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Lilly sat on her yoga mat, legs crossed in front of her, vaguely aware her pose wasn’t close to the preferred lotus position.
Yet.
She’d eventually get back to her pre-marriage and pre-babies flexibility. And self. The Asthtanga Yoga she’d loved and practiced while in law school was once again centering her body and her life.
Pleased she no longer needed the bolster under her lower back to complete the last three poses, she reached behind her back and grasped her elbows. She leaned forward and discovered she was nearly able to touch her chin to the floor.
Progress.
She sincerely regretted allowing her ex to convince her to work out at the gym with him.
She concentrated on her breathing, trying to match the ocean waves heard through the open glass doors facing the quad.
Inhale the positive energy of the world. Exhale the negative. Muscle to bone. All towards centerline. Tighten the core.
Uddiyana banda. The words of her yogi sounded in her brain. She relaxed her body and let the energy flow along her spine.
Her two-hour practice ended with Lilly flat on her back concentrating on Uijayi, breathing. In on one wave, out on the next. She loved the rigidity and constant movement of yoga which was really all about controlling herself—body and mind.
She would run on the euphoric high it gave her for the rest of the day. Tomorrow morning, her body would crave a repeat, like an addict needed a fix.
The breathing reassured her that her lungs worked fine and the strength she gained every day, both physically and emotionally. She could handle anything the world threw at her. The practice reminded her to stay grounded and true to herself, just as she was to the mat.
She sat up and took in the ensuite room that had been hers all her life. It had seen several renovations from pink walls, lacy drapes, and She-Ra Warrior Princess sheets, through gauzy pastels reminiscent of a Disney castle, to all purple—though her grandmother had mandated it be at least three shades of the color so she could differentiate between the dressers and the walls. It was now oppressively elegant in rich jewel tones of burgundy and forest green, trimmed in gold.
Lilly hated it. He-who-she-wouldn’t-allow-to-ruin-her-high had suggested the renovation when they’d first been married and vacationed in Cancun. Maybe that was why for the past two years—as she and the boys came to Mexico more and more often without him—she’d preferred to stay in the brightly decorated pool house.
Yep. This shit had to go.
And today wouldn’t be soon enough.
Her gaze swept the room, cataloging everything she’d need to replace. When she eyed the oil painting over the heavily brocaded couch, it seemed incongruous with the rest. The scene was out of time and place, but Lilly had mandated it stay.
Ixazaluoh “Zal” Chel, Lilly’s cousin, best friend, and running mate most childhood summers spent in Mexico, had painted the pastel block homes surrounded by ancient green trees and all the blues and greens of water as their wedding gift. She had tremendous talent, especially when it came to the colors of the Caribbean Sea. Appropriate since Zal had been named for the Mayan goddess of water.
The depiction of Isla Mujeres from the ocean was spectacular, especially since it was of their childhood. Today, multistoried hotels filled the island, especially the north end where the beaches were sandy and gently sloped into crystal-clear, turquois water.
Zal had captured the island as it was before it had been ravaged by Hurricane Gilbert in 1988. The storm destroyed almost all of the temple to the Mayan goddesses, a sacred place to all Mayans. Nonetheless, the girls had played amongst the ruins for hours. As teens they had the run of the island: the name Chel gave them all the permission they needed to go anywhere, knowing they were safe. The island was also where Gramps had taught them to scuba dive.
Staring at the picture, Lilly’s mind sank to the depths of the sea, thirty feet below the palette of blues.
A whale shark the size of a Greyhound bus speeding toward her.
Its head was broader than the oversized couch in front of her.
Gigantic mouth.
Open.
In the quiet security of her bedroom, Lilly’s heart pounded so hard she could hear every beat like a kettle drum on roll up.
The breath through the scuba regulator in her mouth had stopped.
She couldn’t scream.
She couldn’t breathe.
Longing for the fresh air found only at the surface above her, she kicked as hard and fast as she could.
The shark’s powerful body created its own current as it passed under her, catching her in the backwash of the ten-foot tail, summersaulting her at a dizzying speed.
Confused. Desperately needing oxygen, she forgot the number one rule of diving...breathe through your mouth. Only. She snorted the teaspoon of water that resided inside her mask.
Choking, Lilly had panicked.
She swam straight to the surface without stopping and threw off her mask.
Gasping, she sucked in much-needed air. The short choppy waves slapped her open mouth and she swallowed salty seawater.
The shark was after her...or so she thought.
She swam as fast as she could to the boat, hiccupping in snips of air and wheezing it out.
Jack and her dad lifted her straight onto the deck and stripped her of her dive gear as tears of fear streamed down her face. Coughing and sputtering, she ignored the commands of her father to breathe and calm down.
She coughed up red-tinged foam...and fainted.
Caught in reliving the most frightening moments of her life, Lilly couldn’t breathe. She knew she was safe. Outwardly she was aware that she stood in her bedroom. On dry land. Hundreds of feet from the ocean and all it threatened.
Her father’s demanding voice became that of her yogi’s instructions. She closed her eyes and the door to the frightening past.
Breathe in to the rhythm of the ocean. Breathe out the negativity.
Within two minutes, she’d calmed her heart rate and her mind.
Two more minutes, and she opened her eyes to look upon the beauty of her cousin’s art.
One more minute to appreciate life.
She was alive and living her way. Well, she was working on it anyway. She’d never bow to a man’s every wish, nor allow him to change her ever again.
Reinvigorated, and starving, Lilly shoved the dark green drapes all the way across the wall of glass and took in the mayhem in the quad.
She burst out laughing, freeing the joy within her to flow.
God, how she loved her boys. Even the grown ones.
The pool was filled with splashing, giggling children and teasing grown men. Surprisingly, staunch Levi was smiling as he tossed Greyson to their brother Jack, who pretend-dropped the boy into the water, barely dunking him. The usually reserved Preston showed his age–all seven years–as he splashed his uncles, and they chased him around the pool. And who was swinging three-year-old Addison around?
Powerful biceps rippled underneath white skin that hadn’t seen much sun lately, but would tan quickly in the Caribbean. A sprinkling of silver at the temples of his very short hair and across his broad chest suggested he was a few years older than her brother Levi who looked a little paunchy compared to the tight six-pack abs and lack of love-handles of the other man.
Lilly had interrupted her older brother several times as he walked on the treadmill in his executive corner office while he wheeled-and-dealed through a headset after an hour-long weightlifting session with his trainer. Her brother refused to follow their father’s path. Dad had his first heart attack in his late forties—and the subsequent one that took his life at fifty-four. Levi, thanks to this determination, was in good shape for thirty-six.
The other man looked fantastic. Lilly’s repressed libido kick-started.
The Girard’s housekeeper marched over poolside and planted her fists on her hips. “You boys no hear me? You better dry off in a hurry,” Calita warned. “Mateo on his way down with rest of food. Big hot breakfast this morning.”
A chorus of deep voices harmonized with the children’s high ones in a, “Yes, ma’am.”
Grinning inwardly, Lilly marveled at the small woman. Catila couldn’t stand five feet tall yet ran roughshod over grown men, and had since Lilly was in diapers.
Lilly stepped out of her room and stopped. Her brother’s friend, Josh, followed last up the broad steps at the shallow end of the pool. The water tugged his trunks until they rested low on narrow hips. Very low. Distinct hip indentations created a V that pointed to the same spot where a straight line of dark hair disappeared. Talk about an arrow pointing the way.
Lilly let out a slow breath and leaned back on the sliding door jamb to take in the rest. Ho-ly shit. The man was built. She had been surrounded by Jack’s crew for the past several years and they all had rock hard bodies, but she considered them in the same category as Jack...little brothers. They were several years younger, and she was no cougar. Plus, they were all horn dogs. A different woman every night if they wished. And sometimes two. At once.
Lilly could never go there. She couldn’t make one man happy at a time in her bed. And it had been a long time since any man had warmed the sheets next to her. Or heated her body. Too long.
Although, this man dripping water on the tan bricks made her blood heat. He had to be six or seven years older than her and yet, had a physique to match any of Jack’s crew. Her gaze traveled up his perfect abs to the dark hair sprinkled across his impressive pecs. He had swimmer’s shoulders, firm and wide.
She had held those shoulders last night. That had been nice.
Her gaze shot up to a scruff-covered chin that nearly filled in his slight cleft with more salt than pepper. Full lips lay under darker hair that could grow an impressive moustache in just a few days if his morning beard was any indication. He’d been smooth-shaven less than twelve hours ago. Lilly unconsciously touched her ear where those lips had brushed moist heat when he’d apologized for taking a call...from his wife. Something about his kids.
She quickly looked at his bare left hand. No ring, but lots of men don’t wear wedding rings these days so that meant nothing.
The way he’d looked at her last night, she’d gotten those single vibes from him. On the other hand, she’d also read those same sensations from the family physician who she’d slept with at Christmastime only to meet his pregnant fiancée at her own New Year’s party. She needed to hone her availability radar if she was going to date again.
She wasn’t looking for anything permanent, just a fling. Something to scratch the growing itch that built in her body as she watched Josh Madden towel off and saunter toward the outdoor dining area.
She noticed several scars on his body, but Lilly was too far away to tell the extent of his injuries. In battle. Well, he’d been a SEAL, then rose up the chain of command until he was in charge of nearly a thousand men trained exactly like him, who risked their lives in the name of the United States of America.
Her heart clenched for what this man must have endured. She’d seen scars on Jack’s men, but for some reason it hadn’t hit her the way the lines on Josh’s body pained her chest.
Mateo’s rich, low voice broke into Lilly’s thoughts as he passed, arms filled with bowls. “You look at our new guest as though you’d like to eat him for breakfast rather than my food. You need my food, querida. You are too thin. Now come eat.” She loved their cook’s quiet endearment, calling her darling.
All the men pounced on the food as soon as Mateo set the last of the dishes on the buffet. Levi helped Greyson fill his plate while Preston managed on his own. Jack expertly balanced Addison on one hip and heaped enough food for both of them on his plate.
Lilly was ravenous, but the man who had held her last night in the darkness of the dance floor was seated at her family’s table. In her spot. Next to her boys. Pouring them milk.
His paternal ease pricked at her stubborn belief that she didn’t need a man, and neither did her boys. They had a father who would take that role in their young lives. Although lately, he who-would-still-not-be-named was slacking in his parental duties.
The protective mother within her rose. She didn’t know this man and certainly didn’t want him interacting with her children without her being there to supervise. Lilly strode to the shaded corner with the long glass table set for breakfast adjacent to the outdoor kitchen. She paid more attention to the men’s interaction with the children than the food she placed on her plate.
There was an empty chair next to Josh. That was just too cozy for her comfort and too far away from her boys. The one at the end of the table was where her mother would sit, so she planted herself across from her boys, between Levi and where Jack had left his plate.
Jillian wandered out of the pool house in her work clothes of khaki slacks and a National Museum of Anthropology polo shirt. She placed a kiss on Addison’s round cheek. “Morning, baby girl.” She ran her fingers through the toddler’s dripping blonde curls just before Jack slid Addison into the high chair.
Before Jillian could take a step toward the buffet, Jack grabbed her around the waist. “Where’s my good morning kiss?” He started to pull her in but she jumped back.
“You’re all wet, and I have a meeting at the museum this morning.” Jillian’s eyes dropped over Jack’s bare chest, then lower. The edges of her mouth kicked up and her eyes heated before she leaned forward, touching only her lips to his. Jack reached out and rested his hands on her hips, then clenched them as he deepened the kiss.
Jillian moaned as the kiss continued. They were so much in love. Lilly was glad her younger brother finally settled on one woman and Jillian had captured his heart. She really liked her sister-in-law, who by a quirk of fate, would be her sister-in-law once again the end of the week.
Damn, Lilly missed that connection that only a man can give a woman. What she needed was a really good orgasm that involved someone other than herself and her favorite toys. Not that she’d ever judge, and honestly, was there such a thing as a bad orgasm? But there was a significant difference between one that involved an experienced man and BOB, her battery operated boyfriend. The latter just didn’t kiss the way she liked, tangling tongues as they tasted each other. BOB couldn’t caress her breasts and suck her nipples deep as a man could. She felt them harden and peak as she inhaled a shaky breath. Only a man could run his warm hands over her body, parting her wet folds to pluck at her—
“Mom.” The exaggerated single syllable from her youngest son told her it wasn’t the first time he’d tried to get her attention.
Her gaze flew across the table. “Yes, Greyson.”
His request was simple. “Please pass Josh the salt.”
When her gaze met Josh’s sapphire blue eyes, heat flashed through them, as though he’d been listening to her thoughts. She wondered if they would turn even darker with passion. Crinkles appeared at the edges as the corners of his mouth kicked up.
He glanced down at the table beside her plate. “The salt. Please.” His gaze skimmed her breasts before he turned his attention to his eggs.
As though he’d touched her with his hands, her breasts tingled and sent the message to her brain and clit at the same time. He was interested in her. At least he was interested in her breasts.
As she reached for the salt and pepper, something in her peripheral vision nagged at her, but Josh had her too flustered to question anything right then. She forced a smile as she extended the shakers across the table. He barely looked her way but brushed his fingers over hers as he took the spices. The heated caress shot to her already aroused clit. He couldn’t know what she’d been thinking. No way.
“Lilly, I’ve been thinking about the cruise line deal, and I don’t like the employee clause.” Levi’s leap to the family business snapped Lilly out of her salacious thoughts. Her brother opened his laptop and pulled up a spreadsheet. “Steve Crane called this morning. The numbers aren’t balancing. The problem is in the benefits side. Jessica in human resources is also concerned that there are employees from sixty-seven countries between the two ships. That’s a lot of international human resources law she has to learn and track. She brought up the point that most have only four to six month contracts so there’s an extremely high turnover. She’s already deep into recruiting for every position since we won’t know how short we are until we get the personnel files.”
“It’s never good business when our CFO and HR director have red flags waving.” Lilly had a few of her own.
Jack jumped in, “I agree with you, Levi. When I saw how many employees were from the Middle East and eastern Asia on that list, I started to worry. Our ships will only be going from Miami to the Caribbean and most of our guests will be Americans. I’d rather give those jobs to U.S. veterans who we can trust and U.S. citizens who need jobs.”
“Okay.” Lilly nodded. “We’ll counter on the six month no firing of employees except for standard causes. What are we willing to give up in the negotiation?”
“Nothing,” Levi snapped. “We don’t have to. They need our money so bad they aren’t going to balk over employees they are losing anyway. We already know they’ll transfer all their best workers to the ships they’re keeping and leave us with the slackers and troublemakers.”
Josh and Jack exchanged a completely silent conversation right in front of Lilly before they both looked at Levi. “As a director at Homeland Security, I’d appreciate if you’d share your final personnel list with me so we can run the names through our system.”
“Thanks, Josh.” Levi relaxed a fraction as he finished his second cup of coffee and poured a third. “Have we decided how many shares we’re going to offer the members of Jack’s new Caribbean Excursion Consortium?”
While Levi had visited every port in the Caribbean deep enough for a cruise ship to find the best deals for their fledgling American Caribbean Cruise Line, Jack had been talking with other businesses arranging excursions. In the process, the small companies had formed an alliance to promote their businesses and help fight the gouging of profits by the huge international cruise lines.
“Do we really need them involved?” Mother Girard asked the table in general. “The last business partnership we had was a disaster. Your father vowed never to allow that again.”
“We can purchase the two ships without any problem,” Levi noted, “but we need the excursion companies in each port to offer off-ship entertainment. If guests are out snorkeling or diving, they aren’t on the ship stuffing themselves at the buffet, throwing half of it away, or trying to drink every penny’s worth of their alcohol package. Tours actually save us money, and we make a small profit from each ticket sale.”
Jack turned to face his mother. “If the members of CEC own part of our cruise line, they’ll promote our ships over the dozens of others that come into port every day. When the big lines started buying their own islands, stopping there for an entire day, it took money out of the local economies. Some of the smaller island countries depend primarily on tourism. Yesterday, I got a letter from Royal Caribbean announcing they were increasing their percentage of all excursions and if I wanted BACats to continue to be a featured on their ships, I’d sign the new contract. But they didn’t want me to raise the prices because they thought we were already competitive.”
Jack shook his head. “With the increase in gas prices, I’m already operating in the gray margin and was going to increase prices.”
“What I’m trying to say is that tiny bit of ownership reassures the CEC that we’re not going to fu—” Jack glanced down at the little girl who would soon become his daughter. “Screw them over.”
Bringing them back to the original point, Lilly interjected, “We need to decide what percentage of stock we are willing to sell. I’ll write into the purchase agreement that we get first right of refusal when they decide to sell and that the stock immediately reverts back to us if the company goes under.” She glanced at each brother then to her mother. “I suggest we sell no more than thirty percent.”
“I was thinking more like twenty percent,” Levi pounced. “Ten would be even better.”
While her brothers and mother discussed numbers, Lilly poured a cup of coffee. She’d already given them her maximum and knew whatever they decided would be under that, so she settled her gaze on her sons. “Did you have fun in the pool this morning?”
Around a mouthful of pancake, Greyson replied, “It was awesome. I’m so glad Uncle Jack is getting married, and we don’t have to go school this week.”
Preston swallowed the small bite of fruit then scowled at his little brother. “You don’t go to school.”
“Do too. I’m in Pre-K. We have homework and everything.”
“You do not have real homework.” Preston looked across the table at Jillian and spoke without the thick Chicago accent that Greyson had somehow developed. “May I please go to the museum with you today, Aunt Jillian? Since I’m missing school, I must write a report on something educational that I did while here.”
“I’ll be happy to take you.” Jillian looked happy to be part of a different conversation than the rest of the family. “I have a meeting with the new summer interns from the university that will last about an hour. When I’m finished, I’m sure your uncle Kuk and I can answer any of your questions.”
Even though Kuk was actually Lilly’s cousin—their grandmothers were sisters—she had taught her children to call all familial adults uncle and aunt. The titles had driven her ex crazy while in Mexico where she had such an extended family that it seemed to permeate the Mayan Riviera. She saw it as a matter of respect.
With a smile, Preston added, “Mrs. Stanly will be impressed when I mention that Dr. Kukulcan Chel helped me with my report. He’s a real Mayan.”
From the end of the table, his grandmother finalized the cruise conversation, “Then we all agree, we’ll sell no more than twenty percent of the new cruise company stock to the CEC. Lilly, you’ll draw up the sales contracts, and Jack, you’ll notify the members?” When all agreed, she stared at her grandson. “My darling Preston, you, too, are Mayan.”
“But not like Uncle Kuk and you,” Preston protested. “You look Mayan. I look American, like Dad.”
“Your father’s genetics did prevail,” his grandmother sneered, “but you are one-quarter Mayan, traceable to the time long before the Spanish even knew this part of the world existed.” She then addressed Jillian. “I think it would be good for Preston to learn more about his heritage. This family has a long history of supporting the Mayan section of the museum. Someday, Preston will be in charge of the Girard Foundation and responsible for its contributions.”
“I’m going to be a doctor, like my dad,” Preston blurted out. “I want to be just like him.”
“God, I hope not,” Jack said under his breath, but everyone at the table heard.
He shot Lilly an apologetic glance, but she knew what her brother meant...and agreed. She hoped Preston would be a much better man than his father ever was. Lilly shrugged in silent answer to Jack. Appeased, he returned his attention to the beautiful little girl next to him scarfing down blueberries as fast as they appeared on her tray.
“It’ll be my pleasure to give him a personal tour of the Mayan collection.” Jillian smiled at Preston. “I’ll even take the golden Goddesses out of the case and let you hold them, since technically they belong to this family.”
Jillian had nearly died for those damned statues, and so had Jack. The Chel side of their family had protected them since the arrival of the Conquistadores in the 1600s, hiding them in a sacred cenote where they had been forgotten for generations. Jack and Jillian, with Kuk’s help, had deciphered ancient texts and eventually found two of the four Mayan Goddesses that had stood in the temple on Isla Mujeres for centuries. Now, the golden idols resided in the museum where Jillian and Kuk often worked, when they weren’t teaching at the university.
“Are you sure you don’t mind taking him?” Lilly asked Jillian. “I can drop him off. I need to go into Cancun to do some shopping. Or I can pick him up, and we can all go shopping together.”
“I don’t mind if he goes in with me. And thanks for the shopping invitation, but I’m going diving with Jack and Josh when the boat gets back from today’s tours.”
Jillian’s excitement for the underwater world baffled Lilly and worried her. What if something happened to Jillian while she was scuba diving? What about Addison?
That problem would be solved within days. Once Jack and Jillian were married, Jack would legally adopt Addison the following week in Chicago. The two seemed to enjoy diving together and did so often. Lilly shouldn’t worry but the thought of that precious little girl...parentless. Alone. It bothered her. Addison deserved to be spoiled the way Lilly had been as a child, and the way she'd planned to spoil a daughter if she had one.
Lilly found she’d been staring at Addison as the child devoured a pancake using both hands to stuff her face. “Then let me reciprocate and take care of Addison while you’re out.” Before the other woman could protest, Lilly confessed, “The boys help care for Addison, so it’s easy to watch all of them at the same time. They’ve missed their little cousin.”
“That would be wonderful.” Jillian smiled at Addison. “Will you be good for Aunt Lilly this afternoon and play nice with the boys?”
“I get to play with Peston and Gayson?” Addi’s eyes widened, hope sparkling in the toddler’s brilliant blue eyes.
“We’ll work on the correct pronunciation of their names.” Jillian’s apologetic eyes looked up at Lilly.
She smiled and shrugged. “No problem. I’ll get the boys working on it this afternoon.”
“You’re not going scuba diving with us, Lilly?” Josh’s voice wasn’t exactly accusatory, but she got the notion he disapproved of her choice.
Obviously, choosing shopping over chasing parrot fish and gawking at coral while breathing through a tube attached to a tank with only a little bit of air in it baffled him. She’d pick a root canal without anesthesia over scuba diving every time.
Jack jumped in. “Lilly doesn’t dive.” He looked right at her, lips pulled tight. After the...accident...he’d tried for years to get her back down. None of his coaxing her, berating her, or cajoling her to dive again had worked. She’d never been able to make him understand that she would never put herself in that situation again. He’d been there when she...when her lungs...he’d seen the blood she coughed up. He’d helped their dad put her and Gramps into the cramped hyperbaric chamber. He of all people should understand. But he didn’t.
Jillian grew excited. “Jack can teach you. He’s an excellent instructor.”
Lilly took a deep breath before she spoke. “I’m certified. I know how to dive. I just don’t anymore.” There. She’d said it. Out loud. Another step to retaking her life. Kind of. She hadn’t admitted that it had been her own damn fault. She’d ignored her training and panicked.
Changing the subject, she turned to her mother. “Mom, want to go shopping with me? I’m redecorating my old bedroom.”
“Thank God.” Her mother set her empty coffee cup down and stood. “Yes, as long as we can get rid of those depressing dark colors, I’ll even foot the bill. Let’s start now before you change your mind.”
“Mom, the stores are closed for another two hours,” Lilly reminded her.
“My darling daughter”—she patted Lilly’s cheek as she headed into the house—“the Internet works extremely well here. We need to choose a new color palette to start.” She stopped and paused. “Maybe we should call Zal. I bet she’d come up with some wonderful color combinations.” Her mother’s eyebrows drew together as she looked Lilly up and down. “You will change first though, right?”
Only then did she realize that all she’d worn to breakfast was a lightweight, white sports bra that was more sheer than she’d thought and low riding spandex short shorts. She slapped her arms over her naked belly and looked around. Normally it would never have bothered her. It was family and no one cared what she wore, especially since the men had on nothing but swim trunks.
But Josh had been there. She’d had two children and her body wasn’t ever on display like this morning. Sure, it covered more than her swim suits did, but she never wore anything revealing in public. They had a private beach and the pool was completely hidden from anyone outside the family. Her husband wouldn’t want—
Lilly stopped herself. She was headed down a road she no longer traveled. She didn’t care anymore what he-whose-opinion-would-not-be-considered would think about her body on display. Yes. She was almost thirty-five years old, but as she unwrapped her toned arms from her midriff, she took a good look at her body.
She could no longer see her ribs from starving herself to be the rail thin woman he wanted her to be. She had a relatively flat stomach. Being truthful with herself, yes, she had a little, very little, baby belly. After two kids, that was to be expected. She remembered their argument last year about a tummy tuck. His suggestion. Her refusal.
Yes. She had been taking back Lilly Girard one muscle at a time for over a year.
Jillian walked up holding Addison’s hand. “Thanks so much for taking care of her this afternoon. She might still be down for her nap when we leave, so let her sleep as long as she wants.”
“No problem,” Lilly said. “Greyson might be down then, too. He’s gotten into taking a short nap after he gets home from preschool. They wear him out, and with his heart, I’d prefer he rested.”
Deep voices grabbed their attention and both women gawked at Josh and Jack who stood like matching Greek gods in the quad. “He’s here early for diving, isn’t he?”
“I’m not sure what’s going on,” Jillian admitted. “Jack was headed for his work out this morning when he got a text. The next thing I knew, he left for Cancun in the Jeep, and returned with Josh. They ran and swam this morning, but he doesn’t seem in a hurry to leave.”
The men talked as they walked toward the women.
“Try to get some sleep.” Jack slapped Josh on the shoulder. “If you need anything, Mateo’s and Calita’s numbers are next to the phone in your room.”
“Thanks, Jack. I really appreciate this. I’ll find a hotel this afternoon.” Josh said the last with confidence.
“You’ll do no such thing,” Jack insisted. “You’re our guest. You will stay here whenever you’re Cancun from now on.” In a quieter tone, Jack added, “It’s safer for you here.”
“What?” The word exploded from Lilly’s mouth. Josh was staying there? Sure, the compound had nine ensuite bedrooms, but she and the boys took three since Jack, Jillian, and Addison had moved into the three bedroom pool house where Lilly’s family usually stayed. Their brother, Levi, had arrived yesterday for the week, along with their mother. Okay, so that only filled five bedrooms. One was set aside for Jillian’s Matron of Honor, a friend from the university where she used to teach.
So they had room for Josh. Why was she getting so upset about the idea of this man spending the week there?
“I gave him my old room,” Jack explained. “His hotel had a sewer line bust in the middle of the night.”
Calm down, Lilly ordered herself. Besides, these days the compound was more like Jack’s home than the family vacation house. He’d lived there since leaving the SEAL teams nearly four years ago. He could invite whomever he wished to stay and the man needed somewhere to sleep. How disgusting, a sewer line break.
“Ew.” Jillian then offered, “Call Calita and she’ll have your clothes smelling fresh and clean before you wake up from your nap.”
“I can do my own laundry.” Josh shook his head.
“I know you can.” Jack’s tone offered no questioning. “However, if Calita catches you in her laundry room, she’ll have both our asses. Besides, you look like shit warmed over. Go get some sleep or as dive master, I won’t let you go down.”
Jillian smacked Jack’s bicep. “Little ears. Watch your language.”
Jack looked down at Addison. “We’ve talked about this haven’t we, Princess? There are words adults say that little girls don’t.”
“Yes.” Blonde curls bobbed as she nodded. “Like shit. Not ’posed to say shit.”
“Well, there you go.” Jillian crossed her arms. “You can be the one to tell Sister Pauline why Addison has a potty mouth when she uses that word at daycare.”
“I’m rethinking the whole nanny idea,” he admitted. “Calita was a wonderful nanny.”
Lilly stood up straighter at that comment. “No, she wasn’t. She ran the Little Hitler Youth Camp. She got us up at the butt crack of dawn and we had to be in bed by seven-thirty. Even as teenagers.” It had been so embarrassing.
“She did not,” Jack countered. “It was eight o’clock when we were teenagers. Not that it kept you in bed. Or even inside the compound. She knew you used to sneak out.”
Lilly was ready to take on that line of bull when Jack got a glint in his eye.
“She let you get away with murder,” he accused.
“I did not murder that iguana.” Lilly insisted, fists flying to her hips. “It...it surprised me.”
“And you beat it to death with a croquet mallet.” Jack’s smile and demeanor said gotcha.
Lily noticed Josh and Jillian following the sibling interchange like a tennis match, with smirks on their faces, as they looked right, then left, and back again.
“Well, yes.” Lilly admitted. “Damn thing deserved to die. That huge iguana jumped from the tree and attacked me. I was only defending myself. Besides, we gave the damn reptile a proper burial.”
Josh burst out laughing. The deep, very male rumble took Lilly by surprise.
“What?” she demanded.
He was laughing at her. How dare he? But the reverberation from deep within him...and the smile changed his whole face. He was no longer the fierce force to be reckoned with...he was...handsome beyond belief, in a George Clooney kind of way. Lilly was rendered speechless.
“I just can’t picture you—” He laughed again. “You’re such a refined woman, so totally in control––beating the hell out of a defenseless iguana.”
“That son of a gun was three feet long.” Lilly spread her arms out to demonstrate its length.
“Lilly is a take-no-prisoners kind of woman,” Jack announced. “She’s much tougher than you’d think. Growing up, she was fearless and as tough as any boy in the neighborhood, whether here in Mexico or in Chicago. Mom sent her to Cotillion classes to become a lady.”
“I wasn’t that bad,” Lilly protested. “Mom and Dad insisted that I be a debutante. It was expected of a Girard daughter.”
“Don’t let her kid you,” Jack continued. “She fights dirty. And can protect herself.” Jack and Josh exchanged a glance.
“Thanks to your self-defense lessons.” While Lilly was no match for either of these men, she could put a hurt on a mugger.
Jack threw an arm around his sister. “I worry about you, sis. You’re a single mom with two small boys living in Chicago, sometimes working late into the evening. And you are very independent.”
Lilly wasn’t sure about the last statement. He-who-she-refused-to-think-of-as-a-human had forced her to become so dependent on him that it pissed her off she’d allowed him to control her so much. She was regaining that independence more every day. “Just because I’m a woman and look beauti—” She scanned her scantily-clad body. “Well, I usually look much better—doesn’t mean I’m not a tiger underneath the linen suit I wear every day to work.”
“Just ask the cruise line’s attorney.” Levi joined the conversation. “She chewed him up and spit him out last week during negotiations.” He too slid an arm around his sister. “Proud of you. Always.”
Lilly loved her brothers. Yeah, they fought like siblings, but in the end, they would do anything for one another. “I love you, too.”
She slipped an arm around each brother and gave them both a little squeeze. “Now, if this little lovefest is over, Mom is waiting for me, so I need to shower and change.”
“Yeah.” Jack scrunched up his nose. “I wasn’t going to say anything but...”
“Good thing you didn’t, little brother,” Lilly warned. “Paybacks are mothers, and I’ve been a mother for seven years now.”
Jack leaned in next to her ear so no one else heard. “Tomorrow morning you might want to consider a different top. Yours was nearly transparent when soaked with sweat, but I’m quite sure Josh appreciated the show. Watching him fight to keep his eyes off you all through breakfast was the most fun I’ve had with him since SEAL Team Two sent him a stripper for his promotion to captain.”
Lilly looked down at the light-weight white top, now stiff with perspiration.
Oh, shit.