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Navy SEAL Lieutenant Miles Coleville raced along the picturesque Newport coastline and out onto the Balboa Peninsula. He had a five-day long weekend break from Camp Pendleton and his new friend retired-Captain Aiden Porter had offered his Newport Beach mansion. The huge home was a west coast headquarters for Aiden’s security teams, but nobody was using it currently.
The top-of-the-line and spacious beach retreat sure beat his one-bedroom condo just off base in Oceanside. Miles didn’t need much and was rarely home, but it was nice to relax in a twenty-million-dollar mansion once in a while.
He’d need to turn around soon, or he’d run the two miles back in the dark. The dark didn’t bother him; sitting alone trying to entertain himself did. Even in a gorgeous home and beach location with a food service delivering gourmet meals, he couldn’t relax. He didn’t like being alone. Miles soaked up the brotherhood and camaraderie of his SEAL team. He was also missing his brothers, parents, and their Montana ranch more and more.
He should be missing his sort-of-girlfriend Lily Lillywhite. Lily was great—adventurous, happy, easy-going. If his mom and hers had their way, they’d already be married. They’d grown apart over the twelve years he’d been gone from Coleville, but every time he suggested she date other people, she turned the question around and asked if he wanted to date someone else. The answer was always no. He was too busy with the SEALs to spend time dating, and he wasn’t into shallow hookups.
He wouldn’t have been surprised or sad if Lily decided to move on. He didn’t mind having a ‘girl back home’ and he was loyal to her, but she should be ready to find a local man who could get married and settle down. At the same time, maybe working in a small county hospital and living in the tiny town of Coleville didn’t lend itself to many dating options.
The last time he visited home six months ago for his brother Clint’s failed wedding, he had taken Lily on a date. It hadn’t gone well. The silences had been awkward and long as they both scrambled for something to start a real conversation, grasping at straws to reconnect after over a year of not seeing each other in person.
At the end of the night, he’d tried not to ‘trip around the issue’ like his brothers Walker and Easton accused him of regarding Lily. They claimed him asking her if she wanted to date other people wasn’t strong enough. He needed to be firm like he would with his military career or really anything else in his life.
So Miles had told Lily they were going different directions and needed to be done with the relationship. She needed to be free to date and find what she was looking for. Lily had broken down and sobbed. He caught words like ‘missed opportunity, keeping her safe, and a wasted life’. He’d held her as tears slipped down her smooth cheeks and nothing she said made sense. He’d felt awful, rescinded his words, and apologized. When she calmed down, they’d gone home without resolving anything.
He’d regretted not breaking up with her ever since and they hadn’t communicated much. He had tender feelings for Lily and hated hurting her, but they weren’t right together. Stringing each other along would only hurt both of them more in the long run. She should be free to date and have a life beyond her nursing career and nurturing all the children who stayed on her parents’ ranch. She was a golden girl and would find someone great.
As soon as he went home again, he’d end it for good. Unfortunately, he couldn’t do it over the phone or on a video chat. That wasn’t a gentleman’s way, and Lily deserved better.
A laugh barked out from a house’s patio to his left, interrupting his stewing.
He glanced over and his pulse sped up as he met the most intriguing pair of dark-brown eyes he had ever glimpsed. The woman smiled at him, and he slowed his pace to a walk.
The depth and sparkle in her deep-brown eyes drew him in like a fish on a line. He instantly knew … This was his other half, the lady he should’ve been searching for all his life.
He smiled, paused and raised a hand, prepared to say hello, drop a charming line, ask her to please share her number so he could call her as soon as he settled his obligation to Lily. How did he explain that he couldn’t ask her out immediately without looking like a darn fool?
Before he could say or do anything, it slammed into him exactly who those gorgeous eyes belonged to.
Eva Chevron. One of the top actresses in Hollywood currently and named one of the most beautiful women in the world.
He should know. His twin brothers Easton and Walker sent him pictures of her far too often—her volunteering at a children’s hospital, stopping to walk with an elderly man across the street, cheering at an L.A. Kings game and wearing a number ninety-nine Wayne Gretzky jersey, Miles’s favorite player of all time. His brothers loved to tease him that the famous and talented beauty, originally from a ranch and the neighboring state of Wyoming was his future wife and that he could find her since he lived in sunny California and propose as soon as he officially cut things off with Lily.
It was a hilarious tease, in all their minds, and none of them had ever said that in Lily’s presence. Miles was a SEAL, always training or away on an assignment, not part of the Hollywood social scene and attending parties where he could meet the famous actress. He and his family had helped protect his close friend Quaid Raven’s famous sisters, Jacqueline and Elizabeth Oliver, but that was very different from meeting the Eva Chevron.
Yet here Eva was … less than forty feet away from him. He could swear a connection surged through the air and their future lit the evening sky.
He would introduce himself, channel some of his brother Easton’s charm, tell her he was the man she’d been waiting for.
His stomach flipped over. Eva Chevron didn’t need some rando stopping and proclaiming he was her future. She’d think he was insane, and for good reason. He also wasn’t the type to profusely proclaim anything.
She didn’t say anything, lift a hand, or move toward him. He could take a hint. She was ultra-famous, and he could only imagine how many men pursued her.
Tilting his chin to her, he took off. Every step away from her was painful, as if he were giving up on their future. What was he doing? Instead of slowing down, he ran faster.
He should’ve spoken to her. Why hadn’t he taken a chance? She might’ve shut him down immediately, but he’d dealt with pain and failure. It wasn’t the fear of rejection. If Eva would’ve called to him or even raised a hand, he might have taken a shot. Her smile and the intensity of her brown gaze had lit up his world, made him believe they had a unique connection.
He was fooling himself. Connection, sparks, soul mate? That was over the top and not like him at all. His brothers at arms and brothers at home would be on the ground laughing if they could hear his thoughts.
It was only because Eva was famous, his celebrity crush. So she’d smiled at him. It was well-known how kind Eva was. He’d heard her called a breath of fresh country air and unable to squash a spider, with a video of her relocating the spider off set as her fellow actors and actresses squealed and ran the other direction. Eva Chevron would’ve smiled a greeting at Quaid’s father, the evil Benjamin Oliver.
Besides, he wasn’t a free man. Miles wished more than ever that he had ‘manned up’ in Easton’s words and officially broken up with Lily six months ago. Then he could’ve done something about this instant bond he felt with Eva.
He was deluding himself. Even if he had no obligations, he didn’t have a chance with Eva Chevron. He only thought he knew her. How unfair was it to her that men the world over watched her movies, followed her on social media, clipped photos of her from magazine articles and deluded themselves into believing they ‘knew’ her, that they were meant to be with her.
Luckily, he hadn’t stooped to the photo clipping obsession stage of celebrity crushes. His brothers weren’t below it though and had redecorated his cabin at home with her pictures when he’d visited six months ago. He smiled. Those two were pranksters. Lily hadn’t been happy about the photos. Walker had quietly taken them down when Easton was at a bull-riding event. He suspected Walker had a crush on Lily. Miles needed to break up with his long-time girlfriend, set her free, and see if his little brother caught her. The idea sounded … freeing.
Reaching the end of the peninsula, he realized he could keep going, or he could turn around and see if Eva was still on the patio. Would it be annoying to just say ‘Hey, how are ya?’ and see if she responded?
