Chapter 1 #2
“Um…I had an apartment in the San Diego area. I’ve been here a few months and my contract is for a year, with the option to renew for a second if I want. I haven’t decided yet whether I will or not.” She purposely ignored his last question.
“What do you do?” Ace asked.
Now that, she could answer. “I’m a secretary. An administrative assistant.”
“How did you end up all the way out here?” Gumby asked.
Caite shrugged. “I needed the money.”
Silence met her response. It felt awkward, so she hurried to explain.
“I majored in French in college. My mom told me I was making a mistake, but I ignored her. I fell in love with Paris in high school, and wanted to go there to live and work more than anything. I took French as my foreign language requirement in high school and decided to continue it in college. I loved every second of it, but after I graduated, I realized Mom was right. It wasn’t like there were that many jobs for a French speaker in the San Diego area. Spanish, yes, but not French.
“I started working as a secretary for a friend of my dad, and he suggested I apply for a Department of Defense contract position. So I did. I got hired and worked there for several years, but I was buried in debt. From college expenses, my car, my credit cards…I couldn’t seem to get ahead, and living in San Diego isn’t exactly cheap.
Overseas positions pay more, and when the job out here came up, I applied.
” She shrugged. “I got it and…here I am.”
“Do you like what you’re doing?” Rocco asked.
Caite shrugged again. “I don’t hate it,” she said after a beat. “But who loves their job? We work because we have to eat.”
“I love my job,” Rocco told her.
“Me too,” Ace echoed.
Gumby nodded. “Me three.”
Now Caite was embarrassed. “Right. Of course. Join the military and see the world and all that,” she said. “Well, it’s too scary to wander around Manama by myself. Women aren’t as persecuted around here as they used to be, but I’m just not the risk-taking type. And it’s hot. I hate the heat.”
Rocco grinned. “But you live in San Diego. It isn’t really cold there.”
“I know, but it’s also not a hundred and ten degrees either. If I wanted to be that warm, I’d move to Phoenix.”
“It’s good that you don’t wander around. It’s not safe,” Rocco said, getting serious.
“The crime rate isn’t exactly low here,” Gumby added.
“Bahrain is one of the most tolerant countries in the Middle East when it comes to dress code, and women finally got the right to vote in the last twenty years or so, but there are still no laws to protect them against domestic violence,” Ace informed her.
Caite nodded. “I know. I did my research before I accepted the job, and it was also part of the orientation. Why do you think I don’t get out much?
I mean, besides the heat. I’m not willing to go alone.
Everyone around here is busy, and the younger naval guys are too interested in partying than hanging out with me or showing me the sites.
Besides, it’s frowned upon to fraternize with the military employees. ”
Rocco grimaced. “It doesn’t sound like much fun working here,” he observed.
Caite shrugged. “I’m making it sound worse than it is. I like most of my coworkers and there are always interesting people coming in and out of the office. I’ve met a ton of people from around the world. For instance, this week, my boss is meeting with some men from Gabon.”
“Hmmm.”
Her smile dimmed. He didn’t sound all that impressed. “What about you guys? Where are you from?”
“Interestingly enough, we’re also from San Diego,” Rocco told her.
“Really? Cool! How long will you be here?”
The three men exchanged glances that Caite couldn’t interpret before Gumby said, “We’re not sure. It depends on how long our mission takes.”
“Ah. Well…I hope you’ll be able to get out and see some of the country between your official stuff,” she said, somewhat lamely.
Silence fell over the group once more and Caite searched her mind for something else to say. “So…Gumby and Ace? Those aren’t…those aren’t your real names, are they?”
All three chuckled.
“No, darlin’. I’m Decker,” Gumby said.
“And I’m Beckett,” Ace told her.
“Is Caite short for Katherine?” Rocco asked.
Caite could’ve sworn he’d moved closer to her when she was looking at his friends, but it was hard to tell. She shook her head. “No. It’s just Caite. Spelled C-a-i-t-e. I guess my mom wanted my name to be different, but not impossible to pronounce or weird.”
“It’s beautiful,” Rocco replied.
Caite knew she was blushing again, damn it, but she hoped they would misinterpret her flushed cheeks as a result of the heat. The air in the elevator wasn’t exactly cool, and she knew it would only continue to get warmer until they were rescued.
“Where are you staying?” she asked, simply for something to talk about.
“Housing on the base,” Ace told her. “Where do you live?”
Not even thinking that it wasn’t smart to tell strangers where she lived, Caite said, “There’s an apartment complex right outside the gate.
I was too chicken to get a place too far away from here.
I don’t have to drive to work, I can just go right out my apartment building and walk here.
I’ve only gone into Manama once, and I was with three other DOD employees. ”
“Maybe if we’re here long enough, we can show you some of the city,” Ace said.
Caite blinked. She hadn’t been fishing for them to escort her anywhere, but it probably had sounded like she was. “That’s okay.”
“How about dinner?” Rocco asked. “I was serious about that.”
He was staring at her so intently, she shivered. He couldn’t be asking her out, could he? She’d never, in her entire life, been asked out. She’d gone on dates, and had even had one long-term boyfriend, but they’d all been set up by friends.
Caite had long since come to terms with who she was and how she looked.
She’d never be called beautiful. Her nose was a bit too big and her features were simply too plain.
She liked her hair, but it didn’t stand out in any way.
The light brown locks were thin and if she tried to grow them out too long, they broke off at the ends and looked straggly.
She’d never been the kind of woman that anyone took a second look at.
She wasn’t hideous, but she wasn’t model beautiful either.
It had been her experience that men simply overlooked her.
She wasn’t pretty enough, interesting enough, or skinny enough to deserve a second glance.
Especially since she tended to keep to herself in social situations.
There were always women around who were more interesting, outgoing, and pleasing to the eye.
But Rocco was looking at her as if she was the most fascinating person he’d met in his entire life. If she was being honest, it was discomfiting. She wasn’t used to being the center of attention.
Knowing she’d been silent too long and things were getting awkward again, she quickly said, “Um…yeah, I can join you guys in the cafeteria one night if you want.”
“Not what I meant, Caite,” Rocco said. And once again, the husky, low tone of his voice did weird things to her insides.
She glanced at Ace and Gumby, and they were both smiling once more at her and Rocco. Not in a “my buddy’s gonna get him some” way, but in a genuinely pleased way. She licked her lips and looked back down at her hands. “Oh, um…okay.”
“I don’t know when, though,” Rocco went on to say.
“I wouldn’t mind if it was tonight, but I’m afraid we have to check in with the base commander and get the lay of the land.
Not to mention we have to get a job done while we’re here.
But I’d like to make the time to get to know you better. If that’s all right with you.”
All sorts of things were swirling around Caite’s head. Big caution signs, for one. This gorgeous man couldn’t really be interested in her. Maybe it was a joke. Maybe he thought she’d go to bed with him because she’d been here so long and obviously didn’t get out.
But…she didn’t get those kinds of vibes from him. She was pretty good at spotting players. And Rocco seemed more mature and above those kinds of games.
Deciding that this was the most exciting thing to happen to her in months, besides getting stuck in the stupid elevator, Caite nodded. “I’d like that.”
The smile on his face widened. “Good. Tell me where you work so I can find you later this week.”
She did—and noticed his smile dimmed a bit.
“What?”
The emotion immediately cleared from his face. “Nothing.”
Caite shook her head. “No, it’s something. What?”
“It just so happens that you work for our temporary commander,” Ace volunteered.
“Oh.”
“And he doesn’t approve of work relationships,” Gumby said.
“This isn’t a work relationship,” Rocco grumbled. “It’s dinner. We aren’t going to go off and get married or anything.”
Caite smiled at that. The thought popped out of her mouth before she could recall it. “Right. But if we did get married, he couldn’t do or say anything about it, could he?”
Ace and Gumby chuckled as she looked up at Rocco, horrified. “Not that I think you’d want to! I mean, it’s just dinner and… Oh, shit,” she said, and closed her eyes and rested her forehead on her knees. “I’ll shut up now.”
She felt Rocco take her hand in his and she reluctantly looked at him. “Relax, ma petite fée, I know what you meant.”
Caite blinked. Had he really just called her “my small fairy” in French?
“Did I say it wrong?” he asked, smiling gently at her.
“What did you mean to call me?” she asked.
“Small fairy.”
She shook her head. “You didn’t say it wrong.”
“Good. I’m fluent in Turkish, but have picked up a bit of French here and there.”
Caite wanted to ask why he’d called her that, but was too embarrassed. She was all too aware of his friends sitting there staring at the two of them, and the last thing she wanted was to hear him say it was because she reminded him of a child in some way.