CHAPTER FIVE

 

 

“ALL YOU HAVE is vanilla and chocolate?” Eden asked as she opened Emily’s freezer and perused the boring selection of ice cream inside. With all the flavors available in the world, why would anyone bother to buy those two? Chocolate was what you gave to five-year-olds, and vanilla was like a give-up flavor. It wasn’t even a flavor. It was the absence of flavor.

When Emily didn’t answer, Eden turned around. Her sister was sitting at the small table in her kitchen, poking at her bowl of chocolate ice cream with a spoon like she was trying to torture it.

Okay, maybe this was more serious than Eden thought.

When Emily called saying she wanted to call off the wedding, Eden had been sure it was some kind of crazy pre-wedding jitters. Eden didn’t have any personal experience with the subject. She’d never had to deal with a relationship longer than a few months, much less one serious enough for marriage to become a topic of conversation, but she understood the concept. More importantly, she understood her sister.

Sighing, she grabbed the vanilla ice cream and a bowl from the cabinet, scooped out enough to fill half of it, then stuck the container in the freezer and plunked down in the chair across from her sister.

“Okay, what’s wrong?” Eden asked.

When Emily still didn’t say anything, Eden started to think she might have to pry the information out of her sister with a crowbar.

Emily was two years younger than her, but they’d been close since they were kids. While a lot of Eden’s friends had hated their younger siblings hanging around, she’d never felt like that. They were and always had been friends as well as sisters. True, it was harder to stay in touch now that Eden worked for the DCO and Emily had a job working in the finance department at the Naval Operation Center in Norfolk, but Eden still liked to think they could talk to each other about anything. Well, not the whole shifter thing, of course, or what Eden did for a living, but everything else. She hated seeing Emily so withdrawn. It wasn’t like her.

“Emily?” she prompted softly.

Emily looked at her, her blue eyes glistening with tears. “What if I’m making a mistake?”

Eden pushed both bowls of ice cream aside then reached out to take Emily’s hands in hers. “About marrying Brandon? Why would you think that?”

Did her sister’s sudden doubts about her future husband have anything to do with what happened outside the restaurant the other night? Had Emily learned something to make her think her fiancé was involved in something bad enough to get him targeted by the kind of people who’d been in that alley? Kendra had been so sure Brandon was clean and that the whole fight had been about Tim’s gambling debt. Hell, Eden had figured that was probably the deal, too. Maybe they were both wrong.

“How do you know if the person you’re with is the right one?” Emily looked down at their clasped hands then back up at Eden. The look of panic in her sister’s eyes nearly tore out her heart. “How can I be sure Brandon is the person I’m supposed to spend the rest of my life with?”

“Emily, why are you even asking something like that? Did he say or do something to make you doubt him?”

Emily shook her head, the tears that had been gathering in her eyes running over and spilling down her cheeks. “No. Yes. I don’t know.”

“Honey, what do you mean?” Eden asked.

Emily had been completely in love with Brandon since she’d met him. If something had changed that, it had to be serious. Eden didn’t know if this had anything to do with the wolf shifter and his pals, but if Brandon had done something to hurt Emily, Eden would go straight to his apartment and claw his balls off.

Emily pulled her hands free and tried to wipe the tears away, but more took their place. After a bit, she gave up. “It’s nothing, really. Stupid even. But after the thing that happened at the rehearsal dinner…”

Eden’s stomach dropped. “What about it?”

“Brandon said it wasn’t a big deal, but I can tell it’s bothering him. He’s been unusually quiet since it happened, and today at the country club, it was like he was a million miles away. Whenever I ask him what’s wrong, he shuts me out and tells me it’s nothing.”

Eden started breathing again. Okay, maybe this wasn’t so bad after all. Brandon’s reluctance to open up and share would be a problem if he were a woman. But Eden worked with enough alpha males to know few of them loved to sit around and talk about their feelings. Most of them would rather scrape off their skin with a rusty spoon than share anything deep and meaningful with their significant other. Brandon had gotten his ass handed to him out there behind the restaurant, and Eden doubted he was thrilled a random stranger and his fiancée’s sister had to rush to his rescue. His silence might be nothing more than wounded pride.

“Maybe he’s simply being a guy?” Eden suggested. “You know they don’t like to talk about stuff like that.”

“Maybe. Or maybe I don’t know him nearly as well as I thought I did.” Emily let out a frustrated sigh. “We’ve been seeing each other for over a year and a half, but do you know how much time we’ve really been together? With all his temporary duty trips, plus that four-month float he and Tim went out on to certify that new ship, we’ve really only been together about nine months. Can you honestly get to know a man well enough in nine months to decide if you want to marry him?”

Eden almost laughed with relief. This was sounding less about Brandon being involved with something shady and more about her sister having too much time to think right before the wedding. She shouldn’t be surprised. Emily had always been the analytical thinker of the family. When she encountered a problem, she dissected the heck out of it and tried to analyze her way to the perfect solution. Now, she was actually counting the number of days she and Brandon had spent together, as if that meant anything. Emily was getting nervous and had fallen back on her old ways, trying to use her head instead of her heart to make sure she was doing the right thing.

While Eden was never going to be a poster child for Match.com, she was smart enough about romance to realize you had to go with your instincts when it came to love. And instincts were one thing she definitely knew.

“Emily, what’s Brandon’s favorite color?”

Her sister looked confused. “Blue, but why does that matter?”

Eden ignored the question. “And what’s his favorite food?”

“Pizza.”

“Favorite Beer?”

“Miller Genuine Draft.”

Eden hit her with about a dozen more questions, everything from Brandon’s favorite pro sports team to the names of his parents, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, even his childhood pets. Emily never had to hesitate before answering any of them.

“Okay, last one,” she said, holding up a finger when Emily would have interrupted again. “This one is simple. If Brandon could retire right now, what would he want to do with his life?”

The corners of Emily’s mouth curved into a smile. “He’d want to buy a boat so the two of us could sail around the world together. He has a picture of his dream boat framed and up on the wall in the bedroom.”

Eden lifted a brow. “Seems to me you know your future husband pretty damn well. Better than some people who have been married for years.”

Emily regarded her in silence for a long time then nodded slowly. “I guess so. But if this isn’t about how well I know Brandon, why the hell am I feeling so freaked out all of a sudden?”

Eden took her hand again, giving it a squeeze. “Maybe it’s because your whole life is about to change. Even if it’s a change for the better, it’s still a big change. That’s enough to rattle anyone.”

Emily considered that. “Do you think I’ll be able to pull it off as well as Mom did?”

“Pull what off?” Eden asked, wondering if she’d missed a turn somewhere along the path of their conversation.

“Being able to keep a family going when Brandon is gone on fleet duty? Like Mom was able to do with us.”

Eden smiled. Something told her they’d accidentally stumbled over the real crux of her sister’s anxiety. Dad had been gone a lot when Eden and Emily had been growing up. Schooling, temporary travel assignments, ship deployments, you name it. There were times when she and her sister had felt like they didn’t even have a father, that their mother was raising them all on her own.

And Mom had been amazing. Even as a kid, Eden had recognized Mom was like a force of nature as she dealt with all the problems that came along with being married to a man in the military. Mom had handled their moves back and forth across the country, gotten her daughters in and out of schools, kept her husband’s military career on track, and somehow found time and energy to always be there, not just for them but also for the families of friends and relatives. Eden didn’t think she could ever handle that kind of responsibility.

Apparently, Emily was having those same doubts. Eden could understand why. Her sister wasn’t simply marrying a guy in the military. She was marrying into a way of life that put a lot of burdens on a newly married couple.

“Of course, you’re going to be able to do it,” Eden told her. “It’s going to be hard, and you’re probably going to be scared to death you’re going to screw everything up. You’ll do some things differently than Mom did. You’ll make mistakes and you’ll learn from them. But ultimately, you’ll raise your own family just as well as Mom did. And you know why?”

“Why?” Emily asked, looking almost amused now.

“Because you and Brandon love each other.”

Emily smiled again. “Yeah, we do. I’m being silly.” She gave Eden a sheepish look. “Sorry for dragging you all the way over here to listen to me whine.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Eden said. “You can call me to whine anytime. It’s what sisters are for.”

“Deal.” Emily sighed. “Still, I feel bad making you come all the way over here. What were you up to when I called, anyway?”

Eden had to fight to keep a silly grin from spreading across her face as she thought about exactly what she and Travis had been up to before her sister called. Even now, she could almost feel him against her. The fact he was so aroused even though he knew what she was made everything even hotter. She’d never been so turned on with a guy before and had no doubt they would be in bed naked right now if Emily hadn’t called.

Just thinking about that possibility made heat pool between her legs. The urge to reach down and touch herself through her jeans was practically impossible to ignore, but she obviously couldn’t do it with Emily sitting across from her.

Which reminded her. She hadn’t answered her sister’s question yet.

“Nothing really,” she said. “Just hanging out in my hotel room with a friend.”

“You met up with one of our friends from school?” Emily asked, surprised. “Who was it?”

Eden shook her head. “It wasn’t one of our friends from school. It’s a guy I met recently.”

Her sister lifted a brow. “A guy. When did you meet a guy?”

Eden almost laughed. “Outside the restaurant where we were having the rehearsal dinner.”

Emily’s eyes widened. “You mean that big, hunky guy who helped you out in the alley?”

“You shouldn’t be calling other men hunky,” Eden scolded with a laugh. “You’re about to get married.”

“Just because I’m getting married doesn’t mean I’m oblivious. I still know a sexy hunk when I see one,” Emily pointed out. “So, are you two sleeping together yet?”

Eden felt her face heat as an image of her riding up and down on Travis while he was sitting in the chair in her hotel room flashed into her head. She bit back a moan and redirected her focus to point out the obvious to her sister.

“We just met a few days ago. We were just talking.”

Eden looked at her doubtfully. “Uh-huh. My face always turns that same cute shade of pink when I think about talking with Brandon.”

“I am not blushing!”

“Of course, you’re not,” Emily agreed. “So, when were you planning to introduce me to him? You know, I never did get a chance to thank him for helping save Brandon’s and Tim’s butts. You should ask him to come with you to the wedding. I know guys can get freaked out about going to them, but I’d love to meet him.”

Eden almost told her Travis was already coming, then thought better of it. If she admitted Travis had already agreed to be her date to Emily’s wedding a few hours after they met, her sister would almost certainly think something serious was going on between them. And her sister would be right. By all accounts, that should have been terrifying since she’d just met him a few days ago. But it wasn’t scary at all. For the first time, she was with a guy she could be herself with. And it was a breathtaking feeling.

“I’ll ask him,” was all Eden said.

Emily pushed Eden’s ice cream bowl back in front of her then grabbed her own and dug into the melted mess. “Well, tell him I hope he comes. There’ll be plenty of food and drink, and if he doesn’t want to drive back to his hotel after the reception, the country club is offering rooms to the wedding guests for the night at a fantastic price.”

Eden smiled as she ate her own gooey ice cream. Suddenly, all she could think about was spending the day at her sister’s wedding and the night with Travis in one of the country club’s elegant rooms. She remembered from the brochure Emily had shown her that the beds were ridiculously huge. She could think of some deliciously naughty things she’d like to try with Travis in a bed that big.

 

* * * * *

 

Travis set the sandwich and bottle of iced tea he’d picked up at a sub shop on the way back to his hotel down on the table when he got to his room, then picked up the remote and switched on SportsCenter. Hanging out with the ESPN anchors wasn’t nearly as much fun as making love with Eden—which he had no doubt they’d be doing right now if her sister hadn’t called—but family was important. He got that.

He was halfway through his meatball sub when someone knocked on the door. He grabbed the remote and hit the mute button. Was it too much to hope it was Eden?

Grinning at the thought, he flipped the lock and pulled open the door. His smile slipped a little when he saw his sister standing there.

Gwen made a face as she brushed past him. “Nice to see you, too.”

Travis closed the door with a groan. “That’s not it. I always love seeing you. I thought you were someone else, that’s all.”

“Oh?” She turned to give him a curious look. “Who?”

He shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant. “Someone I met after your graduation party the other night.”

His sister did a double take. “Where the heck did you meet her? On the way to your car?”

“Something like that,” he said. “It’s a long story.”

Gwen held up the brown paper bag in her hand. “Then it’s a good thing I brought burgers from the Southern Grill for dinner.” Her gaze went to the half-eaten sandwich on the table. “Although, it looks like you already got take-out.”

He thought he recognized the signature blue handle on the top of their paper bags, even if he hadn’t seen the stylized logo until just now. His mouth was already watering at the thought of their famous burgers. “You know I never say no to burgers, especially when they’re from the Grill.”

Travis took the plastic containers and two bottles of iced tea out of the bag while his sister washed her hands. Gwen came over to the table a few moments later, sitting down opposite him and pulling one of the trays toward her.

“Okay,” she said, glancing at him as she opened a packet of ketchup and squeezed it onto the tray beside her fries. “Tell me about this mystery woman.”

He couldn’t help smiling as he helped himself to a few packets of ketchup. Gwen must have asked for extra because there were a buttload of them. Not that he was complaining. As far as he was concerned, you could never have too much ketchup.

“Her name is Eden and I actually did run into her on the way to my car,” he said in answer to his sister’s question. It wasn’t exactly a lie. They had been running at the time. Besides, it wasn’t like he could say Eden was a government-trained agent and a shifter who could sprout claws and fangs and run like Usain Bolt. “She’s in town for her sister’s wedding.”

Gwen frowned at him over her burger. Instead of a traditional bun, the Grill served all their burgers on waffles, which only made them even tastier. As well as unique. “She doesn’t live around here?”

He shook his head. “She works in DC.”

His sister seemed to consider that as she chewed. “You seem to know a lot about a woman you just ran into.”

He grabbed a handful of french fries and dunked them in ketchup. “That’s because we had dinner together last night.”

Gwen smiled, her eyes lighting up. “So, do you think you’ll keep seeing her after this weekend?”

Travis shrugged and bit into his burger. “I don’t know. I haven’t really thought about it. I’m not even sure how that’d work since we’re basically on opposite sides of the country.”

Which sucked now that he thought about it. Yeah, he and Eden might have just met, but he was already falling for her. As crazy as that was. Hell, he was practically counting the minutes until he could see her again. He’d dated women he’d known longer than Eden and hadn’t ever felt that way about being apart from them whenever he deployed, and that was for months at a time.

“Maybe this is all a sign that it’s time to get out of the Army,” Gwen said.

He looked up from his fries to see her regarding him thoughtfully. “And what do you propose I do for work?”

She sipped her iced tea. “There’s a lot of stuff you could do.”

“Yeah? Like what, become a cop?” He snorted. “I watch LivePD. I don’t have enough patience to do that job. And whether you want to admit it or not, it’s not an easy transition from my job in the Army to the civilian workforce. It’s not something I can do on the spur of the moment.”

Her brow knit. “I know, but there must be some kind of job you could get at one of the Navy bases if you don’t want to be a cop.” She gave him a chagrined look. “I know you love what you do, but I just miss having my big brother around, that’s all.”

He smiled. “I miss you, too, sis.”

Gwen’s lips curved. “Besides, if you moved back here, you’d be closer to Eden. Who knows? Maybe you guys’ll get married. Then you can have kids and Mom can stop bugging me for grandchildren.”

Travis stared at her in disbelief. “Okay, that’s kind of a big leap. I tell you I met someone nice and you’ve already got us settled down with two-point-three kids and a white picket fence? If you don’t want to have kids right now, just tell Mom that.”

His sister shook her head. “No way. It’s much easier to get you married off and buried under a pile of kids. Mom would disown me if I try to tell her that I want to wait.”

“You’re a wimp, you know that?”

She grinned and bit into her burger again. “Yeah, but you love me anyway.”