Page 11 of A Very Grumpy Marine

“There’s Lilou!” She says, waving excitedly at a pretty blonde over in the corner.

A dark-haired man comes over and joins her as Lymric slides into the booth across from them.

“Hey!” Lilou greets us, eyeing me curiously.

“Hi, I’m Camden,” I introduce myself.

“Lilou, and this is Milo,” her friend says.

I eye Lymric at that and she bites back a smirk.

“Nice to meet you,” I tell them both.

“You too. How do you and Lymric know each other?” Lilou asks, looking between us with interest.

“We met yesterday,” Lymric says at the same time I say, “We’re dating.”

“Oh my god,” Lymric groans.

“Really?” Lilou asks excitedly.

“Yep.”

“No,” Lymric says, glaring at me.

“Yes. It’s recent. She’s still getting used to it.”

Milo is smiling as he looks between the two of us, his fingers playing with Lilou’s hair idly, and I decide that I like him right then and there. It’s obvious that he’s obsessed with his own girl, so I don’t have to worry about him going after mine.

“How long have you lived in Wolf Valley?” Lilou asks me.

“I was actually born here. I moved away when I joined the Marines and I just moved back about two months ago now.”

“That’s nice. You must like this place then. I’ve been trying to convince Lymric to move up here.”

“You should,” I tell my girl and she sighs.

A waitress comes over to take our orders, and I memorize what Lymric gets. I want to know everything about her. I want to know what makes her happy so that I can give it to her.

“What about you guys?” I ask them once we’ve placed our orders.

“We’ve both been here a little over a year,” Milo answers.

“What do you guys do for a living?”

“Firefighter,” Lilou says, pointing at Milo. “And I kind of bounce around. I work part-time at the coffee shop, part-time at the bookstore, and part-time at Wet and Wild.”

“What’s that?”

“The sex shop,” Milo says, and I blink.

“Cool.”

“I like it,” Lilou says with a blush and a smile.

“What are you doing now that you’re out of the Marines?” Milo asks.

“I’m still getting settled here. I started working at Semper Fly. Mostly doing maintenance right now.”

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