She blinked in astonishment. Mason sent Romeo to her? To do…what? Finish the job he started?
“Why are you looking at me like that?” Romeo frowned. “Do I have something stuck in my teeth?” He pulled back his lips, revealing a set of straight white chompers.
“Sorry.” Alex shook her head, trying to sound calm even though her insides roiled. “Uh, thanks for offering to, uh, step in. But I’ll pass for now. No offense to you,” she was quick to add. “Honestly, you’re probably the smarter choice. But I kind of had my head and maybe even my heart set on something else, and now I need time to regroup.”
The look on Romeo’s face said she’d just sprouted a third ear on her forehead. “What are you talking about? Do you want Meat for the night or not?”
Meat, who must’ve been sitting between Romeo’s feet all along, licked his underbite and let out a little woof.
“Meatball!” she cried, dropping to her knees so she could bury her face in the bulldog’s copious wrinkles.
He smelled like he’d gotten into spoiled vegetables, but she didn’t care. She was so glad for his warmth and his wiggles and his wet kisses.
“I’ll take that as a yes.” Romeo turned down the hall. Before he rounded the corner, he threw a “G’night, Alex!” over his shoulder.
“Good night, Romeo!” she called back. But as soon as he was gone, she sighed and whispered, “Oh, Mason.”
Standing and holding the door wide to allow Meat to waddle inside her hotel room, she thought, Who can resist a man who sends his dog to comfort a woman in need?
Certainly not me.
Chapter 15
11:48 p.m.
“It’s weird,” Romeo said, standing in the doorway to the hotel bathroom in nothing but a pair of red boxer briefs with pink hearts on them. He towel-dried his hair.
“What’s weird?” Wolf asked from his squatted position in front of their room’s mini fridge. He contemplated the selection of beers inside, but after glancing at the little card listing the prices and discovering that twelve ounces of domestic brew was coming in at a cool fifteen bucks, he slammed the door closed. “Highway robbery,” he muttered.
“I always thought I’d die a SEAL.” Romeo dropped his wet towel onto the floor. “But in the shower just now, it occurred to me I might live to a ripe old age and die of some horrible wasting disease.” He shuddered. “The horror, man. Think I prefer a bullet, eh?”
“I usually sing when I’m in the shower,” Wolf told him dryly. “Keeps me from thinkin’ too much. You might give it a try next time.”
Former fighting men generally came in two categories. Those who spent an inordinate amount of time alone with their thoughts. Like Mason. And those who avoided time alone with their thoughts, because chances were their minds would go to places and people better left dead and buried.
Wolf endeavored to be part of that second group. Unlike some of the others who had never hoped to live long enough to see a civilian life, he’d always wanted a chance at something beyond the navy. A chance to raise a family. To build something he could call his own.
“I’m serious,” Romeo insisted. “Have you thought about how you’d like it all to end?”
“Sure.” Wolf pushed to his feet and took a seat on one of the two queen-size beds. “Peacefully. In my sleep. Like most folks, I reckon.”
“Not me, man.” Romeo shook his head. “I want Alicia Vikander to choke me out with her thighs.”
Before Wolf could do more than snort, a soft knock sounded at the door.
“If that’s Mason with another errand, I might have to pull his lungs out through his nose,” Romeo grumbled. “What’s so hard about taking Meat to Alex that he couldn’t do it himself?”
“Probably didn’t trust himself to be that close to her and a hotel bed,” Wolf speculated.
Romeo placed a finger beside his nose and then pointed it at Wolf.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Whoever was on the other side of the door had lost their patience.
“Yeah! All right, already!” Romeo called, throwing open the door.
When Wolf saw who was standing on the other side, he jumped from the bed so quickly he got dizzy.
Catching sight of Chrissy was always a gut punch. Catching sight of her dressed in a hotel robe, fresh from a shower with her long, blond hair falling around her shoulders in damp waves, nearly had him taking a knee.
He’d always been a sucker for a woman in her natural state. No perfume. No hair gel. No makeup. Just clean skin and a smile.
Although Chrissy was missing the latter. In fact, her mouth hung open as her eyes set out on a journey down the length of Romeo’s nearly naked body.
“Take your time,” Romeo had the audacity to drawl, crossing his arms and leaning lazily against the doorjamb. “I know there’s a lot to take in.”
Wolf wasn’t the jealous sort, but he had the sudden urge to wrap his hands around Romeo’s throat and squeeze until the man’s pretty little eyes popped right out of his pretty little head. That he was able to refrain from doing exactly that surely had him in the running for sainthood.
Chrissy blinked before glancing over Romeo’s shoulder to spy Wolf. He offered her a smile she didn’t return. Instead, she said unsteadily, “I…uh…I…” Stopping to gather herself, she lifted her chin and tried again. “I don’t want to sleep alone tonight.”
He’d been wrong before about that whole nearly taking a knee thing. Now he was nearly taking a knee.
“Ah, sweetheart.” Romeo’s voice dropped low. His accent thickened. “Thought you’d never ask.”
Before Wolf could think, he was across the room. He bent to grab the corner of the wet towel Romeo stood on, and yanked it with all his might.
Romeo went down in a slew of curse words, arms flailing comically along the way. Wolf barely saw him hit the tiles before he stole Romeo’s spot in the doorway.
“Wolf!” Chrissy’s eyes rounded as she craned her neck to check on Romeo. “Why in heaven’s name did you do that?”
Behind him, Romeo said, “So it’s like that, eh?”
Wolf decided it was best not to answer either of them. Instead, he said, “I’m the man for that job.”
Chrissy’s expression was…not terribly encouraging. Her words were even less so. “I’ve long suspected the males of the species were idiots. I think now I’m certain.”
“Hey!” Romeo lumbered to a stand, dusting himself off like he’d fallen into a sandpit instead of onto a perfectly clean floor. “What’d I do?”