Page 280 of The Daddy P.I. Casefiles: The Second Collection
He shrugs against my back and adjusts his arm around me. “Navy taught me humility the hard way. Egotistical assholes don’t last long in the service.” He snorts. “Unless they’re officers. Then they just get promoted quickly.”
“Weren’t you an officer?”
With that cloak of authority, he must have been. And I’m sure Emily said Logan worked for him.
“Nope, I never went to college or officer training school. Officers need a degree. I enlisted as soon as I finished high school and worked my way up as a gunner’s mate.”
“Is that what it sounds like? Making things go boom?” I ask.
“Yes, girl. Just what it sounds like.”
“Emily said Logan worked on submarines. Did you?”
“Mm-hmm. Subs when I was stationed in the Atlantic and a cruiser when I was stationed in the Gulf of Aden.”
“Where’s that, Sir?”
“Off Africa.”
I mull that over.
“Why did you move from the Atlantic to Africa? Seems like a long way.”
Mac grumbles. “I was tapped for the Gulf because I had previous experience with pirates.”
“Pirates? Like Jack Sparrow-pirates?”
“Definitely not like Jack Sparrow. The pirates I tangled with in the Caribbean were hijacking passenger ships, ransoming themen back to their families and selling the women and children to human traffickers. Not at all fun pirates.”
I twist around in his lap so I can look into his eyes, because his voice has gone low and hollow. When he was talking about his ex, he sounded sad and remorseful, but not like this. His marriage may have broken his heart, but losing his men ripped up Mac’s soul.
“Is that how you lost your men, fighting pirates?”
“Nine of them, yes.”
“But you stopped them, the pirates?”
“We did.”
“That seems pretty heroic to me, Sir.”
“Ah.” Mac reels me in and kisses me on the forehead. “Is that what you’re thinking, girl? That your Dom’s a hero? I’m not. I was just doing my job. Following orders.”
“Pretty sure that’s ninety percent of being a hero.” I say, pushing my tablet aside so I can curl into him and slide my arms around his neck.
“Yeah? What’s the other ten percent?”
“Giving a shit.”
Mac takes off his glasses and folds them into his book to mark his place. Then he crushes me to his chest and drowns me in kisses.
twelve
MAC
There aretimes when Brenna’s an open book. With large type. And then there are times when I feel like I need the audiobook version, because I can’t read her at all. Her reaction to the debacle of my marriage falls into the latter category.
She was understanding and supportive while I was telling her the sad tale. She was grateful afterwards that I gave her the head’s up before dropping her into the chop with Amy. But this morning, a little shadow has crept back into her eyes, and I’m sure that’s what’s caused it.
