Way of the Warrior (Troubleshooters #17.5)(122)
“I got lucky,” Jay admitted. “We have another friend, Dr. Kelly Paoletti—she managed to drive out to where Jenn and Eden were stuck. She took over, so I just assisted, which was fine with me.”
“It was the most amazing thing,” Carol told Hugh. “After Jay got into the chopper, I decided to keep going. I thought I could help by staying with Eden’s car or…I don’t know. But when I got there, there were all these people who’d already come to the rescue. Tom and Adam and Lindsey and Tracy. They just dropped everything, because Dan—and you—were overseas.”
“That’s how it works,” Hugh said. “Kinda like Jay filling in for me in a pinch.”
“It’s so impressive,” Carol said. “And you know, if I’ve seemed at all hesitant, it’s because it scared me. The idea of a relationship with someone who’s not only got a dangerous job, but who’s also always…kind of…gone. But it was great to see how it works. Starting with Jay’s amazing generosity and ending with a random group of people all coming to Jenn’s rescue—except they weren’t random. They’re family. They’re more than family.”
Jay could see that Hugh was struggling to understand, and he knew all the big SEAL had heard was “Jay’s amazing.”
“It really was nice to see that,” Carol said again.
“I have an idea,” Jay said, because it was so obvious that Hugh was stuck in some terrible parallel universe where he’d returned from the mission to find Jay and Carol already engaged to be married. And unlike that brief pang of regret that Jay had felt when he’d seen Carol smile at Hugh, Hugh’s suffering was deep and intense. Someone had to put the man out of his misery. “Why don’t we go out sometime, like on a double date.” He looked at Carol. “You and Hugh, and me and…” He cleared his throat and lied. “Well, there’s a woman I’ve been dying to ask out, and… This’ll give me a reason to. Ask her.”
“I’d like that,” Carol said, looking up at Hugh.
“Um, wow. Yeah,” he said, light finally dawning. “I’d like that, too. Very much. Thank you.” The smile he shot Jay was definitely adorable.
“We could go tonight,” Jay said, but then slapped his forehead. “Wait, no, I can’t make it, not tonight. But you could go. Right?”
“I’m free,” Carol told Hugh as Jay found his crutches, and pulled himself up, and slowly backed away.
“Ooh,” Hugh said, making an I don’t know face. “First night back always belongs to Bree.”
And it was beyond obvious from the look on Carol’s face that those words made her love Hugh all the more.
“We could all go out,” she suggested. “Bree and your mom, and…you and me.”
“Oh, Jesus, ’Fo,” Izzy Zanella said from where he was sitting, his arm around Eden. “Will you just grab her and kiss her already?”
Hugh laughed.
And did just that.
And Carol kissed him back.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
After childhood plans to become the captain of a starship didn’t pan out, Suzanne Brockmann took her fascination with military history, her respect for the men and women who serve, her reverence for diversity, and her love of storytelling, and explored brave new worlds as a New York Times bestselling romance author. Over the past twenty years, she has written fifty-five novels, including her award-winning Troubleshooters series about Navy SEAL heroes and the women—and sometimes men—who win their hearts. In addition to writing books, Suzanne Brockmann has co-written and co-produced a feature-length movie, the award-winning romantic comedy The Perfect Wedding. She has also co-written a YA novel, Night Sky, with her daughter Melanie. Find Suz on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SuzanneBrockmannBooks, follow her on Twitter @SuzBrockmann, and visit her website at www.SuzanneBrockmann.com.
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Hell or High Water
JULIE ANN WALKER
Present day
10:52 p.m.…
“And the Santa Cristina and her brave crew and captain were sucked down into Davy Jones’s locker, lost to the world. That is…until now…”
Leo “the Lion” Anderson, known to his friends as LT—a nod to his former Naval rank—let his last words hang in the air before glancing around at the four faces illuminated by the flickering beach bonfire. Rapt expressions stared back at him. He fought the grin curving his lips.
Bingo, bango, bongo. His listeners had fallen under a spell as deep and fathomless as the great oceans themselves. It happened anytime he recounted the legend of the Santa Cristina. Not that he could blame his audience. The story of the ghost galleon, the holy grail of sunken Spanish shipwrecks, had fascinated him ever since he’d been old enough to understand the tale while bouncing on his father’s knee. And that lifelong fascination might account for why he was now determined to do what so many before him—his dearly departed father included—had been unable to do. Namely, locate and excavate the mother lode of the grand ol’ ship.