Her Sexy Marine Valentine
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Candace Havens
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Chapter 1
LIEUTENANT BRODY WILLIAMS dumped a bag of tortilla chips in his grocery cart and tried not to wince when the wheels squeaked. The headaches were less intense since the crash, but he still had them daily. That level of pain, paired with the dreams that had him waking up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, had left him feeling rotten for months. If he took the drugs the doctors gave him, he couldn’t fly, so he ran for miles every day and drank more coffee than any man should.
He added salsa to his cart. A hobby, that’s what he needed, something that would keep him busy and the memories at bay. Fixing up his rented house was almost complete. New projects—that would do it. He was about to turn the corner when he saw the familiar red head.
Shoot. His CO’s daughter was walking down the frozen food section.
Why does she always seem to turn up wherever I am?
He’d met her at a reception his boss threw a few weeks ago. At first, he’d thought she was pretty, but then discovered she was the boss’s daughter. Hands off that one. Unfortunately, she didn’t seem to understand that dating her wasn’t even a remote possibility for him. His boss was already an aggravation, he didn’t need to be adding to it by taking out the man’s daughter.
Turning his cart quickly, he headed the opposite way. A woman plus a couple were blocking his escape. He stood off to one side pretending to look at the different brands of coffee.
“Marigold, I’d like you to meet my beautiful fiancée, Annalise. She’s a model,” the man said. “She’s been in a ton of magazines.” His tone was snide and Brody felt sorry for Marigold.
“Fiancée? But we only broke up two months ago,” she said. “I mean, congrats and all, but that’s kind of fast.” The voice was familiar to Brody, smooth and rich like honey.
The guy was showing off his new girl to his ex? From Marigold’s reaction, she was barely holding on by a thread. Brody’s guess was that this guy had done a real number on her. And she was right. A couple of months wasn’t nearly long enough to get to know someone well enough to marry them. Heck, twenty years wasn’t long enough in his book. Then again, he never planned on marrying.
He sucked at relationships. Mostly because he was seldom in one place for longer than six months. As a pilot, and a trainer, his situation could change any day.
“Oh, my little sweetie couldn’t wait to put a ring on it,” the woman named Annalise said, as she waved her hand back and forth. Brody realized he knew the poor woman who was caught in her ex’s crosshairs. She was his neighbor, Mari, or rather Marigold. He’d once lugged some wood flooring she’d been struggling with. She said she was flipping the old Victorian across the street from his place. He’d wondered then why she didn’t have someone to give her a hand with heavy loads like the flooring. Not that he minded helping. She’d been kind and even offered him lemonade.
That day she’d been wearing a ball cap pulled low, and baggy overalls and a fresh white tank, but those deep blue eyes had made him think about the sea off the coast of Greece. Today, her shiny blond hair was pulled up into a sleek ponytail and she wore denim shorts with a Dallas Cowboys jersey. He could forgive her choice of team, if only because of the startled look in her eyes.
He hadn’t been able to help his men a year ago. He’d barely been able to help himself, but he could do something about this.
“Mari, there you are,” he said before he even realized the words were coming out of his mouth. He pushed around her ex. “I’ve been looking all over for you, babe. I found the chips and salsa, but not the cheese stuff you wanted.”
At first, she glanced up at him as if he was crazy, but then she smiled when she recognized him.
That smile stole his breath away. As in, he could not suck in air even if he tried. Damn. She was beautiful.
She cleared her throat. “That’s okay, honey, I think I’ll make the queso from scratch,” she said without missing a beat. Then she stood on her toes and kissed his cheek. Her lips were soft. “I love that you are so helpful.” And then in his ear she whispered, “Thank you.”
“You know I’d do anything for you.” He grabbed her and pulled her to him. Her vanilla scent made him forget where they were. “Who’s this? Do I need to be jealous?” He nodded toward her ex.
“Oh, uh...” She stumbled over the words. “My ex. He was introducing me to his fiancée.”
The other man appeared as if he’d swallowed a toad. Clearly he hadn’t been expecting Mari to find a man so quickly.
Brody chuckled. “Well, I should take you out to dinner, man. Because if you hadn’t been an idiot and left my Mari, my life would be empty. She’s the best thing that has ever happened to me. The day we met was the most special one in my life.” Oh, now he was laying it on thick, but he couldn’t stop. He had this need to protect her. To show this fool what he was missing. The brunette with the false eyelashes and even falser breasts couldn’t compare to the natural beauty he held in his arms.
The ex’s mouth opened and then closed, as if he couldn’t decide what to say. His brows furrowed and he opened his mouth again, but...
The brunette squealed. “I’ve had a marvelous idea. You guys have to come to our engagement party,” she said. “It’s so cool that everyone can kind of be bygones.”
Wow. He had a feeling the supposed model had no idea what bygones meant.
“That’s probably not a marvelous idea,” the ex said. “I’m sure they’re busy.”
“We do stay pretty busy,” Mari said.
“True,” Brody agreed. “But send us an invite anyway. You never know. I love showing off my Mari.”
The jerk’s eyes flashed wide. Good. Even if she didn’t go, he’d be worried she might show up.
“We should get going,” Mari said. She put a hand on his arm and shot him a quick grin. “I hope you two will be very happy together. Come on, Brody.”
He and Mari turned and made it several aisles over before stopping. “You didn’t have to do that, but thank you,” she said softly. She blew out a breath. “That wasn’t how I imagined seeing him for the first time since we broke up. I was shocked. I mean, who gets engaged so fast? We dated for five years.”
“You’re better off without him,” Brody said honestly. “And you’re way too good for him.”
She grinned. “You’ve known me five seconds, but thank you. It was really kind. The breakup was bad and I thought I was over it, but wow. Just wow. You’re the best. I was sinking there and you threw me a life preserver.”
He still wasn’t sure why he’d done it. Wasn’t like him to butt into a stranger’s business. He preferred being alone. But there was something about her that made him want to get involved. “It’s a Marine thing. We live by our code. You were a damsel in distress and I came to your aid.”
“I’m not sure anyone, especially someone I didn’t know well, has ever been so kind to me. I’d say your duty is done, Marine. That was just a whole lot of awesome. He looked like a marooned fish trying to figure out what to say.” She laughed this time. It was a sweet sound. “You are the best boyfriend ever.”
“Brody?”
His shoulders tightened at the sound of his name. She’d finally found him. “Please help me,” he whispered to Mari before turning around.
“Hey, Carissa.”
The CO’s daughter had her eyebrow raised and seemed to be focused on something, or rather someone, just past his shoulder.
“Did I hear you say you’re dating her?” She pointed a red fingernail toward Mari.
“Do you have a problem with that?” Mari said. Her acidic tone very nearly made him chuckle.
Knowing a cue when he heard one, he quickly stepped aside and grabbed her hand. It was so small in his, and her skin was silky smooth against his calloused mitts. He raised Mari’s fingers to his lips and kissed them. “Calm down, babe. This is my CO’s daughter, Carissa. The boss’s daughter.”
“Oh. Ohhhh.” She smiled and then shook her head. “I’m so sorry. Hi, I’m Marigold McDaniels. You have to forgive me. My man is so handsome that I always have to be on alert to discourage women from throwing themselves at him. It gets annoying after a while. But he’s a sweetheart, and I’m maybe just a little bit the jealous type. At least, when it comes to Brody.”
Mari might win an award some day for this performance.
For once Carissa seemed speechless, but still, she recovered quickly. “Funny that he’s never mentioned you.”
“That’s my fault,” Mari said. “It’s so new between us, and I got out of a really bad relationship not that long ago. Like horrifically bad. So we haven’t been telling people, until, well, today. We just ran in to my ex.”
“Awkward,” Brody said in a singsong voice. That didn’t sound like him at all; it caught him off guard. Maybe he’d be the one winning the award. And if this charade of theirs kept the CO’s daughter from hitting on him in the future, he’d owe Mari for life. “I kind of wanted to punch his lights out for hurting my Mari.” That part was true. He’d never wanted to smack a guy so bad. “But at the same time, if he hadn’t been so dumb, Mari and I would never have met.”
“Huh.” Carissa gave them a weak smile. “Well, my dad will be glad to hear you’re putting down some roots finally. In fact, you should bring her to the picnic on Saturday. It will be good for you to socialize, get to know more people. Dad’s still trying to build camaraderie and teamwork hopefully by bringing folks together off base,” Carissa said to Mari. “He’s mentioned several times that Brody seems to be a bit of a loner.”
Why would the boss be discussing him with Carissa? Brody wasn’t happy to hear that.
He’d forgotten about the team-building events. He didn’t understand why simply doing the job wasn’t enough anymore. They were Marines. Being smart and self-reliant were the important qualities to have. Not worrying about connecting with others and all that stuff. You interacted with one another, sure, but everyone had to focus and do their own job.
He glanced down at pretty Mari. Shoot. The last thing Brody needed in his life was a woman. A relationship only meant complications. Once you cared about someone—
“Babe, you promised we could lay wood,” Mari said, with a giggle and a sexy smile on her lips. Parts of his body reacted. This woman was definitely dangerous if merely her laugh could make him hard. “Sorry. What I mean is we’re supposed to put the wood floors down on Saturday.”
He gently tugged her ponytail. “You’re a bad, bad girl.” She was funny and quick, as well as beautiful. Yep, a wicked combination. “I always keep my promises, but maybe we can figure out how to do both.” He leaned down and kissed her cheek. He had to, she smelled so good, looked so good and...right, Carissa was watching. He knew there was another reason. He admitted it was hard to think when Mari was smiling up at him like that.
“You’ve got that look again.” She rolled her eyes. “But I can never tell if you want food or—”
Her. Naked. In his bed.
What was that? His imagination was in overdrive.
Food. He needed to eat, or maybe it was the headache. It was causing him to hallucinate.
“You. Babe, when it comes to a choice between food or you, it’s always going to be you.”
“Uh, right. Well, I believe that’s the sign for me to leave,” Carissa said, “but you two might want to get a room. The grocery aisle isn’t the place for that sort of thing, and I’m pretty open-minded. So we’ll see you both on Saturday.” With that she sauntered off.
Finally. He relaxed. But then he realized he was still holding on to Mari’s shoulders. He reluctantly let go.
“That was fun. We should start a theater group or something.” She chuckled.
“It was. Thanks for coming to my rescue. She’s been asking me out since I arrived at the base. I do a lot of stupid stuff, I confess, but messing around with the CO’s daughter is not on the list.”
“I can tell she’s used to men saying yes, so you must be quite the challenge. She’s superattractive, though.”
He shrugged. “Not my type. You have no idea how grateful I am to you right now. She’s too much, a real piece of work.”
“I should be thanking you,” Mari said. “In fact, let me make you dinner. A man cannot live on tortilla chips and salsa alone.” She pointed at his cart. “And I was making tacos anyway. We could combine our resources and have a great meal.”
A home-cooked meal didn’t sound so bad. It had been a while. He could cook, but doing it for one person always seemed a waste.
Though sharing a meal with Mari might not be the best idea. In just the few minutes they’d spent together, he’d become very attracted to her. And that was not a good thing. Better to let her down easy. “You don’t have to do that, we helped each other out.”
“I know, but I want to and I...” She stared down at her feet as if she were afraid to say whatever was coming next.
“What?” he asked.
“I have a proposition for you.”
Brody nearly choked. Had he stepped right into another messy situation? Granted, Mari was sweet, but the last thing he needed was to potentially ruin his relationship with a neighbor.
Tell your dick that.
True. He should be alone. Still, that didn’t keep him from asking.
“What kind of proposal?” Intrigued, he followed her to the checkout counter. He only had a few of the items he’d planned on buying, but his curiosity was piqued and the rest could wait.
She bit her lip. It was adorable and sexy. “I need to work it out in my head first before I tell you. So come over for dinner in an hour and I’ll explain. Bring your chips and salsa. I’m about to rock your world with some of the best tacos you’ve ever had.”
She winked at him.
Everything about her was fun. He should lighten up. Besides he couldn’t resist her offer without looking like a complete jerk. Not that he couldn’t be a hard-ass, just ask the men and women he commanded. No doubt his face was used as target practice on dartboards all over the base.
“That’s a pretty big claim. Tacos are one of my main food groups.” It wasn’t a lie. He had them three or four times a week.
“Ha! I’m a native Texan,” she said with a slight twang that hadn’t been there before. “If I can’t make a great taco, they’ll kick me out of here.” Then she batted her eyelashes at him.
He laughed. It was a meal, what would it hurt? And they had helped each other out. She’d shown she was a good sport.
“All right. You’re on.” He wasn’t sure he could recall the last time he’d smiled this much, and he was hungry.
As she headed to her car in her short shorts and football jersey, he put his items up on the checkout counter and smirked.
What he needed more than anything was peace and quiet, to focus on being a helicopter pilot and instructor. He’d been given a great opportunity for someone his age and he didn’t want to screw it up by losing his drive.
That woman was trouble.
Damn if he didn’t want to find out what kind.
* * *
WHAT WAS I THINKING?
Mari tossed her groceries into the fridge, which was in the garage. That’s where she’d set up her temporary kitchen while hers was under construction. How was she going to cook a meal for a man like him on her tiny hot plate? And where exactly was she going to serve it?
She tapped a finger against her chin. The inside of her house was chaos. A construction zone with no end in sight. She sighed. She didn’t have time to worry about that now. She had to plan dinner.
One hour at a time she reminded herself. It was how she lived her life now. Otherwise it was too overwhelming.
Inspiration hit. Her back deck. It was clean and she had a great fire pit to keep her and Brody warm. The hot tub hadn’t been installed yet, but there was a decent table and chairs. She rolled her eyes; she wouldn’t have used the hot tub with her to-die-for neighbor anyway.
Don’t go there.
So handsome. So built. No. Not even a possibility. She needed him for one thing and one thing only—and it was not to satisfy her lust-fueled thoughts. Although feeling those manly muscles around her shoulders—and those abs.
Those abs. He must work out every stinkin’ day. She shook her head as if to erase the image.
Nope. Not going there. She had a plan, or at least the beginnings of one, and it did not include having sex with the neighbor. No matter how terrific he might be.
No. Really. Stop thinking about him that way. Mere moments ago he’d had to extricate himself from the clutches of his boss’s daughter. The last thing he wanted was Mari trying to seduce him. But it had been so long. So very long since she’d even felt the urge to—
Tacos. She had to get the tacos started.
She switched on the hot place, got out a frying pan and crumbled the hamburger meat into it. After adding some spices and a bit of minced garlic, she started chopping vegetables and shredding cheese.
This meal was the least she could do for her white knight of a neighbor. When he’d appeared out of nowhere and pretended to be her boyfriend, she’d almost collapsed with gratefulness.
The ex, Gary, had left a soul-crushing mark on her, and she wasn’t sure she’d ever trust another man. He’d made her believe they had a future together, and then he’d come home one night and said she was boring. That he’d had an affair at a conference and it helped him realize he wasn’t as into her as he thought he was.
Whatever. The cheating jerk acted like everything was her fault.
“You’re too vanilla, Mari,” Gary had said. “I’m not sure I’ve ever been this bored in bed. I shouldn’t have cheated on you, but after that one night at the convention I knew what I was missing. And then I couldn’t help myself. You’re just not it for me.”
Queasiness hit, as it did whenever she remembered his words. He could have shot her and left her for dead that day and she wouldn’t have been more surprised.
It wasn’t the first time a romance of hers had gone down in flames. She’d dated her fair share of Garys, but she’d thought this one was different. Even if their ideas on design clashed, and he didn’t like Mexican food and he demanded the towels be folded in halves, when she liked them another way. Who didn’t go for a three-quarter fold? It always looked nice on the towel rack.
That should have been my first clue. Still, it didn’t keep her ex’s words from churning through her head in a hateful litany. All right, fine, so she wasn’t an expert when it came to sex, and she’d had to fake the majority of her orgasms with Gary.
Oh, who am I kidding? I faked them all. But she didn’t imagine she was boring in bed.
Now Gary was with a model? And she didn’t even know what bygones meant. But she was probably great in bed, which evidently was Gary’s primary criteria when it came to the woman he wanted to marry. Engaged. Already.
Ugh.
She rolled her shoulders, trying to ease the tension, and took a couple deep breaths. It’s what she did to release the nerves.
I’m definitely better off without him. That fact didn’t keep the loneliness at bay, however; and all the good guys in Corpus Christi seemed to be taken or unavailable. Even the hot, sexy Marine from across the street was too good to be true. He had women like the redhead throwing herself at him and there he was turning her down. How could Mari compete with that? Not to mention, what if she did sleep with him and he thought she was boring?
Why are you even thinking about sleeping with him?
Come on. How could she not? Those biceps and that smile. When he’d thanked her ex at the grocery store for giving her up, her heart had skipped a beat. She had to remind herself he was too good to be true.
But it felt wonderful to have him in her corner. And that fish face Gary had made, that was the best.
No, it wouldn’t do at all for her to think about Brody as anything more than a nice neighbor.
Although he might be able to assist her with the one thing she needed most.
She’d seen him in uniform a couple of times and he was breathtaking. After he’d carried in her flooring that day, she kept meaning to take him cookies or maybe bake him a pie. But without a real kitchen it wasn’t easy.
She stirred the meat and then returned to chopping.
Her cell rang and she checked it. Mom again. She swiped the screen, making the phone silent. She didn’t have time for this. And she knew it was only her parents checking in. They were still worried about her breakup with Gary even though it had been months ago.
Her ex’s expression when he’d taken in Brody had been hilarious. As if the idea had never occurred to him that she could attract someone like the Marine.
Even if she couldn’t, she sort of loved the fact that now Gary would think she’d traded up, silly or not.
Brody...he was all man. Those biceps under his black T-shirt could not be denied. And when she’d leaned against him, those abs she’d touched were washboard-hard. That was the third time she’d thought about his abs.
No. Do not go there.
Admittedly, in hindsight, the lack of sex between her and Gary hadn’t helped their situation. It wasn’t as if he had been initiating things and she was turning him down. They often came home tired. She was always busy with her interior design business and closing on the old Victorian, and he worked for one of the top architectural firms in South Texas. But she’d failed to see the signs. They had been going through the motions.
Still, it didn’t mean he had a right to cheat. He’d met his fiancée at the convention and told her it had been love at first sight, and that he couldn’t pretend any more with Mari.
Pretend.
She took another deep breath. The hurt still stabbed at her chest.
I’m over him.
I’m lucky he’s out of my life.
Her brain believed her. Her heart, not so much.
Focus on dinner.
After digging around in her many boxes, she found the small red bowls that matched the plates she wanted to use. It was late January in Corpus Christi, which meant eating outside would be chilly, but fine with a fire. She took some wood from the cord she’d bought, then dashed through the house and stacked it in the fire pit out back.
Then she set the old wooden harvest table she’d stored there on the deck.
She opened the garage door to let out the smell from the meat that was cooking, and standing there was the dreamy Marine with a confused expression on his face.
Not expecting him to be standing there, she jumped and maybe screamed...a little.
“Sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to frighten you. Uh, why are you cooking in your garage?”
“Long story.” Now she’d have to recount her very ugly history with this darn house. If he didn’t already think her lame, he would soon.
Oh, well.
It’s not like you wanted to make him yours.
Liar.
“Follow me and I’ll explain everything.”
