Chapter 17
Had she made a mistake?
Jett had been rethinking her decision for the entire flight home, and was still gnawing on it after getting off the phone with Sheila.
Trask had shut her down, but had he really meant it?
And if he hadn’t, how would he be feeling now?
No doubt he’d been bullshit after finding out that she’d flown the coop, and he’d clearly been doing damage control, putting his office manager up to that call. Which was the reason Jett had added her irreverent coda to the short conversation.
Her fuck off sentiment hadn’t raised much of a response from the woman, but Jett remembered Trask telling her that Sheila was on the spectrum.
A fact that was solidified when Sheila had stoically transcribed Jett’s words.
It was only at the very end that Jett had detected the otherwise dry woman being actually pleased, and perhaps a little amused.
And that very niceness was what burned Jett’s ass.
Why did everyone at Diver Downeast except Trask seem so wonderful? The few words she’d had with Spence and Buck, the polite call she’d just had from Sheila, and the texts she’d received previous to her delivery from Tabitha confirmed it. Every person involved had been welcoming. Except one.
If she were being honest, however, Trask had, too, before…
Crap. Before they’d found out they had mad chemistry.
Jett forced herself to focus on that while she ate the sandwich she’d just prepared, even if her stomach became unsettled upon reviewing things.
Looking at Trask, no one would ever consider that the giant of a man who exuded confidence was a coward, but Jett was beginning to think that’s exactly what he was by the way he’d turned the tables.
Instead of going with the flow for whatever was spiraling up between them, he’d fervently shut things down. And there had been something brewing. Of that Jett was certain.
There was no way Trask could have faked his attraction to her. His kisses, as well as his perma-hard-as-nails cock had clued her in to that.
If he’d actually lost interest in her after he’d given her the orgasm of her life, Jett would have been sad, but she would have walked away with her head held high.
She wasn’t one who kept after something or someone when she was getting bad vibes.
But seriously? The undercurrents she’d gotten from Trask, even as he’d backed off, had been anything but disinterested.
And without provocation, cocks didn’t suddenly harden themselves.
She closed her eyes and brought up Trask’s face, and how he’d looked before he stalked from the room.
Angry…but scared.
Bingo. She must have actually rocked the buttoned-up man’s world, and he simply couldn’t take it.
“What’s up, pumpkin?”
Her father’s voice broke through Jett’s thoughts and had her eyes blinking open.
“Oh, hey Pops,” she returned. “Nothing much. Just…thinking.”
“Must have been concentrating pretty hard. You didn’t even see me come into the room.”
Busted.
“You’re right,” she sighed.
Huh. Maybe she should run her troubles by her old man? He’d always been her sounding board, and right now she could use some words of wisdom.
“I met this guy.”
“Ahh. I see,” he said wisely, swiping half of the tuna and pickle sandwich from her plate.
Jett laughed. “Geeze. Blindside me while I’m down, why don’t you?” she accused with humor.
Her father’s grizzled eyebrows rose as he took a bite of his purloined food. “Stop avoiding and talk. You met a guy? And you’re down?” he questioned.
“It’s…complicated,” she sighed.
“So dumb it down for an old man. Am I correct in assuming it has to do with one of the Sothard brothers? A devilishly handsome lot, if the three of them I’ve met are any indication.”
Jett knew that Spencer had been down to Portsmouth twice, once alone, and then more recently with his brothers Buck and Mason.
“Yeah. My crush is on a Sothard,” Jett admitted. “Trask, to be exact.”
“Can’t say I’m familiar with that gentleman. Tell me about him.”
Jett groaned.
“He’s the oldest brother. Forty-seven. He’s recently separated from the Marines after almost thirty years in, and he’s…larger than life,”
“Okay. I’m sensing a certain conventional draw, here. So what’s the problem? He thinks he’s too good for my little girl?”
Jett pondered that one. “I think he’s actually afraid of your little girl,” she revealed.
Her father looked amused as he chewed. “Oh, really?”
“Yeah. If you met him, you’d know why. He’s the ultimate in control, and a neat freak. He was absolutely appalled at how scattered and messy I am.”
“Let me guess,” her father added. “He was more appalled when he found himself attracted to you.”
Jett wasn’t going to regale her father with how involved and attentive Trask had been in bed, but she wouldn’t hold back, either, clueing him in to the way they’d so easily, physically connected
“That’s what I’ve been thinking,” she demurred. “But I’ll start at the beginning. At the airport. It began because of me and my big mouth. I told him he was handsome.”
Her father chuckled, and with his mouth full, he rolled a hand for her to continue.
“I actually surprised him while he was off guard, and asked if I could kiss him.”
“That’s my girl,” her father praised, licking his fingers of mayonnaise. “Taking what she wants.”
Jett snorted. “Well, that’s not exactly how it went down. He told me I couldn’t kiss him, but that he was going to kiss me.”
“And you…?” Randal prompted astutely.
“Liked it,” Jett filled in.
“Wow. This sounds serious.”
“It could be, but after some more…epic kissing,” she cleared her throat and tried not to recall Trask’s dark head between her legs, “he backed off.”
“Yup. He’s running scared,” Randal confirmed. “You say he kissed you more than once?”
“Uh, huh. At least three or four more times.”
Her father nodded wisely. “Once might have been a mistake. Twice could mean he was testing the waters. More than that, however… The man clearly has it bad.”
“That’s what I read into it, after a lot of thought,” Jett sighed. “But not being sure at the time, I might have blown it.”
“How so?”
“After he, uh, kind of rejected an overture from me that might or might not have been bold…”
“It was,” her father stated assuredly. “Did I mention that you always go for the gold in everything you endeavor?”
Jett blew out a long-suffering breath. “I know. But Trask doesn’t know that yet, and he clearly resented me trying to change the narrative on how he saw things unfolding.”
“And so…?” Randal asked, knowing there was more.
“And so, after my…impudence, he rejected me, and I left.”
“You left,” he repeated.
“I did. In the middle of the night, after he shut me down. I snuck downstairs, called an Uber, got the dogs, then flew home.”
“Wow. That man has to be pissed,” her father responded with amusement.
Jett snorted again. “I feel like that’s an understatement. It’s clear he doesn’t do well with insubordination of any kind. And by leaving, I basically defied the orders he gave to get some sleep before we finished up the actual business of getting stuff to Diver Downeast this morning.”
Jett then filled him in on the latest. “A few minutes ago, he actually had his office manager call me to find out if I was still interested in working for them.”
“Wait. That’s something you forgot to mention. They want you to work for them?”
Jett backtracked. “Yeah. Before everything blew up, Trask and his partners had decided it would be a great idea to add my skills and my Cessna to their team.” She shrugged.
“And since I won’t have this place as home base any longer once you sell and move out, I thought it sounded like a pretty good opportunity. ”
“Especially since one of the principals is a person of interest to you.”
“Could be,” Jett admitted sheepishly.
“Continue,” Randal urged.
“When Sheila from the office called, I didn’t burn all my bridges. I told her I was going to reassess my position, and I’d let her know in a few days if I was still interested in the job. But…”
“But?” Randal grinned. He knew her too well.
“But I might have also had her write down a message for Trask.”
“Which said?”
Jett coughed. “I told him to go fuck himself.”
Her father wheezed a time or two before breaking into hysterical laughter.
After that had gone on for far longer than Jett thought the incident merited, she shut him down.
“Pops. I know it’s amusing as hell, as is everything I’ve told you, but I’m asking for your advice here.”
Randal wiped a few tears from the corners of his eyes. “You want to know what I think?”
Jett rolled her eyes. “If I didn’t, we wouldn’t have been having this conversation.”
“Okay. But you asked for it.”
Butterflies in Jett’s belly fluttered nervously.
“I think you’ve finally met your match,” he told her astutely. “You’ve always been headstrong and flighty, and no man in my memory has been able to keep up with you, let alone curb your more…dangerous impulses.”
When she would have rebutted, he held up his hand.
“I’m not saying that your lack of fear and filters hasn’t aided you in your career. It most certainly has. What I’m saying is just that nobody, not even your superior officers, have ever been able to snuff out your propensity to jump first and think later.”
Jett grumbled. “I’m still alive, aren’t I?” she asked a little snappishly. “I’m not so foolish that I’ve gotten myself or any of my fellow servicemen killed.”
“No. But that’s only because as well as being impulsive, you’re damned smart. Still, that doesn’t mean your luck won’t run out at some point in the future.”
He suddenly looked older to her. More careworn.
Was she responsible for that? Had her father figured that someday he’d get a call that her fortunate streak had ended?
Jett sent a hand across the table to cover his.
“Dad. I don’t know what to say.”
“Nothing to be said,” he gruffed. “I came to grips with what might happen a long time ago. But if there’s someone who you’re attracted to who might at least be able to contain you a bit moving forward…”
Jett let out a choked laugh. “Oh, Trask would try to ‘contain’ me, alright,” she admitted, and even though she’d never thought she could fall for someone who wanted to slap any type of restraints on her, in more ways than one, the thought of Trask caring what she did and didn’t do, made her feel… a little giddy.
She huffed out a frustrated breath. “So what do I do now? I’ve pissed the man off by leaving, and probably burned any remaining bridges by telling him to fuck off.”
Her father snickered. “I disagree. I think you’ve given him a kick in the ass that he’s probably needed for quite some time. The man sounds far too uptight, and if I had a guess, he’s probably wondering right now what he can do to get you back to Maine.”
Jett brightened. “You really think so?”
Her father nodded. “At my age, I’ve been around the block a number of times, and I’ve come across all types.
That being said, having met this man’s brothers, I’m confident that he comes from a very good family and is capable of being a team player and bending those strict rules he’s set for himself.
Years in the military have clearly hardened him up, but who better than my baby girl to apply a little softener? ”
A new resolve slowly built inside of Jett, accompanied by a spark for Trask that hadn’t been extinguished.
Her father had given her new hope.
Now, it was time to act on it.