Chapter 3 #2
She stood in the small galley kitchen in her apartment, staring into her refrigerator blankly.
She needed to eat something but had no idea what she was in the mood for.
She had no energy to cook anything and, if she was honest with herself, the cool air from the fridge felt better than the thought of food anyway.
The sound of a knock on her door startled Aspen out of her semi-dazed state. She turned to answer it when her phone rang. Not looking at the display, she clicked on the green button at the same time she looked through the peephole in her door.
“Hey, it’s Brain.”
“Hi, Kane,” Aspen told him tiredly, frowning at the man standing at her door wearing some sort of uniform and carrying a brown paper bag. “Can you hold on a sec? There’s a guy at my door who I think is lost.”
“He’s not lost,” Kane told her. “I sent him.”
Confused, Aspen opened the door.
“Aspen Mesmer?” he asked.
“That’s me.”
“Here ya go. Enjoy.” The delivery man held out the bag, and as soon as she took it from him, he turned and headed down the hall.
“What in the world?” she mumbled.
“I got worried when you weren’t answering your phone earlier tonight, so I called a friend on post and he told me your platoon hadn’t returned from your training exercise yet.
I asked him to let me know when you were back, and I ordered dinner for you.
You told me before that since I made you pick where we ate that first night, I had to choose the rest of the time, so… that’s what I did. I hope it’s okay.”
“You got me dinner?” Aspen asked. She already knew the answer, but her brain wasn’t firing on all cylinders at the moment. Her stomach growled when the scent of the food rose from the bag, filling the air and making her realize exactly how ravenous she was.
“Yeah. I don’t know if you’ll like it or not, but I thought that you probably need protein.
After being in the heat all day, you need to replace the nutrients you lost. I ordered from Hawaiian Grill.
I ordered the laulau plate, which is pork wrapped in taro leaves and steamed for several hours until it’s so tender, it just falls apart on your fork.
It’s delicious. But in case you’re not a pork fan, I also got you a hamburger steak; a patty served with their homemade teriyaki sauce.
It’s fantastic. There’s also an order of chicken long rice made Hawaiian style on the side. ”
Aspen had put the bag down on the counter and unpacked it as Kane was explaining what he’d ordered.
The servings were huge, and she knew there was no way she could eat everything.
But she was so grateful for the gesture, and that she didn’t have to cook anything for herself, she was speechless for a moment.
“Aspen? I hope I didn’t overstep. I’ve been where you are.
So tired from training that I couldn’t muster up the energy to cook myself anything.
But that only made the next day more difficult and painful.
From the meetings I had today, I’m guessing that your training isn’t going to get easier anytime soon, so…
I thought I’d do what I could to make your life a little simpler. ”
Aspen felt her eyes tear up, and she closed them. Clutching her phone in her hand with a death grip, she whispered, “Thank you.”
“It’s okay then?” Kane asked. “Not everyone likes Hawaiian food.”
“I have no idea if I do or not, but I can guarantee right now I’m going to eat as much of this delicious-smelling meat as possible then pass out in a heap of exhaustion and food coma,” she told him.
“Good. And I swear I’m not a stalker or anything. I was just worried about you when I couldn’t get ahold of you all day. And that message I left around lunch…sorry about that too.”
She hadn’t even bothered to look at the notifications on her phone. “You left me a message?” Aspen asked.
“Oh…um…yeah. You can just delete it.”
Curious now, wondering why Kane seemed so uncomfortable with the message he’d left, she asked, “What did you say?”
“Nothing. I had a break for lunch and thought maybe I could catch you.”
“You know that as soon as we hang up I’m going to listen to it, right?” she asked. “You can’t tell a woman not to listen to a voice mail and expect her to just delete it,” she teased. “Were you a dick? Did you yell at me because I wasn’t there to answer?”
“No!” Kane exclaimed. “God, I’d never do that! Has someone done that to you before? Fuck them.”
She loved how he immediately got upset on her behalf. “I was kidding, Kane!”
He sighed. “I just realized after I hung up that I sounded ridiculous. Like a fourteen-year-old boy who was desperate for attention from the girl he had a crush on.”
Aspen swallowed hard. “Do you have a crush on me?”
He didn’t even hesitate. “Yes.”
“And you think I’m going to be upset that you called me in the middle of the day and left me a message?”
His answer wasn’t as quick this time. “I don’t know.”
“I’m not,” Aspen told him. “Thank you for calling. I didn’t have even five minutes to myself today.
When we did take a break, I had to go around to my guys and make sure they were staying hydrated and weren’t going to crash on me.
Then I had just enough time to shove a sandwich down my throat before we were off and running again. ”
“You need to remember to take care of yourself too,” Kane told her firmly. “You won’t do any good for your team if you fall on your face. Believe me, I’ve learned that the hard way.”
Aspen loved that he was so concerned about her. She liked the guys she worked with, but not one had even thought to make sure she was taking care of herself.
“And if it was up to me, I’d make sure your team realized that you are one of the most important people at their sides.
Taking care of their medic should be their top priority, because I guarantee if they ever found themselves in the middle of a firefight and got shot, they’d be damn sad if you weren’t around. ”
Aspen chuckled. She knew she was punchy from being tired and hungry, but she couldn’t stop herself. “They’ll be sad?” she asked.
“Sad. Pissed. Dead. Whatever,” Kane said without a trace of humor.
“It’s okay. I’m fine,” she told him quietly. “Thank you for dinner.”
“You’re welcome. Are we still on for the night after next?” he asked.
“As long as Derek and the other platoon sergeants don’t think we need another evening training session,” she told him. “What did you have in mind?”
“It’s been a long week for you. What do you think of staying in? If you come over to my place, I can grill us some steaks and we can hang out and watch a movie or something. I’m a typical guy, and I have a huge-ass TV and a ton of movies. Or we can pick something from Netflix. Whatever you want.”
“Staying in sounds great,” Aspen told him.
“Good. I should be done on post around four, barring any major disasters. I’ll stop by the store on the way home, and then I need to mow my neighbor’s lawn.
I’ve been putting it off and it looks like a jungle, so I need to get on that.
How about if we plan on you coming over around six-thirty?
I know that’s a little late for dinner, but it won’t take long to grill steaks, and I can steam some veggies pretty quickly too. ”
“That sounds perfect,” Aspen said. And it did. “Kane?”
“Yeah, liebling?”
She chuckled and forgot what she was going to say for a second. “What language was that?”
“German.”
“Right. Anyway, thank you for remembering me today.”
“You don’t have to thank me for that,” he told her. “It seems as if I can’t stop myself from thinking about you. It’s a little disconcerting, if you want to know the truth. But I talked to Trigger today, and he said he was the same way with Gillian, which made me feel a little better.”
Aspen sucked in a breath. “You talked about me to your teammate?”
“Yeah. Not about anything too personal. Just this unusual need to know how you’re doing and check on you constantly.
He and Gillian are going to get married soon, and they’re tight.
Really tight. I figured he or Lefty were the best people to get advice from since they’re in serious relationships.
I haven’t felt like this…ever…and needed to know if it was normal. ”
She liked that. “It’s not.”
“Not what, normal?” he asked.
“Yeah. I haven’t felt like this either. I thought about you a lot today too. When I was so tired that I didn’t think I could crawl another inch, I thought about you standing nearby cheering me on. It helped. A lot.”
“Good. But you don’t need me to cheer you on. You’re badass and amazing just as you are, Aspen.”
“Thanks,” she whispered.
“Go eat,” he ordered. “Before it gets too cold. Although, I have to admit that pork is amazing even when it’s no longer hot.”
“I’ll talk to you tomorrow?” Aspen asked.
“Yeah. If I can’t get ahold of you, I’ll leave another dorky message…like the one you’ll hear when you listen to what I left earlier,” he said with a chuckle.
“I’m sure it’s not dorky,” Aspen protested.
“And I’m sure it is. But fuck it, I guess I’m okay with being dorky because there’s no other way I can be. I’m the brain, now and always. Sleep well, liebling.”
“I will. You too.”
“Good night.”
“Night.”
Aspen clicked off the phone and instead of reaching for the food, she immediately clicked on the voice mail message icon she’d missed before.
“Hi. It’s me. Brain…er…Kane. We had a break for lunch and I thought I’d see if I could catch you. I don’t really have a reason for calling…other than to let you know that I was thinking about you. Anyway, I hope your day’s going better than the past few. I’ll call later tonight. Bye.”
She played it twice more, smiling huge as she listened. The message was a bit dorky, but it was obvious it came from Kane’s heart. He’d called just because he was thinking about her. How could she not love that?
Deciding she was never deleting his message, ever, she finally put her phone down and grabbed a fork from her silverware drawer. Not even bothering to get a plate, she picked up the pork dish and took a huge bite, groaning in ecstasy at the Hawaiian spices that exploded across her taste buds.
Making up her mind right then and there that Kane could always decide where and what they were eating, she devoured the rest of her dinner standing at her counter, moaning in delight with every forkful.
Later that night, lying in bed, Aspen played the message Kane left for her once more before putting her phone on her nightstand and turning onto her side.
She never would’ve thought a plea for a kiss to try to ditch Derek would lead to this…
her lying in bed, daydreaming about a fellow soldier.
A man she couldn’t seem to get out of her head.
She wasn’t ready to run off to Vegas and marry him, but Aspen couldn’t deny that she wanted to see where their relationship might go.
They were both in the military, which wasn’t conducive to long-term relationships.
And he was in special forces, which also wasn’t ideal.
But he was genuinely nice, funny, smart, and yes, awkward.
She couldn’t wait to see how their next date would go.