Chapter 11
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S he’d brought dessert, but she looked more appetizing than the food. The green leggings made her legs look incredibly long. The summer sweater mirrored the color in her cheeks and hit her mid-thigh. One sleeve slid artfully off her shoulder. There was no tell-tale bra strap, so she wasn’t wearing one. Just that and the thought of what her breast might feel like in his hand had him growing hard.
“Come into the kitchen. Dinner’s almost ready.” He balanced the desert box in one hand while he motioned her to lead the way with the other.
Unable to resist touching her, Tucker plucked her purse strap from her shoulder, and Brynn pivoted toward him, startled. Pretending not to notice, he slid the strap down her arm and hooked it over the back of one of the chairs.
He kept his tone light. “You’re the only woman I know who carries a purse the size of a greeting card. Most lug around a suitcase.” He set the bakery box on the counter, cracked it open, and hummed in appreciation. Cheesecake! His favorite.
She cleared her throat. “I have to carry around thirty pounds of equipment at every shoot. I don’t have room for another bag. As long as I have my ID, debit, credit, and insurance cards, some cash, some lip gloss, and my phone, I’m good to go.” She touched the strap briefly. “This one converts to a fanny pack so I can attach it to my body while I work.”
He shook his head in wonder as he moved to the stove and stirred the chicken one last time then turned it off to let it rest while he retrieved the vegetables he’d marinated from the refrigerator. “My grandmother has this big bag the size of a truck tire that loops over her shoulder. She could pull an eight-place setting of China out of that thing. It’s a miracle she doesn’t have one leg shorter than the other from carrying the weight of it.”
Brynn laughed, the sound just as sexy as the husky rasp of her speaking voice. He wondered if her hoarseness was natural or because of vocal cord damage. If it was from an injury, how had it happened? Maybe when she trusted him more, she’d tell him.
While instructing her in diving, he remained professional and only had momentary reasons to touch her. But this was a social situation, their second, and one where he hoped to get to know her better and guide things to something more personal. But she was so wary.
Tucker reached for plates from a cabinet.
“What can I do to help?” she asked.
“Do you want wine, beer, or sweet tea?” he asked.
“Sweet tea for me.”
“You can get two glasses from that cabinet over there,” he said, pointing. “There’s an ice dispenser in the fridge door and tea inside.”
She made quick work of that while he dished up their plates with rice and spicy chicken stir fry with peanut sauce.
When he placed her plate on the table, she sighed and slipped into her seat. “This looks restaurant-worthy.” She picked up her fork, took a bite, chewed, hummed, and swallowed. “It’s really good.”
“Thanks.” He placed the bowl of pickled vegetables on the table between them.
“I cook enough to survive. I can’t do anything like this,” she said.
He smiled. “What’s your specialty?”
She frowned as though giving the question some thought. “I can heat soup.”
He laughed. “I don’t think you’re that inept. You’ve traveled the country, promoted yourself and your talents successfully, and you’ve carved out a business using your skills. If cooking isn’t your thing, that’s no big deal.”
She smiled. “It’s one of those female identity roles that people just expect women to accept. My mom’s practically a chef. Besides her Cordon Bleu recipes, she bakes all sorts of breads and fancy desserts. I’m her only girl. She’s always been disappointed that I’d rather be out on the lake in a kayak or with a camera in my hand than in the kitchen kneading dough.” She’d made that disappointment brutally obvious.
“You’re your own person, not an extension of your parents. My dad couldn’t boil water. I learned to cook basic meals so we wouldn’t starve to death. Then my grandmother moved in, and I didn’t have to cook so much. It wasn’t until I became a SEAL that I started to really cook. Eating at the mess hall while living in base housing is all right. Eating MREs during deployment leaves a lot to be desired. They give you the calories you need to get the job done, but they also make you really appreciate a home-cooked meal.”
She ate with relish for several minutes, then said, “It’s eggs. My specialty is eggs. I can fix any number of omelets, frittatas, or quiche. I had an electric skillet I carried around in the trunk of my car when I was traveling. Eating out on the road can get expensive, but as long as you have eggs, cheese, and a few vegetables, you can make a quick meal.”
She was finally opening up. He breathed an inward sigh of relief. “What inspired you to go on the road?”
She reached for her glass and took a drink. She seemed to hesitate, then finally said, “When I was twenty-one, I got involved with a man I thought was a nice guy. I was young and na?ve, and I stupidly missed the red flags that were later waved in my face. After six weeks of dating, I broke it off and walked away. Afterward, I needed some distance from the whole thing, so I left and worked on my career.”
The casual, unemotional way she spoke set off alarm bells in his head. It was the same controlled tone SEALs used when in the thick of a firefight.
Something major had gone down. But at least her reaction to his call at the park was less of a mystery now.
Brynn continued. “My idea was to travel the country and do a kind of video and photographic journal of Americana, the culture, and the beauty of each state; maybe do a picture book later. That’s how I started out. I needed the focus to cancel out the negativity, but then I started taking up different challenges along the way and started the podcast, which was supposed to be an avenue to promote my photography business. But somewhere along the way, it morphed into something more.” She shrugged. “Then Natalie contacted me and offered me a job, and you know the rest.”
He didn’t think he had even come close to knowing a fraction of what he wanted to know about this, but she was obviously uncomfortable with the subject, and he couldn’t really push. She’d begun to trust him. Otherwise, she’d have made an excuse not to stay for dinner the last time or agreed so readily to come tonight. It was going to take time. Time he might not have if he deployed.
“What have you been up to since our last scuba lesson?” she asked.
He’d been hoping to ease into it. “Desert maneuvers.”
“You got some sun today.” She brushed her fingertips along his forearm.
The electric feel of her touch raced through him. A craving for more struck with such ferocity his voice was husky when he spoke. “Yeah, even after using sunscreen.”
He saw the shift in her expression when her mind made the leap.
*
Brynn’s mouth was suddenly dry. “Are you deploying?”
“Possibly. It isn’t certain yet. I have someone in mind who can work with you if it happens. In the meantime… I can’t dive with you because there’s a twenty-four-hour window after a dive before I can fly. If I fly without giving the extra oxygen in my bloodstream time to dissipate, I’ll get the bends.”
She understood that. She’d read about it during her research, and he’d warned her of the same thing. “And how long will you be deployed?”
“It could be a week, a month. I won’t know until I’m told.”
He’d warned her he could ship out at a moment’s notice, but she just hadn’t expected it to happen. “I’d rather wait for you to get back.”
“If it’s a month, it will only leave you three months to prepare. The guy I’m going to ask is a good diver. He and his wife dive together all the time. She could work with you, too. It will only be until I get back.”
But she’d already begun to trust Tucker. “I’ll have to think about it.”
“Fair enough.”
They finished the meal, and Tucker cleared the table with speedy efficiency.
“Did you wait tables in another life?” she asked.
He smiled. “It was my job growing up. Let’s wait a while before we have dessert. I have something in the backyard I want to show you first.”
She was very aware of the way his hand rested against the small of her back as they exited the back door. When he guided her around the pool, she realized where he was taking her and actually smiled. A free-standing hammock was positioned under the shade of the neighbor’s tree, along with two Adirondack chairs. The bow-shaped metal frame looked sturdy, and the heavy rope and canvas hammock had an obvious nautical design.
“What do you think?” he asked.
“I think it’s perfect.”
“Go ahead and try it out. Since you suggested it, I thought you should be the first to test it.”
She sat down in the center of the hammock and swung her legs up at the same time she reclined on the surface. The whole thing rocked back and forth but stabilized quickly.
“It looks like you’ve had some practice doing that,” he commented.
“My parents have a hammock on the back deck.” She folded her hands beneath her head and looked up through the branches of the tree to the cloudless azure sky that was just starting to grow soft as evening approached. “My brothers and I all enjoy it. In fact, we’ve had more than one argument over who gets the hammock.”
“Why not buy more than one?” he asked.
“Where’s the fun in that?”
He laughed and sat down in one of the woven deck chairs he’d grouped close to the hammock. “Did you ever pull the girl card?”
“No. That would be cheating.”
He grinned and shook his head.
What if something happened to him while he was deployed? All the calm strength and vital masculinity he exuded made him seem more…just more. She was so drawn to him. But nothing more could happen if she didn’t trust him enough to tell him the truth.
The idea settled like a lead weight just beneath her breastbone.
Not tonight. If she told him tonight, and he deployed…it would be the only thing on his mind the entire time he was gone. By the time he returned, it would have eaten away any interest he had in her.
“How many brothers do you have?” he asked.
“Three. Clay, is the oldest; he’s an airline pilot. Marcus works with my father. They remodel homes and build new ones. And Tanner, the baby, is working on his masters in mechanical engineering at Columbia on full scholarship.”
“And your mom cooks.”
“She’s a lawyer.”
“Are the whole family overachievers?”
“Yeah. You could say that. I was the black sheep and moved toward something artistic instead of math or law.” Because she’d moved in a different direction, her parents had pressured her to conform. She knew without Clay’s support she’d have never made it.
“You’re a master in your field. They have to be proud of that.”
It had taken her a long time to realize that no matter what kind of awards she got for her photographs, no matter how much she was paid for them, they still didn’t believe what she did was worthwhile.
When she didn’t reply, he said, “They sound competitive.”
“You have no idea.”
He chuckled. “During my SEAL training, I always knew we were competing against each other in some things, but the real challenge was competing against yourself. It’s all up here.” He tapped his temple. “The mental pressure affects how everything else goes, so you don’t allow yourself to doubt, and no matter how tough things get, you never give up. I imagine your family follows that same mantra.”
She’d broken and run, but she hadn’t given up. Not even when she’d thought she might not make it. Suddenly overwhelmed, she sat up and swung her legs over the side of the hammock. “I can get in pretty gracefully, but getting out is a whole different situation.”
“No problem,” Tucker said as he rose and offered his hands.
She gripped them and as she stood, and he gave her a tug. Brynn found herself standing only a breath away from him, and the heat of their bodies reached out to one another. Her heart beat hard at the base of her throat, and her legs went spongy. Her eyes fastened on the pulse at the base of his neck where it beat a fast, steady rhythm. She had the urge to place a kiss against that strong yet vulnerable spot.
She slowly raised her gaze. His sea-green eyes held a look in their depths that had her throat going dry, and she swallowed.
Tucker brushed the backs of his fingers down her cheek to her chin in a caress. He bent his head, and his mouth took hers with a breath-stealing intensity.
Long suppressed emotions rushed through her, and she hummed beneath the pressure. A tormenting ache of need flared. She reached for him. Her hands slid up the length of his back, and she shifted against him, aligning her body with his.
Tucker cupped the back of her head, holding her mouth to his as his tongue slipped between her lips to tangle with hers. His arm encircled, her and his hand settled low on the small of her back to mold her against him. And she felt the evidence of his desire. She wanted to open herself to that but…
When he drew back, her cheeks burned with her own runaway emotions and needs.
His voice was husky as he said, “I didn’t want to deploy without knowing what it was like to kiss you.”
“Tucker…”
“I’m not asking for anything more, Brynn. There’s no rush. I don’t want to start something, then go wheels up. It wouldn’t be fair to either of us.”
He understood… She rested against him a moment and breathed in the clean smell of soap and an underlying scent of him, manly and pleasant.
“How about that dessert?” he asked.
She took a half step back. Her voice was huskier than normal when she said. “I’ve already had mine.”
He laughed.
“I hope you like cheesecake,” she rushed on.
“It’s my favorite.”
“I’m glad I chose it then. It was either that or a double chocolate brownie that weighed possibly five pounds.”
He laughed. “I’d have accepted that challenge.”
“Me, too. Chocolate is my weakness.”
“We all have them.”
With their fingers linked, they walked back toward the house.
“What’s yours?” she asked, curious.
“Long-legged ladies with sun-streaked hair and sherry-colored eyes. Why aren’t you in front of the camera instead of behind it, Brynn?”
A sudden memory of cameras being shoved in her face made her mentally flinch. “I don’t enjoy the limelight. I like to stand on the edge of the crowd and take everything in.”
He opened the sliding glass door for her to enter the kitchen.
When they had settled at the table with their cheesecake, she extended her cell phone to him. “I edited the camera footage of our scuba shopping trip. I thought I’d show it to you before posting it. Just push play.”