Healing Home

by Madden, J. M.

  They hadn’t lost anyone, but they did have wounded. Black had gotten a bullet in the upper thigh as a fuck-you goodbye from Afghanistan. He’d be fine eventually, but right now he was hurting. His family would be meeting him as soon as he was rolled off the plane.

  Actually, all of the guys would be meeting their families. Except him.

  If he was honest with himself, he hated coming home specifically for this reason. It depressed the fuck out of him. For years he’d watched his fellow operators be welcomed into open arms. Link had watched families grow and expand, and his buddies father amazing kids. It seemed like every one of their marriages and relationships were solid.

  His had been the aberration.

  For a few years he’d tried marriage, but he’d known before he’d even walked down the aisle it was a bad idea. Alisha hadn’t jived with any of his buddies or their wives, and she’d been more interested in parading him in front of her snooty friends. His teammates had tried to tell him, but he’d been too hung up on the dream.

  Link’s ears popped as the elevation began to change. They were heading in on approach. He glanced at Black, but the man was knocked out, head rocking on the gurney. Mary, Black’s wife, was going to be hella-pissed at Link, because he was supposed to have kept Black’s ass out of trouble. The man was retiring in three weeks. This was hopefully his last mission.

  There was nothing they could have done in the situation though. Black had plowed in, like he always did, and gotten them through the altercation. He was everything a lieutenant should be and Link looked up to him probably more than he knew.

  Ryan had gotten injured too, but it was just minor burns on his hands. They would heal up within a few weeks.

  Link looked through the window again and sighed. It was probably hotter than hell down there today on the asphalt. He’d steal away for some desperately needed beach time this week.

  The plane landed and the engines revved as they braked down the runway. In spite of himself he glanced out the window at the crowd waiting at their hangar. Yep, there they were. Kids were jumping in the air, women were rocking babies, signs were being held up. He was about to turn back in his seat when a sign with his name flashed through his line of sight, then was gone. He strained, looking back toward the crowd, but he couldn’t see it again.

  One of his buddy’s families had made him a sign this time. That was really nice of them. Now he’d have to stop and thank whoever it was, delaying his escape, he thought with a sigh.

  The plane trundled back to the hangar and they unfastened their safety harnesses. A couple of corpsmen took the wounded off first, then the rest began to file off. Link hoisted his gear over his shoulder and followed along, not in a rush. If the guys got their first big hugs out of the way with their significant others, it was a little easier to wade through the crowds. He’d say hello when the first wave of reunion euphoria was ebbing.

  To that end, he paused long enough to retie one of his boots. As he walked down the ramp, the heat of the California coast hit him, and he drew it in. California had a very different scent from the middle eastern countries. More lush with flowering plant aromas drifting on the breeze.

  He glanced up. All of his buddies had made it to their families. Mary was leaning over Justin’s gurney. The guy had roused and was lifting a hand to cup her cheek and wipe away tears. Ryan’s fiancé was leaning over his hands, looking at the white bandages like she could see the injury beneath. Swamp Man’s kids were tangled around his legs, demanding attention, but he was kissing his wife. Toro stood on the tarmac rocking his woman in his arms, whispering into her ear. All of his guys had found their pairs.

  Then a woman he didn’t recognize swept forward. She had light, curly brown hair in a knot on top of her head, and stylish purple-framed glasses on the bridge of her nose. Pale green eyes alight with humor focused on him. Her mouth was spread in a brilliant smile as she walked toward him, the skirt of a blue dress swirling round her. Craziest of all she carried a glittering, hand-made sign that said, ‘Welcome, home, Lincoln’.

  Link stopped in his tracks. For a split second he wondered when they’d gotten another teammate with the same name, and he looked around, but he knew that wasn’t right. The woman was looking right at him. He continued to stare as she walked forward, closing the distance between them.

  God, she was beautiful in a nerdy, cute way, and he couldn’t stop staring. Her smile spread even more, as if she knew he were poleaxed. “Lincoln, my name is BB. Welcome home.”

  Then she did the most amazing thing of all. Dropping the sign to the tarmac she stepped forward, wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him into the best hug he’d ever been given.

  Emotion suddenly clutched at his throat and he just stood there for a long moment, not sure what to do. This was such a surreal moment. Then the comfort she was offering began to edge in. What the hell. Dropping his gear, he wrapped his arms around her. He had no idea who this woman was, or where he’d met her before. Surely he’d remember such a stunning woman? Wait, she’d introduced herself. They’d never met before.

  Her breasts were pushing at his chest and even through the vest and gear he wore, he could feel every inch of her. She wasn’t very big. His arms wrapped around her easily. But she was strong. The arms around his neck were not letting him go until she was ready.

  Link basked in the welcome, everything else fading away. For a moment he could imagine coming home to this every time. This was how it should be. This was how he’d seen his teammates welcomed time after time as he walked through the hangar alone, his chest aching.

  * * *

  BB had read somewhere that a twenty-second hug was enough to release oxytocin, but she thought the hug needed to be between committed partners. As she absorbed the feel of Lincoln Bezel in her arms, she also felt something settling into her heart. Contentment. As she breathed, she drew in the masculine, dusty scent of him and it did something to her, making her want to nestle in longer. She had thought the hug would be awkward if he brushed her off or pulled away, but it wasn’t. His arms were strong around her back, and he returned the same amount of pressure she used, which was perfect.

  Finally, though, she could feel people watching them. She drew back enough to look into his face, and was shocked at how handsome he was. It was hard to believe that this guy didn’t have a significant other.

  There was confusion in his expression, but also a strong sense of interest.

  “Do I know you?” he asked finally. His voice was deep and raspy.

  She shook her head. “No, you don’t. But I’m here to welcome you home. Your friends and family hired me to welcome you back to the states.”

  Link looked up. Half a dozen of his men and their wives were looking at him and grinning.

  “What did you assholes do?” he asked, laughing.

  Toro’s wife Brittany made a motion to the group. “We thought it would be nice to have someone welcome you home the way you deserve to be. No, it’s not long-term, but we wanted to do something nice for your birthday. Mary set it up, but she’s busy, obviously.” Brittany motioned to where Black was being loaded into a transport, his wife at his side. “You have BB for three days, then she heads back home. This contract does not entail sexual services of any kind. We are obligated to make that clear to you.” She grinned and winked, and he had to wonder if she was telling the truth or not.

  He glanced at BB, but her smile stayed in place. This woman was not any kind of hooker, he would bet his life on that. She was too… refined, he supposed the word would be. Pale pink polish made her nails look slick, and her clothes seemed to be well made. He wasn’t up on current trends, but she seemed to be very well put together. Expensive. Out of his league.

  So why would she be doing this?

  “I acknowledge that no sexual services are inferred in any way,” he told Brittany, but his eyes stayed on BB. And he caught the slight burst of color in her cheeks.

  Damn. If she did offer those services, he didn
’t think he’d be able to turn her down.

  A weird noise drew his gaze down and BB shifted until he could see a barrel-shaped dog hiding in her shadow. He thought she was a bulldog until her batwing ears popped up. “Is that a Frenchie?”

  BB smiled and nodded. “Lincoln Bezel, this is Fancy French Vanilla. Frankie, for short.”

  The dog was a distinctive gray color, what he thought AKC actually called Blue, mixed with white shapes. She had a white blaze down her head and muzzle. Her eyes were a pretty bright blue, and right now her pink nose was up in the air as she ignored him. Even when he held a hand out to her, she completely avoided looking at him. Most dogs liked him.

  “That’s curious,” BB said, planting her fists on her shapely hips. “Maybe she’s just put out that I made her walk on the hot concrete. I couldn’t hold her and the sign both.”

  The dog gave her mistress a look as if to disagree with the statement.

  “We can walk back to the hangar,” he suggested, “if that would make her more comfortable.”

  Link held a hand out to guide her and he hoisted his stuffed pack over his shoulder. BB bent over, picked up the hand-lettered, bedazzled sign and handed it to him, then bent over again and hoisted the odd creature into her arms. It looked like something she’d done many times before, otherwise he would have offered to carry the dog as well.

  BB huffed as she arranged the dog and she gave him a sideways glance over the animal’s head. “She’s a diva. I’ve tried not to give into her but when I don’t she lets out this ear-piercing cry. Not what I want to listen to when I’m trying to make a good impression.”

  She smiled at him charmingly, and Link felt himself smiling back at her. “That’s understandable.”

  They walked into the hangar side by side. Most of the team still loitered inside, watching the two of them. Obviously they were waiting for his response. “Enjoy your time off boys.”

  He gave them a thumbs-up behind his back as he guided BB out through the small door toward the parking lot, and he heard some chuckles. He wasn’t sure exactly what this three-day commitment entailed but he’d go along with the flow because he was already enjoying himself.

  * * *

  BB was very aware of the broad hand that touched her back as they left the big airplane hangar and the rest of Lincoln’s team. It took everything in her to not stare at him as they walked toward the cars, but that was dangerous. She had enough problems walking across a flat surface without trying to add in watching the distraction beside her and carry Frankie.

  Lincoln Bezel was fascinating in a hard, I can put you down, kind of way. Not the type of person she normally associated with. Tall and lean, he wore camouflage like nobody’s business, and he picked up that huge duffel like it didn’t weigh anything, even though the thing was almost as big as she was! His jaw was square, his chin firm, and covered with a faint brown stubble. He must have been in the air a long time if he hadn’t been able to shave.

  And those eyes… She sighed, wondering if he thought she would be even more odd if she told him she wanted to draw him. Cartoons were her passion and profession, but every once in a while she got the urge to do something more realistic. Lincoln was seriously giving her the urge, she thought with a shiver. Even under the shade of his… cap? Cover? She forgot the military term. Even under the bill of his cap she could feel him staring at her, and she wondered where he’d gotten the distinctive color of his eyes. Technically, they were probably listed as hazel, but there was a distinctive ring of dark cobalt blue around a pale green center, giving his gaze an electric feel.

  Deep lines grooved his face, but at first impression they seemed to be from worry and fatigue rather than humor. There had been two men that had come off the plane injured—one of them had to be wheeled off on a gurney— and she wondered if he felt responsible for them or something. Maybe he was their boss or commander. She had no idea how military rank structure worked. Maybe they were just friends and he was worried about them.

  BB bounced Frankie up into her arms a little better. “Will your friends be okay? The two that were injured?”

  Lincoln glanced down at her. “Yes. They both need rehab but the docs think they’ll be fine eventually.”

  “Were you hurt?”

  He shook his head. “I’m fine. Black, the one on the gurney, led us through the crap, but he got shot in the thigh in the process. Then when he went down he knocked his head pretty good. And Ryan had an attack of dumbass and thought it was a good idea to grab a burning car door to get a kid out of a car. Not sure why he didn’t have his gloves on. He’ll be fine as well.”

  BB knew her mouth was open, and she forced it closed. He talked about those incidents as if they happened every day. And maybe for him they did, but that kind of action was very different than her kind of action. He doubted he would be impressed with her job. She sketched in the morning while sipping her coffee, then, after lunch she edited. All interspersed with potty breaks for Frankie, of course, and herself. The most action she’d had recently had been the female plumber working on the drip in her shower. It had been a two-day event because the woman, Maria, had had to order parts.

  “And this was in Afghanistan?”

  He glanced at her and gave her a smile. “Somewhere around there.”

  Oh, yeah. He might not be able to talk about where he’d been or what he’d been doing. She had no idea how the SEALs worked. She knew Seal Team 6 had gotten Bin Laden, but that was the most she’d ever seen about them. Oh, and the movie. The name of it escaped her right at that second.

  “Sorry.”

  “Don’t worry about it. I just can’t share details.”

  “Totally understandable,” she said, flicking her hand from beneath Frankie’s bottom.

  They paused at a black truck and BB looked around, suddenly realizing she’d been walking and talking and hadn’t bothered watching where she went. Her car was several rows back the way they’d come. Lincoln glanced at her as he unlocked his vehicle.

  “Do you need a ride?”

  BB felt her cheeks flush again and she shook her head. “Nope. Just making sure you made it to your vehicle safely.” She turned away, her dress swirling. “I’ll meet you at your house.”

  Lincoln chuckled behind her, and BB couldn’t help but grin. The man had her turned on her head and she’d just met him. She bopped a kiss to Frankie’s head and the dog snuffled at her. “Quit being a grump,” BB warned her, “or I’ll leave you at the Doggy Day Care next time.”

  Frankie didn’t backtalk anymore as BB loaded her into the car and started the engine. Cranking the AC, she waited for Lincoln to pull out of his spot as she pulled her seatbelt across herself. Then she heaved a huge breath, recentering herself. Lincoln Bezel was a force of nature, and she’d never met anyone like him.

  Chapter 2

  Link pulled up into his driveway, a little surprised at how happy he was to be home. All the way from base he’d watched BB drive behind him. The sporty little silver-blue Mercedes suited the woman, and she drove competently, if a little fast.

  Curiosity nibbled at him, chasing away his fatigue as he slid from the cab of the truck. He wondered what she would do next. This whole situation was bizarre, but something kept him from firing her and making her move on down the road. There was an intrigue that he couldn’t deny. BB was everything he wasn’t, and he was completely mystified by her.

  When he pulled up to his house near the beach, he had to blink. There were flowers in the little pots that hung off his front windows. He’d never done anything with the things because it didn’t seem worthwhile. He wouldn’t be home to water the things because he was deployed so often, and it wasn’t worth hiring someone to do it for him. That was a little too… he couldn’t think of a word. It felt like he was opening himself up too much relying on someone like that.

  The flowers looked good, though, and he stopped on the walk as he waited for BB to join him.

  Frankie was grumbling as she walked on the le
ad toward Lincoln.

  “Is she always that noisy?”

  BB grinned, her bright teeth gleaming. “Oh, this isn’t noisy. You ought to hear her snore.”

  He shook his head, laughing softly to himself. “Thank you for the flowers. I never took the time to do anything with those planter things. I hope they don’t require a lot of water.”

  She gave him an odd look. “Well, I chose these ones specifically under the assumption that you wouldn’t be able to take care of them much.”

  Good. They would probably still die. He didn’t have much experience taking care of anything like that.

  Lincoln led her up the walk and up the steps. He unlocked the door, pushed it open and waved her inside. As she brushed by him he drew in the fragrance swirling around her. His groin tightened with need, and he wanted to grab her and just pull her to him to inhale. It had been a long time since he’d smelled anything that fresh, and inviting.

  But no. No sexual services implied, he reminded himself. He seriously doubted he would be her type anyway.

  Stepping into the house behind her, he slammed to a halt in the doorway. What was that smell? He drew a heavy breath. Damn, the neighbors must be cooking something.

  Then, as BB dropped Frankie’s leash and moved into the kitchen, he realized the scent was emanating from somewhere much closer. Like, his kitchen. Shoving the door shut he dropped his pack to the floor and followed BB. She had moved to an oblong crockpot sitting on the counter near the sink. She lifted the lid and fragrant steam wafted into the air. Link stepped close and leaned over to inhale the steam, his mouth watering.

  “Is that a roast? Like meat?”

  “Yes. I dropped the potatoes and carrots in before I left for the base so they should be nice and tender.”