Page 4 of Fake Dating the SEAL
“Hey, don’t sell yourself short. I’ve got nearly a hundred pounds of muscle on you and she almost knocked me over.”
“If they keep drinking like that, this honeymoon will be nothing but a blur for those two.”
Kenny chuckled. He had a nice smile. Nice eyes too. Funny, she’d never noticed before. Then again, she’d probably been so hell bent on not giving her mother or her friends any reason to try and play matchmaker with a SEAL that she’d kept her head down and made herself scarce whenever any of Nick and Billy’s buddies were in town. Heck, they’d even tried to fix her up withDoug back in the day, even though any fool could see he had it bad for Billy’s sister Emily.
“So I gather drunken honeymooners aren’t the normal clientele around here?”
“Nope. Lots of money though. No one wants to ruin their thousand dollar shoes or custom made Italian suits. A few folks may be a little tipsy, but falling down drunk like that…” She shook her head. “Thankfully, not very often.” Needing something to do, she straightened her uniform again, took a quick look around to make sure everything was in order, then glanced up at Kenny. “Well, it’s been interesting, but I don’t want to keep you from whoever you’re with.”
“I’m not with anyone.”
“You’re here alone?” That was not what she expected. Most of Billy and Nick’s single buddies from the Navy always had a girl, or more, hanging around them.
His chuckle deepened. “Don’t sound so surprised. It’s my first night back in Kona and I wanted a few days to decompress in a little luxury.”
“The antithesis of the military,” she teased.
He tapped the tip of his nose. “Bingo.”
Sara’s stomach chose that second to rumble. Loudly. “Excuse me. All I had between shifts was a bag of trail mix.”
“That’s not much.”
She shrugged and forced a smile. “The Kings Hotel frowns on attendants dining in their restroom lounges.”
“When does your shift end?”
Flipping her wrist, she glanced at the time. “Fifteen minutes ago.”
“Good.” His smile spread. “I was going to grab a snack and take a walk on the beach. If you’re not too tired, I’d enjoy the company.”
Tonight was definitely a night for the unexpected. She didn’t expect to pick up an extra shift. She didn’t expect to be tackled by a drunk. And she most definitely did not expect to be invited for a walk on the beach with a handsome SEAL. Her gaze dropped to her uniform.
“I’m sure no one will care what you’re wearing.”
Her head still bent to glance down, only her eyes lifted to meet his. Was he a mind reader as well as strong and handsome?
“If you want to change, I can wait.”
Lifting her chin, she tipped her head slightly. Was she that easy to read? Tonight had definitely been one for the record books. If she was smart, she’d run the other way. Nothing good ever came from a walk in the moonlight along the shore with handsome military men. It just didn’t. Then again, her life wasn’t exactly filled with anything even a little bit interesting or different. What the hell, one night out with a friendly SEAL couldn’t really hurt. Straightening, she nodded. “No one cares what I’m wearing. Especially not at this hour. If you don’t care that I’m in uniform, neither do I.”
“Good. Where should we go?”
Now that was a completely different problem. Plenty of bars were still open for another hour or so, but nothingonthe beach. “I have an idea. Follow me.” Leading the way out of the restrooms, she paused at the bar where the bartender was almost finished cleaning up. “Hey, Steve.”
“Long night?”
“You wouldn’t believe.” She rolled her eyes. “Can we have a couple of bottles of water.” She spun around to face Kenny. “Would you prefer a soft drink or beer?”
He shook his head. “Water is perfect.”
After waving good night to Steve and thanking him for the drinks, they proceeded to the service elevator. Kenny’s gaze took in every detail along the way. He carefully read the sign postedaboutEmployees Onlyjust before silently following her onto the elevator. On the ground floor she made her way to the kitchen where the night crew was prepping for the morning menus. Another few minutes and one of her friends in the kitchen had packed them a boxed lunch. “If I were a guest, we could eat this on the veranda. They don’t bring in the tables at night.”
“I’m a guest. Can’t you join me?”
When he’d said he wanted to decompress in luxury, she’d thought he meant this evening at the rooftop bar. She didn’t realize he’d meant that he’d checked in.
Her head bobbed. “I can.”
