“Ah, no. It was the other way around. Your mom wanted someone on the mission that you had some familiarity with. I don’t think she wanted you here by yourself or with a complete stranger. So your dad pulled some strings and got me put on special orders.”
Her mouth quirked. “Of course he did.”
He stepped closer and she swore she could feel the heat from his broad chest.
“They love you, Emme. They just wanted you safe and taken care of.”
“I’m not upset,” she assured him. “Knowing Dad would do everything in his power to get me, kept me going.”
His assessing gaze roved over her face. “Okay.”
“Okay. Food?” He nodded and they continued down the path. “Why the Army?”
“Your dad,” he said.
“Really?”
“You and Doug always groaned whenever he told his old war stories”
“That’s because we’d heard them a bazillion times.”
He smiled. “I soaked them up. Whenever Doug and I played soldiers, I always wanted to be your dad. He gave me my recommendation for ROTC.”
“Really? I had no idea.” Of course, she’d barely been a teenager when he and Doug went off to college. There’d been no reason for her to know. “What do you do?”
“I’m a Ranger.” He pointed to a small restaurant a few yards off the path, a dozen or so umbrella covered tables out front.
“Of course you are.”
A young Filipino woman greeted them at the door. “Welcome. Two?”
“Yes. Can we sit outside?” Jordan asked.
The hostess nodded and gestured to the tables. They sat next to each other, facing the promenade and ocean, and took the menus.
“Why did you say ‘of course you are’ like that?” Jordan asked.
“If you hero worshipped Dad, it makes sense you followed in his footsteps.” Emme opened her menu. “Plus, there’s the whole invading a small African country and blowing it up.” She winked over the top of her menu. Her gaze dropped to his smile, now surrounded by reddish-blond scruff.
“It was a wall, not an entire country.”
She raised an eyebrow.
“Fine. Two walls.”
The waiter arrived at the table and she asked for sparkling water. “Do you know what you want?” she asked when the waiter left.
“What on here is meat?”
She hid her smile behind her menu. “Haven’t you been to the Middle East before?”
“Yes, but that did actually involve invading and blowing up countries, not sitting down at restaurants.”
“Trust me?” she asked.
He stared at her for a heartbeat, the closed his menu and put it on the table. “Go for it.”
She smiled and his gaze dropped to her mouth. Her breath caught and her pulse picked up. Was he as aware of her as she was of him? She licked her lips and his gaze flew back to hers. His green eyes were intense and held a heat she felt in her core.
