Page 10 of His Hawaiian Heart (Stateside Doms #26)

Chapter Six

Samuel

I wasn’t a stranger to having women tell me where I could shove it, but no one had ever told me to go fuck myself more eloquently while never actually saying the words.

“What the hell just happened?”

“I have a rather soft spot for that gal and I’m not gonna be very happy if you don’t fix whatever caused her to be hurting.”

It wasn’t her voice, but I was grateful for the interruption of the loop that kept replaying in my head. “You and me both. Any clue as how I might go about doing that?”

If I thought my question would throw the older man, I’d been wrong. He just pulled a chair out from the nearest table and waited. Taking that as an invitation, I crossed the expanse and took a seat. “Thanks.”

“Don’t thank me yet. The jury is still out.” He slapped the plate in his hand down in front of me.

“Thanks, but I have one.”

“No you don’t, that belongs to Sam.” At my chuckle, his eyes narrowed. “You think that’s funny?”

“Not at all,” I was quick to assure him, offering him the plate Sam had thrown in my face. Wait, that was wrong. She hadn’t even done that. She’d simply pushed it at me and waited until I had it in my hand before releasing it.

“She didn’t even curse,” I said.

“And she won’t. Well, at least not aloud.” The plate in question was taken from me and he nodded at the one on the table, “I don’t like to see food go to waste, that’s yours…”

The way his voice rose at the end of the statement let me know he was asking a question. I extended my hand. “Sam.”

“Huh?”

“That’s my name, Samuel.”

He blinked and shook his head. “Well, I’ll be. That accounts for the confusion I suppose.” He took my hand and shook it. “They call me Cookie.”

“Nice to meet you and, believe me, having the same name is only the tip of the iceberg as far as confusion goes.”

He walked to a table that held the largest urn I’d ever seen. Taking one of the mugs stacked beside it, he held it up. “Coffee or water?”

“Coffee’s good. Black is fine.”

After he filled two mugs and returned to the table, he sat one before me and then pulled out a chair opposite mine and took a seat. He nodded toward the plate. “Go ahead and eat.”

I hadn’t thought I was hungry, but at his suggestion, I removed the foil and grinned at the sight of a huge cookie that sat atop a thick club sandwich. I could hear the cajoling tone in Sam’s voice promising to wed the cook if she found a cookie on her plate. “I can see your name suits you.”

He shrugged and leaned back in his chair until it was balancing on the back two legs. “Care to explain why Miss Sam believes the name she used suits you ?”

The question instantly brought to mind the sound of Sam’s sweet voice morphing into one of disdain as she introduced me as the “serpent”.

Taking a moment to consider before answering, I picked up the cookie and set it on top of the foil I’d removed.

Funny how instead of wondering how one goes about explaining why a woman considered him a snake, I was wondering why in the hell I cared so much.

That it mattered. How could I claim to know the answer when I couldn’t even claim knowing the woman who’d managed to make me flinch with a single word.

I shook my head. “To be quite honest, I can’t say that I can. I just met Sam earlier this evening. I didn’t even know her last name or that she was a doctor until I heard Kat address her as Dr. Laughlin.”

“Yet you’re familiar enough with Dr. Davidson to call her Kat,” he noted before taking a sip of his coffee.

I had to hand it to the man. He was astute even if a trifle more blunt than the men normally sitting across a table from me. “Katrina and I… let’s just say we aren’t strangers.”

Cookie gave me a long look. “Son, you know how when you see an iceberg, you are only really seeing a small part of it?” At my nod, he added, “Well, if you think of the tip that is out in the sunlight, shining and glittering with all that pure white ice as what you’ve seen of our sweet Samantha, think about the rest of the mass of that iceberg that lurks in the dark beneath the ocean? That’s?—”

This time it was my chair moving as I pushed back from the table and stood only to flatten my palms on the table and loom over my host. “I’m not one to kiss and tell, but I’m stopping you there. Katrina is a good woman. She’s done nothing?—”

“Shut up and sit down or slither your ass right out of my tent,” Cookie stated as his chair returned to an upright position and he stood in one single motion before planting his hands flat on the table no further than six inches from mine.

Never in all of my thirty-six years on the planet had anyone spoken to me that way.

Sure, I’d been yelled at when I was in the Army, had even been threatened, but never in a tone that I instantly knew brooked no nonsense.

But it wasn’t the steel tone of the man’s words, it was the look in his eyes.

Gone was the friendly, affable chef and in his place was a man who’d throw himself into battle for someone he cared about.

Did I think he had any romantic notions about Samantha, no, not at all.

But did I believe he’d lay his life down for her?

Yes, I absolutely did. So I did the only thing I could. I sat my ass down.

He didn’t give a single indication that he thought he’d bested me in some battle.

He simply picked up both our coffee mugs and went to refill them.

I honestly had no clue what the hell I was doing.

It was like I’d stepped into a house of mirrors and had absolutely no clue as to which hallway led the way out and which only led deeper into the labyrinth of what once had felt like my own backyard.

When the mug appeared before me, I took it and swallowed half of its contents while he took his seat, rocked it back again and continued as if I’d never interrupted him in the first place.

“All the bulk beneath the surface of the ocean is the part of Samantha that you need to discover. You chip away at that ice and you’ll either free her from what had her call you a slithering snake to start with or…”

This time the pause and the lilt in his voice told me he was asking for me to interrupt.

I had hundreds of hours and years of experience in being comfortable in the silence that others left in the hopes I’d make a mistake and feel the need to jump in and fill it.

But this time, I didn’t hesitate as I already knew without a doubt exactly what he had left unsaid.

“She’ll simply chop off my head and walk away.”

His chuckle was deep and rolling and involved his entire body shaking.

It was the sound of a man who found something either extremely amusing or incredibly stupid.

“Oh, son, that alone tells me you’ve got a lot of work to do.

She won’t just lop off the serpent’s head.

You won’t even hear her coming until your head is on the ground and you’re watching her peel the skin right off your body, roast your flesh over an open fire, then sink her teeth in deep, and finally spit out your bones. ”

Call me a fool, but I had to laugh as well because I had absolutely no doubt that the man was right.

I picked up the sandwich and lifted it to my mouth. Before I took a bite, I said, “How about a swap? If I promise to pull my head out of my ass, you’ll promise to give me some clues on how to convince Samantha I’m not that snake.”

He seemed to assess me for a moment before nodding. “You can thank Dr. Davidson for my even considering your offer.”

“How so?” I asked, taking a bite and then setting the sandwich back down.

“First because she’s a very intelligent woman.

I just don’t see her spending time with a jackass.

Secondly because as much as I pissed you off, you were quick to defend her honor without revealing anything she’d rather I not have known, but most importantly, because I saw the way my Sam looked at you.

Beneath all that bluster and anger, she’s hurt.

I’ve been all over this world with her, and that little gal doesn’t get hurt unless she cares.

So, I’ll lend you an ice hammer and a wetsuit so you can start chipping away.

But fair warning, if you hurt her, I’ll fucking cut your air hose myself. Deal?”

Without hesitation, I extended my hand and shook his. “Deal.”

He nodded and gestured to my plate. “Then eat up and let me tell you a bit about Dr. Laughlin.”

By the time I left his mess tent, I’d not only filled my stomach with one of the best damn sandwiches I’d ever eaten, Cookie’s last words were echoing in my head.

“Just know this. Don’t let that head between your legs get ahead of the one on your shoulders.

If you do, you’ll only have yourself to blame when you turn around and find you’re alone.

Samantha will never cause a scene. She won’t scream and throw any sort of tantrum.

She won’t curse or call you names. She’ll simply turn and walk away and you won’t know she’s gone until you hear the door click shut behind her. ”

I’d already witnessed her walking away, but since I’d been physically holding that door open, I’d been spared the sound of any click. More importantly, I had sense enough to know that fate didn’t offer many second chances. If she walked away again, it would be the last time.