Balance.
That’s what he needed in his life. Strong, solid balance between workandpleasure.
Not an easy thing for guys like him to come by. Impossible, if most of the guys he’d served with in the Army—and those he worked with now—were to be believed.
But Garrett wasn’t sure he did believe that. Not anymore. Because though he’d seen many relationships crash and burn throughout his years as a door kicker, he’d also witnessed a few that stood the test of time.
So no, it wasn’t impossible. Hard, maybe.Reallyfucking hard. It took a special woman to put up with all the baggage black ops guys carried around. That was for damn sure.
Crazy schedules. All the secrecy that came with working classified missions. The time spent at home wondering when—or if—their loved ones would make it back in one piece.
But if he did somehow manage to find a woman willing to accept him for who and what he was? He’d hold onto her with both hands and never let go.
“Sorry,” a man apologized for bumping into him.
The contact forced Garrett back to the task at hand.
Leaving his melancholy thoughts behind, he began writing his name on a special luggage tag the cruise line required.
Another man brushed against him, making Garrett’s back teeth grind together. He may want more out of life, but he was fairly certain he wasn’t going to find it here.
Colt had shocked the hell out of him with the offer of the all-expense paid trip. The second he’d agreed, his brother had gone online and bought their tickets.
Tickets that included all the food they could eat for the next six days, as well as twenty adult beverages each. After that, their account would be billed for any additional drinks.
Good thing I have plenty of money in the bank. I have a feeling I’m going to need it.
He glanced over at Colt who was chatting it up with one of the couples who’d been on their shuttle. Unlike Garrett, who’s entire adult life had depended on carefully detailed planning, Colt was like a damn nomad.
The guy never stayed in one place for more than a few months at a time. A year, at the very most. And he never, ever took himself or anyone else too seriously.
Of course, having bypassed the military for the whole college experience—including sorority girls and fraternity parties—it was no wonder Colt’s outlook on life was so vastly different than his own.
Regular phone calls and the rare, in-person appearance…those were the staples of their sibling relationship.
Garrett knew his younger brother loved both him and their dad, and the feeling was mutual. But between Garrett’s day job and Tac-Ops’ other assignments, and Colt’s fly-by-night way of life, the two barely spent any time together anymore.
Something else Garrett wanted to change, hence his agreement to go on this trip.
“Isn’t she gorgeous?”
Turning, he found Colt ogling the cruise ship as if it were the most beautiful woman the man had ever laid eyes on.
“If you say so,” Garrett mumbled, barely giving the big boat a passing glance.
With a giant smile and a loud clap of his hands, his brother let out an excited whoop before pointing his phone at The Majestic—the largest and most elaborate ship in the Sunset Adventures cruise line.
Shaking his head, Garrett barely resisted rolling his eyes. Even at thirty, Colt had never quite grown up. At this point, Garrett was beginning to wonder if he ever would.
Like now. Whilehestood in the hot, humid air filling out the ship’s required luggage tags with their names and stateroom information, Colt was standing off to the side in a ridiculously loud, yellow, and hot pink Hawaiian style shirt.
The guy was taking selfies like a social media queen and grinning like a kid at Christmas.
“You gonna help me with this or just stand there lookin’ like a damn idiot?”
Completely unaffected by the insult, Coulter’s smile grew impossibly bigger as he adjusted his baseball cap and grabbed a pen from the provided pile on a long folding table beside them. Yanking a tag from Garrett’s hand, hefinallybegan pulling his weight.
“Dude, we are going to havesomuch fun this week.”