Page 16 of Fake Dating the SEAL
By the time they reached the table, the shore below was in plain sight. Her jaw dropped ever so slightly and those beautiful green eyes circled round. “Wow.”
“That’s what I thought.”
“How did you find this place?” She glanced around one hundred and eighty degrees. “Should we even be here?”
“First, I found this place about ten years ago when I was on leave visiting Billy. I got bored and went for a drive. Did a little exploring.”
Her head turning to the hillside across the dirt road that reminded him, and probably everyone else, of a jungle movie. Her gaze leveled with his. “Did you bring your machete?”
Setting down the picnic basket he’d grabbed from the trunk, he burst out laughing. “Almost. But not quite.”
She sniffed at the air, clearly distracted by the aromas of fried chicken and fresh rolls.
“Another perk of a luxury resort. They know how to put a picnic lunch together.” He pulled out several containers, napkins, plastic plates and silverware.
“The Kings Hotel knows how to do a lot.”
“No argument there.”
“So why is this the only mowed lot? And why is there a picnic table here?”
“I called to have it cleared before I left my last post, and ordered the table delivered this morning.”
“What?”
He chuckled softly. “Maybe I should backtrack. When I came wandering up here all those years ago, there was a For Sale sign down the hill. The owner didn’t trust realtors and not a whole lot of people like trekking through a near jungle for fun.”
“I guess not everyone on this island were SEALs.”
“Probably not. Anyhow, this hillside had been in the family for generations. But the owner had one problem.”
“Only one?”
He stifled the urge to roll his eyes at her teasing. “Let’s say only one that I knew of. He was the last in his family. No wife. No kids. No one to inherit.”
“Oh.” She slid onto the bench. “That’s sad. Everyone should have a legacy of some kind.”
“That’s what I thought. Which is why I bought it.”
“You bought the lot?”
He shook his head. “I bought the whole mountainside.”
If it were possible for a woman’s eyes to fall out of her head, Sara’s looked like they just might.
“Lemonade or wine?”
She blinked. “Lemonade. I have a feeling I’m going to need full mastery of my wits today.”
This woman not only had an endearing sense of humor, she rolled with the punches better than any woman he’d ever dated. Not that they were dating, and not that his career had allowed much time for anything close to a long-term relationship. What he didn’t understand was why the heck some smart man hadn’t snapped her up a long time ago.
“Lemonade it is.”
Still looking around, she barely shook her head before blowing out a low sigh. “Did you really buy all this?”
“I did.” He nodded.
“I had no clue SEALs made that much money. Or are you independently wealthy and no one ever mentioned it? Because if you are, my mother may never let you get away.”
