Tempted by a SEAL (9 page)

“What?” From inside the bathroom, Lydia shouted the word at the closed door loud enough so her mother should hear.

“What kind of way is that to answer?” Even from the distance and through the wood door, the annoyance in her mother’s voice was evident.

Lydia drew in a breath and cracked open the door. Leaning forward, she stuck her head out. “Sorry. I’m in the bathroom.”

Her mother was halfway up the staircase, frowning at her. “Get finished and get downstairs as soon as you can. James is here.”

James. Whoopee.

Lydia resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “Fine. I will.”
 

She closed the door and scowled at her reflection. It seemed like the mysterious James was finally going to grace them all with his ever-elusive presence.

In spite of their mutual parents dating she’d never met him. Of course, she’d been away at school for a lot of that time, but still it seemed odd. Her mother had never even met him.

Her mother and his father had been together for months, close to a year before they eloped to Vegas like a couple of kids.

Joseph, aka step dad, had said that James was in the Navy. The excuse for his absence was that he’d been deployed for most of the year.

She supposed that made sense. Not that she had any personal experience with the military, but there seemed to be a lot of Navy bases in this area. At least it appeared so from the map she’d studied online when she’d been looking at the directions to drive here.

Still, she would think even the Navy would let the guys come home to visit family once or twice over the course of almost a year.

Maybe James felt as warm and fuzzy about this union between their parents as she did and he avoided visiting because of it.

If that was the case, then she understood exactly how he felt because she was of the same opinion about this late in life love of their parents.

The difference was, unlike James she’d sucked it up. Lydia put up with the older couple’s lovey cooing at each other. Their acting like they were teenagers dating for the first time.

She’d had dinners with them. She’d celebrated holidays and her mother’s birthday with the happy couple, all while she’d been the third wheel.

But not James. Nope. He was always conveniently absent.

Bastard.

Humph. She should take an extra long time in the bathroom. Make him wait to meet her the way she’d had to wait to meet him.

 
As she studied her reflection in the mirror above the sink more closely, Lydia realized she might not have a choice in the matter. She’d be in the bathroom awhile longer if she couldn’t get the bite-shaped bruise Mack had left on her throat covered with makeup.

The memory of how and when Mack had inflicted this particular memento on her skin gave Lydia a good dose of satisfaction.

She might have to be here today for this command visit. She might have to play nice with James. Be polite and civil even when she’d rather be bitchy, but she’d done what she’d wanted to last night.

There was nothing her mother, or her new stepfather, or this James person could do to take that away from her.

Even so, she’d rather not have her personal life on display for the whole family to see at Sunday brunch—even if it wasn’t a family of her choosing.

She leaned in and angled her chin to better inspect her throat. The discoloration was visible but just barely.
 

Another swipe of cover-up, patted into place, and she decided this was as good as it was going to get. She knew the hickey was there, so of course she could see it.

Hopefully, no one else would notice.

Lydia considered dragging her feet a bit longer to spite James even if he wouldn’t realize that was why she was taking so long getting downstairs.

In the end, the only person she’d end up annoying would be her mother. Lydia figured she would pay in one way or another for her mother being angry with her. It wasn’t worth the trouble for such a small spiteful victory over a man who wouldn’t even know she was doing it.

Sighing, she shot one more glance at the mirror before tossing the makeup into her purse. She opened the door and flipped off the light.

She’d changed in the bathroom of the fast food place where she’d picked up a coffee since she’d had her overnight bag with her. She really had intended on spending the night here last night . . . before Mack had changed that plan.

It was just a brunch, so she’d packed a plain long-sleeved knit dress and leather knee-high boots with a medium-sized heel. The burgundy dress and the black boots were perfect for the crisp but sunny late autumn day.

More importantly, the dress clung to the right curves but hid the wrong ones. Not that she should care how she looked today. She definitely was not out to impress the almighty James.

Now if Mack had been here . . .
that
would be another story.

“Ah, I hear footsteps on the stairs. Here comes Liddy.” Joseph’s voice greeted her before she’d descended the final steps.

“Oh, good. James, I can’t wait for you to meet Liddy.” Her mother’s voice came right on the heels of her new husband’s, as usual since the two were inseparable.

She heard her mother long before she dumped her purse on the chair in the foyer and turned the corner into the living room.

Lydia drew in a breath and braced herself, part for the overwhelming sickening sweetness of her mother’s new love and part to meet James.

She’d been an only child for twenty-two years and very happily so. She didn’t need or want a stepbrother at this point in her life.

The rant was playing on repeat in her head as she rounded the corner and froze.

Mack stood in the far corner of the living room, one elbow leaning on the piano. The other was bent as he held a beer bottle.

The bottle stopped half way to his mouth, but other than that he didn’t react.

At least, not how she did.

Lydia tripped to a stop and grabbed for the doorframe. She was pretty sure her mouth had been hanging open from the moment she saw him there, but she didn’t notice until she had to close it to swallow.

“Um, hi, James.”

What else could she have said? Mack had to be James. There was no one else in the room other than her mother and Joseph. Joseph MacIntyre.

She nearly smacked her own head. James MacIntyre was Mack.

It made perfect sense, but jeez it was one hell of a shock. Not to mention a huge coincidence. But she couldn’t think of that now because holy shit she’d spent the night having sex with her mother’s new husband’s son.

Her mother and new stepfather couldn’t know. Nope. Never ever ever. She’d take this secret to her grave.

The question was, would he?

She dared to glance up at Mack. He was smirking as he stepped forward toward her. Closer and closer as he crossed the room.

Finally, he was in front of her. She raised her eyes to meet his and saw the amusement in his eyes as he said, “Liddy, is it?”

“Um, yeah. But I prefer Lydia.”

He tipped his head slightly to the side. “Yeah, I prefer Lydia too.”

She heard deeper meaning behind the deceivingly simple statement. Something her mother and his father wouldn’t hear or understand.

She imagined he was saying he’d rather be with Lydia, the wild woman she’d become last night with him, rather than Liddy, the good girl who had to behave in front of her mother.

To his credit, he handled the surprise just fine. Better than she was. Mack rolled right along with the deception that they didn’t know each other.

Smooth as silk, he had slipped into the ruse. As if he hadn’t been soaping up her naked body in his shower just a couple of hours ago.
 

The man was an excellent liar. In this instance, while under the watchful eyes of the two parents in the room, him being good at deception was helpful.

In general, not so much. No woman wanted a man that skilled at lying.

But there was one thing he wasn’t hiding very well from her. That was that he was remembering their night together too.

With his back to their mutual parents, he dropped his gaze down her body.

If she wasn’t crazy, she saw the admiration in his glance as he took in her outfit, before he brought his focus back to her face. “You can call me Mack.”

A sly smile she couldn’t control broke out. “Nah. I like James.”

He rolled his eyes but she didn’t miss he was amused as he raised his beer bottle to his mouth.

Lydia glanced past him and found the eyes of their parents on them. They were under scrutiny, but perhaps she could use that to her advantage.
 

“So, James, considering our parents have been attached at the hip for so long, it’s surprising we never met before this weekend.” She crossed her arms and waited for his answer.

They might have met last night, rather than this morning as their parents believed, but she still wanted to know where the hell he’d been the rest of the year. He had some explaining to do.

He lifted his brows at her verbal challenge. “Not so surprising, actually. I’ve been out of the country.”

“James is in the Navy,” her mother chimed in. “Remember? We told you that, Liddy.”

“Yes, so you’ve said. But I have friends at school who have family members in the military and they come home often. All the time.”

With all the nonchalance of a man who wasn’t about to rise to her provocation, Mack lifted one shoulder. “Luck of the draw, I guess.”

“I guess.” Lydia nodded, not quite believing that.

“So, are we all ready to eat?” Joseph stood up. “Your mother has been cooking for days, getting ready.”

That seemed to pique Mack’s interest. He turned to face his father. “We’re not going out for brunch?”

“With how good Laurie cooks? Oh, no.”

“Aw. Thanks, love.” Lydia’s mother cooed. She slid her fingers into the crook of Joseph’s elbow. “Come help me get the food on the table?”

“Of course. My pleasure.” The older version of Mack beamed down at his new wife.

“Thank you, my love. So sweet. Isn’t he, Liddy?”

“Yes, mother. Incredibly sweet.”

“You two stay here and get acquainted while Joseph and I get brunch together. We’ll call you when it’s ready.”

“Don’t come in before. You might walk in on me treating my bride to a big thank you in the kitchen.”

Her mother’s eyes widened. “Joseph. Stop. The kids are here.”
 

Joseph laughed and the two giggled their way out of the room.

Lydia scowled, stifling the urge to gag at the display, until Mack’s smirk caught her eye. “What?”

He lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “Nothing. Just interesting, is all.”

“What’s interesting?” she asked.

“You mean besides the strange coincidence that made what we did together questionable, if not illegal?” His lips twitched.

Annoyed at his teasing, Lydia crossed her arms. “Yes, besides that.”

“That you seem to feel the same way I do about this ill advised, spur of the moment marriage of theirs.”

She planted her hands on her hips. “Why is it ill advised? Is my mom not good enough for your father?”

“I didn’t say that. I said ill advised because it came about so quickly. I’d never even met her until today.”

“That’s your own fault. I’ve met him plenty of times. It’s been almost a year. If you wanted to have met her, you could have come home.”

It was hard to believe she was defending this marriage when she felt the same way he did.

Mack was right. It had come about too quickly. And too soon after her own parents’ divorce.

But she was allowed that opinion. He wasn’t.

She’d been here through the whirlwind courtship. He hadn’t. She’d be damned if Mack would get away with saying anything negative about the marriage or her mother. He hadn’t earned the right.

He shook his head. “No, Lydia, I really couldn’t come home.”

“Because of the Navy.” This time Lydia didn’t control the impulse and did let herself roll her eyes.

“Yes.”

His calm only ramped up her agitation. She let out a snort, which had him smiling.

“What’s really wrong here, sweetheart?”
 

“I’m not sure I like your attitude toward my mother.”

He let out a short laugh. “We’re in what has to be the oddest situation I’ve stumbled upon in my life and that’s what’s bothering you? Not that you and I spent all of last night getting sweaty together only to find out our parents are married to each other? Not that we’re pretending to not know each other at all, when in reality I know you very well—inside and out.”

Lydia’s cheeks burned as the blood rushed to them. “Shh. They could come back in here at any second.”

“I’ll hear them long before they make it half way down the hall. Believe me.”

“Oh really? How? You have some sort of super sailor senses?” She snorted.