Chapter 13
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Blink was having a hard time remembering that he and Josie hadn’t known each other all that long. She fit into his life like she’d always been there. He was completely comfortable around her, which wasn’t something he could say about many people. She was easy to live with, easy to please, and he found himself wanting to be around her every second of every day.
The other night, when she’d fallen asleep against him on the couch just the way she had earlier that same morning, he couldn’t stop thinking about ending every day that way for the rest of his life.
The next day had been another lazy one for them both, though he’d done laundry and reorganized and repacked his go-bag. Then they’d worked together to make a feast for dinner.
He had to stay a little busy, otherwise he couldn’t stop looking at Josie. With her hair now sleek and shiny, she looked completely different from the woman he’d first seen in that cell, feral and terrified, huddling in the corner. She was blossoming, and he was becoming very attached to her already.
He could read her emotions without her needing to say a word. Like the relief she’d felt after emailing her landlord in Vegas and finding out that, while he’d rented her apartment to someone else, he hadn’t thrown out her belongings. Since she’d always been a good tenant, and he liked her, he’d packed up her belongings and placed them in an empty apartment he used for storage.
She hadn’t been nearly as happy after receiving an email back from Ayden’s mother. Apparently, Millie Hitson wasn’t thrilled to hear that Josie was safe and sound in California. Josie hadn’t let Blink read the email, but he knew without her having to share anything that whatever the woman had to say, it cut deep. He was determined to read it eventually, so he could counter whatever the woman said.
An idea had also been brewing in his head for a couple days, and whatever Ayden’s mother had said put Josie in such a funk, he’d started the wheels in motion while working out with his team that morning. His friends thought it was a great idea and had volunteered to do whatever was necessary to help make it happen.
But for now, he was rushing to get home. That afternoon, Kevlar had dropped Remi at Blink’s apartment during his lunch break, to keep Josie company while they were at work. He’d worried about how Josie was doing alone. Of course, now he was worried about how she and Remi were getting along.
Blink had a soft spot in his heart for Remi. The two of them had been through a horrible experience together, and it had bonded them in an unbreakable way. But as outgoing as she’d become, she could still be a little introverted around people she didn’t know well. And Josie was hardly a chatterbox. So without Remi having a way home, Blink worried that things could have gotten awkward for the women, since he and Kevlar had been held up at work longer than he’d expected.
Kevlar pulled in behind him when he reached the parking lot of his complex, and they both walked quickly to his door.
The scent that hit him when he stepped inside the apartment made Blink’s mouth water. Italian. He had no idea what the women had made, but it smelled absolutely delicious.
Walking inside with Kevlar on his heels, Blink saw Josie and Remi sitting on opposite sides of his kitchen table. Josie had his laptop open, and she was typing furiously with a pair of headphones over her ears, while Remi had a sketchbook in front of her, with her own set of headphones on.
It looked as if the women were in their own worlds, which concerned him.
Josie saw them first. Her fingers paused on the keyboard, and she smiled as she reached up to take off her headphones.
Kevlar went up behind Remi and touched her shoulders, leaning in to kiss her temple. She jumped a little but immediately smiled up at him.
“You’re back!” she exclaimed a little too loudly, since she was still wearing the headphones.
Kevlar chuckled and removed them. “We’re back,” he agreed.
“Josie and I had the best day!” Remi exclaimed. “We talked— okay, I talked mostly, she listened—while reorganizing the pantry, watched a couple episodes of Big Brother , made Crock-Pot lasagna for you guys for dinner, then decided we probably needed to get some work done. Josie heard back from her boss, and he was excited to have her return to work and gave her a new caption job on the spot. So she’s been working on that, and I’ve been drawing my next Pecky cartoon. Pecky gets taco-napped and is about to be eaten when he’s saved by the big bad Enchilanator…you know, like the terminator.” Remi grinned up at the two men.
Blink’s tense muscles relaxed. “Sounds like you had a good day,” he said.
“We had a great day! Didn’t we, Josie?”
She smiled, nodding enthusiastically.
“Can we do it again?” Remi asked her. “I mean, I know you probably have a lot to do, what with getting your stuff in Vegas, and your job and all, but being around you is so calming . I got so many ideas today, and while I don’t mind being by myself all day, I think I enjoy being around you more. Oh! And maybe next time, Wren can come too? She can work on her PR stuff for her dad’s company, and we can do our thing. Maybe we can even go to her and Safe’s house. I think it’s a little bigger, and Safe has that huge TV?—”
“Breathe, Remi,” Kevlar scolded.
“Sorry,” she said with a little blush. “I just…today has been fun.”
Seeing the usually somewhat shy Remi be so effusive was a little surprising, but Blink wasn’t all that shocked she’d come out of her shell around Josie. There was something about his Spirit that brought out a different side of people. Maybe because she didn’t talk much, but looked at you as if you were the most important thing in her world at that moment.
“I didn’t know you were feeling cooped up,” Kevlar said with a little frown.
“Oh! I’m not! Not at all. I love being in our apartment. It’s just…sometimes it’s nice to have some female company.”
“I agree,” Josie said quietly.
“See! She agrees,” Remi said. Then she skirted the table to where Josie had stood next to her chair and hugged her. “I just want to put you in my pocket and take you home,” Remi said with a huge smile.
Josie rolled her eyes, but it was obvious she wasn’t offended by her new friend’s comment.
“And here I was afraid you two might not get along,” Blink said.
“What? Why wouldn’t we? Josie’s awesome. And so smart. You should see how fast she can type. I swear it’s inhuman.”
“I’ve seen,” Blink told her.
“Right, of course you have. It’s impressive. I have an idea to make Pecky take a typing class where he’s hunting and pecking for each letter, but his teacher is this amazing, tiny little burrito, and when they get shoved into an oven by the big baddie, the burrito saves the day by being able to tell the firefighters where they are by texting with her fast little fingers.”
“You seem a little obsessed with putting Pecky in situations where he’s kidnapped or in danger,” Kevlar said with a little frown.
But Remi shrugged off his concern. “It’s a phase. Considering what my friends and I have been through, I want to show Pecky going through tough situations but being able to bounce back with the help of the brave characters who save him, and also with the help and support of his friends. It’s a kind of therapy for me. Whatever.”
“As long as you’re okay,” Kevlar said, pulling Remi against him and kissing her temple once more.
“I’m okay,” she promised. “Do you think we can stop for tacos on the way home? For some reason, I’m in the mood.”
“You aren’t staying for dinner?” Blink asked in surprise. He was standing in the entrance to the living area, giving Josie some room. What he really wanted to do was go over to where she was standing and give her a huge hug, but he was trying not to overwhelm her or pressure her too much. It sucked, frankly.
“Nope. We made the lasagna for you two. Josie told me how much you and your twin liked your dad’s lasagna, so we wanted to attempt to make something like it,” Remi said.
“See you tomorrow,” Kevlar said as Remi packed up her drawing supplies. “I’ll let you know what Benny and Jessyka say after I talk to them tonight.”
Blink nodded.
“What they say about what?” Remi asked after she’d gathered her things.
“I’ll tell you on the way home,” Kevlar said.
“Thanks again for the great day,” Remi told Josie. “I’ll text you with details on our next get-together. With Wren this time. Okay?”
Josie nodded with a smile.
The door shut, and then it was just Blink and Josie .
“Whew. Remi isn’t usually such a…hurricane,” he said with a smile.
Josie chuckled.
He couldn’t stay away from her any longer. Drawn to her as if she were a magnet, Blink crossed the room to her side. Without thought, he leaned in and kissed her lips. It was a short, welcoming kind of kiss, but electricity still shot straight to his cock at the feel of her lips against his. Thankfully, his camouflage uniform pants somewhat hid his reaction.
“Hi,” he said after straightening. “It smells absolutely wonderful in here. You didn’t have to make dinner. I would’ve figured something out when I got home.”
Josie rolled her eyes. “You worked all day. It was the least I could do.”
“You apparently worked too. You got your captioning job back? That’s awesome.”
She sighed. “It’s a relief.”
“I bet.” Remi also said something about Josie going to get her things in Vegas, but Blink wasn’t sure he wanted to bring that up. Because he didn’t want her to tell him she was going to find a new apartment and move back to Nevada.
“And I have to go get my stuff. My ex-landlord says he needs the space.”
Blink nodded. It was uncanny how they were always on the same wavelength. “No problem. The weekend is coming up. We can drive up there and figure out what to do with it all.”
Josie bit her lip and dropped her gaze from his, looking anywhere but at him. He hated that whatever she was thinking was making her uncomfortable. He put a finger under her chin and lifted her gaze to his. “What? What’s wrong?”
She shrugged. Then huffed out a breath and pulled his laptop closer. Blink let her go, and she sat down and started typing something fast and furious. When she was done, she turned the computer toward him.
He said most of my stuff is boxed but he didn’t have a place to store my furniture. So he left it in my apartment for the guy who moved in. He said he’d pay me for it, which is fine. But I need to figure out what to do with the boxes of my things. I could rent another apartment there, but I don’t know that I want to live in Vegas anymore. Never really liked it, and since Millie and Gen are there, and aren’t very happy with me, I’m not sure I should stay in Nevada anyway. I like it here, but don’t want you to feel obligated in any way. I’m sure I can find an apartment here in Riverton. Now that I have my job back and will get some money from my landlord for my furniture, I could probably afford the security deposit and first month’s rent.
Blink understood why she’d wanted to write out those thoughts. While Josie was talking again, it was in short bursts. “No,” he said with a shake of his head. “You don’t need an apartment, you can stay here.”
Josie stared at him with a worried frown on her face. “I can’t stay here forever.”
The first thing that sprang to Blink’s mind was, “Why not?” But instead, he said, “Maybe, maybe not, but you don’t need to worry about finding a place to live right away. Give yourself some slack, you just got back from something traumatic. Let me help you, Josie. We’ll go to Vegas and pick up your things, and if we need to, we can find a storage place here. But I’m sure Safe has space in his garage or something. How much are we talking about?”
Josie shrugged. “Depends on how he packed everything. Maybe twenty boxes or so?”
“Right. So I’ll rent a little trailer, just in case. We can go through the boxes, and you can take out what you want and need in the short term and bring it to the apartment. We can play renting a storage unit or talking with Safe by ear. Now…what’s this about Millie and Gen? They’re still giving you a hard time? More than that email you got from Millie?”
Josie looked away once more, telling Blink all he needed to know.
“Did you get another email?” he pressed.
She nodded.
“Let me see it.”
This time, Josie shook her head.
“Why not?”
“Because. They’re upset. Millie lost her son. She didn’t mean what she said.”
“What did she say?” Blink asked.
Josie simply stared at him.
Blink sighed. “Please, Josie. I know you feel awful about what happened, but it wasn’t your fault. Bad decisions were made, on your part and on his. It’s part of being human. If you’re being harassed, that’s wrong . You were a prisoner. The fact that either of them feel it’s okay to harass you about Ayden’s death is totally fucked up. Do we need to take out a restraining order?”
Josie shook her head urgently .
“Please let me read the email,” he said, putting his hand on Josie’s thigh. She felt fragile under his touch, but he knew better. This woman was made of steel. Anyone else would be a shell of a human after what she’d been through. And she not only seemed to be coping well, now that she was safe, she was blossoming.
With a sigh, she clicked a few things on the computer, then turned it back to him.
It didn’t take long to read the email. It was short and to the point…and absolutely vile.
You killed my son. I knew from the moment I met you that you were the devil. And you led my Ayden to his death! If it wasn’t for you, he’d still be here. He didn’t even want you to go to Kuwait, only asked out of pity. He was dating that woman in his platoon. She was his soul mate, and you wouldn’t get your claws out of him. I hope you suffered, but even if you did, it wasn’t nearly enough. It should’ve been you, bitch. It should’ve been you!
The email wasn’t signed, but the address had Millie’s first and last name in it, so it wasn’t hard to figure out who it was from.
The words on the screen were hateful and nasty, and it made Blink’s heart hurt to read them. How could one human being wish such awful things on another? Without thought, he closed the laptop and pulled Josie onto his lap. She didn’t struggle, just turned into him. Her legs hung off one side of his lap and he tightened his arms around her.
“She’s wrong,” he murmured into her hair. Today, she smelled like lilacs. He wasn’t sure if it was lotion or shampoo or perfume. All he knew was that he wanted to rub himself against her so he could smell her on his skin long after she was off his lap. “You didn’t kill Ayden. And if he was seeing someone else, he should’ve had the balls to tell you, to break off your relationship. He sounds like an ass,” Blink couldn’t stop himself from saying. He didn’t like talking shit about someone who wasn’t there to defend himself, who shouldn’t have died the way he did, but the more he learned about her ex, the more disgusted he became.
“ He made the stupid decision to rent that boat. To show off by taking you out too far. Yes, you went to Kuwait when you probably shouldn’t have, but that mistake doesn’t condone what happened to you.”
They sat like that, cuddled together on one of his dining room chairs for several minutes. Josie wasn’t crying, which Blink was grateful for, but she was obviously still feeling a lot of emotions.
Eventually, she lifted her head to meet his gaze. “I emailed her because I thought she would want to know what happened. I didn’t know what the Army had told her. I knew she wasn’t my biggest fan, but I didn’t realize she hated me so much.”
“Some people are just like that, Spirit. They hold more hate in their hearts than kindness.”
“I wanted to fix things after her first email. Told her I was in California, that I wanted to talk to her in person. Explain further. I told her I’d be coming to Vegas to get my things. That’s when she sent this last email.”
“Well, you won’t be seeing her, that’s for sure,” Blink said, the very thought making his head want to explode. “I won’t let her talk to you like that. We can block her email so you don’t have to read her shit anymore. If the need arises, we’ll take out a restraining order so she can’t get within three hundred feet of you.”
Josie nodded.
Knowing he needed to change the subject, for her peace of mind and his, Blink said, “So, you and Remi had a good day, huh?”
She smiled and nodded again.
“You aren’t just saying that because you know we’re close, are you?”
“No. She’s fun. And Pecky is awesome.”
“Pecky the Traveling Taco is awesome,” Blink agreed. “And I’m guessing so is that lasagna that’s making my stomach growl. I can make us a salad to go with it.”
“Done.”
“Bread?” he asked.
“Done,” Josie repeated with a small smile. “Well, it’s ready to go in the oven.”
“Great. Then if you’ll let me up, I’ll get on that, because if I don’t get that Italian goodness in my belly in the next ten minutes, I won’t be responsible for my actions.”
Josie giggled. “You were the one who hauled me onto your lap.”
“You object?”
Instead of the teasing response he expected, Josie offered her shy smile. “I like when you put me where you want me.”
And just like that, Blink had a vision of picking her up and pressing her down onto his rock-hard cock, holding her above him as he fucked her hard and fast. His dick liked that thought, and it hardened under her ass.
He was about to apologize, when he felt Josie shift, as if wanting to feel more of him.
“Fuck,” he muttered, earning him a small giggle from the woman in his lap.
“Dinner,” he said under his breath, as he picked up Josie and placed her on her feet next to his chair. He stood, not able to stop himself from reaching down to adjust his erection to a more comfortable position before heading into the kitchen. He found the loaf of bread on the counter, already cut and loaded up with butter and garlic. He turned on the oven, practically threw the bread in, and turned without a word toward his room.
“Gonna get a quick shower. I’ll be right back,” he told Josie.
He thought he heard another giggle behind him, but he was too focused on getting to his room. His clothes were on the floor of the bathroom in seconds, and then Blink was under the hot spray of his shower, cock in hand, furiously pumping as visions of Josie riding him hard and fast flew through his mind.
It didn’t take long for him to orgasm. Ropes of come dripped down his shower wall as Blink sagged against the tile. His cock was still half hard, even though he’d just come harder than he could remember doing so in a long time. This didn’t bode well for being able to control himself around his houseguest. He wanted Josie. With every fiber of his being. She was his, he knew it as well as he knew his name.
But the last thing he wanted to do was scare the crap out of her with his need. He had to stay cool. So he quickly soaped himself up, rinsed off, and got out of the shower. He shoved his dick into a clean pair of boxers and put on a pair of jeans and a shirt.
When he got back into the living area, he saw that Josie had served them both up some lasagna, put the salad in bowls, and the bread was in the middle of the table. She gave him a smile as she stood next to a chair.
“This looks amazing. I can’t wait to tell Dad that he’s got competition for his cooking now. He’ll be thrilled. He’s been telling me to find someone who can cook as well as he can for years now. Sit.”
They both sat, and from the first forkful, Blink was more sure than ever that Josie was the woman for him. She really did cook better than his dad. She also turned him on more than any other woman had, and she soothed him in a way he thought he’d never experience. After all he’d seen and done, that was a big deal. In the past, he constantly thought about what he should’ve done differently on missions, how he might prevent any of his teammates from getting hurt in the future. But with Josie, he’d found he wasn’t stuck in his head. He could just…be. And he hoped it was the same for her, as well.
They ate without speaking, but it wasn’t an uncomfortable silence. Working together as they had each night, they cleaned up after their meal and settled on the couch.
Holding Josie against him always felt like coming home.
“Tonight…after I fall asleep…can I…” Her voice trailed off.
“What, Spirit? Can you what?” Blink would let her do anything she wanted. Anything.
“Can I sleep with you?” she asked. “You always carry me to the guest room, and it’s nice in there, but,” she looked up at him, “I want to be with you.”
Blink’s heart stopped beating for a moment. He swallowed hard, wanting nothing more than to pick her up right that second and carry her to his bed.
“Sorry. That’s weird, right? I just?—”
“No! It’s not weird.” He’d paused too long and she felt uncomfortable. That was unacceptable. “I want you there. Always. I just don’t want to do anything that would make you think I was taking advantage of your situation.”
“You aren’t. I…I like you, Nate. A lot.”
There she went again, making his heart skip a beat. “Good. Because I like you too.”
“Will you kiss me again?”
“With pleasure.”
It took every ounce of strength Blink had not to strip off all of Josie’s clothes and take her right there on the couch. But he was enjoying their not-so-innocent making out too much to do anything that might change her mind about liking him. He loved having her hands on him. Loved the feel of her body against his own. Loved even more seeing how much their kisses affected her. The fast beating of her heart, her quick breaths, the way her eyes got glassy and her nipples pebbled under her shirt.
When they finally settled in to watch a movie, Josie quickly fell asleep in his arms, as usual. Blink lived for this moment. For holding her. Watching her sleep. Knowing that she trusted him enough to completely let down her guard.
Later that night, when he got up to go to bed, instead of taking her to the guest room as usual, he felt deep satisfaction well inside him as he opened his bedroom door and gently placed her on his mattress. She’d slept there before, when he’d woken up and found her on his floor that first night. But tonight felt like a new beginning. She wasn’t coming to him because she was uncomfortable and needed the reassurance of knowing he was close. She was there because she wanted to be with him. And because he wanted her there, as well.
Blink stripped down to his boxers and climbed under the covers. It felt as natural as if they’d done it every night for the last ten years or more for her to snuggle up against him and use his shoulder as a pillow. Her gorgeous blonde hair draped over his chest, and he inhaled deeply, loving how feminine she smelled.
But he wouldn’t have cared if she was still covered in dirt and muck from that damn cell. Just having her in his arms was perfection.