Wicked Secrets (14 page)

You
.

I like you.

She’d never been one for jewelry. The military had strict rules on what was appropriate and what was not. She’d been limited to a simple pair of matched studs for her ears and a wristwatch. If she’d been married, she could have worn her wedding band and engagement ring, although sporting bling in the sandbox would have been dangerous.

“I don’t know.” How sad was that? “But nothing real.”

“Mia.” He exhaled roughly. “You have to be the first woman in history who prefers cubic zirconia.”

“There’s nothing wrong with being practical.”

“Should I surprise you?”

“Go for it,” she said.

But the funny thing was: he already had.

12

P
AINTING
 
HAD
 
BEEN
 
undeniably fun, even if she still had two bare walls. The memories kept Mia smiling right through the next day. She seemed to smile a lot around Tag. He’d gone back to his place that morning because he had his menagerie to feed. Meanwhile, Mia had a fixer-upper to wrestle into shape, not to mention a garage full of boxes from her mainland storage unit to tackle, so she should have been busting her ass.

But instead, she was sitting on her front porch, actually contemplating getting into the blue plastic kid’s pool she’d discovered in her new shed. Discovery Island had been hit with a late heat wave, and odds were high she’d melt before sunset. Laurel had also packed up and forwarded Mia’s stranded things from the cruise ship, military-care-package style...and had added a few bonus toys.
Sex toys for the rescue-swimmer hottie
, or so the handwritten note had said. Laurel had also included some lingerie the likes of which Mia had never seen before. Apparently, her cousin had been showered with a wedding-night bonanza—or had gone on a shopping spree—that ought to make Tag a happy man. Painting and patching paled in comparison to the fantasies she was cooking up.

Movement caught her eye, causing a momentary spike of adrenaline. Mia’s breath returned to normal when she realized it was Piper, Cal’s fiancée and the co-owner of Dream Big and Dive, striding up the path.

“How’s engaged life?” she asked, barely masking her mischievous smile. Mia had only met the young woman a couple of times, but she already liked her. Dani, Daeg’s fiancée, and Carla trailed behind Piper, waving paper grocery bags that looked suspiciously like they contained at least ten thousand calories of carbs and sugar.

Thank God.

“I haven’t killed him yet,” she deadpanned. That was a definite win in her book and underscored the wisdom of having a practice fiancé. When she got around to the real deal, she’d be prepared.

Not.

“Bonus points for you,” Piper said solemnly. “Cal and I make a point of fighting at least once a week. Plus, makeup sex is the best.”

Behind her, Carla made a face. Piper’s dive shop assistant manager was a hoot, and Mia looked forward to getting to know her better. When Tag had told her Piper and Dani knew the truth about their engagement, she’d worried they would be unhappy about the deception, but her worry had turned out to be unfounded.

Completely unfounded.

They simply wanted to convert her sham engagement into the real deal.

Carla waved a hand in protest. “TMI. All sex must be discussed in the abstract.”

Piper grinned, unrepentant. “You’re just jealous.”

“Absolutely.” Carla dropped her bag on the porch. “And I also have zero desire to look at Cal and think ‘He and Piper did it doggy style in the kitchen!’ For one thing, I’d never be able to eat at your place again.”

Mia looked over at Dani. “Is this a hypothetical situation, or did it actually happen?”

Dani threw up her hands. “I’m not asking because Piper here wouldn’t have any problem with
telling.
Don’t share anything with her that you don’t want broadcast all over the island.”

Piper stuck out her tongue, laughing. “I’ll bet you’ve got all sorts of amazing stories from working at Sweet Moon’s. Your grandparents’ motel is where everyone on the island goes when they want a little romantic time alone.”

Right. Time for a distraction.
Mia pointed to two shopping bags with her borrowed wardrobe on the front porch. “I’ve got your things clean and ready for you. Thanks for lending them to me.”

She’d had the rest of her stuff shipped in a PODS unit that had arrived yesterday from the mainland.

Piper peered inside. “Wow. You could totally start a laundry service. I’d be the first to sign up.”

So she liked things neat and tidy—those were admirable qualities. “I appreciate the loan.”

“No problem.” Piper grinned, eyeing the pool and the hose. “I think I came out ahead on this one. Are we having a pool party?”

Why not? An hour later, Piper had filled the plastic pool with the hose, and Mia had dragged out a cooler full of frozen drink pouches. She had both piña colada and peach daiquiri. Go her. She also made a mean tuna-fish sandwich and now they were lounging on her porch in bikinis, with their feet in the pool. It wasn’t a power lunch in suits, but there was plenty of laughter.

Carla stabbed her drink pouch with a straw, slurping happily. “So how did you really meet Tag? When you weren’t rescuing him from matchmaking old ladies, that is.”

She looked at Piper and Dani. “Carla knows, too?” Was there anyone who
didn’t
know?

“It’s hard to keep secrets,” Piper said apologetically.

“And I’m completely trustworthy,” Carla added.

Confession time. “We met in San Diego, when we both had leave. At a bar.”

There was no point in leaving out the gory details, right?

“He was a bar hookup? You rock.” Piper high-fived her.

“You should keep him,” Dani suggested.

Mia inhaled her drink and choked.

Piper whacked her on the back. “Not a good idea?”

“It’s a
fake
engagement. Hello. That means we’re not getting married. We’re not a couple.”

“Yeah, but you’re having real sex, right?”

Yep. She was blushing. She could ride in a Jeep with soldiers sharing the raunchiest sex jokes, but apparently she turned beet-red if the sex life in question was her own. Way to go, soldier. “Tag doesn’t want a fiancée.”

“He doesn’t
know
he wants one,” Dani countered. “He’s a guy, so he needs a nudge.”

“Are you matchmaking?” Because that was what had gotten her into this mess in the first place.

“Maybe.” Piper grinned unrepentantly. “We like you. We like Tag. See? Match made in heaven.”

“I was engaged before. It didn’t work out so well.” Possibly, she should check the alcohol content on her drink, because she had no idea where those words had come from.

“Do tell.” After producing a polka-dot bikini from somewhere, Piper had proceeded to commandeer the pool. She lay in the center, her legs sprawled over its plastic edge. With her big white sunglasses, she looked very Marilyn Monroe.

“Yeah.” Carla nudged Mia hopefully. “Take pity on us single girls and share. At the very least, give me the name of the bar so Deep Dive can import more single men from there. The dating pool on this island is pathetic.”

Before she could answer, however, a truck pulled up in front of the cottage, and Daeg and Cal got out. Piper abandoned her spot in the pool, plastering herself against Cal. Partly, Mia suspected, to get her fiancé soaking wet and partly to kiss him hello. Dani followed suit, winding herself around Daeg. Mia doubted her front yard had ever seen so many torrid kisses. Holy. Moly.

“We’re odd women out.” Carla sighed. “It’s disgusting, isn’t it? Let me buy you another daiquiri.”

Mia took the frozen pouch Carla pulled out of the cooler. Unlike Carla, she wanted
that
—the something she saw in Cal and Daeg’s faces when they looked at their fiancées—and
that
wasn’t something she could simply order into being.

“We’re thinking a Vegas wedding,” Piper said happily, when Cal let her come up for air.

“I didn’t get the memo this was a party.”

Her traitorous heart thumped, lurching into overtime. Tag strode up her garden path, looking rumpled and sexy. He’d brought more fix-it supplies, along with Ben Franklin, the boxer, who happily helped himself to a drink from the pool and then picked out a shady spot underneath a hydrangea. Cal pulled her into a one-sided hug, catching her hand in his. “You leave this finger bare too long, and someone might make a move on her.”

Daeg tugged her in his direction. “X marks the spot?”

“Sure and why don’t you all just pee on her yard?” Carla quipped, eliciting a chorus of groans.

Mia hopped into the pool, taking Piper’s abandoned spot. Screw it. She didn’t care if Ben Franklin had just used it as a water fountain. She was pretty certain there wasn’t a sink in her house Sam hadn’t drunk out of. Maybe the cold water would cool down her feelings for Tag.

Or not.

Keep him.

Like he’d read her mind, he set down his box of stuff and headed her way, pulling his T-shirt over his head. A pair of swim trunks hung temptingly low on his hips. She looked up—reluctantly—and over the hard lines of his abdomen. He grinned down at her, a sensual smile tugging at his lips. “Budge up.”

Her wading pool was hardly built for two. “No room at the inn. The ocean is to your right about a hundred yards. Try there.”

“Uh-huh.” He scooped her up into his arms before she could protest and dropped down into the pool, cradling her against his chest. “Jesus. That’s cold.”

“Baby.”

In retaliation, he dropped her into the water, but, since she ended up cradled between his legs, his arms wrapped around her middle while their friends catcalled and hollered encouragement, his penance was no penance at all. In fact, she rather suspected her heart was melting faster than her daiquiri in the sun.

13

T
HE
 
FERRY
 
BACK
 
to Discovery Island left in an hour. Tag had already bought the ticket and parked his truck in the growing queue. All he had to do now was pick up a ring before it was time to board. Conveniently, the drugstore nearest the pier had trays of inexpensive rings in the front window. The rings were cheerful and packed plenty of glitter.

He fought the urge to look over his shoulder like 007. The odds of anyone watching him duck into the drugstore for a fake ring were low. He could be in and out in under ten minutes, and it wasn’t like they had a real engagement. After all, she’d told him to buy cubic zirconia.

Doing anything else was stupid.

But they had something. He wasn’t sure what that something was, and he only had a few weeks left to explore it. He was an idiot, but he looked down the street anyhow, and, sure enough, the jewelry store was right where he’d noticed it when he’d driven his truck off the ferry earlier today.

There was really only one reason to buy a ring for a woman: because he wanted to. Despite their Discovery Island peanut gallery, the ring was for her. For them. But she’d wanted to keep it casual. They were friends with benefits, she’d said.

He just hadn’t expected his friendship with Mia to come with quite so many benefits. She was really hot in bed, although he’d known that for years. She was also funny and smart. She gave as good as she got, and he liked spending time with her. The fact he didn’t mind picking out a ring for her said it all. She was more than just a friend or a benefit.

Damn it.

He should go inside the drugstore, grab the biggest, cheapest cubic zirconia ring he could find, and hightail it back to Discovery Island. They’d have a good laugh showing it off to curious onlookers and play it up to the hilt fielding questions about price tags and size compensation issues. His reflection grinned at him looking like a crazy man.

Except...

He wanted to do something nice for her, even if she didn’t know about it. His feet were on board with the plan, turning and taking him down the sidewalk to the jeweler’s. He pushed open the door and stepped inside.
Jesus.
Not his kind of place. The shop was dull of froufrou glass cases and little velvet footstool things. Or maybe they were chairs. Hell if he knew.

The saleslady was already moving forward. “Can I help you?”

Yeah. I need a new brain
.

“I need a ring,” he said. “An engagement ring.”

She beamed at him. “Are you surprising someone?”

She had no idea.

“You bet,” he said gruffly.

The saleslady nodded as if he was Solomon the Wise and pointed him to one of those footstool things. “Sit.”

Okay. So it was a chair. He sat.

After ten minutes of looking at rings and pretending he had a clue, he was in trouble. Who knew engagement rings came in anything but small, medium or large? He could disassemble an M16 in seconds and fly a Blackhawk through a shit storm. The difference between marquise-cut and princess-cut, however, was beyond him.

He grabbed his phone and thumbed through his contacts. He needed a female. One with engagement ring experience and an inside line on Mia’s tastes. Maybe Piper could be his lifeline.

What does Mia like?

Then, in case Piper thought he was simply picking up sandwiches and not positively dying here, he added,
in rings
.

He poked a few rings while he waited for her response.

When it came, it was suitably enthusiastic.

Are you doing it? For real??!!!

I want to get her something nice
, he texted back, trying to be subtle.

The saleslady pulled another tray. The rings looked ridiculous in the palm of his hand, all delicate and ethereal. He had no idea how Daeg had managed this. Too bad he didn’t have a family heirloom he could pop out, but he was damned certain his mom was still attached to her rings, even though his dad hadn’t been the biggest prize.

“It’s hard to choose, isn’t it?” The clerk gave him a sympathetic smile. “Just look for the one that winks at you.”

He had no idea what she was talking about.

Classy
, Piper texted.
Simple. Elegant. Pick one.

A ring caught his eye, and he tugged it carefully out of its velvet nest. Some kind of pinky-gold, it had two rows of smaller diamonds like beads on a bracelet surrounding a big, round stone. He could imagine this ring on Mia’s finger. It was warm and beautiful, and it...winked?

“This one. I’ll take this one.”

* * *

M
IA
 
HAD
 
EXCELLENT
 
REFLEXES
. She caught the box Tag tossed her one-handed, without looking up from some spreadsheet she was working on. She’d brought order to the office, and he had a feeling she’d moved on to ordering him. Strangely, he didn’t mind.

“You throw things at me, sailor, and I have good grounds for a hostile workplace lawsuit.”

“It’s a gift, not a hand grenade.”

That made her look. “I know it’s not my birthday. I don’t think I’ve overlooked any major gift-giving holidays. Is it national secretary appreciation day?”

“Open it,” he said gruffly.

She stuck her tongue out at him, which just made him think about other things she could do with it. Things like kissing. It was all too easy to imagine her pretty pink tongue tormenting him. Like she’d done last night, after her impromptu pool party had broken up and he’d taken her back inside. The soldiers he’d fought with could drink a bar dry. Not Mia. Two of those frozen girly drinks, and she’d been buzzed. She was cute when she wasn’t quite sober.

He knew the minute she opened the box, because she froze and made a little noise he’d definitely never heard before. He didn’t know why he cared if she liked his ring or not. It wasn’t like they were really engaged, so he didn’t need to figure out her ring size or whether she was more traditional or modern. Hell. He hadn’t even known there were more than three kinds of engagement rings before his off-island visit had taught him rings came in all sorts of shapes and sizes.

The ring in the box was definitely a
large
and had cost him enough money to purchase a small car. A really, really good small car. But he’d looked at it in the jeweler’s case and imagined it on her finger. She deserved a real ring, even if she didn’t know it.

“It’s...nice.” She looked from the ring to him. “You’re not going down on one knee? Isn’t that how this is supposed to work?”

“You didn’t tell me getting down on bended knee was part of the deal,” he said. They had a fake engagement. If he’d gone and chosen a real ring, that was on him. When his phone buzzed, alerting him to a new email, he was glad for the excuse to look away as she took care of business, sliding the ring onto the appropriate finger.

His CO had sent him a status update. The team was meeting in San Diego in a week and a half. A week after that, they’d be deploying to South America.

“Thanks.” Mia gazed down at the ring adorning her finger and then closed the box, tucking it inside that massive thing she called a bag. He could have packed the contents of his deployment duffel in there. He had no idea what it was with women and their purses, but Dani always had a similar oversize suitcase hanging off her shoulder.

“No problem.” There was a moment of awkward silence, as if they both knew engagement rings required some kind of conversation. Probably he should have hit Cal and Daeg up for tips, although the pair would have teased him for the next twenty years or so.

“So,” she said, pointing to his phone. The diamonds in her ring flashed, and he almost thought she was sneaking peeks at the band. But that wasn’t Mia. Other than the handbag and the terrible taste in cocktails, she didn’t have a girly bone in her body. That was why this thing between them worked so well. “Work crisis?”

“My CO.” He didn’t want to go into the details, but, fortunately, Mia already knew the drill. After all, she’d been the one shipping out for years.

“Pickup details?”

“Yeah.” He could practically hear an invisible clock ticking down his remaining hours. Whatever this thing was with Mia, it was almost over. His replacement for Deep Dive would be arriving any day now, and he’d all but wrapped it up here. Restless, he got up and wandered out to the alley, where Daeg was rinsing off dive equipment. He had no idea what Cal was doing, but it seemed to involve leaning against the wall, watching Daeg work.

Cal looked up when he came out. “We got your replacement lined up. Sam Black will be here by Monday.”

He’d bring the guy up to speed, then he’d turn in his keys to his landlord and board the ferry. Packing would be a ten-minute job, since he’d pretty much been living out of a single duffel bag.

Daeg dropped a load of fins into the tank. “Did Dr. Dolittle find homes for all of his animal companions?”

Cal’s mother was taking the rabbit, and one of his sisters had fallen for Beauregard. Love at first sight, or so she’d claimed. The cat would be in good hands. The dogs...well, it turned out that Dani had a soft spot for them.

He flipped Daeg a two-fingered salute. “Congratulations. You’re now the proud papa of a boxer and a Chihuahua.”

In answer, Daeg turned the hose on him. “You need to stop rescuing so many damned animals or you’re never leaving the island.”

“People,” Cal said. “That’s his real problem. He rescues them, and then, two legs or four legs, he gets attached.”

“Duly noted.” Although rescuing Mia hadn’t exactly been a hardship.

“So, you’re good to go,” Cal said.

Right. Good to go. His CO had tapped him for mission-critical work. Had offered him a chance to make a damned difference in the world. Mia knew where they stood, and he’d shipped out dozens of times before. This time shouldn’t have felt any different. Shouldn’t have
been
different.

“Yeah. I’m ready to hit the road,” he agreed. Funny, though, how his head knew leaving was the right thing to do, but his heart hadn’t quite gotten the message.