Feeling Hot (18 page)

And why the
hell
had he called some other woman
angel
?

“I swear to God, if you’re cheating on your wife…” She couldn’t even finish that sentence. The thought of Carson stepping out on Holly made her blood boil.

Squaring her shoulders, she marched to the front door and practically sprinted outside. She slid into the waiting SUV, then slammed the door so hard Cash jumped.

“What’s wrong?” he asked immediately.

“Nothing.” She buckled her seatbelt. “Can we stop at my sister-in-law’s restaurant on the way home?”

“Sure. Why?”

“I just want to say hi to Holly.”

As Cash started the engine and reversed out of her parents’ driveway, Jen fixed her gaze out the window, still troubled by the conversation she’d overheard.

The idea of Carson cheating on Holly continued to burn a hole in her stomach, but she didn’t want to share her suspicions with Cash. Maybe if she didn’t voice them out loud, they wouldn’t feel real.

Angel
.

Who had Carson been talking to?

Shit. Whoever it was, this didn’t bode well for her brother’s marriage. At all.

By the time Cash pulled up in front of Primrose, the restaurant where Holly worked, Jen was anxious to see her sister-in-law and make sure everything was okay.

“You can wait in the car,” she told him. “I wouldn’t mind some girl time.”

A perplexed groove dug into his forehead. “All right.”

She hopped out of the SUV and hurried toward the restaurant’s entrance. When she strode inside, she had to let her eyes adjust to the dim lighting. As usual, she was taken aback by the elegance of the restaurant. Primrose was a five-star establishment, owned by a renowned West Coast chef, and Jen remembered Holly having to endure a three-month-long interview process to snag the prestigious sous-chef position.

The lanky young man at the hostess stand waved her in the direction of the kitchen once she told him Holly was her sister-in-law. Thanking him, she bypassed the main room and made her way down the wood-paneled hallway.

She hesitated in front of the swinging doors, then stepped through them and entered the enormous kitchen, where she earned a few quizzical looks from the kitchen staff. She immediately spotted her sister-in-law by a gleaming stainless steel counter across the room.

“Hey sis,” she called.

The petite brunette spun around, her catlike green eyes filling with surprise. “Jen? What are you doing here?”

“Just stopped to say hello,” she said lightly.

Holly saw right through her. “What’s wrong?” she demanded.

“Nothing’s wrong,” she lied. “I really came by to say hi.”

Wiping her hands with a red dishrag, Holly stepped away from the counter, abandoning the onions she’d been mincing.

“Don’t you have to finish those?” Jen asked as Holly barreled toward her.

“It’s just prep work. It can wait a few minutes.” Untying her white apron, Holly tossed a glance at the dark-skinned man standing by the grill. “Luis, I’m taking a break.”

“Sure thing, sweetie.”

Holly took Jen’s arm and practically dragged her out of the kitchen and into the employee break room, a large space with two couches, a kitchenette and a bank of lockers spanning one wall.

Under Holly’s piercing gaze, Jen felt like a little kid again. She and Holly were the same height, but the brunette instilled the same urge to cower that the admiral evoked in her.

“Are you okay? Did something happen with Brendan?” Holly frowned. “Wait, did you come here alone? Because Carson said you weren’t supposed to go anywhere without Cash. What’s wrong?”

Jen had to smile. “I’m fine. Nothing happened with Brendan. Cash is outside waiting in the car. And nothing’s wrong.” She gave Holly a pointed look. “Not with me, anyway.”

“What does that mean?”

“Why didn’t you tell me you and Carson were having problems?”

After a beat of stunned silence, Holly’s shoulders sagged. “You talked to Annabelle.”

“Yes. And Carson, though he didn’t say much.”

With a sigh, Holly drifted over to one of the couches and flopped down. She rubbed her eyes, then lowered her hands to her lap and started fidgeting.

Jen sat down next to her. “What’s going on?” she prodded. “Come on, Hol, talk to me. You know I’m a good listener. And if it’s confidentiality you’re worried about, don’t. I won’t breathe a word of what you tell me to Carson.”

Holly worried her bottom lip with her teeth. “It’s not a big deal. Carson and I are just going through a bit of a rough patch.”

“A few more details would help.”

Holly seemed reluctant, but then she opened her mouth and a stream of words gushed out. “We’re not connecting, okay? He was gone for six months, and ever since he got back, it’s like we’re on a different wavelength. It always takes a while to readjust once he comes home, but this time…it’s a little harder, I guess. He comes back and expects everything to be the same, but he doesn’t realize that each time he leaves, it’s like our entire relationship has been put on hold.

“He complains that I work too much, but what else am I supposed to do? When he’s away, I have to do
something
to occupy myself, and I can’t just drop what I’m doing when he gets back.” Holly let out an anguished breath. “I know this is what I signed up for. I knew being married to a SEAL wouldn’t be easy, but your brother is so…
infuriating
sometimes. It’s different for him—when he’s out of the country, he’s not thinking about me. He’s focused on the job, the mission, staying alive. But me? All I do is think of him, and worry, and stress, and pray that he’s safe.”

Tears streamed down Holly’s cheeks, which startled the hell out of Jen, who’d never once seen her feisty sister-in-law cry.

She quickly reached out and gripped Holly’s hand. “Hey, it’s okay.”

“No, it’s not. He doesn’t understand that I get used to being alone when he’s gone. It’s like I have a part-time husband. We didn’t even have a honeymoon, for Pete’s sake! We had to cancel it because he got sent on some mission I’m not even allowed to know about. Don’t get me wrong, I love him. I love him so damn much. But sometimes it feels like I spend our entire marriage waiting for him to come home. And this time, he comes back and tells me he wants to have a
baby
.”

Jen’s jaw dropped. “Seriously?”

“Yes, seriously. The big oaf wants a baby, but who’ll be the one raising it? Me. Doing it alone half the time.” Holly huffed. “He suggested that I quit the restaurant and focus on Prestige Events with Annabelle, since that’s only a weekend gig. So he comes home after six months, barely says hello before he carts me off to bed, drops a baby bomb and asks me to quit my job! Am I the only one who sees something wrong with that?”

Holly’s unmistakable pain made Jen’s heart ache. But how was she supposed to comfort her sister-in-law? Everything Holly just said was the reason Jen had vowed not to get involved with a military man. A part-time husband didn’t sound all that appealing to her either.

At a loss for words, she searched her brain for something reassuring to say, but Holly shot to her feet, looking mortified. “Shit. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to unload all that on you.”

“It’s okay. I’m glad you told me.”

Holly’s face scrunched up in misery. “I love him. You know I love him, right?”

“Of course you do.” Jen stood up with a sigh. “Everything will work itself out, Hol. But you need to talk to Carson about all this.”

“I have, but the stubborn jackass doesn’t seem to hear me.”

“So keep at it. Make him hear you. Carson can be a pigheaded asshole, but he loves you.”

Her brother’s conversation with his
angel
suddenly flashed through her mind, but Jen forced it away.

“Talk to him,” she urged again. “You two can fix this. I know you can.”

Hope shone in Holly’s green eyes. “You really think so?”

“I really think so.”

Swallowing, the brunette wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her long-sleeved shirt. “Fuck. I should get back to work. But thanks for coming by, Jen. I really needed this.”

“You’re not off the hook yet. Annabelle and I are organizing a girls’ night, so you’ll have another chance to rant.” She grinned. “I hear Savannah gives good advice.”

Holly snorted. “Only if it’s about sex. But yeah, I’m totally up for a girls’ night. Text me with the details, okay?”

“Definitely.”

They parted ways in the corridor, and Jen’s heart continued to ache as she walked outside. Cash had been fiddling with his cell phone, but he tossed it into the cup holder when she slid into the SUV.

“Everything okay?” he asked warily.

“No.”

His blue eyes pinned her down with a hard stare. “What’s going on?”

She hesitated, knowing she probably shouldn’t say anything, but the need to confide in someone was too strong. With a heavy breath, she told him everything.

When she finished, Cash firmly shook his head. “No way. Carson would never cheat on Holly.”

Jen envied his conviction. “Then why did he call that woman
angel
? And what about the
Holly doesn’t know
part?” Nausea scampered up her throat. “Holly fully admitted they’re having problems. What if Carson got tired of fighting with his wife and found some outside comfort?”

“No way,” Cash said again. “Whatever you heard, there has to be an explanation for it. Carson’s not the fucking-around type.”

“You never knew him in his manwhore days,” she countered. “Fucking around was his middle name.”

“
Was
. He loves his wife, Jen. There’s an explanation, trust me.”

She wished she could. Wished she could feel as certain as Cash sounded.

And she really wished she could erase Holly’s miserable expression from her mind.

I knew what I signed up for
.

Yep, Holly had known, but that didn’t make it any easier, did it? Loving a SEAL was no walk in the park, and Carson and Holly’s marital problems were proof of that.

Swallowing a lump of sorrow, Jen studied Cash from the corner of her eye, watching his strong hands move over the steering wheel as he pulled away from the restaurant. She’d been staying with him for five days now, they’d only been lovers for two of those days, but already she felt herself getting attached to him. She loved his heart-stopping grins and rough voice. The way he’d fallen asleep last night with one arm carelessly flung over her, as if he were trying to protect her even in her sleep. How he’d smiled at her when she’d opened her eyes this morning. And his genuine praise for her photographs earlier had made her heart soar like a damn helium balloon.

But seeing Holly’s ravaged face had reaffirmed her decision to avoid relationships with military men, which meant she needed to nip this growing attachment in the bud and remember that they were just having a fling. Some hot sex, some laughter, some fun, and in two weeks, they’d say goodbye.

Keeping his eyes on the road ahead, Cash dropped one hand off the steering wheel and rested his palm on her jeans-clad thigh, lazily stroking her over the denim. The gesture felt so natural that Jen gulped.

Two weeks
.

Biting her lip, she forced herself to cling to that reminder. Two weeks. That was all the time they had left, all the time she would allow herself. No matter how much she enjoyed being with Cash, she couldn’t risk forming any emotional attachments to him.

Because there was no doubt in her mind that if she let herself, she could fall head over heels in love with Cash McCoy.

Chapter Eight

Cash had just dunked his head under the shower spray when the curtain was ripped open and Jen appeared like an apparition.
 

“Hurry up,” she ordered. “We’re going out.”

He wiggled his eyebrows. “Why don’t you join me instead?”

“We’re going out,” she repeated.

Then she disappeared, leaving a cloud of steam in her wake. Bewildered, Cash rinsed the shampoo from his hair and shut off the faucet. Water slid down his naked body and dripped onto the fluffy blue bath mat as he grabbed a towel. He quickly dried off, wrapped the towel around his waist and wiped the foggy mirror so he could see his reflection while he shaved.

Since his electric razor was busted, he was using disposables until he got around to buying a new one, but he’d run out of those too, so for the past couple of days he’d been stealing Jen’s girlie lady razors, which drove her nuts. When he opened the medicine cabinet and reached for her stash of pink razors, he found a yellow Post-it note taped to the package.

The words “NO MEANS NO” glared accusingly at him.

Grinning, he ignored the permanent-marker warning and swiped a razor. He shaved in a hurry, knowing that Jen was probably pacing the bedroom while she waited for him. Probably biting on her bottom lip the way she did whenever she was upset.

And he knew she was upset, because she’d been nibbling on that sexy lip ever since they’d come back from Del Mar yesterday. Cash had tried assuring her there was no way Carson would cheat on his wife, but Jen hadn’t seemed convinced. She’d stewed about it all night, in fact.