CO’s daughter had her eyebrow raised and seemed to be focused on something, or rather someone, just past his shoulder.
“Did I hear you say you’re dating her?” She pointed a red fingernail toward Mari.
“Do you have a problem with that?” Mari said. Her acidic tone very nearly made him chuckle.
Knowing a cue when he heard one, he quickly stepped aside and grabbed her hand. It was so small in his, and her skin was silky smooth against his calloused mitts. He raised Mari’s fingers to his lips and kissed them. “Calm down, babe. This is my CO’s daughter, Carissa. The boss’s daughter.”
“Oh. Ohhhh.” She smiled and then shook her head. “I’m so sorry. Hi, I’m Marigold McDaniels. You have to forgive me. My man is so handsome that I always have to be on alert to discourage women from throwing themselves at him. It gets annoying after a while. But he’s a sweetheart, and I’m maybe just a little bit the jealous type. At least, when it comes to Brody.”
Mari might win an award some day for this performance.
For once Carissa seemed speechless, but still, she recovered quickly. “Funny that he’s never mentioned you.”
“That’s my fault,” Mari said. “It’s so new between us, and I got out of a really bad relationship not that long ago. Like horrifically bad. So we haven’t been telling people, until, well, today. We just ran in to my ex.”
“Awkward,” Brody said in a singsong voice. That didn’t sound like him at all; it caught him off guard. Maybe he’d be the one winning the award. And if this charade of theirs kept the CO’s daughter from hitting on him in the future, he’d owe Mari for life. “I kind of wanted to punch his lights out for hurting my Mari.” That part was true. He’d never wanted to smack a guy so bad. “But at the same time, if he hadn’t been so dumb, Mari and I would never have met.”
“Huh.” Carissa gave them a weak smile. “Well, my dad will be glad to hear you’re putting down some roots finally. In fact, you should bring her to the picnic on Saturday. It will be good for you to socialize, get to know more people. Dad’s still trying to build camaraderie and teamwork hopefully by bringing folks together off base,” Carissa said to Mari. “He’s mentioned several times that Brody seems to be a bit of a loner.”
Why would the boss be discussing him with Carissa? Brody wasn’t happy to hear that.
He’d forgotten about the team-building events. He didn’t understand why simply doing the job wasn’t enough anymore. They were Marines. Being smart and self-reliant were the important qualities to have. Not worrying about connecting with others and all that stuff. You interacted with one another, sure, but everyone had to focus and do their own job.
He glanced down at pretty Mari. Shoot. The last thing Brody needed in his life was a woman. A relationship only meant complications. Once you cared about someone—
“Babe, you promised we could lay wood,” Mari said, with a giggle and a sexy smile on her lips. Parts of his body reacted. This woman was definitely dangerous if merely her laugh could make him hard. “Sorry. What I mean is we’re supposed to put the wood floors down on Saturday.”
He gently tugged her ponytail. “You’re a bad, bad girl.” She was funny and quick, as well as beautiful. Yep, a wicked combination. “I always keep my promises, but maybe we can figure out how to do both.” He leaned down and kissed her cheek. He had to, she smelled so good, looked so good and...right, Carissa was watching. He knew there was another reason. He admitted it was hard to think when Mari was smiling up at him like that.
“You’ve got that look again.” She rolled her eyes. “But I can never tell if you want food or—”
Her. Naked. In his bed.
What was that? His imagination was in overdrive.
Food. He needed to eat, or maybe it was the headache. It was causing him to hallucinate.
“You. Babe, when it comes to a choice between food or you, it’s always going to be you.”
“Uh, right. Well, I believe that’s the sign for me to leave,” Carissa said, “but you two might want to get a room. The grocery aisle isn’t the place for that sort of thing, and I’m pretty open-minded. So we’ll see you both on Saturday.” With that she sauntered off.
Finally. He relaxed. But then he realized he was still holding on to Mari’s shoulders. He reluctantly let go.
“That was fun. We should start a theater group or something.” She chuckled.
“It was. Thanks for coming to my rescue. She’s been asking me out since I arrived at the base. I do a lot of stupid stuff, I confess, but messing around with the CO’s daughter is not on the list.”
“I can tell she’s used to men saying yes, so you must be quite the challenge. She’s superattractive, though.”
He shrugged. “Not my type. You have no idea how grateful I am to you right now. She’s too much, a real piece of work.”
“I should be thanking you,” Mari said. “In fact, let me make you dinner. A man cannot live on tortilla chips and salsa alone.” She pointed at his cart. “And I was making tacos anyway. We could combine our resources and have a great meal.”
A home-cooked meal didn’t sound so bad. It had been a while. He could cook, but doing it for one person always seemed a waste.
Though sharing a meal with Mari might not be the best idea. In just the few minutes they’d spent together, he’d become very attracted to her. And that was not a good thing. Better to let her down easy. “You don’t have to do that, we helped each other out.”
“I know, but I want to and I...” She stared down at her feet as if she were afraid to say whatever was coming next.
“What?” he asked.
“I have a proposition for you.”
Brody nearly choked. Had he stepped right into another messy situation? Granted, Mari was sweet, but the last thing he needed was to potentially ruin his relationship with a neighbor.
Tell your dick that.
True. He should be alone. Still, that didn’t keep him from asking.
“What kind of proposal?” Intrigued, he followed her to the checkout counter. He only had a few of the items he’d planned on buying, but his curiosity was piqued and the rest could wait.
She bit her lip. It was adorable and sexy. “I need to work it out in my head first before I tell you. So come over for dinner in an hour and I’ll explain. Bring your chips and salsa. I’m about to rock your world with some of the best tacos you’ve ever had.”
She winked at him.
Everything about her was fun. He should lighten up. Besides he couldn’t resist her offer without looking like a complete jerk. Not that he couldn’t be a hard-ass, just ask the men and women he commanded. No doubt his face was used as target practice on dartboards all over the base.
“That’s a pretty big claim. Tacos are one of my main food groups.” It wasn’t a lie. He had them three or four times a week.
