Not bothering to explain further, he thanked Ramiro and the other instructors who’d been standing there watching him shoot.Then he left the firing line, aware of Silas, Harold, and Upton still watching him.
“Well, that was interesting,” Asher said as he and Eli joined Darwin over by the sitting area.“I’m sure you noticed Upton is much more proficient with a gun than your typical trust fund baby.”
Yeah, Darwin noticed.It also made him wonder if he was right about Upton being the one who’d murdered Arthur.
Before he could say anything, his phone dinged.He pulled it out to see a text from Lennox.The Team was heading back to San Nicolas Island, and they needed him at the airfield on Coronado in ninety minutes.Darwin had brought all his gear with him in case he had to leave, but he still needed to move fast if he was going to beat the everyday SoCal traffic.
He sent a quick text to Lennox to let him know he’d be there, then called Katrina.
Chapter nine
“Okay,nowthatthebride-to-be has finished with her required social schmoozing,” Lakelyn Fox said with a dramatic sigh as Khloe joined them in their secluded corner of the spa and reclaimed her lounger, “Katrina, you need to tell me how you met that hunky Navy SEAL of yours.More importantly, does he have any friends?”
Katrina laughed as she sipped her mimosa.She, Khloe, and Lakelyn had spent the morning being pampered with a massage followed by a mani-pedi.She was relaxed and absolutely loving the lavender color on her fingers and toes that matched her bridesmaid gown perfectly.
“Well,” she said, speaking softly so the other women outside their corner of the spa wouldn’t overhear.“My friend, Talia, and some of the other nannies got into a scary situation with some really bad people who wanted something very valuable from our employers.Talia and I didn’t mean to get involved, but before we knew it, we were sitting in a surveillance van on an empty street, spying on these people.Then suddenly, there was shooting, glass shattering, and the whole vehicle was coming apart all around us.It was scary as hell, and I thought for sure I was about to die.”
“Oh, my gosh!”Lakelyn gasped.“What happened?”
“Darwin happened.He scooped me up in his arms and got me out of there.”Katrina grinned.“After that, how does a girl not fall for the guy who swept her off her feet like that?”
“I don’t know if that’s the most romantic thing I’ve ever heard or the most terrifying,” Lakelyn said.“That whole story should be a movie, or at the very least, a romance book.”
“Never mind that,” Khloe said, waving her hand at her friend before looking at Katrina.“Why the heck didn’t you tell me any of this?I thought you and Darwin met at a coffee shop or something.You almost died, Katrina!”
“But I didn’t.Thanks to Darwin,” she said, reaching over to take her sister’s hand and giving it a squeeze.“I wanted to tell you, but I thought I needed to keep the stuff about us getting me involved in a shootout secret.Honestly, sometimes, I’m still not sure what I can and can’t say when it comes to Darwin being a Navy SEAL.I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”
“I forgive you.As if you even had to worry about that.”Khloe smiled.“Just promise you won’t ever keep anything like that from me again.Better yet, don’t get into a dangerous situation like that ever again.”
“I’ll do my best, believe me.”Katrina gave a little shudder.“One near-death experience is quite enough for me, thank you very much.”
“Does danger usually come with the territory when you date a Navy SEAL?”Lakelyn asked.
Katrina thought about that for a moment.While she hadn’t personally been in danger after that shootout, Talia and Lennox had.Everything had worked out, though, and she knew Talia wouldn’t trade what she had with Lennox for anything.
“I don’t know if it comes with the territory,” she said.“But even if it did, I’d still want to be with Darwin.”
Khloe grinned over the rim of her mimosa glass.“Are those wedding bells I hear?”
On the chaise beside her, Lakelyn looked just as interested to hear the answer to that.
“Whoa, hang on there,” Katrina said with a laugh.“Darwin and I haven’t even slept together.”
“Yet,” Khloe said.
“Yet,” Katrina agreed.“But the point is that while we’ve known each other for a while, the meet-and-greet the other night was technically our first date.”
“Seriously?”Khloe did a double-take.“I thought for sure you and Darwin had been dating a while.What took you so long to get together?”
“I wish I could tell you.”Katrina shrugged.“We kept trying to get together, but it seemed like fate kept getting in the way and interrupting our plans every time we made them.Which is, full disclosure here, one of the obvious downsides to dating a Navy SEAL.They tend to be on the go a lot.”
Katrina paused as an attendant came over with a tray of gigantic chocolate-covered strawberries.Thanking the woman, she helped herself to one, then watched as Khloe and Lakelyn did the same.
“While I agree that it’s probably too early to order wedding invitations yet,” her sister said, “is Darwin the kind of guy you could see yourself marrying?”
Katrina nibbled on her strawberry as she considered the question.
“Sometimes when I’m daydreaming, I do think of marrying him,” she admitted.“I think I could be really happy with him, even with all the SEAL stuff I’d have to put up with.Is that crazy?”
