He gave me a tour of the shop, showing me what containers to use for the various types of bait and what the prices of each were. Then he showed me where the food was stored and how to work the machines that cooked them. Afterward, we restocked the shelves with snacks and fishing gear, cleaned the windows and floors and checked the temperature on each of the bait tanks.
Things were slow. Only three customers had been in and we had nothing left to do, so we grabbed a couple of stools behind the counter and sat down beside each other. Zach pulled a deck of cards out of his back pocket and I arched an eyebrow at him.
“The night shift is always slow, but I knew tonight would be even worse since everyone’s getting ready for the weekend,” he said with a shrug. “I figured we’d need something to help pass the time.”
“Sounds good to me. What are we playing?” I asked him with a smile.
Zach smiled back. “Are you a poker man?” he asked.
“Hell yeah. I’ve played for years. That’s how my buddies and I would pass the long, boring nights in between missions,” I told him.
“Missions?” Zach stopped shuffling the cards and looked up at me, his brow pinched in confusion.
“Yeah. I spent twelve years in the Air Force. Ten of them were as a special ops pararescueman,” I explained.
“Pair of what?” he joked, and I laughed.
“Pararescueman, but we’re also known as PJ’s. It’s part of the Air Force’s Special Operations Command as well as the Air Combat Command,” I told him.
“I’ve never heard of that before. What kind of things did you do?” Zach asked. I could see the genuine curiosity in his gaze.
I pulled the deck of cards from his hands and began passing them out. “Occasionally, we’d get called to help NASA recover their astronauts after they’d landed in the water, but most of the time we ran recovery missions and provided medical treatment for people involved in combat situations.”
“Wow! Are you some kind of doctor then?” He looked at me suspiciously.
I shook my head. “No, not at all. I’ve had some medical training, but I worked more on the rescue and recovery parts of the operations. I would jump out of the choppers and find the missing or wounded person we were there for and bring them back to the actual doctors to get medical treatment.”
I looked up and found Zach staring at me, his jaw hanging open. “That sounds really dangerous. Were you ever under fire?”
My jaw clenched as I nodded. “Nine times out of ten,” I told him quietly.
“Weren’t you scared?” he whispered.
I shrugged my shoulders. He didn’t need to know about the night terrors I had suffered the first few years on the job or the images that refused to leave me of the people that I wasn’t able to get to in time, their mangled bodies and lifeless eyes staring back at me.
“Our motto is ‘These things we do, that others may live,’” I answered instead.
“For what it’s worth, I think you’re incredibly brave,” he said quietly. The eyes staring back at me were filled with sincerity and I gave him a small smile. His next question had the smile slipping from my face as pain lanced through my chest. “So, why did you decide to leave the Air Force?”
“I got a call one day that my mom had suffered a heart attack. I was her only kid, the only family she had left, and I wasn’t there when she died. I decided then that I needed to get out,” I said, my voice cracking at the end.
I’d never spoken to anyone else about that, about the guilt I still carried over not being there for my mom when she needed me the most, but it felt good to talk about it with Zach. He reached out and covered my hand with his. I glanced up at him in surprise and saw a mixture of pain, sadness and complete understanding in his eyes.
It hit me then that Zach probably knew exactly how it felt to carry the weight of that kind of burden on his shoulders because he’d been through the same thing when he’d stood there, watching helplessly as the paramedics tried to save his mom, knowing there was nothing he could do. The same connection I’d felt when I’d held his hand surged between us once again and it was as if we were the only two people left in the world.
We continued to stare at each other and I felt the subtle shift between us as the sadness in his eyes was replaced with desire. My eyes dropped to his lips and I had to fight back a groan as his tongue darted out to wet them. His bottom lip was full, almost pouty, and it begged for me to lick it, nip at it and tug it between my teeth. Without even realizing we were doing it, we’d begun to lean in towards each other, like two magnets being pulled together.
I stared into Zach’s eyes, searching for any hesitation, but there was none to be found. I reached for him and slid my hand along his jaw. He shivered under my gentle touch and his breath puffed out against my face as I moved in closer. My heart beat frantically inside my chest as my hand continued its journey to the back of his neck. My fingers sifted through the silky strands of his dirty-blond hair and he sighed. Zach tilted his head and his eyes slid closed, his thick lashes fanning against his cheeks and I thought that I’d never seen a more stunning sight.
“Beautiful,” I whispered as my lips brushed against his.
I took my time, savoring the moment I’d been waiting for. My other hand came up to hold him in place as I nipped at his bottom lip with my teeth and then licked over it in a soothing gesture. Zach moaned in pleasure and he stood without breaking the kiss, moving forward until he was between my spread knees. He took charge then, letting his tongue sweep through my mouth and a deep growl echoed up from my chest.
Our tongues danced around each other, tasting and exploring all the hidden treasures within our mouths. My cock strained against the fabric of my jeans, begging to be let out to play and I nearly lost all control when Zach shifted his hips and his own impressive bulge pressed up against mine. My body felt like it was on fire and I desperately wanted to drag him to the back room and sink to my knees for him.
I was about to suggest it when the door flew open and two older men walked in, fishing poles in hand. Zach spun away from me quickly, his face turning a brilliant shade of red as he faced them. He stepped all the way up against the counter, letting it hide the evidence of his arousal, but there was no hiding the lust-glazed look in his eyes or the kiss-swollen appearance of his lips.
If the two men noticed, they didn’t say anything, and I was grateful. I sat quietly as Zach gathered the supplies they needed and rang their order up on the register. After they’d paid, they walked out, shutting the door behind them. Zach turned to me then and I tensed, waiting for him to be angry about almost getting caught. He smiled at me instead, a small, shy smile and my heart tripped all over itself. I stood and walked towards him until our chests were pressed together. My hands cupped his face and his hands went to my waist, his fingers curling into the belt loops on my jeans.
“I want to take you out,” I told him.
“You mean, like on a date?” he asked hesitantly.
I nodded. “That’s exactly what I mean,” I said.
Zach looked at me for a few minutes and I held my breath. “We can have a date on one condition,” he said.
“Name it,” I responded. There was no doubt in my mind that I’d do whatever he asked if it meant I got to spend more time with him.
“I want to plan it.” He smiled up at me. My heart did a somersault inside my chest at the pleased look in his eyes and I smiled back at him.
“Sounds like we’ve got ourselves a date,” I said.
What the hell was I thinking? That was the thought that kept playing through my head on an endless loop ever since I told Jeremy I wanted to be the one to plan our date. It had seemed like a good idea when the idea first popped into my head, but now I wasn’t so sure. I’d never been on a date in my life, so what made me think I had any business planning one?
The night before had felt like a dream. When Jeremy asked me out on a date, it felt like my heart would burst. There’d certainly never been time fo
r any of that when I was growing up and then after I’d left home, I never stayed in one place long enough to take the time to get to know anyone.
All of my experiences with men up to that point had been a frantic grabbing of clothes, and clumsy thrusting of hips as we both raced towards the finish. There’d never been any soft caresses or longing looks, no gentle smiles or sweet words whispered like I’d experienced with Jeremy. He’d held my face in his hands, as if he were savoring the moment, as if I was something very special to him. But in the harsh light of day, I was panicking.
I’d come home and managed to get a few hours of sleep, but then I woke up, sweating profusely from a bad dream. A nightmare in which I took Jeremy out to a fancy restaurant, but when we walked inside, everyone started laughing and pointing. I’d forgotten to put on any clothes and I was standing in the crowded room, completely naked. I turned to Jeremy, but he just shook his head and walked away, too embarrassed to be seen with me.
Unable to sleep any longer, I’d gotten up, showered and then paced the floor as I tried to come up with an idea for the date I’d stupidly put myself in charge of. After an hour of getting nowhere, I decided to go for a walk, hoping the fresh air would help me clear my mind and come up with something.
It was almost noon when I strolled from my cabin and it was already very warm out. Several campers had been brought in while I’d slept, and their owners were out enjoying the sunshine and the occasional tug on their fishing lines. I knew from previous years that they would continue to trickle in over the afternoon and evening and by the next day, the place would be packed.
I walked over to Edith’s place first and pulled the bag of oats out of my pocket. I clicked my tongue and within minutes, three deer had hobbled over to me. I poured some of the oats into my hand and held my palm out to them. They knew my scent well from visiting them often and they trusted me. They fed from my hand and even allowed me to stroke the tops of their heads.
I smiled at them, cooing softly as they ate. When they were finished, they scampered away, leaping around each other in a playful game of tag. I leaned my back against the fence line and sighed as I stared up at the sunlight filtering through the trees.
I was being ridiculous. Jeremy was a great guy and the best friend I’d ever had. Whatever was building between the two of us, was big. I could feel it. And whatever I did or did not plan for our date wouldn’t change that. If Jeremy was feeling even half of what I was feeling, then he’d be happy just to be together. Still, I wanted our first date to be special.
Jeremy had shared so much of himself with me and he’d been extremely patient even though I’d shared very little. I trusted him more than anyone else, even more than Edith. But trust wasn’t really the issue anymore. The issue was whether or not I could handle telling him the things I hadn’t spoken to anyone else about in over seven years.
It had taken me so long to bring myself to think about my past. On the rare occasion I allowed those memories to trickle through, I focused on the one good thing that I’d had in my life. Everything else was too painful. That’s why I’d surprised myself so much when I’d told Jeremy about my mother committing suicide. I’d refused to think about that time, pushing it to the deep recesses of my mind, but then suddenly there I was, pouring my dark truth out to him.
There was something about Jeremy that made me feel safe and secure. Even before he’d told me about being in the Air Force, I’d known instinctively that he was a man that I could trust; a man that would never let any harm come to me. I tried to resist it at first, not trusting my own instincts after being hurt so badly in the past. But Jeremy broke through my walls with that easy grin and carefree laugh. And now, I was considering telling him everything and getting ready to go out on my very first date.
Ugh! The date! I pulled away from the fence with a frustrated groan and began walking down Edith’s drive towards the lake. I stopped when I reached the edge of the lake and put my hands on my hips, staring out at the sun sparkling across the water.
A family was camping nearby, and I watched as the father pulled his young son onto his lap and handed him the fishing pole. It was much too big and heavy for the boy, but the father wrapped his hands around his son’s, whispering words of encouragement as he helped him hold the rod steady. The mother came out of the camper with a tray of food and she joined her husband and son by the lake. The husband turned to her with a smile and the wife leaned over, giving him a quick kiss. It was a beautiful and touching scene and I smiled as I headed back to my cabin, a plan suddenly formulating in my mind.
A few hours later I stood on Jeremy’s front porch and took a deep breath. I felt like an idiot standing there with a bouquet of flowers and shaking like a leaf, but my search for date etiquette on the internet had informed me that dates were supposed to show up at the door with flowers, so that’s what I did. I wanted everything to go well and I just hoped the internet was right and that Jeremy wouldn’t think I was a fool.
He opened the door and smiled at me and, suddenly, flowers were the last thing on my mind as I struggled to catch my breath. His hair was still damp from his shower, making the strands curl slightly on the ends and he smelled like sandalwood and pine. He was dressed in cargo shorts and a green T-shirt that matched the color of his eyes perfectly, and when he smiled, the dimple in his cheek appeared, causing my breath to catch in my throat.
“You look incredible,” he said as his eyes scanned over me. I smiled back at him and then without a word, thrust the flowers in his face. He jerked his head back in surprise and I pulled my arm back, mortified at my lack of finesse.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to…these are for you,” I ended with a sigh. I hadn’t even made it off the front porch and already I was screwing things up. If Jeremy noticed how nervous I was, he was at least nice enough to not point it out.
“Thank you. These are beautiful. Come on in while I get a glass of water to put them in,” he said.
I followed him inside, trying to calm my nerves and slow my breathing. I glanced around the room as Jeremy grabbed a glass out of the cabinet and began filling it with water from the tap. Each time I’d had lunch at his place, I’d marveled at how neat and clean he kept everything, but now I attributed it to the many years he’d spent in the military. I liked knowing things like that about him, but I realized there was so much more to learn, and I couldn’t wait to get started.
“So, what are our plans tonight? You sounded awfully mysterious when you called earlier. All I know is that I was to dress casually,” Jeremy said over his shoulder as he carefully arranged the flowers inside the glass. When he was finished, he placed them on the center of the kitchen table.
“It’s a surprise,” I told him. “You’ll find out soon enough.”
“Hmmm. I don’t usually like surprises, but I think for you, I’ll make an exception,” he teased. I smiled, more pleased by his simple words than I probably ought to be. I couldn’t help it though. Jeremy always had a way of making me feel important. It was a new feeling for me and one that I cherished.
“Thank you. Are you ready?” I asked.
“Yes. Did you want me to drive? If so, I just need to grab my keys,” he offered.
“No, it’s not necessary,” I told him. One brow arched over his eye as he studied me, but I simply grinned back at him.
“Okay. I’ll just follow your lead then,” he said, sweeping his arm out in front of him in a lead-the-way type of gesture.
He walked along behind me and laid his hand on the small of my back as he reached around me and opened the door, holding it open for me. His hand felt hot through the thin layer of my shirt and I shivered in response.
“Thank you for planning this night. I know I’ll love whatever you’ve put together,” Jeremy said quietly. I didn’t trust my voice enough to respond so I just nodded instead. I hoped he still felt that way once he saw what I’d come up with for our date.
I saw him looking around for my truck, but he didn’t say a word as he
followed me down his front steps and across the yard. The sun was beginning to set as we walked along the gravel lane that circled the lake and I smiled when Jeremy reached for my hand and threaded our fingers together. It was a gorgeous night and we took our time, talking as we walked.
“Over here,” I told him as I pulled him away from the lane and through the grass to a more secluded section of the lake. My nerves had begun to settle as we’d talked, but they came back in full force as the time came to reveal my plan. What if he thinks it’s a stupid idea? What if he hates it and wants to go home? I drew in a deep breath as we reached our destination.
Jeremy was silent as he stared at the blanket I’d spread out on the grass along with a picnic basket and a couple of fishing poles. Then he turned to me. “We’re having a picnic?” he asked gently.
“Yeah, and then I’m going to teach you how to fish,” I told him. “If you want to. We don’t have to. We could jump in my truck and head out to a restaurant if you’d rather,” I said in a rush. I started to turn away, already convinced that the whole thing had been a bad idea, but Jeremy pulled me back and into his arms.
“I think this is the most thoughtful, most romantic date I’ve ever been on,” he whispered in my ear.
“Really?” I asked, looking up to meet his eyes. I could see the honesty in his expression, along with happiness and I suddenly felt like I was on top of the world. I was proud to be the one that put that look on his face and I wanted to do it over and over again.
“Really,” he assured me. He bent down, and I rose up at the same time until our lips met. It was a gentle kiss, not much more than a brushing of our lips, but it was enough to set my skin on fire.
We settled onto the blanket and I grabbed the picnic basket and began pulling food out of it. “This looks delicious,” Jeremy exclaimed as I passed him containers of pasta salad, fruit salad, cheese, and fried chicken. Finally, I pulled out the slices of chocolate cake that I had bought earlier that day at the bakery and laid them out in front of us.
Found_Hamilton's Heroes series Page 8
