Chapter 2
Marta walked straight to her desk and did something she hadn’t done in years. While standing, she shut down her computer, moved all confidential and secret files to her safe, grabbed her purse…and headed toward the door over an hour before quitting time.
She felt the eyes of everyone in the office on her back.
Stopping at the receptionist’s desk, Marta pasted on a smile. “I’m headed out.” She forced a smile wider. “The admiral gave me the rest of the day off.”
As she scanned the many faces of her dedicated employees, she made an instant decision.
In an unprecedented move, Marta raised her voice.
“Everyone who has had to work overtime this week, thank you. I truly appreciate your dedication. Go home. Get some rest. Enjoy your life. I don’t want to see you back here until after noon tomorrow. ”
Refocusing her attention on the receptionist, she suggested, “Laura, please follow after-hours protocol for those of us who are leaving. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
As she strode across the tiled lobby, it dawned on her that she hadn’t given a time of her return. Maybe it was a sign that she, too, would take the morning off.
At the raised volume of several jovial male voices, she glanced toward Captain Hubbard’s office. He was still there surrounded by his commanders.
Good. She could call Genevieve before he got home. Damn, she needed her best friend.
As soon as she hit the parking lot, she clicked her key fob to start her car. Maybe it would be cooled down two degrees by the time she opened the door. Although the temperature was always moderate on Coronado Island with highs in the mid-seventies even in August, the sun was damn hot.
She opened the door to her white Honda Accord and wished she’d had the nerve to buy the cute little two-seater convertible she’d looked at before purchasing her conservative car.
Given her position on the base, she’d always thought it more appropriate for her to drive a traditional sedan because she was a civilian employee.
It was fine for the newly graduated ensigns, and still-single lieutenant junior grade officers to drive sexy sports cars, but she was pushing fifty-five years old. She should act like it.
Or not, according to Genevieve. Some of the other women in her sunrise yoga class agreed, but several of them were hunting husband number two or three and living well off divorce settlements.
Marta had made her own money.
No one except her broker knew she was a multimillionaire.
When John had died in combat over twenty-five years ago, she’d already been working in what was now called the Naval Special Warfare office on the Naval Base Coronado.
With her degree in business, she had easily gotten one of the lead positions and made more than enough money to live comfortably.
Because of the insurance the mortgage company had insisted upon, her house had immediately been paid off.
On the advice of a retired captain turned financial advisor, she had taken his military life insurance and invested it.
She most certainly could afford the silver BMW convertible.
Instead, she slid into her moderate car and redirected the chilly air from the vents at her face.
Marta quickly texted Genevieve to see if she was able to talk. Now that her friend was in full-time grandmother mode, taking care of Ian while Dylan was at work or deployed, a text notification wouldn’t wake up the four-month-old.
Five seconds later, her phone rang.
“Is everything okay?” Her best friend asked concerned woven through each word.
“Yes. No.” Marta didn’t know if she was coming or going. Her head was still spinning at how bold she had been with Trevor.
“Is it…is Dylan…” Fear and trepidation filled Genevieve’s voice.
“No. Dylan is fine. He’s safe.” Marta quickly added, “You didn’t hear this from me, but he’s on his way back home. Matter of fact, they’re all headed to the United States. No casualties on our side.”
“Thank God!” Genevieve let out a long breath. “Is that what you called to tell me?”
“No,” Marta confessed. She sucked in the cool air as if it could fortify her. “I called to tell you…”
You can say the words. This is Genevieve. You can tell her anything.
“I kissed Trevor Maddox.” She said the words as fast as she could.
“You what?”
“You heard me. I kissed Trevor Maddox.” Then she thought about it a second. “Actually, he kissed me first.”
“You kissed your boss?”
“Technically, yes. The second time for sure.” She could admit to herself that she had been slightly stunned the first time when he’d picked her up and quickly laid his lips on hers. In the end, she had been an active participant.
“You’re not making any sense. Start from the beginning,” Genevieve demanded.
The beginning? Marta had to think about that.
She’d been attracted to the Vice Admiral since the day he had shown up to take command of all Navy SEALs worldwide.
He’d been so nice to her, a true contrast to his predecessor who had been married but had been cheating on his wife and expected her to cover for him.
When she refused, he threatened to fire her, and she threatened to tell his wife and the Inspector General.
He had retired soon after at the suggestion of the Secretary of the Navy.
The beginning for her was much more recent than Trevor’s arrival. “Do you remember telling me two weeks ago that I needed to put myself out there again?” Ever since Genevieve had fallen in love again with her ex-husband, she’d been pushing Marta to find love.
“Yeah, it was right after yoga. We had just gotten our iced coffee and I was pointing out several possibilities in the shop and as men walked past.” Thank goodness Genevieve remembered. “You said someone had already caught your attention…oh my God. You were talking about Trevor.”
“See, this is your fault.” She put her car in gear and started toward the base gate.
“Fine. It’s my fault. I need details and make it quick. I expect Ian to wake up any minute.”
Without giving any operational details, Marta explained the excitement in the room and how Trevor had picked her up off her feet in an enthusiastic hug and kissed her quickly.
She relayed his apologies in the conference room, “I told him that I wasn’t a damn bit sorry, which I am not, then I sashayed out of the room.” Maybe sashayed wasn’t the right word but she was sure Genevieve understood.
“So, that’s where it ended? But I thought you said there were two kisses.”
“I went back to my desk, and he called me into his office a few minutes later.” She wouldn’t admit it to anyone, but for a minute there, she thought she might be getting fired. She’d never spoken to any boss so boldly in her life. On the flipside, she hadn’t felt this connection to anyone in years.
“There were a few awkward moments in there, especially when he seemed to be off in neverland, not responding at all when I called his name. I guess he was just trying to decide how to approach our kiss. So, I pinned him. I asked him if he enjoyed the kiss.”
“Oh. My. God.” Genevieve sounded as excited as Marta.
“He wouldn’t answer the question. So, then I asked what his answer would be if I weren’t his administrative assistant.
” Marta let out a long sigh. “That’s when he pointed out the truth.
I am his administrative assistant and then he apologized again and pointed out that I could report him.
Like I’d ever do that. Hell, I’m just as much, if not more, to blame.
Then I reiterated that I wasn’t going to apologize for hugging or kissing him. Instead, I thanked him.”
“No, you didn’t.”
“I most certainly did, right after I kissed him.” She thought it was important to add, “It wasn’t like a real kiss. I just brushed my lips into his. And I’ll tell you, it felt so damn good.”
“He didn’t kiss you back? Grab you and pull you up against him as he ravaged your mouth?” Genevieve suggested.
“No. I turned around and walked out of the room, closed everything down for the night and left.” Marta was so proud of her dramatic exit. Happy, too, that she’d rewarded her employees.
“Are you headed this way?”
Marta looked around. She’d been driving on mental autopilot.
As always, her gaze automatically went to the ocean.
She was almost home. “No. Thanks for the invitation, though. It looks like the tide is coming in, so I think I’ll grab my board and catch a few waves.
” She loved to surf. It was just her and the water.
Her skills against whatever Mother Nature threw against the shore.
“Why don’t you come over for supper?” Genevieve invited.
“Thanks, but I’ll take a rain check. Besides, Evan will be home soon and you two haven’t seen much of each other in the past week.” A giggle slipped out. “Enjoy your husband. I’m glad somebody’s getting laid.”
When Genevieve and Evan got back together shortly after their daughter had died in childbirth, her friend had confessed that sex was even better with him the second time around. Maybe it was because they were fucking like newlyweds. They acted like it, too.
Lieutenant Dylan Chaney, their grandson’s father, had become the son-in-law they didn’t have. Since he’d never been told of Kylie’s pregnancy, they had never married, but Genevieve and Evan had taken the young SEAL into their family.
Marta and John never had children. They always thought there was plenty of time.
Each wanted to be well-established in their career before they brought babies into their lives.
Every time Marta got to babysit for Ian these days, freeing Genevieve and Evan for a few hours while Dylan was deployed or away on assignment, it was like a gift.
She would never have grandchildren because she’d never been blessed with children.
Letting out a deep sigh, she pulled into the same neighborhood where Genevieve used to live before she gave the house to Dylan after moving into base housing with Evan.