Embrace the Night (3 page)

“I do and I respect that.  I don’t expect you to share anything Samantha wouldn’t want shared.”

“That’s good because I wouldn’t betray her confidences any more than I would yours,” he said and did a quick glance down at lefty before peering back out to the ocean.

“I get it, Mark.  I plan on telling her,” he said with more bite than he intended.

“Good, because it won’t matter to her just as I hope what she tells you – ”

“
If
she tells me.”

Mark faced him.  “She will tell you in time.  You just need to be patient.”

He thought of the waves earlier and waiting for just the right one.  Waiting for Samantha was no different.

“I’m a patient man, Mark.”

Mark chuckled and nodded.  “I know that, Zack.  That’s why I’m going to ask you to take on some more management responsibilities in the company.  With the baby coming in several months, I’m going to need to take more time off and I need someone I can count on to be there.  Do you think you can do that?”

A myriad of thoughts raced through his brain, but it was the one nasty one that escaped him.  “Is this a pity promotion?”

Mark shook his head and blew out a harsh breath.  “I’d be a liar if I said I don’t see how you sometimes hurt at the end of a long day, but that’s not enough to make me risk my company’s reputation and more importantly, the lives of my employees.”

There was no doubting Mark’s sincerity.  He wouldn’t let fear and doubt ruin what was an amazing opportunity for him.  “You can count on me.”

The other man slapped him on the back and smiled.  “I will, Zack.  We can discuss your new duties on Monday.  Let’s get back to the games and to our women.”

Our women.

He wasn’t quite so sure about that one given what had happened earlier.  But as he’d told Mark, he was a patient man.

He sat back beside his friend and his wife to watch the games and cheer on Samantha and his other friends.  He didn’t fail to see her occasional nervous peek in his direction or the way she stayed as far away as she could as the games came to an end and they started to clean up all the equipment on the beach.

Samantha used that opportunity to slip away with the women as they headed across the street to Mark and Bridget’s home to prep the food and drinks for the rest of the day.

He helped the men pack up the volleyball gear and walked with them across the street to join the women.

As he caught a glimpse of Samantha helping out in the kitchen, smiling and obviously at ease, his gut tightened with a mix of emotions.

Hope that she would one day be that comfortable with him and physical need at the sheer beauty of her when she smiled.

Patience
, he reminded himself and headed off with Mark and Rafe to ready the grill and get his mind off Samantha.

Chapter 5

It was comfortable being around Bridget, her sister Maggie, and Elena.  They were no drama women who laughed often, loved openly, and were not afraid to speak their mind when warranted.

She suspected that if she ever needed a shoulder to cry on, they’d all be there for her.

Not that she was the kind to do that, although after this morning’s debacle, a good cry might just make her feel better about ruining what might have been with Zack.

The women were in baby mode that afternoon since Bridget was pregnant and Elena and Rafe were apparently thinking about having a baby.

“We’ve been working hard at it,” Elena began, prompting a round of chuckles from all the women as they made the food for a barbeque.

“Not sure you can call it work,” Maggie teased and playfully hip-checked Elena while cutting and tossing lettuce into a big salad bowl.

“It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it,” Elena shot back with a broad smile.  She was laying out burgers, hot dogs, and sausages on a tray to take out to the men.

Given that her husband Rafe was one very sexy man, Samantha doubted that it was tough at all.

Just like it wouldn’t be tough with Zack
, the little voice in her head challenged.

No, it wouldn’t be difficult
, she admitted and smiled, drawing the attention of all the women who paused what they were doing to look in her direction.

“She’s got that smile on her face,” Bridget said as she plopped a stack of cheese for the burgers on the tray with the meat.

The heat across her face warned that she was blushing and she stammered a protest. “It’s not what you think.”

Maggie pointed to Elena and Bridget and then to herself.  “
We
think you’re hot for Zack and that he’s hot for you.”

The heat of her embarrassment grew even hotter.  “It’s complicated.”

“That’s what I told him this morning,” Bridget said without hesitation.

Fuck, no, they’d been talking about me
, she thought.

“Please tell me you didn’t,” she pleaded, but Bridget shook her head.

“We only offered – ”

“We? As in – ”

“Mark and me.  We offered some words of encouragement after what happened this morning,” she said.

She wanted to crawl under a rock or better yet, have the ground swallow her up whole.  “
Nothing
happened this morning. 
Absolutely nothing
,” she said, her words short, sharp, and coated with ice.

The three women shared conspiratorial looks and Bridget started the conversation again.  “We get it, but we can all see that you both want something to happen.”

Before she could draw a breath, Maggie jumped in. “And Zack’s a good guy.”

“Sometimes you just have to let go and see what the future holds,” Elena finished up for what was turning out to be a trio of unlikely fairy godmothers.

Examining each of the women, she realized that every one of them had risked their hearts.  Even Elena, who had already been married to Rafe when he had finally come home for good.  They’d grown apart in the many years Rafe had served, but had managed to put the pieces of their marriage back together.

But letting go wasn’t easy for her and neither was thinking about the future.  Which was why she had rooms filled with moving boxes she had yet to unpack in her new house.  A house that it had taken her years to buy because she was afraid of committing to anything or anyone because of how she was.

Scared despite the bravado she presented.

Deeply wounded inside even though she was whole on the outside.

“I appreciate the pep talk, ladies.  I really do,” she said, aware they meant well.

“We’re here if you need to talk, Samantha,” Bridget said, walked over and hugged her hard.

She was stiff in the embrace, unused to such caring.  She patted the other woman on the back awkwardly and fought back the tightness in her throat that was threatening to choke her.

“I need to go,” she said, her voice husky.

Bridget released her and she snatched up the tray with the meat and cheese and rushed out the French doors.

In the yard, the men held bottles of beer and surrounded a grill heaped with a mound of glowing charcoal.

As Mark proclaimed the grill was ready, they all grunted their assent and she could picture them beating their chests victoriously at making fire.

Funny thing was she could picture herself doing the same.

I have clearly spent too much time with the menfolk
, she thought as she walked over with the food.

“The ladies are working on the salads and side dishes,” she said.

Mark snagged a pair of tongs from a table by the grill.  “We don’t need no salads or side dishes. We need meat, Whittaker,” he teased.

“Well here you go, Captain,” she teased right back and handed him the tray.

Rafe, Elena’s husband, passed her a bottle of beer.

He raised his own bottle in a toast. “To good beer, good food, and even better friends.”

The other men all chimed in, but as she tapped her bottle with the others, her gaze connected with Zack’s as he stood across the way from her.

She had expected anger after her abrupt departure.  Instead there was understanding and possibly even desire still.  As he closed his lips around the mouth of the bottle, she imagined how he’d put that same mouth on her breasts and elsewhere.

Dragging her gaze away, she chugged down the entire beer in a few swallows and a second later, her empty bottle was swapped out for a fresh one.

Because courage found in the bottom of a beer bottle only created problems, she nursed the second beer as she stood there grilling the meat with the men.  Passing occasional glances at Zack and trying to figure out more about the man who attracted her so much.

He was at ease around the other men, joking with them as if they’d been lifelong friends.  Military men one and all, they had many common experiences much like she and Bridget had as women who had served.

But even when he was a part of the group, there was something about him that remained apart and alone from them.  Maybe she recognized that because she, too, kept a piece of herself hidden away from all her friends.  A painful piece that it would be easier to discard if she shared it, only she couldn’t.

When the women came out of the building a few minutes later, she drifted over to them and helped set out the salads and side dishes the men had disrespected earlier.  But as she did so, a bit of wooziness tumbled over her, making her grab hold of the table for balance.

Bridget skimmed her hand across Samantha’s arm and asked, “You okay?  You’re looking a little flushed.”

“Just a little dizzy,” she said and set down the nearly full second bottle of beer as she battled the dizziness.

“Sit down and have something to eat,” Maggie said.  Her friend walked away with a bun on a plate, got a burger from Mark, and returned to the table.  Elena quickly spooned some potato salad onto the plate and Maggie set it in front of her.

“Thanks.  I didn’t realize I was such a cheap date,” she joked, thinking that maybe the one beer was the problem. Her stomach did a weird little twist, but then immediately settled down as she ate some of the potato salad.

As the men meandered to the table with their beers and the meat, the couples paired together to sit around the table.  Mark and Bridget.  Trevor and Maggie.  Rafe and Elena.

Which left Zack and her, staring at each other for an uncomfortable second until he took the spot beside her on the bench, sandwiching her between him and Trevor.  Her arm and thigh grazing his sun-warmed skin thanks to the tight space.

Once again her overly active mind betrayed her with thoughts of all that skin rubbing against hers in a more intimate setting.

She forked up some more potato salad and tried to focus on eating, especially as another small wave of lightheadedness swept over her.  Instinctively she reached out for support and her hand landed squarely on Zack’s muscled thigh.

He glanced over at her and his eyes narrowed with concern.  “You okay?”

She shook her head.  A mistake.  Her mouth suddenly dry, she tightened her hold on his thigh and said, “Would you mind getting me a soda?”

He popped up out of the chair and came back with a can of cola.

She greedily drank it and the shot of cold seemed to help.

“Thanks,” she said.

Nodding, he sat back down to eat and motioned to her plate of food.  “Maybe you should get something else into your stomach.”

She chuckled.  “Why do you all think food will help?”

He shrugged those broad shoulders and grinned.  “My mom is Italian.  She always thinks food is the cure for what ails you.”

He didn’t look in the least bit Italian, except for maybe for his tanned skin that never seemed to burn.  “If your mom is Italian, what’s your dad?”

“Mostly English, but with lots of other things tossed in,” he replied around a mouthful of food.  After he swallowed, he shot her a half glance and said, “What about you?”

“A real mix of things.  An American mutt,” she said with a smile, but then winced as another wave of vertigo hit her.

Her face and chest were flush with color, but not sunburn, Zack noted.  He shot up from his chair, went over to the cooler, and came back with a bottle of ice cold water.  “Here, have this.  Maybe you have a touch of heat stroke.”

“I should have hydrated more during the games,” she said as she accepted the bottle from him and drank part of it.  Rubbed the chilled surface of the bottle across her forehead.

“That feels good.  Thanks,” she said with another easy smile.

He was grateful he could help, but as the meal went on and her food went untouched on her plate, it was obvious she still wasn’t feeling well.

With an apologetic glance at everyone at the table, she rose wobbly, and said, “I think I should go home.  Get some rest.”

He popped to his feet.  “I’ll drive you home.”

She was about to protest, but was cut off by Bridget.  “That’s a good idea.  You don’t look so hot, Sam.”

“I’ll be fine.  Thanks for a nice day,” she said and walked toward the house to get her things.

He stood there awkwardly, unsure of what to do, but then that morning’s decision to make this a day of firsts came alive again.

“I’ll see her home.  Make sure she’s okay,” he told the group and didn’t wait for their reaction.  He hurried inside, hopping painfully at a misstep with lefty, but catching up to Samantha as she was exiting the front door.

She looked at him, her face and chest still a little flushed, and said, “I said that I’ll be okay.”

“And I’ll feel better when I know you’re home safe and sound.  I was leaving anyway.”

“Bullshit,” she said, but followed him to his van without any more arguments.

He helped her in, got settled in the driver’s seat, and drove away.  A few minutes later, he pulled up in front of her house.

“Okay, so now you drove me home. Thanks,” she said and didn’t wait for him to come around and open the door for her.

He followed her up the walk to the front door and said, “And
now
I’m going to make sure you get inside and are okay before I go.”

She narrowed her gaze and her lips thinned into a tight line, annoyance oozing from every pore of her body.  “I’m a big girl.  I can take care of myself.”