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Mai Tai Marriage

Book Three of the Aloha Series


Chapter One

Lieutenant Commander Jim Borden, USN, glanced up at the half naked woman and  wondered just how long this night was going to be. With his best man, and best  friend since Annapolis, not able to fly in for the wedding until tomorrow  morning, one of the younger team members had volunteered to plan the bachelor
party. When Matt picked the Silk Stocking, more affectionately known as the  Dirty Sock, Jim had laughed it off and thought why the hell not. Now all he  wanted was to get the hell out of here and find his fiancée, Bridget, to set  things right again.

"You need another drink," one of his buddies slurred into his ear. "Or maybe  you need a good lap dance. The blonde with the triple Ds will put a smile on  your face."

A slender blonde with boobs the size of small watermelons had one leg wrapped  around the tall chrome pole, her back arched like a European monument, and yet  somehow the super-sized man-made tits managed to defy the call of gravity.  Offering a mock nod of approval, Jim said what his buddy wanted to hear, "Maybe
later."

Jim brought his drink half way to his mouth and then set it back down. He  couldn't keep his mind off Bridget. All day she'd been ignoring his calls and  this afternoon when he'd dropped her parents off at the hotel, she'd been  downright chilly. Since his return from Kona she'd been quiet. Too quiet. At  first he'd thought she was just ticked off he'd left Honolulu shortly before the  wedding to go help his buddy and former teammate, Billy Everrett, on the Big  Island. The two friends hadn't spoken since a mission had gone south sending
them both to the hospital, costing Billy a leg, Doug Hamilton his vision in one  eye, and leaving Jim with ravaging scars on his back.

But sitting here stewing over the situation, he’d realized Bridget's mood was  not going to blow over on its own. He needed to remind her how much he loved her  and wanted her for his wife. Wife. The word still scared the hell out of  him.

In his line of work he'd considered a wife and family a liability. He was  deployed most of the year and the risk of being blown to bits in the line of  duty was as high as the temps on an August day in Afghanistan. That kind of  pressure did little to nurture a marriage. It used to be he'd been glad not to  be tied down with a wife and family to worry about during a mission. Nothing to  distract him when diffusing an explosive device. But more often of late he'd  begun to envy the guys with wives waiting at the end of a tour or the men with  their kid's photo in their breast pocket.

His time had come. The last explosion had nearly done him in. Both the burden  of the scared kid who'd lost his life and the Humvee door that had almost sliced  Jim in half. Now he'd have Bridget to come home to.

Billy came up on Jim's left and hefted a beer at the dancer, who gripping the  slender pole with one hand, now spun about showing her wares. "Remember those  days, sir?"

"Oh, yeah." Jim felt the smile pull at the corners of his mouth. It was good  to have his friend back. For years, Billy had refused to speak with any of the  former team. No hospital visits, no phone calls, emails, nothing. When Billy  recently reached out to Jim for help, not even the voice of God could have  stopped him from agreeing to help. "But what's with the sir?"

Billy shrugged a shoulder. "Habit."

"Well, leave it behind." Jim tapped his bottle against Billy's. "To wedded  bliss."

"And the women who love us!" Having just gotten engaged himself, Billy said  that through an especially wide shit-eating grin. "You're not looking like  someone pleased to be getting married tomorrow."

"I am. It's just..."

"Cold feet?"

"Not mine." Jim toyed with the sweaty label. "Something's not right with  Bridget. I thought she was pissed about my going to Kona."

Billy's face pinched. "Sorry, man."

"No. Nothing to be sorry for." All Jim had to do was find a way to make  Bridget understand that no matter how much he wanted this new life of theirs, he  would have leapt at any opportunity to reconnect with his former EOD teammate,  even if it was the week before their wedding. The important thing was that he
always intended to be back in time for the ceremony. And he'd made it, too.  Surely, that had to count for something? "She's pulling back. I think... I think  she's having second thoughts."

From his peripheral vision, Jim spotted one of his buddies climbing onto the  dance floor. Bad move. At the same moment Jim grabbed an ankle, setting his  bottle down on the bar, Billy turned to reach for the back of Brent's belt.  Together the two men pulled the young lieutenant back to the safe zone.

"Why'd you do that, Commander?" the inebriated junior officer asked, his eyes  tracking the dancer on the stage.

"Commander?" Billy repeated, still holding onto the kid's belt.

Jim stood, arms stretched, steadying his friend. "Promoted in the  spring."

"Did you see the size of those—" the foolish friend started.

"Brent—" Jim cautioned.

"But—" Brent swung his arm out to point at the dancing blonde's attributes  and smacked the waitress coming up beside him, knocking the drinks off the tray.  And onto a drunk now bathed in scotch.

The drunk sprang to his feet and threw a right cross that completely missed  Brent and left the guy spinning around until his fist connected with the already  unhappy waitress.

Before Jim or Billy could back out of the way, the drunk took another swing,  yelling, "See what you made me do?"

No drunk got the drop on Jim, or any of his men. Snatching the idiot's wrist  in mid-air, he pushed the guy back and onto another inebriated tourist coming to  his buddy's aid. Chairs scratched against the floor as people jumped to their  feet and out of the way. The waitress, who would have one hell of a shiner come  morning, screeched, "Call the cops."

A splash of gin and tonic hit Jim in the face. A fist flew past, knocking  Brent back a step. Within minutes, fists and bodies were flying like spit balls  in a third grade classroom. Time to evacuate. Jim scanned the room looking for  his own.

Matt, the youngest man on Jim's team, shimmied through the crowd, ducking  punches and tossed drinks. "Sir, we need to get out of here. ASAP."

No shit. "How many unaccounted for?"

"Three, sir. Chief Watson, Kevin, and your friend Doug."

Jim nodded. "You and Brent hit the side door." He could see the desire to  stay reflected in the kid's eyes. But following orders, Matt grabbed Brent by  the arm and quickly hauled him past the brawling crowd.

"You gather the two I don't know. I'll round up Doug."

"There he is." Jim pointed. "Ten o'clock and he's got Watson."

"What's Kevin look like?" Billy asked.

Another quick scan and Jim caught sight of Kevin's red Hawaiian shirt. Only  the shirt was on the buxom blonde. What the...?

A sharp whistle pierced the air. Jim cast a quick glance across the room in  time to see the side door slamming shut behind Matt and Brent. Doug and Watson  were nowhere to be seen.

HPD flooded the room. Jim turned to Billy. "We are so screwed."

***

"How's the other guy look?" Lexie Hale raised a quieting hand at the two men  before her. Rumpled from a night in jail, it was Jim's bruised cheek and torn  shirt that gave any indication of the brawl that had landed them in the cell.  "Don't tell me. Jarheads?"

"A waitress actually." Jim filed past her, following her boss’ footsteps.

"Waitress?" That had not been the response Lexie had expected. She'd  overheard enough conversation the last week in Kona amongst her boss' Navy pals  to know Marine vs. Navy brawls were not exaggerated. But starting a fight with a  waitress?

"When the cops escorted everyone out of the establishment—"

Escorted?  Lexie covered her mouth, feigning a cough to hide her  giggle. Billy shot her a cutting glance.

Jim ignored her and kept walking. "The waitress got one clean shot in. Brent  was the one who started the fight by knocking the drinks off her tray, but I was  the only handy target."

"I ducked." Billy flashed a broad grin.

Pausing at the large wooden door, waiting for the officer on the other end to  open the last barrier to freedom, Lexie lifted her hand to better examine Jim's  cheek. "A little makeup and Bridget won't shoot you for ruining her wedding  photos."

"Yeah, well. Thanks for coming out. Bridget's not very happy with me lately.  I wasn't relishing the thought of calling her in the middle of the night to bail  our sixes, excuse me, our behinds out of jail."

Lexie bit back a smile. The games people play. This was why she liked  being single. Men and relationships were simply more maintenance than she wanted  to deal with.

The guys reached the end of the hall and stopped at a wide counter with a  mesh wall. Jim shook his head. "Facing my CO won't be any better."

Lips pressed tightly together, Billy turned to his friend. "I should have  shoved your sorry ass out the door before the cops got there. Doug and I aren't  active duty, but you... How bad is this going to go down?"

"That." Jim heaved an ominous sigh. "Depends on what I'm charged with."

"Nothing," Lexie offered quickly.

Both men's heads snapped about.

Normally Billy was the partner at the Big Island Dive shop who handled the  crises, but this time it was Nick Harper, or more accurately his wife, who had  come to the rescue.

"You really should thank Nick for marrying Kara," Lexie explained. "Then you  need to thank her for saving your hide. I phoned her as soon as I hung up with  you. She made a couple of calls. The local DA was in the JAG corps with the  judge who's been sending Kara work. The bar owner is former Navy. All of that  worked in your favor. And." She glanced from one to the other. "Kara can be very  persuasive. No charges are being filed against either of you. Apparently the old  adage, it's not what you know but who you know, still holds true."

Billy and Jim signed a small mountain of paperwork, retrieved their personal  possessions, and strolled out the building as though being arrested in a bar  room brawl was an everyday occurrence.

Outside, the sun already shone bright. Jim flipped his wrist to check the  time at the exact moment Lexie looked at her phone for the same reason. "You  have three hours to clean up and get to the church looking like a groom and not  a jailbird."

"Right."

Jim reminded her of her bosses. Aside from all three being superb specimens  of US Navy Special Forces, Billy and Nick were both poster boys for unreadable  expressions. Jim was no different. He could easily be as nervous as a cat in a  dog kennel or as calm as the ocean at low tide. And there was no way she could  tell which.

"Do we need to stop and pick up cars?" Lexie clicked the fob on the car  rental.

Jim slid into the back seat. "No. We rode with Doug."

Keys hovering over the ignition, Lexie froze. "Was I supposed to bail someone  else out, too?"

"No. Jim and I were the only two from our group in the holding cells."

Good. She'd have hated to leave one of their friends in jail and in trouble.  With a nod, she started the car and pulled into traffic.

Excitement for the upcoming nuptials began to fizz like an uncorked champagne  bottle. Already thinking ahead, she mentally set out her new dress and debated  how to wear her hair. Lexie loved weddings. As long, of course, as they weren't  hers. She'd almost made that mistake once. And once was definitely enough. For  her there was absolutely nothing wrong with always a bridesmaid, never a  bride.

***

Not fifteen minutes after dropping the guys off in the lobby, Billy summoned  Lexie upstairs to Jim's room.

Her arm raised, poised to knock, the door swung open and Billy filled the  doorway.

"I brought some make up." She held out the cover up to hide the bruise on  Jim's cheek.

"We have a problem." Billy's hard gaze was punctuated by the irritated twitch  of his jaw muscles clamped tight.

"Someone else is in jail?"

"No." He waved her into the room. "The bride has gone AWOL."

"You lost the bride?" Could this day get any crazier? Lexie was a dive  instructor and shop manager, not a bounty hunter. "How can you lose a  bride?"

"We didn't lose her. She left Jim a note."

Lexie's eyes shifted to Jim standing by the window, his focus on the  shoreline in the distance. A single sheet of paper crumpled in his fisted hand.  Damn, he didn't deserve this. "She heard about the raid?"

Billy shook his head. "Doesn't seem that way. She left the note last night.  We just found it in his room. I've called his best man."

Turning to Billy, Lexie lowered her voice. "He seems to be holding it  together pretty well." And wasn't that a stupid observation. The guy wasn't a  girl. He wouldn't be throwing everything within reach across the room. Crying  and screaming. Taking his pain and anger out on anyone and everyone who dared  cross his path. The guy was a Navy hero. No one would see his breaking heart.

Billy hefted a shoulder. "He saw it coming. Things weren't all paradise with  them. I'm on my way to tell his folks. His best man had to book a room in a  different hotel, but he's on his way. I need you to please go to the church and  let everyone know the wedding is off. Then cancel the reception."

"Me?"

"I don't know who else to ask. Angela is already in the air. I'm supposed to  be leaving in a minute to pick her up."

"How about Bridget? She planned the whole thing."

"According to her note, she and her parents caught the last flight to LA last  night. She actually told Jim to go ahead and have the reception anyway. To think  of it as a blowout party. Do you believe that?"

"Not a bad idea. Sort of goodbye and good riddance."

Billy’s eyes narrowed. "I didn't expect that from you."

"I was thinking good riddance to her." Finding her own hands curled into  angry fists, she stretched her fingers, then raised her voice in Jim's  direction. "She doesn't deserve you."

Only the slightest of nods told her that he'd heard what she'd said.

"Okay." She turned to Billy. "I'm going to need more info if I'm supposed to  cancel this whole shindig. Who has a list of names and contacts? I'll need to  call the location, the caterer, the photographer, I don't see there being enough  time to contact the guests—especially with a destination wedding. I could put an  announcement in the lobby for the guests in this hotel, or I could—"

"She's right," Jim muttered, still staring out the window.

"Who's right?" Billy and Lexie chorused.

Slowly, the quiet man who had spent a week in Kona protecting people he  didn't know simply because a friend had asked him to, steeled his spine and  apparently his mind. Any pain she might have expected to see in the eyes of a  broken hearted man was hidden behind blind determination.

"Bridget. Lexie. Whoever. The reception is only a few hours away. Everything  is in place. There may not be a wedding to attend, but there's enough food and  booze to outfit an aircraft carrier."

Storming away from the window, Jim tossed the crumpled note in the trash,  undid the buttons of his shirt, and having reached the bathroom door, tossed an  icy stare in their direction. "We are going to have one hell of a party. And I  for one am going to get stinking drunk."

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  • Home
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    • Honeymoon Series
    • Hart Land Lakeside Inn
    • Aloha Romance Series - Beach Read Edition
    • Main Street Romance
    • Surf's Up Saloon
    • Family Secrets Novels
    • Boxed Sets
  • Coming Soon
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  • Audio Books
    • Audio Books
    • Audio Bundles
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