Romancing the Alpha: An Action-Adventure Romance Boxed Set (3 page)

“Will do.” He winked at her, and she just laughed, disappearing into the dining room to get more stuff. He followed, but they were like two ships passing in the night as they finished clearing the table.

When he brought the last dish in, she’d moved on and was talking about something else with Cassie.

“So I finally got the name of a guy,” Mel said. She leaned over the island and swiped the last slice of red pepper off the veggie tray.

Cade ignored the tight yank in his gut and ever-so-casually listened.

“That’s good,” Cassie said.

Cade couldn’t disagree more—and what the hell? He’d hoped Cassie would be on Team-Cade-and-Mel.

From the doorway, Jared cleared his throat in a clear instruction for his wife to sit down, and Cassie rolled her eyes, settling on a barstool at the island before continuing. “Is he an experienced racer?”

“Well…” Mel shrugged. “He’s excited. Very excited. And went out of his way to point out that we can each carry our own tents. Like there was a chance in hell of me sleeping with him. That was kind of awkward. But we got past it.”

“Where are you going?” Cade asked, less casually than he intended, because they both gave him a “what’s with the scowl” kind of look in response.

“I’m doing an endurance/obstacle course race in Hawaii next week. Two days in the Manoa Valley and up into the Koolau Range. It’s a long story, but I just found a partner for it today. Because I put my request in at the last minute, they couldn’t fit me on a team of four, which kind of sucks, but there was another guy who had his partner drop out, too. So we’ve been matched.”

“Because Jared was supposed to go with her—” Cassie began.

“And he has his priorities straight,” finished Mel, giving her best friend a pointed look.

Cade wasn’t sure of that at all. He knew the types of guys who signed up for those kinds of racing events. “Whoa, what?”

“What what?” Mel spun on one perfect, pointy heel, suddenly bristly, and he tried to tell himself to shut the hell up. It didn’t work.

Instead, he turned and pointed at his friend, who was still leaning against the doorframe and wisely being quiet. Cade glared at him. “You can’t let her fly to Hawaii and sleep in a tent with some random asshole!”

Jared just gave him an “are you an idiot?” look and nodded back in Mel’s direction.

“Uhm…” She screwed up her face as she propped her hands on her hips. “Why would this guy have to be an asshole?”

“Because he obviously doesn’t have enough friends to get someone he knows to do the race with him.”

He heard the words come out of his mouth, and, like a train wreck, he couldn’t stop them. In slow motion, he watched Mel turn, her curls bobbing, then toss her hands up and move away. Cassie gave him a horrified look, which he totally deserved, and Jared—well, that jerk was just laughing.

“Shit, I’m sorry. That came out wrong.”

“Yeah, no kidding. Sometimes plans fall apart. And you weren’t listening, because there will be two tents.” She rolled her eyes at him after she yanked the cheesecake out of the fridge. “No cheesecake for you.”

“Hey, I said I was sorry.” And he really was. He didn’t know how to explain that he’d left his brain at the door right around the time he’d been checking out her legs in that skirt and those heels. “Let’s try again. So you’re doing a race in Hawaii?”

She shook her head. “Don’t worry about it. You can have some cheesecake.”

“I really want to know!”

“And I don’t want to talk about it anymore, so…” She thrust the dessert into his hands. “Take this to the table. I’ll bring the plates.”

He waited until they were sitting at the table again. “What’s the name of this race?”

“None of your beeswax. Let’s talk about how you think you might not be able to navigate a basic baby store website.”

He squared his jaw and nodded, chuckling. “Okay. So that’s how it’s going to be? I say one wrong thing and now it’s on?”

“Nooooo,” she said, stretching it out to make the point that of course she meant yes. “That would be petty.”

“I wouldn’t use that word,” he murmured, taking the plate she shoved across the table at him. Even though he’d accidentally insulted her, and she was obviously annoyed…she was still cute. He liked the way her eyes flashed at him, and her lips plumped up as she thought about what to say next.

“What word would you use?”

He cocked one eyebrow. “I’d say you’re prickly.”

“Prickly.” She made a humming noise under her breath. “Yeah, I guess on this point I am.”

“This race is something you’ve planned for a long time?”

“Long enough that I don’t want to cancel.” Her words came out quickly, kind of sharp. He was paying attention now. Better late than never.

“So this guy is your best option.” He nodded. “I’m sorry I criticized him without knowing that.”

She gave him a surprised look and nodded. “It’s not safe to do it by yourself. So it’s a team thing, either pairs or groups of four.”

“Postponing to next year isn’t an option?” He could feel Cassie and Jared both looking at him, but his attention was fixed on Mel now.

She swallowed hard. “They’re changing the route next year. This is the last year—after twenty-five years—that the race will finish on the ridge…”

As she trailed off, Cade watched a myriad of emotions play across her face, lightning-quick. She blinked down at her dessert, and he took the cue to back off. He’d already pushed well past her limit—and he still didn’t understand why he’d done that.

“This is really great,” he said, turning to Cassie, who didn’t blink over the fact that he hadn’t actually tasted it yet.

“All Mel.” She nodded at her friend. “She came by yesterday and we made it together. And by together, I mean, she made it and I just chopped the berries for the sauce.”

The conversation shifted to the graham cracker crust that had no graham crackers in it—Mel swore by Arrowroot cookies instead. Then to the baby shower that was tentatively happening as soon as she got back from her trip.

That conversation continued as they finished eating and moved out onto the deck.

As the sun was setting, Jared’s phone rang at the same time as Cassie excused herself to pee—again—and Cade decided to take another stab at apologizing. It was starting to feel a bit hopeless, but he had another idea, and Mel giving him a solid chance would be necessary for it to work.

He leaned back in his chair, arms wide and relaxed. Non-threatening. Hopefully still filling out the black t-shirt nicely, although she hadn’t seemed overly impressed so far. “Listen, I’m sorry about pushing you at the table.”

“Don’t worry about it.” She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes.

“I want to make it up to you.”

“Not necessary.”

“I have an idea. I just want you to give it some thought. You don’t need to say yes or no right away.”

“No.” The way her lips twitched when she said it, and how
that
smile actually did reach her eyes…he liked that a lot.

“Too bad. You’re missing out.”

“Doubtful.”

“I’ll go with you. To Oahu. Be your race partner.”

She just blinked at him.

Yep. This was a good plan. Eventually she’d see it. He grinned. “Just think about it.”

— —

Mel stared at Cade. Ridiculously good-looking, oversized, well-meaning Cade. “Think about how you are a better choice than a random guy?”

“Right. Because I’m not completely random.”

“No, you’re worse than a random guy. I can’t ignore you when you’re annoying, because that would be rude.”

“If I’m annoying, I’m sure you’ll set me straight.”

“When you’re annoying, you don’t take the hint that you should drop it.”

“If—” He shot straight up in his chair. “You think I’m being annoying?”

It was fun to push his buttons. But Mel was exhausted and she had more packing to do. She stood. “Good night, Cade. It was nice to see you again.”

“Don’t say that if you don’t mean it,” he grumbled, standing and following her inside.

“I’m being polite,” she pointed out. He was close enough she could feel his warmth, and the most annoying thing about Cade was how, despite the fact he didn’t get her at all, he was still…nice. Nice and warm, nice smelling, even nice in his annoying questions and ideas.

If it wasn’t completely beyond the realm of normal behavior to offer to
fly to Hawaii
with a perfect stranger, she’d take him up on his crazy plan. But that would be asking someone she barely knew for a huge favor, and that broke all of Mel’s personal rules.

Cassie waddled back into the living room.

“I’m going to get going home, sweetie,” Mel said.

“Okay. Do you want Jared to give you a ride?”

“It’s a nice night. I’ll walk.”

“You sure?”

“Definitely.” She kissed her friend’s cheek.

“You’ve got your phone?”

“And my rape whistle and my pepper spray.” She didn’t actually have either of those things. She lived halfway between Orange Ave and the Sutters’ cute little bungalow not far from the SEAL campus. It was a safe, pleasant walk she’d done many times before.

She heard Cade saying goodbye behind her, but she headed out. She didn’t like the weird, unsettled feeling in her belly. Like she was a fool not to take him up on his offer.

Like spending four days in paradise with him would be awesome, not annoying.

Like Cade looking at her with those piercing, all-knowing eyes wasn’t such a bad thing after all.

“Hang on,” he called from behind her as she stepped onto the sidewalk.

She turned slowly. No need to give his already inflated sense of self more reason to puff like a peacock.

“Let me give you a ride home.” He held up one hand. “I’ll be a complete boy scout, no annoying suggestions.”

She thought about saying no, but declining would really be for the principle and nothing else. “Sure. Thank you.”

He pointed to his truck, and then opened the passenger door for her. Once she’d given him the simple directions—two lefts and a right—he pulled onto the street.

“You don’t have a car?” he asked as he slowed at the first stop sign.

“Nope. I’m walking distance to everything I need on a daily basis. I do drive, but I use a car-share program for that. It’s so much more cost effective. My apartment doesn’t have a parking spot, etcetera. Lots of reasons.” She looked at the snorkel beside her foot. “You drive up the coast a lot?”

“Yeah. And into the foothills, too. I’m not so much a city guy. Gotta live here for work, but I like to escape it as often as I can.”

“Big on camping?”

He laughed at the dry tone in her voice. “And you’re not?”

“Not usually, no.”

“Have you practiced putting together your tent for this race, then?”

Now it was her turn to laugh. It was currently set up in her living room. “A few times.”

“Did Jared run through your kit list?”

And just like that, he was back to annoying her. She pressed her lips together. The guy was giving her a drive home. Another ninety seconds and she’d be able to say thank you and good night and leave it at that.

“What did I say this time?”

She shook her head. “I think it’s just a SEAL thing. That whole ‘alpha male taking care of everything’ routine.”

“Ah.”

“What,
ah?
”

“Nope. Nothing.”

“I want to know.”

“And I want to retain a chance in hell in maybe being able to ask you out sometime.”

Mel froze. The spacious cab of his truck was suddenly small and overheated. She wanted to look over at him, but she didn’t dare. The last stop sign, now, and she could feel his eyes on her skin. She licked her lips. “I didn’t expect you to say
that
, exactly.”

“Then I didn’t do a good job of expressing my interest earlier.” His voice was laced with humor, a warm, rolling sound that loosened the ties around her. She slid a glance toward him and found his attention back on the street.

“Is it possible that we’ve gotten off to the wrong start?” she asked softly, looking at his profile.

“I’d say so, yeah.” The corner of his mouth turned up, a sudden bright crack in the shadows. “Maybe a rocky start. Not entirely the wrong direction, just not the easiest path.”

“Why did you offer to come to Hawaii with me?” She nibbled on her lower lip, worrying it as she waited for his answer.

He took his sweet time in giving it. First he parked in front of her building, then he turned off the truck. Finally he twisted in his seat and pinned his gaze on her, and she was reminded of how he’d looked at her over dessert. “Because it seems really important to you, and you have to make it happen all by yourself. That doesn’t seem right somehow.”

If he’d said anything else—because he thought she was cute, or a sense of obligation to Jared, or he just really liked Hawaii—she’d have blown him off. But even though his level of insight scared her, it also made her feel a little less lonely.

“If you come with me…first of all, I’d pay for you to come. I have points we can use for your flight, and I’ll change my hotel room to a two-bedroom suite. But secondly, and more importantly…I think that whole asking-me-out thing should wait until we get back.”

“Oh yeah?” He grinned again, a slow, easy look that melted her insides. “I like that plan.”

“You do?” Mel rewound the conversation a bit. Okay, good.

“Definitely.” He reached out and touched her hair with just his fingertip, barely grazing one of her curls. It was sexier than anything she could have imagined. He wound the curl around his index finger, then watched as it slid free. “I think you want to wait because you think we might just work out, and two nights on a Hawaiian mountainside isn’t your idea of a great first date.”

A shaky laugh rolled out of her chest. “There is that, too.”

“What else?”

She swallowed hard. “Well, there’s the prickly thing. And the annoying thing.”

“Mel?” He shook his head slowly. “I like that you’re prickly. It means that most guys don’t get this far with you. From a purely selfish,
alpha male
point of view, of course.”

Oh, God. She was toast. She couldn’t even insult him without him turning it around on her. “Okay. Then you need to brace yourself, because I’m not one hundred percent sure that me and the rainforest are going to get along.”