Friendly Fire (The Echo Platoon Series, Book 3) by Marliss Melton Page A

Plus I'd really like to spend the day with Tristan," she tacked on.
    Torn, Emma looked back at the golden-haired SEAL. He and Juliet made an attractive couple. Good for her—living up to their promise and having a good time.
    "Fine," she relented. "Just watch yourself," she warned.
    Juliet took a step back in her direction. "What does that mean?"
    Emma glanced at Sammy to make sure she wasn't listening. "I've heard that Tristan's never been alone, and I know you like your freedom. That's all."
    Juliet's eyes narrowed under the brim of her ball cap. "Thanks," she said.
    Turning away, her sister joined Tristan's group while Emma searched the pier for Jeremiah. After the previous night's abrupt derailment, she wouldn't blame him if he skipped the day's excursion altogether.
    One by one, groups boarded their buses and departed, including Tristan and Juliet's, but the Bottoms-up-Cave-Tubing people hung around waiting for their missing passenger. Emma eyed the thunderclouds looming on the inland horizon, surging toward Belize City. Maybe this wasn't the best day to go tubing anyway.
    "Well, it's time to go," said the guide, shepherding them toward the bus.
    Disappointment dragged Emma's steps. Jeremiah wasn't coming. Why was she so glum when she was the one who'd insisted they had no future together?
    As the bus idled in preparation to leave, their guide sketched them a brief history of Belize. The bus gave a shudder and Emma looked up to see Jeremiah making his way up the aisle. He shot her a grin that made his dimple flash and dropped into an empty bench across from her and Sammy's.
    To her surprise, she read no recrimination in his expression—just the same intellectual eagerness she had remarked in him from their very first meeting.
    "Why is he coming?" Sammy muttered in a glum voice. The bus began to move.
    Emma turned her head to look at her daughter. "Aunt Juliet gave him her ticket." Sammy's sullen expression perplexed her. "Don't you like him?" she asked softly.
    Sammy shrugged before turning her gaze out the window.
    Emma heaved an inward sigh. Well, if that wasn't a sign, she didn't know what was. Sammy didn't want another father figure in her life, and who could blame her, given what Eddie had done? Yet the urge to defend Jeremiah, to point out his endless virtues, caught her off guard. She wanted her daughter to like him, but what was the point? They weren't going to deepen their relationship. He wasn't going to be part of their lives, so Sammy's opinion made no difference one way or another.
    She stared out the window at the flat, lush terrain, her heart heavy.
    * * *
    Samantha Albright followed her mother up the jungle path. With her every step, the tube she carried bounced off her calves. The hot bus ride into the desolate countryside had been followed by a lunch of yellow rice and chicken. When she'd heard a rumor that the meat was actually iguana, she had lunged for the last hamburger, but some man swiped it right out from under her. As it turned out, iguana tasted just like chicken.
    After lunch, they were given life jackets and headlamps and told to pick out an inner tube. Hers was almost as wide as she was tall, which meant she had to carry it on top of her head and down her back. Through the thin tread of her water shoes she could feel every rock that lined the trail. They had crossed the stream twice on their way through the jungle, and the water was cold.
    "Can I carry that for you?"
    "No thanks." Sammy sneaked a peek at Jeremiah Winters.
    He nodded at her reply and walked around her.
    He looked too old to have ever been her mother's student. She had to admit that he had a nice face, which made it hard to hate him. But she didn't have to like him, either.
    Her mother liked him, though, which was unsettling. Sammy could tell by the way her gaze latched onto him as he bounded to the head of the line. He didn't shuffle along like everyone else; he bounced when he walked, like this hike was easy. He chatted up