Cash groaned, his hands immediately moving to tangle in her hair. His hips thrust forward, the hard length of him seeking her mouth.
She swiftly pulled back. “Uh-uh, you don’t get any sexy time until you do one thing for me.”
His eyes narrowed. “What’s that?”
“Put the sweater back on.”
Sadie Becker’s first birthday party was in full swing when Cash and Jen arrived at the Becker house the next afternoon. Becker and Jane lived in a modest, two-story home in Coronado, and though the house itself was smaller than most in the area, the backyard made up for that. The large, perfectly manicured lawn was big enough to house a decent-sized swimming pool, a swing set, an enormous pine deck with a table that seated ten, and a stone patio littered with children’s toys.
Bright pink balloons hung from the tall wooden fence surrounding the yard, and tables laden with food had been set up on the patio. A few dozen people milled around the yard, most of whom Cash recognized. Stepping onto the deck, he and Jen dropped Sadie’s gift off with Jane’s sister, Elizabeth, a tall, slender blonde who looked nothing like her curvy, redheaded younger sister.
Speaking of the curvy redhead, Cash immediately spotted Jane holding court by the refreshment table, chatting with a few women Cash had never met. She had one-year-old Sadie propped on her hip, and now there was a clear resemblance. The baby had a head of shocking red hair and big blue eyes just like her mother, but the expression of intense consternation on the kid’s face was all Becker.
“Let’s go say hi to everyone,” Jen said, searching the crowd.
Cash longed to hold her hand, but he resisted the urge. They’d already agreed there’d be no PDA today, or anything that would reveal they’d been sleeping together for the past two weeks. The last thing he wanted to do was get into it with Carson, not in a backyard full of people they knew. Besides, keeping the fling on the down-low was probably for the best, seeing as how it was supposed to end in a week.
Supposed to being the operative words.
Because no way was Cash letting this end. For the first time in his life, he’d found a woman he truly connected with. One he had no problem communicating with. One who captured his attention in and out of bed.
Jen was the quirkiest, funniest, most amazing woman he’d ever known. He loved the sound of her laughter. Her sunny smiles. The way she left those yellow sticky notes all over the apartment to remind herself to do things. And now she’d started leaving him notes—this morning he’d found a Post-it on the bathroom mirror, with Jen’s feminine scrawl saying, “Top of the morning to you, cowboy!”
So yeah, he wasn’t ready to let her go yet. Not by a long shot.
“Jen, Cash!” On the steps of the deck, Annabelle waved them over. Next to the brunette were Savannah Harte, Shelby Garrett and a woman Cash didn’t recognize.
“Cash, do you know Mackenzie?” Annabelle asked, gesturing to the woman at her side. “She’s married to Will.”
“It’s nice to meet you.” As he shook Mackenzie’s hand, he couldn’t help but notice what a knockout she was. Tall and willowy, with long black hair and blue eyes that sparkled when she smiled at him.
“Will told me about you,” Mackenzie said warmly. “He said you were one of the most determined men he’s ever met and that you kicked ass during BUD/S training.”
Cash hid his surprise. Will had actually said that? Receiving a compliment from the former SEAL, who was now an instructor on the base, occurred about as often as a solar eclipse. It surprised him that Lieutenant Will Charleston had mentioned Cash to his wife at all.
“I had no choice,” Cash replied ruefully. “He was too damn intimidating. Every time I got tempted to quit, I pictured myself ringing that bell while the LT stood there glaring at me and I knew I couldn’t live with that kind of embarrassment. Is he here today?”
Mackenzie pointed to the pool deck. “Over there.”
He followed her gaze, instantly spotting Will. The mirrored Aviators and unruly black hair were a giveaway, but the menacing air the man had exuded during Cash’s training was missing. Probably because Will held a wiggling dark-haired toddler in his arms: his son, Lucas.
John Garrett stood next to Will, also with his hands full; his two-year-old daughter Penny kept grabbing at the beer bottle in her father’s hand, which he kept moving out of her grasp.
Garrett’s wife, Shelby, giggled when she saw what her daughter was up to. “She’s got a fascination with bottles of all things,” the blonde revealed. “She tries jamming all her fingers into the bottle like she’s digging for treasure.”
Jen smiled, then searched the yard again. “Hey, are my brother and Holly here?”
“They were,” Annabelle replied. “I don’t know where they disappeared to.”
From the refreshment table, Jane suddenly caught Cash’s eye and flashed him a delighted smile.