KissedByASEAL (8 page)

He opened the door she’d indicated and reached inside to pull out the package of paper napkins. “Yup. Got it. You want the parmesan cheese out too?”

Chris had been in the fridge one time that night. He’d gotten three more bottles of beer out for him and the guys. Yet he’d noticed the container of grated cheese, which if she remembered correctly, was all the way on the back of one of the shelves.

Covering her shock, she said, “Yes, please.”

All righty. So Chris was as good in the kitchen as he’d said.

That thought raised another question in Darci’s mind—what else was he good at? She could probably find that out this weekend, if she wanted to.

Darci pushed that crazy thought out of her mind. There was something that she couldn’t ignore though. She suspected he wasn’t one hundred percent enthusiastic about her going on this job with him.

“Chris?”

He had finished refilling the napkin dispenser and had put the package back in the cabinet before he turned to face her. “Yeah?”

“You are okay with me coming to Florida, right? I mean I realize it’s a serious job. But I think I can be a help to you. I’ll try my best. I promise.”

Chris hesitated for a second before he said, “I know you will.”

Darci noticed he avoided answering her question about if he was okay with her going. That inspired her to prove her worth. “I can shoot a gun. My dad taught me. I’d be better at it if Rick would take me to the shooting range like I asked him to.”

A smile tipped up the corners of Chris’s lips. “You asked him to take you shooting?”

“Yes, but he keeps going without me. I usually don’t know that he even went until he tries sneaking back inside with his guns.”

Chris looked as if he was trying and failing to cover his amusement at Rick’s actions. “Darci, I doubt there’s going to be a need for you to have to shoot a gun on this assignment. Good lord willing, you won’t have to, but if you really want to go to the range, I’ll take you.”

“You will?”

“I will.” He dipped his head. “It never hurts to be prepared.”

“Can we go tomorrow?”

He lifted his brows. “A’ight. Sure. Tomorrow works for me.”

She realized how pushy she sounded. “I mean only because I have to work Monday and we’re leaving Thursday. Oh, my God. I don’t have a plane ticket. We’ll have to book one. It’s going to be expensive on such short notice. Is that going to be a problem for Jon?” She glanced up to see him smiling. “What?”

“Darci, we’re not flying commercial.”

“Oh. Is the client giving us his private jet?” Her eyes widened at the thought.

“No.” Chris shook his head. “I’ll be flying us down in my two-seater.”

“Your two-seater, like you own it yourself? And
you
fly it?”

“Yes, I own it. And since there are only two seats, one for you and one for me, that would mean I’m flying it.” He smirked at her.

“You have your pilot’s license?” She was having trouble wrapping her head around this new information.

“I do. The FAA tends to frown on folks flying a plane without one.”

Ignoring his sarcasm, she moved on to the next question in her mind. “Aren’t planes expensive?”

“They can be. I bought it used, so it wasn’t too bad. Not like I have much else to spend my money on.” He shrugged. “Don’t be impressed. This one’s pretty small, which reminds me—don’t over pack. There’s not much room for luggage.”

“Okay.” Still reeling from the revelation, she somehow managed to answer. He was truly full of surprises. What else didn’t she know about Chris?

“So what time you want to go shooting tomorrow?” His question knocked her out of her stupor.

“I don’t know. Whenever. You decide.”

“Eleven?”

“Sure.” If they spent an hour shooting, they’d finish about lunchtime. Then they’d probably end up eating together. This was starting to feel like a date. To her surprise, she didn’t mind the idea of that. There was one problem though. “Chris?”

“Yeah?”

“Can you bring the guns? I don’t have one of my own.”

A grin spread across his face. “Yeah, I’ll bring the guns.”

“You won’t mind? Rick won’t let me anywhere near his. I can’t even touch them, forget about shoot them.”

“Well, don’t worry. You can touch mine all you want.” Still smiling, he winked at her.

It was the typical joke, like he always made. Only this time, it didn’t make her laugh like his joking usually did. This time, his double entendre accompanied by that sexy as hell wink had her cheeks heating.

“Uh, Darci?”

“Yes?” Knowing he’d see her blush—there was no hiding it with her coloring—she had to force herself to look at Chris.

“Your pot’s fixin’ to boil over.” He gestured toward the stove.

She yanked her attention off him and his ever present grin, and tried to recover from the deep drawl that all of a sudden seemed to resonate straight through her core. She saw he was right. The water in the pot was boiling so hard it was about to spill over.

Flustered, she flipped the burner off. The pasta must be cooked by now.

“Um, you want to go tell the guys this will be ready in two minutes?” She needed Chris to go away or she might end up spilling boiling water all over herself.

“You got it.”

Only when he was gone could she breathe again, but the twisting inside her remained.

What had she gotten herself into by agreeing to play his date, probably share his room, for an entire long weekend? But given how long she’d been alone, did she really want to get out of it? She’d have to think about that.

CHAPTER 7

Arms crossed and with a doubt-filled expression firmly in place, Brody leaned against the counter and watched Chris pour a cup of coffee. “Your first date and it’s at the range?”

Chris shook his head at his brother. “It’s not a date. She wants to practice. Rick won’t take her so I said I would.”

“Practice for what? You giving her a weapon for this op?”

“Hell no.” Chris stirred sugar into his coffee and raised the cup to his lips.

He needed the caffeine to wake up. He’d slept like crap. No surprise there. He probably shouldn’t plan on getting a good night’s sleep until next Sunday. He sure as hell wouldn’t get any rest during the time she was with him in Florida, or any day leading up to it.

“Now, wait a minute.” Brody pushed off the counter and reached into the cabinet to get himself a coffee mug. “Let’s think about this a bit. A thigh holster strapped around one of those long legs of hers beneath a slinky dress. Phew. That there has all the makings of one hell of a nice fantasy.”

He scowled at Brody. “Quit it.”

Where had his quiet, studious, overly serious little brother gone? It was as if Brody had hit his obnoxious teen years, only in his thirties.

Coffee cup in hand, Brody lifted a brow. “What? Don’t tell me you haven’t thought the same thing.”

“No, I haven’t.” At least Chris hadn’t—until his damn brother had put the image into his head. Now he probably wouldn’t be able to think of anything else.

Just like with children who misbehaved, maybe the best thing to do was ignore Brody. Besides, Chris had to get ready. He needed to shower and get dressed for—whatever this thing was with Darci.

It wasn’t date. It was just time at the range, possibly with a few shooting lessons if she needed or wanted some pointers—and it had been all her idea.

The sad part was if he had been asked to spell out his perfect date with no regard to a female counterpart’s enjoyment Chris would probably have picked the same thing. Follow up the gun range with some wings and a pitcher and he’d be in heaven.

“I’m hitting the shower.” Chris downed the last swallow of coffee and put his mug in the sink.

He had just turned toward the hall that led to the bathroom when Brody said, “You’re welcome.”

Chris spun to glance back. “For what?”

“For suggesting she go and play your cover for the op.”

He would like to thank Brody for that, all right—with his fists in the sparring ring at the gym. He rolled his eyes and strode for the shower.

This trip was either going to be very good, or very bad, thanks to Brody’s meddling. Which way it would go had yet to be determined because women—Darci in particular—were the most confusing creatures on Earth.

He decided he’d just get through this thing one day at a time. Maybe one hour at a time, if he had to. Starting with today at the range.

~ * ~

“Try it like this.” Chris stepped up close behind her.

Amid the constant sound of gunshots from the other shooters at the range, Darci found herself encased in his arms as he showed her how to hold the handgun. She was very aware of his closeness and for the first time, of his bulk.

Being in the arms of a man built like Chris, a girl would really feel held. It had been so long since she’d been in a man’s arms . . .

“Okay?” Chris’s question knocked her out of her fantasy.

When he dropped his hold on her and took a step back, she missed the contact. That brought her thoughts back to this assignment of theirs, where she was supposed to be his girlfriend.

She put the gun down and turned to face him, sliding off the ear protection he’d insisted she wear. “Do you think we need to prepare? Like practice or something?”

He pulled the tiny earplugs out of his own ears and drew his sandy brows down in a frown. “Practice what?”

“Pretending we’re dating.”

Chris hid the expression of surprise that crossed his face, but not before she saw it. “What exactly were you thinking?”

“Like what if they ask how we met?”

He looked a little relieved at her question, making her ponder what he’d thought she meant. It didn’t take long to come up with a few ideas, which didn’t help her strange and new mixed feelings about this weekend.

Chris lifted one shoulder in a half-shrug. “We say I used to work with your brother and we met through him.”

“But that’s the truth.” They were undercover. They needed just that—a cover.
 

He nodded. “Exactly. Stay as close to the truth as you can and we’ll be fine.”

“They teach you how to lie in SEAL school too?”

He leaned in and whispered, “If I told you, then I’d have to kill you.”

Darci rolled her eyes. “Chris, I’m serious.”

“So am I. Just stick to the truth whenever you can and we’ll be fine.”

“So what if they ask what I do for a living?”

“You tell them you work at a bank.”

She’d rather say she was a model, or maybe a struggling actress, but of course, that might lead to questions she couldn’t answer. She came up with another question. “Where do I say I live?”

“In Virginia.”

She couldn’t find anything wrong with that response either, except that it was the truth. His simple solution to their backstory was starting to piss her off. There had to be something he couldn’t reason away with the truth.

Finally, an idea came to her. “Okay, here’s one. What if someone asks how long we’ve been together?”

“That one’s easy. We’ve been friends for years, but it’s only very recently things between us
changed.
” He waggled his eyebrows suggestively from behind the eye protection they were required to wear.

That answer would work too, and though not exactly the complete truth, it was close. The man and all his answers were enough to raise her blood pressure. Darci drew in a breath through her nose, her mind spinning for something to trip him up.

“Why don’t you channel all that anger and take it out on that there target?” He was teasing her, but it was the one idea he’d come up with that she could get behind.

Darci did as he said. She pulled her ear protection back into place, picked up the gun and held it like he’d showed her. She exhaled and squeezed the trigger.

The kick combined with the noise took her off guard. She squinted through the safety glasses he’d given her, trying to see the target.

“Good job. Right through the heart. Impressive for your first shot.”