Chapter 14 #2
Then came a drizzle that turned to a deluge, pelting his helmet visor and blurring the world into a watery haze. When he could barely see the road, he started praying for a bridge. Finally, he spotted one ahead and slowed to a stop beneath it.
He killed the engine, the abrupt cutoff as jarring as the storm’s assault. Beyond the narrow overpass, rain slanted to the ground, a steady roar.
He could hear Bartlett’s voice in his head. Would the man consider trying not to die in a motorcycle wreck dillydallying?
Cici loosened her hold on his waist and shifted behind him. “Well, that was fun.” Her sarcasm was thick.
“We can’t ride in this.”
She climbed off the bike, took off her helmet, and stretched, then stared out at the storm, brushing damp strawberry-blond hair back from her face. “‘I’d keep playing,’” she deadpanned. “‘I don’t think the heavy stuff’s gonna come down for quite a while.’”
He couldn’t help it. He laughed. “Did you just quote ‘Caddyshack’?” He climbed off the bike and removed his own helmet.
Her smile seemed hesitant, maybe a little embarrassed. “My sisters and I watched that movie one night when our parents were out. We got in so much trouble, but”—she lifted one shoulder and let it drop—“it was worth it.”
“It was one of my dad’s favorites.” A wind gust blew through the tunnel beneath the bridge, and he shivered. “Dad was always quoting lines from it. ‘We have a pool and a pond—’”
“‘Pond would be good for you.’” Cici finished the quote, grinning.
“‘You’ll have nothing and like it!’”
She pulled her soaking-wet sweatshirt away from her skin. “That sounds about right today.”
The way her clothes hugged her body… Suddenly, he didn’t feel so chilly. “Anyway…” He gazed beyond her, needing something to focus on besides the beautiful and altogether too alluring woman he was stranded with. “We might as well be swimming.”
“We passed a sporting goods store a few miles back. We could grab ponchos.”
He hadn’t seen it, but then he hadn’t dared shift his focus from the road.
He chin-nodded to the rain. “You want to go back out in that?”
“It doesn’t look like a passing shower. If we want to get home today, we’re going to have to get wet.”
She wasn’t wrong. Why hadn’t he thought to check the weather before they took off? Not that they’d had any choice.
Asher considered all the options. “Yeah, let’s go back.”
They were both shivering by the time they stepped inside the small store tucked in a strip mall between a restaurant and a bank.
“Go grab some dry clothes.” The last thing Asher wanted… Well, the last thing he needed was to see her in his clothes again. “Just take the tags off before you change so we can buy them.”
“On it.” She headed for the women’s section.
While she was gone, he grabbed ponchos, a couple more burner phones, and some snacks, his mind spinning through contingencies.
She returned a few minutes later, wearing form-fitting yoga pants and a slim T-shirt that hugged her trim waist, a hoodie draped over her arm.
She couldn’t have found something less attractive? Thick sweats would’ve been nice. He figured she’d look good in anything she wore. She had on a new pair of tennis shoes to replace the bright pink Crocs.
By the time he’d paid for their purchases—with her dad’s cash—his stomach was growling. It hadn’t been that long since breakfast, but apparently kissing your old crush and riding for your life through a rainstorm burned a few calories.
Oh, and there’d been the punish myself workout that morning.
He and Cici stood beneath the overhang in front of the store, staring at the soaking-wet motorcycle.
If the look on her face was any indication, she was no more eager to climb back on than he was.
“Let’s grab some lunch.” He nodded to the restaurant next door.
Her shoulders relaxed. “Good idea.”
Inside, the scents of pancakes and bacon and frying burgers had his mouth watering.
Apart from the server on the opposite side of the room, the place was deserted. She called, “Sit anywhere you like.”
Asher chose a booth in the back corner, farthest from the door and nearest the kitchen, where they could make a quick getaway if necessary. He faced the windows that overlooked the parking lot, studying each car that splashed past.
Very few people had ventured out into this weather.
The server delivered menus and two glasses of water. They perused, and as soon as they set the menus aside, she was back.
They ordered their meals, and then he went to the bathroom to change into dry clothes he’d pulled from his bag.
Felt like a new man.
By the time he got back, their food had been delivered. Cici was munching on her french fries but hadn’t touched her burger.
His fish and chips looked delicious.
He was about to take a bite when Cici said, “Would it be all right…?” She faltered, started again. “Would you mind if I pray for us? I know it’s weird, but all things considered—”
“Sure. Go ahead.”
She bowed her head and closed her eyes, and he did the same.
“Father, thank You for bringing us this far. Thank You for all the help You’ve given us along the way.
Thank You for keeping us safe in the rain, and for delivering us safely to Shadow Cove, which we pray You’ll do today.
Protect us between now and then. Give us wisdom and knowledge to face everything coming our way.
Thank You for Asher for all he’s already done.
Bless him in a thousand ways. And bless our food. In Jesus’s name…”
“Amen.” He smiled at her across the table. “Thank you for that.”
“Sure. Seems like we should thank God. I mean, I don’t know where we’d be without Him. And if not for you, I’d be dead, so…” She said it so matter-of-factly, then lifted her burger and took a bite as if there were nothing else to say.
She might be dead, and the thought of it twisted inside of him. It was one thing to protect a teammate or a stranger. Protecting Cici had become something altogether different.
And here she was just talking to him as if everything was fine. All the tension between them had somehow washed away in the rain. “You’re very…gracious.”
She looked up from her meal. “What do you mean?”
“You should be furious with me.”
“Oh, that. Well…” She waved off his words. “It’s fine.” She took another bite.
He watched her, this woman he’d judged so unfairly. “I shouldn’t have kissed you, and I shouldn’t have acted like it was your fault. I shouldn’t have been rude about the whole thing. I actually do have some self-control. I just wasn’t employing it this morning. I’m sorry.”
She set down her burger and studied him across the table.
When she said nothing, he prompted her with, “I hope you can forgive me.”
“Are you apologizing for kissing me, or for being rude, or for accusing me of starting it?”
“Uh…yes?”
“You’re forgiven for the rudeness and the accusations. I won’t forgive you for kissing me because I’m not sorry you did. I don’t know about you, but it’s not every day I get kissed like that.” Though she’d held her eye contact, it slipped then. “I refuse to regret it.”
Her tone turned almost defensive at the end, as if she thought he’d judge her for her words.
“I don’t go around kissing women without their permission.” He lifted a piece of fried fish, then put it back down. “I owe you an apology for that.”
“I thought it was nice.”
“Inappropriate.”
She considered that, her head tilting to the side. “Okay. It was both.”
Both nice and inappropriate? Was that a thing?
Well, it had been. She was right.
“Maybe it wasn’t so nice for you.” Her eyebrows hiked like the surprising thought had just occurred to her.
“Cici.” He wasn’t sure what she saw on his face, but her lips twitched.
“Obviously, it was nice for me. It was so nice that…” He didn’t finish the sentence.
Didn’t tell her about his workout or his cold shower or the fact that, if there weren’t a table between them, if they weren’t in a public place, she’d be pressed between the wall and his body right now, his lips on hers.
Did it matter that they were in public? The place was empty. Who cared what the server saw?
Oy.
Stop.
How did she do that to him?
“So.” Cici’s tone was bright. Maybe she needed a subject change as much as he did. He didn’t hate that thought. “What was your favorite thing about being a SEAL?”
He forced his mind to focus on her question. “I loved so much about it. I loved proving that I could do it, you know? Pushing limits that should have been limits but weren’t because I refused to acknowledge them. I loved becoming more than anyone ever expected me to be.”
Now, she wiped her fingers on her napkin, head tilting to the side. “People had high expectations for you. I’m sure your parents did. How could they not? You were the smartest kid in town.”
Maybe, and the fact that she thought so meant something. But the rest of what she’d said registered. “My parents weren’t the most encouraging people in the world.”
She leaned toward him. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
“It’s…whatever.” He bit into his fish—flaky and salty and delicious.
“Dad was always taking risks—and usually losing. Sometimes big. Mom had her own dreams, but she spent her life scraping just to survive. They weren’t disappointed when I skipped college and went straight to the military.
To them, it was the safer bet. A guaranteed paycheck, a place to live, three squares a day.
And when I told them I applied to the Teams, they were…
not discouraging, but certainly less than enthusiastic. ”
“They didn’t think you could do it?” She seemed shocked, but that was only because she already knew he had. Going into it, there’d been no guarantees. A lot of strong, smart guys washed out.
“They didn’t want me to be disappointed. I think…I think they feel like their fate is in someone else’s hands, and maybe that someone else is…” He groped for a word.
“Cruel?”