Page 22 of Inevitable
“I have pool at home,” he shared. “It’s heated so I can swim in all seasons in San Diego. I also have a gym at home, which makes keeping in shape easier. I hike when I can get out. I never really got out of the habit of exercising after being a SEAL for so many years.”
“I’ve always been a little plump,” I shared with Colin. “The only time I was really thin was right after my divorce. I was diagnosed with PCOS after I was married. It’s really hard for me to lose weight.”
“Polycystic ovary syndrome?” he asked. “Why didn’t you mention that when we were together in Virginia Beach?”
It didn’t really surprise me that Colin knew exactly what PCOS was and what that abbreviation stood for.
The guy had a genius IQ and a photographic memory.
If he read something about a subject just once, he remembered it forever.
“It wasn’t really that important,” I responded. “It wasn’t like I was sick from it. It was just a condition I had.”
“Are you okay now?” he asked with concern in his voice.
My heart warmed as he asked that question.
Just like my heart had warmed when he’d pulled out a bag of peppermints for me earlier that he’d brought from home to cheer me up.
We hadn’t seen each other in years, but he obviously still cared about my personal well-being.
It was little things that Colin did that made me not completely buy into his tough guy attitude.
He might act unemotional, but he definitely had a heart. He might not wear it on his sleeve, but it was there.
“I’m fine. I’ve been on birth control for years to control the symptoms, but that definitely doesn’t help me lose weight.”
“You exercise,” he pointed out. “You’re healthy, and you look beautiful, Emma. You don’t need to be thin like you were in Virginia Beach.”
Ha!That was easy for him to say. He was still just as fit as he was when he was fourteen years younger.
I, on the other hand, was plump compared to the time when we were sleeping together in Virginia Beach.
“I don’t think I’ll ever be that thin again. I was such a mess that I barely ate,” I said with a sigh. “I like food too much to give it up. I just try to eat healthy most of the time.”
“Hey, at least you don’t have a limp and a mangled leg,” he said in a self-deprecating tone.
“Don’t say that,” I said, unamused. “You got that injury serving our country.”
I still hated the fact that I hadn’t been there for him when it happened.
It had happened so close to the time that we’d been together in Virginia Beach.
Grump or not, he’d needed someone, and no one had really been there for him except members of his SEAL team.
While we were catching up earlier, Colin had mentioned that he’d been a foster child, so he hadn’t even had family beside him throughout that horrible ordeal.
“Does that make my limp more noble?” he asked soberly.
“Stop that,” I insisted. “I hate it when you talk about that injury like it was nothing. It turned your life upside down and it caused you a lot of pain.”
“It happened years ago, Emma,” he said soothingly. “It just feels new to you because you just found out about it. I’ve learned to live with it and the limitations it puts on my body.”
“You’re right,” I admitted. “I’m sorry. I just hate the pain you must have gone through. Do you want to talk about what happened?”
“It’s all classified,” he said stoically. “But I can say it was a screwed-up mission from the start. Anything that could go wrong did go wrong. I was monitoring the operations from nearby when I got word the place was rigged with IEDs. My guys were running into a trap. Our communications system died, so there was no other way to warn them except for me hauling ass to their location before they all got blown up. I had no choice but to run through the area that was rigged to head them off. Luckily, no one hit one of those landmines except me. I waved my guys back. I thought I was home free myself, but my luck ran out on those last few steps out of that trap. Actually, I was lucky. They told me later that my foot hit just the right way to keep me from losing my life and not just the normal use of my leg. Mostof my body escaped injury except for my leg. That’s not what usually happens when a bomb is pressure sensitive.”
Dear God!The man had actually run through landmines to save his team.
