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“Ask Natalie to cut him off,” he said.
Jack snorted. “She did. An hour ago.”
“Then get him out of there,” he ordered. “Do whatever you have to do. But get him away from the bar. And then just listen to whatever he needs to say. His marriage is over and he’s trying to deal with the heartbreak.”
“What the hell do I know about broken hearts?” Jack protested. “Get your ass back here and listen to him.”
“I’ve been single as long as you have,” Cade said as the elevator opened and a pair of twenty-something twins walked out, eyeing him as if he’d said the magic word—single.
He focused on the wall straight in front of him. While that label still applied—and would for as long as he served in the Navy—this weekend he was attached to the woman he’d met last night. But he had a feeling “midfantasy fling” wasn’t a tried-and-true relationship term.
“But you’ve managed your dad’s broken heart for years,” Jack pointed out.
“Yeah, I’m a freaking expert on how military life wrecks marriages,” Cade said with disgust. “And speaking of my dad, I’m late to meet him.”
“Taking a break from Natalie’s sister?” his teammate teased.
“She’s at the spa.” Letting some stranger rub oil over her naked body.
With that mental image flashing in his mind, he glanced at the hall, tempted to march up to the desk and demand to know if a man or woman had been assigned to Lucia. The thought of another man running his hands over her…
He stepped away from the elevators. He shouldn’t care. After tomorrow, she could play the fantasy sex game with anyone she wanted.
Fuck me, I’m going to spend the next month, possibly longer, wondering who’s touching her.
His grip tightened on the phone. It was too late to avoid that particular hell.
“Natalie told me that if I talked to you, I should tell you to behave yourself,” Jack said. “So I have to ask, as your friend and one of the people responsible for saving your ass most of the time, are you getting into trouble?”
“I’m going to spend the next hour or so listening to my dad bitch about his failed marriage. If you ask me, I could use a little trouble.”
Just wait until I get to the Post-it note part of the evening.
“And a beer,” his teammate added.
“Well, I’m meeting my father at a bar, so I’ll take your advice. Go back inside, Jack. Get Dante out of there before he does something stupid.”
“I think that ship has sailed,” Jack said with a sigh.
Yeah, and I’m on it right beside Dante. Hell, if I follow those diagrams I drew for her on the beach, I deserve to be the captain of the damn vessel.
“I’m looking through the window,” Jack continued. “And I think our man just handed his phone to Natalie. And we both know he’s not showing her pictures from our latest mission.”
Cade closed his eyes, part of him glad he wasn’t in Coronado right now. “Get in there. Confiscate his phone if you have to.”
“I’m going,” Jack said. “You know the worst part of this mess? Natalie will blame me. She always does.”
Get in line.
Cade ended the call and got on the elevator. Jack was right. Cade had a window into Dante’s situation. As far as Cade knew, his mother had never had an affair. But he’d watched loneliness eat at her day after day. In the end, his mother had decided she couldn’t be married to a man who put his job first. And his father had refused to retire while he still had the strength and willpower to serve. The divorce papers labeled it “irreconcilable differences,” but Cade knew those differences could be summed up in one word—Navy.
At the end of the day, Cade admired the hell out of both his parents for being true to themselves. He just wished he hadn’t been caught in the crosshairs. First, living with his mother’s pain. And later, listening to his father mourn the relationship he’d given all he had to give to—even though it wasn’t enough.
And now his teammate had learned the same lesson. Their commitment to the teams didn’t leave enough space for anyone else.
The elevator door opened, and Cade headed for the bar by the casino floor. Set back behind velvet ropes, the place wasn’t exactly quiet. But it served decent beer on tap and would suit his father a helluva lot more than the hotel’s fancy wine bar. And it showed baseball on multiple flat-screen TVs.
He spotted his father, Calvin Daniels, perched on a leather bar stool. After twenty-two years in the Navy, fifteen spent with the SEALs, his father’s face had a weathered look. But he was otherwise in good shape. He kept his gray hair military-short and stayed fit by running and lifting weights. Cade figured his dad could probably bench almost as much as he could. Almost.
