“Jasper!” I hiss.
With leisure, he closes the menu. “Do you remember the night we met?”
Of course I remember. Every detail of that magical memory is burned into my brain. The live band playing on a stage beside the water. The strings of white lights above the outdoor bar. The soft caress of dusky darkness. The intoxicating aftershave that wafted to me when Jasper sat down on the barstool next to me. “Yes, I do. You left out something very important.”
“Do you remember the first thing you said to me?”
If you’re a military guy, turn around and walk away now.I give a subtle nod, staring at my sweating glass of ice water because a simple locked gaze makes me all melty inside nomatter how pissed I am. My dry throat demands a swallow, so I take one.
“If I had listened to you, the whole weekend would never have happened.” Jasper leans over the table, lowering his voice. “I couldn’t stand the thought of never having met you. Of never kissing you. Of never?—”
“I get it!” I hold my hand up in surrender, turning more than a couple of heads. Dammit. So much for being inconspicuous. I abandon the idea of dessert, suddenly desperate to get away before I lose the willpower to try. I scoot my chair back, pretending I don’t have a death grip on the edge of it. “Contrary to what my dad thinks, Idohave work to do tomorrow.”
“Then we work.”
“There is nowe,” I correct.
Jasper stands, reminding me of his height. Of the way my head once tucked so easily against his chest. “I’m a brave man, Vanessa. But even I’m not brave enough to defy your father’s wishes.”
“That didn’t stop you four years ago.”
He presses a hand to the small of my back, ushering me toward the exit. My stupid body reacts in a way it hasn’t in years. It takes every ounce of strength not to melt into his touch. Not to lean against him and relive a very pleasant memory. “I wasn’t the only one lying back then, sweetheart.”
“I—” Shit, he’s right. And Ihatethat he’s right. I never told Jasper I was a military brat, much less an admiral’s daughter.Hisadmiral’s daughter.
In the lobby, Jasper stops us both. Without any room to maneuver around him, my palms flatten against the wall behind me as I back up against it. It’s an automatic reaction I have zero control over. I’m frozen in place as he hovers closer, propping one hand against the cool tile just to the side of my right cheek. He leans close enough that his breath tickles my neck.
I’m taken back to the magical moonlit night when that first kiss completely rocked my world on its axis. For years, I’ve craved even a single kiss that held a candle to that first one I shared with Jasper. I part my lips in anticipation, lost entirely to fantasy. Forgetting where we are. Gone is all rational thought.
“I’ll pick you up at the hotel in the zero eight hundred hours.” With those abrupt words, Jasper pushes off the wall and struts off toward the sliding doors. Leaving me panting and—much to my irritation—wantingmore.
One thing is abundantly clear: Now that Jasper Steele is back in my orbit, I’m in serious trouble.
4
JASPER
I can’t denythat I told a few white lies when I met Vanessa in Cape Cod.
In all honesty, I thought we’d never see each other again. I remember a nagging whisper in the back of my mind back then promising I was full of shit for being okay with that. For accepting that as reality. But I shoved that annoying truth down until it went silent, willing to take whatever time she’d give me, however brief. My only priority was making the most of every moment Ididhave with her.
Because I’ve never met anyone like her.
Vanessa’s very presence was all-consuming. She was the breath of fresh air I’d spent my whole life chasing. When we went our separate ways, I didn’t expect to feel so fucking empty. Like someone had sucker-punched me in the gut and I never quite recovered from it.
Now that she’s back in my life, I can’t imagine letting her slip away again. Which is what I tell my buddy Joel as I pull up to the hangar the next morning to drop him off.
“You’re sure about this one?” He’s not only one of the best rescue swimmers I’ve ever worked with, he’s also one of mybest friends. The only other born and raised Alaskan in the J-Squad.The two of us are the last men standing. The last single guys in our group. Maybe that’s why I feel like he’s the best one to open up to. If anyone is going to play devil’s advocate and point out things I need to hear before I get in too deep, it’s him.
“You know, looking back, I think I was sure about her four years ago.” Just wish I had realized how life altering meeting Vanessa Wheeler would actually be. How it would modify the very way I saw the world. I would’ve done things a little differently.
Maybe.
I didn’t know she was the admiral’s daughter untilafterwe’d gone our separate ways.
“Think the admiral’s going to go for it?” Joel doesn’t hide his doubt.
The admiral likes me—a detail my buddies constantly give me shit about. Like I’m a teacher’s pet or something. But going after his daughter might unravel that relationship quite quickly. Admiral Wheeler is known for his quiet acts of retaliation. He’s not the kind to lose his cool and yell. He’s the cool and collected strategist who’ll destroy your career and watch quietly from the sidelines as it happens.
