Her Vigilant Seal (21 page)

“What are you doing?” Mason asked.

“It’s what I do. I bake.”

Clint looked up from the computer. “Cherry pie?” he asked hopefully.

Two pies later Clint had answers for Sophia, which left her scared and confused. Then Mason took her into his arms and she knew it was going to be okay.

Mason was exhilarated. It was a perfect day. The sun was warm on his face. He’d worked up a head of steam playing with Billy. Now the boy was on the beach with Sophia, Mason could really cut loose. He pulled himself through the ocean on his board, paddling even harder feeling the burn in his shoulders and chest. Out of the corner of his eye he could see a large swell coming towards him. He jumped up the board, balanced, and everything receded. Just this one moment in time existed as he concentrated and grinned like a madman.

He balanced and flew, the water on his face felt glorious, the warm sky, the smell of the ocean and the cry of the gulls all coalesced together to make a perfect moment. He was in the tube, and it seemed to last forever. Even the crash into the water made him happy, today was nothing but joy.

Mason continued on for another hour before hunger had him heading for the beach, eager to see what Sophia had packed for a mid-morning snack. Then he started at a faster pace realizing he shouldn’t have left a hungry pre-teen boy with the food as long as he had.

“Oh my God, you should see your face.” Sophia laughed. He was thrilled with how carefree she sounded. It hit him, she was only twenty-two and she didn’t act like someone that young.

“Mason?”

“Huh?”

“Now you’re staring at me. Before you were staring at the picnic basket with the most woeful expression. What is going on with you?”

“Must be the sun.” He dismissed her concern. “Did Billy leave any food for me?” he asked, staring at the blond boy lounging next to his sister eating what looked like homemade strudel.

“Are you kidding, Mase? Soph made enough for an army.” Then Billy sat up and peered into the basket. “Well maybe not an army.” He reached in, and Sophia slapped his hand.

“You’ve had more than enough. I’ve seen you get carsick and I don’t want you throwing up in Mason’s truck.”

“That’s when I was a little kid,” Billy protested.

“Hell Billy, what’s a little puke between friends. But if you eat one more bite of this food I’m going to have to beat you.” Mason sat and put the basket between his legs, sorting through the contents. He found a bottle of water and he used it to wash down the breakfast burrito.

“God, this is wonderful Sophia. It is better than my favorite food truck near the base.” He loved it when she blushed.

“You eat at food trucks? That’s so cool.” Billy tried to reach towards the basket, and this time Mason slapped him away. Billy just grinned.

Mason grabbed a huge breakfast sandwich that had thick slices of grilled ham. He thought he’d gone to heaven. When the hell had Sophia had time to make this? They’d gotten up at the ass crack of dawn. This he ate a little more slowly and washed down with a bottle of orange juice.

“Wow, you’re fast. It took me almost a half hour, and you ate those in like five minutes.”

Now he felt his cheeks heat. He’d obviously been out on missions too damn often, when he needed to wolf down his food and be on his way. But he sure as hell wasn’t going to tell either of the Anderson siblings that.

“I guess I was hungry, plus you were eyeing the food too closely, Billy. I knew I had to eat or lose my chance.” Billy snickered. Sophia looked at him curiously. That woman was too smart for her own damn good. It was ten o’clock by the time they were making their way back to the house. His team was due to arrive at two.

****

Sophia’s plan was working perfectly. By the time Billy and Mason got out of their showers it was eleven.

“I want to get a couple of things baked for the horde before they get here. Can you and Billy do the Costco run without me?”

“Sure honey, but you owe me for bailing.” He came over and ran his hand over her hair and kissed her. “Guess you finally get to sit in the front seat Billy,” he teased.

“I’ll be right there, Mase.”

Mason gave Sophia a quizzical look, but headed out the door.

“What’s up, Billy?”

“How serious are you and Mase?”

Shit, she hadn’t been expecting that question.

“We’re dating.”

“Are you going to get married?”

Yep, hadn’t considered this at all.

“Billy, we’ve only been together for a little over a month. I can’t imagine Mason wanting to marry me.” She watched as Billy worked to digest her answer. He went over to the fridge and pulled out a sports drink. He put it on the island and fiddled with the cap.

“Soph, I don’t want you to be sad, okay? I know you’re having sex. So if you guys aren’t getting married you’ll break up, and you’ll be sad. I don’t want you hurt.” He abandoned the drink and came over to her and gave her a hug. It was then she realized he came up to her chin. When had he gotten so tall? So smart?

She kissed the top of her baby brother’s head and tipped his chin so she could look him in the eye.

“Mason and I love each other. I’m not sure where we’ll end up.” Sophia’s gut clenched. She couldn’t imagine a time without him in her life.

“I hope you get married. He’s a really good guy, Soph, you deserve someone really good.” He looked away and grabbed his drink and was out the door before she could say another word.

“Billy Anderson, I just met another really good guy today,” she murmured. She pulled out all of the ingredients she was going to need to feed the army of people who would be coming over. She didn’t have much time, since the DeLucas would soon be commandeering the stove and oven. She called Drake yesterday and let him know the time for the party was going to be two-thirty. Billy knew to stall Mason at the store so he came home at the same time. All of Sophia’s ‘food winnings’ should be here and ready by two o’clock. She had a cake and brownies cooling by the time the DeLucas arrived with their food.

“Sophia, can you help us unload the car?” Frannie asked.

“No problem.” When Sophia went to their station wagon she was amazed. There were four large pans for the oven, and five sauce pans. Then there were covered glass containers with tin foil. The entire back of the station wagon was packed full with food. She stood there.

“We’re Italian,” Tony said proudly. He handed her a warm pan and motioned her towards the house. Soon Margie’s ride pulled up in a Mercedes. Sophia wondered if her friend might be a boyfriend. She had her answer, he was. He was about Margie’s age and he immediately saw the dilemma and laughed. He started to pitch in, helping to clear out the station wagon, while introducing himself at the same time.

“I’m Mel,” he said to Sophia as he handed her another pan. “I belong to Margie.” Sophia was delighted with the way Margie blushed. He then handed Margie a light pan containing garlic bread.

“Here sweetie, you take this inside and then rest up. I’ll take care of everything else. You’ve been cooking up a storm.”

“I can help.”

“Now Margie, please let me do this for you.”

Margie opened her mouth to protest, but he planted a kiss on her lips stifling what she was going to say. By the time he was done she was looking a little dazed.

“All right Mel, but don’t think you can win every argument this way.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it, sweetie. But seriously, you deserve a break.”
Oh my
.

They walked into the kitchen and deposited their pans of food, and found the DeLucas hard at work.

“I love this kitchen, Sophia. Your young man has done a great job on his renovation,” Frannie praised.

“Where are we going to eat? The dining room isn’t finished,” Tony asked.

“We’ll be eating out back. He has a huge picnic table and I asked Drake to bring an extra table and chairs.”

“So you have a co-conspirator.” Margie winked. “I like that boy.”

“I hope not too much,” Mel said, as he patted a stool for Margie to sit down.

“I was going to help Frannie and Tony.”

“You’re going to sit and visit. Sophia and I will bring in the rest of the food and get to know one another.”

“Margie, you can ice the cakes now that they’ve cooled.” Mel gave Sophia a winning smile.
It took them four more trips to bring in everything from the DeLuca’s car and Mel’s Mercedes. There were pitchers of lemonade and sangria waiting for them by the time they were done.

“I’ll take lemonade for now,” Sophia said when Tony offered her a choice. She checked the clock over the stove and realized Drake would be over soon. He knew she’d invited some of her friends over, but he didn’t realize she’d arranged for the SEAL team to be fed. He thought it was the normal barbeque and beer.

Just then she heard Drake’s souped-up truck pull up into the carport. She rushed outside, not wanting him to see all the activity in the kitchen.

“Hey gorgeous, I brought some hired help to move this mother.” She giggled at the mound of table and chairs tied down in the back of the truck. There was no way she would have been able to figure out how to have fit everything, but it was all tied down neat and orderly. When she said as much, Drake grinned.

“Hell, they teach this damn the near the first day in the Navy. You can’t have things falling off the ship.” Clint was already carrying three chairs to the backyard.

“So what kind of surprise do you have planned for us? Does it have anything to do with the heavenly scents coming from the kitchen?” Drake asked.

“You’re just the hired help today. You get the table set up and I’ll bring out a couple of appetizers and some beer.”

“That sounds good to me. We did some physical training and I’m starved,” Clint said as he grabbed the last of the chairs. When she went back into the kitchen she found a plate of antipasto, and bruschetta waiting.

“Here’s the tablecloths, Sophia,” Frannie said as she handed them over.

“I need to get a couple of beers.” Sophia opened the refrigerator.

“Take the sangria and lemonade. We also brought some nice wines. The boys can have beer of course. But let them know that they have other options.”

“Beer will go great with my brisket,” Margie chimed in.

“She’s right about that,” Mel agreed.

Sophia grabbed the beers, took the table cloths, and made her escape while her friends argued the merits of different foods and beverages.

“Tablecloths? Just what are you feeding us?” Drake asked.

“Just shut up and help the woman. I get the feeling we’re in for a treat,” Clint said as he set the two beers down on the grass and helped Sophia spread out the material on the tables. She turned around as she heard two cars and a truck show up.

“Looks like everyone is on time. Do we get our food now?” Drake asked with a hopeful look.

“I fooled him!” Billy said as he bounded up towards Sophia. She looked at her brother who was once again acting like the boy she was used to. She looked up at Mason who was approaching at a slower pace. He was looking around with a warm smile.

“It looks like you’ve been busy.”

“I won at poker while you were away. Today I’m collecting my winnings.” The other men walked up and said hello.

“Hi guys, why don’t you have a seat and enjoy the appetizers. We’ll bring out the food and drinks. You don’t have to do a thing.”

“Oh hell no,” Drake said. “We’re going to help.”

“’You’ll do as the lady says,” Tony DeLuca said as he carried a huge pan of eggplant parmigiana to the table. “My name is Tony, and it is our honor to serve you. But all bets are off once the food hits the table.”

Frannie, Margie and Mel came next with more food. All of the men stood up as the ladies brought out plates of food. Tony introduced them. Then Mason introduced his SEAL team.

“I want to know more about this poker game Sophia said she won,” Mason asked.

“Never saw anything like it. Turns out Sophia doesn’t know how to bluff. She only bet when she had the cards to back herself up. By the time we all figured it out she had won.”

“So how is it we ended up with this great food?” Darius wanted to know.

“We play for food. Whoever loses has to make the other one dinner. Usually I win so Margie and Frannie make me their specialties. Because Sophia won, we all owed her a dinner. It was her idea to come down here and cook for all of you.”

Everyone was looking at her and she hated it. Mason realized it and took her hand underneath the table and gave it a reassuring squeeze. Some of the tension eased.

“Must have been beginner’s luck,” Finn said as he took a bite of brisket. He wiped his mouth and stared over at Margie. “Ma’am, this is to die for. I used to go to my grandmother’s house in Texas and she would serve brisket every Sunday, but it was nothing compared to this. Are you from Texas?”

“No, but my Mama was. She taught me. It’s all a matter of seasoning and slow cooking this on a low enough temperature so the meat falls off the bone. Now try some of my cornbread.” Sophia watched as each man gravitated to a different type of food, which pleased each of the cooks.

“Your team is nice.”

“They’re not being nice, they’re being real. This is amazing. Only you would think to do something like this. Billy never gave anything away either, I’m amazed.”

Sophia warmed under his praise. She looked around and saw how Margie and Mel were seated at one table with some of Mason’s friends, and the DeLuca’s were over here with Mason and the rest of the team. She loved that everybody was mingling.

“Can I get you something to drink or do you just want more lemonade?”