by Susan Stoker
In short, he was hungry for every little scrap of information he could get about her.
Taking a deep breath, he did his best to temper his curiosity about Aspen. He was the brain, the one everyone turned to when they needed answers, and he needed to be sharp and focused when he went back into the meetings that afternoon, not letting his mind wander to Aspen. He had plenty of time to get to know her. He didn’t need to learn everything in the first week.
With that somewhat soothing thought, Brain walked into the building determined to put Aspen out of his mind…at least for a few hours.
Aspen was exhausted. It was eight at night and she’d been up since five-thirty. Derek had been even more of an ass than usual the last few days, and she couldn’t decide if he was just being petty about the fact she didn’t want to go out with him anymore, and taking it out on both their teams, or if he was nervous about escalating tensions in the Middle East and the potential for an upcoming mission.
Regardless of the reasons, the last few days had been brutal. Her Ranger team, along with two others that included Derek’s, had been training in the “towns” built on Fort Hood’s desolate back country. They’d been crawling in the dirt and baking in the sun. As the combat medic to her team, Aspen wasn’t exactly required to complete the same training the men were, but she felt obligated. If they were in the middle of nowhere in Afghanistan, she’d have to follow alongside her fellow soldiers, treating any injuries that might happen and making sure they stayed hydrated.
And if she didn’t want to be treated differently because she was a woman, she felt as if she needed to sweat and suffer right along with her platoon-mates.
Tonight, they’d done an exercise where they’d had to attempt to sneak up on a Taliban “stronghold” undetected. It was somewhat of a bullshit mission, because of course the “bad guys” knew they were out there trying to sneak in, and therefore hyper-alert. In a real-life situation, the terrorists wouldn’t know they were coming. But, they had to play the game. They’d been caught over and over again, and had been screamed at by everyone from the platoon sergeants to the officers overseeing the training. It was demoralizing and frustrating, and Aspen was more than ready to collapse into bed and sleep for twenty-four hours straight.
Except she had to get up at five-thirty the next morning and head back to post to do it all over again tomorrow.
She stood in the small galley kitchen in her apartment, staring into her refrigerator blankly. She needed to eat something but had no idea what she was in the mood for. She had no energy to cook anything and, if she was honest with herself, the cool air from the fridge felt better than the thought of food anyway.
The sound of a knock on her door startled Aspen out of her semi-dazed state. She turned to answer it when her phone rang. Not looking at the display, she clicked on the green button at the same time she looked through the peephole in her door.
“Hey, it’s Brain.”
“Hi, Kane,” Aspen told him tiredly, frowning at the man standing at her door wearing some sort of uniform and carrying a brown paper bag. “Can you hold on a sec? There’s a guy at my door who I think is lost.”
“He’s not lost,” Kane told her. “I sent him.”
Confused, Aspen opened the door.
“Aspen Mesmer?” he asked.
“That’s me.”
“Here ya go. Enjoy.” The delivery man held out the bag, and as soon as she took it from him, he turned and headed down the hall.
“What in the world?” she mumbled.
“I got worried when you weren’t answering your phone earlier tonight, so I called a friend on post and he told me your platoon hadn’t returned from your training exercise yet. I asked him to let me know when you were back, and I ordered dinner for you. You told me before that since I made you pick where we ate that first night, I had to choose the rest of the time, so…that’s what I did. I hope it’s okay.”
“You got me dinner?” Aspen asked. She already knew the answer, but her brain wasn’t firing on all cylinders at the moment. Her stomach growled when the scent of the food rose from the bag, filling the air and making her realize exactly how ravenous she was.
“Yeah. I don’t know if you’ll like it or not, but I thought that you probably need protein. After being in the heat all day, you need to replace the nutrients you lost. I ordered from Hawaiian Grill. I ordered the laulau plate, which is pork wrapped in taro leaves and steamed for several hours until it’s so tender, it just falls apart on your fork. It’s delicious. But in case you’re not a pork fan, I also got you a hamburger steak; a patty served with their homemade teriyaki sauce. It’s fantastic. There’s also an order of chicken long rice made Hawaiian style on the side.”
Aspen had put the bag down on the counter and unpacked it as Kane was explaining what he’d ordered. The servings were huge, and she knew there was no way she could eat everything. But she was so grateful for the gesture, and that she didn’t have to cook anything for herself, she was speechless for a moment.
“Aspen? I hope I didn’t overstep. I’ve been where you are. So tired from training that I couldn’t muster up the energy to cook myself anything. But that only made the next day more difficult and painful. From the meetings I had today, I’m guessing that your training isn’t going to get easier anytime soon, so…I thought I’d do what I could to make your life a little simpler.”
Aspen felt her eyes tear up, and she closed them. Clutching her phone in her hand with a death grip, she whispered, “Thank you.”
“It’s okay then?” Kane asked. “Not everyone likes Hawaiian food.”
“I have no idea if I do or not, but I can guarantee right now I’m going to eat as much of this delicious-smelling meat as possible then pass out in a heap of exhaustion and food coma,” she told him.
“Good. And I swear I’m not a stalker or anything. I was just worried about you when I couldn’t get ahold of you all day. And that message I left around lunch…sorry about that too.”
She hadn’t even bothered to look at the notifications on her phone. “You left me a message?” Aspen asked.
“Oh…um…yeah. You can just delete it.”
Curious now, wondering why Kane seemed so uncomfortable with the message he’d left, she asked, “What did you say?”
“Nothing. I had a break for lunch and thought maybe I could catch you.”
“You know that as soon as we hang up I’m going to listen to it, right?” she asked. “You can’t tell a woman not to listen to a voice mail and expect her to just delete it,” she teased. “Were you a dick? Did you yell at me because I wasn’t there to answer?”
“No!” Kane exclaimed. “God, I’d never do that! Has someone done that to you before? Fuck them.”
She loved how he immediately got upset on her behalf. “I was kidding, Kane!”
He sighed. “I just realized after I hung up that I sounded ridiculous. Like a fourteen-year-old boy who was desperate for attention from the girl he had a crush on.”
Aspen swallowed hard. “Do you have a crush on me?”
He didn’t even hesitate. “Yes.”
“And you think I’m going to be upset that you called me in the middle of the day and left me a message?”
His answer wasn’t as quick this time. “I don’t know.”
“I’m not,” Aspen told him. “Thank you for calling. I didn’t have even five minutes to myself today. When we did take a break, I had to go around to my guys and make sure they were staying hydrated and weren’t going to crash on me. Then I had just enough time to shove a sandwich down my throat before we were off and running again.”
“You need to remember to take care of yourself too,” Kane told her firmly. “You won’t do any good for your team if you fall on your face. Believe me, I’ve learned that the hard way.”
Aspen loved that he was so concerned about her. She liked the guys she worked with, but not one had even thought to make sure she was taking care of herself.
“And if
it was up to me, I’d make sure your team realized that you are one of the most important people at their sides. Taking care of their medic should be their top priority, because I guarantee if they ever found themselves in the middle of a firefight and got shot, they’d be damn sad if you weren’t around.”
Aspen chuckled. She knew she was punchy from being tired and hungry, but she couldn’t stop herself. “They’ll be sad?” she asked.
“Sad. Pissed. Dead. Whatever,” Kane said without a trace of humor.
“It’s okay. I’m fine,” she told him quietly. “Thank you for dinner.”
“You’re welcome. Are we still on for the night after next?” he asked.
“As long as Derek and the other platoon sergeants don’t think we need another evening training session,” she told him. “What did you have in mind?”
“It’s been a long week for you. What do you think of staying in? If you come over to my place, I can grill us some steaks and we can hang out and watch a movie or something. I’m a typical guy, and I have a huge-ass TV and a ton of movies. Or we can pick something from Netflix. Whatever you want.”
“Staying in sounds great,” Aspen told him.
“Good. I should be done on post around four, barring any major disasters. I’ll stop by the store on the way home, and then I need to mow my neighbor’s lawn. I’ve been putting it off and it looks like a jungle, so I need to get on that. How about if we plan on you coming over around six-thirty? I know that’s a little late for dinner, but it won’t take long to grill steaks, and I can steam some veggies pretty quickly too.”
“That sounds perfect,” Aspen said. And it did. “Kane?”
“Yeah, liebling?”
She chuckled and forgot what she was going to say for a second. “What language was that?”
“German.”
“Right. Anyway, thank you for remembering me today.”
“You don’t have to thank me for that,” he told her. “It seems as if I can’t stop myself from thinking about you. It’s a little disconcerting, if you want to know the truth. But I talked to Trigger today, and he said he was the same way with Gillian, which made me feel a little better.”
Aspen sucked in a breath. “You talked about me to your teammate?”
“Yeah. Not about anything too personal. Just this unusual need to know how you’re doing and check on you constantly. He and Gillian are going to get married soon, and they’re tight. Really tight. I figured he or Lefty were the best people to get advice from since they’re in serious relationships. I haven’t felt like this…ever…and needed to know if it was normal.”
She liked that. “It’s not.”
“Not what, normal?” he asked.
“Yeah. I haven’t felt like this either. I thought about you a lot today too. When I was so tired that I didn’t think I could crawl another inch, I thought about you standing nearby cheering me on. It helped. A lot.”
“Good. But you don’t need me to cheer you on. You’re badass and amazing just as you are, Aspen.”
“Thanks,” she whispered.
“Go eat,” he ordered. “Before it gets too cold. Although, I have to admit that pork is amazing even when it’s no longer hot.”
“I’ll talk to you tomorrow?” Aspen asked.
“Yeah. If I can’t get ahold of you, I’ll leave another dorky message…like the one you’ll hear when you listen to what I left earlier,” he said with a chuckle.
“I’m sure it’s not dorky,” Aspen protested.
“And I’m sure it is. But fuck it, I guess I’m okay with being dorky because there’s no other way I can be. I’m the brain, now and always. Sleep well, liebling.”
“I will. You too.”
“Good night.”
“Night.”
Aspen clicked off the phone and instead of reaching for the food, she immediately clicked on the voice mail message icon she’d missed before.
“Hi. It’s me. Brain…er…Kane. We had a break for lunch and I thought I’d see if I could catch you. I don’t really have a reason for calling…other than to let you know that I was thinking about you. Anyway, I hope your day’s going better than the past few. I’ll call later tonight. Bye.”
She played it twice more, smiling huge as she listened. The message was a bit dorky, but it was obvious it came from Kane’s heart. He’d called just because he was thinking about her. How could she not love that?
Deciding she was never deleting his message, ever, she finally put her phone down and grabbed a fork from her silverware drawer. Not even bothering to get a plate, she picked up the pork dish and took a huge bite, groaning in ecstasy at the Hawaiian spices that exploded across her taste buds.
Making up her mind right then and there that Kane could always decide where and what they were eating, she devoured the rest of her dinner standing at her counter, moaning in delight with every forkful.
Later that night, lying in bed, Aspen played the message Kane left for her once more before putting her phone on her nightstand and turning onto her side. She never would’ve thought a plea for a kiss to try to ditch Derek would lead to this…her lying in bed, daydreaming about a fellow soldier. A man she couldn’t seem to get out of her head.
She wasn’t ready to run off to Vegas and marry him, but Aspen couldn’t deny that she wanted to see where their relationship might go. They were both in the military, which wasn’t conducive to long-term relationships. And he was in special forces, which also wasn’t ideal. But he was genuinely nice, funny, smart, and yes, awkward. She couldn’t wait to see how their next date would go.
Chapter Four
Brain was running behind. They’d had a briefing that ran long, so he’d rushed through the grocery store. At home, he had changed into a pair of shorts after throwing the steaks into the fridge. He didn’t bother with a T-shirt, knowing he was about to sweat about four gallons while he mowed his neighbor’s lawn.
It was still hot outside, and Aspen would arrive within an hour. He figured he had just enough time to get the grass cut, shower, and prep the steaks before she arrived. Of course, he didn’t count on Winnie Morrison—his ninety-one-year-old widowed neighbor who he tried to check on at least every other day—wanting to talk so long.
When he was finally able to begin tackling her lawn, twenty minutes had gone by. It wasn’t that Brain didn’t want to talk; Winnie was funny and very entertaining. He was just aware that time was ticking by and Aspen would be arriving soon. But he refused to do a rush job on the lawn; seeing uneven grass would just annoy him, and it wasn’t fair to Winnie.
He was only halfway done when he saw Aspen pull into his driveway. He cut off the mower and ran an arm across his sweaty brow as he headed toward her. He was smiling, but by the time he got close, he was frowning.
Aspen looked awful. She was pale, and he could see her hands shaking.
“What’s wrong?” he asked as soon as he got close.
“Gee, that’s not exactly the greeting I’d expected,” she quipped.
“Aspen, what’s wrong?” Brain repeated, not sidetracked by her weak attempt at humor.
She sighed. “I’m just tired.”
Brain thought it was more than that, but he didn’t want to stand out in the sun arguing about it. He wanted to hug her, but he was covered in sweat and he didn’t think she’d appreciate it. So he took her by the elbow and steered her toward his front door. “Come on,” he said.
“Am I early?” she asked, her brows furrowing.
“No. I’m sorry, I’m running behind. I promised Winnie I’d get her lawn mowed but work ran late. Will you be all right hanging out while I finish up out here?”
She stopped in her tracks, and Brain had no choice but to stop as well.
“You’re going to let me sit around your house when you’re not there?”
Brain snorted a laugh. “Are you going to steal my shit?”
“No!” she exclaimed.
“Go through my bathroom cabinets?”
“Of course not.”
“Not that I care if you do, all you’ll find is the normal aspirin, bandages, and maybe some anti-fungus lotion or something. Aspen, I don’t care if you’re in my house without me there. This might only be our second official date, but I’ve been talking to you for almost two weeks. I’d like to think I’m starting to know you pretty well. Not to mention, you’re exhausted. I’m willing to bet sitting in the air conditioning sounds pretty damn good right about now. It’ll take me another twenty minutes or so to finish up out here, then I’ll be in. I’ll shower and get dinner started. All you have to do is relax.”
Brain was alarmed when her eyes immediately swam with tears.
“Shit. Aspen?”
“I’m okay,” she told him then took a deep breath. “It’s just been a hell of a week.”
Not able to help himself, Brain raised a hand and brushed a strand of her light brown hair off her cheek and behind her ear…and noticed she wasn’t sweating, even though it was at least ninety degrees outside. He frowned. “You’re dehydrated,” he told her.
“I know.”
“And probably have a bit of heat exhaustion.”
“I know that too,” she said wearily.
Kicking himself for keeping her outside, he took hold of her arm again and headed for his door. He’d planned to let her in then go right back to his mowing, but there was no way he could leave her knowing that she wasn’t just tired, she was ill.
He brought her straight to his kitchen and pointed to a stool at the bar-height counter. “Sit.”
She did as he requested, and Brain opened a cabinet and got out a large metal cup. He put some ice cubes in, then filled it to the brim with filtered water from a jug in his fridge. He put it in front of her and ordered, “Drink.”
She nodded and brought it to her lips. Brain then grabbed a honeydew melon he’d bought to cut up for dessert and quickly chopped it into bite-size pieces. He put them in a bowl and scooted it across the counter toward Aspen.
