to be up and ready to help them check in. Like most B&Bs, the Sutherland served a delicious breakfast, but it had become a tradition to serve a light spinach and basil quiche in the afternoon for guests weary from travel and reluctant to fend for food in a strange city. Just one of the small touches that built a hotel’s reputation. Something the management company hadn’t understood.
The guest doorbell rang. The poor thing still sounded rusty. Wiping her hands on the apron protecting her clothes from the food prep, she quickly made her way to the door. Opening it wide, she almost wanted to slam it shut as quickly as she could.
It was him. The SEAL she’d kissed on the beach a few hours ago. Well, of course it was him. She’d just stood there in the kitchen dissing fate and fate obviously didn’t like it. Her payback was a gorgeous man at her doorstep while she looked horrible. Then the nerves kicked in and her heart turned all fluttery.
“I don’t normally walk around wearing this,” she managed, thinking it might work to draw his attention away from the blue and white checked bib-style apron monstrosity. The baby doll blue dyed bias tape was even fraying around the edges.
Yet if someone were keeping track of the absolute stupidest things to tell a man, that would probably make the Top Ten. Why hadn’t he said anything?
His eyes crinkled in the corners, he almost smiled, and it was almost a little too much. Whatever. He hadn’t been invited; anyway, it was his own fault he saw her with her hair lazily knotted on the top of her head with a pencil she’d found in the kitchen. It’s just, why did he have to look so good?
Fate.
His hair, thick with water the last time she saw him, hadn’t revealed its true color brown, with a few strands turned copper, probably from his days under the California sun. But those gray eyes of his, the color of steel were the same, and they burned into her right now.
Yeah…it was still there. That heat, that unyielding attraction that lay between them even before she kissed him, only grew now. Now that he was here in her home looking big and sexy and so, so kissable.
She didn’t need to worry about the stupid apron, apparently he was thinking about that kiss they’d shared, too. The intensity of his eyes as they met hers told her what was on his mind. Her skin heated, and she felt a flush in her cheeks. His gaze dropped to her lips and she found herself holding her breath.
Her sister charged through the door that led to the laundry, singing a Prince song. Rachel fumbled awkwardly to a stop when she saw them both. “Oh, my God, you’re the…you know, the SEAL.”
“I am,” he said with a nod. Hailey wished she could read his expression. Right now it was agonizingly neutral.
Her sister had never been subtle. Today she was perfecting her art of embarrassingly stating the obvious.
“But you can call me Nate rather than the SEAL.”
Rachel laughed. “Kind of sounds like you should be balancing something on the end of your nose.”
Hailey felt sick to her stomach.
“I’m just kidding. Come in, come in,” invited Rachel. “Not sure why Hailey still has you outside,” she said, flashing her sister a confused look as she rushed to the door. “Welcome to The Sutherland. I’m Rachel, and of course you already know who Hailey is and how she tastes. Can I get you a mojito?”
“A what?” he asked.
Man, he had one sexy voice, Hailey thought. He may have only spoken a few words to her, but that rich baritone was hard to forget. And she’d be strangling her sister later.
“A mojito. Rum, lime, sugar and mint. I’m trying out some recipes. Nothing?” she asked as she ushered him inside and shut the door.
The SEAL shook his head. Actually, to Hailey he gained points by not knowing what the drink was. The three of them stood in the foyer, looking at one another. No one said a thing. If she’d thought her apron remark had been awkward…
“Oh, my gosh,” Rachel exclaimed, her voice overly bright. “Would you look at the time? It’s like, wow, late. Gotta run.”
And being extremely obvious in the process. Actually, Hailey wanted her sister and Nate out of here. Okay, not really.
