Finding Carly (SEAL Team Hawaii #5)(42)

“It totally did,” Carly agreed. “I used to tiptoe around him because I so desperately wanted him to like me. And getting along with him made Shawn happy. Well, not happy, but you know what I mean. Not worrying about what Luke thought of me and saying what I was thinking felt awesome.”

“He’s a dick,” Kenna said.

“Yup. It’s gonna suck having to tell Jag about this. I’m sure he’s going to want me to call Detective Lee too.”

“Which will probably mean the attention Luke’s getting from the cops will increase, which in turn will piss him off more,” Kenna said.

“No doubt,” Carly agreed. Then she shook her head in amazement. “I can’t believe I’m not a complete basket case right now. If this happened even a few weeks ago, I would’ve probably needed to be carted away and sedated.”

“Would it be weird for me to tell you how much I love you right now?” Kenna asked.

Carly grinned. “Nope.”

“Good. I love you, Carly. You’re amazing.”

“I think the same about you,” Carly told her. They smiled at each other.

“Come on, let’s finish up shopping and get you home. You need to get on with seducing Jag.”

Carly almost choked. “Um, what?”

“You guys have been tiptoeing around each other for months. You need to get on with things already.”

“How do you know we haven’t?” Carly asked.

“Because you would’ve told me about it by now,” Kenna said as they headed up another aisle.

Carly wrinkled her nose. Her friend was probably right. “You don’t think it’s too fast?”

Kenna raised both brows and looked at her incredulously.

Laughing, Carly said, “Right, little miss, ‘I married my man two-point-three seconds after I met him.’”

Kenna giggled. “It wasn’t quite that bad.”

It was Carly’s turn to look incredulous now.

“But seriously…our SEALs move fast when they find the woman they want to spend the rest of their lives with, because they know how short our time on earth really is. As much as I hate to even think about it, what they do is crazy dangerous. They could die on any of their missions. They don’t fuck around when it comes to tying their women to them permanently. So no, you aren’t moving too fast at all. If anything, I’d say you and Jag have moved slowly. You were actually friends before anything else.”

She was right. Carly felt as if Jag had gotten to know her pretty well over the previous months, but she didn’t feel as if she knew him all that well. She knew he was dependable, protective, a little bossy. Knew he smelled absolutely amazing and that sleeping next to him every night made her feel safe and secure. He liked pizza and sushi, but hated pineapples and mangos…which was amusing, since he lived in Hawaii.

“Yeah,” Carly said after realizing she hadn’t responded to Kenna’s last comment.

Her friend just chuckled. “There’s no timetable on love,” she said after a moment. “Everyone’s relationship is different. I want you to be happy, Carly, and I think Jag does that for you.”

“He does,” Carly agreed.

“So just go with the flow. I’m not surprised Jag moved you in. It seems to be a pattern with the guys on his team. But if you want to just be friends with him, that’s okay. You have to do what’s right for you.”

“I don’t want that,” Carly said without hesitation. “I just…I don’t want him to be with me because he feels responsible for me.”

“Talk to him,” Kenna urged. “There’s been a lot going on with your life, and with his, recently. My suggestion is to tell him what you want. Open up. You want sex? I think you’re going to have to make the first move. He’s been in this weird friendship role for a while now, and he probably doesn’t know exactly how to change the status quo. It’s obvious he wants you, the chemistry between you is off the charts. You just need to give him the green light to move forward.”

Just the thought of Jag doing more than holding her at night made Carly squirm. She wanted that. A lot. And Kenna was probably right. Jag had been her friend, her lifeline, for so long, he was probably leery of doing something that might scare her. She’d even had to initiate their first kiss. “You’re right,” she said.

“I know,” Kenna said smugly. “Come on, let’s finish up here. I’m guessing Luke and his girlfriend are probably gone, but I’m not all that keen on having another confrontation with them anytime soon.”

Carly shivered. She wasn’t either.

They finished the rest of their shopping and checked out. There was no sign of Luke, thank goodness. But when they were putting the grocery bags into Kenna’s Chevy Malibu, Carly glanced to her right—and was shocked to see Beau Langford. Another one of Shawn’s best friends.

“Holy shit, I can’t believe this,” she muttered.

“What?” Kenna asked.

“Over there, to our right,” Carly said, gesturing in Beau’s direction with her head.

“Who? What? The guy over there at the over-the-top sports car? What is that, a Corvette?”

“I guess. And yes. That’s Beau Langford.”