Wilde Nights in Paradise (Wilde Security #1)

Chapter Four

The house was exactly the way he remembered it: smack dab in the middle of the city and completely secluded behind a stone fence and a lush tropical garden.

Perfect place to hide from the world.

Jude pulled up to the gate at the backside of the property and leaned out his open window to wave at the camera. As he waited for the gate to slide open, he glanced over at Libby, asleep in the passenger seat. Her hair was loose for the first time since their reunion. A sudden, visceral memory all of that sleek gold spread across his thighs as she did the most amazing things to his body with her mouth hit him hard in the gut and made his jeans painfully tight.

And yet he couldn’t look away. He’d missed seeing her like this, completely relaxed, her defenses down. Somehow, she looked smaller when she slept, and he wanted to wrap himself around her, shield her from all the bad in the world. No other woman aroused that protective instinct in him like Elizabeth Pruitt, and it was irritating as hell.

Damn, she was still as gorgeous as she’d been in college—maybe even more so now because her body had curves it had lacked back then. Lush, intriguing curves that had tormented him during the entire flight to Florida. Thanks to her reclined position, her baggy T-shirt pulled tight across her chest and showcased her bigger breasts. What he wouldn’t give to see those babies bare as she sat astride him, riding him hard until they both came screaming.

Fuck.

Annoyed and uncomfortable, Jude shoved open the rental’s door and slid out. Why was he torturing himself with something he’d never have again? He’d burned that bridge to ashes eight years ago, and there would be no crossing back over it. So he needed to chill with the X-rated fantasies.

Leaning against the hood of the car, he jingled the ring in his pocket and took a moment to enjoy the warm night air, fragrant with salt, sand, and flowers he couldn’t begin to name. Someone played a guitar nearby, and the dulcet tones of the song soothed over him like a lover’s caress.

Ah, Key West. He’d missed it here, hadn’t been back since his very short visit last year. He winced at the memory as a figure stepped into the splash of his rental’s headlights. A vice tightened in Jude’s chest, but he plastered on an easy smile and faced the house’s owner.

“Hey, Seth.” He walked slowly toward the gate, hands held in plain view at his sides, the poster boy of nonthreatening. Even though he’d called ahead and his arrival had been expected, he didn’t dare make any sudden moves.

Last time he’d seen Seth Harlan… Well, it had ended badly. He’d thought that after his best friend’s experience overseas, a friendly face would do him good, help him heal or some shit, so he’d traveled to Key West as soon as Seth was stateside. But he’d been wrong. The mere sound of his voice had sent Seth hurtling into a flashback. The guy had smashed a beer bottle, then threatened everyone in the bar with the shards of glass. After that, as much as it had killed Jude to keep his distance, he’d stayed away.

Until now.

Christ, first Libby and now Seth. All the skeletons from his past were rattling to life this week.

“Been a long time. How you doin’?” he asked. The guy had lost a lot weight and no longer resembled the muscular man Jude remembered from their days of raising hell together on and off base. “You holdin’ up?”

“Working at it.” Seth’s voice sounded rusty, like he never used it, and his gaze was a little wild as it bounced from Jude to the car, where Libby slept in the passenger seat. “That the woman?”

“Yeah, that’s Libby. You remember me talking about her during OCS, don’t you?”

A ghost of a smile drifted across Seth’s lips. “You wouldn’t shut up about her.” The smile disappeared. “Then one day you wouldn’t talk about her at all.”

“Shit happens, people drift apart.”

“I know. Believe me. And yet here she is with you.” He stared at the ground. “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t jealous you got her back.”

Jude winced. “Yeah, I was sorry to hear about Emma calling off the engagement like that. You two were great together.”

Seth raised one shoulder in a halfhearted shrug, then unlocked the chain on the gate and pulled one side open. “She’s better off. I’m…not right anymore, ya know?”

After what he went through in Afghanistan , Jude thought, who would be? Nobody came back from that kind of torture in one piece.

“But,” Seth added with steel in his tone, “I’m gonna get right.”

Jude couldn’t help it, he strode forward and embraced the man who was once his best friend in a hard, backslapping hug. “Nah, man, you’re golden. You’re a walking miracle, and I am so fucking happy to see you back in the world.”

Behind them, the car door opened. “Jude?” Libby said.

“Hey, you’re awake. Come on over here and meet one of the best men I know. Libby, Seth Harlan. He’s lending us his house.”

Libby nodded and held out a hand. “Thanks for letting us stay here.”

“It’s no problem.” After only the slightest hesitation, Seth accepted the handshake. “I won’t be around, and I feel better knowing someone else will be. Speaking of…” He fished in the pocket of his hoodie and produced a ring of keys that he handed to Jude. “You remember where everything is?”

“Sure do.”

“All right then.” Seth grabbed a rucksack that sat propped against the edge of the stone fence and slung it over his shoulder. “I have a…plane…to catch.” He said the word “plane” in the same tone other people used for “cockroach.”

Jude squeezed his shoulder in a show of support. “You’ll be fine. I’ve been hearing nothing but good things about HORNET. Vaughn went through BUD/S with the two guys heading the team, and he says they’ll take care of you. Do you need a lift to the airport?”

“No.” He drew a breath, gazed up and down the street, and then pulled up the hood of his sweatshirt. “I’ll walk.”

Jude recognized that action for what it was—a defense mechanism, a way to hide from the world—and suddenly he wasn’t so sure about letting Seth go it alone. “You sure?”

“I need to walk,” Seth corrected himself and hitched the pack up into a better position on his shoulders. “I have to prove to myself…yeah. I just have to.”

Jude tried for a smile. “Man, you always did have more balls than brains. Probably the reason we got along so well.”

“That hasn’t changed.” He started down the drive but paused at the sidewalk and turned back. “Hey, Wilde, I never blamed you for what happened to me. When I get home, let’s grab a beer. Catch up.”

The lump that formed in Jude’s throat made speaking impossible, so he just nodded and lifted his hand in a salute. Seth returned the salute with a smile. Then, after another moment of hesitation, he stepped out onto the sidewalk and headed toward a second chance at life.

Christ knew he deserved it.

Jude watched the empty sidewalk until fingers brushed his wrist. He glanced down to see Libby staring at him with an unreadable expression on her face.

“Your friend is a strange one,” she said.

Jude shook off her hand and strode to the car. “You have no idea the hell he’s been through.”

She waited until he pulled the car into the driveway, then shut and locked the gate. “I didn’t mean to offend you.”

“Well, you did.” He slammed the door and went to the trunk to grab their bags, but she caught his arm before he could stomp off into the house like he wanted.

“I’m sorry.”

He spun on her. “After what happened to that man, he could’ve just said the hell with it and put a bullet in his brain. But he didn’t. He’s got a job with a private hostage rescue team, he’s pulling his life back together. He’s stronger than any man I know and deserves nothing but your respect.”

“I-I really am sorry. I didn’t know.”

Of course she didn’t know. Damn. Feeling like a heel, he shut his eyes and tried exhaling his irritation. After spending his entire day camped out on the floor in front of her office, then yanking her out of the way of that car, followed by the plane ride to Florida, his entire body was one big throb and his eyes felt like he’d scoured them with gravel. And that was before the emotional humdinger of seeing Seth again.

What he needed was to get unpacked and take a nice, long soak in the hot tub.

“Let’s get inside,” he said. “I’ll show you the house.”

“Okay.” She held out a hand for her bag, but he ignored it. Not because he wanted to be a gentleman, but because his muscles had stiffened up. The less unnecessary movement he engaged in, the better. He tilted his head, indicating a stone path lit with solar lanterns. He’d deal with pulling the car into the two-bay garage later. “This way.”

“It’s beautiful,” Libby said after they’d traveled several feet into the garden. The path dumped them out next to the in-ground pool, and she stopped to stare. “Wow.”

Jude also paused to take in the view, remembering his own similar reaction when, fresh out of Officer Candidates School, he’d first visited this place. The pool was long enough to swim laps and glowed an inviting blue from the underwater lighting tucked along the edges. An overhang of tropical trees provided shade during the day and gave it the feel of a hidden oasis.

Tons of fond memories here. Seth’s house had been the hotspot whenever he and his Marine buddies got an extended leave. Lots of barbecues, all-nighter parties, women, and drunken good times had happened here over the years.

Part of him missed it all.

Jude crossed the concrete pool deck to the open-air seating area, passed the covered pool table and comfortably padded wicker furniture arranged around a slate fire pit, and opened the French doors into the kitchen.

Libby followed and sucked in a surprised breath. “This is not what I expected when you said ‘safe house.’ Does Seth live here by himself?”

“Yeah.” He set their bags down by the island counter and studied the house’s open floor plan. The place looked less like the bachelor pad it used to be and more like a showroom example of snazzy Key West real estate. Seth had bought new furniture in a creamy off-white leather and had painted the living room walls a bright red-orange. For christssakes, the striped pillows on the couches even matched the color of the walls exactly.

Man, Seth had way too much time on his hands.

“He must be wealthy to afford a place like this in Key West,” Libby said and ran her hand over a baby grand piano, which matched the color of the furniture.

“Inheritance,” Jude said. “His father’s a big wig in the agricultural industry in Iowa. Seth’s always had money to burn. This used to be his family’s vacation house until his father bought a place in the Virgin Islands. Then Seth took it over and used it as a crash pad when he was on leave.”

“I love the windows, the colors… It’s all so cheerful.”

Jude didn’t mention that if she had spent a year as a prisoner of war, she’d need to surround herself with light and color. Instead, he just picked up their bags again and stifled a groan. He needed to get into the bedroom and change into his swim trunks. That hot tub was all but screaming his name.

“Well, this is it,” he said. “Kitchen here, living room there. That little room by the piano’s an office area. Bedroom’s down this hallway, first door. Second door’s a gym. Third is the laundry room.” He hitched a thumb behind him at the short hallway beside the galley kitchen. “Bedroom has an en suite, and there’s a half bath off the living room.” As he spoke, he headed toward the bedroom, moving as fast as he dared. “Home sweet home for a while.”

In the master suite, he tossed the bags on the king-size bed, which took up most of the available space, and started to strip off his shirt. A ball of orange fur yowled and scampered out from under the bed and between his legs, nearly knocking him over.

Cat.

Christ, why didn’t Seth mention a cat? Not that he had anything against the animal, but a little warning would have been nice. Feeling bad for scaring the poor thing, he squatted down. Except how did you call a cat?

He snapped his fingers. “Here kitty, kitty.”

Libby appeared in the doorway, the enormous animal purring like a motorboat in her arms as she scratched at its head. “That doesn’t work. Besides, his name is Sam.”

“How do you know?”

“Seth left a note on the counter in the kitchen. Plus, it says so on his collar. Uncle Sam.”

Right. ‘Cuz what else would Seth name his cat?

Jude stood, unzipped his bag, and dug around until he found his swim trunks. “You know how to take care of that beast?”

“It’s not rocket science. Cats are mostly self-sufficient.”

“Good. Then he’s your responsibility. I have enough to worry about.”

“Humph.” Scratching the fur ball under its chin, she wandered over to the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the pool and garden, and damn, he liked the way those yoga pants she was wearing clung to her curves, highlighting every sway of her hips. He could imagine peeling her out of them, exposing all the soft female skin of her thighs. Sometimes, in his weaker moments, he could still feel that skin, those thighs wrapped around his hips as he surged into her body and—

“Is this the only bedroom?” she asked.

Oh fuck. This was going to be a long mission if he kept up this kind of reminiscing. He made himself look away from her ass. “Yup.”

“So…where I am supposed to sleep?”

“You have two choices. We share the bed or you can have the couch.”

She whirled around and glared at him, but it was hard to look intimidating with a giant orange cat in your arms, and he told her so. She flipped him the bird, which lightened his mood considerably. Bantering he could handle, and it took his mind off the half-hard state of his cock.

“A gentleman would give up the bed,” she said, all prim and proper.

“Pretty sure we established a long time ago that I’m no gentleman.” He waggled his brows at her, just to see what kind of reaction he’d get. “And I know for a fact the bed’s big enough for at least four people.”

“You would know that, wouldn’t you?”

“What, you think I was celibate after we ended?”

She huffed out a disgusted breath and stalked from the room with the cat still purring in her arms. Well, that was one way to get her to go away.

Now about that hot tub.