SEALed With Love (DiCarlo Brides book 2) (The DiCarlo Brides) (17 page)

He had to grin at the suggestion. “Well, yeah, that’s a big one. But back to dinner—how were things at Etta’s?” He didn’t want to keep discussing his feelings, and grasped the chance to return to the former discussion.

“It was great. And yes, Vince checked out the house thoroughly before he disappeared into Cami’s room. Everyone has been careful to double-check the windows and doors and I have the gun in my nightstand.” She said it as if reading off a familiar list—which some of it was, since he asked her about them on a regular basis.

“And the sheriff is on speed-dial.”

“What, do you think I deleted it after you put it on there?”

“No, I’m just reminding you.” He chuckled at her mock indignation. “If things keep going well here, I’ll probably fly home tomorrow night.”

“You can stay longer if you need to.”

“I need to be there, doing my job, taking care of you.” Where he could see for himself that she was fine. Having Vince around eased Joel’s worry, but the man wasn’t a SEAL.

“All right. I’ll talk to you tomorrow—since I know you’re going to call half a dozen times.”

“And answer your phone, will you?”

“You know I don’t take it into the treatment rooms with me.”

“Take it. For now.” He lowered his voice, allowing it to turn husky. “For me.”

There was a little pause and when she spoke her voice had softened again. “Fine. For you.”

They said goodnight and he slid his phone back in his pocket.

“No way am I buying that she’s only a job to you.” Trudy’s voice said from behind him.

Joel turned in surprise—usually people couldn’t walk up on him like that, and his heart rate went into overdrive. “You’re going to give me a heart attack.”

“If you weren’t so into that girl, you’d have known I was there.” She took his arm and led him toward the elevators. “They kicked me out while they check Wade’s vitals and stuff. Buy me some coffee and dessert and let me harass you about your woman?”

“She’s not my woman.”

“Right.” She sounded utterly unconvinced. “Tell that to me again when I’ve forgotten the way you talked to her just now. You can feed the guys that crap if you want, but you don’t fool me. So tell me about her.”

Joel let Trudy lead him down to the cafeteria. She was the closest thing he had to a sister, so he decided to give her something. “She doesn’t eat much meat and thinks tofu is a separate food group. She thinks ghosts are real and the stars hold secrets. Her mom is like this mother-Earth hippie who owns an organic farm and is straight-up vegan. And Sage is … sweet. Really sweet and open hearted.”

He shook his head. “She got the wildest news about her dad last spring and she’s struggled with it so much, but she doesn’t talk about it. There’s nothing she wants as much as peaceful, productive life helping other people and what she got instead is,” he paused, wondering how much of Sage’s story he wanted to tell. Would it be disloyal to tell Trudy?

“Is?” she prompted when he didn’t continue.

They had reached the cafeteria, though, so he gestured for her to wait. He could tell Trudy was impatient while they got their food but he didn’t talk again until he was ripping open sugar packets for his coffee.

“What did Sage get instead of the peaceful life she wants, Joel?” Trudy asked.

He chuckled. “A chaotic family life, a stalker who followed her halfway across the country and me. I’m not exactly a restful person. She hates violence.”

“And it’s surrounded you all of your life.” Trudy nodded and sipped from her cup. “But it’s not who you are.”

“I’m a SEAL, Trudy.” He waved to cut off whatever she was going to say. “I might not be on the team anymore, but I’m still that guy who trains and runs scenarios. I practice with my weapon and consider angles. And I want to blow this guy away, this man who scared Sage, who won’t leave her alone. And that’s enough reason for her to go running the other way.” He cut into the pie he’d bought to eat with his coffee. “So I’ll protect her and find the bastard, and then I’ll let it go, because she needs a guy who doesn’t wake up tracking the room with his gun in his hand.”

Trudy didn’t say anything for a long moment. “She’s a fool if she lets you walk away. And she wouldn’t deserve you. Any woman would be lucky to find a guy who loves her as much as you love her.”

Joel started to deny it, then all of the air fled his lungs as he realized she was right. He
did
love Sage. How had he let it go that far?

Sage drove her car to work—by herself, without anyone tagging along. She ignored the fact that Vince followed behind in his truck, and chose to think of herself as independent. At least for a few minutes.

She hadn’t driven her Prius in weeks—since the flowers arrived. She had to fight with Rosemary to let her go alone today. Sage had to work a long day and wouldn’t be leaving until the spa closed, so she needed her own set of wheels. She would follow Joel’s guidelines and have the security guy—whoever it was that night—walk her back out to her car after work, however. She wasn’t taking any chances.

The morning flew by in a mass of meetings, emails, phone calls and treatments. Sage always preferred to be busy—especially if she had a long day.

Then Jonquil showed up at the office at one. “Have you taken your lunch break yet?”

“No, but Damon should be back from his in a few minutes so I can go. You want to pop into the cafe?”

“I was thinking of something more along the lines of a thick greasy burger and beer-battered fries.”

“Ah, Wendel’s.” It was known among the locals as
the
place to go for a great burger, and Sage liked their fish basket.

“Yeah. Come on, be bad with me.” Jonquil’s eyes twinkled.

“How can I say no?” Sage grabbed her purse and changed the subject to the wedding at the hotel that weekend. Jonquil had previously mentioned the amazing flowers she had ordered for it.

When Damon came in, the girls took off. “Can I drive?” Sage asked when they stepped out into the sunshine. “I don’t often get to anymore. My car is starting to feel unloved.”

Jonquil chuckled. “We wouldn’t want your car to feel unloved, now would we? But sure. Personally, I think Joel goes a tad overboard on the protectiveness—but I guess that’s his job. Sometimes I expect to hear him parroting Mad-eye Moody, ‘Constant vigilance!’”

“Are you sure Moody didn’t get that from Joel?” They giggled together as they climbed into Sage’s Prius and headed down the street to Wendel’s.

The scent of burgers, ice cream and deep fryers slapped at them the moment they entered the burger place, and Sage took a deep breath. She didn’t eat red meat, but she had learned to enjoy the smell of it.

They placed their orders and settled into their bench seats at the table when Gage walked in. She waved and called him over. They didn’t cross paths much, despite the fact that he was one of Vince’s best friends, but she’d gotten to know him a little during the Fourth of July festivities.

“It’s been a while,” Gage said as he approached their table. He had dark stubble on his chiseled jaw, indicating he hadn’t shaved that morning, and his brown hair was mussed, as though he’d been running his fingers through it.

“Yeah, turns out that opening a resort takes up a lot of time,” Sage said, faking surprised at the revelation.

His grin flashed and he turned to Jonquil. “You’re Jonquil, right? I’ve seen your pictures.”

Jonquil offered her hand for a shake, a smile teasing her lips as she checked him out. “Yes, and you are?”

“Gage. I’m one of Vince’s friends.”

“Right.” Jonquil sandwiched his hand between hers, her eyes glued to his face. “The other part of the golden trio. You run the ski resort.” With visible reluctance, she released him.

“Yes. And you arrange flowers.” There was a touch of a sneer in his words, though his eyes remained glued to her face.

“I do.” Her tone cooled. “Your summer break is nearly over. I imagine once the snow starts to fly you’ll actually have to work regular hours again.”

“Oh, we stay busy year round. But yes, winter is definitely more stressful. I don’t suppose you see much variation in the flower business.”

Her eyes narrowed at his tone. “I do practically sit back and let everyone else do all the work at the hotel, but once in a while I have something useful to contribute. Kind of like ski resort CEOs.”

A smile flashed across his lips and was gone. “Touché. My apologies if I came across condescending.”

“Ditto.” Her voice was as insincere as his.

“I need to order my lunch and get back to work, but it was good meeting you, Jonquil.” He turned to Sage and his voice and expression both became warmer. “You, too. You’re coming to the hoe-down Vince’s mom is organizing, aren’t you?”

“That’s the plan.” It was a kidney transplant fundraiser for a local man.

“Great. Save me a dance, and don’t be a stranger, okay?”

“I’ll try not to.” Sage watched him walk back to the counter, then noticed Jonquil was doing the same, only with a scowl on her face. “I thought that was going well at first.”

“He thinks all I do is arrange flowers, like a sweet little old lady with nothing better to do and no real skills.”

“Calm down, you don’t know that.”

“Sure I do.” Their number was called and Jonquil stood to retrieve their food. She shot another look at Gage before returning to the table with their tray.

Sage kept her thoughts to herself. There had been definite interest in Jonquil’s eyes when she’d first seen Gage. And Sage could have sworn the feeling was mutual, and even wondered if the snide edge of his voice had been intentional. But why? Had their dad tried to match him with Jonquil? Cami had suggested he had been ‘picked out for’ one of the sisters, but he was resistant.

It was interesting to speculate.

Lunch was terrific and Sage was glad she’d taken the time to chat with Jonquil. Of all the sisters, she felt most connected to this one, but schedules being what they were, there wasn’t much time to get to know one another. Jonquil was fun and sweet and thoughtful, adventurous like Rosemary, but not nearly as abrasive.

They climbed back into the car and headed down the road to the resort. “Are you going to be working late tonight?”

“You know it,” Jonquil said. “The flowers arrived this morning—gotta make sure they’re really fresh, after all, or this bride will throw fits. We’re working overtime tonight to get everything ready for the wedding tomorrow. I’ve got some of the others working on boutonnieres and bridesmaids’ bundles. The bouquet is nearly finished, but there are still big sprays for the ceremony and reception. It’s going to be amazing.”

Sage noticed the brake felt a little spongy, and made a mental note to get the car to a mechanic to be checked the next day. “And the bride and groom have pampering sessions in the morning—Cami was brilliant to mention that to them. The first thing the bride did after she rescheduled the event here was to call to make appointments for the full treatment.” The bride had canceled her reservation several weeks earlier when some bad press cast questions on the sisters’ ability to carry it all off, but some fancy talking and orchestrated gossip had straightened that all out.

“Cami knows what she’s doing, that’s for sure.”

The road twisted and Sage tugged on the steering wheel when it didn’t move as easily as usual. A niggle of worry slid into her. Then they hit the next curve in the mountain road and the power steering disappeared completely. She pushed the brake, slowing the car some, but it wasn’t slowing as fast as she expected. She pushed harder as the steering became really stiff and she couldn’t turn fast enough on the tight curve. She yanked on it with all of her might. “Something’s wrong with the car. Hold on.”

A tree grew closer as if in slow motion. Her wheels kicked up gravel on the road as she tried to stop, her arms strained on the wheel, and the back end of her car spun to the right. Sage saw an embankment and knew they were headed for it. Her heart raced and she had a split second to wonder if they would make it out alive. Jonquil’s squeal filled the air just a moment before impact.

The car pounded into an ancient pine tree and the sound of metal bending and glass shattering mixed with the groaning of wood and cracking of twigs. Sage’s seatbelt caught her, but her head snapped to the side and back. Then everything was eerily silent and Sage sucked in a breath, trying to stop her head from spinning. “Are you all right?”