Chapter 3
Doc glanced at his watch. Ten past eleven.
He and the rest of the team had returned to the village about an hour ago, after going to a local restaurant for dinner, away from the Olympic Village.
They’d stayed out longer than usual, since it was their only night off together for a while.
Their time would be spent surveilling crowds, patrolling the grounds, and making sure the athletes that had traveled to South Korea were safe as they competed to be the best of the best in their respective sports.
Trigger and the others had talked about Ember Maxwell throughout most of dinner. Relaying what she’d told them about herself and her sport—and giving him shit for bailing on lunch.
Doc couldn’t explain why she disturbed him so much. It wasn’t just that she was pretty and obviously always the center of attention. It was…something else. Something deeper.
She definitely seemed to need a friend. When he’d seen her hesitating after getting her food, looking around the room for a place to sit, he’d recognized the signs of someone who was uncomfortable.
He didn’t know why Ember was uncomfortable; he guessed she was probably surrounded by people most of the time.
But her expression and body language were dead giveaways, so he’d immediately moved to help her out.
He’d been in her shoes. Felt out of place and out of his element. No matter how well known she was, or how popular, her sense of uneasiness struck something deep inside Doc. And he’d acted on it.
Then he’d been irritated with himself afterward for caring about those assholes with the cameras, and confused about why he gave a shit about a woman who obviously had everything her heart desired and more.
Feeling restless after dinner, and not wanting to sit in his room and risk obsessing about his actions at lunch, Doc had decided to take a walk around the dorm, just to make sure things were secure.
He’d checked every floor and found nothing out of the ordinary, and was now heading back to his room.
He’d heard more than a few loud parties in the rooms while on his rounds, which just made Doc shake his head in amazement.
Things here sounded much crazier than at the previous Olympics he and the team had worked.
How anyone could prepare for the competition of their lives while partying was beyond him.
Stepping off on his floor, Doc was grateful the athletes on twenty seemed to be asleep. Or at least they weren’t partying. He walked past the common room on the way to his door—and stopped in his tracks.
He backed up a step and stared.
Ember Maxwell was sitting in a chair she’d pulled as close to the tiny window in the corner as she could. The window was no more than a long slit, and there was no way she could actually see much out of it. But she wasn’t looking down at the world going by. She was looking up.
“Ember?” Her name popped out before he could think better of it. He should leave her alone, but he hated seeing her look so…lonely. She had her feet up on the bottom cushion of the chair and her arms around her knees. Her shoulders were hunched slightly, even as her chin was craned upward.
Upon hearing her name, she whipped her head around and stared at him for a moment before saying, “I’m sorry. Am I bothering you?”
For some reason, that irritated Doc. “Of course not. You’re quiet as a mouse, which is more than I can say for a lot of the people in this dorm. Are you all right?”
She blinked. Then nodded and said, “No.”
Doc couldn’t help but snort. “Which is it? Okay or not?”
Ember sighed and rested her cheek on her knee and stared out the window, effectively shutting him out. “I’m fine,” she said softly.
Doc knew he should leave. Go to his room and get some sleep before his shift in the morning. But everything his friends had told him at dinner echoed in his head.
They’d specifically mentioned how Ember had looked lost. That she should be thrilled to be at the Olympics, but instead it seemed as if she was just going through the motions.
Brain had also pulled up her Instagram account on his phone, showing Doc some of the pictures.
In most, she was laughing and seemed to be having the time of her life.
There were inspirational quotes on pictures of her working out, pictures of her posing with various products—obviously paid promotional shots—and in every one, she looked as if she’d just stepped out of the salon.
Her hair was perfect. Her teeth shining brightly.
Her earrings cute and dangly. Her skin and makeup flawless.
But this Ember was much more attractive to him. She was real. Not a caricature on social media. Her hair was messy, the sweatpants she had on were obviously old, and her T-shirt had a rip in the sleeve. She was approachable—and not someone the world got to see.
Doc looked up and down the hall and saw it was empty. He could still faintly hear a get-together from the floor above, but at the moment, it was just the two of them.
“I’m sorry I left so abruptly earlier,” he told her.
“It’s okay,” Ember said without looking up.
“It was rude,” Doc insisted.
“Seriously, it’s fine,” she assured, still staring out the window. “You weren’t the first person not to like me at first glance, and you won’t be the last.”
Doc frowned. “It’s not that I don’t like you. I don’t know you. How can I not like you?”
Ember lifted her head at that and pinned him with a look so intense, Doc had to force himself to stand his ground. “There are plenty of people who don’t like me based on what they see and read online.”
Doc didn’t flinch. “Then they’re ignorant assholes.”
Ember stared at him for another beat. “You really mean that, don’t you?”
“Yes. Look, I know I didn’t make the best impression earlier, but if I dislike someone, it’s not going to be because of what I read about them online. It’s going to be because they’re rude. Or discriminatory. Or because they smack their lips when they eat.”
She gave him a tiny smile, then asked, “So why’d you leave then?”
Doc considered lying to her. Telling her he wasn’t hungry, or that he’d had a phone call to make.
But he couldn’t do it. Something about the sadness in her eyes spoke to him.
Drew him in like a moth to a flame. He knew she could possibly pierce the armor he kept around him at all times, but he couldn’t resist her. “Because you make me uncomfortable.”
Her brows furrowed. “I do?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m sorry.”
Doc shrugged. “Don’t be. It’s really me, not you.”
She gave him another small smile. “That sounds like a line,” she informed him.
“It’s not. You make me…feel things I don’t want to. I’m uncomfortable with the attention you garner. I’m used to hiding in the shadows, and you’re like a bright, shiny light. And anyone who gets near you is engulfed in that light.”
His words seemed to make her even sadder, which hadn’t been his intention.
“Yeah, that’s true. And since we’re being honest, I’d give anything to turn that light off. Just once. To hide in those shadows with you.”
They shared a long intimate gaze. He realized that she was being sincere.
He never would’ve guessed after seeing her Instagram page that Ember Maxwell was uncomfortable being in the spotlight, but he should’ve known.
Social media was all bullshit. People said things to try to fit in, to seem more popular and interesting than they actually were.
They claimed to be one kind of person, but in real life were completely different.
And Ember was living proof of that…just not in the way he’d expected.
“What are you doing in here?” he asked.
She shrugged. “Trying to see the stars.”
That wasn’t the answer he’d expected. “Pardon?”
“The stars. Every night before I go to sleep, I sit in my window and look up. The world is such a huge place, and seeing the stars twinkling reminds me that there’s so much more out there than my narrow little life.
But I can’t see them from my room. There’s another dorm right outside my window and the lights from it make it impossible to see anything.
So I came down here. But the view’s not much better. ”
“I can see them from my room,” Doc blurted.
She stared at him again.
“Look…you don’t know me, but I swear on my honor as a US Army soldier that you’re safe with me. If you want to come to my room for a while, to look at the stars, I’d be okay with that.” Doc knew that sounded like the worst pick-up line ever, but he didn’t regret the offer.
“My room must be on the other side of the hall from yours,” he went on. “I face the stadium and the track. When a game or match is going on, you can’t see anything because of the lights, but tonight it’s quiet and there aren’t any clouds, so you should be able to see the stars.”
“Why?”
He wasn’t surprised she was skeptical of his offer.
“Because regardless of my actions earlier, I usually don’t shy away from things that make me uncomfortable.
Hell, my entire life has been uncomfortable.
Letting you sit in my room for a while isn’t that big a deal in the grand scheme of things.
And if it’ll help you be able to sleep, so you can be on top of your game when you compete, all the better.
I’ll even stay in here if you want, so you’ll feel more comfortable. ”
Ember wrinkled her nose, and Doc couldn’t help but think it was adorable.
“I’m not kicking you out of your room. People might think I’m a diva, but I’m not.”
Doc took a deep breath and stepped toward her, holding out his hand in invitation. “Then let’s do this, so you can get some sleep. I’d never forgive myself if you lost out on a medal because you were exhausted from staying up too late.”
She gave him a shy smile. “Trust me, I’ve gone plenty of nights with not enough sleep. Especially before a competition. That won’t be the reason I don’t medal.”