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THE FOLLOWING WEEK, Callie was still on cloud nine. She and Wyatt had talked almost every night, and although he’d wanted to take her out to dinner, he hadn’t been able to sneak away from base early enough. His team had been preparing for an upcoming mission he couldn’t tell her anything about, and although he was still here in Oahu, there was a possibility the guys could be sent out soon. Although concern laced through her mind, she had to trust that he’d be okay. Wyatt was strong and capable, and she had to believe him when he said they’d be fully prepared when the time came for him to head out. He’d rescued her from the hijacked plane, hadn’t he? If she hadn’t seen that with her own eyes, she’d almost not believe his team’s efficiency, swiftness, and skill. It had been a sight to see. They’d moved onto that airplane like they’d stormed it every day, evacuating the passengers with an efficiency that was startling. She assumed they did drill those type of scenarios, not that Wyatt could share that with her. She understood his career was Top Secret, and she was only privy to a small part of it because of how they’d met.
Her phone buzzed, and she picked it up from the kitchen counter, smiling as she saw Wyatt’s name. “Hey there,” she said, pausing in the middle of unpacking her groceries.
“Hey sweetheart,” Wyatt’s deep voice said over the line. “Are you at home?”
“Yep. Just got back from the store, actually. I didn’t think I’d hear from you until later tonight.”
“Our CO said we could head out, so I’m about to split. But if you’re at home, does that mean you’re free tonight? It’s probably too late to make reservations at the place I was telling you about, but maybe we could still have dinner together.”
Callie’s gaze flicked over the grocery bags on her counter. “Actually, I’m just putting away some things from the grocery store. Why don’t I cook dinner for you?”
“I’m happy to take you out, but if you’d like to cook, that sounds great.”
“Let’s stay in. You sound a little tired.”
“Yep. We’ve been putting in late nights, which I guess you realize since I’ve been calling so late. There’s a lot of material to cover, and we want to be prepared.” He let out a sigh. “I was hoping it might get put off a week, because I wanted to see you.”
Warmth washed over her at his words. “Well, you’ll see me tonight, so count your lucky stars,” she joked.
“I know I’m lucky,” he assured her. “What time do you want me to come over? I’m still on base but will quick shower and change before I head out.”
“Does seven work?”
“Nineteen hundred? Yep. Sounds good.”
“You and your military time,” she teased. “Oh, and on a more depressing note, I was able to unarchive my blog this afternoon. I can show you those comments I was telling you about.”
“Okay. I definitely want to see them,” he said, suddenly all business.
“I blocked any new comments from being added, but the old ones are still there.”
“You can do that?”
“I can stop comments on my blog, yes. People can delete their old comments, too, so I took a screenshot of them all just in case.”
“That was smart,” Wyatt said, sounding impressed.
“I didn’t reopen my social media accounts, but the comments on those were basically the same thing. I think the same person was going through my entire online presence, leaving remarks. It’s creepy.”
“I didn’t realize they were keeping track of you everywhere—virtually, at any rate.”
Callie blew out a sigh. “Yeah, well, I guess we didn’t get into it much after the hike. I needed to jump on my laptop anyway to adjust the settings and unarchive it. I could’ve pulled them up on my phone, but I didn’t want the comments to start again.”
“That’s okay. We’ll look at it tonight,” Wyatt said. “I wish we’d gotten a chance to talk about it sooner, but work has been busy. It bothers me that someone was tracking all of your social media channels. That’s sort of stalkerish.”
“Yes and no. I mean, in some instances, I’d post one place and want them to hop over to my blog to learn more. The more traffic and engagement across my various channels, the more advertising dollars I’d get.”
“That makes sense.”
“It was fairly lucrative,” Callie admitted. “But like I told you before, normally I’d just block anyone who left rude or disparaging comments. These were different. They came a week or so after the hijacking and really freaked me out,” she admitted. “Maybe it was a coincidence, but I just don’t know.”
Wyatt muttered under his breath. “I’m sorry they scared you. I’ll take a look at everything tonight when I come over. I know you’re trying to bury all this for the time being while you’re here in Oahu, but I think it’s better to be safe than sorry.”
“Agreed. It just really startled me to see those shortly after the hijacking. It seemed best to take everything down, even if it wasn’t related. I needed a break anyway after that ordeal and just wanted to escape for a while.”
“I know, and I promise that I’ll keep you safe. I’ll see what I can find out. We’ve got plenty of IT guys who can look into it if necessary, maybe see where this is coming from. Who it’s coming from. It could be nothing, but I’d like to know if it’s in any way related.”
“Me, too. And Wyatt? Thanks for helping me on this.”
“You don’t have to thank me,” he assured her, his voice gruff. Callie could already sense he was going into his protective, alpha male mode. Wyatt was the type of man that wanted to fight the bad guys and solve problems. She didn’t want to burden him with this, but she appreciated his help. Wyatt knew way more than her about the hijacking given his career, and if it was tied to the strange comments in any way, it was better to find out sooner rather than later.
“Well, I think I already did—thank you, that is. I better get started on dinner if you’re coming by soon.”
“I like the sound of that—not that I expect you to cook for me,” he clarified. “But coming over to your place so we can spend some time together? Sign me up,” he joked.
“I’ll pencil you in,” she teased. “See you soon.”
“All right, sweetheart. See you soon,” he echoed.
An hour later, Wyatt was knocking on her front door. Callie smoothed her sundress and padded across her apartment. The place was airy and light, if somewhat sparse, because she’d headed here from California without much. She’d lucked out finding a place that was partially furnished. Callie had picked up a few decorations but mostly had posters on the wall like a college kid. More home furnishings were on her to-do list now that she knew she’d be staying in Hawaii for a while. Of course, first off, she needed a steady income.
She paused at the mirror in her foyer and did a quick once over, making sure she looked presentable. Her cheeks were flushed, and she knew it was because she was excited to see Wyatt. Callie was shocked as she opened the door to see him standing there holding a bouquet of flowers. His lips quirked at her expression, and he looked cute as hell as he handed them over, more boyish than manly at that particular moment.
“Hibiscus? I love them! Oh my gosh, thank you,” she said, taking the bouquet from Wyatt before giving him a big hug. She nearly smushed the flowers on his back as she threw her arms around him but didn’t care.
“You’re welcome,” he said as he released her with a chuckle, stepping inside her place. Wyatt had dropped her off last week but had merely seen her to the door, making sure she got safely inside. Excitement washed over her at having him in her space now. She was always neat and didn’t have much in the way of knickknacks, but she’d quickly straightened up anyway.
“It smells incredible,” he said.
“Stuffed shells,” she said with a smile. “I know you’re probably a meat and potatoes type of guy, but I promise it’s filling, and I’d just picked up the ingredients at the store earlier.”
“It sounds great,” he assured her. “And I love Italian.”
“Awesome. Maybe one day I’ll make my homemade lasagna for you,” she said, turning to head toward the kitchen.
“That sounds incredible, too. Anytime you want to invite me over for dinner is fine,” he said with a laugh. “I’m not picky, and I’ll love whatever you make.”
“You haven’t even tasted it yet,” she protested.
“Like I said, I don’t cook much, and this smells amazing. Lucky me for getting out of work on time.”
“That sucks that you’ve been having such long hours. I guess it comes with the territory, huh?”
“Pretty much. I mean, we don’t get much sleep on ops, so this isn’t bad in comparison. I was just anxious to see you,” he added as she pulled a glass pitcher from her cupboard.
“No vases,” she explained.
“Oh, I didn’t think to get one—”
“It’s fine. I boxed up a lot of things from my apartment in California and put them in storage, along with my furniture. I could’ve had everything shipped over, but when I first came, I wasn’t sure how long I’d stay. It’d be expensive to move it here and back right away.”
“That it would,” he agreed. He glanced around, taking in her place. “It looks pretty lived in for not having brought much.”
“It was partially furnished,” she admitted. “It’s a sublet. The renter was moving in with her boyfriend. She took some of the furniture but didn’t have space for it all. I guess breaking the lease wasn’t a great option for her because of the cost. It worked out in my favor,” she said with a shrug. “I got a great place for a good deal, met a friend—Alexa,” she clarified.
“And then ran into me. Not bad for a month in Hawaii,” he joked. “You look great, by the way,” he added, his gaze taking her in. Callie felt heat washing over her skin. The sundress was more cute than sexy. It wasn’t revealing. That didn’t seem to bother Wyatt in the least given the expression on his face. She’d shown far more skin in her bikini last weekend, but she could tell he loved the dress on her.
“Thanks,” she said softly, feeling slightly nervous by his attention. “Can I get you a drink?” she asked after putting the flowers into the pitcher of water. She carried them to the table, letting the colorful arrangement serve as a centerpiece.
“See, even that looks artistic. Not that I ever get flowers, but I’d have to shove them in an empty can or something,” he said.
“Well, luckily you don’t have people at your front door with bouquets of roses,” she teased.
“If I did, it would just be my teammates pulling one over on me. Not that women bring men flowers, but like I said, I don’t date much. Being on the teams keeps me busy, and I’ve been happy for the most part just doing my own thing.” He cleared his throat. “Of course, spending time with you is different.”
“Oh yeah?”
He grinned. “Absolutely. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t want to be, and I’m not really the type of man who usually spends time on the phone each night.”
“Believe it or not, me either. I mean, obviously I’m not a man,” she said, giggling.
“I realize that,” Wyatt said, trying to keep a straight face but failing.
“What I mean to say is I’m not really a gab on the phone kind of girl.” She pulled a beer from the fridge and held it up. “Do you want one?”
“Sure, that’d be great,” he said.
She crossed over and handed it to him. Wyatt took the bottle from her, their fingertips brushing, but didn’t move away. “I just mean I don’t chat on the phone with my girlfriends much either.”
“Uh-huh,” he said, smiling down at her.
“I travel alone for the most part, so I don’t date much.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah, I just—”
“Callie.” His voice was deep. Smooth.
She met his gaze as one big hand landed on her waist, and she could smell his spicy, male scent as he pulled her closer. Callie’s pulse began to race, and she could feel her nipples pebbling against the cotton of her sundress. Wyatt set the bottle of beer down on her counter, and then he was cupping the side of her face, his thumb trailing over her skin. “I should’ve kissed you hello when I got here. I was distracted by giving you the flowers, but I’m happy to remedy the situation now.”
Callie pressed her lips together, trying not to smile, but then he was ducking down, and thoughts of everything but him slipped away. Wyatt’s lips met hers, the kiss slow and gentle. Tender. Wyatt slid his hand to the back of her head, cupping it carefully in his grip. The hand on her waist shifted, pressing against her lower back as he guided her closer still. Her lips parted as he pressed her body to his, and then he was kissing her more deeply, taking what he wanted.
Callie felt consumed by him—his kiss, his touch. Wyatt’s tongue slid against her own, teasing her with gentle strokes, and she clung to him, flushed and aroused just from his kisses.
The oven timer buzzing had her jolting in his arms, and he pulled back, still holding her steady. “Guess dinner’s ready,” she said.
“Here. Let me,” he said, seeming to realize she was still somewhat shaky. He smiled, looking pleased with himself, and she felt her cheeks flaming. Who knew a kiss could throw her so off-kilter? Apparently she’d been kissing the wrong men all her life. Wyatt had her aching for more, her breasts pressing against her sundress, her pussy throbbing.
Wyatt grabbed her pot holders and pulled open her oven like he’d done it a thousand times. For a guy who said he didn’t cook, he wasn’t exactly uncomfortable in her kitchen. Of course, he was also a badass who stormed hijacked airplanes to take down the bad guys, so daily kitchen chores wouldn’t exactly faze him. She smoothed her dress as he pulled the dish from the oven, setting it on top of her stove.
He glanced her way again, taking in her no-doubt flushed cheeks and swollen lips. “Dinner looks and smells incredible, but I already know what I’m having for dessert,” he said with a wink.
