Chapter 12 #2
“Come on, let’s go watch some surfers kill it in the waves.” Then he raised her mangled hand to his lips and kissed the back.
Monica held her breath as she watched his expression. She saw no disgust, no pity. If she wasn’t mistaken, she saw admiration and affection. Then he let go and turned to climb out of the minivan.
Without thought, she did the same, meeting Stuart at the back of the vehicle. As if it was the most natural thing in the world, he took her hand in his once more—her left one—and began walking toward the beach.
The wind was blowing steadily, making Monica wish she’d thought to tie her hair back before they’d left. The blonde strands blew across her face and she wrinkled her nose as she brushed them away.
“Here.”
Looking down at the hand Stuart was holding out, she was shocked to see one of her hair ties lying on his palm.
“What…? How…?” she stammered.
He shrugged. “I’ve seen how often you forget these things, so I stuffed one in my pocket before we left, just in case.”
If he hadn’t been holding her hand, Monica would’ve probably keeled over in shock and surprise. He was a guy. A freaking Navy SEAL! And he had one of her hair ties in his pocket? Just in case?
Holy shit.
She reached for it and stopped so she could put her hair up. Aware of Stuart’s eyes on her as she gathered the wayward strands and quickly and efficiently tied them up into a messy bun.
“You make that look so easy,” he commented when she was done and they’d started walking once more.
“It’s not rocket science,” she replied seriously.
Stuart only grinned down at her. With the smile still on his face, they walked hand in hand toward the beach with huge waves crashing on the shore.
“Wow,” Monica said as she caught a glimpse of the largest waves she’d ever seen in her life. “I can’t believe people are out there voluntarily.”
Stuart chuckled. “Not my thing either, but surfers crave this kind of surf.”
“Hi!” a feminine voice said from their right.
Turning, Monica saw a woman in her forties or fifties sitting at a picnic table in the shade. She had a large cooler beside her and a pair of binoculars sat on the table. Her dark brown hair was blowing in the breeze coming off the ocean and her brown eyes were friendly and welcoming.
“If I had to guess, I’d say you were one of Baker’s friends,” the woman said with a knowing smile.
Stuart nodded and walked over to where the woman was sitting. “You’d guess right. I’m Pid and this is Monica.”
“I’m Jodelle, but everyone calls me Jody.”
“Good to meet you,” Monica said as Stuart nodded at her.
“You hungry?” she asked. “I’ve got some sandwiches if you are.”
“I’m good. Mo?”
Monica shook her head. Then blurted, “You offer food to every stranger you meet on the beach?”
Jody laughed. It was a free and easy sound.
“Pretty much, yeah. But I bring snacks mostly for my guys. I come here in the mornings before school and make sure my boys don’t surf through the start of classes.
Most go straight from here to school, and I know they wouldn’t eat anything for breakfast if I didn’t hand them a tortilla before they jumped in their cars and zoomed away.
Then after school, I want to make sure they have enough energy to do their thing out on the waves safely.
So I make sandwiches and hand them out.”
“Wow,” Monica said.
Jody chuckled again. “I know, most people think I’m crazy, but I don’t care. The surfing community looked after me when I needed it most, and I’m happy to show my appreciation the only way I can.”
Monica studied her closely. Beneath the woman’s open and welcoming expression, she saw…pain. Something bad had happened to this woman, and it was still haunting her today.
Monica knew a thing or two about that.
“How’d you know I’m a friend of Baker’s?” Stuart asked.
Jody rolled her eyes. “Have you seen yourself?” she asked rhetorically.
Monica couldn’t keep the giggle back when she saw the confused look on Stuart’s face.
“What?” he asked, his brows furrowed.
That only made Monica laugh harder. Soon, Jody had joined in.
In response, Stuart rolled his eyes at them.
Obviously taking pity on him, Jody explained, “It’s just a look you have. You definitely don’t look like a surfer here to catch some waves. You have the same kind of air about you as Baker does.”
“An air, huh?” Stuart said.
“Like if someone even breathes wrong, you’ll be there to take care of it,” Monica blurted.
Stuart’s gaze met hers.
“Exactly,” Jody said emphatically.
“And that’s a good thing?” he asked. But his question was aimed at Monica, not the woman sitting at the table next to them.
“Oh, yeah,” she said softly. The same time Jody said, “Of course.”
Monica stared into Stuart’s eyes, unable to look away. He finally made the first move to break the intimate spell that had weaved its way around them by turning toward Jody. “Is he here?”
“Yes. He’s out there keeping an eye on my boys.” Jody gestured to the ocean with her chin.
Monica looked out at the water and could make out some dark heads between the rise and fall of the waves, but that was about it. Then she saw someone stand up as if they were walking on water and ride one of the monster waves as it rolled toward the shore.
It was poetic, and beautiful, and scary as hell. There was no way she wanted to be anywhere near the power of the ocean like that, and definitely not riding on top of a wave that eventually would have to crash back to earth.
But somehow, the person on the surfboard dropped at the last second, paddling back out to sea as the wave he or she had been riding broke apart in a flurry of foam and angry splashes.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Jody asked.
It was, though Monica thought the intensity of the waves kind of overwhelmed the beauty. But she nodded anyway.
“I’m guessing that when he sees you here, he’ll head in,” Jody told them.
“Because he’ll see someone here talking to you,” Stuart said. It wasn’t a question.
Jody shrugged. “He’s protective of everyone he knows,” she replied, clearly going for nonchalant but not quite succeeding.
Monica had a feeling there was more than just friendship between Jody and the mysterious Baker, but she didn’t know either well enough to truly speculate.
Ten minutes passed before they saw a man emerge from the frenzied ocean. He reminded Monica a little bit of Aquaman, how he rose from the waves as if immune to their fury and power. He had a surfboard under his arm and his strides were long and purposeful as he headed in their direction.
Unease swirled in Monica’s gut. She remembered all the stories the other women had said about Baker, and she had a feeling he was unlike Stuart or his other teammates.
As the man got closer, Monica saw he was wearing a wet suit with long sleeves. The material clung to him like a second skin, outlining his muscular chest and thighs. The bottom of the suit stopped just above his knees, and his calves flexed as he hiked over the sand.
Monica couldn’t help but stare as he got closer.
Elodie and the others were right—the man was drop-dead gorgeous.
Even though he was probably in his fifties, he obviously kept himself in great shape.
The silver streaks in his hair and well-trimmed beard only enhanced his masculinity, rather than making him look old.
He was definitely a silver fox, a term she’d seen recently online when someone was describing a Hollywood heartthrob.
But he was also intimidating as hell. Monica found herself taking a step backward as he stalked toward the picnic table.
He took a moment to lean his surfboard against a nearby tree before approaching them. “Pid,” he said with a nod.
“Hey, Baker.”
“What brings you to my neck of the woods? The women all good? Carly heard from her ex’s son?”
“They’re all fine. And I don’t know about Carly, but I don’t think so. Jag would’ve said something,” Stuart told him.
Baker nodded.
“I’m sure you’ve heard about Aleck and Kenna’s wedding in a couple weeks, right?”
“The luau on the beach? Yeah.”
Monica watched Stuart and Baker talk, noting the obvious respect the two men had for each other. Then Baker’s jade-green eyes turned to her.
“Monica Collins, I’m assuming?” he asked.
She could only nod.
“Nice to meet you. Thank you for not filing an abuse report with the Inspector General against Commander Huttner. He was out of line, forcing Pid and the team to bring you back to Hawaii, but his intentions were good.”
“Um…you’re welcome.”
“No luck with the pictures yet, huh?” Baker asked, then went on. “But you’re only up to the H’s in the alphabet, so it’s to be expected.”
Monica had no idea how he knew so much about what she was doing. She’d just finished looking through profiles of men whose last names started with H the day before. “Yeah,” she said lamely.
“Well, it’s appreciated,” he told her. “No one gets away with defiling the SEAL name.”
Monica swallowed hard, not wanting to know what exactly he meant and what the consequences were in his mind for being a rogue SEAL.
“See you met Jodelle.”
“How’re conditions out there, Baker?” Jody asked.
If Monica hadn’t been looking at the older man, she would’ve missed the gentleness that softened his expression when Jody spoke.
“Not bad. The guys are all good. Told them it was getting late, so they should start coming in soon to head home and do their homework.”
Jody gave him a satisfied smile. “Good.”
Baker turned back to Stuart. “So? What brings you up here, if it’s not because of the girls?”
Monica mentally chuckled at Baker calling Elodie, Lexie, and Kenna “girls.” But she made sure her thoughts didn’t reflect outwardly.
“Mo needed a break from the office. And I wanted you to meet her. And maybe stop and introduce her to the best shave ice on the island at Matsumoto’s. Also wanted to see if you had any insight as to who this asshole might be who’s got the commander’s knickers all twisted.”
Monica snorted at that.