No Reservations (Special Ops: Tribute Book 1) (12 page)

“Yeah.”

“I guess I can understand why they’d rather you stayed in a
stable job then.”

Bridget should have felt relief when he removed his arm from
her shoulder to reach for his beer. It was too addictive—his touch. Yet
she didn’t. She longed for more of it.

Still, she forced herself to sit up a little straighter,
angling her body so that she could face him better, putting a good bit of space
between them.

“So, why did they dislike your aunt so much?”

Bridget shrugged. “Beats me. They always said they just
thought she’d be a bad influence. And that was a good enough answer when I was
a kid. But after I met her when I started going to St. John’s, it just didn’t
add up. She was nice, Maddox. Always really nice to me. She was… I don’t know
how to describe it. Guarded, I guess. Kind of like my parents, sometimes. As
though she didn’t want to say the wrong thing or share too much. But nice.”

It felt strange and curious to be opening her heart to a man
who was already spoken for. Strange… and safe somehow.

Feeling as if she were in a dream, her face eased closer to
his, grateful as he changed the subject and told her about his day getting
referrals for local contractors.

“I can do some of the demo myself,” he said. “But when it
comes to making the place actually look like someone might want to eat there, I
want to hire the best.”

Drawn to his lips, her eyes rested on their subtle rose hue,
the slight curvature upward as he smiled, and the way they framed his
oh-so-lickable teeth.

She could kiss him right now, she realized. So easily. So
tempting. She could splay her hands against that chest of his and finally see
if his pecs were as firm as they looked.

Pulling herself back with a start, she inhaled sharply.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

Becca
. She’d nearly said it out loud. Becca was what was wrong.

“Nothing,” she said quickly. “Think the wine was lulling me
to sleep a bit there.” She put down her glass. “I should probably stop.”

“Aw, but then all those innocent grapes died for nothing.” His
teasing smile reached his eyes and it made her melt.

Lord, he was irresistible.

He’s baiting you
. From behind the haze of wine and lust, Leia’s
words rang in her head in warning.

No, Maddox wouldn’t bait her.

He moved from the sofa bending to stoke the flames with an
iron fireplace poker.

“You kind of came to my rescue today,” Bridget said, trying
not to appreciate the sight of his perfect ass in his shorts quite so much. “Thanks.”

“That, without a doubt, was the easiest rescue I’ve ever
pulled off.”

“So you’ve had a few rescue missions?”

“A couple. Most the time we’re sent in to take down the
enemy though. Not to rescue people.” Joining her on the couch again, his look
was faraway, as if he were remembering a very different chapter of his life.

“Do you miss it?”

“Hell, yeah. Every day.”

“Then why did you get out?”

He let out a long sigh. “Becca. Her husband was in the Army.
He died in the war.”

Becca was a war widow?
Holy crap.

“I was in her brother’s SEAL team a year before. He was my CO.
So the team and I knew Becca. When her husband got killed, the word among us
spread pretty quickly, but I was the only one stateside at the time. So I took
a couple weeks of leave and flew from San Diego to Ft. Huachuca where they were
living at the time. It’s always a lot to handle—the death of a loved one.
But in the military it can be even harder sometimes. There are a lot of
arrangements that need to be made. Press to deal with. They’d only been at
Huachuca for nine months when she got the news. It’s not like she was
surrounded by lifelong friends. I’d barely even known her—only saw her
when she’d fly out to see Captain Shey a few times.”

 “Yet you took two weeks off to be there for her.”

“Yeah. She was the sister of my former CO. Any of Captain
Shey’s team would have done the same had they been CONUS. We take care of our
own.”

Bridget leaned back in the sofa, letting those six words
simmer in her mind.
We take care of our own.
It was absurd, this feeling
that she had momentarily. This spark of jealousy for a woman who had lost so
much.

Becca had a support network among these SEALs that Bridget
could never even imagine.

“Watching her and her son go through something like that
made me realize that I just didn’t want to take the chance of putting someone I
loved through it.”

An eerie chill washed over her. “She has a son?”

“Yeah. He’d just started kindergarten when it happened.”

“Sweet Jesus,” she murmured. “So that’s why you got out?”

“Pretty much, yeah. I mean, just thinking about it—it
makes you lose your edge, you know? When you’re on a mission, you have to be
all in, not thinking about anything else. That’s what your team needs from you.
Some guys, they can compartmentalize it. Marriage, kids, and the SEALs. They
just flip a switch and go into attack mode, not thinking about anything except
the mission.” His eyes darkened. “I guess my dad must have been that way. And I
might be, too, but I wasn’t willing to risk my teammates.”

Her gaze fell to the slight frown on his lips, and then rose
slightly. There was another layer of the story hidden behind his eyes. Growing
up in her family, she could easily sense the signs of when things were left
unsaid, when truths were too painful or too inconvenient to put into words. So
they were left to fester, unspoken.

She didn’t want to push him to tell her more.

“And now look at you and Becca,” she heard herself say
wistfully, trying to change the tone of the conversation. It was beautiful, she
thought. This idea of finding love through tragedy.

He shot her a curious look and opened his mouth slightly. But
then gave a little nod. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. It’s a hell of a
leap—her coming out here and opening up this place with me and the guys.
But she’s pretty stoked about it. It was she and her husband’s goal for so long.”

“Their goal?”

“Yeah. He and Becca were going to do it when he hit twenty
years and retired from the Army.”

“And you’re making it happen.” Bridget reached for her wine,
in awe of how he took up the torch of this dream of a man who’d once loved the woman
he loves today. “It’s like the place will be a tribute to him.”

“Well, it takes a team to pull this off. I couldn’t do this
without the other guys and Becca’s brother and—”

“Wait a second,” Bridget interrupted, her wine sloshing in
her glass as she suddenly stiffened. “That’s
it
. That’s your hook.”

“What?”

“Your hook. That’s what will get people in the door. The
story behind your shop. I mean, jeez, Maddox, it’s seriously touching. It’s his
tribute
. You can call the place Tribute. Tribute Ice Cream.”

“Tribute?”

“Yeah. And you can tell their story—make it a tribute
to her late husband and all fallen servicemembers.”

“Tribute Ice Cream,” he softly contemplated.

“In a military town like this, people will love it.”

“You don’t think it’s a downer? I mean, you don’t normally
go to an ice cream shop and hear a sad story.”

“But that’s just it. It’s not a sad story. It’s a touching
one. A beautiful one. I mean, you’re making a hero’s dream happen.”

“I don’t know if I’d feel right using his story as some kind
of… advertising scheme.”

“You’re not. You’re keeping his memory alive. You’re keeping
the memories of all fallen servicemembers alive. Honoring them, and all of
their dreams that couldn’t be fulfilled.” She felt chills sweep over her skin
at the thought of it and bit her lip, seeing she wasn’t convincing him. “I
mean, you could even give a portion of your proceeds to nonprofits that help
families of fallen servicemembers.”

His brows rose. “I like that.” Head cocked, his eyes drifted
to the fire. “Tribute Ice Cream. We could put a bunch of military memorabilia
up. Kind of make it the theme of the place. And it really works that it’s being
opened by a bunch of SEALs, too. I was worried about word getting around about
our ice cream just because we didn’t go with the space on Main Street. But
you’re right. This story would definitely generate some interest. I seriously
like it.”

“You do?”

“You’re a genius,” he told her, and leaned in, pressing his
lips chastely to her cheek.

Or at least it was chaste on
his
side of the kiss. On
hers, it made her smolder inside like the embers of the fire. It was so brief that
it was almost absurd that the sensation of his lips made every square inch of
her body react, aching for his touch, demanding so much more than a simple caress
of lips on cheek.

Her breath caught in her throat the instant his lips left
her skin, as though her body was in a state of shock, wondering if it could
possibly survive such an infinitesimal, but complete assault on her senses.

“I need to call Becca. She’s going to love this,” he said,
darting away from her and up the stairs, leaving her cold, so cold by the fire.

***

Retrieving his phone from his nightstand, he glanced at his
watch. It was earlier in Sedona. Brandon would still be in school so it might
be easier to talk to Becca.

“Hi, Maddox,” she answered.

“Are you at work?”

“Yep.”

“Can you talk?”

“Sure. No one’s here but me. Just sold a $300 chunk of
amethyst to a woman convinced it would rid her body of all the negative
feelings she has for her soon-to-be ex-husband.”

Maddox paused. “That’s kind of sad.”

Becca managed a touristy little shop that sold gems and
rocks that some believed to have mystical powers.

“Yeah. Well, maybe it’ll work for her. And it’s cheaper than
therapy.”

“You’re not actually starting to believe in that stuff.”

Sedona, the town Becca moved to with Brandon after her
husband died, was touted by some people as having magical energy vortexes. There
might be more psychics and tarot card readers per square mile in Sedona than there
were sailboats in Annapolis—and that was really saying something.

Becca sighed. “No. I’ve been standing in this shop
surrounded by a bunch of crystals for years and I’m certainly not feeling any
kind of healing from it.”

“You’re going to feel a hell of a lot better when I share
this idea with you. At least, I hope so.”

“What idea?”

“Well, it came from Bridget, actually.”

“Bridget, the innkeeper?”

“Right. What do you think about calling our ice cream shop,
Tribute Ice Cream?”

There was a brief pause. “Why would we call it Tribute?”

“Because it was Brian’s idea. Because you’re fulfilling his
dream. His dream with you. I mean, I told Bridget that story and she nearly
wept. I never really thought about it before, but it is pretty nice. All of us
SEALs banding together with you to make the dream of a fallen Soldier come
true. It’s his tribute.”

“Sounds a little depressing to me.” Becca said honestly.

“That’s because you’re living it. Believe me, to an
outsider, the story’s inspirational.”

“That’s what Bridget told you?”

“Yes. I think we should use it. This is a Navy town, Becca.
People will love it.”

“I—I don’t know, Maddox. I just don’t like drawing
attention to—I don’t know.”

Maddox frowned. “Look if you’re not into the idea, then we
won’t do it. But it would really bring in some traffic to our place. I know the
local newspapers and magazines would do some articles about it. And that would
help us spread the word.”

There was a long pause, and even though Maddox was tempted
to give her more reasons to like the idea, something inside of him forced him
to hold back. It was her story. She needed to be ready to share it.

“It would be a nice message—you know—to other
spouses like me,” she began thoughtfully. “That life really does go on. Even
when you don’t think it ever could.”

“Exactly. I swear it will inspire people, Becca. Bridget
even suggested giving a portion of our profits to military charities.”

“Brian would have really liked that.”

“Exactly. But the decision has to be yours. I haven’t told
anyone else, and I won’t till I know you’re on board.”

“A tribute to Brian,” she murmured softly.

Again, he bit his tongue, letting her go through whatever
thought process she needed to make her decision.

“I like it,” she finally said.

There was a pause, and Maddox waited for the “but.”

“I like it,” she repeated. “Tribute Ice Cream. Maybe we
could have a wall where people could pin up the photo of their friends and
family members who are in the military.”