Chapter 14
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
The following week was surreal for Kelli.
She was plunked back down into her life, and while she felt as if she was a changed person, nothing else around her seemed to change.
Her annoying next-door neighbor still played his music too loud, her mom, while happy she was all right, hadn’t really asked much about what happened and was back to being consumed with her own life.
Traffic still sucked, the weather was still beautiful, and bills still needed to be paid.
One thing that had changed…Kelli had indeed been fired for not calling in and missing work.
It didn’t matter that she’d literally been buried alive in a foreign country.
Apparently, policies were policies. But she wasn’t upset about it.
She’d done what she told Flash she was going to do…
she went to the community college not too far from her apartment and met with an academic advisor.
She wasn’t any closer to deciding what she wanted to do with her life, but it still felt as if she’d made a positive step forward .
She also seemed to have an entire girl posse of friends.
That was definitely new. She’d received either texts or emails each day.
Remi was the first to check on her, letting her know that if she wanted to talk about what happened, she was there.
After all, she’d been through something similar, even if she was buried only a tiny fraction of the time Kelli had been underground.
Wren and Josie had also texted. Out of the blue, Addison offered to bake her cookies or a cake.
And Maggie, even though she was dealing with some morning sickness, had emailed and said she’d love to get together the next time she headed up to LA for a meeting.
Apparently, that was where her biological father and brothers lived, and where she had to attend meetings every now and then for her job.
And it wasn’t only Flash’s teammates’ women who’d contacted her. Caroline, Julie, Jessyka…she’d gotten occasional texts from all of the older former SEAL wives, as well.
Having so much support and friendship felt like a dream come true. Kelli wasn’t sure why everyone was being so nice to her, but she wasn’t going to do anything that might make them change their minds about being her friend.
But the best change was that, every night, she talked to Flash for about three hours…
or more. One evening while they were FaceTiming, they’d talked so long she’d fallen asleep on him.
When she woke up in the middle of the night, she looked at her screen and saw that Flash had propped up his phone on the table next to his bed and left his lights on, so she could watch him sleep.
Some people might think that was weird, but for Kelli, it was…intimate. She liked it. A lot. She’d ended the call an d sent him a text apologizing for falling asleep, and making a comment about how empty his bed looked with only him in it.
It was a risky move, but given how much they talked, and how often Flash reminded her of the hours left in the week before he was taking her on a date, she felt pretty confident that what she’d said wasn’t out of line.
Today, Flash had a meeting that he said would run a little late.
They were in the middle of planning their next mission, which, honestly, kind of worried Kelli.
But she refused to let what he did for a living discourage her.
After all, him being a SEAL was the sole reason they’d survived their ordeal.
Without his survival knowledge, their situation would’ve been a lot worse.
And they certainly wouldn’t have been rescued as quickly as they had without the resources and knowhow of his friends.
If she wanted any kind of relationship with Flash, she’d have to figure out how to live with him being gone on dangerous missions.
She decided talking with the women who’d been through it already, and who obviously had wonderful relationships with their men, would be a good place to start. She had a lot of questions.
But she was also jumping the gun. Flash was right. They’d been through something extreme and traumatic together. More for her than him, he was used to that kind of situation, but still.
She had every intention of dating Flash. Doing normal guy-girl things. Dinners, movies, hanging out, getting to know him even more. She wasn’t going to jump into a relationship simply because she was grateful he was with her when the worst had happened in Jamaica .
But…the man ticked all her boxes. He was kind, patient, hot as hell…
Kelli wrinkled her nose, a little disgusted with herself for that last thought. Honestly, looks didn’t matter as much as other positive traits. It was possible he could go bald, or get fat, or his ears would grow three sizes as he aged.
Giggling, Kelli put the bags of groceries she’d bought today on the counter.
She was being stupid. Thinking about what Flash may or may not look like as he aged was ridiculous.
What mattered was the kind of man he was.
Did he have a temper? She didn’t think so, but time would tell.
Was he possessive? Or overly so? Would he get annoyed that she had plenty of money in the bank and didn’t need to be “taken care of”?
Deep down, regardless of the answers, everything in her was screaming that Flash was the real deal.
That he could be the man she spent the rest of her life with.
It was too fast, they’d just met, but circumstances being what they were, they’d gotten to know the important things about each other very quickly.
Flash made her feel protected. He paid attention when she spoke and didn’t look at his phone or everywhere around him, as if trying to find something more interesting to do.
When she was with him, she felt as if she was the center of his world.
And she hoped he felt the same way. She wanted any man she was with to have no doubts that she was right where she wanted to be.
Which she knew was why he was giving them both a week’s time-out.
She smiled at that. Was it really a time-out when they talked for hours every night and constantly texted each other to ask how the other person was doing?
She wasn’t sure. All she knew was that she missed Flash.
Even talking to him didn’t feel as if it was enough.
She wanted to see him. Touch him. The feel of her hand in his was the ultimate in comfort for her now.
Just as she’d finished cutting up vegetables and chicken and arranging them on a cookie sheet to bake, her phone vibrated.
Looking at the counter, she saw Flash had texted her.
Flash : Bad news, won’t be able to call until late. New intel just arrived and we’re staying later than planned to analyze it.
Disappointment hit Kelli, but she pushed it down. She had no idea what information he’d received, but she was proud of him for doing what he could to keep the world safe.
Kelli : It’s okay. I don’t have any plans tonight. Am going to think a bit more about what kind of career I want, maybe watch another episode of Alone so we can talk about it later.
Flash : Can’t wait to see what you think about who taps out tonight. And it’s been six days. I’m going to come up and take you out tomorrow night…if that’s okay with you. Think about where you want to eat .
Kelli’s nipples immediately hardened. Apparently, when Flash said something, he was serious. He’d said a week, and tomorrow was a week. She was more than ready to see him again. To see if the connection they had was real. She thought it was, but she’d find out for sure tomorrow. She couldn’t wait.
Kelli : It’s definitely okay with me.
Flash : Good. I’ll text when I’m done here. If you’re asleep, not a big deal. We can talk tomorrow.
It was a big deal to Kelli. She hadn’t realized he might be that late. She liked her sleep, but lately she’d been staying up later because of their calls.
Kelli : Okay. I’ll miss talking to you.
Flash : Not as much as I’ll miss talking to you. Gotta go. Getting the stink eye from Kevlar.
Kelli : Later
Flash : Later
Kelli sighed. She wished it was tomorrow already. There were plenty of amazing restaurants she could take him to, she’d just have to wait and see what he was in the mood for and what he liked.
The rest of the evening went by fairly quickly.
Her dinner was delicious, even if it was a bit lonely.
She’d gotten used to eating while talking to Flash.
The episode of Alone was exciting and she couldn’t wait to discuss it with him.
She was amazed at how resilient the contestants were.
They made it seem as if camping outside in negative temperatures wasn’t a big deal.
Not to mention hunting and killing squirrels and other animals and attempting to fish when conditions, frankly, sucked.
She supposed some people would say what she’d done was just as amazing, but she’d been with Flash, who’d done all the work. She could probably survive living in sub-freezing temps if Flash was with her. She could sit in the shelter—that he made—and cook the animals he caught and skinned.
Kelli laughed at herself. No, she’d hate that. Wouldn’t like feeling as if she wasn’t pulling her weight.
Looking at her watch, she was surprised to see it was nine o’clock. Not terribly late, considering what time she’d been going to sleep this past week, but late for Flash to still be at work.
Kelli turned off the TV and headed to her bedroom.
She put on the long-sleeve top and boy shorts she wore to bed before padding back into the hallway, to the only bathroom in her apartment.
When she was finished, she climbed into bed, crawled under the covers, and put her phone on the nightstand.
She grabbed her tablet and brought up the book she’d been reading.