“I can believe that,” he said. “I recalled when my father died…my adoptive father, Michael Navarro. He’d always been larger than life, and it had been so hard to watch him shrivel up to nothing when cancer took over his body.”
She nodded. “I’m sorry. How old were you?”
“A lot older than you were when you lost your parents. I was twenty-three and had made Army Ranger the year before his cancer was diagnosed.”
She knew the Rangers were the most elite-fighting force in the army. Still, she had trouble imagining the smooth, suave, debonair man sitting next to her taking orders from anyone. But there was no doubt in her mind he’d looked just as sexy in his uniform as he did in his expensive, tailor-made suits, like the one he was wearing now, that looked as if it had been created just for him. And it probably had. “I’m a doctor. And though I love what I do…” Mellie said. “Doctors can burn out really easily. They’re great at taking care of others but often fail miserably when it comes to taking care of themselves.”
“And you’ve been failing in that area, right?”
“Yes. But I plan to remedy that.”
“How?” They’d come to another traffic light, and he glanced over at her. Why could she feel the intensity of that gaze on every part of her?
“I’m taking off all the days I’ve accumulated this year. I don’t want to risk losing that time off, and if I wait much longer, I might. In all, there are sixty days. I’m taking thirty of them now and will use some in October, when the church will be honoring my grandmother for her years of service, and then save the rest for around the holidays. I’m having a niece or nephew who I’m hoping will come a little earlier than his or her January due date. I want to be around to help Joy and Stonewall any way that I can.”
“Sounds like you’ve got a lot of plans, Amelia.”
“Not too many. I’ve just decided to take care of myself for a change.”
“That’s a wise decision.”
At that moment, they pulled into the parking lot of the hotel where the reception was being held. “Are you staying at the hotel?”
The fact that he asked, probably meant he wasn’t. “Yes, I’m taking it you’re not.”
“No. I’ve rented a house on the beach.”
Mellie wished she’d thought of that. “Sounds perfect.”
“It is.” He brought the car to a stop. “I figure the reception will be over around five. Will you go out with me afterward?”
She noticed he didn’t say where they would be going. But that was okay. She could certainly take care of herself. “Yes, Dak, I’d like that.”
DAK COULDN’T BELIEVE IT. He’d shared more about himself—and his past—with Amelia than he had shared with anyone else, woman or man. The only person he’d ever spoken to about his father was his pilot Sylvester, or Syl, as he was usually called. And that was mainly because, at one time, Syl and his father had been friends, working together on the police force. Hell, he’d even told Amelia about his father’s death of cancer…and that was a subject he avoided at all costs. Michael Navarro would always have a special place in Dak’s heart because he’d been the man who’d saved him, both mentally and physically.
Before Dak was a year old, his sixteen-year-old biological mother had given him to his seventeen-year-old biological father to raise, when he’d refused to help parent their child and pay child support. Larry Smalls hadn’t known the first thing about raising a child, or how to treat a woman, either. Dak’s biological father had always been in and out of relationships, and he had drilled the idea into his young son’s mind that women should never be an important part of a man’s life. They were fun for a while, but actually getting into a relationship killed a man—his sense of freedom and his soul. Then, to drive his point home, he would talk about Dak’s mother—the woman who had obviously forgotten all about him, who’d never come back to check on him or find out how he was doing. Larry had used her as a prime example that women were selfish and couldn’t be depended on; that they were useless, except in bed.
Just after Dak turned seven, his father had been shot and killed while trying to cheat a man while playing a serious game of poker. When social services had come to collect Dak, he’d managed to escape through a bedroom window and had lived under a neighbor’s house in Coachella, California for weeks before he’d done something really dumb. In truth, his mistake had turned out to be a blessing, and definitely a life-saver. He had gone into a bakery without a penny to his name, but had walked out with a pocket full of cookies. He had barely made it out the door when a man, an off-duty cop, had grabbed him. That man had been Officer Michael Navarro.
Michael was Spanish-American, and his family had migrated from a place near Barcelona. To this day, Dak owed Michael Navarro everything. The police officer who’d lost his wife Tabitha, three years before they met, had needed Dak in his life as much as Dak had needed him. Luckily for Dak, Michael had been dating Janice, an attorney at social services, and she’d made the process of Michael becoming Dak’s adoptive parent fairly easy. Dak hadn’t liked his name of Charles Smalls, so Michael had fixed that, too. On his eighth birthday, Dak had gone from being Charles Smalls to Dakota Navarro. The name Dakota had been Dak’s idea. The first time he and his adoptive father had gone camping together, they’d visited Cascade Creek in South Dakota. Although there had been many more camping trips in the years that followed, that first one was one Dak never wanted to forget, and so, he’d chosen the name Dakota to always remember.
Michael had allowed him to participate in activities he’d only dreamed of. He went to church regularly, played sports and even had a tutor to help him catch up in school. Once he got back on track, he’d more than caught up—he had surpassed other kids and had graduated from high school at sixteen and gone straight to college. After that, he’d enlisted in the army as an officer and following in Michael’s footsteps, he had quickly made Ranger. He used to love listening to his father recount his times as an Army Ranger and had known that he wanted to be one as well.
“Here you are, Dak.”
Bringing his thoughts back to the present, Dak glanced up at Amelia. They were in the ballroom sitting at a table and she had left to grab a plate of appetizers for them. The dinner wouldn’t start until the bride, groom and wedding party arrived. They were still at the church, taking pictures. Other attendees were slowly trekking in, but for the moment, he and Amelia had a table all to themselves.
Dak glanced down at the plate she slid in front of him and smiled. “Thanks. Everything looks good.”
She chuckled. “At least we won’t starve while we wait. I figure it will be another twenty minutes or so before everyone gets here.”
He nodded and studied her features as she nibbled on a cracker topped with chili cheese dip. As his gaze followed a string of cheese wafting past her lips to her chin, he was tempted to lean in to lick it off.
Forcing back the urge, he glanced around the room and saw the Granger brothers enter the ballroom with their wives, along with Carson, Sheppard’s wife. Practically everyone knew the story of how Sheppard Granger, who’d been in jail serving time for a crime he hadn’t committed, had befriended a group of younger inmates, becoming, in some cases, the father none of them ever had. While in prison, Sheppard’s three sons, Jace, Caden and Dalton, had been raised by their grandfather. Not only had Sheppard been Drew’s best man today, but he’d also been Stonewall’s best man two years ago.