Rebound - Marie Johnston Page 0,10
out to Olivia. “I’m Kate, Kane’s future sister-in-law.”
Olivia shook her hand and gave Kate a genuine smile. “Olivia. Nice to meet you.”
Kane was impressed at Olivia’s grace handling herself in a potentially awkward moment. “She’s going to endure this with me before we hit the town.” Kane planned to get them in and out as quickly as possible, before Kate could press further. “Show me what I need to do.”
An attendant appeared, as if summoned, and took Kane, leaving Olivia at the mercy of his brother and worst of all, Kate.
Rushing through the process, Kane stepped out to model one of the five tuxes Kate wanted him to try. How much difference could there be between them?
Discreetly checking on Olivia, he was relieved to find her laughing with Kate. They were both looking through Kate’s phone at pictures of the wedding dress, and probably pics of Kane and his brother.
Wearing clothes from the previous night, she looked just as good now as she had then. Her hair was pulled up into a ponytail, her face shone with natural beauty, and those boots - sexy as hell.
“This one’s good enough, right? I don’t have to try on the others.”
“Nice try, wise guy.” Kate stood and motioned for him to circle around. He felt like a prize stallion, but as long as he held Olivia’s attention, he’d endure four more tuxedo changes. Kate grabbed a quick photo of him before she ordered him to try the next one on.
“Olivia, can you take a picture with your phone from his other side, too? That way I can see more angles, but don’t have to make him move around, posing.” Kate casually asked, ignoring Kane’s warning glare. He’d high five her later, though. Photos of him in a tuxedo on Olivia’s phone could only help his cause.
Repeating the process four more times, modeling while the ladies got their pictures, he finally changed back into his white uniform. Kane stepped out and rescued Olivia from his brother’s childhood stories of the trouble he and Kane got into as boys.
“They’re a nice couple,” Olivia said, walking out of the shop with him.
“They’re a pain in the ass, but,” he stopped her and cupped her chin, leaning down for a kiss, “thank you.”
She looked genuinely confused. “For what?”
“Putting up with my family on your day off.”
“Aren’t you missing out on time with your family on your day off?”
“Nah, we get together a few times a year. I’ll see them again at the wedding.”
Olivia strolled next to him, looking into the shops they passed. “It sounds like it’ll be beautiful.”
Kane shrugged. “It’s a wedding. My parents are living vicariously through him since they had a small Justice of the Peace ceremony.”
“Were they in the Navy?”
Kane draped his arm over Olivia’s slender shoulders as they meandered through the city. “My dad was career Navy, and Jeff joined right after high school, but got out after eight years. He met Kate and decided he wanted a civilian life if he was going to start a family.”
“And you? How long have you been in?”
“Eleven years. I left right after graduation, worked my ass off getting my college degree, then went the officer route. All I ever wanted to be was Navy.”
“Ooh, this place looks good, should we eat here?”
Kane followed Olivia’s gaze and saw a classic New York pizza place. Be still his heart. She liked steak and pizza? That confirmed it, she was a keeper.
“What do you do when you go back to the ship?” she continued her line of questioning after she ordered.
“Briefings and meetings.”
Olivia nodded thoughtfully. “I have no idea what that means. What do you brief on?”
“I oversee intelligence specialists so I have to pass orders on to them. We analyze stuff, sit through lots of meetings. Not as much during Fleet Week, but we still have to keep the ship running. It can be exciting and incredibly boring at the same time. But I love it.”
“The specialists, are those the drunk and disorderlies?”
He loved her sense of humor. “During Fleet Week, yes. Not that officers are innocent of having too good a time. They’re not bad, just young. Like most eighteen to twenty-two year olds, there are some who are incredibly mature and responsible, and there are some who get caught up in too much spare time with a paycheck. What about you?”
“Honestly, there’s not much about me that we haven’t talked about. I haven’t traveled to exotic places and have a pretty mundane job.”
“You work