Page 152 of Major Love

He squeezes my hand tighter and murmurs, “Yeah, it’s alright, but I’ve got the prettiest thing right here.”

My heart beats faster as I fight back my smile, leaning against the seat and watching the settled snow cascade down.

And in less than an hour Jason’s pulling up in front of the workshop, jumping down from the truck to open the garage door, and then driving inside so that it doesn’t get covered in frost or ice.

He helps me down from the cab and threads his fingers through mine, opening up the back door once we reach it and letting me in first. Then he stomps the snow from his boots before kicking them off and heading to the kitchen.

Ten seconds later I’m on the couch, opening up my laptop as my heart starts to hammer.

Because the reason why Jason made sure he got me back here in good time, a little before his shift usually would have ended?

Casey got the all-clear from the officials to call home.

I wiggle out of Jason’s construction coat and undo my ponytail, fluffing up my hair to relieve the tension that’s currently pounding through my head.

And then Jason is beside me, wrapping one arm around my shoulders while he hands me a mug of cocoa with the other.

He presses a stubbled kiss to my cheek and murmurs, “I’ll go upstairs and give you both some privacy.”

But I shake my head, looking up at him with imploring eyes.

“I need you,” I whisper, and I watch his irises instantly flare, his jaw tensing as he pulls me closer and brushes another kiss over my lips.

“Yeah,” he murmurs back to me. “Okay, yeah. I can stay.”

And then the familiar sound of my brother’s incoming call signals from my MacBook, my heart thundering in my chest as my eyes fly to the screen, because I’m suddenly so nervous to finally get to talk to him again.

Please let him be okay, please let him be okay, I think to myself as I lean forward, keeping one hand tight around Jason’s as the other taps the accept-call button.

And after a moment of the laptop stuttering as it secures the connection, my heart explodes with gratitude as Casey comes into view.

There’s a rare ruddiness to his cheeks as he looks me over, but it’s when he swipes his thumb over his eyes that my composure totally breaks.

He’s got white bandages around the top of his biceps, exposed beneath the short sleeves of his hospital gown, and I shake my head as I lean closer, trying to will back my tears as they cascade down my cheeks.

“Hey, soldier,” I rasp softly, laughing breathlessly as I swipe at my cheeks, and he chokes out a rough chuckle of his own, pressing his palms to his eyes before looking down at me.

“Hey, little scoop,” he murmurs gently, and hearing that nickname almost makes me lose it.

“I can’t tell you how freaking happy I am to see you right now,” I whisper back to him, half-laughing and half-sobbing as he shifts his laptop around so that I can see his bandages.

“There’s a lot, huh?” he rumbles matter-of-factly, before settling the laptop back over his middle as he leans on the propped back of the hospital bed.

I don’t even know what country he’s in right now but I’m so freaking thankful that he seems to be getting the care that he needs.

“What happened?” I breathe out. “Can you say what happened, or is it confidential?”

He rubs his hand over his hair, giving me a subtle headshake, because maybe there are other military people in the room with him, and the incident must be too fresh for him to be able to talk about with civilians.

And then he glances at Jason sitting beside me, whose warm palm is settled protectively over my shoulder, and somethinglike amusement glints in Casey’s eyes as he jerks his chin at him, scrubbing at his beard.

“’Sup, man,” he laughs gruffly.

Jason smirks back at him. “You’re looking good, brother.”

Casey watches him for a moment and then, for the first time in maybe a year, he actuallygrins, a quiet chuckle in his chest as he looks away from us, swiping at his hidden dimples.

“Yeah, yeah,” Casey rumbles, but, in truth, Jason’s right – because given what Casey has just been through he looks freaking amazing.

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