Finding Kenna (SEAL Team Hawaii #3)(3)

“What does that even mean?” Paulo asked. “That makes no sense.”

“Yes, it does,” Kaleen insisted.

“It looks like Vera put them in Carly’s section,” Charlotte said, interrupting the bartenders’ banter. “You need to go say hello.”

Taking a deep breath, Kenna nodded. She’d been the one to invite Marshall to come here tonight after almost landing on his head in the water during her morning run. It would be rude to ignore him. And Kaleen was right, even if she wanted to pretend she didn’t know him, he knew her.

“I’m going,” she told her friends.

“If he orders any of our frou-frou drinks, he’s a big fat no,” Paulo said under his breath. “Although…he might be worth it anyway.”

Paulo had a bad habit of judging people based on the kind of alcohol they ordered. Kenna supposed it was a job hazard—and she didn’t think it would help the poor man find a boyfriend.

Taking a deep breath, Kenna headed toward the table of six men and two women. Vera had sat them in the huge circular booth the servers called “the stage.” It was on a slightly raised platform at the back of the room, facing the beach. It gave the people sitting there a good view of both the entire dining area and the sunset. Normally, ten or so people could easily fit around the expansive table, but with Marshall and his friends’ sizes, there wasn’t much free space.

“Come on, you can help me with the table,” Carly said, materializing out of nowhere.

Kenna chuckled. “The day you need help with a table of eight is the day I quit to become a hula dancer.”

Carly winked. “You can’t dance worth shit, so that wouldn’t work. But don’t worry, I’ll report on anything I overhear that would indicate your Marshall’s a douche.”

“He’s not my anything. And he’s not a douche.”

Carly merely smiled.

Kenna shook her head in exasperation.

“Come on,” Carly said. “He’s totally looking for you and you need to explain what’s going on.”

She did. Kenna knew it. But she dreaded seeing the irritation that he’d likely feel when he realized she couldn’t hang out with him. That she was working.

But then again, he’d shown up with seven other people. He couldn’t really have been expecting any kind of intimate date, could he?

Marshall continued to surprise her. In a good way. He hadn’t gotten pissed when she’d interrupted his training that morning. Or bitched that she could’ve really hurt him if she’d landed on his back or something. He’d brought his friends along tonight, which was…unusual. Kenna didn’t know what his reasoning was, but she was relieved he hadn’t arrived with flowers and dressed to impress.

Oh, she was impressed with his jeans and black T-shirt all right, but it didn’t look like he was trying too hard, which was a relief. While she wasn’t opposed to dating, she was happy with her life the way it was. She didn’t need a boyfriend to be happy or content. She loved her job, her apartment was cozy, and she had some great friends.

But something about Marshall had her doing things she wouldn’t normally do. Like inviting him to come to Duke’s while she was working.

Please don’t be a douche, she thought as she approached the table.





Marshall “Aleck” Smart saw Kenna from across the restaurant as he walked toward their table. She was near the bar, laughing at something one of the bartenders said. He was struck immediately by her smile. He wanted to find out what was so funny. What had her looking so happy.

“That her?” Jag asked as they arrived at a large circular booth. As Elodie and Lexie scooted around the table to sit in the middle, Aleck nodded.

“She’s cute.”

Aleck whipped his head around to glare at his teammate.

Jag simply laughed. “Easy, tiger. I just didn’t get a good look at her this morning. Besides, she looked different with wet hair.”

“Your waitress will be with you soon. There’s a cocktail menu on the table, and we have wine, as well as beer on tap. I highly recommend Duke’s blonde ale, if that’s your thing, or a traditional mai tai, or perhaps a coconut mojito for an island flair. Aloha!”

Aleck didn’t even look twice at the blonde woman as she walked away from their table. He only had eyes for one person.

“Here she comes,” Pid said from next to him.

Aleck had already noticed Kenna walking toward the table with another woman. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to see from their uniforms that both of them worked at the restaurant. Aleck was confused for a split second, and he couldn’t help but feel a small pang of disappointment that he obviously wasn’t going to dine with her and get to know her as he’d planned.

“Hi! I’m Carly. I’ll be your waitress tonight,” the smaller woman said.

“And I’m Kenna. I was the woman who jumped on your friend this morning. Well, not jumped on him, but almost.”

It was clear Kenna was nervous, but Elodie beat him to reassuring her.

She stood up as best she could in the booth and reached her hand across the circular table. “It’s so good to meet you!” she gushed. “When Scott came home this morning and told me what happened, I could seriously picture it in my head.”