Operation Date With Destiny (26 page)

No such luck. If anything it was only making things worse. He hadn
’
t even thought about going back to work—and that had happened…
never
before. And worse yet—when he
did
think about going back, he felt miserable because it meant he wouldn
’
t see her again. She
’
d go back to Neb
raska and he
’
d go…wherever the C
orps sent him and that would be the end of that and he
’
d become depressed
by
the thought.

This was not cool.
Not cool at all. Johnny Tupperoni didn
’
t let women dictate his life—he was a proud, card carrying bachelor and had vowed to always be one…if this was love—it sucked ass
,
big time.

Taking his fishing rod down to the beach near his cabin, he headed out to the edge of the rock cluster that dominated one end of the beach, spending a long time standing on the edge of the rocks, facing the loud crashing waves that continued to pound away crashing over the rocks below
,
reflecting his churned up emotions perfectly
.

He caught a movement from the corner of his eye and turned to see Maloney coming towards him. He didn
’
t feel like company right now—but then again spending too much time alone only made the thoughts in his head go around like on an endless loop, over and over again the same problems and no answers.

“
Women,
”
Maloney said after a while.

Tupper gave a rude snort, but continued to look far out to sea.

“
I know where you
’
re coming from. I understand why you want to protect her,
”
Maloney said quietly.

“
But you think she should come along?
”

Maloney shrugged his shoulders, baiting up his hook silently.
“
I can see her point
,
too. She
’
s a trained operative—she knows what she
’
s doing. But if that were Mercy I wouldn
’
t care about her training—when you love someone it blurs the lines of rational thinking.
”

Okay, so he wasn
’
t losin
’
his mind…this was normal.

“
So this is it
,
huh? She
’
s the one?
”

Tupper clenched his jaw—he didn
’
t want to face this…while it was still in his head he
could
live in denial a while longer.

“
I gotta
’
hand it to ya Tup—you don
’
t do anything by halves.
”

“
How do you figure that?
”

“
We always knew when you finally fell—it would be hard…and you can
’
t blame us for bustin
’
ya balls—you know you
’
ve given all of us hell over the last few years
. B
ut you had to go and pick a woman with more baggage
than a celebrity on vacation
and a teenage kid in the bargain as well…not to mention
Tre
’
ago
as a
father-in-law
.
Man
that really takes the cake.
”

“
Maloney—I don
’
t need this shit right now.
”

“
Yeah I know. Look…for what it
’
s worth, you don
’
t get a say in who you fall for, but you
do
get a say in whether you got the guts to stick around and make it work
,
or walk away and try and forget it. I guess you just have to make up your mind—
is
she worth taking on all that other stuff for?
”

“
Well how
’
d you do it?
”
Maloney had married Mercy even though she was carrying her ex
’
s baby. In all fairness neither of them knew she was already pregnant when they first met—but still…Tupper had wondered more than once if he could take on another man
’
s child like that.

Maloney shrugged.
“
I couldn
’
t imagine a life without her. It was a no brainer—they were a package deal.
”

The two men fished in silence for a while until the weather decided to turn and it was time to head back.

****

Tupper took a deep breath before he went inside the cabin, dreading he
’
d find her stuff gone and an empty bed. He walked into the bedroom and breathed a sigh of relief. Her pack remained in the corner although the bed was empty. His first instinct was to go down to the beach and find her—but he wasn
’
t sure of his reception, so he went to sit out on the front porch to wait
.

He spotted her walking along the
water
’
s
edge and kept his gaze fixed on her as she slowly made her way up the beach towards the cabin.
“
Hey,
”
he greeted her quietly when she stopped on the bottom step of the porch a little while later.

“
Hey.
”

“
I
’
m sorry,
”
he said rubbing a hand across his face wearily after a silence fell between them
. “
I know I acted like a jerk.
”

“
You weren
’
t a jerk… you were an
overbearing jerk
,
”
she told him darkly. But I shouldn
’
t have lost my temper like that,
”
she conceded.

“
I want to keep you safe—is that such a bad thing?
”

“
No…but it
’
s not your job. We don
’
t owe each other anything—remember? This was only a
temporary
arrangement. You don
’
t get a say in my life—and I don
’
t get a say in yours. Simple—no complications…
remember?
”
she
emphasized
again.

“
Yeah
,
well, sometimes things change. Things
could
change…if we wanted them too. I mean let
’
s face it—after all this is over, I can spend more time on the mainland and it
’
s not like you have anything holding you in Nebraska—it could work.
”
He saw her blink at him in surprise and a flash of panic cross
ed
her
face
and immediately
he
felt stupid.
Why the hell had he gone and said that? Idiot!

Her phone rang and broke the thick tension surrounding them and Tupper swore under his breath, unsure what he was angrier at—the interruption or himself.

“
He
what?
”

Her
panicked
tone instantly pushed away everything else
from his mind
and his gaze pierced hers, noting the
cloud of concern he saw there
.

“
I
’
ll be right there.
”
She shut the phone and shoved it in the front pocket of her jeans, her gaze holding his seriously.
“
Jackson
’
s missing.
”

“
What do you mean, missing? Where can he go
? W
e
’
re on a damn island.
”

“
I don
’
t know—that was Summer
. S
he was expecting him for dinner and he hasn
’
t shown up.
”

“
Calm down—he
’
ll be fine. He
’
s just gone for a walk or something and got himself lost. We
’
ll find him.
”

“
I should have stayed up at the damn house where I could keep an eye on him myself, instead of getting mixed up in all of…
this
,
”
she said waving her hand between them as they made their way along the track towards the main house at a fast pace.

“
Gee thanks,
”
he muttered. He wished he could just start the whole damn day over again.

“
Oh
please,
”
she snapped.
“
Don
’
t even pretend you
’
re all hurt. You were the one who was just after a quick vacation fling—remember? Don
’
t think I didn
’
t
realize
you were just hoping you
’
d get me out of your system so you could move on. You forget, Tupperoni—I know how you work. I
’
ve
seen
how you work. You
’
re a player.
”

“
Hey!
”
he snapped, turning her around to face him.
“
I may have avoided commitment in the past—but I was
never
a player! I always made sure every one of those women knew the score up front. There was
never
any promise of anything more than what it was. I
’
m not the cold hearted bastard you somehow think I am.
”

Pulling her arm away angrily, she continued walking.
“
Well that makes it all okay then doesn
’
t it
.
As long as you warned those women up front they couldn
’
t ever be more than a night of fun,
”
she snapped.

“
What the hell is wrong with that?
”

“
Nothing! Nothing
’
s wrong with that. Everyone knows where they stand…which is to say that they
’
re pretty much worth nothing.
”

“
What do you care anyway? I just tried to ask you to stay with me longer and you broke out in a cold sweat and started running.
”

“
My brother
’
s missing
,
”
she pointed out.

“
Yeah, timing couldn
’
t be better
.
”

“
Oh…
go sit on it, Tupper!
”
she fumed.

Tupper stopped and stared after her momentarily distracted by her flustered comeback.
“
Did you just quote Happy Days?
Seriously?
Happy Days?
”

Without turning around she threw her hand up above her head and gave him the finger, which only made him chuckle harder
.

He didn
’
t bother catching up to her—she was pissed enough at him without risking her kick his ass in the process. He had enough to try and sort through anyway. It was doin
’
his head in trying to work out exactly what had happened. She didn
’
t want a relationship with him—she wanted no strings...but she was pissed at him for doing exactly that with the women in his past?

The guys actually went ahead and married their women after putting them through all this shit?
Seriously,
Married
them?
They were nuts.

Chapter
Fifteen

God that man infuriated her
. She
’
d almost managed to get her head straight about him down on the beach—and not having seen him most of the day had been the longest they
’
d been apart in the last week…and damned if she didn
’
t miss him.