SmokingHot (4 page)

He shrugged. “I’ve done my fair share of houses. And targets.”

She didn’t want to know. “That doesn’t count.”

He shrugged again. “Paint is paint.”

Really? The man needed help. “Then why are you here?”

Ignoring her question, he tucked her jar of clean brushes into the topmost milk crate and lifted the lot. She enjoyed the way the muscles in his arms bunched. So she was shallow. Sue her.

“Where do you want these?”

Right over here on the table. Just shuck the shirt and lie down…

He stared at her. Right. Simple question.

“The closet,” she said and led the way so he could stack the crates inside. When he was done, he turned on his heel, hands on his hips, and surveyed the room. She got the feeling he could give her an itemized inventory.

“You’re good to go.” He shut the door behind him, but she was blocking his path and, when he turned, he stopped short to avoid body-slamming her. The move pulled the T-shirt tight across his chest.

Yeah. She absolutely was.

She had no idea why she was imagining hot, no-holds barred sex with this guy. She didn’t do casual hook-ups. She’d never been interested in picking someone out at a bar and bringing him home for a night. Nope. That was why Kade had gotten himself “engaged” to her in the first place. She was the kind of person who spent twenty minutes agonizing over which chocolate called her name loudest from the box. And then took two anyhow because she couldn’t decide. Huh. Which, she guessed, made Kade’s ménage idea less far-fetched than she’d believed.

She stepped to the side, but he didn’t go anywhere.

Tye Callahan was pretty much an unknown, she reminded herself. Of course, since Jack Donovan had hired him for the jump team, he was also probably not a psychopath. She didn’t need to worry that Strong’s finest would be fishing her dead body out of a ditch. Plus, he was one of Uncle Sam’s boys and Kade had never raised a red flag about Tye’s character, morals, or after work behavior. Which meant she could go out with him.

If he wanted to go out with her.

If he wasn’t just being polite.

Unfortunately, there was only one way to find out.

“Do you want to have coffee with me?” she blurted out.

“I thought you’d never ask.” Mr. Rickerson popped upright in his chair. “Let’s go, baby cheeks.”

***

The coffee place was a two-minute walk and driving was unnecessary, even with Mr. Rickerson in tow. Tucked between the art gallery and the general store, Strong’s answer to Starbucks was surprisingly popular for a weekday afternoon. Which might have had something to do with the heavenly aroma of coffee beans and the even more decadent scent of brownies. Fresh, hot brownies. She eyed the case. She had jeans to fit into. Eating anything that full of sugar and butter was definitely out of the question.

Tye parked Mr. Rickerson at a table and then proceeded to order for the three of them. He came back holding out two brownies. One for her and one for—yup—Mr. Rickerson.

“I shouldn’t.”

He jiggled the paper bag. “I saw you looking.”

“Looking is calorie-free.”

“Uh-huh.” He put a brownie down in front of Mr. Rickerson. “And you look just fine to me.”

He grinned at her as he handed over her triple caramel mocha. Hypocritical, but the brownie was the tipping point in her battle to button her jeans. “You go for sugar, don’t you?”

Since that was true, she settled for mouthing
thank you
and taking the cup. Of course her SEAL was black coffee, no cream or sugar in sight. While Tye helped Mr. Rickerson get started on the brownie, Katie fixed his coffee. Ostensibly black, but she knew the drill. Mr. Rickerson took six sugars and two inches of half-and-half. His cup was practically albino when she finished.

Two slurps later and bingo, he was down for his afternoon
siesta
and Katie had worked her way through the better part of the brownie.

“So.” Tye looked at her. “Coffee. Is this a get-to-know-you chat or did you have an ulterior motive?”

“Maybe I invite all my new students out,” she suggested.

“Maybe.” He didn’t sound convinced.

“You’re the guy who said he was watching out for me,” she countered.

“True.” He eyed her over the edge of his coffee. “And I am.”

He radiated confidence. Competence. He was just what the doctor ordered—and he’d all but promised to help her. In for a penny…

“So, Tye, how do you feel about swimming with sharks?”

***

Not what he’d been expecting her to say. He had a definite opinion on sharks however, and since she’d asked…

“Been there, done that. Dropped into the Indian Ocean once and those suckers were huge. Definitely a
once was enough
scenario.”

That particular insertion had been hairy enough, even without the threat of great whites lurking in the water. He’d seen the shadow right before he jumped from the Blackhawk. Fortunately, the beast had moved on by the time Tye’s boots hit the water. Then, they’d just had to contend with taking over a ship full of Malinese pirates.

Katie looked disappointed. “Oh.”

“Something you wanted to try?” he drawled, enjoying the way she doodled on a napkin with a pen she’d fished out of her handbag. Little shark fins sprouted around his napkin self.

She tried again. “Running a marathon?”

Clearly, she had an agenda. He eyed her. She was curvy and toned but no marathon runner as far as he could tell. “Uncle Sam’s sent me on plenty. You have plans?”

“Yes.” She sucked in a breath, crumpling the napkin drawing. Kade had always said she drew when she was thinking or nervous. He wondered which one she was today. And, hell, he’d never figured in any of her doodles before and, yeah, part of him had envied Kade his starring role. He reached out and took the napkin before she could jam it into the now-empty brownie bag. So what if he wanted a souvenir?

“Hit me,” he suggested, casually tucking the napkin into his back pocket.

“You know how Kade is,” she said, staring at him like a
Who Wants To Be A Millionaire
player down to her final lifeline.

Was,
he wanted to say to her, but he’d done enough damage already. He wasn’t going to disillusion her, not over coffee and brownies. So he nodded and waited for her to continue.

“And I know most everyone thinks he’s not coming home.”

“But?” He could absolutely hear the
but
.

“But I think he is. I
believe
he is. He sent me an email right before he disappeared.”

“What kind of an email?” He racked his brain, trying to remember if Kade had spilled any details. Mentioned anything important.

She blushed slightly. “A bucket list. He made a list of all the things he wanted to do before he died.”

He didn’t make lists of things he wanted to do tomorrow or the day after. In his line of work, tomorrow was a dicey proposition and time could run out all too fast. If there was something he wanted to do, he did it.

He eyed the woman sitting across from him.

Right now, he wanted Katie Lawson. In his arms. In his bed. Hell he’d take her sprawled across the coffee shop table, and that was one hell of an image.

“I’m going to do everything on that list,” she announced.

Then blushed. What the hell was on that list?

“You going to show me?”

She chewed her lower lip and dove back into the brownie bag. He recognized a deflection when he saw it.

When she’d chewed, swallowed and run out of brownie, she answered his question with one of her own. “You want to do it with me?”

Well.
Yeah
.

She blushed. “That didn’t come out right, did it?”

“Depends on what you’re offering.”

He wished like hell sex was on the menu. He’d sweep her off her feet, carry her out of this coffee shop right now if that was what she was really offering. The pink painting her cheeks, however, said he was going home alone again tonight.

“The bucket list,” she enunciated. “Do you want to help me check the remaining stuff off?”

“So that would be a
no
to having sex?” He set his coffee cup down on the table. Jesus, making her blush was fun. Her whole face was on fire now.

She waved a hand. “Sex isn’t first on Kade’s list.”

“You sure your fiancé was a SEAL?”

He shouldn’t tease her. On the other hand—his eyes narrowed—what
exactly
was on that list? Because it sure sounded to him like sex might actually
be
on it. Near the bottom, maybe, but that sounded like Kade alright.

“Positive.” She leaned towards him. “Will you help me with this?”

“Would swimming with sharks and running a marathon figure on this hypothetical list?”

She smiled. Sweetly. Which was definitely his first warning. “You bet. Kade put some good things on there. Are you in?”

He held out a hand. “I want to see the list.”

“I don’t have it with me.”

He recognized a lie when he heard one. “Bring it.”

“Later.” She stood up, clearly having decided on a strategic retreat. Since he really wasn’t ready to let her go, he shot out a hand and captured her wrist in his fingers. Katie Lawson had the softest skin, even if her pulse beat a get-out-of-Dodge rhythm. Busting her was fine and he had all the time in the world for the next two months. He stroked his thumb over the pale veins and considered his next move.

“Do you mind?” she asked, tugging on her wrist. “I’m attached.”

“Katie.” He pitched his voice low. “You know I’m going to see that list, right?”

She made a face, which was undoubtedly shorthand for
over my dead body.

Which was another thing that wasn’t happening.

Ever.

She tugged again and he held on for a three count before releasing her. “Tomorrow, we’re running.”

Grabbing a fresh napkin, she scribbled a time and place. No drawing, though, and that was strangely disappointing.

“Can’t wait,” he drawled. Watching her swish her way out of the coffee shop, he couldn’t help but wonder what she’d wear to run.

Beside him, Mr. Rickerson snorted, waking up. He’d drive the old guy home. Make sure he got in safe and sound.

Mr. Rickerson’s gaze followed Tye’s. “That’s a mighty fine woman.”

The old guy slurped his cooling coffee and stared after Katie Lawson.

He wasn’t wrong, either. Katie Lawson was one of a kind.

Tye braced in the open doorway. The California mountains unfolded three thousand feet beneath his boots, a familiar green and gold patchwork of trees and grassy slopes. Today’s mission was no high altitude free fall over the unforgiving Afghani countryside. Those jumps had been pure adrenaline rush, his head shutting down and his training and body taking over until he hit the target, hit the ground.

Overhead, the chopper’s rotors beat a steady whup-whup-whup as Spotted Dick leveled them out over the day’s jump zone. While this was just a practice run, the team treated it as seriously as the real deal. There was no room for error in the air, and a wildland fire was, in the end, simply one more battlefield. Sure, Mother Nature was lobbing the grenades, but she could be a tough, unforgiving bitch, permitting no ceasefire or retreat.

“You good to go?” Jack Donovan roared the question into Tye’s ear. The helmet couldn’t block the bellow, nor could the thundering rush of air from the open bay.

Tye flashed a thumbs up. “Fuck yeah.”

This was his fourth practice jump with the team. He liked the guys, appreciated the tight camaraderie of the team. The Donovans ran a sharp operation—and a safe one. Jack wouldn’t drop him in the field until he was damned sure Tye was ready for it. Tye had been the new guy on plenty of teams before—the SEALs were legendary for their razzing of newbies—and he got it. He had to prove himself. He had to earn his spot.

He grinned fiercely.

That worked for him. As any of his drill instructors could have told Jack, Tye didn’t know the meaning of the word
can’t
. He’d always had the resolve. Once he decided to do something, he stuck. He
did
. He did
not
quit or ring the bell. So what the hell had happened in Khost?

No. That was definite
no fly
territory there.

That had been three months ago. Uncle Sam had shipped him home for two months of leave and… here he was. In Strong. He’d fielded the calls from home, asking when he was headed San Diego way, and he’d put them off. He didn’t deserve to go home. That was the truth.

Jumping out of planes was familiar territory.

Katie Lawson… was not.

“Good man.” Jack slapped him on the back and nodded toward the open bay. “Appreciate you stepping in for Kade.”

Jesus.

It was the least he could do.

He focused on the small splash of red waiting for him in the meadow sixteen hundred feet below. Memories shifted in his head, his past clamoring for attention. Other reasons for red. He didn’t want to remember. He really, really didn’t.

Jack’s hard slap on his shoulder, the signal to go, was a welcome disruption.

With a heartfelt
hooyah
, he bailed, launching himself out into the air in the mother of all swan dives, boots up, head down. For a moment, with the wind roaring in his ears and all that open space beneath him, he was at peace with nothing to do but breathe and fall. Zero to one twenty in seconds.

Automatically, he scanned the area around the L.Z., searching the landing zone for insurgent positions and anti-aircraft guns. The air was positively balmy, compared to the frigid temps of his usual HAHO jumpers. Of course, that might have had something to do with the jump altitude. SEALs went airborne at fifteen thousand feet, while the smoke jumpers generally jumped at two to three thousand feet. This time, it was okay for the men on the ground to see him coming. In fact, the California mountains were downright peaceful and hostile-free. No mortars, insurgents or evil-assed camels.

No Kade either.

He got right-side up, feet pointed toward the ground and head in the sky.

Jump thousand.

Look thousand.

Reach thousand.
He wrapped his hand around the rip cord, ready to pull.

Wait thousand.

Pull thousand
. He yanked hard, the chute flaring open behind him and dragging him briefly back up into the sky.

Check your canopy.
Jack’s voice echoed in his head, walking him through the safety chant. Staying safe was good. Keeping others safe was better. When he looked up, he was in business, the lines straight and tangle-free as the canopy did its part to arrest his free fall. Seconds later, his boots hit, the impact reverberating up his legs and through his spine almost as hard as the one truth he couldn’t out-jump or out-run.

No matter how long he jumped or where, the truth was both simple and inescapable. Kade wasn’t coming home.

***

When Tye showed up, Katie was already running. Or, rather, huffing and puffing her way along the trail Gia Jackson had recommended. A nice, easy loop, the jump team’s only female member had promised.
Right.
Yoga had
not
prepared her for this kind of cardio and buying an exercise-appropriate wardrobe online—damn those pop-up ads anyhow—hadn’t helped. Even the excuse to buy new shoes wasn’t helping.

One mile down and far too many to go.

This was clearly a bucket list, once-in-a-lifetime activity because anyone who actually succeeded in running a marathon undoubtedly planned on dying immediately after he finished it. Sucking in air, she eyed the horizon and the puff of darkish smoke floating over the mountain. The Strong jump team would be busy soon. She hadn’t heard the plane go up this morning, though, so she figured her pseudo-date with Tye was still on.

She rounded the bend on the path and considered taking five. Or ten, twenty or thirty. How did the jump team do it? Panting, she skidded to a halt, resting her hands on her thighs. She was fairly certain that was her heart she heard banging over the beat on her iPod.

“You’re cheating.” The familiar raspy voice behind her had her jumping. Warm fingers tugged her ear buds down.
Tye.

“If I have a heart attack, I’m blaming you.”

It was positively unfair how good he looked in the now-familiar BDUs. He wore a Navy SEALs T-shirt and—of course—the familiar pair of steel-toes. Her heart gave a suspicious thump.
Bad heart
.

He grinned. “Start running.”

“I already ran,” she groused, but put her feet back in motion. “How long is a marathon?” Maybe she had her facts wrong. Please God.

“Twenty-six miles.” He sounded positively cheerful. “Reconsidering?”

“I already signed up for my first marathon.” First and last, but she’d keep that tidbit to herself.

“Huh,” he said, which she decided to interpret as
Please tell me more, I’m fascinated.

“Bay to Breakers.” Impossibly, the trail headed uphill, making her calves burn with each new step. She made a mental note to check out the marathon course on Google Maps. San Francisco had a reputation for hills.

“That’s not a marathon. That’s a fucking parade with sneakers.” Tye didn’t sound like the trail’s sudden upward twist posed any kind of problem for him. She considered stopping—she already knew that the Bay to Breakers often walked part or all of the course—but then she’d be tempted to lie down. For the next two, three or forty hours. Just until she caught her breath.

“I heard they wear
costumes
.” The look of acute discomfort on Tye’s face was an unexpected bonus. “You can run with me. We’ll be a team.”

“I’m not a Barbie doll you can play dress up with,” he warned.

She knew that.

“So,” he said when they’d covered the first fifty yards and she’d hit her stride. “You and Kade.”

The toe of her sneaker caught on the trail, but Tye was right there, his hand cupping her elbow.

Show no fear. Kade had drummed that into her. “What about us?”

He shook his head. He wasn’t even winded, damn him. He made running look effortless which, she reflected, it might be for him. Mr. Big Bad-Ass SEAL probably ran fifty miles a day pulling a semi-truck behind him. The trail headed uphill and she bit back a groan, making a mental note to kill Gia later. Tye would be pushing her in another minute.

“He didn’t talk much about having a fiancée,” Tye said.

“Probably not.” Since she had a feeling the military frowned on practical jokes involving legal status. Not that she and Kade had really been planning on getting married. It was more that they hadn’t not planned on it.

Tye made a choked noise. Or bit back a curse. She wasn’t sure which, so she risked sliding a glance his way just to know what she was working with here. Not because she enjoyed looking at him. His jaw was tense, his fists clenched. He didn’t break his stride, though. She’d give him that.

“That doesn’t bother you?” he bit the words out incredulously. “His not mentioning your engagement?”

“Why should it?” This time, she tripped over an invisible rock and he sighed, steadying her.

“Because you were his fiancée, not a dirty little secret.”

“Oh.” Damn it. Were they climbing a mountain here? The path kept going up and the stitch in her side was about to cut her in half. Gia’s idea of easy was clearly suicidal.

“We have an open arrangement,” she said as airily as she could, given the marked lack of oxygen in her lungs.

“Katie.” Her name was half-groan, half-curse. And wasn’t that the story of her life? “If you’d been my fiancée, the whole damn unit would have known. He read parts of your letters out loud. Your drawings were fucking genius.”

She opened her mouth and then decided breathing was her priority right now. She sucked in air, panting shallowly. “Okay,” she wheezed.

“Deep breaths,” he said. The sure command in his voice did something to her insides. And lower. Definitely lower. “Breathe slow and deep. Keep your shoulders down and breathe from your stomach. Didn’t Kade ever take you running?”

Thinking about Kade was the last thing she wanted to do. Tye’s big hand pressed against her stomach. Darn it. She’d skipped her sit-ups for the last twelve months or so. And now that it was already bikini season, what was the point? By the point she gave up and admitted that six-pack abs were not in her future, it would be fall and cover up time again.

“Like that yoga thing girls do,” he continued, moving his hand away as he slowed his pace to match hers.

She tried and he was right. Breathing did get easier.

“Better?” Yep. One hundred percent self-satisfied male.

“Better doesn’t mean good.”

“You’re the one determined to run a marathon,” he pointed out. “I’m just trying to help.”

Kade would have done the same thing, although he probably would have smacked her on the ass for good measure and then taken her out for ice cream afterwards. Tears pricked her eyes.

She was such a fake. From the fake engagement to the all-too-real break-up via Skype. She hadn’t told anyone in Strong about that particular conversation with Kade. He’d said he wanted her to get out there and look for a real man. He was real. Real enough, at any rate.

“Jesus. Don’t cry.”

“I’m not.” How inelegant would it be if she used the hem of her T-shirt as a Kleenex?

Tye made a noise of disbelief as the one-mile marker flashed by. His skin glistened in the morning sun and she’d bet he hadn’t started back at the picnic tables. He pulled off his shirt and stuffed it into her hands.

“Blow,” he demanded, like he wasn’t running half-naked. Maybe it was a SEAL thing. Or a man thing. “Wipe. Take your pick.”

She looked over at him and just about crashed. Tye definitely had six-pack abs. Holy. Moley. Did he ever.

“I’m not using your shirt as a Kleenex,” she snapped. She hadn’t had that kind of offer since Benjamin Dare had brought her a frog in the second grade. Sweet with a side of really, really gross.

The problem was, she suddenly couldn’t see the trail. Because there were tears in her eyes. She sniffed. Not elegantly, either. Nope. She went all out with a loud snort. Tye laughed.

So screw it.

She wiped her eyes and nose on his shirt. She had a feeling the shirt had seen worse.

“Better?”

Not really. She had no idea how her life had ended up like this. Kade was her best friend and now he was gone.

“I’m sorry he’s not coming home.”

She was proud of herself. She didn’t stumble. “He’s coming home.”

It took willpower to get those three words out.

“Katie—”

“He’s not dead,” she said fiercely. “I won’t let him be. It doesn’t feel like he’s dead in here.”

She thumped her chest with the hand holding Tye’s T-shirt. She felt like she was waving a flag, but she wasn’t giving in on this one. “I write every week,” she said fiercely. “I call. I email. I’m pretty sure half of Washington thinks I’m crazy, while the other half just wants me to go away, but I’m not letting go of this. I’m not letting go of Kade.”

There was a pause while he processed that, broken only by the thud of her feet hitting the dirt because, go figure, Tye ran like some kind of lethal Ninja warrior.

“Okay,” he said finally. “Let’s say Kade’s not dead. Then what now?”