Page 26 of Complicated Past
“If not, I don’t know what I’ll do.”
She’d known this was personal, with Bri being his sister. Now that she knew their history, she understood why he couldn’t stay out of it and leave it to the police. She sighed. “The other thing keeping me from sleeping is that I need to apologize. I did stereotype, and I prejudged you because you’re in the military. That wasn’t fair, and you’ve opened my eyes to see that.”
“Okay.” His mouth quirked up in a grin that heated her up in all the right places.
“When I’m wrong, I admit it so we can put it in the past and start with a clean slate.” She paused and summoned her courage. “I know the timing stinks with this situation, and you have to go back to wherever you’re deployed when it’s resolved, but when you get home, I’d like to take you out for dinner. Kind of my way of apologizing,” she fumbled for words.
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” he said, shaking his head.
Her lungs seized. What did she expect after rejecting him? She’d taken a risk.
“I wouldn’t want your family to disown you.”
She couldn’t tell if he was teasing or serious, but her lungs started to work again. “Maybe it’s time for Grandma Ruby to be enlightened too.”
He studied her silently for a few seconds. “Counteroffer. I ask you out. You accept this time. I take you to dinner, and if that goes well,thenyou can invite me to dinner.”
“Technically, you’ve already taken me to dinner.”
“You mean today? No. Ipaidfor dinner, but it wasn’ta date. So, we start over?” He held out his hand.
“Agreed.” She shook his hand.
He clasped hers tighter and leaned against the back of the couch, staring intently at her. “Is it okay if we just stay here like this for a minute or two?”
“Sure.” She repositioned to get comfortable, letting her shoulder and upper arm touch his. It felt surprisingly comfortable. “I guess you don’t get a lot of contact and handholding when you’re deployed.”
He gave an amused chuckle. “Hardly.” He squeezed her hand lightly and rested them atop his thigh. “I need this.”
Sitting here together, simply holding hands, restored a sense of balance and control missing from her life these past few years. She needed this, too—a man with whom she could share what she’d been through without judgment.
It’d taken weeks of dating before she’d had the courage to tell Marcus. He’d taken it well, though he hadn’t reacted like she’d hoped. Not like Linc had. Not only did Linc’s reaction surprise her, it made him even more attractive. And not just physically so.
She’d been able to get intimate with Marcus, though physical desire and passion hadn’t been there. But she wanted thatagain. And Linc sent her body temperature to the you-should-be-hospitalized heat level. However, she should still take things slow.
After several minutes of sitting silently with his eyes closed, she suspected that he had dozed off. “Do you think you’ll be able to sleep now?”
“There’s a better chance than before you came in here.” He roused himself upright and closed his laptop while holding onto her hand. “I do need to sleep if I’m going to be any good tomorrow. Thanks again. For everything.” He lifted their joined hands and pressed a kiss to the top of hers.
The way he looked at her had her leaning in toward him. Except she lost her nerve and pressed a kiss to his shoulder. His fingers squeezed hers before letting go.
“Good night.” His husky voice would be whispering to her in her dreams.
THIRTEEN
Linc bolted upright, looking for the source of the noise that woke him. The screen lit up as his phone vibrated on the coffee table. Still clinging to the hope that Bri would find a way to get free, his surge of adrenaline waned when he saw the call was from Walt.
“Sorry if I’m waking you,” Walt said. “But the kids are up and want Jalen to go to church with us. I wasn’t sure when you needed to get him.”
“I hadn’t thought that far, but if he wants to go with you, that’d be a help.” Linc ran a hand over the back of his head, trying to shake off the remnants of a sound sleep. “I appreciate it.”
“We’ll trade. You can keep my three while I take Tammy on a weeklong cruise.”
“Right. That sounds like a fair tradeoff.” Hardly. Though, if Bri came home safely, he’d do it—with her help. They were down to two days before she was supposed to fly home. Two days to find her, or . . . Or what? Possibilities he didn’t want to think about flashed across his mind. In his work, he’d seen the horrible things people did to others—not just in war.
There was no going back to sleep now, so Linc went to the kitchen. He started the coffee and set out what he needed to fix breakfast.
“Good morning. Can I help with anything?” Kendra appeared wearing Dev’s T-shirt and athletic shorts, which showed off her shapely legs.