She nodded, which sent her dark ponytail swinging. “Yes. I booked a flight out of Missoula this afternoon.”
“Taft, you’ll go with her.” Ford swiveled in his chair to face him. “I want two pairs of ears there. Book a hotel room because you won’t go there and back in a day.”
“What?” I rocketed out of my office chair, sending it rolling behind me. “No fucking way. I’m going with Quincy.” Not a chance in hell Taft was sharing a hotel room with my woman.
Ford grinned at me, and I realized I’d totally tipped my hand.
I tried to cool my jets. “I mean, no way I’m missing out on fish tacos from The Shack.”
Hayes snorted and rolled his eyes.
Taft frowned like he was offended to be taken off the job. When I gave him a hard glare, though, he caught on. “Right. Kennedy should go. He probably knows the admiral, and I don’t.”
I didn’t, but I wouldn’t mind having a little chat with the man for treating his daughter like anything less than a princess.
Quincy looked everywhere but at me. A slight flush ran up her neck, making me want to nibble my way along it again.
“Is that okay with you, Quince?” Ford asked.
She lifted her gaze to his. “Oh. Yeah. Uh-huh. Definitely.”
We weren’t fooling anybody. I wasn’t sure why we even tried.
“Okay, Kennedy, get on that flight with Quincy,” Ford said. “What time are wheels up?”
“Fifteen thirty-five,” Quincy said. I glanced at my watch. Just over three hours.
“I’ll pack my bag,” I said, moving swiftly toward the door and giving Quincy a wink only she could see when I passed.
Quincy heading to California alone? Not happening. Meeting with her pain in the ass father solo? Again, not happening. I had her back, and I was going to prove it.
No way I was letting that woman out of my sight. Not when I was still drunk on the taste of her.
* * *
QUINCY
“I hate not beingin the cockpit,” I told Kennedy as we tilted our seatbacks and got comfortable. The plane was small so there were only two seats on each side of the aisle. The good thing was I didn’t have to share a row with anyone else.
“I’ll bet.” He flashed me with those panty-melting dimples. “At least I don’t have to jump out of this one. I get to stay on forbothtakeoff and landing.”
That made her smile. “Commercial air travel for the win. Especially since we can order a drink. I definitely need one or two any time it comes to dealing with my dad.”
Kennedy turned his laser focus on me, his brows dropping. Because the seats were so close together, his face was right there. As in, if I leaned forward two inches, we’d be kissing. “Is he a hard ass at home, too?”
“Home? I haven’t really been home much in the past few years. None of us kids have. I meet up with my mom for a girls’ weekend at different spas around the country instead of heading to San Diego. But back in the day? No, he wasn’t a hard ass. Not like that. He was a decent, loving dad. It’s just the whole being a girl–and the baby of the family–in a household of boys. I’m always trying to prove I’m worthy and never measuring up.”
“Then he’s a dick.” Kennedy said it like it was fact. Like he’d just measured my father and found him lacking. He reached for my hand and laced his fingers through mine, setting them on his jean-clad thigh. I stared down at our tangled hands, somewhat shocked by the simple, yet dramatic gesture.
I was holding hands with Kennedy. Almost as if I was his girlfriend. Kennedy–the notorious womanizer!
The flight attendant came by, and we ordered gin and tonics. When they arrived, I took a deep sip of mine, expecting to enjoy the bite of the liquor and the tang of lime, but for whatever reason, it didn’t taste good to me. I set it back down.
“Here’s the thing.” Kennedy swirled his plastic cup to mix it better. A mother with an antsy toddler passed us to go to the bathroom. “You’re a grown-up now. You’re also no longer in the Navy. So you don’t have to answer to him for anything.Wedon’t have to answer to him for anything. There aren’t rules or protocols to follow. We’re not under his command. And while he might be your dad, you run your own life now.”
We.
I wasn’t sure if Kennedy used that pronoun because he was reminding himself he no longer answered to higher ranks like Admiral Mason, or if he meant the two of us were a combined unit. Either way, I loved the way it hit my chest. Like a spreading warmth that filled me and lightened some of the bricks that had settled there thinking about the visit.