SEAL'd Perfection The Complete Collection: A Navy SEAL Romance (5 page)

I processed the information, immediately picturing a mini-me of Kat, with her dark hair and striking green eyes. I’d never dated a single mom before, but it certainly wasn’t out of the question. Especially if that mom was Kat. I smiled at her. “That’s awesome, Kat. I bet he’s an amazing little guy.”

“He is,” she answered, her face breaking into a giant smile. Her love for her son radiated through her and in that moment, I realized I’d never been so attracted to her. I wanted to lean across the table and take her lips with my own, leaving her breathless, but with a smile just as wide.

“My offer still stands, you know,” I said after a pause of taking in the moment.

She looked puzzled. “Really?”

“Yeah, of course! Why would you having a son change anything? If you can find some time for me, I’d love to take you out.”

Kat arched a brow at me, carefully turning the question over in her mind as she stared me down. I looked down at my arm, wondering if she’d somehow hooked me up to a lie detector test and was simply waiting for the results. Finally, she sighed and nodded. “Okay.”

“Okay?”

She smiled. “Yeah. Why not, right?”

“I’m flattered,” I replied with another laugh.

Kat giggled and it was the most beautiful sound, like a gentle melody that soothed and excited me all at once. “You
know
what I mean.”

I nodded, still smiling. “How about tonight?” I asked, wanting to lock it down before she changed her mind and ran for cover.

Her expression shifted, somehow darker, as though she just remembered something unpleasant, and my heart raced, waiting for her reply. “Tonight won’t work…I have to, uh—Jax stays with his dad on the weekends,” she said, each word jerking from her like it was physically painful to say.

“Oh,” I replied, wishing I could soothe her pain.

She blinked rapidly a few times and I noted her eyes were glossed over as she stared past me. “I have to drop him off at his house tonight. And after that…I’m just not really up for it. Sorry.”

“Whoa, don’t apologize. I get it—well, as much as I can, anyways. How about tomorrow then? It’s your day off, isn’t it?”

She took another moment, staring at the table, and then brought her hands together and looked back up at me. “Yeah, tomorrow is my day off. How’d you know that?”

I smiled. “Covert operations, my dear.”

She looked at me and smiled. “Stalking?”

“No, not stalking, I’ve been here a few weeks ya know. I do notice when you’re not here.”

“Oh, right. Well, I normally go grocery shopping and attempt to clean the house on my day off, but I’d love a distraction,” she answered, giving me a faint smile.

I leaned in closer, dropping my voice to a gruff whisper, “Then you’re in luck pretty lady—distraction is one of my specialties.”

The impending date with Jace carried me through the rest of my shift on Friday as though my feet were made of patches of clouds. No matter how annoying my boss was, or how many customers tipped me poorly—I didn’t notice at all. Everything was perfect—until I got home…I picked up Jax from Hilda’s house and got him set up with a PB&J sandwich in the dining room, and sat down to check my phone. My heart froze as I saw Mitch had called three times…and left a voicemail…I dialed my voicemail and sat perched on the edge of the couch, waiting for his voice to start.

“Where the hell are you?” His message boomed. “I
told
you, at least a dozen times, that Hannah and I have a dinner tonight and need Jax dropped off at four. But you can’t follow simple instructions like that, can you? It’s four thirty right now. Where the fuck are you Katherine? Call me back now!”

The air from my lungs burst out of me in a louder than intended, “Shit!” My hand flung to cover my mouth, praying that Jax hadn’t heard me over the cartoon show he was watching on my computer. “Oh my God,” I whispered. I checked the time, it was now five o’clock and I’d forgotten all about dropping Jax off early.

With trembling fingers, I dialed Mitch back and stepped out onto the balcony while the other line rang.
God, why does he have to be so evil? He was never this hateful before.
“You better have a good fucking reason why you’re not here,” Mitch growled, not even bothering with a proper greeting.

I pressed my eyes closed. “Oh my God, Mitch, Calm down. I got off work late and I…I forgot,” I admitted. “I’ll be there in thirty minutes. He’s eating dinner right now.”

“It’s too late, Katherine. The dinner has already started, at this rate we’ll be at least two hours late, if we manage to get there at all. You did this on purpose! You’re always undermining Hannah and me. This night was important to us, and you fucked it up! Again! Why do you insist on being so vindictive? Can’t you let me go?” Mitch fumed. “I have half a mind to call the court and see about revisiting our agreement.”

The ice that had flooded my veins when I’d seen the missed calls, burst into flames. “It was a fucking mistake.” I said through gritted teeth. “That’s all. I’ll pack the baby up and be there as soon as I can. But you are going to be civil. If you scream at me like that in front of Jax one time, I’ll take him right back home and call the court myself!” I hissed into the phone.

“Just get here,” Mitch dismissed, swiftly clicking off the call.

“Asshole.”

I hurried to get Jax and Mickey packed into the car and sped across town to Mitch and Hannah’s gargantuan home, barely able to keep myself happy and soothing as we drove, singing Jax’s favorite song to keep him calm. He hated getting dropped off at Mitch’s house. “It’s okay, sweetheart, mama will be back in two days. You’re going to stay here, with daddy,” I cooed, trying to stop his tears before my own kicked into gear.

Mitch came over and scooped Jax into his arms. “He’ll be just fine. Won’t you Jaxy?”

I hated every second of this process. When we had first started these drop-off weekends, everyone had assured me it would get easier over time—but two years in and it was still torture—every single time. I squeezed Jax’s hand as he stared at me, his big brown eyes filled with tears. “You’ll have so much fun. And Mickey’s here too,” I said, pointing over at the Golden Retriever who was right at home already, running around with a stick from the front yard.

Hannah appeared, looking the same as she had when I’d found her in the closet inside Mitch’s office the day my world had crumbled, and she smiled over at me for a second, before taking Jax from Mitch’s arms. My stomach rolled as she carried him away from me and into the house.

“Enjoy your weekend, Katherine,” Mitch said, the formality sounding odd, and stilted. He’d always called me Kat, but had taken to using my full name since we split. I figured it was at Hannah’s request.

I gathered myself and set aside my grief long enough to get in one shot at Mitch, “Thank you, I will. I have a date.” I smiled sweetly as Mitch’s mouth gaped open. I waved at Jax through the front room window, and clenched my jaw to keep smiling, only letting my facade crumple once I turned away and no one could see me. I got into the car, and made it halfway down their long driveway before I burst into tears.

Mitch had held up his end of the bargain and kept it together in front of Jax, but the threats he’d made were still ringing in my head. Fighting to get joint custody of Jax, and working out child support and dividing holiday time had damn near killed me the first time around. I couldn’t go through that again.

When I finally got home, I downed some sleepy time tea and tried to calm down—but my night was spent thinking of Jax and what an asshole Mitch turned out to be. I didn’t need this shit. My thoughts turned to Jace and our date. It probably should’ve made me happy—excited. But all I could ponder up was that he’d probably disappear once he saw what a shit storm my life had become.

* * * *

Despite my lack of sleep, I sprung out of bed the next morning and flew through my to-do list. Before two o’clock I’d hit the grocery store, gas station, and dry cleaner, and had the house in semi-decent shape. My hurried pace was fueled halfway by the anger that was spilling over inside me with each replay of the argument with Mitch from the night before—and halfway with the nerves that were setting in with each passing minute as the clock ticked down the hours until I was set to meet Jace for our dinner. I worked my fingers to the bone, scrubbing every surface of the house, hardly even aware of what I was doing, as I fumed. I threw myself from task to task, until everything was done, only then, allowing myself to collapse onto the couch. I was covered in sweat, dust, and at least three different types of cleaning solution, but I sighed with deep relief and satisfaction as I surveyed my sparkling clean house. It was amazing how much more I could accomplish without a toddler and giant dog underfoot. That was the
only
silver lining to having Jax with Mitch and Hannah on the weekends.

As I relaxed into the cushions, my mind drifted from the argument with Mitch, and shifted over to thinking about the night ahead. In the end, Jace had agreed to call our evening a dinner out, rather than a date, but all the same, in four hours, he would be on my doorstep and we would be spending the evening together.

Whatever that entailed…

Jace was new in town, but had apparently scouted out a few places and had one of them marked for our night out, but was very sketchy on the details. As he’d lingered over the strawberry shortcake—another of the favorites he’d mentioned that I’d coaxed Nate, our line cook, into making—we had set the time, and he insisted on being in charge of the rest. And no matter how sweetly I asked, he wouldn’t budge and give me any more information. I’d gotten lost in the dance of the flirtation, and had waltzed around the rest of the day with a big, goofy smile on my face.

Even Patrice had noticed, and after putting two and two together, she’d teased me gently for the rest of our shift. I never acknowledged that she was right, but she was pretty smug about her pseudo-detective work, and didn’t believe me when I shrugged off her assessment that I’d fallen into “the bad boy trap.”

Over the past few weeks, Jace and I had gotten to know each other in scattered bits and pieces, and although I still felt like he was surrounded by a fog of mystery, I had a sense about him and didn’t fully buy into the bad boy vibe he was clearly trying to put out. I knew he was a famous tattoo artist from Chicago and that was good enough for me.

I’d resisted the urge to look him up online, and also tried to block out any gossip from anyone at the diner, choosing to figure him out for myself. I’d had enough gossip spread about me in my life to know it was rarely even close to the truth. When I was in high school, there was a nasty group of girls who spread it around that I was easy, even though I was still a virgin, and then, in an even more painful scenario, after Mitch and I divorced, there were rumors running rampant as our friends struggled to figure out what had happened and which side to take. Even though Mitch had been the one to cheat, somehow it had been spun—whether by Mitch, or someone else, I’d never know—that I’d been frigid, cold, and uncaring, and some even went so far as to say I’d been cheating as well.

Whoever Jace was, I would uncover it slowly over time, and that was fine by me. The last thing I wanted to do was rush into…well…
whatever
it was I was heading towards.

I pushed off the couch and after turning on some loud classic rock, I hopped into the shower, singing my heart out as the water rained down on me, letting all my fears, thoughts, and worries go as I got lost in the song.

When I decided I was
done
enough, I set aside all the brushes, sprays, and wands, and stepped back to give myself a final look over in the mirror. Despite the resolve that the evening was not a
date
—I had to admit, that I was certainly dressed for a date. I’d painstakingly chosen a dress that was form fitting enough to flatter my curves, but not tight enough to suggest anything. The top gave away a hint of cleavage, but nothing absurd, as I hadn’t gone so far as to put on a push up bra. My chestnut hair fell in loose waves around my face, and I was wearing just enough makeup to make my eyes stand out, but still look natural.

With another hour to go, I went back out to the living room, and stared. An almost lost feeling. As a single mom, there were very few times where I literally had nothing to do. I knew my mind was not going to be any use if I tried to do some homework, and other than that, everything was done. Part of me wanted to wander next door and see what Hilda was up to, but then I’d have to endure her endless questions and it would only leave me more rattled, so in the end, I grabbed a cup of tea and went out onto the balcony and caught up with old friends on social media, trying not to check the time every two seconds.

Finally, at six o’clock sharp, the doorbell chimed, and I just about jumped out of my skin, my body hot with a flush of nerves, as I smoothed my hair, dress, and adjusted my necklace, before going inside and answering the door.

“Wow, Kat, you look amazing!” Jace said, his face lighting up the second I opened the front door.

My cheeks warmed and I glanced down for a beat. “Thank you, you do too.”

And did he ever…he was wearing dark wash jeans, that were far from being hipster, but definitely tight enough to show off his well muscled legs. He was wearing a black leather jacket, unzipped to show off a deep red, almost burgundy tee underneath.

He was still staring at me, but brought his hand up and rubbed the back of his neck.

“Is something wrong?” I asked, suddenly startled. I looked down at my dress, making sure nothing was amiss.

“Well…I hate to ask you this but… can you change?”

My mouth opened, but nothing came out. Of all the things he could have said, that was the one thing I didn’t have a response to.

He smiled sheepishly. “Sorry, I know, what an asshole…it’s just, I brought my Harley and wanted to take you for a ride. I don’t think you’ll be comfortable in that dress.”

My hand patted the front of my dress, as though assessing whether or not he was right. “Well, we could take me car, instead? I don’t mind.”