[When SEALs Come Home 04] - Heated (9 page)

“She doesn’t look happy to be here.”

No shit, Sherlock.

Abbie had gone into invisible mode—either the forty-plus people milling around her vacant lot weren’t there or no one could see her. He knew the feeling. When she tried to return to the truck, however, Laura Jo stopped, grabbed her hand and towed her forward. Joey gave her fifteen minutes max before she hit the trail. She looked like she’d rather be anywhere than here.

“Her husband’s dead. Why would she be celebrating?” He hit another nail. As far as he was concerned, that gave Abbie the right to do whatever she wanted, up to and including coming for him with the hammer.

“She looks skinny.”

Joey had no idea how Kade could tell, given the approximately twenty yards of gray cotton fabric wrapped around Abbie that left only her fingertips visible. If other parts were visible, he wasn’t looking. He had no intention of staring at Will’s wife, even if Will wasn’t around to smack him.
Especially
then.

Kade dropped down the ladder, landing on the ground with a hard thump. He gritted his teeth as his bad knee absorbed the impact, but Joey wasn’t stupid. Neither of them would mention the problem. It couldn’t be fixed, so what was the point? Hell, it was a major miracle the guy still
had
a leg, even if it didn’t bend right.

“I’m going over,” Kade said. He massaged his knee with a hand absent-mindedly, staring after Abbie. A small frown puckered his forehead.

“Are you the Welcome Wagon now?”

Kade paused and yanked his hand off his knee, like he’d just realized what he was doing. “You don’t want to say hi?”

Not in a million years. Even if he’d been able to conjure words up out of nowhere, words couldn’t fix what was wrong with her. Will Donegan should have been here, hammering and tossing back a beer at the end of the day. Instead she got every man on the team.

Joey hammered harder. Banging the hell out of the nail felt better, although it didn’t make him feel good. Not by any stretch of the imagination.

Kade hesitated, eyes tracking Abbie. “We’ve got a good turnout. You expecting more people?”

“Yep.” He paused, trying to figure out how to make the mention casual, but screw it. There was no way to dress it up. “Mercedes Hernandez promised to stop by.”

Okay. She hadn’t actually promised, and he’d been performing a verbal arm-twisting but... she’d said
yes
. No amount of coaxing had convinced her, however, that he should stop by her place to pick her up, so she was sticking with her story that this wasn’t a date.

“The deputy sheriff,” Kade said slowly.

“You bet.”

Kade whistled. “You really like living dangerously.”

Why did everyone insist that dating Mercy was a bad idea? His lack of self-control around her was nothing a week in bed wouldn’t cure. “Why does everyone keep saying that?”

Kade paused and looked at him curiously. “You really have no idea, do you?”

“Enlighten me.” He eyed the piece of framing in front of him, but it had no answers either.

“You like her,” Kade said, satisfaction filling his voice. “And you don’t have a fucking clue.”

“She’s a nice person.” She’d held him while he came apart, and as far as he knew, she’d told no one. Unfortunately, he also knew the exact moment her piece-of-shit car pulled into the field. He was all attention, his head turning like a well-trained dog’s while Kade grinned beside him.

“The deputy sheriff needs a new car.” Kade waved his own hammer in Mercedes’ direction. He wasn’t wrong. Mercy’s car looked even worse in daylight.

“Or a new set of spark plugs, a fuel pump, and a transmission.” He climbed down the ladder.

Kade stared at him. “What do you know about her car? Because that sounds like either a shopping list or an educated guess.”

“She broke down the other night outside Strong. I happened to be passing by, so I stopped and fixed her car.”

Kade shook his head and started toward the ladies. “You have to stop fixing stuff.”

“Why?”

“Because you like her,” Kade sighed. “You like her a lot.”

“You already said that.” Might as well point that out.

“You invited her here. She’s your date.”

“And?”

“You
really
like her.”

“You need to expand your vocabulary.” What wasn’t there to like about Mercy? She was a nice woman who happened to come in a spectacular package. Yes, he wanted to strip her naked and do things to her that would have her screaming his name in pleasure. Honestly, he didn’t see what was wrong with that plan. They’d both have a good time, and that would be that.

“The next step is picking out rings,” Kade said.

“You’re joking.”

He’d never given much thought to getting married personally. Various members of the Donovan Brothers smoke jumping team had, however. Jack, Evan, and Rio had all dropped to one knee and produced rings. The three Donovans seemed perfectly content with their monogamous futures too. Hell, Rio had gone one step further and knocked up his new wife. Gia Jackson-Donovan had sat out the end of the past fire season, and now his teammate looked like she’d swallowed a watermelon and was due any minute.

“Rings,” Kade repeated darkly. “Half the jump team has purchased jewelry in the past year. My Spidey-senses are telling me you’re next.”

“Your Spidey-senses need a maintenance check.”

So what if his attraction to Mercedes Hernandez had surprised him? She was a beautiful woman—that part wasn’t the surprise part. It was the need to get inside her head, to see the world through her eyes, that had snuck up on him out of nowhere. He liked her. He wanted to get to know her. And that made him...

Next?

“Fuck,” he said out loud. No. He wasn’t ready to drop down on one knee and blurt out a proposal, but Kade wasn’t entirely wrong either. This wasn’t just sex.

“Exactly,” Kade said, satisfaction filling his voice.

***

A
bbie’s new place came with a view of the mountains and the river. Seeing the mountains this close up was a powerful and entirely different experience from the distant view she’d had growing up in Los Angeles. There were plenty of trees for tree houses and dirt roads for racing, if Junior took after his daddy. Mercy wished she could have said that she’d come here to support Abbie and lend a hand, but the honest truth was she’d come here to see Joey.

The truth sucked. Or was really, really hot, depending on her point of view. By midafternoon, the guys were framing the roof and the weather had heated up. She hadn’t even gone up to him when she’d arrived because it was embarrassing enough to be here. Everyone else belonged to either the jump team or the hotshot team. She was the odd woman out. At least she’d had her knitting club gals to hang out with.

Unfortunately, it was impossible to ignore Joey even if she’d wanted to. He perched on top of Abbie’s new roof-to-be, wielding a nail gun and a hammer with equal enthusiasm. Joey clearly liked building things and, equally clearly, was part monkey. Where she would have fallen off that particular perch, he swung around easily, banging nails into place and generally managing to pack a sensual wallop. He was big, confident and sure as he worked, and maybe she was shallow or just sex-deprived, but his tool belt was the sexiest thing she’d seen in a long time. He laughed good-naturedly as the other guys on the roof gave him shit, teasing him, and he gave it right back.

He was also doing a hell of a job building a house, while she, on the other hand, was sitting on her butt watching him work. She’d come here to help, not to ogle the jump team. Instead of getting up and pitching in, however, she tilted her head to the side for a better view. She was such a slacker.

“They do good work.” Katie Lawson dropped down beside her, crossing her legs into a complicated lotus position that would have sent Mercy to the ER and even then only
if
the EMTs could wrestle her pretzeled self onto the gurney. She made a mental note to add another mile to her run tomorrow. Maybe she’d break out that stretching DVD she’d bought online too. If she ever did have sex again, flexibility would be a plus.

“Don’t look now, but your latest arrestee is watching you.” Laura Jo bumped her shoulder, eyes twinkling mischievously as she joined them. Right. Any witty comeback Mercy had dried up in her mouth.

She looked—and sure enough, Joey was staring at her. She couldn’t tell from this distance if it was a hot, steamy, invite-me-over-to-your-place-for-sex stare or if it was a why-aren’t-you-holding-up-your-end-of-the-deal-and-helping glare. Beside her, Laura Jo had no such qualms. With a whoop, she twirled someone’s sweatshirt over her head like it was a lasso. She was fun times. Unlike Mercy. Maybe it was one more thing she could learn to do. Maybe the library had books and books on how to be the life of the party, and she could read up on it.

“Woohoo! Take it all off, gentlemen! We want to see the full monty.” Leaning back on her elbows, Laura Jo dropped the sweatshirt and whistled.

Fifteen male heads immediately swiveled their way. Oh, God. Maybe the ground would open up and swallow them both. Or just Laura Jo. She could work with either outcome.

Amid a spate of good-natured catcalling from the guys, Joey stood up, bracing his booted feet against the skeleton roof. He thumbed up his sunglasses and stared at them. A slow grin broke across his face. “Is that a group request?”

Laura Jo elbowed her hard. “Tell him yes. He’ll get naked for you.”

“You’re going to get arrested for assaulting an officer of the law.” Katie somehow managed to sound both doubtful and half-laughing.

“We’ll do yours next,” Laura Jo promised her.

“Mercy?” His growly voice reached her loud and clear.

“Is that my name or a plea for leniency?” The words popped out of her mouth before she could think them through.

“Oooh. Clever.” Laura Jo punched open a can of soda and settled back, like she was in imminent expectation of a show. Mercy had no idea how she could be so casual.

Joey grinned and tucked his hammer into his tool belt. She definitely had a thing for the belt. The worn leather hugged his hips, dipping low over his goodies, front and back.

“It has to be illegal to look that good,” she said before she could stop herself.

“Uh-huh.” Laura Jo laughed. “And I bet that man would love to play good cop/bad cop with you. He’s just waiting for his invitation.”

Joey’s fingers found the edge of his T-shirt, and he tugged it up a few inches, revealing a golden strip of stomach. And, holy six-pack, but the man was cut.

“Is this what you were thinking? Tell me when I’m getting hot.” He hollered the words, raising the shirt another teasing inch. She felt the tease deep inside her, a tingly warmth she had no business feeling at all, not for this man.

“He needs a soundtrack,” Katie said breathlessly, her eyes glued to Joey’s stomach.

“You’re engaged.” A big smile curved Laura Jo’s mouth.

“But not blind.” Katie beamed. “Thank God.”

Wish granted. Someone, somewhere, blared the YMCA song from his phone, and Joey danced right along, gyrating on top of Abbie’s half-built roof. Hips rolling, he worked his T-shirt up.

“God. I love a man who’s a good sport. You have to wonder what he’d be willing to try.”

Mercy agreed with Laura Jo.

Instead of saying so, however, she said the other thing running through her head. “He’s going to fall off,” she said. “You’re going to have to scrape him off the ground and drive him to the hospital.”

“He’s like a cat,” Laura Jo said, raising her eyebrows. “That man will always land on his feet.”

She wanted to blush and hide her head and stare. All at the same time. She wanted to tell him that he didn’t have to do this, not for her, and then tell him she’d kill him if he stopped now. He laughed, enjoying life and the sun as he pulled the T-shirt over his broad shoulders and swung it triumphantly over his head. His other hand on his hip, he finished with a dramatic hip pump. His shirt came sailing through the air toward her.

“Head up,” Laura Jo muttered. “Trophy time.”

The shirt slapped into her hands. Bull’s eye. The cotton was warm from his skin and the sun. She stared at the man who had taken it off. He grinned back at her and blew her a kiss. Not sure what the next step was in this game, she folded it up neatly and tucked it into her bag. He’d come looking for it. She had no doubt of that.

On the roof, he took a deep bow that had her holding her breath. Just because she
thought
he’d fall didn’t mean she
wanted
him to fall. Rio and Tye slapped him on the back, ribbing him.

“You all owe me a beer,” he hollered. “And not the canned shit either.”

She’d definitely buy him a beer.

Laura Jo grinned. “Not me. If I was Mercedes, I’d want the whole thing. I’m greedy that way.”

Apparently, she did have something in common with Laura Jo after all, because she wanted a taste of Joey. Just one bite. Or two. Three. As long as they kept their relationship under wraps and he stopped speeding like a madman, it could work. For like five minutes.

“She’s thinking about it,” Laura Jo said. “And if he’s not as tasty as he looks, I can introduce you to some EMTs.”

Joey shimmied down a ladder, slapped Kade on the back, and walked toward them. Her eyes went straight to his tool belt. Go figure.

Oh, God.

This was crazy.
She
was crazy.

For him.

A
house-raising in February was crazy. Hell, Joey had been crazy to suggest doing this now when they could have waited until June. Except June was fire season and Abbie’s baby was due at the end of August, and she’d want a chance to settle in and decorate a nursery. Do whatever it was people did when they had a baby on the way. So... maybe his plan hadn’t been so crazy after all.

His luck had held so far, and the rain had held off. Plus it was hot enough, especially when he was working, that going bare-chested wasn’t a hardship. Okay. Taking off his shirt was awesome because he liked the expression on Mercy’s face when she stared at his chest. He liked the way he felt around her, and not just because she made him think about beds and condoms and having his wicked way with her. She saw past the laughter and the scars and also saw
him
.