He kisses me gently at first, careful of our shaky footing, then deeper, more certain. His hands tighten at my waist, balancing both of us. I feel the familiar pull, I’ve only felt with Charlie,slide through me. This kiss might have gone down as one of our top ten except it’s then Charlie’s center of gravity gives up being brave. One moment he’s kissing me, the next his balance betrays him in a spectacular fashion.
“Rhoswen—!” His hands reach for mine. Mine try to hold him by his sweatshirt. He goes down hard. Right in front of me.
I yelp as he yanks me on top of him. Together, we end up in a tangled heap on the ice. Instead of being frustrated, he’s gasping with laughter.
Meanwhile I’m frantic. “Are you okay?”
He groans dramatically. “I think my pride died five feet above me and one minute ago.”
I laugh so hard I nearly roll around on the ice.
“Tell my family I fought valiantly for it.”
I press a kiss to his cheek. “That you did.”
After we manage to crawl off the ice, have returned his skates and are in the car on the way back to my place, Charlie’s voice softens. “You know tonight turned out differently than I expected.”
“How so?” I suspect I know what he’s about to say but I want it to come from him.
“I thought you’d disappear after I told you everything. Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For giving me a chance.”
“Why wouldn’t I? Did you lead a complicated life before I met you? Yes. Did it lead you to me? Also yes.”
He’s quiet for a long moment. Then he lays his hand on my thigh. “Then next time I pick our non-food related activities.”
“Oh good,” I tease. “Skydiving. Ironman training. Car bomb defusion. Totally normal.”
I can hear the grin in his voice. “Keep underestimating me, coo. It’s good for my ego.” But then his voice softens again. “I just want nights with you. More firsts I never thought I’d have a chance at again.”
My breath catches. “Me too.”
His thumb strokes my inner thigh. That was the moment I realized I wasn’t falling in love with this man anymore.
I’ve already fallen as hard as he did on the ice.
The question is, would there ever be a time he’d feel the same?
CHAPTER EIGHT
PRESENT
“I can namethe exact city where I stopped believing in noble intentions.”
“Where was that?” I’m not surprised it’s Cassidy who asks. She, too, has a city that haunts her.
I stare deep into her Caribbean blue eyes and point blank say, “I can’t tell you.”
Her mouth opens to object, but then it closes softly. “Okay. Can you tell us what happened?”
Caleb takes her hand and squeezes her fingers while I gather my thoughts from where they drifted to—roughly seven thousand miles away.
“People talk about war like it’s noise and fire and chaos. They forget the quiet parts. The parts where you’re just a man in a uniform, trying to make sense of a world that stopped making sense long before you arrived.
“I was a restless twenty-year-old convinced every person in that godforsaken place was dangerous and my assignment was a temporary inconvenience before I was shown some real action.”