23. Elijah
Bags in hand, I follow Andie into her apartment. After setting them on the floor just inside the door then locking it behind me, I stare in complete awe at the place before me. The walls are a pale yellow, the couches white with splashes of color in the form of throw pillows.
A queen-sized bed sits against one wall, a dresser beside it, and a second bookshelf—this one with actual books—is situated beside the only interior door. A bathroom would be my guess since I see no other place for one.
She has plants in nearly every corner and a bookshelf overflowing with a type of ivy plant and succulents. It makes me smile because, even though Andie doesn’t have an outdoor space like Edna did, she managed to create her own garden.
“You are your grandmother’s granddaughter.”
She laughs. “I’m just glad to see that they’re all still alive. My neighbor was watering them for me.” After crossing her living room, she pulls open the patio doors, and a light breeze carries in through the open space. Even as late as it is, cars honk, people yell, but the serene view of Central Park just outside her apartment somehow mutes everything else.
“This is stunning.” I step out onto the patio then stare out at the partially illuminated park. Streetlights down below cast just enough illumination that you can see trees and bushes while the light from buildings all over the city lessens the weight of the darkness.
“It’s not the ocean though,” she replies. “I miss Hope Springs already. I cannot believe I miss it.”
“The place grows on you. I’m going to do a quick sweep of the apartment. Check the windows and the bathroom and place some sensors.”
“Okay. Coffee? I know it’s late, but I could use some.”
“Yeah. Sounds good.” As she gets to work on the coffee, I inspect the apartment. Since most of the place is one massive room, it thankfully doesn’t take long, and I get to watch her while we work. As soon as her apartment is set up with my wireless system, I take a seat on the couch to finish the setup on the panel.
“How are we looking?” she asks, offering me a mug.
“All set.”
“Great.” Andie sits on the other end of the couch and kicks her sandals off. She rolls her neck, and I note the exhaustion on her face.
“Here.” Setting the panel and my coffee on the table in front of me, I reach out and place her feet in my lap.
“What—no—you don’t have to—oh, please never stop.” She groans as I massage her right foot, digging the pads of my thumbs into the bottom. I slowly work my hands down her foot then back up, all while she keeps her eyes closed, head rolled back. “That feels amazing,” she says.
It shoots straight through me—thoughts that have no business in my head. And even though I know I should stop to give myself a chance at maintaining the moral code that I’ve defined for myself, I can’t.
So I switch to the other foot.
“Elijah. Seriously. You missed your calling.”
I laugh. “You look tired.”
“Exhausted. But so are you. You’re the one with metal in your gut.”
“Not anymore. They got it out, remember?”
“Still. You should be taking it easy.”
“Massaging your feet is taking it easy,” I tell her. “Touching you is—therapeutic for me.”
She opens her eyes. “You are far more charming than I gave you credit for the first time we met.”
“I’m not trying to be charming. It’s the truth.”
Her cheeks turn pink. “I like it when you touch me. A lot more than I should.”
Just hearing her say it stirs my feelings all over again. “I can’t have a relationship. And I am not the type of man to sleep around.”
“I’m not looking for one either,” she admits. “And I don’t sleep around either. Not anymore.”
“Then we agree that whatever is between us needs to remain…”
“PG?”
“Agreed,” I reply, though I hate myself for it. The truth is I want this woman more than I’ve ever wanted anyone. But not just in bed. I am intrigued by her strength, by the heart that she tries so hard to keep hidden. And the fact that what I’m feeling goes so far beyond mere attraction terrifies me.
* * *
Flames lick at my skin.
Ears ringing, I can’t hear anything Captain Knight says as he drags me away from the destroyed Humvee. Michael is lying on his back, his hand pressed to a wound on the side of his neck.
And then everything slams into me.
The sounds.
The smell of burning flesh and rubber.
The heat of the sun above us.
“Keep pressure!” Knight yells as he presses my hand to my side. “Don’t touch the other side, okay?”
I nod.
A bullet sings through the air and hits the ground with a puff of dirt.
“Dear God, please help us,” Lance whispers then rushes away and kneels behind what little cover we have. He aims his rifle and fires.
“You gotta live, man,” Michael chokes out. “You gonna live?”
“Are you?” I ask.
He laughs, but it’s a strangled sound. “Maybe. Can you— I need you to do something for me if I don’t.” With the hand not currently pressed to the side of his neck, he reaches into his pocket, struggling with each movement.
“Stay still.”
“I need you to give this to her.” I know who he means, the woman he left behind. The one he hopes is still waiting for him at home. The paper is smeared with his blood as he tries to offer it to me.
“Keep it on you so you can give it to her yourself. If you don’t make it, I’ll know where to find it.”
He nods, tears in his eyes.
A man groans. I tilt my head. “Corporal?” I ask then try to scoot closer to him. He turns his face to me, half of it burned beyond recognition. Bile rises in my gut.
“I don’t want to die,” he chokes out.
“You’re going to be okay. Do you hear me?”
More bullets fly. Knight jerks back and groans, falling to his knees. Fear ices my veins, and I reach for the pistol at my side. They won’t get us.
They won’t get me.
Not again.
* * *
I shoot awake,sweat beading on my skin. The ceiling fan above me whirrs slowly, chilling me as I throw the blanket off and place both feet on the floor.
“Hey, are you okay?”
I glance up, surprised to see Andie sitting up in bed, her dim lamp on beside her. “Fine,” I say, tone more clipped than I meant. “Nightmare.”
“You need a distraction.” She climbs off of her bed and carries the box of Edna’s letters over to me. She sits on the couch and offers me the one in her hand.
“Are you sure?” When I’d offered to read them before, she’d been almost angry at the idea of me touching what her grandmother had left behind for her, but now, she offers it freely. Do I truly look that pitiful?
“I wouldn’t be holding it out to you if I wasn’t sure. Besides, this one has you in it.”
“What? She wrote about me?” I’m honestly surprised.
She nods. “In her later letters, she does.”
Curiosity shoving my nightmare aside, I take the letter. The sight of Edna’s familiar handwriting brings a fresh wave of grief crashing down on me.
“Dearest Andie,” I read aloud, “You will never believe it, but I finally got internet in my house! I know that I’d been so against it—” I chuckle as I recall just how excited she’d been when it was up and running.
“But Elijah insisted I get it. He says it will be useful and that he can show me how to pay my bills online instead of mailing in checks. How are things going with you? I hope you are having all of your dreams come true. You deserve nothing but happiness, my dear girl. All my love, come home soon, Gran.”
I finish reading and look up at Andie. Her eyes are a bit misty, but no tears fall.
“I’d tried so hard to get her to get internet at her house, but it was you who convinced her.”
“It took me a while,” I reply. “I’d wanted to install an alarm at her house and get her hooked up so that, if she fell again, I could?—”
“Again?”
“She fell once. Hit her head on the table. She said she wasn’t out long, but when I got to the house, there was quite a bit of blood on the floor.” I was so afraid after that, worried that she’d get hurt and no one would know.
“I didn’t know that.”
“She never wanted you to worry. She made me promise never to contact you unless it was something life-threatening. I considered it, but?—”
“You don’t break promises.” She points to the letter. “She mentions that too. How, when you say you’ll do or won’t do something, you follow through. That was one of the things she admired most about you.”
I swallow hard, emotion burning in my throat. “She made me promise to protect you.”
“What?”
“When she was in the hospital that final time. She made me promise to keep you safe.”
Andie’s eyes widen. “That’s why you stepped in like you did.”
“I would have done it even if I hadn’t promised her. Honestly, before I knew you were in any real danger, I considered breaking the promise and just parting ways so I would never have to think about you again.”
Instead of being offended, she laughs. “If it helps, I couldn’t stand you either.”
“You think? You accused me of trying to seduce an eighty-year-old woman.”
She winces. “I did do that, didn’t I?”
“You did.”
“Well, to be fair, I had no idea who you were, only that you were spending a lot of time with my gran. It seemed weird at first.”
“She was such a good person. A light.”
“She really was.” Andie reaches into the box and pulls out another letter. “Care to read more?”
“Those are yours.”
She shoves it into my hands. “It’s clear to me that you loved her as much as I did, Elijah. You need this connection just as much as I do.”
“Are you sure?”
She wraps a hand around the back of my neck then pulls my mouth down to hers for a quick kiss. It only lasts a heartbeat, but the feel of her is branded onto my heart.
“I’m sure, Elijah.”
She curls into my side and pulls out another letter while I break the seal on the one she gave me. And together, in the middle of the night, we allow ourselves to be swept away by the words of someone we both loved, all while I come to the stunning realization that I am falling for Andie Montgomery.
I’m falling hard.