Chapter Twelve
“So, what do you think?”
Holding the cell phone to her ear with one hand and the kitchen curtains slightly askew with the other, Missy sighed. “I honestly don’t know. What has it been, a week?”
“Is that all?” Maile Everrett huffed over the phone. “Feels longer to me. Maybe I should hang some extra mistletoe around.”
“Won’t work. I’ve got some hanging from every chandelier and every doorway but they never come in to have a reason to stand under it.”
“So now what?”
Missy shook her head even though her best friend couldn’t see. “Ooh, here he is.”
“And?”
“Well, hang on.”
“I’m leaving, Mom.” Sara called from the hall. “We’ll be with Nick and the gang. If you need me, call the dive shop.”
Her hand over the cell phone, she called back to her daughter. “Have fun sweetie.”
“Well?” Maile asked.
“Hang on. She’s only halfway down the walkway.”
“What’s he doing?”
“Holding the door open for her.”
“Oh. That’s my Kenny. All my son’s friends are such nice boys.”
“Boys?” Missy momentarily tore her gaze away from the curb and glanced at the phone, before returning to her viewing stance. “Oh, he’s kissing her.”
“Kissing how?”
“What do you mean how?” Again she glanced down at her phone.
“On the cheek? The mouth? Holding her or not? Politely or should we call get a room?”
“Maile!”
“You know what I mean.”
“Okay. Oh.” She couldn’t help smiling. “One arm around her waist. Leaning in. Brief kiss on the lips.”
“Then why are you sighing?”
“Maile, you should see how he’s looking at her.”
“Take a picture.”
“Too late. They’re getting into the car. His eyes lasered in on hers, the corners of his mouth curled in a sweet smile, and it took him a minute to let go. Oh, Maile. I think we finally got this one right!”
It had taken every inch of self control Kenny had to pull away from Sara.
The moment he’d hopped out of the car, he’d spotted that wavering curtain, this time in what he knew to be the kitchen window.
By the time Sara reached him, she’d confirmed his suspicions that mama Alani was doing some pretty sloppy recon.
With silent agreement, he’d pulled her in for a delicate and friendly kiss.
The moment his fingers curled around her waist, he’d known something had shifted in him.
When his lips touched hers, the desire to pull her even closer and not let go was possibly the most frightening sensation he’d ever encountered.
Only years of SEAL training allowed him to follow through on his mission without totally mucking up their deal.
“You all right?” Sara’s voice sounded small, worried.
“Sorry. Just thinking.”
“About?” Her fingers twisted together in her lap. “I mean, if this whole arrangement is taking up too much of your time, we don’t have to—”
“No.” He had to work hard to keep that single syllable from coming out loud and desperate. “No. My mind was just wandering. It started with your mother at the curtains, then it jumped to I haven’t seen much of your dad, then it stuttered to a halt when you showed up at the door.”
Her cheeks tinted rose and her lashes lowered a moment. “Thank you.”
Instantly, his mind drifted to the few times she’d mentioned her dating history.
It struck him like a snowball in the face on an icy day that not many men had told her how beautiful she was unless they wanted something from her.
Anger simmered under the surface and he found himself wanting very badly to make her happy.
“Did I tell you that once, just before BUDs, I actually considered proposing?”
Bashful blue eyes widened in surprise before she silently shook her head.
He turned the corner and decided if there was a sliver of a chance that his attraction was more than hormonal, honesty would be the best policy. “Kathy Delaney. Tall, blonde, with legs that went on forever.”
“Ah, so you’re a leg man.”
“Sometimes.” He smiled. “She was sweet and brassy all at the same time. We had a lot of…fun together.”
The way her one brow lifted, he suspected she understood what he meant.
“We’d talked about future plans like most people. A house, kids, a dog, maybe a cat. Would that house be by the water or the mountains. Big or small. In theory, we’d agreed on a nice family home.”
“I sense a but coming.”
“Yeah.” He sighed. “The reality was that my first wife was the Navy. My missions were long, and often secretive, and staying behind waiting for me to return to go on a movie date wasn’t as romantic as she’d thought it would be.”
“I’m sorry.”
He shook his head. “Don’t be. She married an insurance salesman and I realized that I had no business asking any woman to wait for me to come home, praying it wasn’t in a coffin.
” He held up his hand. “And before you say I’m sorry again, the most unexpected thing was not being upset when she broke it off.
I mean, my pride took a hit, but not my heart. ”
Sara shifted in her seat, her smile almost self deprecating. “I actually know what you mean. I gave and gave and gave because I thought my relationship with Vinny mattered, and then I realized one day, that the only thing that would be hurt if we broke up was my pride.”
Unable to resist, he reached across the console, took hold of her hand, and squeezed. He didn’t say anything, neither did she. How many people had he known in his life, where so much could be said with so few words?
When they pulled into the dive shop parking lot, Kenny was still holding her hand.
The silent connection gave her a sense of comfort and strength.
How she wished things could be different, real.
As usual, Kenny opened the door for her.
Both the car and the dive shop. She was getting used to this old fashioned chivalry.
Rejoining the dating world after this Christmas was not going to be easy.
“Oh, good.” Lexi looked up from her regular perch behind the main counter. “Billy’s been waiting for you. There’s been a bit of a glitch in today’s plans.”
“Did Emily not bring her gear?” Since Sara and Emily were the same size, and even though she’d grown up diving with the Everretts, Sara had never found the spare money to invest in her own gear.
“Oh, she did.” Lexi waved her thumb over her shoulder toward the warehouse behind them at the same moment Billy came out.
“Oh good.” Billy grinned up at them.
“I’m starting to wonder.” Kenny drilled him with a serious stare.
Billy shook his head. “We had a boat limp back to the docks this morning. Doug is working on finding the problem, but that means we don’t have a spare boat for diving today.”
“Oh.” Sara didn’t realize until now how much she’d been looking forward to sharing this part of Kenny’s world with him.
Hands in front of him, Billy smiled at Sara. “We’ve got a fix. Nick asked the Thornes if they’d mind having a Navy SEAL share the boat with them.”
“And?” Kenny was still staring oddly at Billy.
“They love the idea of having a big bad SEAL on their boat. If you can’t trust Uncle Sam’s elite, who can you trust?”
“Mm,” was all Kenny said.
“They’re at the docks waiting for you.” Either Billy hadn’t noticed the steady glare Kenny threw his way, or he didn’t care. Sara, on the other hand, was curious to know what was going on. “Let’s get all the gear in the back of the car and you two can be on your merry way.”
“Merry,” Kenny muttered.
Two seconds later, as the guys were hefting the bags of diving gear over their shoulders, Sara saw their heads locked together, their voices low and inaudible from this distance. Then Kenny nodded. Something was most definitely up.
All the gear loaded in the car, and the two of them buckled in, Sara waited for Kenny to pull out of the parking lot before facing him. “Care to tell me what that little tete a tete was all about?”
“You noticed.” His stern expression gave way to a slight smile.
She bobbed her head.
“That Julian Vance character’s boat hasn’t moved on. They’re hovering around Kona.”
“And that’s a problem?”
He shrugged. “Maybe, maybe not.”
“Why maybe? I gather they’re treasure hunters, like the Thornes.”
“Not just hunters. Poachers.”
“Poachers? As in illegally killing animals kind of poachers.”
“Illegally pilfering sunken treasure. They sneak in and scoop up what they can when no one is looking. They come in droves once a serious treasure hunter stakes a claim, but these guys have a reputation for trouble, and Nick doesn’t like that they’re hovering so close. He wants extra eyes.”
She bobbed her head and twisted forward in her seat. “Then he has two extra sets.”
That sweet smile widened and if she knew him better, she’d swear she saw a hint of pride in his eyes.
It didn’t take long to reach the marina where the dive shop kept their boats. As soon as she stepped out of the car, her gaze landed on two women giggling across the way. “Oh, hell.”
“What?” Kenny’s head snapped up, his eyes already scanning their surroundings.
“Mary Louise Fletcher. One of the mean girls in high school and she’s not improved much with age.”
“I see.” His gaze remained fixed on the two young women, swinging strappy sandals from their fingers, strutting in bikinis that barely covered what God gave them, and giggling like a couple of drunken school girls at their first frat party.
“Sara!” Mary Louise strutted up to her, taking her time to look Kenny over from head to toe and back. “This can’t be the new man in your life your mother has been telling the whole island about?”
And here it went.
Before Sara could open her mouth, Kenny came around beside her and looped his arm around her waist, tugging her in closer.
Glancing down, he leveled his gaze with hers, drank her in with his eyes as if she were a well of fresh water in a barren desert, then turned to face the two women staring at them with their jaws hanging open.
“So nice to meet some of Sara’s friends. ”
It took everything in her not to choke at that. Hiding her amusement with her hand, she cleared her throat and introduced everyone.
Easing away from her side, Kenny leaned over, kissed her soundly on the lips, and then, once again, locked gazes with hers. “I’ll get our gear, take it down to the boat.”
All Sara could do was nod. That kiss had left her lips seared as if she’d been branded with a hot iron.
The three of them watched the man stroll across the lot and down the ramp. Sara almost sighed.
“Wow.” Peggy Martin actually fanned herself. “Your mother did not exaggerate.”
“I’d say she under delivered.” Mary Louise was still staring at Kenny as he loaded the gear onto the boat.
“Well, ladies,” Sara had somehow managed to pull herself together, “I don’t want to keep Kenny waiting.
Have a nice day.” Swinging her purse over her shoulder, she waved at the two women still standing in the middle of the lot and doing her best effort at sashaying, made her way to Kenny’s side, eased up on her tiptoes, and gently kissed him on the lips. Then she softly whispered, “Thank you.”
Dropping the bag he held in one hand, he circled his arms around her, lowered his lips to hers, and huskily responded, “any time,” seconds before touching her lips with his and making her toes curl. If Mary Louise and Peggy were still watching, Kenny had just given them one hell of a performance.