A Marine of Plenty (7 page)
He’d enjoyed his serving, waiting to eat what remained after everyone else—including the mess hall staff—their fill. “Thank you for today. It was a great meal.”
“I’m glad.” Disquiet veiled her expression, and she perched on the edge of the cot, turning the helmet over and over in her hands.
Checking the hall, he stepped inside her room and secured the door. “Are you okay?”
“No.” She shook her head. “I’m not.”
Guilt chewed him. Stripping out of his gear, he stacked it neatly before crossing over to sit next to her. Twice he opened his mouth to speak and twice he closed it. He didn’t have the right words to offer her.
“I don’t regret last night.” She put one of his worries to rest. “Or this trip, really. It’s not regret at all, I don’t think.” Laughing humorlessly, she scrubbed a hand against her face. “I came here to feel closer to Robbie. I don’t know that I’ll ever take comfort in understanding this part of his life and, at the same time, I’m glad I do. It sounds crazy. I guess I sound crazy.”
“No. You don’t.” Explaining a tour or deployment to someone who hadn’t been in the sandbox or the mountains or anywhere near the hell the last ten years brought to the region was hard. Only those who’d shared the experience truly understood. His father served in Vietnam, his grandfather in Korea, but the men had rarely discussed their tours with the family.
They’d talked about it with others—old friends, brothers in arms, men who understood those wars. At least Charlie had brothers both in blood and in arms. Holding his hand out to her, he waited, palm facing up.
Slowly, too slowly, she placed her hand in his and interlaced their fingers together. “I do and I don’t want to go home.”
“Yeah. But you’re
going
home.” He couldn’t make it plainer. She would get on that plane if he had to hogtie her and carry her on board. “You’re going home, back to school, and you’re going to build a life. And it will to be great.”
“How do you know?” Unshed tears coated her words.
“Because you’re great. When I get home, I’m going to come visit, and you’re going to show me this life you’ve built.” He only had a few months left on this tour—maybe it was the time to reconsider post-operational life as they scaled back their presence overseas—provided another war didn’t start up. “Until I can get there, we’ll write.”
“You’ll really come see me?” The skepticism in her voice rankled.
“Yeah.” He eyed her, but the vulnerable sadness in her green eyes deflated any offense he might have taken. “If you wouldn’t mind.”
“Of course I don’t mind, but it will be different there.”
Sliding an arm around her, he gave her a squeeze. “Different doesn’t mean bad.” He wished he could offer her words to make it better.
“Charlie?”
“Yeah?”
“Do you think we could go on a date sometime?”
Triumph chased relief through his blood. “That should have been my question.”
“Yes, but since I asked it first….”
Pressing a kiss to her forehead, he murmured, “I’d like very much to take you on a date sometime.”
“Groovy. Can I write you naughty letters?” She gave him a watery smile and leaned her head against his shoulder.
“You can write me anything you want.” Content to simply hold her, he rested his chin on her head. It had been a long, emotionally exhausting day.
She stayed quiet long enough, he suspected she’d fallen asleep so her whisper surprised him. “Charlie?”
“Hmmm?”
“Do you have any more condoms?”
His body stirred. “Yes, ma’am.”
Her silence returned, and he leaned away to get a look at her. She stared at him solemnly, and he raised his eyebrows in question. Maybe he’d interpreted her inquiry wrong.
A smile flirted at the corners of her mouth. “You said asking for a date should be your question. I’m not sure if I should ask about sex again so soon after I seduced you the first time.”
Amusement flared and he grinned. “Jana, you can ask me for sex anytime you want.”
“Yeah?”
“Oh yeah, but I don’t think you seduced me.”
“No, I’m pretty sure I did.” She bit her lower lip, tempting him.
He covered her sweet mouth with his and kissed her until they were both breathless. “I don’t recall it that way at all.”
“Huh. Well if you did the seducing, why don’t you show me how it’s done?”
The Marine understood a challenge when he heard one. “Gladly.”
He’d never shied away from a challenge.
Saying good-bye to Charlie sucked. She barely noticed the landscape on the way back to the airport or the chipper conversation of the Marines in her escort. Desperate to memorize every nuance of his features, she couldn’t take her gaze off her companion. Too soon, they were back at the air base they’d picked her up from. Even sooner she was shuttled through a secure holding area, onto the waiting plane, and taxied down the runway.
Sixteen hours proved ample opportunity to think about her visit and her time with the men there—about Robbie, his death, Charlie, and his life. At home, it was Black Friday. Shoppers hustled and bustled for great deals online and off, kids enjoyed frolicking without school, and parents started to pull out Christmas decorations and put up trees while snacking on Turkey Day leftovers.
It took traveling more than seven thousand miles to realize how much she took those things for granted. Thanksgiving in Afghanistan had been an hour or two spent over good food, if the men were lucky, and a recorded message to their loved ones. Then?
Right back to work.
In the midst of it all, they tried to do something to help her remember her brother. Their donation stowed securely in her bag would count; she’d make sure it did. Raising donations for the Toys for Tots program might not seem like much, but she could do it.
Numb with exhaustion by the time she arrived at DFW Airport, it took everything she had to put one foot in front of the other. A woman stepped into her path, blocked her, before Jana even noticed her. “Sorry,” Jana murmured.
“Jana Grimaldi?” The brunette tilted her head. She looked oddly familiar, but Jana couldn’t place her.
“Yeah.”
“Hi, I’m Naomi.” Her southern accent tinged the words and a high-voltage grin demanded answering. “Naomi Sparks. My brother, Charlie, called me. He said you might need a friend and he asked if I’d stand in until he got home….”
Heather Long lives in Texas with her family and their menagerie of animals. As a child, Heather skipped picture books and enjoyed the Harlequin romance novels by Penny Jordan and Nora Roberts that her grandmother read to her. Heather believes that laughter is as important to life as breathing and that the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus are very real. In the meanwhile, she is hard at work on her next novel.
You can visit Heather at:
Always a Marine
Series so Far (in order by release)
Once Her Man, Always Her Man
Luke & Rebecca
Retreat Hell! She Just Got Here
Logan, Jazz & Zach
Tell It to the Marine
James & Lauren
Introduction of Matt McCall and Damon Sinclair
Features an appearance of Logan Cavanaugh
Proud to Serve Her
Damon & Helena
Matt, James, Lauren, Luke and Rebecca mentioned
Her Marine
Brody & Shannon
No Regrets, No Surrender
Logan, Jazz & Zach
James featured
The Marine Cowboy
A.J. & Sheri
Phone call from Luke
The Two and the Proud
Rowdy & Kim
A Marine and a Gentleman
Brenden & Liam
Appearances of James, Logan, Jazz, Shannon, Rebecca, Lauren
Combat Barbie
Kyle & Mary
Jazz makes an appearance via phone
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
Joe & Melody
James makes an appearance
What Part of Marine Don’t You Understand?
Matt & Naomi
Appearances by James and Logan, Damon is mentioned
A Marine Affair
Eli & Rick
Marine Ever After
Paul & Lillianna
Multiple appearances at Luke & Rebecca’s wedding
Marine in the Wind
Greg & Georgia
Appearances by A.J. & Sheri
Marine with Benefits
Derek & Kara
Appearance by Logan