Shopping with Jason was way more fun that she’d thought it would be. He had really good taste, for one thing, and the whole changing room thing turned out to be totally hot, knowing he was on the other side of the door and she was stripping down to just her underthings to try on each dress.
“What’s this for,” he’d asked her as she modelled the first dress.
“A wedding. A fellow flight attendant. It’s like all of my friends are dropping like flies. So I’ve already worn my favorite dresses a few times, and the same group of people go to these weddings, right?”
“This is when it’s good to be a guy. Dress uniform or suit. Easy.”
“Hold that thought, I’ll try on the next one.”
And so it went, through six more dresses. Easy conversation, gentle teasing, and a few helpful zips that sent shivers racing through her body.
When she was done, she came out of the change room holding her top two choices—a black minidress with cap sleeves and a daring drop in the back, and a deep blue strapless dress that just grazed the tops of her knees. “Which one?”
He took his time considering them, his gaze flitting back and forth a few times before he pointed to the blue. “That one. Your shoulders look amazing in it, and as much as I love your legs, I don’t want you sharing that much of them with the world.”
Her mouth dropped open and she made a strangled sound. “You Neanderthal!”
He shrugged, the look on his face pleased and completely unapologetic. “You asked. Plus that one will stand out. How many other black dresses do you have?”
Too many. He was right. “I’ll need shoes.”
His eyes twinkled. “That’s fantasy number seven.”
Jason rubbed his hand over his jaw as Julie took a detour into a candle store to get a present for a girlfriend. He hadn’t shaved today—he never did on his days off, or if he was in the field. It was a decent perk about being a SEAL, not having to follow the military dress regs as closely as others did.
The whole saving the world and being badass helped, too.
But today, it seemed his sole purpose was to carry shopping bags and offer fashion advice, and to his great surprise, he was having a lot of fun.
He hadn’t lied to Julie—the changing room fantasy was real. But in his head, shopping would take an hour, tops.
They’d been at it for nearly three. His stomach was about to riot, but other than that, he was pretty content.
Her tall, curvy form caught his attention as she made her way back to him, and he pulled her close for a gentle kiss as soon as she was within grabbing range.
“What was that for?” she whispered as she gently rubbed some lipstick off his lips.
“Sometimes I just want to kiss you, babe.”
Her lips turned up at the corners. “Okay.”
Yeah. Okay. His chest was all warm and fuzzy. Shit. He was in the best kind of trouble.
And so the rest of the weekend went, with lots of kissing and cuddling and discovering shared passions: Thai food, board games, travelogue audiobooks and the dangerously addictive trap of watching funny animal videos on YouTube.
When he left late Sunday afternoon for the long drive back to San Diego, it was harder than he thought. They’d kissed goodbye at least a dozen times, and the last time had been sweet and slow, interspersed with promises on both sides that they’d do it again soon.
It turned out, promises were really just dressed up hopes, and doing it again soon proved harder than either of them thought.
At first it was Julie’s work schedule, but then it was Jason’s. He disappeared for two weeks, which he’d been able to give her a cryptic heads up about, but then he was only back for seventy-two hours and he was tasked with leading a joint-training exercise.
He was staring at two solid weeks of prep work, and then another ten days in the field.
At first it was fine. Of course it was, because Julie was awesome and understanding, but Jason knew there was a limit to any woman’s patience.
One night when he was on a late dinner break, but still had a conference call with his counterpart in Hawaii before he could go home, he texted her.
Jason: You up?
Her response was immediate.
Julie: Of course. I’m only a little old lady on M/W/F.
Jason: Ha. Can I call? I miss your voice.
His phone lit up with a picture of her that he’d taken on her couch, post-takeout dinner, pre-movie cuddles. She looked relaxed and sexy, and he missed her like crazy. Voice. Heart. Sexy curves. The entire package was too damn far away.
“Hey, Jules.”
“I miss your voice, too.”
They’d been talking most nights, but it didn’t take long for him to need another hit of her sweetness. He wasn’t surprised she felt the same way. “What are you doing right now?”
“Watching a reality show and making a to-do list.”
“Sorry to interrupt.”
She laughed. “I’m glad you did.”
“What’s on the to-do list?”
“I want to try a new cookie recipe, so I have a bit of a shopping list and notes on a recipe for that, and I need to renew my driver’s license soon, that kind of thing.”
Did she realize she’d just told him her birthday was coming up? “When do you have to do that?”
He pictured her freezing on the other end of the line. Her cheeks turning pink. There was no limit to how adorable he found her. “Uhm…”
He lowered his voice. “Because generally speaking, that happens on one’s birthday.”
“Generally speaking, I believe that’s true.”
“And, hypothetically, it’s fun to celebrate that date with people you know. Fun people.”
“Ah.” A beat. “Do you know any fun people you could introduce me to?”
He deserved that. He chuckled. “Brat. Tell me when your birthday is.”
“I don’t want to.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s while you’re away, and either you’ll feel guilty about that, which I don’t want, or you won’t care enough to feel guilty, and I don’t want that either.”
“Damn, that’s some rock and a hard place kind of logic, babe. I still want to know.”
She sighed. “Two weeks tomorrow.”
Three days from the end of his joint-training exercise. “Well, I feel guilty.”
“Great.” But she sounded sad, and he believed her that she didn’t want him to feel guilty.
“I’ll make it up to you.”
“You don’t need—”
“But I want to. Really, truly, madly. I. Want. To. Maybe we could meet in L.A., go to Disneyland or something like that.”
She puffed out a breath, and he let the silence stretch. Maybe she wanted something specific. If he let her think it through, maybe she’d ask for it.
“Can I come visit you?”
“Definitely. I’ll let you know as soon as I’m back.”
“Do you surf?”
Not usually, but he knew the basics. “Yeah, I surf.”
“I want to do that.”
“Then that’s what we shall do. And have cake.”
“Gotta have cake?”
“Exactly.” His computer chimed at him. The network connection had popped up. “I’ve got three minutes left in my dinner break, babe.”
“Mad bachelor life you lead.”
He laughed. “Hardly.”
Her voice gentled. “It might be harder with a family waiting for you at home.”
That had always been a hypothetical problem, but now he could see that. Julie. A kid or two. “Harder for them, maybe. Not so hard for me. I’d have a reason to wrap up my next conference call as soon as possible.”
“Wouldn’t be so hard for them that it wouldn’t be worth it.” Her voice was quiet now, and hesitant. He knew the feeling. Damn. He was holding his breath. “That’s a mouthful. I’m just saying, it would be worth it. The time away, and sharing you with the job.”
“You’d be able to handle that?”
She sighed. “I’m handling it already, aren’t I? And I don’t even get to call you mine.”
“I’m yours.” He took a deep breath. “We should have had the girlfriend talk. As in, I’d like you to be my…”
“I didn’t know if it was too soon. I don’t want to tie strings to you if you don’t want them…”
They were both being so wishy washy about it. “Jules, I can’t stop thinking about you. I wish to hell you were here so I could haul you into my lap and show you just how much I want your strings.”
“Okay. I’m sorry I’m so far away from my boyfriend, then. The lap hauling sounds like a lot of fun.”
“Soon.” It was an empty promise. The truth was, it would be a solid three weeks at the earliest. But he meant more in that one word than just a reference to time. “As soon as I can, you know that, right?”
“Of course.”
Another chime. “Miss you.”
“Miss you, too.”
And before he could say anything else, she hung up, leaving him holding a quiet cell phone, listening to the pounding of his heart.
Well, hell.