“They like you,” Scott said.
Elodie shrugged. “I mean, it’ll take longer for us to really get to know each other, but it’s obvious you’re all close. I feel honored to have been invited into the inner circle, at least a little bit, if that makes sense.”
“It does. You feeling more comfortable now?”
“With them?”
“With them, and in the water now.”
“Yes to both.”
“Good.” He stood up, letting her legs fall, and Elodie realized the water wasn’t actually all that deep. She stood, and the water came to just below her breasts. Scott pulled her close and she snuggled against him. He’d taken his shirt off too, and she loved how the sun glinted off his tan skin and his tattoo. His beard dripped, and once more, she realized exactly how good-looking her man was. She went up on her tiptoes, and he immediately lowered his head. The kiss was intimate and deep, but they kept it short.
Voices sounded in the direction of the trail and when Elodie turned to look, she saw they were no longer alone.
“And here they come,” Scott murmured.
She was disappointed, but understood that this was public property. Tourists were just as welcome to use the area as they were.
“Come on, man! Come take a few more jumps before this place gets overrun!” Midas called out.
“Go,” Elodie told him when he hesitated.
“You sure?”
“Of course. I’m good.”
Scott gave her a boyish grin, then kissed her once more, hard and fast, before turning and heading for shore.
Elodie dunked herself, slicking back her hair, before doing her best to get the rest of the mud washed out of her shirt and shorts. Then she headed back up to where they’d left their stuff and stripped out of her clothes. She felt a little shy, and was relieved Scott and his team were otherwise occupied. She noticed they had no problem stripping down to their shorts to play in the water, but even with Scott’s praise and worship of her body when they were in bed each night, she wasn’t exactly comfortable flaunting herself around the very obviously in-shape SEAL team.
She sat on the rock near their packs once more and basked in the sun as the men played. They began a splashing war with a few teenagers who’d arrived, then showed them how to get to the two different jumping platforms above the waterfall. By the time the area around the waterfall and swimming hole got too crowded, they were all ready to head back.
Elodie put on the extra set of clothes Scott had packed and they all started down the trail. This time, Slate was leading the group. Everyone made fun of him for being impatient. Now that their fun time was up, all he wanted to do was get back to the vehicles. Elodie couldn’t really blame him though. Walking in wet shoes and socks, as well as a damp bathing suit, wasn’t exactly comfortable.
She stared at Slate’s wide shoulders as they walked, dividing her attention between them and the trail at her feet. The large man surprised her when he turned and said, “Let me know if I go too fast for you to keep up.”
“I will. Thanks.”
“You hanging in there?” he asked.
Elodie was even more surprised he was initiating conversation. He and Jag had been fairly quiet all day. “Yeah, I am. I wasn’t sure about this hike at first, but it’s been great.”
“I meant with everything else.”
“Oh, I guess so. I don’t really have a choice.”
“You always have a choice,” Slate said. “No matter what happens in life, you always have a choice. You might make the wrong one, but the choice is there.”
Elodie wondered what kind of wrong choices he, or maybe someone he was close to, had made in the past. Because it certainly sounded as if he was talking from experience and not in general.
“You’re right. I chose to take that job in New York without looking too hard into it. I should’ve known it was too good to be true, but I was blinded by the need to get out of the restaurant business and by the salary.”
Slate grunted. It wasn’t exactly encouragement to keep talking, but she did so anyway. She kept her voice low so only Slate, and probably Jag, who was walking behind her, could hear. “And I chose to take the job on that cargo ship, thinking it would get me as far away from New York as possible, and bad things still happened. And now I’m here. I don’t know if my choice to come to Hawaii will end up backfiring, and if I’ll bring danger straight to Scott’s door, but you have to believe me when I tell you that I’ll do everything in my power to prevent that.”
“Even leave?” Jag asked.
Yup, she was right. He could hear her. She turned to look at him, nodding. “Yes.”
Jag nodded back, as if she’d said what he wanted to hear.
“That’s not gonna be necessary,” Slate said, and Elodie turned to face forward again. “If anyone from that family manages to track you down and threatens you, we’ll take care of it.”
“Why?” Elodie asked. “I’m a stranger to you. I’m possibly putting your friend in danger.”
“Because we don’t like bullies,” Jag said. “We’ve spent our entire military careers fighting against assholes who prey on others.”
“And,” Slate added, “we like you.”
Elodie blinked. He liked her? He hadn’t said more than a few words to her all day, except for the last few minutes. But his assurance meant the world to her. She could understand them helping her because of Scott, had even expected that. Pid had said as much earlier. But to hear Slate say that he liked her? She felt as if she’d somehow managed to win the lottery. She didn’t think Slate openly admitted to liking many people.
“And for the record, I’ll gut anyone who lays a hand on you,” Jag added.
Elodie shivered. Yeah, he was definitely the silent but deadly type. She made a mental note to never get on his bad side.
“Thanks, you guys,” she said. “I appreciate that more than I can say. But honestly, I’m more worried about Scott than me at this point. He doesn’t deserve for any of my shit to come down on him. Don’t let him do anything that might get him in trouble with the Navy, all right? He lives and breathes serving his country, and if something happened because of me, and he couldn’t be a SEAL anymore, it would destroy us both.”
“We’ve got his back. And yours,” Slate told her.
“Jeez, you guys in a hurry for some reason?” Aleck called out from behind them.
Elodie realized for the first time that they’d begun to walk much faster as they were talking. Maybe it was a subconscious attempt to make sure Scott didn’t overhear.
Without thought, she turned and yelled, “What? Can’t keep up, Aleck? Wuss!”
Everyone laughed, and it felt good to be joking around with these guys. Aleck and the others jogged to catch up with them and a good-natured shoving match occurred between the guys, who were all trying to take over the lead. Elodie stepped out of the way and watched with a huge smile on her face. She turned to Scott, who’d come up next to her. “You aren’t joining in?”
“Hell no,” he said. “I only brought one change of clothes, and the last thing I want to do is drive to Aleck’s condo covered in mud.”