Maybe this is different, she couldn’t help considering. Maybe I’m not a conquest.
The thought was unsettling, in more ways than one.
“We should go,” she said, needing to not be sitting so close to him, and wanting to touch his hand that sat on the table beside hers.
“Okay,” he said, reaching for the check.
Ellie grabbed for it, too. “This is my treat.”
With one finger pinning the check in place, Hunter pulled back a slow smile, his gorgeous blue eyes twinkling. “Absolutely not.”
“I owe you,” she said, trying not to be too dazzled by the way he was looking at her. “Jane had you running all over the place. I saw you through the bay window.”
With his free hand, he lifted his ice water and took a sip. “That was nothing.”
“I owe you,” she repeated, then yanked the check free and scooted out of the booth, feeling triumphant at the win.
“Fine,” Hunter said, following behind her. “But that only means I get it next time.”
She glanced at him over her shoulder. “There won’t be a next time.”
“There will be, Ellie.”
She spent the drive back to the WS running his words through her head. She couldn’t figure this guy out at all.
Is that part of his game? Making me crazy with curiosity?
It didn’t seem like he was playing, though. He seemed real…more real the more time they spent together. She chewed on her lip and leaned an elbow on the armrest, steering with one hand. What suddenly didn’t seem real were all those e-mails—
“Gah!” She had to slam on the brakes to keep from running straight into Sam standing in the middle of the parking lot.
“Off the road, crazy driver,” he called through cupped hands.
Ellie exhaled, ashamed that she’d let her mind wander so far from the present that she’d almost creamed her brother. “Why are you out here?” she asked as she climbed out of the car.
“Waiting for you. Hunter just got back and said you were on the way.”
“And you came to escort me inside.” She gave him a toothy smile. “What a brother.”
“That I am,” Sam said, brushing off his shoulder. “I just wanted to make sure everything’s going okay with your new”—he fingered air quotes—“job.”
“Things are great,” she said, trying not to smile. Sam would read all kinds of red flags into a smile right now. She forced Hunter from her mind, replacing him with another man. “But I’m glad we have a minute alone. There’s something I’ve wanted to talk to you about for a while. A few things, actually.”
“What is it?”
Ellie took in a deep breath. It’s now or never. “When you first got out of the hospital, you know how I told you someone e-mailed me right when you were moved to Germany?”
“Vaguely,” Sam said, leaning against her car.
“That wasn’t the only e-mail.”
…
Charlie chatted with a couple of airmen playing darts. They were discussing some 3D movie they’d seen over the weekend, but Charlie’s head was full of nothing but Ellie. If Sam knew what he was thinking, he truly would use him as target practice.
All during lunch, he’d loved watching her mouth as she talked. What was even more amazing was how he was interested in what she had to say. He could listen to her forever.
Only…he didn’t have forever.
This little cat and mouse thing wasn’t working. Two days ago, he’d made a snap decision under pressure—the wrong decision. When Sam had introduced him as Hunter, it seemed easier to just go with it, knowing the truth would come out. But when it hadn’t, Charlie made another decision, probably equally as wrong. He’d hoped spending time with Ellie might win her over to the real him, not the guy from those stories.
But now, it felt like he was falling deeper and deeper into a hole. Ellie did not deserve to be part of this deception, not for one second more.
The front door opened and Sam walked in. Charlie was about to wave, but Sam was already marching straight toward him. Why did he have such a murderous expression on his face?
“Hey bud—”
“E-mails?” Sam cut in, his teeth clenched. “You’ve been e-mailing my sister?”
Shit. Charlie’s stomach took a cliff dive. He tore his gaze away from Sam’s dagger stare, dreading to see Ellie burst through the door next. But no one else entered.
“Sam,” he began. And he was about to continue with “this is none of your business,” but heard himself ask, “How angry is she? Can I talk to her?”
“You should be worried about me right now,” Sam growled. “Not. Cool.”
Before speaking again, Charlie moved away from the dart players to a less conspicuous corner. “I should have told you,” he said, keeping his voice low.
“Damn straight.”
“It just…” He ran a hand through his hair, not knowing what to say. Yesterday, two months ago, he would have known exactly how to break the news, but now, confusion was making his head frustratingly blank.
“She told me everything, about you writing to her when I was in the hospital, and…” Sam put his hands on his hips, dropped his chin, and exhaled like he was calming down. “Look, I understand why you did it, and I’m not pissed about that. But you shouldn’t have kept it up. Dude, that’s my sister.”
Charlie nodded in full agreement. “I know, I know, she’s totally hands-off, but I…” I like her, he almost added. “Yesterday, you didn’t introduce me as Charlie, and I figured—”
“I know what you figured.”
A flame of indignity sparked in Charlie’s chest, which his best friend didn’t deserve. But he didn’t have time to explain how things were—he needed to find Ellie. “It’s not like that, man,” he said, looking past him, scanning the room for her red hair. “Tell me what to do to make this right with you, okay? But seriously, I need to talk to your sister now. Did you tell her outside? Is she coming in?”
“She doesn’t know.”
Sam had spoken the words so quietly Charlie thought he’d misheard. “What?”
“I didn’t tell her,” Sam said. “I listened to her and figured out what happened with the name confusion, but I didn’t tell her and we’re not going to.”
“Why?”
He shook his head but then rolled his eyes. “She’s obviously got a crush on him—on you. On Charlie.”
“Really?” The news should have made him happy, but strangely enough, he felt jealous. “I don’t want to keep lying. She doesn’t deserve that.”
“What my sister deserves is the memory of a decent guy who helped her through a really scary time in her life.” Sam crossed his arms. “She doesn’t need to know that same guy once had one date with triplets at the same time.”
Charlie lowered his head, loathing himself. “You’re right—she doesn’t.”
“So you’re not going to tell her, Hunter.”
Things were rapidly spiraling from bad to worse. “Please don’t call me that,” Charlie said.
“What?” Sam lifted an eyebrow. “Hunter?”
“It’s not me anymore.”
“Since when?”
“Since now,” Charlie snapped, then took a deep breath, forcing himself to chill. “You weren’t the only one whose life changed on that mountain. I haven’t been the same, either.”
“You’re not experimenting with your new life change on Ellie. You know how I feel about you, buddy. I trust you with my life, I owe you my life—”
“Sammy…”
“No, listen. I love you like a brother, man.” He put a hand on his shoulder. “But don’t even think about dating her. I won’t let her find out the Staff Sergeant Charlie Johansson she thinks she knows doesn’t exist.”
The words stung.
Never once when he was e-mailing Ellie did Charlie feel like he wasn’t being honest. In fact, he’d opened up to her like he hadn’t with anyone. He’d shared with her and listened. He’d never
been more himself than in those e-mails. That was the real Charlie, and not the guy Sam thought he still was.
“Sooner or later, she’ll meet someone else,” Sam continued, “and your e-mails will be nothing but a memory. So don’t mess with her now—not like those other ass-hats from her past. Okay?”
It seemed like a terrible idea, keeping up the ruse. But Sam was Ellie’s brother, her family. If he thought the truth would make it worse, Charlie had to respect that decision. He also had to respect that—despite Charlie’s honorable intentions when it came to Ellie—Sam was against any kind of relationship.
“Okay,” Charlie finally conceded, but he didn’t like it.
“Hunter?”
Both men wheeled around at the sound of Ellie’s voice coming from across the room. She was standing outside Chick’s office, waving Charlie over.
“Hmm, I think she’s talking to you, man,” Sam said.
When Charlie glanced at him, his buddy was smirking. “The name does ring a bell,” he said. “We cool?”
“We’re always cool.” Sam slapped his back. “Let’s hit the course tomorrow. We haven’t golfed since you’ve been home.”
“Any time you want,” Charlie said. As he moved through the room, he felt a tiny bit relieved. At least Sam knew the truth now. One less story to keep straight.
Ellie was waiting by the office door. Charlie couldn’t help studying her face for clues that she had it bad for another guy. But when he caught her eye, she looked at him like there was no one else on her mind.
“Hi,” she said.
The way she smiled at him made his chest feel like it was caving in. His body shouldn’t react to her like that, not if he wanted to honor Sam’s loud-and-clear wishes. Since that was the case, Charlie needed to give Ellie reason to not smile at him.
If there was one thing he’d learned about Ellie Bell the day they met, it was that she did not like to be hit on.
“Hey. I beat you here,” he said, giving her an extra swaggery grin. “I think winning means you owe me a special prize.” He strategically placed his hand on the wall right beside her head and leaned forward, semi-trapping her with his arm. “Seems fair, don’t you think? I even have a prize in mind just for you, know what I mean?”
It was a terrible line, but maybe if he threw her enough lines, she’d get turned off like in the parking lot the other day.
“A prize?” she repeated, deadpan, while Charlie braced himself for a knee to the nuts. “Ha! You wish.” She laughed and tossed her head, ducking under his arm. “Chick?” She knocked on the office door, unfazed. “What have you got for us this afternoon? I know Hunter’s dying to clean more bathrooms.” She eyed Charlie over her shoulder. He eyed her back, cocking an eyebrow with another high-wattage smile, laying it on thick.
But Ellie only tucked some hair behind an ear and gave him that same warm smile. “Prize,” she said again, laughing under her breath. “Too funny.”
Well, that didn’t work.
Not that he wanted to turn her off. Even though he should. Hell, he didn’t know what he was supposed to want when it came to Ellie. He couldn’t keep his own feelings straight.
He did know he was disappointed when he was assigned to pull weeds out back while she was filing papers in one of the other admin offices. Not that he minded being outside—he minded being away from her for three hours. His task wasn’t nearly as fun without her around.
“I left the compost by the fence,” Charlie reported to Chick as he washed his hands at the sink by his office.
“Thanks, brother,” Chick said. When Charlie was about to leave, eager to find Ellie, Chick called out. “Hold up, Hunter.”
Charlie turned. “Yeah?”
The older Marine scraped back his chair and stood. “I talked to some of the guys out there, asked around about you.” He removed his glasses. “I’ve still got people in the know, so I got the gist.”
“Gist?” Charlie repeated, not following.
“The mission.” Chick nodded at the open office door leading out into the WS’s main room. “When Bell got hurt. I know you were part of that detail.”
“Oh.” Charlie would rather be getting busted for going by a fake name than relive that day. He slid his hands into his pockets and exhaled. “Yeah, I was there.”
“Sounds pretty rough. You okay? Getting the help you need?”
“Yeah.” Charlie bit down on the inside of his cheek, trying not to hear that explosion inside his head again, to smell the smoke. “I’m fine, good.”
Chick hesitated and tilted his head to the side. “You’re sure? I wouldn’t think the normal PT would be enough after something like that. Ya know, that’s what this place is for. It’s supplemental, a bridge between military life and the civilian world.”
“Right,” Charlie said, glancing toward the door, feeling trapped.
“Group sessions aren’t for everyone, but if you ever want to talk about it, or anything”—he placed a hand on his shoulder—“you can always come to me, son. There’s not much I didn’t see in my day.”
Chick seemed like a nice guy, and he probably did have certain skills from running a place like the WS, but Charlie didn’t need a psychiatrist couch; he was handling things just fine on his own.
“Yeah, thanks,” he said, dying to get out of the room and away from Chick’s intense gaze. He was grateful when the desk phone rang.
“I gotta grab that,” Chick said. “But you’ll think about what I said?”
“Sure.” Charlie nodded, backing up. “Sure.”
He met Ellie in the hallway. Just seeing her made his heart lighter. Her e-mails had made him feel the same way even on his worst days in Afghanistan. He wished he could bottle up her goodness. He wished a lot of things.
“Paper cut,” she said, frowning down at her index finger. When she moved it up to her mouth to suck on the wound, Charlie’s head spun.
“Do you, uh…” He blinked and dropped his gaze, focusing on his promise to Sam. “Need a bandage?”
“Mmmaybe.” She pulled out her finger to examine it. “There’re some in the office.”
Chick wasn’t on the phone anymore, but his hand was resting on the receiver, as if he’d just hung up. His expression looked off.
“Chick?” Ellie said, noticing it, too. “Are you okay?”
He glanced up, surprised to see them standing there. “Hey, you two.”
Ellie’s eyebrows bent. “Something wrong?”
Chick hesitated then pressed a hand to his forehead. “Close the door,” he said to Charlie. Charlie did so, then returned to see Chick massaging the bridge of his nose, looking glum. “We’ve lost funding,” he finally said. “One of our biggest contributors comes from an estate, one lump sum a year, pays our rent. The heirs informed me that they want to use the money elsewhere.”
“When did this happen?” Ellie asked.
“I’ve known for more than a month,” he admitted. “I hoped something would turn up, but I just got off the phone with the bank; we might have to close.”
“What?” Ellie exclaimed.
“This is an expensive property,” Chick continued. “We run solely on donations, and now we’re short twenty grand. Unless we can raise some serious cash in the next week or two, we’re closing.”
Charlie did not like the sound of that. True, he didn’t have an attachment to the WS like Sam or the other few dozen service members who came every day for support and counseling, not to mention the hundred who chose the WS as a cool hangout spot. But if it shut down, where would they go?
“What can be done?” Ellie asked. “You name it.”
“You don’t happen to have a few thousand dollars laying around, do you?”
“No.” She chuckled darkly. “But…I can raise it.”
Chick looked up. “Huh?”
“When do you need the money?”
“We’re on a lease. Next year’s is due in less than two weeks.”
Charlie was looking back and for
th at them like he was watching a tennis match.
Ellie bit her thumbnail. “Two weeks,” she repeated. “Okay. We’ll have a…a huge fund-raiser, alert the public.”
“Alert how?” Chick said. “I don’t have any connections to the media. Do you?”
Ellie frowned, still chewing her nail. “No.”
“I do,” Charlie said. They both looked at him. “Rick Duffy, he owns the newspaper in Franklin and he’s engaged to one of my good friends. He’s always looking for stories to get the community involved.”
“Do you think he’d write something about our event?” Ellie asked, her bright eyes fixed on his.
The way she was looking at him, Charlie was ready to promise anything. “I’m sure he would.”
“Write about what event?” Chick asked. “Look, I appreciate your enthusiasm, but—”
“We’ll have it here at the WS,” Ellie said. “That’s gotta be good publicity, right? When’s the next free evening?”
Chick consulted his calendar. “The only thing I see is Friday.”
“As in seven days away?”
“That’s all I’ve got, Ellie.”
“Seven days,” she repeated, stroking a handful of her hair and staring off to the side. “Okay. I’m on it.”
“I’ll help,” Charlie blurted.
Ellie’s face instantly brightened. “See,” she said to Chick while sliding next to Charlie. “We’ll take care of it.”
Charlie felt the strangest stir by her use of the word “we.”
“So don’t worry about a thing.” Without another word, she bounced out of the office.
Charlie followed behind, ready to be put to work calling caterers or filling balloons or stuffing those little gift bag things. Oh wait, he was thinking of Tess’s wedding. That was the only big party he’d ever been involved in. It had been kind of a beating, which made him chuckle inside about being so gung-ho over helping Ellie now. He could see it in her eyes; she had a plan. Whatever it was, he was sure it would be epic.
“So,” he said. “What are you thinking?”
Ellie stared straight ahead, not blinking. “I have no idea…”
Falling for Her Soldier 3 Page 8
