Caviar and Covert Ops: Book 3 (Military Moguls) (5 page)

Except they were.

When she’d talked about going home, he’d found himself asking her to dinner. She’d even given him an out by saying she wasn’t dressed for it but he couldn’t leave well enough alone.

He was getting in deep and he didn’t know what the hell to do about it. When he wasn’t with her, everything seemed terribly wrong. Bland. Gray. But when he was with her, everything seemed better. Brighter. Happier. Not the happy he’d been before he met her. No, this was a different happiness.

It was a happiness that was completely based on the state of another human being. He was beginning to realize he could only be happy when Lily was happy.

What the hell was wrong with him? And what was he going to do about it?

His instinct was to cut and run but that hadn’t worked. His only real choice – if he didn’t want to be completely miserable – was to continue seeing her. Take the relationship to the next level.

Dane shook his head and laughed inwardly. Dane Braxton…in a relationship. Seb and Chris were going to give him hell about this. But hopefully first they’d give Dane some advice. He had no idea what to do with a woman he might want in his life for more than a few hours or days.

He didn’t want to screw this up.

‡

D
ane cleaned up
the last of their picnic, tossing the paper plates and cups into the trash can and packing up the leftover food to send home with Lily. He’d picked up fried chicken, potato chips, brownies, plus a variety of beverages from the Publix two blocks down.

They’d chatted during dinner about the Tampa Bay Rays, the Bucs, and what was the best beach in the area. Lily hadn’t broached any more personal subjects and he felt rotten that he’d frozen up on her like that. She didn’t have a fucking clue what a nightmare his family was, and if she had she sure as hell wouldn’t have brought up a touchy subject like his childhood.

Nicky had a healthy appetite and was now singing a song to Ace who had snuck as many tidbits from Nicky’s fingers as possible. Normally Dane didn’t like feeding from the table but a picnic was a special occasion.

“Thank you for having dinner with me tonight. I got the feeling you didn’t want to.”

Her cheeks turned a pretty pink and her gaze darted everywhere but at him. “I don’t socialize much, that’s all. Nicky keeps me pretty busy.”

“I imagine he would. He’s got lots of energy. Does his dad ever give you a break?”

Dane stepped out on a limb and held his breath, waiting for her reply.

Her face turned a darker shade of red and shook her head, still not meeting his gaze. “His father isn’t involved in his life.”

Her words came out stiff and stilted and he knew he was walking on treacherous ground but he couldn’t stop here.

“That’s too bad. But you’re doing a wonderful job raising him. It’s his father’s loss.”

Her expression softened slightly. “Thank you. I always wonder if I’m doing the right thing. Trying to be both mother and father for him. Plus I work so much. Luckily my parents are happy to watch him and let him spend the night when I have a late shift at the restaurant. Even then I wake up early and go get him so I don’t impose on them for longer than necessary. They say they don’t mind but I don’t want to take advantage of their generosity.”

Dane steeled himself and stepped further out there, knowing he was pushing his luck. “Does his father help you financially?”

Her big brown eyes went wide and she finally met his gaze. “That’s a pretty personal question when earlier today you didn’t want to answer whether you’d been raised by your aunt.”

Point to Lily.

“True. Alright, I’ll answer. No, I wasn’t raised by my aunt but I did spend quite a bit of time there when I was a kid. My parents had marital issues and our home wasn’t always the haven of happiness that it should have been.”

She shifted on the bench of the picnic table. “You didn’t need to answer if you didn’t want to. And no, his father doesn’t help financially. Can we change the subject now? I don’t like this topic.”

“Fine,” Dane agreed easily, he’d pushed her enough tonight. “What should we talk about? I know. How about we talk about Nicky when he was a baby? Don’t all mothers love to talk about their kids?”

“I suppose we do.” Lily turned to gaze at her son, love practically shining from her every pore. “But I know that other people are bored by talk like that. Why don’t we talk about your job? You said you were an attorney? What kind of cases do you work on?”

He’d let her move the conversation back to him if it made her more comfortable. For now, anyway.

“The firm I’m with does a variety of cases, many of them pro bono. It’s important for us to give back to the community. Recently Seb and I defended a young man who was arrested for a series of home invasions, but after talking with him we felt he was innocent.”

“And?” she prompted, leaning forward. He liked how she listened when someone spoke, giving them all her attention. She did it with Nicky and now she was doing it with Dane. “Has it gone to trial?”

“It has and we won, but his life is never going to be the same. Some people will never believe he was innocent. He has a long road ahead of him.”

Her lips were curved into a smile and it looked like she’d forgotten his earlier questions. “Do you wear a suit and say, ‘ladies and gentleman of the jury’?”

“I do,” he confirmed, thinking about yesterday when he’d been in court. Maybe he’d take her one day so she could see what he did for a living. Later. When he told her who he was. He was going to have to come clean very soon. Now that he knew her he didn’t like the fact that he was keeping his true identity from her. “Seb doesn’t like trial work so it’s usually me and Chris that do most of it. Seb handles a lot of the behind the scenes negotiations and paperwork.”

“And Seb and Chris are your friends?”

“My best friends. We’ve known each other since before kindergarten. We grew up together, roomed together in college, and even joined the Army together after 9/11.”

Nicky and Ace were chasing each other around a tree, laughing and giggling. Lily, on the other hand, had a frown on her face. “You were in the military? How long?”

“Until about eighteen months ago. What were you doing then?”

“Changing diapers. Did you see combat?”

“Yes, and that’s about all I say about that. It’s over and done with.” Dane was a master at compartmentalizing his life. His time in the Middle East had been firmly relegated to the past and wasn’t allowed to have influence on the future.

“Message received. Still, I have a hard time imagining you in the Army.”

Her brow was wrinkled in concentration and he had to laugh because he knew she was trying to picture him in his uniform. “I didn’t mind military life. I’m very structured naturally and I enjoyed the physical and mental challenge.”

“Oh God, are you one of those morning people? Nicky loves mornings and wakes me up at the crack of dawn every damn day, rain or shine, weekday or weekend. Just once I’d love to sleep in.”

“Guilty as charged. I’m up about five-thirty every morning. I go for a run or lift some weights. Then have some breakfast and enjoy the quietest part of the day.”

“It’s quiet because most of the sane people are still sleeping,” she retorted. “Is it wrong to say how much I love my bed?”

An image of Lily naked and tangled in sheets flashed through Dane’s mind, making his pulse race and his palms sweat. “I would imagine being a single parent is exhausting. So no, it’s not wrong.” He looked up into the sky and the sun was beginning to sink. The park would close at dusk. “We better get packed up or the park ranger will be kicking us out of here.”

“I need to get Nicky into a bath and then bed. I think he has half the dirt from the park on him today.”

Dane finished packing up the food and walked her and Nicky to her car, which was parked next to his. “You better take these leftovers. I rarely eat at home and they’ll just go bad in my refrigerator.”

Lily bit into her lower lip, shaking her head. “No, you should take them. You bought everything.”

Shit, she was so sweet she didn’t even want to take a few leftovers home. Lily was slowly giving Dane a lesson in how a woman could be unselfish. So far he’d never seen her do anything for herself, always thinking of her son first. How had she ever been mixed up with a guy like Brandon?

“I insist. Seriously, they’ll just go to waste and end up covered in something green. You’re doing me a favor. Really.”

“Well, okay,” she finally relented with a smile. “I promise they won’t go to waste in my home. Nicky has a very hearty appetite and I’m a sucker for chocolate.”

A little tidbit of knowledge to file away for the future. She strapped Nicky into his car seat and placed the leftovers on the floor of the vehicle.

“So what are you doing next Saturday night?” Dane might as well go all in. For the first time in a long time – maybe his entire life – he was actually nervous asking a female out on a date. He had a feeling she was going to shoot him down. “I was wondering if perhaps you’d like to go on a date. Do you think your parents might babysit?”

*

Lily was having
trouble breathing. Looking at Dane like he’d lost his mind, she couldn’t find the words to even answer him. If she hadn’t been so out of practice dating she would have known this was coming. He’d been kind and attentive for weeks. Asking her out would be the next step. So why did she feel like an idiot?

“A date?” she parroted, trying to stall for time. “Next Saturday?”

“If you don’t already have plans.”

Plans? Did laundry and washing her hair count? Probably not. A handsome, successful man like Dane probably had plans every Saturday night.

“I’ll have to check with my parents,” she hedged, still not sure how she should answer. She wanted to spend more time with Dane but…a date? She hadn’t had one of those in a very long time. “Can I get back to you?”

Inwardly she cursed at her cowardice. Dane wasn’t the type of man that women said no to, and here she was hemming and hawing.

“Of course,” he answered easily. “I’ll see you here again probably Monday or Tuesday. But I hope you can go.”

He was gazing at her in a way no man had ever looked at her before. As if she was…someone. Not Nicky’s mother. Not her father and mother’s daughter. Not a day care teacher or a waitress.

She was Lily – appreciated for who she was, not what she could do for a person.

It drew her closer to him without her even making a move to shorten the distance between their bodies. As they stood there in the parking lot with the sun drifting low behind them, she actually believed that this man might be different. He could be the kind of man that she never seemed to find – honest, trustworthy, dependable, and kind.

“I–I’ll be here,” she finally said. “We come most days, you know.”

Nicky’s eyes were already half-closed in sleep. He’d had a big day and would go to bed easily after a quick bath. Dane leaned over and shook the little boy’s hand.

“Take care of your mama and I’ll see you in a few days.”

Too tired to even respond, Nicky clutched Dane’s fingers as if he didn’t want to let go while Ace leaned into the car and gave Nicky a lick on his sticky cheek. Somehow she managed to close the rear door and climb into the driver’s side, her legs shaky and her heart pounding.

She waved goodbye and headed home, pulling into her own driveway within minutes. Lifting her sleeping child from the car, she carried him into his room and laid him on the toddler bed to pull off his shoes and socks. His eyelids fluttered and he kicked his feet in protest.

“How about a quick bath, young man?” She leaned down to blow a raspberry on his tummy. Nicky giggled and wriggled, making it difficult to strip his clothes from his squirmy body, but somehow she managed and herded him into the small bathroom in the hall.

After washing his hair and body, she let him play in the water, scooping and pouring as the myriad of toys floated on the surface. She sat on the floor and thought about Dane. About the last month. And about how it felt to be alone.

This wasn’t how she’d pictured her life. Not that she’d put much thought into it, to be honest. She really hadn’t, drifting from day to day and not making many plans.