Chapter 6 #2
Two hours later, while Brain and Aspen washed dishes, everyone else sat around his living room.
They were laughing and talking after stuffing themselves with burgers, the best potato salad Brain had ever eaten, as well as the other side dishes everyone had brought over.
Winnie was sitting contently in a rocking chair he’d bought after she’d commented how much she missed the one she used to have on her front porch, which had been destroyed in a wind storm.
Lefty was on the couch with Kinley on his lap, Trigger and Gillian sitting with them.
Lucky was hovering near Devyn while trying to pretend he wasn’t, and the other guys were sitting in chairs they’d brought in from his small kitchen table.
They were talking about all the tropical storms that had been popping up in the Caribbean lately and how destructive they’d been, when Trigger cleared his throat and stood.
“I can’t imagine a better place to do this than surrounded by the best friends we’ve ever had.”
Brain felt Aspen go still next to him then whisper, “Oh my God.”
He put down the pan he’d been scrubbing and quickly dried his hands, turning toward his friends.
Trigger was still talking. He’d turned to look down at Gillian, who was sitting on the couch, staring up at him with wide eyes.
“Gilly, every day I’m with you, I find out something new.
You constantly keep me on my toes, and living a life without you in it would kill me.
I admire your strength, I envy your ability to make friends, and I love waking up to you every morning and going to sleep with you in my arms. I want to spend the rest of my life learning what makes you tick and doing everything in my power to give you the best life possible.
Will you marry me and make me the luckiest man in the world? ”
Brain heard Aspen inhale deeply, and he pulled her back against him. He rested his chin on her shoulder and watched as one of the men he admired most in the world held his breath while he waited for Gillian’s answer.
“You dork,” she said lovingly and held up her left hand. “You already asked me, and I already said yes, remember? I’m already wearing your ring.”
“I know, but we haven’t actually gone through with the ceremony yet—and I’m tired of waiting to make you mine officially.”
Gillian smiled. “I’ll marry you whenever you want, Walker, but I already told you, I’m not planning it.”
“Good. Because I’ve got the paperwork for you to sign, and next week we’ve got an appointment at the Justice of the Peace to get this shit done.”
Gillian blinked in surprise. “You do?”
“Yup. What do you say?”
In response, Gillian leapt up from her spot on the couch and into Trigger’s arms. “Yes!”
Everyone in the room clapped and broke into cheers.
Aspen turned her head and looked at Brain with a smile. “That was sweet.”
“It was. You knew the second he started talking what he was doing, didn’t you?” he asked.
She shrugged. “Well, yeah, it was pretty obvious. He didn’t tell you guys that he was going to propose?”
Brain shook his head. “No. It took me a bit longer to catch on since he’d technically proposed already, but I’m thrilled for them both.”
“Me too. Women dream of this kind of proposal. Having the man they adore publicly declare his love and ask for her hand in marriage.”
“You want that?” he asked.
“What?”
Brain gestured at Trigger and Gillian, still wrapped in each other’s arms.
“Well, yeah.” Aspen shrugged. “If you’re talking about finding someone to love who wants to marry me, yes. Wait,” she said, turning toward him fully. “Do you? I mean, someday, not right this second of course, but eventually?”
“Yes,” Brain answered immediately. “I want someone I can rely on no matter what happens in our lives. I want to face challenges together and raise a family with her. I want someone who will love our kids no matter if they’re super smart, or if they’re handicapped.”
“It’s hard on you that you don’t talk to your parents much, isn’t it?” Aspen asked quietly.
Brain sighed. “Yeah. They wanted me to be the next Nobel Prize winner or something, and when my life took a different turn, it was as if they thought everything I’d done until joining the Army was thrown away.”
Brain felt as if he and Aspen were the only ones in the room, which was a miracle considering the hoopla that was happening behind them.
“I’m sorry,” Aspen said quietly.
“It’s fine. Honestly? It’s their loss.”
“If the occasion ever arises, I’d still like to meet them…if that’s okay.”
“It’s definitely okay. I don’t hate them. I just don’t go out of my way to visit them, but for you, I’d make that effort. My parents and I are just very different people. I think they despaired of me ever finding a girl who wasn’t like me.”
“What do you mean?” Aspen asked with a tilt of her head.
“You know, someone who doesn’t have her nose stuck in a book and wasn’t constantly babbling about the periodic table or math formulas.”
“There’s nothing wrong with being smart,” Aspen protested. “In fact, I bet your folks will be slightly disappointed I’m not a genius like you are.”
“Want to bet, dorogoy?”
“Don’t go spouting your Serbian sweet talk at me, trying to catch me off guard,” she mock frowned at him.
“It was Russian,” he said with a laugh. Then he got serious.
“You keep me grounded in a way no one else has been able to. I’m not constantly wondering what other people are thinking about me when I’m too busy thinking about you.
You accept me the way I am, and that means the world to me,” he told her honestly.
“Because I like you just the way you are,” she told him softly.
“If the time comes, and our relationship gets to that point, I’ll give you a marriage proposal that you’ll never forget,” Brain vowed.
Aspen blushed and shook her head. “I don’t need anything over the top, Kane. A simple ‘will you marry me’ would suffice…if things between us progress to that.”
Brain nodded, but internally, he was already thinking of what he could do that would be both romantic and flamboyant at the same time. He should be freaking out that he was even thinking about how to ask Aspen to marry him, but instead he just felt…content.
“Come on, let’s go congratulate your friends,” she told him.
“Our friends,” Brain corrected.
Aspen’s smile couldn’t have been bigger. “Our friends,” she agreed.
But just as she turned to tow him out of the kitchen, making Brain flash back to when Kinley had done the same thing to Lefty, her phone rang.
Grimacing, Aspen sighed and shrugged. Brain didn’t suggest she not answer it. He knew as well as she did that phone calls couldn’t be ignored in their line of work.
“Hello?” she said as she put the phone to her ear.
Brain listened to her side of the conversation, his muscles tightening with every word.
“Yes, Sir. I understand, Sir. O-four hundred, yes, Sir, I’ll be there. Thank you. You too. Bye.”
By the time she hung up, Brain knew that not only had her plans for the evening changed, but she would also be leaving in the morning for the Middle East.
“That was the major,” she told him.
“You’re leaving in the morning,” Brain finished for her.
Aspen nodded.
Without hesitation, Brain gathered her into his arms, and she went willingly.
“For the first time in my life, I don’t want to go,” she mumbled into his neck. “I’ve always been excited about being deployed. Happy to be doing something.”
“I know,” Brain soothed. And he did. He always felt the same way when he found out about a mission. But he had a feeling everything from this point on would feel differently.
He eased Aspen back and put his hands on her shoulders as he stared into her eyes. “This changes nothing between you and me,” he said fiercely.
She nodded.
“I mean it. I don’t care how long you’re gone, nothing changes.”
“It should only be around two months or so,” she said quickly.
“Piece of cake,” Brain told her, even though his stomach felt like it was in his throat.
He didn’t want to go two months without seeing her.
For the first time, he understood what Gillian and Kinley might feel when they found out the team was going on a mission.
Hell, he realized Trigger and Lefty probably felt the way he did right now, when they were called up.
But he put on a positive face for Aspen.
“You’ll write me, and I’ll write you,” he told her.
“Of course,” she said, nodding quickly.
“All I ask,” he continued in a gentler voice, “is that you watch your six. There’s way too much I still need to learn about you.”
Aspen nodded again. “And me about you.”
“We’ll write, and you can ask me whatever you want. I’ll answer honestly,” Brain told her. “Even if you think it’s too personal, you ask. Okay?”
“Okay. Same goes for you.”
“This isn’t the end of us,” Brain told her. “We just have to get used to it, unfortunately. You’ll get deployed, and I will too. Life goes on, and we can either let our separations bring us closer together or push us apart.”
“I don’t get how I can be so emotional about this when we’ve only been dating for two weeks,” she said with a small frown.
“Don’t try to understand it,” Brain advised. “I’m shocked myself, but I’m just going with it.”
“Okay. Me too then. But don’t forget who made the first move,” she said cheekily, trying to lighten the moment.
Brain chuckled. “How could I? I wasn’t all that keen on being used like that, but the second my lips touched yours, I was a goner. Don’t let Derek give you shit,” he said, just remembering that she’d be deployed with her asshole of an ex.
“I’ll try not to.”
‘Good. I’m gonna miss talking to you,” Brain admitted.
“Same here.”
“Hey, this is a party!” Trigger yelled. “Break out some more margaritas for the women and beers for us. And okay, you can have your wine, Brain!”
He turned to his friends and shook his head. “Aspen has to go.”
There were groans and complaints all around.
She shrugged. “Duty calls.”
Those two words shut up the Deltas and they all got serious.
One by one, they came into the kitchen and hugged her, wishing her well and telling her to stay safe.
The other women realized that Aspen wasn’t just leaving for the evening, but that she was being deployed, and they added their good lucks as well.
Brain walked Aspen to his door when all he wanted was to take her upstairs and lock her in his bedroom so she couldn’t go anywhere. It was a shocking thought, considering what he did for a living. He held her hand all the way to her car, which was parked on the street with his teammates’ vehicles.
He took her head in his hands and kissed her without asking permission first. He kissed her with all the frustration over the fact that he wouldn’t get to see her for a while and the worry in his heart.
And Aspen kissed him back with the same level of emotion.
After a few moments, Brain pulled back and rested his forehead on hers.
“I’m serious, be safe out there, dorogoy. I won’t be able to sleep well until I know you’re home safe and sound.”
“I will,” she reassured him.
“Tell those Rangers if they don’t have your back at all times, they’ll find out exactly how vengeful I can be,” Brain said a little too harshly.
But Aspen merely chuckled. “I love that you think nothing about threatening a platoon of Army Rangers.”
“I’m a Delta, darling, I can kick their asses easily. And if I have to collect tarantulas and release them into their beds at night when they get back, I will.”
Aspen laughed again and hugged him tight. Brain held on and inhaled deeply.
Gardenias. He’d never forget that smell as long as he lived.
Taking one last deep breath, he knew he had to let her go. She had shit she needed to do. He took a step back and shoved his hands into his pockets. “I’ll call you at three-fifteen to make sure you’re up,” he told her.
Aspen smiled at him. “Thanks, I’d appreciate that. It wouldn’t be good if I overslept and missed formation. The sergeant major would kick my ass.”
Brain couldn’t make himself return her smile, and no further words would pass his suddenly closed-off throat.
He watched as Aspen opened her door and sat in the driver’s seat. She started the engine and rolled down the window.
“I’ll email as soon as I can,” she told him.
Brain nodded.
“Thanks for a fun evening. Tell everyone I’m sorry I had to run, and congratulate Trigger and Gillian for me. I’m sorry I’ll miss their courthouse ceremony.”
Brain swallowed hard and nodded once again.
“Bye, Kane.”
When he didn’t answer, she put her car in gear and started to drive off.
“Aspen?” Brain blurted.
She stopped. “Yeah?”
“Kick some terrorist ass out there, okay?”
She smiled. “I will.”
Then she was gone.
Brain watched the taillights of her car until she turned at the end of his street and disappeared from view.
“Fuck,” he mumbled.
“Hurts, doesn’t it?” Lefty suddenly said from behind him.
“Like hell,” Brain agreed without turning around.
“When I found out Kinley had gone into WITSEC, and I had no idea where she was, if she was all right or safe, it about killed me. Brought me to my knees.”
Brain nodded.
“But what kept me going was the fact that I knew how strong Kinley was. That she felt to the bottom of her soul she was doing the right thing. I hated that I couldn’t be by her side to keep her safe, but I had to trust that she could keep herself safe.
That she was doing what she needed to do so she could return to me. ”
And just like that, Brain felt better.
He turned to his friend. “Aspen is fucking amazing. She’s strong, has to be in order to be on a Ranger team.
She’s gonna be fine.” And he truly believed those words.
He hated not being with her. Hated that he couldn’t keep her safe, but he couldn’t be by her side every minute of every day.
And he didn’t need to be. She could take care of herself.
And while she might not click with her Ranger team like she wanted to, he’d bet everything he had that if it came down to it, the men she worked with would come through for her.
He had to believe that, otherwise he wouldn’t be able to let her go.
“She is,” Lefty agreed. “Now, come back inside. We’re planning a hell of a reception for Trigger and Gillian, because she refuses to plan anything. Winnie’s talking about strippers and blow-up dolls and someone needs to talk her off the ledge.”
Brain laughed; he couldn’t help it. It was just like Winnie to want sexy strippers at a wedding reception. He walked back toward his house, but just before he went inside, he looked down the street where he’d last seen Aspen.
“Stay safe, darling,” he whispered, before heading into the joyous fray in his living room.