Page 22

N AVY

“Wake up, pretty lady,” I whispered in Dali’s ear.

“Mornin’,” she murmured as she put her hand on my chest. She moved it back and forth for a second before she opened one eye and asked, “Why are you dressed?”

“I went upstairs to make sure all the guys got settled in and realized it’s the perfect night to surf.”

“Really?” Dali asked as she closed her eyes again.

“Come on, babe. We’re missing out on a beautiful full moon and some killer waves.”

“What time is it?”

“It’s about three in the morning.”

“Weren’t you sleeping five minutes ago?” Dali asked.

“It was more like fifteen, but yeah.” I gently shook her shoulder again.

She opened both eyes this time and asked me, “Is this a thing you do often?”

“Hell yes.”

“You’re not nearly as cute right now as you were when we came to bed last night.”

I laughed as I pulled the sheet and blanket from her naked body and then wondered why in the hell I was so amped to go out into the cold surf rather than crawl back into bed with this warm, gorgeous woman.

Since the guys got here four days ago, Dali and I hadn’t spent a night apart.

We were using the excuse that they were sleeping at Corrie’s, so she needed to stay here, but everyone knew I had two empty rooms in my house and plenty of space in the condos downstairs to house them without her having to give up her space.

Instead, we’d just rolled with it. I had helped Dali move her suitcases over to my place, leaving Corrie’s home for the guys.

We had even worked out a daily routine. I woke up early and took meetings with clients before I worked on their requests and then did more online investigating to find out about the men we were expecting to come back to the bar within the next few days.

I was pulled out of my musings when Dali asked, “Why are you just standing there looking at me like a weirdo?”

“You’re still as gorgeous as you’ve always been.”

“You’re way too chipper for the middle of the night.”

“You’d think after ten years on ship, you’d wake up a little easier than this.”

“You’d think that since I’ve been on land for the last six months, I shouldn’t have to drag my ass out of bed on someone else’s whim,” Dali muttered as she sat up and ran her hand over her face.

“I just learned something new about you, Dalisay.”

“I can’t imagine what,” she said as she put her feet on the floor and leaned forward to rest her elbows on her knees.

“You are not a morning person.”

“You should already know that.”

“You’ve been nothing but nice to me since we started spending our nights together.”

“Because when you wake me up, you’ve usually got your mouth full of my nipple or my pussy which means you’re not fucking talking.”

I burst out laughing, and Dali scowled as she walked toward the bathroom. “I’m up now, so you can stop being all cheerful and shit. Give me five minutes to put on my suit and brush my teeth.”

“You don’t have to go with me, babe,” I reminded her.

She leaned out of the bathroom and glared at me before she said, “It’s nice of you to offer that now that I’m already awake.”

When I started laughing again, Dali slammed the door, but that just made me laugh even harder. I looked down and found Boogie staring at the bathroom door like she was waiting for a monster to appear and chuckled as I walked to my dresser to find a pair of trunks to wear.

Since Dali and I got together and my club brothers had started trickling in, I hadn’t had time to do my usual household chores.

Laundry was flowing over the edge of the basket onto the floor, there were shoes here and there - which had always been a bad habit of mine and had driven my mother nuts when I lived at home, and I hadn’t gotten groceries in more than a week.

The only fresh items in my house were what I had harvested from the patio garden, but even that had been neglected lately.

And it seemed that life was just going to get busier. Today was the deadline that asshole had given my father, and we’d been preparing for whatever repercussions he thought he was going to dole out when my father told him to fuck off.

Although, I wasn’t sure the man would show up after all, considering how hard my friends and I had been working to thin the number of minions available to do his bidding.

Seven of them had been involved in unexplainable accidents that included everything from slipping in the shower and getting a catastrophic head injury to tripping over something while taking out the trash and ending up with a broken neck.

It seemed that the men with tattooed fingers were experiencing an unrelenting string of bad luck.

It had turned into a gruesome sort of competition with the standout so far being the guy who fried himself after sticking a butter knife into the brand new toaster he’d just pulled out of its box.

That meant Ajax was in the lead for the funniest and most obscure “accident.” The bastard.

“Okay, I’m ready and feeling a little less murdery,” Dali announced as she walked out of the bathroom wearing a one-piece that hugged her curves in a way that made me jealous of the fabric. “Take me surfing and then buy me breakfast before we come home and take a nap.

Home.

That one word made my heart stop for a second before it started racing.

Dali already considered my house her home, which I hadn’t had a problem with until Trout and Shorty started spewing their bullshit about how much my life would have to change in order to have Dali with me all the time.

“Why do you look like you’re about to either pass out or take off?” Dali asked as she stopped in front of me. She put her hand on my cheek before she said, “I’m sorry I was grouchy earlier, but I’m not completely human for the first few minutes after I wake up.”

“I’ll keep that in mind, but that’s not what’s bothering me.”

“Then what is it?”

“Let’s talk about it on the water.”

Dali raised her eyebrows before she asked, “Where I’m basically a hostage and can’t outrun whatever bad news you’re going to tell me?”

“It’s nothing like that!”

“Are you trying to convince me or yourself?” she asked as she walked toward the front door. “Either way, I’m up and ready to conquer the world.”

“That was a quick turnaround.”

“And it will be bloodless as long as I get pancakes and a midmorning nap.”

◆◆◆

DALI

I wasn’t firing on all cylinders when I walked out of the bathroom, but the second Navy said that he needed to talk to me, I was wide awake.

I had been trying not to acknowledge that we were moving way too fast. Even though we’d known each other almost our entire lives, we had really taken this at lightspeed.

And we hadn’t known each other . . . not really.

I was the annoying little girl who bothered him, and then I was the adoring teenager who probably still annoyed him.

Other than that, we had one fun evening surrounded by our friends and family before I left for ten years.

People couldn’t go from virtually being strangers to living together in a day! At least sane people couldn’t. Right?

Of course that was right. No one with an ounce of self-preservation would move this quickly in a relationship, so I apparently had none of that. Not a drop.

And now I was going to pay the price. My infatuation with the man had blinded me to reality, but he clearly didn’t have that problem. No one would blame him for wanting to pump the brakes so he could take a step back and reassess.

If one of my friends told me that they’d reconnected with an old flame after ten years and moved in with them after their first date, I would have confronted them about the red flag in their face and begged them to slow down.

But Navy and I weren’t old flames. Hell, we weren’t even old friends, really.

Old friends kept in touch, even if it was just sporadically. I hadn’t talked to the man in a decade!

But I sure as hell had moved right in as if I didn’t have a care in the world.

Jodie was right. I’d been dickmatized.

“Slow down, Dalisay!” Navy yelled from somewhere behind me.

I ignored him and walked out into the surf with the board I’d borrowed from him before I laid down and started paddling out.

It didn’t take him long to catch up, being that his long, muscular arms had much more reach and power than mine.

I needed to hide my tears before he saw them in the moonlight.

“What’s wrong, babe?”

“I know we’ve moved way too fast, but I hope that hasn’t soured you on this entirely,” I blurted out before I rubbed my wet hand over my face to mask my tears. “I’ll move my things back to Corrie’s, and we can take it slow.”

“Hold up! That is not what I wanted to talk about.”

I stopped paddling and sat up on my board so I could look at him, and he did the same before he reached out and took my hand so we wouldn’t drift apart.

“If that isn’t it, then what do you want to talk about?”

“Do you think we’re moving too fast?” Navy asked.

“Of course I do!”

“But does it feel right?” he asked in a gentler tone. When I didn’t answer, he squeezed my hand and urged, “Be honest, Dali.”

“Yes. It feels perfect and right and wonderful and too good to be true.”

“Maybe it’s time for that. Maybe we’ve just been coasting along waiting for this exact thing.”

“This thing?”

“Us.”

“You’re not going to tell me we’re moving too fast?”

“I was the one who asked you out, remember? And, if I recall, I was also the one who helped you pack and move your things to my place.”

I had to admit, he was right. I’d balked at the idea, but he’d convinced me, and I hadn’t argued . . . Not even a little bit. “And now you’re regretting it?”

“Babe, I know you’re capable of lots of things, but reading minds isn’t one of them.”

I laughed before I conceded, “I’ve never really been good at that.”

“You’re pretty damn good at jumping to conclusions, though,” Navy teased.

“What do you need to talk to me about?”

“First of all, I’ll warn you that if you try to move your things back to Corrie’s, I’m just going to move it all back to mine,” Navy said.

“If I really wanted to, you’d let me.”

“Maybe,” Navy hedged. “But you don’t want to, so that’s not what we need to talk about.”

I let go of his hand and threw mine in the air in exasperation. “Then what are we talking about?”

“I’ve got some things going on in my life that I can’t tell you about and won’t ever tell you about.”

“What kind of things?” When Navy just frowned, I cautioned, “You’ve gotta give me a hint here, or I’m going to start jumping again.”

“Sometimes, I’ll need to take off for a while. Most of the time, it’s just a few hours, but other times, it’s a day or two.”

“Will I have any warning when these adventures might arise?”

Navy shrugged before he said, “Probably.”

“You don't sound very sure about that. Is that a question or an answer?”

“That’s all I’ve got.”

“And you’re not willing to tell me what you’re doing during these random trips?”

“Right.”

“So, what you’re doing is illegal.” Navy didn’t say anything, and the expression on his face didn’t change. I laughed bitterly before I said, “Is it bad that I’d rather know that than to think you’ve got a side piece?”

“I would never cheat on you!”

“I know that’s not in your nature. You were raised better than that.”

“But you’re okay knowing that I may be doing something illegal when I leave occasionally?”

“I wouldn’t say that I approve as much as I just accept it.”

“This conversation has gone much better than it played out in my head.”

“But you’ve just put more information out on the table. We didn’t actually settle anything.”

“It’s not settled?” Navy asked.

“You’re going out to commit crimes, and I’m just supposed to be okay with it?”

Navy blew out a frustrated breath before he said to himself, “I knew it couldn’t be that easy.”

We were quiet for a few minutes, each of us lost in thought while appreciating the beauty and peace of the ocean.

I looked over my shoulder and found that we had drifted quite a distance from the shore, but I didn’t mind at all.

It was so serene. I could stay out here for hours at a time just floating on my board while I soaked in the calm vibes of the water.

Finally, I broke the silence and said, “The Anthony I know would never hurt someone when it wasn’t warranted.

You didn’t go to prison for dealing drugs or stealing from people.

You went to prison for going above and beyond to avenge what was happening with your sister.

I’d like to believe that, deep down, Navy is the same kind of man as Anthony, and he’d never recklessly hurt someone who didn’t deserve it. ”

“Thanks, I think.”

“Jodie went to prison for protecting someone who couldn’t protect herself. She did it for her daughter’s safety. You went to prison because the judge didn’t appreciate your method of bringing the bastard who hurt your sister to the authorities.”

Navy threw his head back and laughed before he said, “That’s a new angle. I like it.”

“What I’m saying is that if you happen to be doing something that skirts the law, you’re probably doing it for a good reason. I’d like to think that you’re smart enough in this . . . endeavor . . . to make sure you won’t get caught.”

“That’s the plan,” Navy said sarcastically.

“I know you can’t tell me . . .”

“ Won’t tell you,” Navy interrupted.

“Okay then. You won’t tell me what it is you’re doing when you disappear, and I’m perfectly okay with that, knowing that whatever you’re doing will only benefit our world.”

“Dali, there’s no way in hell you believe that.”

“That’s how I feel.”

“That’s how you feel right now, but if that changes, I want you to tell me.”

“If I told you that I want you to stop doing whatever the hell this is, would you?”

Navy frowned before he slowly shook his head. “I don’t think I can. I don’t do these things because someone is forcing me, but because I believe what I’m doing is right.”

“Then I’m going to trust that and stand behind you.”

“I’ll never let what I do affect you, Dali.”

“You know how to make sure of that, don’t you?”

“How?” Navy asked.

“Don’t ever get caught.”