Her Firefighter SEAL (15 page)

“It was an accident. There was nothing anyone could have done,” Abbie said, and Kade wondered if she believed that. There was always something that could be done—it was more a question of whether it would work or not.

Joey didn’t say anything for a moment. Perhaps he was on the same page as Kade because, when he did speak, his voice was fierce as hell.

“We’re going to make it up to you. We’re here for you, Abbie. Anything you need, you’ve got it.”

“You can’t be Will.” She sounded tired. Kade stared at the pots of flowers in his hands. Yeah. Plants weren’t a substitute for what Will could have given her. “And I don’t need you to be.”

Joey protested, but Abbie was on a roll and she was stubborn as hell. “You guys are sweet. You’re concerned, and I’ll probably really, really appreciate that in another year or two, but right now I can’t turn around without falling over a firefighter. You’re all hot as hell. You’re useful. You’re the fucking
nicest
guys I’ve ever met... but sometimes I just want to be alone and that makes me mean and cranky, but I’m trying to be honest here.”

There was a moment of silence. Apparently, Abbie had figured out how to shut Joey up.

“You’re saying we should all go away?” Joey asked cautiously.

“I’m saying you don’t have to
do
anything. I appreciate everything you all have done for me, but I’ve got this. You don’t have to be Will, you don’t have to finish everything he didn’t get a chance to do. I need to be able to do things on my own because two years or twenty years from now, you guys are going to have lives of your own and you won’t have time to be my beck and call boys. I don’t want you to stop living while you wait for me to sort my shit out.”

“I just want to fix this.” Joey stared down at his hands.

“I’m good,” she said gently. “I’m not your project. I don’t need fixing.”

He admired Abbie’s strength, but she was wrong. Will’s death had broken something in her. Setting it right might not be Joey’s job or even Kade’s, but he’d do it. He’d do whatever it took to make things right for her. So when Joey walked away a few moments later, after a brief, fierce hug, he dropped down over the side of the truck beside her, his shoulder and leg bumping hers.

She frowned at him. “You’re in my space, hotshot.”

“Tough.” He tugged on the hem of her T-shirt, and she swatted his hand. “Give your notice on the cottage, and we can have you in here this weekend.”

Her frown got deeper. “What does it say that my entire life can be boxed up in two days?”

He stroked a finger over the crinkles in her forehead. “Let us help you. Let
me
help you,” he said quietly. “Not because you can’t do it yourself, but because sometimes other people need to do something too.”

She sighed. “You’re not going to let this go, are you?”

He actually thought about it for a moment. A really brief moment. “Nope.”

“I can take care of myself.” She met his gaze head-on.

“I know that.” He’d never doubted for a minute that Abbie knew how to stand on her own two feet. He’d been part of a team though, both as a SEAL and as a sometime smoke jumper. Having good people at your back didn’t make you weaker.

She held up a finger. “When the peanut makes his or her appearance, under no circumstances does the hotshot team show up in the birthing room.”

He looked at her. “Got it.”

She looked at the house, and he got the feeling she saw way more than four walls and a roof. Her gaze slid back to him. “All right.”

“All right?” He was so shocked, he didn’t know what to say. She was
agreeing
with him? Hallelujah and mark the day on the calendar, because apparently it was also a day for firsts.

She narrowed her eyes. “If you fist pump, yell, or make any other audible sign of triumph, I’ll kill you. Just so we’re clear.”

He bet. “Say it one more time?”

She elbowed him. “Yes. I’ll move into my new house.”

“This week.” He wouldn’t put it past her to have mentally added
in two decades
or
when hell froze over
. “Say that too.”

Her mouth curved up in a grin. “As soon as I can give notice on the old place and pack my stuff.”

He could work with that. He had two stacks of brand-new moving boxes just waiting for her go-ahead. Between the hotshots and the smoke jumpers, they could have a crew of twelve—all with trucks—ready to go at a moment’s notice unless all of Northern California burst into flames. She’d be packed up and out here without lifting a finger in days.

He eyed the dirt road and the ponderosa pines crowding the edge of her new yard. She’d be out here
alone
. “You shouldn’t be out here alone.”

She muttered something under her breath, then repeated it. Loudly. “You’re the one who wouldn’t leave me alone until I agreed.”

“Yeah, but... now that I think about it...”

“What?” She propped her hands on her hips and glared at him. “What do you think could possibly happen to me out here?”

“I have a list,” he said. “Fire. Bear. Creepy stranger. Rattlesnake. Gopher hole. Flooded river. Falling branch.”

“Shut up.” She slapped her hand over his mouth. “How does your gloom and doom help me here? Just tell me where you want me.”

In his bed. And... in other places. Fuck. When had looking after Abbie turned into something more? “You need someone to stay with you, and I’m not talking about the peanut.”

She narrowed her eyes. If she could read his mind, he was in so much trouble. “Are you angling for a sleepover? Because you could try just asking. Or showing up.”

He’d ask all right. On the other side of the truck, Rio started laughing. He cut to the chase, leaning against the truck bed beside her. “Do we have a move-in date?”

He turned his head and looked at Abbie. She was smiling, so she wasn’t pissed. The warm look in her eyes had him smoothing back an errant strand of her hair that had escaped from her braid. He’d bet he could have that braid undone in one, maybe two, gentle tugs. Slide the elastic off the end, run his hands through all that pretty brown hair so she looked mussed up and fresh out of bed. And... she was talking, and he had zero idea of what she’d just said.

“Kade?” She sighed, exasperated. Behind him, Rio laughed harder.

“You’ve got to cut him some slack, Abbie. The man doesn’t know if he’s coming or going.”

“Coming,” she sighed. “Apparently, he’s coming over when you all move me in this weekend.”

––––––––

Chapter Fourteen

K
atie made a gorgeous bride. Not that there had ever been any doubt, but now it was official. The winery where she’d chosen to hold her wedding to Tye was the perfect frame, gorgeous grape vines and sunflowers everywhere Abbie looked. Heirloom roses filled the garden beds, and there were even more smiles and laughter. A few happy tears, too.

Abbie hugged her friend. “Be happy.”

“I am.” Katie’s glowing face beamed back at her, like she couldn’t wait to run up that aisle and meet her SEAL. She knew how Katie felt. She’d rushed to meet Will from the moment she’d laid eyes on him. They’d gotten married in Central Park in the Conservatory Garden, a sea of pink and white flowers in every photo. It had been beautiful, and she’d thought then that it would last forever. Who knew forever would mean just a handful of years?

“We’ve got good guys waiting for us.” Katie winked. “Now let go and start walking.”

Right. The wedding. Abbie let go and started up the aisle toward the two men waiting with the minister beneath an enormous rose bower framing a small pond. Strands of music floated through the air as someone hit Play on the iPod Katie had decreed would be the music master. Tye had served with Kade in Afghanistan, and he’d pressed Kade into service as his best man. Tye was a good-looking, rugged man who took shit from no one and had kicked ass as a SEAL, which made the goofy grin on his face even sweeter. He peered around Abbie and the other bridesmaids as they walked up the aisle, trying to spot Katie. As if he wasn’t going to have her to himself for the next forty years or so.

“You’re lucky,” she mouthed at him, and he grinned back at her as he elbowed the man standing next to him.
Kade.
The guests sighed, a happy oh-look-at-her hum of approval, which meant Katie had started down the aisle. Tye stared at Katie like he’d just seen heaven, but Kade was staring at Abbie with the same hot, hungry look as she approached.

The way the man looked in a tux should be illegal. Tall, dark, and slightly scruffy because he sported five o’clock shadow by noon, Kade looked relaxed, but there was no missing the power leashed in his big body. If something bad happened, if he was needed, he’d be ready to spring into action, bad knee or no. He smiled when she reached the front, a panty-melting, heart-stopping grin.

He held out a hand to her, and she took it because what else could she do? She let him tug her gently to his side, her chiffon skirts brushing his knees as they turned to watch Tye take Katie’s hand. Twenty minutes later, Katie was Mrs. Callahan—or Tye was now Mr. Lawson—and the groom had swept his bride off her feet in a hot kiss that had the entire assembly whooping and hollering. Since the reception was being held in the winery’s wine cave, it was a matter of just a few short steps to get the party started. They shared toasts, ate way too much food, and then the dancing started.

“You okay?” Kade’s low rumble in Abbie’s ear startled her. The man moved like a ninja.

“I’m putting a bell around your neck,” she groused.

“She’s fine.” Laura Jo kicked off her heels with a groan as she sank into a seat beside Abbie. “At least she got to wear flats. Katie thought the rest of us should trip around in the Mount Everest of heels.”

Since Katie designed and sold the most amazing shoes, it wasn’t precisely a hardship. Abbie looked down at her own practical shoes. At least she could still
see
her feet, a task that got harder by the day. The flats were kind of cute. Cute, but practical. She thought about swapping with Laura Jo for just a few minutes, because sometimes she was tired of being practical.

“Not her feet.” Kade gave Laura Jo a look. “About being at someone else’s wedding.”

Laura Jo eyed him suspiciously. “Did you turn into a girl while I wasn’t looking? Because that sounds suspiciously thoughtful. Emotional. Whatever.” She gestured with her empty champagne flute.

“There’s nothing wrong with being thoughtful.” Now he sounded grumpy. That was familiar territory.

“Uh-huh.” Laura Jo snagged Kade’s champagne and emptied the glass.

“Right here,” Abbie said.

“So tell him.” Laura Jo pointed the flute at Abbie. “Tell him you’re okay.”

“I’m okay.”

She was. She digested this for a moment while Laura Jo waved down a waiter and scored champagne refills. Kade drifted away to say good-bye to Tye who was tugging his bride toward the door. And she... sat there. Thinking deep thoughts at a wedding.

“Which one would you pick if you were me?” Apparently determined to make Abbie focus on the present, Laura Jo waved toward the group of guys slapping Tye on the back slightly harder than necessary. Hard-eyed, scarred, and generally banged up, the men radiated power, clearly ready to protect the wedding party from an Al-Qaeda attack or any other shit storm life tossed in their direction. It wasn’t a bad look for them, nor was the goofy-ass grin on Tye’s face whenever he looked at Katie. She and Will had been that happy and naïve, even if it felt like a once upon a time and
long, long ago
.

Focus on this wedding.
“You want to date a SEAL?”

Laura Jo’s dating life was either epic or nonexistent, depending on who you asked. The other woman had a million colorful stories, but she’d also sworn off dating the local guys because—she’d told Abbie and Katie on one memorable occasion—once you’d seen a guy’s penis, it complicated the workday.

“Date him? No.” Laura Jo grinned, and boy... Abbie figured someone should give Tye’s friends a heads-up, because that look was one hundred percent pure mischief. “I just want to fuck one. I’m feeling horny, not romantic.”

Oookay. That made two of them. She pointed to the guy to the left of Tye. “How about him?”

“Pretty.” Laura Jo squinted, examining the poor guy like he was the last bachelor on the auction block. “No. Wait. I think I know him. He jumps with Donovan Brothers, so he’s off-limits. Damn it. Here I am, ready to get laid, and there’s not one new guy at this wedding. You think there’s someone out there for us?”

“Say what?” Color her distracted by the red-hot blush on Katie’s face, but she was pretty certain that the guys were giving Tye a hard time. Or possibly sex tips.

Laura Jo set her glass down on the table. “Do we get happily ever afters too, or are we too screwed up? Did we blow our chances?”

She had no idea why Laura Jo wanted to have a heart-to-heart at Katie’s wedding, although her vote was for too much champagne. “I already had mine.”

“No.” Laura Jo pulled her hair free of its sleek ponytail. “You told me yourself that you and Will were a mistake. Maybe”—she held up a hand—“the two of you were a good kind of mistake. He was a decent guy, and you did your best. I think you could have been happy, and the peanut you’re incubating would have had the best mom and dad in the world. But now Will’s gone, and you’ve got a second chance at happily ever after.”

“Is that what you want?” Because, honestly, she’d never imagined Laura Jo as the settling-down type.

“Maybe.” Laura Jo grinned. “Although tonight I’m settling for sex. God, those SEALs are gorgeous. It’s like picking chocolates out of a box. I just want to lick them all.”

“Lick carefully.” Abbie stood up, pushing back her chair. “Come on. We may not be getting laid, but we can dance.”

Katie had shit taste in music. Or maybe it was Tye’s fault that the DJ played one country track after another. The dance floor scene was chaotic and loud, full of firefighters doing the bump and grind when only a small number of them actually possessed a sense of rhythm. A very
small
number.

She grabbed Kade, lacing her fingers through his. “Dance with me.”