Dak stood when he saw the group headed their way. “Please join us,” he invited.
“Thanks,” Dalton said. “We might need to add more chairs. Margo and Randi will be joining us as well.”
“There’s plenty of room,” Dak said, grabbing two other chairs. Margo and Randi were married to Stonewall’s two best friends, Striker and Quasar. Since Striker, Quasar and Sheppard, like Stonewall and Joy, and Granny Kay, were part of the wedding party, they would be sitting at a reserved table at the front of the room.
Margo and Randi soon joined them and over the next few minutes, while he and the Granger brothers talked sports, the women passed around cell phones showing recent pictures of their kids. He and the brothers also talked business. A year ago, Granger Aeronautics had exclusively designed and built a one-of-a-kind luxury jet for Dak’s company. It was a beauty and he’d been more than pleased with the final product.
It was not only a smooth sailing aircraft, but also state-of-the-art. His jet had all the conveniences of home with several specific amenities he’d requested. It also had speed. A number of people hadn’t understood why he would need a plane that traveled so fast, but Dak had known Dalton Granger would understand. Very few people knew that he and Dalton had first met years ago, when they’d both been in their twenties and working undercover for the USN.
Whereas Dak’s role in the agency was on-the-ground combat and operational maneuvers, Dalton was one of those agents used to mix, mingle and eventually identify those wealthy billionaires whose money was used to back the terrorists. The good thing was that neither their roles nor their identities in the agency were ever revealed. Even that time Dak had been ambushed by Kovalenko and his band of cutthroats, it had been dark, and he’d been wearing a mask. They’d known him only by his code name—Raven. Thankfully, Kovalenko and his men were all dead. Dak had fought them off, killed a few before his team had shown up just in time to finish them off. Kovalenko, the cutthroat’s commander, had gotten away and evaded capture for years. However, according to the USN, the man had finally been captured and was now dead.
Moments later, everyone stood and began clapping. The wedding party had arrived.
• • •
“This has been one special day,” Mellie said as Dak led her over to a table in the back of the night club. It was one of many clubs in Miami Beach that provided live entertainment. Their table had a beautiful view of the ocean. And although it was close to eight, there was still plenty of daylight left. “Drew and Toni looked so happy,” she said.
“Yes, they did.”
As soon as they were seated, a waitress came to take their drink order. That would be all they would have. The dinner at the reception had been more than filling and had been followed by several decadent desserts. After the reception, Dak had taken her back to the church to get her car and said he would pick her up from the hotel at seven thirty. That had given her time to shower and change into comfortable clothes—a sundress and sandals.
He was wearing a pair of slacks and a buttoned-down shirt. He’d left the first two buttons undone to reveal a very sexy chest. Dakota Navarro was in perfect physical shape. And he seemed to like the way she looked, too. She felt his gaze on her the moment she’d met him in the hotel’s lobby, and it hadn’t left her since. In fact, he’d told her twice already how nice she looked.
She glanced around the nightclub. “It’s crowded. I understand the band is pretty popular.”
He nodded. “I heard them when I was in LA last year. I understand they dropped an album a few months ago.”
There was no need to tell him that although she loved music, she hadn’t taken the time to just sit and enjoy it for a long time. By the time she arrived home from the hospital, all she had energy to do was shower and get into bed. If she was lucky, she might get eight hours of uninterrupted sleep. But too often, she’d be awakened by a call from the hospital, asking her to come in to cover for someone.
“I look forward to hearing them tonight,” she said. She tried not to stare at Dak’s features but couldn’t help herself. She loved his dark chocolate complexion and the way the lantern in the middle of the table seemed to glow across his handsome features. His eyes were dark, nearly the color of midnight and his nose was perfect. But what she liked more than anything was his neatly trimmed beard, and the way it drew attention to a pair of luscious lips.
“Amelia?”
She blinked, realizing he’d been talking to her, while she had been held mesmerized by his lips. “Yes?”
“I asked what all you have planned for the next thirty days?”
Before she could answer, the waitress returned with their drinks, and she was glad for the interruption. She needed something to drink, at least a sip. She’d grown far too warm just sitting here with him and seeing his mouth had only made her hotter. “Nothing special…other than I intend to go as far away from Charlottesville as I can get.”
He lifted a brow. “Why?”
“Let’s just say that if people at the hospital knew I was still in town, they would call me if an emergency came up. So, I’m putting myself out of range. I honestly need time to take care of myself.”
He nodded. “I can see that. On a happier subject, are you looking forward to becoming an aunt?”
A huge smile covered her face. “Immensely. I don’t care if it’s a boy or a girl. But it will be Auntie’s baby, and I intend to spoil him or her rotten. That’s a given.”
“You like kids?”
“I love them. Hopefully, I’ll have some of my own one day. Not anytime soon, though. I’ll need a husband first, but I’m not in a rush for one of those, either.” She didn’t have an issue with women who had a baby on their own, but she wanted her child to have both a father and mother, the way she’d had during the early years of her life. Garrett and Vivienne Stonewall Courson had been the best, and although Mellie had been young when she’d lost them, she still remembered how her father would read her bedtime stories before her mother would tuck her in at night. She also recalled all the quality family time they’d spent together. The older she got, the more she appreciated the memories.
“What about you, Dak? You like kids?”
He shrugged. “What’s there not to like? And if you’re asking if I ever intend to have any of my own, the answer is yes. But like you, I’m in no hurry to settle down.”
When the lights suddenly dimmed, she knew the band was gearing up. As they performed, Mellie let herself truly enjoy the music, even tapping her feet in tune to the beat. What she’d told Dak earlier was true. Today had been a special day. And not just because of the wedding. She’d loved being able to spend time with friends she hadn’t seen since Stonewall and Joy’s wedding - Like the Grangers. Although they lived in the same town, their paths rarely crossed. She had been invited to Sheppard Granger’s birthday party last year, but had to miss it, because she’d been called in to work at the last minute.
“Will you dance with me, Amelia?”
The way Dak said her name always sent a shiver of intense longing through her. She knew he’d mastered a number of languages, so whenever he spoke, even good old American English, he did so with sensuality. And whenever he spoke her name, he did so with deep masculine awareness, and in a voice that stroked every single hormone in her body. She thought back to the last time they’d danced together at Stonewall and Joy’s wedding. Being held in his arms was a memory that had a permanent place in her mind.