Page 34 of Finding Elodie
“Because we don’t get enough time at sea,” Jag quipped.
Mustang hid a smile. His teammates cracked him up.
“Oh, come on. It’ll be nice not to have to be on the water because we’re on a mission. We can have some beers, relax, and maybe snag a marlin or ahi while we’re at it,” Midas cajoled.
“I’m in,” Mustang said. It actually did sound fun. He hadn’t been deep-sea fishing in a long time, and he truly enjoyed hanging out with the guys on the team.
“I know a guy,” Aleck said. “I’m sure he’d take us out. I don’t want to go with any of those cheesy tourist companies with guides who don’t know their asses from their heads.”
“They aren’t all that bad,” Midas said.
“I know, but still. This guy has his own boat, it’s got enough room for all of us so we won’t be sitting on top of each other the entire trip, and more than that, I trust him. His boat’ll be up to code and we won’t have to worry about being stranded out at sea or some such bullshit,” Aleck told them.
“Great. So…this weekend?” Midas pressed. “What do you all have planned?”
“Well, there were these twin sisters…” Pid started, letting his voice trail off.
Jag smacked him on the back of the head. “Maybe in your dreams,” he joked.
Pid chuckled. “Right, of course I’m free. Since when have any of us had a life lately?”
“We’ve been too busy to have any kind of social life,” Aleck said.
“Which suits me just fine,” Slate added.
“Great. So, Mustang, you’re in?” Midas asked.
“Sounds good,” Mustang agreed. He might as well go. It wasn’t as if he needed to sit around his apartment waiting for Rachel to call.
The team all said their goodbyes then and got into their cars. They had an hour and a half before they were expected to be on the Naval base, which was plenty of time for them to go home, shower, change, and fight the traffic to get there.
On the drive home, and as Mustang got ready for work, he thought of nothing but Rachel…including their last conversation on the ship. Maybe he hadn’t been clear enough that she could trust him?
Maybe he’d freaked her out when he’d leaned forward to kiss her…
It had been instinctive. Impulsive. And if her second cook hadn’t come into the room at just the right—wrong?— moment, he would’ve done something he hadn’t ever done before.
Kissed a woman within hours of meeting her.
He wasn’t a prude, but meaningless sex had never been Mustang’s thing. And at thirty-six, it still wasn’t. He liked to know a woman before he initiated any kind of intimacy. But he supposed what they’d been through was enough to bring them close in a short period of time. Rachel had literally saved his life, and she’d held up so well throughout the entire ordeal. Mustang couldn’t help but admire her. Want to get to know her. Find out what made her tick.
Sighing, he stood in the small but functional kitchen in his apartment and stared out the window at the ocean. He’d taken the apartment because he could see the waves from the kitchen and the master bedroom. There were only two bedrooms, the master and a tiny room he currently used as a workout space. But he could lie in bed and see the ocean in the distance, and that made it well worth the exorbitant price.
Then again, nothing in Hawaii was cheap. Food, lodging, clothing…it all cost a pretty penny.
Knowing he needed to get a move on if he was going to get to base on time, Mustang swallowed back the rest of his coffee and put his mug in the sink. He hoped wherever Rachel was, she was safe and happy. He might be bummed that she hadn’t reached out to him, but he never wanted to be with someone who wasn’t one hundred percent into him. He’d seen too many relationships in the Navy that didn’t work. He wanted to find a woman who would support and love him, and in return, he’d be one hundred percent devoted to her, as well.
* * *
Elodie rolled over in bed and groaned. The last couple of months had been extremely stressful, and when push came to shove and she had to make a decision about where to go after getting off the Asaka Express, she’d made a split-second choice she hoped she wouldn’t regret.
She’d been in Hawaii for a month and a half now…and wasn’t any closer to finding Scott as she’d been the first day she’d arrived.
It was stupid to come to Honolulu, really. But she hadn’t had anywhere else to go…so here she was. Now the odds of her being able to find the handsome Navy SEAL who’d come to her rescue were slim to none.
She’d been a dumbass and had lost the piece of paper with his number on it.
The days after the SEALs had left the Asaka Express were crazy. They’d had several meetings with Naval and government officials. They’d had to tell their stories over and over to several different groups of people. The company that owned the ship had given everyone a hefty bonus…Elodie had kind of felt as if they were trying to pay them off, so they wouldn’t say anything bad about the security or what had happened. But since she needed the money, she’d had no problem taking it, feeling only a little guilty afterward.
