BB Dalton (2 page)

Central Command had loved saving the money. The exposure the military was going to get out of the connection with Milano was bigger than anything she could have arranged on her own.

It was a win-win for both entities.

But first she had to convince BB to go through with it. She’d never considered he wouldn’t be willing. She looked from one man to the other. “I really cannot even imagine why the both of you are being so resistant to this idea.” She was being rude. She didn’t care.

The commander smiled at her. “Oh, Ms. Jorgenson. I believe you’ll convince Joe Public that being in the military is glamorous. And then we’ll get an influx of recruits who yesterday couldn’t be bothered to get off the couch to tie their shoelaces, but who today think they’re going to sail through Hell Week and come out the other side a SEAL. But you know what? They won’t.

All they’ll succeed in doing is bog down the boot camps and cost the taxpayers money.”

She shook her head at them. “You’re wrong. We’re going to make it the
in
thing to be Special Forces. And
that
will attract the best of the best. Star high school and college athletes will give up a chance at pro-contracts to join up. Former Olympians will run to sign on. The Paris Hiltons of the world aren’t going to lust after rappers and rock stars anymore. Instead, military guys will be the new
It
Men
.”

BB had to laugh at that. Women already lusted after military guys, without this crap marketing campaign. He could go to the bar off base on any given night and get laid. The ironic thing was, it was when he’d been modeling that he couldn’t get a date. Everyone assumed he was gay, and the only girls he was around, other models, were too self-absorbed or emaciated to even get his juices flowing.

No, thank you. “Ma’am…uh…Katie. May I speak with the commander privately?”

She sighed audibly and stood. She paused in the doorway. “The camera loves you, BB.”

Unfortunately, he didn’t love the camera.

She gave him one last look, and then left the room through the door that led to the hallway.

“Do I have to do this, sir? Is it a direct order?”

“Yes, and yes. What’s wrong, Dalton? You’re going to get monetary compensation. She just didn’t get a chance to tell you.”

“Money is not the issue.” If it had been, he would still be wearing nothing but his underwear and a smile. “What about my undercover career, sir?”

“I’ve already considered that, and it won’t be a problem. If the offer had been made to Williams, let’s say, it would be different. He’s already gone undercover and met with a target.

We couldn’t plaster his picture all over the country promoting the US Military. But your specialty is getting in and out quickly, usually underwater. It’s not going to make a damn bit of difference if you’re famous.”

BB sighed.

“Smile, Dalton.” The commander hooked a thumb in the direction of the door through which Katie had just exited. “That one’s a real looker and she’s got a schedule that has her holding your hand practically 24/7. And after she’s done with you, you get a week off for holiday leave.”

“I just never thought I’d be back in that life again, sir.”

The commander got up and slapped him on the back.

“Tough life, I know, Dalton. Being around beautiful women, getting your picture taken in tighty whities. I’ll be feeling bad for you during our ten-mile run today while you’re flying off to New York with your handler.”

Hmm. OK. Maybe this wasn’t going to be too bad after all.

That morning, BB had been just another taskforce team member. That afternoon, he was sitting next to his handler in business class, and sipping a complimentary beverage while flying to New York.

He hadn’t been on a commercial flight in years, and then it had been in back in coach, not up here with the yuppies. But besides that, there was a big difference between this jumbo jet, with its television screens in every seatback, and a military transport, which didn’t even have seats.

He glanced at Katie next to him. She’d insisted he take the aisle because his legs were longer. She obviously wasn’t aware he was used to far harsher traveling conditions than this.

She was busy frowning at her laptop, so he flipped the channels on his own little TV screen and found some sitcom reruns. He leaned back in his seat.

“You all right?” Katie looked over at him.

“Sure. Why?”

“You just sighed like you had the weight of the world on your shoulders,” she informed him.

“Sorry.” He hadn’t realized.

That was funny. He did have the weight of the world on his shoulders when he was actively battling the terrorist threat with his team and he loved his job. But now that he was eyeball deep in this meaningless marketing fluff, he was unknowingly sighing and feeling pretty useless and very miserable.

“I know you hate this,” Katie commented.

What could he say to that? Honesty was the best policy, he guessed. “You’re right.”

Now she laughed. “Ah, BB. What I like about you most is that you are the exact opposite of every other model I’ve ever met. They run toward the limelight, and you run away. And that is also going to be my biggest challenge with you.”

The only response he could think of was, “I’m not a model.”

She laughed again and her smile took ten years off her face. “Whatever you say. Can we go over your schedule for while we’re in the Big Apple or do you want to rest now and wait until we land?”

Rest
? He’d gone three days with no sleep once while on a mission. Not much food, either.

Although, this whole thing was becoming way more exhausting than that op had seemed.

“That’s fine. I don’t need to rest. Go ahead.” He flicked off his tiny screen that made the people look two inches tall and turned his attention to Katie, which was really no hardship since she had taken off her jacket for the flight and he noted that her boobs would make fantastic floatation devices. Almost made him wish they’d crash into the Atlantic.

“We’ve got a tight schedule. I hope you’re up for it.”

She really had no clue what his life was normally like, did she? He didn’t bother to explain and just nodded.

Katie watched BB as she outlined what she considered an aggressive schedule of appointments, press interviews, photo shoots, and live appearances. He didn’t bat an eye. Any other model would have been ranting, raving and calling their agent by now to demand ‘down time’. Not BB.

She wondered when he would finally stop surprising her. “So, what do you think?” she asked when he didn’t offer any comment besides a nod during her entire run-down.

He shrugged. “Fine.”

She huffed out a breath. He wasn’t complaining, but she could tell he sure wasn’t happy, either. “Are you really fine?”

“No, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to take it out on you.”

“What’s the problem here, BB? Why are you so against doing this? Talk to me.”

“I don’t like attention.”

“Then why did you become a model in the first place?”

“Because I’m the youngest of nine kids and I couldn’t afford college otherwise. I wasn’t super smart, so I couldn’t get an academic scholarship. I was a good athlete, but not good enough to get a free ride. What I was, was pretty.”

She watched him give this very enlightening speech. He’d said the word
pretty
like it made him ill. She guessed being pretty didn’t get you any favors in the Navy. “Wouldn’t the Navy have paid for college for you?”

“I didn’t know I wanted to join up back then.”

“And what made you realize you did want to join?”

She was getting personal, but she was too fascinated to stop.

“I was in the city for a photo shoot on September eleventh. I watched the North Tower fall.

I enlisted the day after.”

Wow. “You joined up, knowing almost for certain we’d be heading into a war?” she asked.

He nodded again.

Still waters did run deep. “That was very brave of you.”

This time he shrugged and rolled his eyes.

Damn. Modest, brave, gorgeous, sexy as hell—and too damn young for her to be thinking of him like that. He had to be what? Twenty-six. Twenty-seven if she were lucky. And she was hanging on to thirty-nine just by the skin of her teeth. Sure, she wasn’t old enough to have birthed him, thank god for that, but still, she couldn’t forget how he’d called her ma’am when they’d met.

He turned more fully toward her now. “What about you?”

She raised a brow. “What
about
me?”

He smiled, the kind of smile that probably made women fall into his bed without a second thought. “Tell me about yourself. You don’t wear a wedding ring, so I’m guessing you’re not married.”

He didn’t pull any punches, did he? Was this payback for her prying into his past?

She felt she had no other choice but to answer him.

“There’s not much to tell. I’m divorced, no kids, no pets, not even a houseplant. My job is my life. That’s it.”

He looked a little surprised at her brutally honest answer. But only for a moment, then he smiled again. “So then you’re available.” He said it as a statement, not a question.

She laughed. “Why, you want to fix me up with your father or something?”

“Well, first of all, my mother would definitely object to that. But on top of that, a date with you would probably kill my father.”

That could be the most intriguing compliment she’d ever received. Then he continued with a confident smile.

“So, where do you want to eat dinner tonight after we land?”

Why did it seem like their professional relationship had just taken a sharp left turn toward personal? And, dammit, why was her heart suddenly beating faster?

Katie considered this all the way from the airport to the hotel, where she checked herself and BB into adjoining rooms. That had seemed like a good idea when she’d booked earlier, in case they needed to get work done in the room. It was seeming less so now as she glanced guiltily at the locked door separating them and wondered what BB was doing over there.

The ringing of her cell phone saved her from picturing him in the shower, for too long, anyhow. “Katie Jorgenson.”

“It’s me.” She heard the voice of her assistant come through the line.

She had been so flustered; she’d forgotten to look at the caller ID. She hadn’t been around this kid for even a full day yet, and she was acting like an adolescent.

“Hi, Emily. I was just about to call you.” Yeah, sure she was.

“So? Tell me. Is he as gorgeous in person as he is in those pictures you showed me? Is he a stuck-up asshole?

Does he wear actual dog tags? Is he wearing camouflage?”

Katie laughed. “Yes, no, I don’t know and lastly, no.”

There was a brief pause as her overly energetic personal assistant digested her answers.

“Wait, I confused myself. Tell me again.”

Emily was loyal and organized, but she was also twenty-three with far too much joie de vie. Sometimes just speaking with her made Katie tired.

She stifled a sigh. “He’s absolutely perfect for the campaign. He’s very good looking and not an asshole, as you put it, at all. He wore jeans and a t-shirt on the plane, and the flight attendants, both male and female, were all drooling over him. And I don’t know if he’s wearing dog tags or not, I haven’t seen him without his shirt yet.”

“Yet? Woo hoo! You go for it, girl.” Emily whooped.

Katie laughed. “I mean we have the photo shoot tomorrow.”

“Oh. Too bad. I got excited there for you for a minute. I thought you were making your move. I did book you those adjoining rooms.”

As if she needed reminding. “Well, don’t get excited. He’s way too young for me.” Katie considered that Emily, as painfully young as she seemed, was much more BB’s dating demographic than herself. Talk about painful.

“What are you talking about? All the Hollywood actresses are dating, even marrying, younger guys. It’s the new in thing.”

“Yeah, well, they can. I’m a marketing exec, not some star in Hollywood. My boobs are real and they sag, and my face has never seen Botox and it shows.”

“You’re crazy. You look great and you know it. And it’s been way too long since your last date. So I am going to make you promise me that you’re not going to close yourself off to the idea of letting something develop with him.”

Katie sighed.

“Promise…” Emily prompted.

Katie closed her eyes and sighed. Sometimes it was just easier to give in to her. “Promise.”

Taking a deep breath, she pictured the hoards of beautiful young women who would be drooling over him after the ad campaign hit. She might as well go stand on the tracks and wait for the next train. That would be just as stupid as falling for BB. It would probably hurt less, too.

“Relax.” Suddenly Katie’s voice was beside his ear.

He jumped, not because he was nervous about the photo shoot, but because he wasn’t prepared for how her breath against his ear would run right through him. And considering he was standing in a roomful of people in not much more than cotton briefs, it was no time to be reacting to her closeness.

They’d had dinner together the night before, and sat at the bar and talked much longer than they should have considering they had an early call for the shoot this morning. But he hadn’t wanted to leave her. Besides, no one could see if there were shadows under his eyes with all the makeup they’d slapped on him.

“I am relaxed.” He took one step away from her and her sexy whispers.

He was happy he’d put some distance between them so he couldn’t smell her shampoo and picture her in the shower anymore.

She laughed. “You don’t look it.”