Marine Ever After (Always a Marine) (2 page)

“I hope so. There’s a tiny part of me that doesn’t like him.” Her announcement surprised him, but the photographer summoned them to join the bride and groom so he swallowed the question.

Five hundred photographs later, the dismissed wedding party made their way to the small fleet of waiting limousines. Jazz and her husbands loaded into one, the freshly marrieds got their own, James and Lauren claimed the third. Paul drifted back a little, and fortunately Lillianna waited for him as Damon and A.J. helped their bridesmaids into a limo and joined James and Lauren.

Score. We get the last one to ourselves
.

“Everything all right?” She eyed him expectantly.

“Fine, I just wanted to check a button.”
Lame, Paul. Lame
. But it was the first excuse to pop into his head. He motioned for the limo and she shook her head and led the way. Beating her to the door, he opened it, handing her inside before slipping off his cover and joining her.

She sat opposite him in the wide area of the stretch, and on the far side. He considered swapping seats, but he liked looking at her better—even if only in the illumination of passing headlights. “I hope you’re ready for a big party.”

“Me, too.” Lillianna didn’t sound ready. He raised his eyebrows and she moistened her lips.

Damn. Mind out of the gutter
. He gave his body the order, but too late to prevent the shock of reaction running riot through his system. If he hadn’t already been curious about her before, he definitely was then.
Out. Of. The. Gutter
.

He cleared his throat. “Worried?”

“No, sorry. I’m tired. It’s been a long three days and we had some champagne before the ceremony.” She clasped and unclasped her hands as if uncertain what to do with them.

“I hope everything’s okay.” Three days ago, he’d been sweating his ass off in Baghdad counting the minutes until the C130 would depart and he kissed the desert goodbye. He had a handful of days on leave and new orders for Germany. At least the climate would be better.

“Sorry again. I’m a nurse. I work in the ER and we had a lot of staff out with the flu, so I worked some doubles to help cover.”

Yeah, that had to be the suck
. “Well, let’s hope tonight we can make up for your hard work.”

“As long as I can stay awake.” She relaxed and crossed one leg over the other. “Sleeping in an on-call room for three hours here and four hours there does not make for the partying mood.”

No, he would imagine not. “I’ll keep you awake.”

“I’m sure you have better things to do than worry about me.”

“Not at all. In fact, it’s my duty to worry about you, ma’am.” Paul was already feeling better about the night. “I’m your appointed escort.”

“For the wedding but not the reception.” A tiny frown drew her brows together.

Little lies made the world go round, right? “Actually, at the rehearsal last night, Rebecca asked all the groomsmen to be sure to look after the bridesmaids. So I’m afraid you’re stuck with me.”

“Uh huh.” Her mouth twisted, but a smile hinted at the corners. “So you’re in charge?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“And you’re going to make sure I have a good time?”

Oh, yes
. “Absolutely.”

She licked her lips again and his cock strained against his trousers. If she kept that up, he’d have a zipper imprint soon. “What if—despite your noble and very dedicated attempts—I’m still sleepy?”

“I’ll sneak you out myself and deliver you to the bed of your choice.” If he had to steal a car to make it happen, but no sense in sharing that part since he knew more than enough people who would loan him a ride.

Laughing, she lifted her bare shoulders in a resigned shrug. “Very well, if you insist on showing me a good time.”

Their arrival at Mike’s Place saved him from answering. The bride and groom were already inside, the worst of the formalities over for the evening. He slid out, set his cover in place, and held out his hand.

“You haven’t seen what they did to the ballroom, have you?” he asked on the way up the walk. It was a warm evening but not too hot. Perfect for a party that would spill out the ballroom doors and into the sculpted gardens offering respite to so many recuperating at the veteran’s center Luke built.

“No. I told Rebecca she should replace me as bridesmaid, I must be the worst in the world. I missed fittings, I only had an hour to be at her bridal shower and then missed the rehearsal.”

Two men in suits opened the main doors for them and they stepped inside the golden-lit room, a cross between a Marine Ball and the waltz scene from some Disney movie. The lights were softer, a full band played at one end and the dining tables surrounded the dance floor.

Stationed waiters brought drinks and cleared them away, but a buffet from Damon’s restaurant occupied one wall, with plenty of room to keep people on the move.

“Wow.” Lillianna stopped and Paul waited for her. “She wasn’t kidding.”

“About?” Curious, he tipped his head toward her. The low lighting made her silver eye makeup glitter but kept her eyes hidden, and it annoyed him. With the warm chocolate of her coloring, he half-expected brown eyes, but he wanted to know what shade.

“Rebecca said she’d dreamed about this night since she was fifteen…and looking at this…yeah….” She cleared her throat and touched a finger to the corner of her eye. “I guess she really has.”

“Nothing wrong with dreams.”

“No, nothing at all,” she agreed. “So where are we sitting?”

“This way.” He secured her hand in the crook of his elbow and led her toward the big table where the other bridesmaids and groomsmen settled in.

“Do you think you could do me a favor?” she murmured.

“Anything.”

“When they pass the champagne, I don’t want any more. I’m likely to pass out on my feet.”

“Then we’ll do water together.”

“You shouldn’t have to do that. You’re here for a good time, too.”

“Oh, I’m having a great time.”
And it’s only going to get better
. He liked her. Fifteen minutes in her company and he wanted more. But first, they had to get through the reception and the couple’s first dance, and then he planned to sweep her onto the dance floor and get to know her better.

Chapter Two

Lillianna loved dancing, more than she cared to admit. Her escort turned out to be a great partner. Paul whirled her around the dance floor, his ability to waltz catching her off guard.

“You do this far better than I’d imagine a grunt would.”

“Thank you, lessons at the Y.” He winked and turned her again. The playful winks were a flirtatious habit, but somehow he made them charming.

“You deflect well, too.” She kept her hand on his exquisitely hard shoulder beneath the uniform, intimately aware of his hand heating her back where it rested.

The amusement in his eyes belied his frown. “I’m not deflecting. I really did learn to waltz at the Y from Mrs. Carter.”

She raised her eyebrows in silent question, following his sweeping steps as he kept them moving in and around the other couples dancing.

“You want a confession, I see.” His generous mouth spread into a beautiful smile. “Let me buy you a drink?”

“From the very open bar?” She couldn’t resist teasing him.

“Yes, from the very open bar. I will buy you a very large glass of water, and if you’re very nice, I’ll throw in some of those hot cappuccinos I can smell them serving.” He guided them to the edge of the dance floor and offered his arm.

The man must have been born with manners. He exuded propriety and politeness. A nice change of pace from the ER doctors and interns who often didn’t have time for a hello, much less anything else. They were all orders on the go, and silence when they hurried elsewhere.

“Well, it sounds like it pays to be really nice.” Their empty table waited, with much of the bridal party either dancing or chatting with others. She sat gratefully. The silver shoes went beautifully with the jewelry and complemented her dress, but they were hell on her toes.

“Sit tight. I’ll get you the cappuccino and the water….” He paused mid-step and nodded to her feet. “Take the shoes off, wiggle your toes. The cold floor will ease the ache.”

And he apparently missed nothing. Her face warmed, but she kept a game smile in place. He disappeared in search of the drinks. Taking advantage of the alone time, she slid first one and then the other of her shoes off. The ache in her toes and arches spread as the blood rushed to her feet. She stretched her legs and flattened her feet against the hard tile. The coolness definitely helped and it served to wake her sleepy mind. Good food, good champagne, good dancing, and God help her, good company relaxed her more than a lullaby.

Uniforms filled the room, but there were easily as many—if not more—civilians. A number of jackets were left to hang on the back of chairs as the dancing increased. The music shifted tempo and the waltz gave way to a far hipper tune that required a lot more bopping than she was up to.

They’d sat just in time to keep her from embarrassing herself.

“You look like you’re feeling better.” Paul set a tall, steaming mug of the frothy coffee in front of her.

The combination of his nearness and the sweet scent of the coffee coaxed another smile. “I do feel better. Good plan about the shoes. I knew cool floors helped cramps, didn’t occur to me that they would help sore feet.” She sipped the coffee and sighed happily. “Okay, so thank you for the suggestion and the cap. Now you were going to tell me a story.”

“Darn, and here I hoped you’d forgotten about that.” The ‘aw shucks’ demeanor didn’t wear well on him, but the amused grin did.

“No such luck.” She propped her chin in her hand and stared at him until he hooked his chair closer. The great thing about Paul was his absolute focus on her despite the huge party playing out all around them.

“I wasn’t always a Marine.” Hell of a place for him to begin his story.

She laughed.

“What?” Mock surprise filled his expression. “This shocks you?”

“No one is born a Marine. But please continue.”

He chuckled and sipped his coffee, skipping alcohol right along with her. In fact, he hadn’t touched more than a couple of sips during the toasts before setting his glass aside. More of his gentlemanly behavior or a dislike of the drink?

Curiousier and curiouser
.

“As I was saying, I didn’t grow up Marine. In fact, my father worked in a bodega for most of his teenage years and met my mother at school. Well, teens being teens, I was one of those babies born before they graduated. But they got married, raised me the best they could and I have three younger brothers, just like me. So they did something right.” Another flash of his easy grin and Lillianna had to look away, smiling until her cheeks ached.

“I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not.”

“No?” He tapped the back of her hand, a fleeting caress that sent her pulse rabbiting.

“No, I don’t know if the world is really ready for four of you.”

“They do okay. I got most of the handsome and all of the charm.”

The effortless delivery killed her. She covered her mouth with her hand and laughed until tears gathered in the corners of her eyes. “And none of the modesty, I take it?” she managed, her mirth barely under control.

“Modesty? What is this modesty you speak of?” He rubbed his chin and squinted as though truly puzzled.

“Nothing you need to worry about.” Good-looking. Funny as hell. Thoughtful. Good dancer.
I so need to run away now
…. But she didn’t move, because she was tired—or at least that’s what she told herself. “So your parents were high school sweethearts.”

“Yeah, they didn’t have much, but not many of the families in our neighborhood did. One of the last urban holdouts where your neighbors knew you and looked after you just like your parents did. Not the postage stamp yard surrounded by white picket fences, but we knew it didn’t matter if
Mami
or
Papi
weren’t there to see us, Mrs. Guitterez or Mr. Martinez, they would whoop us good and then tell
Mami
and
Papi
.” Another easy grin. He obviously enjoyed the childhood memories.

“But you still managed to find trouble.”

“A little here, a little there.” Paul stretched his arm along the back of her chair, comfortable and intimate. “Nothing that couldn’t be fixed with a lot of hard work and my
papi
glaring at me.” His smile dimmed. “At least ’til I turned sixteen. Started running with a crew that wasn’t anything but trouble. I thought it made me cool. Because, when you’re sixteen….”

“Stupid is cool.” She raised her hand and wiggled her gloved fingers. “Hot-wired my first jeep at sixteen. Would have done it at fifteen, but I accidentally ripped all the wires out instead of stripping them.”

He laughed. “Exactly. Small time stuff, shoplifting a beer because we wanted to drink it, or grabbing some snacks. Started at my dad’s bodega and, well one thing led to another and I began boosting cars before my senior year. Told myself it was a nest egg, didn’t want to be my
papi
, get some girl pregnant and be stuck raising the kids.”

Lillianna winced.

“Trust me, I was the punk, not
Papi
. I thought I knew everything. Didn’t work out—because stupid doesn’t usually pay off. In this case, it failed spectacularly. We were boosting a car, me and my crew, and a guy tried to stop us. A couple of the others panicked and beat him. We were all arrested for assault and I had to sit there in a cell and wait for my
papi
to come and bail me out.”

The fun of the evening drifted by and her heart squeezed for him. Even under the best of circumstances, that couldn’t have been pleasant.

“Anyway,
Papi
didn’t come that night, he let me stay in jail until my hearing. He did come to see me the next day and told me if I wanted to behave like a man with no respect for the rules, then I needed to learn what it meant to be one. He also brought Mrs. Carter. She worked at our community center and told me she’d made a deal with the judge and I had to do community service. But I was almost eighteen, if I didn’t get it together, that cell was my future.”