KissedByASEAL (6 page)

After being around her brother for her whole life, she could throw around the attitude as well as he could. “Maybe I should.”

“Put in a decade with the teams and then, maybe.” He followed up that comment with a snort.

Darci rolled her eyes. Her friends were always so impressed when they learned her brother had been a SEAL. Little did they know how Rick’s condescending lectures on
the teams
got really old, really fast.

Rick’s phone rang again, on the counter where he’d left it, just as Darci predicted it would. He jumped up from his chair and ran for it as she shook her head at him.

Her phone was within reach, right on the table by her feet—not that anyone was going to call. But if they did, she could answer.

“—come over so we can talk about it.” What Rick was saying cut into her thoughts. He paused for a bit and then said, “Yeah, you might as well pick up some beer. We might need it . . . Okay, I’ll see you in a few.”

He disconnected the call and came back to sit in the chair.

She didn’t like the sound of that phone call. “Who was that?”

“Chris.”
 

Darci sat up straight. “He’s coming over?”

“Yeah, we need to figure out this Florida situation.”

“Crap.” She scrambled to stand. She was still in her pajamas and it was afternoon.

Watching her, Rick frowned. “What’s wrong with you?”

“You invited Chris over so now I have to get changed.” Not to mention wash her face, brush her teeth and do something with her hair. She was a mess.

It was no wonder she had no boyfriend to spend Valentines Day with. She was letting herself go but there wasn’t time to berate herself about that now. Chris didn’t live that far away. He’d be there any minute.

Thank goodness he was picking up beer first. That would buy her some time.

She skidded across the hardwood in stocking feet, grabbing on to the doorframe of her bedroom to stop herself as a thought hit her. “Is Brody coming too?”

“Yeah. We need all the brainpower we can get to figure out how to accomplish this job understaffed.”

Brody too. Crap. She headed into her bedroom and slammed the door.

Both Cassidy brothers would be here judging her by the standards of all those women from the deep south who didn’t leave their bedrooms in the morning without a full face of makeup or before their hair was curled, teased and sprayed.

Okay, maybe she was getting her information from Hollywood. Movies like
Sweet Home Alabama
where southern women were larger than life, perfect hostesses and bastions of female perfection.

Still, she couldn’t let the Cassidy brothers catch her in her flannel pajamas that had seen better days. Especially not in the middle of the day and not today, of all days.

Damn, greeting card companies and their Valentine expectations. She cursed them as she pulled her hair into a ponytail to wash her face and brush her teeth.

She whizzed through her routine of moisturizing and slapped on the bare minimum of makeup in record time.

Pulling out the elastic band, she decided there wasn’t much she could do about the state of her hair since there was no time to wash it. She flipped her head upside down and ran a brush through it to give it some volume. Flipping her head back, she glanced at the mirror and ran her fingers through her blond waves to smooth the mess out. That was probably as good as it was going to get.

After running to the bedroom closet, she flung open the door and pulled a folded cashmere sweater off the shelf. She couldn’t stand the thought of putting on jeans this late in the day if she was going to be sitting around on the sofa, but yoga pants would work. It would look like she was having a comfy cozy February day at home, which is exactly what she had been doing, but in old flannel before that phone call.

Darci was just rolling on some deodorant under the sweater since there’d been no time to shower when she heard the doorbell.

The sound of Rick answering it, and the corresponding male voices, confirmed their guests were here.

It was a sad, sad day that the most exciting thing happening in her life was her brother’s friends stopping by. The pitifulness of it didn’t stop her from heading into the bathroom to take one last glance in the mirror, or from swiping on some lip gloss.

Staring at her reflection only made her more frustrated.

Her cheeks were flushed from running around getting ready. The blue of the sweater picked up the color of her eyes. Even her hair looked kind of good, in a careless, casual sort of way. She wasn’t bad looking. Young and single, she should have a man—hell, multiple men—in her life.

Why didn’t she?

Sighing, Darci decided she’d work on what to do about that later. Now, there were people here and, technically Rick’s friends or not, she should at least make an appearance and be hospitable.

It was her home too. It was the right thing to do . . . and she had been bored anyway. If nothing else, having the Cassidy brothers around could only liven up things.

CHAPTER
5

Chris and Brody were at Rick’s place to figure out this job. So why did Chris feel disappointed when he walked through the front door and didn’t see Darci?

Because he was an idiot, that’s why. The same reason why he’d picked up the tiny red heart-shaped box filled with chocolates when he’d stopped to get the beer.

He’d heard that the definition of insanity was doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Chris had never given Darci Valentines Day candy before, so maybe this didn’t count as insane behavior.

“Thanks for picking up beer.” Rick reached for the bag in Chris’s hand.

Brody closed the door behind them and grinned. “No problem, Rick. Chris paid.”

As Chris slid off his jacket, he watched Rick carry the bag to the kitchen island, set it down and reach inside. A feeling of impending doom hung over him. There were two six-packs inside, but there was also the gift for Darci.

He braced himself, but it was still no less embarrassing when Rick pulled out the red heart and raised a brow. “For me?”

Chris strode forward and took the box from Rick’s hand. “No, it’s for Darci. My mother raised me better than to come visiting empty handed.”

As Chris put the heart on the other end of the island counter, far away from Rick, he caught a glimpse of the look Brody shot him. He chose to ignore his brother, which became very easy to do when Darci’s bedroom door opened.

She strode into the living room and he’d be damned if his heart didn’t beat faster. “Did I hear my name?” she asked.

Chris swallowed hard and reached for the heart. “Yup. This is for you.”

She eyed the heart and then raised her gaze to his. “Really?”

He dipped his head in a nod. “Yup.”

“Thank you.” Her expression was hard to read. Like a cross between amazement and confusion, with a bit of embarrassment tossed in.

For lack of anything else to say, Chris said, “You’re welcome.”

Finally, she reached out and took the candy, a fact he was more than grateful for since he was sure his hands were shaking.

Dammit. He’d trained and worked as a sniper for more than half of the time he’d been with the teams. He’d made shots half a mile away while his sniper hide had been taking fire, and he’d done it all with hands as steady as a surgeon’s, yet here he was shaking while handing a woman a box of cheap, convenience store chocolates.

Worse, she’d made it pretty damn clear in the past that he had no hope of ever landing her so why the hell was he nervous? No wonder Brody had looked at him like he was crazy.

Chris had never lost his mind enough to confess his feelings about Darci to Brody, but his little brother was no fool. Brody was too observant and too good at reading people to not notice, especially since he and Chris lived under the same roof.

Darci hesitated for a moment, awkwardly standing in front of him with the box in her hand before she drew in a deep breath. Stoically, Chris somehow kept his gaze off the rise and fall of her breasts beneath her sweater as she did so.

“So do you two have any plans for tonight?” She moved her gaze to include Brody in her question.

Brody lifted one shoulder. “Just to figure out this job before Jon loses his mind worrying about it.”
 

Rick laughed. “Poor Jon. He’s dying to be over here with us rather than at Ali’s. We’ll have to put him on speaker phone.”

Darci turned to her brother and planted her fists on her hips. “Richard Phillip Mann, don’t you dare ruin Ali and Jon’s Valentines Day by calling him in the middle of their evening together.”

Chris smiled at the intensity of Darci’s outburst, not to mention how much she reminded him of how his own momma used to take them to task by using their full names whenever he and Brody behaved badly.

He decided to put Darci’s mind at ease. “I think we can put our heads together and solve the problem just fine on our own without bothering Jon and Ali too much.”

Unlike Chris, at least Jon had plans for the evening. Zane too. Chris had to assume that since Zane had been completely MIA all day, even unreachable by phone, in spite of the cluster fuck that this upcoming security job had become.

Then again, maybe they were worrying too much about this Florida gig.

It was a small, simple job, judging by what Jon had told Chris on the phone. A private wedding getaway for the daughter of some minor politician who knew about GAPS thanks to Zane’s Washington, D.C. connections.

Zane might have been a dog when it came to women, and it twisted Chris’s gut every time he saw Darci glance at the man, but he did have to admit that Zane had proven himself good for reeling in the jobs and the big bucks for GAPS. And now that they had this job, he needed to figure out the details of it.

Darci turned to Chris and nodded. “Thank you. I’m sure Ali would appreciate that. Anyway, I was asking because I was wondering if you wanted to stay for dinner. I can throw something together.”

Rick drew back, wide-eyed at Darci’s statement. “You’re offering to cook? Why?”

She shot her brother a look sharp enough to wound. “Stop being suspicious. I’m tired of take out and I’m kind of bored so I figured I’d make something nice for dinner.”

“I think that’s real nice. I’d love to stay for supper. Thank you.” Chris wasn’t about to say no to anything Darci offered, never mind give up the opportunity to spend more time with her.

Besides, home cooked meals were few and far between in his life, unless he was the one doing the cooking.

“Dinner would be real nice. Thank you. So would one of those beers.” Brody eyed the six-pack on the island that Rick had apparently forgotten about in the shock of Darci’s offer to cook dinner for them.

“Sure.” Knocked out of his stupor, Rick took three bottles out of the holder. “Darci?”

She shook her head. “No, thanks.”

Rick put the remainder in the fridge and then walked over to the table in the dining area and set the bottles down. “Come on and sit so we can figure this job out.”

Chris moved to the table and, knowing that Darci was about to start cooking, sat in the chair that faced the kitchen. The distraction of watching her work probably wouldn’t help his concentration, but what the hell. They had time to get this job straightened out.

Brody shot a glance at Darci in the kitchen before smirking at Chris.

Chris shook his head at his brother’s making something out of nothing. Chris knew Darci wanted nothing to do with him. She was being polite. That was all. That didn’t mean he couldn’t enjoy watching her move around the kitchen while in those tight little pants she had on.

“So, what’s the deal with this job?” Rick asked. “Once Jon heard I couldn’t take off the time, he didn’t give me any more details.”

Rick sounded a little hurt by that. It wasn’t like they were dealing with operational security. This was just Jon being stressed that this job came at a time when only Chris was available to work it.

Chris reached for his beer and twisted off the cap. “Well, it seems pretty straight forward. From what I understand, the guy hiring us is a former politician whose daughter is getting married this weekend at some resort down in the Keys. He’s concerned about having security covered Thursday through Saturday night.”