Wyne and Dine (Citizen Soldier Series Book 1) (14 page)

“Hello-o-o,” Keiffer said under his
breath as a pretty, light-haired woman she recognized as Caitlin, Shayla’s
younger sister, stepped off the jet.

“Down boy,” Ben warned. “These are
Brandi’s friends. No messing with them.”

Mischief danced in the younger
brother’s eyes as he cracked a smile. “Oh, you mean like you and Lea. Got it,
bro.”

Ben clenched his jaw, but didn’t
respond as the new arrivals waved.

Lea rushed forward and met Brandi
halfway, hugging her friend close. “You’re finally here.”

“I know. And I’m finally getting
married.” Brandi squeezed her tight and cried, which made Lea cry, then she
turned and went on to hug each of the girls.

God, it felt good to belong without
trying. To be appreciated without having to push herself on someone.

When they broke apart, Jordan
McCall smiled at her. “Wow, girl. Is there a reason you’re not modeling
alongside your sister? Look at you with your long black hair and vivid blue
eyes. Can you say Elizabeth Taylor? Oh, wait, no. I’ve got it. You’re the
female version of Kevin.”

Everyone stopped with the
handshakes and hugs, and hit her with their gazes. The invisible force nearly
knocked her backward, but she managed to remain still. She couldn’t stop the
damn blush for reaching her face, though. “No. I’m just the bookworm.”

“What a coincidence, I love books,
too. It’s nice to finally meet you in person, darlin’.” The blue-eyed cowboy
rushed closer to give her a quick hug, while a cute little mini-version of
Shayla, she knew to be Amelia, clutched his neck. “Jordan’s right. If I didn’t
know my father better, I might question if we were related.”

He did have a point. Now that she
could see Kevin Dalton up close, they did share similar features like the same
color eyes, dark eyebrows and hair, high cheekbones. 

“No, she’s not a pain in the rear,
like you.” The groom-to-be elicited snickers from the crowd while he pulled her
into a hug. “How are you, Lea? It’s good to see you again.”

“You too, handsome.” She smiled,
drawing back to gaze into Kade Dalton’s amazing gray eyes. “Did you have a good
flight?”

He released her to drop his arm
around Brandi’s shoulders. “Yes, we had a great flight. The pilot is flying
back tonight so he can bring the rest here tomorrow.”

“The rest?” Keiffer frowned as he
glanced at the crowd. “You mean there’s more?”

Brandi laughed. “Yes. Mr. and Mrs.
McCall. Mr. and Mrs. Masters. Jen, Brock and Cody, plus two of Kade’s guard
buddies, Jace and Tanner.”

“The Gulfstream only sits sixteen,”
Cole McCall explained, nodding to the jet. “So we broke it up between two
flights.”

“Well, we would’ve had room had you
gone with my suggestion, bossman,” Kevin said, slipping his arm around Shayla,
who now held a smiling Amelia in her arms. The picture the young couple made of
a happy family wasn’t lost on Lea. She knew from Brandi that their journey
hadn’t been an easy one. It was gratifying to see them so happy.

“Yeah.” Cole’s gaze was warm and
tolerant as he drew Jordan’s back against his chest and smiled over her head at
his friend. “I think there are safety laws against having the women sit on our
laps during flight, buddy.”

“Too bad,” Connor McCall, Cole’s
brother and the tallest cowboy, spoke up, hugging his wife Kerri at his side.
“I thought it was one of Kevin’s better ideas.”

“Thanks,
McMoose
.” The
dark-haired cowboy nodded. “I appreciate it.”

As Lea watched the interaction, it
struck her how well the cowboys and their women fit together. How comfortable
they were with each other. How well Brandi fit in with the Texans.

Pain banded around her heart and
squeezed. She was beginning to understand how her friend could leave the people
she loved and the place she grew up and move so far south. Because she’d found
her
happy
. A place where she fit, doing what she loved with the man she
loved. Brandi and the other women appeared complete. But not because they had a
man in their life’s that they loved and who loved them back, no, the women were
complete because they found themselves. They were at peace with themselves.

Who wouldn’t move to the ends of
the earth for that?

She certainly would.

Her gaze was inexplicably pulled to
Ben’s, and she sucked in a breath when she found him watching her. He’d greeted
the Texans, joked with his sister, made the appropriate comment here and there,
but she could sense he was off balance. Out of whack, and her heart squeezed
because she had no idea how to help him. How to make him happy, other than
sexually.

Whatever was eating away at his
laid-back nature needed to be stopped.

Now, if she could just figure out
what was eating at hers…

T
wo hours later, the
guys were all off on some sort of outdoor adventure with Tyler, Cody and Amelia
while Lea and the women enjoyed their spa appointments. There had been no need
to try on their bridesmaids and maid-of-honor dresses because the others had
gotten fitted in Texas. A bridal shop in town had carried the same dress, so
Lea had been able to have hers fitting locally. They were all set.

The thirty minute relaxing massage
she’d passed on last weekend was pure bliss and had almost put her to sleep.
But the eyebrow waxing woke her right up. It was as if they’d yanked two
caterpillars off her forehead. She had no idea how a woman endured waxing in
other delicate areas. One pull down there and her screams would’ve been heard
clear up into Canada.

“Thanks for setting all this up,
and our New York City trip tomorrow,” Brandi said as they all sat their newly
manicured and pedicured bodies on the private residence deck and enjoyed a
class of wine or two in the late afternoon sun.

She reached next to her and
squeezed her friend’s hand. “You’re welcome. I just want you to have the
perfect time. You deserve it.”

“Okay, you’re going to make me cry.
Cut it out.” Kerri sniffed and the others nodded.

Brandi shook her head and squeezed
her hand back. “If anyone deserves it, it’s you. Between putting your life on
hold and moving back home to take care of your dad, and the restaurant, and
your pain-in-the-ass friend’s wedding arrangements, you must be exhausted,
hun.”

“No.” She smiled and released her.
“I’m good.” And she meant it. Mostly. “Your brother has done more setting up
than I have.”

“He’s used to coordinating drills
and trainings. He’s practically a producer for the Army.” Brandi laughed.
“Helping me put together a wedding was something he could’ve done in his
sleep.”

“Speaking of something he could’ve
done in his sleep,” Jordan said, gaze fastened on Lea. “How goes things with
you two?”

“Yeah.” Shayla leaned forward.
“Every time he glanced at you, he had this, I don’t know, strange, sad look in
his eyes.”

Her heart rocked. God, she didn’t
want him to be sad.

“I noticed it, too,” Kerri said.

Even Caitlin nodded. “So did I.”

“No more action on the blue
negligee front?” The long-haired sheriff sipped her wine and studied her.

Lea laughed, but it sounded sad
even to her ears. “Not that I’m aware of.”

Her best friend with sun-kissed
brown hair and warm brown eyes reeled back and frowned. “What does that mean?”

“I no longer have it.”

“You don’t? Why?”

“Because, when we were getting
ready to leave the colonel’s house that first weekend, I kind of stuffed it
into Ben’s duffle bag.”

Amongst the coughing and intakes of
breath, Jordan’s laugh could be heard ringing the loudest. “Oh my God, I love
you,” the woman gushed.

“So, Ben has your nightie?” Brandi
asked, then shoved a hand over her smiling mouth when Lea nodded. “Oh, what I
wouldn’t have given to have seen his face when he first discovered it.”

“Me, too,” she mumbled around a
gulp of wine.

The dark-eyed chef leaned forward.
“He hasn’t said anything or returned it?”

“Nope and nope.”

Jordan’s smile widened. “You have
him, honey. All you have to do is reel him in.”

“No, I don’t.” She shook her head
as she poured more wine. “No one has Ben. Ever.”

“Maybe in the past, but considering
the way he looks at you, that is no longer true,” the redhead stated.

Maybe she didn’t need another
glass. All the wine was going to her head. She could’ve sworn the girls were
telling her that Ben was stuck on her. A laugh escaped. “The guy is too afraid
to let go long enough to enjoy a few weeks of just sex. He is certainly not
going to let himself fall for anyone, especially me.”

“Why not you?” Caitlin asked,
eyeing her over her barely touched wine.

Lea blinked. “Because I’m not
staying. I’m going to be working in New York soon…I hope.”

“You will.” Brandi patted her leg.
“Have you sent out your resumes yet?”

She shook her head.

“Why not?”

“I was waiting to talk to my dad’s
physical therapist yesterday to see when she felt he’d be able to go back to
work.”

“And…?”

“She said he was doing well, and
she saw no problems with him going back to Gabe’s for light duty by the
beginning of November.”

“That’s terrific. So did you send
them out?”

“No. Not yet.”

“Why not?” her friend repeated.

Truthfully, she had too much on her
plate right now, between her dad, the wedding…her sister driving in tomorrow
for the wedding. Yeah, too much to deal with, but nothing she could admit to
Brandi.

She conjured up a smile and hoped
it read true. “Because my best friend is getting married, and I’m too busy
enjoying that and everyone’s company right now.” She shoulder bumped Brandi.
“It’s on my Monday’s to do list.”

Yes, she’d definitely start
answering ads and sending out resumes next week.

“Okay.” Her friend smiled. “Good. I
just don’t want you to miss out on your dream, hun.”

“I know. And I won’t. I’ll send
them out next week. I promise. Now, enough about me and my limbo life. This is
your time, your weekend. It’s all about you,” she said, then raised her glass for
a toast. “So, here’s to Brandi. May you have the best life. The happiest life.”

“I already do.” Her friend sniffed
as she clinked everyone’s glasses then drank.

And Lea was more than happy to
return the attention where it belonged. On Brandi. Her friend was the one with
her life pulled together and complete. And it had been a long time coming.

That was worth celebrating in Lea’s
book.

T
hursday evening, Ben
sat at one of the tables at the bachelor party he helped Kevin set up for Kade
in one of the small banquet rooms at the resort. Brandi’s bachelorette party
was going on down the hall in a similar room. Every once in a while, music and
laughter could be heard over their own entertainment, which consisted of poker,
chicken wings and pizza, and drinking beer.

Best damn bachelor party he’d ever
attended.

Stripers and porn were highly over
rated.

“I have to admit, I was a little
relieved to hear you’d helped my cousin set up this party,” Kade said, sitting
next to him.

He waved his beer at the room. “Kevin
supplied me with the itinerary, and I supplied the goods.”

“And there are no stripers or porn
involved?” Connor asked, looking a little green.

Ben nodded. “None.”

“I have to admit, Kevin, even I’m
surprised.” Cole slapped his friend on the shoulder and smiled. “You all belly
dancered
out?”

“As you may recall, I wasn’t the
one who had danced belly-to-belly with Charity. Isn’t that right, cuz?” Kevin
stared pointedly at the groom-to-be, then quickly glanced at Ben and his
brothers. “This was way before he and Brandi got together.”

“Yeah.” Connor nodded. “Right after
he’d gotten back from deployment. Sort of a relieve the tension kind of thing,
if you know what I mean.”

Keiffer clinked his glass with
Kade. “Heard that.”

Then Mason, Jace, Tanner and Ethan
all followed suit.

“Relieving tension is good,” Ben
said, bumping his glass off Kade’s.

He was antsy, and tense, and
annoyed for no reason, and was finding it difficult to just sit there and shoot
the shit about it. The unusual behavior made no sense. He had no idea of the
cause, therefore he had no cure. And that only added to his tension. He put out
fires. Acted on issues. Came up with solutions to problems.

So, why the hell couldn’t he fix
himself?

“Maybe you should’ve gotten that
belly dancer for Ben,” Keiffer said, raising his beer in a salute.

Ah, hell
, when was the idiot
going to learn to keep his mouth shut. Now the guys all stared at him.

“Oh boy, who is she?” Kevin asked,
leaning back in his chair. “The gorgeous maid-of-honor by chance?”

“That’d be her,” Keiffer answered,
apparently asking for a punch to the face.

He curled his hand into a fist, but
kept it on the table. “Shut it, Keif.”

“See? He won’t even talk about
her.” His younger brother shook his head and continued as if he wasn’t there.
“The idiot has the opportunity to enjoy himself with the best woman he’s ever
known—beautiful, smart and funny—and he’s blown it.”

“Really? You and Lea?” Ethan tipped
his head to stare at him. “Seems I’ve missed a lot the past two weeks taking
guests up on the mountain.”

“Yep. They’ve had sex, so now he’s
all freaked out.” Keiffer glanced at Ryder and had the decency to look
contrite. “Sorry, man. I keep forgetting she’s your sister.”

“No worries. It’s like I told Ben
last week, I stay out of my sisters’ love lives, and they stay out of mine.”

Yeah, Ryder told him that
after
Ben’s face met his friend’s fist in the back of Gabe’s parking lot once Lea had
gone back inside. Now, they were good again; at least, they were until Keiffer
open his big fat mouth.