“I wanted a casual fling. I never expected… I didn’t want to fall in love with him,” Jen said softly.
Annabelle frowned. “Why not? Cash is a great guy.”
“I know, but…” She hesitated, not wanting to talk about her military issues with a roomful of military wives and girlfriends. “I’m just blindsided, I guess. I don’t know what this means for us. I went in looking for a fling, and now…”
“I tried to have a fling once,” Holly spoke up in a faraway tone. “When Carson and I met, all I wanted was to have some fun, but that stubborn brother of yours, Jen, well, he convinced me to give a relationship a shot. And now it’s five years later, and look at us.”
Jen swallowed. “Hol—”
“Sometimes I wonder if I should have dug my heels in and left it as a fling.” Tears welled up in Holly’s alcohol-glazed eyes. “But I know that if I could do it again, I’d make the same damn decision.” She wiped her eyes with the vicious swipe of her hand. “Because no matter how infuriating he can be, I know he’s the love of my life.”
“All right. The kids are asleep and I’m ready to rob you losers of all your money,” John Garrett announced, striding into the spacious den with a baby monitor in his hand.
The den was packed with SEALs, beers and open wallets. Poker night was a twice-monthly tradition, hosted at a different house each time, and Cash looked forward to these gatherings. His teammates were damn good men. Good company too, and he felt honored to be included in what had been a tradition long before he’d come on board. Aidan Rhodes was also a recent addition to poker night, but he’d already been close to most of the guys thanks to his tight-knit friendship with O’Connor.
Sitting down, Garrett tossed the baby monitor to Becker, who placed it on the green felt poker table. “The girls went down okay?” the lieutenant commander asked.
Garrett nodded. “Fell asleep holding hands. It was pretty f**king adorable.”
On the other side of the table, Seth snorted. “You know, just ’cause you put the word f**king in front of it doesn’t make you less of a pansy for saying the word adorable.”
Garrett rolled his eyes. “A man thinking his kid is adorable doesn’t make him a pansy, Masterson. You’ll find that out one of these days.”
“Never,” Seth vowed. “No kids for me, thank you very much. I’m getting my tubes tied.”
The other men laughed, Cash included. Seth’s pessimistic position about children was nothing new; the man was adamant about never siring a child. Which was probably a good thing, because the thought of a little mini-Seth with big-Seth’s smart mouth was kinda terrifying.
“Where the f**k is Carson?” Garrett suddenly asked. “He’s late.”
Cash averted his eyes, but nobody glanced his way, which told him that Carson hadn’t blabbed about what went down in Becker’s hallway over the weekend. Thank God, because the last thing he felt like doing was justifying his feelings for Jen to anyone else.
“Well, we’re not waiting for him anymore,” Ryan announced, reaching for the deck of cards. “I, for one, am ready to milk Texas for all he’s worth.”
“Why do you ass**les always target me?” Jackson demanded.
“Because your poker face sucks,” Matt drawled as he took a sip of his beer. “So does McCoy’s. You two are easy money.”
The banter continued as Ryan dealt the first hand. Jackson, of course, tried bluffing his way into the pot, only to lose five bucks when Ryan and Aidan suckered him into going all in. Laughter ensued, followed by Jackson’s grumbling that his poker face had yet again failed him.
As money changed hands and chips clinked in the center of the table, Cash sipped his beer, his thoughts drifting to Jen. As much as he liked hanging out with the boys, he kinda wished she were here too. He’d grown accustomed to her company over the past two weeks. Not just having sex with her, but simply having her around. Watching TV while she messed around with her camera, cooking dinner while she worked on her laptop. He liked how they could be in the same room and not have to be wrapped all over each other.
Other girls he’d dated expected him to sit there holding their hands and constantly make conversation, but Jen was perfectly content doing her own thing while he did his. She didn’t push for them to be joined at the hip, or make demands of him. She was happy no matter what they were doing, and he appreciated that.
“I swear, if Shelby comes home as drunk as she did last time, I’m divorcing her,” Garrett was saying. “I’m beginning to dread the words girls’ night.”
Cash lifted his head. “They don’t get that drunk, do they?” he said with a frown.
Ryan joined the conversation with a groan. “Last time, I spent the entire night holding Annabelle’s hair while she puked out ten gallons of tequila.”
“Hey, I love girls’ night,” Matt argued. “Savannah did the dirtiest striptease for me last time, but then again, my girl’s better at handling her liquor than your pansy ladies.”
Becker suddenly growled, jabbing a finger at O’Connor. “Don’t get me started on Savannah. She and Jane went shopping last week and I got a credit card bill for six hundred dollars. Six hundred dollars worth of lingerie, for chrissake.”
“Oh come on. Like you didn’t benefit from that shopping trip.”