Chapter Seven #2
“There are cold drinks in the cooler,” he said pointing, across the deck. “Soda. Water. Beer and coolers. Help yourself.”
“Thank you,” she replied softly.
The cooler was on the ground, so she had to bend over to get access. Gus should look away. He should turn the fuck around.
But her smooth thighs and round butt were definitely more interesting than the potatoes on the grill.
He let his eyes wander, hell he was only human, then after a couple of seconds, looked away and got busy turning the potatoes.
Once he was done with each one, Gus leaned against the railing.
The sun was starting to set, and it hit all sorts of lights in her hair. He bet it felt like silk.
“What a great night,” she said, then took a drink from the bottle. Her mouth was incredible.
“Yeah,” he replied gruffly. “Supposed to be like this for the next ten days.”
“Where’s Sage?” she asked, turning to him.
“She’s away for the weekend.”
“Oh.” Faith chewed on her bottom lip. “Do you know where she went?”
“No clue.”
“Do you know what she’s writing?”
Gus shrugged. “I’m not much of a reader.”
“I used to love reading. Fantasy mainly. I love me some good world building.”
“Game of Thrones-type stuff?”
She nodded.
He watched her closely, wondering at the shadows that crept over her face. “So, what happened?”
She looked at him and frowned. “What do you mean?”
“You said you used to love reading.”
She took another pull from her beer and looked away. “I still do but life kind of got in the way and the things I loved to do kind of fell away. Reading was one of them.”
“What were the others?” He asked the question because he was genuinely curious. Was it because he knew next to nothing about this woman? Or was it something more?
“I ride.” She cleared her throat and picked at the label on her bottle. “Or, I used to anyway.”
“Horses?” He had a restored ’69 Shovelhead at his place in DC, and he knew she’d look good on the back of it.
“I had a beautiful red roan . . . Cinna.” Her voice trailed off, and she exhaled.
“Did she die?”
“No.” She slowly shook her head but didn’t offer anything more.
“The potatoes are good and ready.” Walker called from the grill. “Let’s get those steaks on.”
Faith set the table while Gus grilled up the steaks to order. One well done for Candy, one basically raw for Walker, and the rest medium-rare.
With Taco happily gnawing on a bone, they sat down at the patio table, a mishmash of people who, for whatever reason, found themselves living in the same house. Liam, a former Marine who’d served in ’Nam, kept them entertained with stories while Candy and Faith listened and laughed.
Walker was quiet, and Gus kept an eye on him. The man had had some heavy shit happen — on more than one occasion — and his buddy went dark sometimes.
“Where are you from, Walker?” Faith asked the question, and Gus was glad of the change in conversation.
“Originally from Texas but basically a California boy. Spent my teenage years in Santa Monica.” He grinned. “You ever surf?”
Gus kept a straight face. The fact was, Walker came from big oil money and had more of it than any man deserves.
He’d provided their startup capital, and luckily, their business had more than thrived.
They were sought out worldwide as a leader in both high-tech security and boots-on-the-ground stuff.
Gus and Walker preferred boots-on-the-ground and were hands-on when it came to the business, leaving the other stuff for Dozer.
Faith shook her head. “Never tried surfing.”
“I’d be more than happy to take you out sometime. Private lessons are my thing.”
“I’m sure they are,” she chuckled, “but I don’t think we’ll find waves around here.”
“Long Beach is what,” he looked at Gus. “Three hours?”
“The way you drive, I’d say two. Tops.” Gus sat back. “Not that you’re going to have time for a road trip.”
“No?” Walker flashed a smile. “Why is that?”
“You’ll be helping me with the cottage renovations.”
“That so.” Walker pushed his empty plate a few inches in front of him and set his elbows on the table.
“I don’t remember being asked.” He winked at Faith, and Gus’s jaw clamped tight.
“But hey, I think I can be persuaded to stay on for a bit.” He leaned forward.
“It’s not like either one of us have a business to get back to or anything. ”
“Things are looked after.”
Faith looked at Gus and then Walker. “You’re probably going to take this the wrong way but you two sound like a couple.”
Walker’s grin widened. “Not the first time we’ve heard that.”
“Jesus, shut up.” Gus got to his feet and began clearing away the paper plates. He’d shoved all of them into the garbage bin and turned, surprised to find Faith standing there. She handed him a ball of tin foil and the pan he’d used for the potatoes.
“Your friend is nice,” she said.
They started back toward the house. “We joined the service at the same time.”
“You both have that, um,” she pointed to his neck. “Tattoo. I’m guessing you were both SEALs?”
He nodded.
“And you’re in business together?”
“What?” He stopped walking.
A small frown marred her forehead. “He said something about a business, and I assumed you two were in one together.”
He was silent for a few moments, thinking of the best way to play this. He didn’t like lying, but if it got out that he had a real job, folks would wonder what in hell he was doing repairing cottages at the Boone estate.
A part of him wasn’t even sure what his real agenda was.
He decided the best course of action was to deflect. Lying to this woman would leave a bad taste in his mouth. He kept his voice light and began moving toward the deck.
“That’s why we don’t assume.”
“So, you’re not in business together.”
Shit. She wasn’t giving up.
He stopped, and she damn near bumped into him. That sweet scent from before was back, and he figured it was her hair.
“If we’re playing twenty questions, I think it’s my turn.”
“We’re not play—”
“What’s your last name?”
Her tongue swiped across her bottom lip, and Jesus, his cock twitched. Which was inconvenient as hell because he had no time for whatever this was. He shouldn’t be thinking of Faith. Naked. Her hair entwined in his fists while he sank into her.
“Black,” she replied softly.
“What?” He scratched at the stubble on his chin, feeling like he’d just opened a can of worms he should have left closed.
“My last name.”
She was lying. He’d bet his favorite Bruins cap.
The two of them stared at each other for a good five seconds before he cleared his throat and pointed toward the deck. “I should help Candy to her room. I think she’s had enough.”
“I can do that. I have an early day tomorrow so, um, thank you for the barbecue. It was nice.”
“Are you working?”
“No.”
He watched her help Candy up from the chair, and then Liam and Taco followed the two of them into the house, all the time wondering what it was she would be filling her tomorrow with.
“You can stop making eyes at her. She’s gone.” Walker’s voice was dry, but his eyes were lit with something else entirely.
“Fuck off.”
His buddy took the hint and changed the subject. “Building cottages? Really?” Walker stretched and tossed his empty beer bottle into the cooler.
“I could use the help.”
Walker didn’t bother to hide his concern.
“What the fuck are you doing here? This was supposed to be a two-day thing. You were going to come back and get some closure. The old man was dying. But it’s been well over a month now.
Christ, you’re setting down roots. Making friends.
Flirting with a lady who’s hiding her own shit.
It’s getting messy, brother. Just saying. ”
“Are you going to stay and help me out?” Not in the mood for a sermon and pissed that his pal was right about everything, Gus’s voice was sharp.
Walker muttered something, but Gus didn’t catch it. Walker eventually sighed and nodded. “How long are we talking?”
“Another month. Maybe. They asked me to oversee the cottage restorations, and I want to see them through. Told me to do the hiring so I’m asking you if you’re up for some hard physical labor.” He winked. “Or maybe you’ve gone soft.”
“You wish.” Walker flashed a grin. “We need to let Dozer know. Back off on taking anything high profile for the next while.”
“Agreed.”
“And I need my own place. The sofa in your apartment isn’t going to cut it. That thing will break my back.”
“There might be some rentals on the lake. I can make some inquiries tomorrow.”
“When are you going to tell the old man who you are?”
“I don’t know if I will.”
Walker grabbed another beer from the cooler and tossed it at Gus. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”
“I guess we’ll find out.”
“One more thing.”
Gus took a long pull from the bottle and settled back into a chair. “What’s that?”
“You and Georgia.”
“We’re done.” Weren’t they?
“You might want to officially end things before she tracks you down and shows up. She’s been blowing up my phone and coming around the office for the last two weeks.”
“We haven’t been a thing for months now.” The woman liked drama. And her coming here wasn’t such a crazy notion.
“Yeah, but then you went and had relations over Memorial Day.”
“It was a blowjob, and I was four whiskeys deep.”
Walker grinned and joined him, taking a seat across from Gus. “That still counts for women.”
“Yeah?” he asked.
“Yeah,” Walker replied.
“Shit,” he muttered, sitting back.
“I hear ya.”
Gus looked up at the night sky. He remembered nights when he’d been deep in enemy territory, and the same moon that shone down on him now had hung in a sky full of sorrow.
A sky that had witnessed the kind of things that laid down scars on a man.
Some nights, that moon was the only thing that anchored him.
The two men sat in the kind of silence that men were used to. It was full of things unsaid, and the shadows that crept over each of them were as dark as the thoughts hidden in the corners of their minds.
For now, the silence was enough. It was familiar. For Gus, it was all he had.