Page 4 of Embattled Ever After
Oh, bloody hell…
“Hello, Duncan.”
Then, she leaned down to press a kiss to his cheek. Duncan held completely still as she touched him, wondering what the hell she was doing here.
Then he realized the rest of his crew was waiting for some reaction, so he forced a smile and waved her to the seat across from him. With a few slaps on the back, his people began to fade away.
Duncan made himself lean back in the booth and try to look collected. Hard to do with Chad’s crazy-ass ‘Save a Humvee, Ride a Marine’ t-shirt on over his polo and a stunning woman sitting across from him. “I’m sorry you got dragged into this madness. My men seem to think I’m in a rut.”
She smiled, her lips a pretty shade of dark pink. “Well,” she murmured, voice teasing. “Maybe the rut isn’t easy to see to the person that’s in it.”
Duncan tilted his head in ascent. “Perhaps. Can I get you a beer or a drink?”
“I’ll take a beer.”
Since no one had a spare in their hand, Duncan pushed himself up out of the booth and limped to the bar, cane clicking softly on the hardwood floor. Zeke had already told them to help themselves to anything they wanted, so he found the cooler and dug out a couple of longnecks, then carried them back to the table.
Alex smiled when she took hers. “My favorite. Thank you.”
Blinking, he sank down onto the cushion. The brand was his favorite as well. For some reason, he’d thought she’d be too good for a regular beer. It seemed a little low-class for her. But as he watched her lift the bottle to her lips, fingernails gleaming on the low bar light, she totally made it work. “I’m curious why you’re here.”
Pursing her lips, her eyes lifted to his. “Well, I called out originally to check on Mr. Willingham. You haven’t heard anything from him?”
Duncan shook his head, sighing. “For some reason I didn’t think I would. He may show up later.”
Alex looked sad at the news, but resigned. “Your office manager told me that, but I was hoping maybe there was something. Do you come across vets like him a lot?”
Duncan scraped at the beer label with his thumb. “More than I like to admit. We have a lot of veterans out there right now and they don’t always take care of themselves the way they should. We help the ones we can, but we only have so much work to go around. I have more applicants than I can ever hope to place.”
“Wow. I had no idea.” She frowned, fine lines creasing the skin between her arched brows. “I grew up on bases but it’s been a while. I mean, I’ve been away from the day in and day out life since I graduated high school. You see the war on the news but it seems very distant once you’re back in the civilian world with regular, non-military people.”
Duncan grimaced. “Yes. We’ve dealt with that for years. People are slowly becoming more aware, though. There are more veterans’ organizations popping up. And the government is realizing how behind they are.”
Her shadowed eyes seemed sad. “I have to admit I felt…outraged when I realized what had happened to Mr. Willingham. Somebody should have cared about what happened to him, someone should have noticed he was gone.”
Duncan shrugged. “Somebody probably did, but until the veteran feels secure enough to reach out, we can only wait.”
Alex nodded, her eyes turning sharp. “How long have you waited for Aiden to see that?”
His smile turned wry. “A while.”
Silence stretched between them and Duncan shifted uncomfortably. It had been months since he’d been on a date, let alone in a relationship.
He swallowed, suddenly even more uncomfortable at the direction of his thoughts. This woman, as beautiful as she was, was not relationship material, not with him anyway. They were so different on so many different levels.
His heart thudded with awareness, though. And though he tried to play it cool his gaze kept coming back to her. The lighting in the bar made her eyes bigger and darker green than he remembered them. Her pale skin looked incredibly smooth and soft. And she wore some kind of scent that teased his senses.
Duncan took a swig of his beer, desperate to put some distance between them. It had to be because of the situation that he was responding to her so strongly. Two of his guys had just gotten engaged in front of him and he knew they loved their women more than their own lives. He remembered that feeling, it was a heady thing. Maybe what he was feeling was like a contact high, just with love. It was in the air and he was breathing it in.
John and Shannon were gazing at each other like lovesick fools.
“Wow. They really look to be in love,” Alex sighed, propping her chin on her hand and watching them cuddle, that damn dog wiggling between them.
“They are,” Duncan admitted. “They’ve gone through a lot together and I’m happy for them. I think they’ll be a strong couple and excellent parents.”
“Oh, she’s pregnant? That’s so wonderful,” she sighed.
Duncan swallowed. Yup. Another mark on the con side. She wanted kids.