Page 8 of Rex's Honor
“Please. You live on a boat.”
“What does that have to do with anything?” He took his glass and stood, leaning against the counter. “I love this yacht. I love being on the water, and you know that.”
“All right. Then tell me why you left the military. You weren’t in all that long. Seems like you’re jumping from one thing to the next. That doesn’t sound like a happy, content person to me.”
He turned, lifting up his shirt, showing off a few of his scars. “One really bad mission that went sideways was enough for me and my team to decide there were other ways to serve.” He tugged at the fabric. “That group of men you passed on the dock. We were all fire protection specialists in the Air Force together. A buddy of ours offered us a job with the Aegis Network while we were recovering from various injuries. We all looked at each other and decided as a group to leave. We all now work at the same station and for Aegis. We’re a family.” He cocked a brow. “So don’t go telling me shit about my life when you haven’t a clue.”
She sat up a little taller. “That’s fair, but you also don’t know what your family or the rest of us have been through. While you’re out here doing whatever, they have been suffering. Would it be so fucking difficult to get on a plane, go to Maryland, and spend one day with a dying woman? Not everything has to be about you. Or even the past. No one is asking you to cut off your damn arm or to swallow your pride. Just spend a little time with your blood. After that, you can return to your awesome life and forget about the rest of us. Again.”
He slowly sipped his wine. Her words chipped at his anger. He’d held on to it like a badge of honor. How would he ever know if he could get over it if he never returned? “All right, you win. I’ll go home.”
Tilly fluffed the pillow Rex had given her and tried to get comfortable on the sofa. She had no idea why she’d insisted on taking the couch when he’d offered her a nice, plush king-size bed, but she was brutally stubborn.
A trait that got her in trouble.
Often.
The first year he’d been gone, she tracked his whereabouts and booked airline tickets to see him half a dozen times. But every time she got to the airport, her stubbornness prevented her from taking the trip. She cringed, remembering the amount of money she’d spent that year all because she thoughtheshould be the one to come to her since he’d called things off.
She pulled the soft 600-thread-count sheets to her chin. The wind and rain had died down, but the boat rocked gently in the water. She’d had a crush on Rex for as long as she could remember. At school, he barely gave her the time of day, but she had his full attention at the club, except when he was on the golf course. The first time he’d made the cut for the club championship, at the ripe old age of fifteen, she’d offered to be his caddy. The only time she ever golfed had been with him. He’d always told her she should take up the game, but it was only fun if she played with him.
It wasn’t until after he’d won the club championship that year that she told him she liked him as more than a friend.
She smiled, remembering the stunned look on his face after she’d kissed him. He’d blinked a half dozen times and opened and closed his mouth a dozen more until he wrapped his arms around her and bruised her lips with a burning kiss.
Those days were long gone, and they were both very different people.
The light from his room seeped out into the main cabin. “This is ridiculous. That sofa is the most uncomfortable thing in the world. It’s the only thing about this boat that sucks.”
“I’m not going to ask you to give up your bed. Besides, I lived in a third-world country on a foam bed topper for three years. This is like the Ritz, comparatively.”
“You did what?” He stepped into the room wearing nothing but boxers and muscles. Damn. He’d always been a fine specimen of a man, and the thirty-two-year-old version wasn’t any different.
“You didn’t know I was in the Peace Corps after college?”
“No, but I was either in basic training, fire school, or deployed for the first four years after I left. I did hear you worked for the Peace Corps, though. I just figured it was in the office. You were always good at managing things that helped people.” He scratched the back of his head.
“How on earth did you know I worked for the Peace Corps, but not know I was a volunteer and lived in South America for three years.”
“In one of my sister’s random emails where she berates me for not coming home, she mentioned something about your career.”
Wow. He’d really gotten over her.
Quickly.
Of course, she dealt with her grief over their breakup by disconnecting as much as possible.
But it hadn’t helped to erase her love for him.
“South America? I spent some time there in the military. We came in contact with some Peace Corps Volunteers,” he said. “Some of them lived in incredibly remote areas. I’m struggling with Little Miss Designer Everything doing that.”
“Well, believe it. I did it. And I survived.” She smiled.
“Come on.” Standing at the side of the sofa, he held out a hand.
“I’m not kicking you out of your room.”
“It’s a king-size bed. We’ve slept in smaller.”
