Chapter 15
Grover placed the last box from the moving truck down on the floor of Sierra’s new apartment. With Doc, Lucky, and Trigger helping, along with the men who’d driven the truck, it hadn’t taken long to get her belongings unloaded.
“Looks like that’s the last of it,” Lucky said.
“I can’t thank you guys enough,” Sierra told them. “What can I do to repay you?”
Grover opened his mouth to tell her that they hadn’t helped her with the expectation of payment, but Doc responded first.
“You can come over to my place this weekend. Ember is dying to meet you, as are the rest of the girls.”
“I’d love that!” Sierra said excitedly.
“Great. How about Sunday? Any time after two or so. We’ll grill burgers and stuff, it’ll be totally low-key.”
“Low-key, riiiight,” Trigger said with a chuckle.
The others all laughed too.
Seeing Sierra looking a little confused, Grover said, “Whenever we all get together, it’s complete chaos. It’s never low-key. Throw in two babies and Logan and Bria, and it’s mayhem.”
“It sounds…nice,” Sierra said with a smile.
“Sorry the other guys couldn’t come over and help today,” Trigger said. “With that damn militia group still harassing anyone who comes and goes from the post, we’ve been tasked with extra security duty.”
“It’s okay, you guys were really all I needed. I don’t have a ton of stuff, as you can tell,” Sierra said. “Is the Strong Foot Militia dangerous?”
It was an abrupt change of topic, but Grover could see the worry in Sierra’s eyes.
“They’re mostly annoying,” Trigger told her.
“Trying to get soldiers and family members to engage with them when they’re in line waiting to enter the post. They aren’t breaking any laws, since they stay on public property, but they’ve scared enough people that the post commander has assigned the extra duty to be safe rather than sorry. ”
Sierra nodded. “What are they mad at, specifically?”
“What aren’t they mad at?” Lucky countered. “They’re anti-government and think the military is the root of all evil. They think anyone who’s working for the government is the enemy.”
“So, what do they hope to accomplish by harassing everyone who goes in and out of the base? It’s not like you guys can just quit…right?” Sierra asked.
“Right,” Grover said. “Many of the men who’re harassing people going on and off post are young.
They look like they’re in their late teens or early twenties.
I think they’re just bored and have kinda banded together in a sort of mob mentality.
There’s safety in numbers, and for now, what they’re doing is fun for them. ”
“There’s one guy who’s older,” Trigger noted. “He kind of stands at the back of the mob and lets the others do most of the harassing. That guy who’s five-ten or so, with a beard and longish hair?”
“That’s right. I’ve seen him. Do we know anything about him?” Lucky asked.
“No. But maybe it would be a good idea to see what kind of information we can dig up. If he’s the group’s leader, and we can take him out of the equation, maybe the men who are with him will slink back to San Angelo or wherever they came from,” Trigger mused.
“It’s worth a shot,” Grover agreed. “Chop off the head and the snake dies.” He looked over at Sierra after he’d finished speaking…and grinned at the expression on her face.
“That’s gross,” she said.
“But appropriate,” Lucky said. “You need us to help you with anything else?”
Sierra looked around at the boxes stacked up here and there in the small apartment. “No, I’m good. Thank you again so much for helping.”
“It’s what we do,” Lucky reassured her.
“We’ll see you this weekend,” Doc reminded her.
Sierra smiled. “I’m looking forward to it.”
“Don’t be surprised if the party gets brought up in your group chat,” Trigger warned. “The girls like to organize what everyone’s bringing. You know, like who’s got the desserts and alcohol.”
Lucky laughed. “Remember that one time when no one coordinated and all we had was meat and chocolate?”
“If I remember correctly, no one was too upset,” Grover threw in. “We all ate the meat and the girls stuffed themselves with the desserts.”
Sierra giggled.
Trigger gave her a chin lift, and Lucky and Doc did the same before the three of them headed out of the apartment.
“So, where do you want to start?” Grover asked her.
“Don’t you have to go back to work?” Sierra asked.
“Nope. My commander gave me the rest of the day off. He’s gotten used to us needing the time off to move our girlfriends in. I think we should start with putting your bed together. You’ll need someplace to sleep.”
Sierra raised an eyebrow at him.
Grover chuckled. “And no, I wasn’t trying to proposition you, although…that’s not a bad idea.”
She laughed. “You’re such a guy.”
“Yup,” he agreed and stalked over to her.
Sierra backed up as he got closer until she hit the wall behind her.
Grover put his hands on either side of her head and leaned in. “And I’d like to point out that I wasn’t the one who went there first, you did. I simply made an innocent comment about putting your bed together, you were the one who had to make it sexual.”
Her hands rested on his sides, and Grover mildly resented the fact that his uniform top was tucked into his waistband so her hands couldn’t slide up and under his shirt.
“Do you blame me? After this morning?”
Grover smiled. He’d woken up early, as usual, and hadn’t been able to resist going down on her. Waking her up with his mouth between her legs had been sensual and so damn hot, he’d almost forgotten to put on a condom before sliding inside her.
“It’s just that you’re irresistible,” he said. “It’s not my fault.”
“Right, not your fault,” she teased. “Your tongue just accidentally landed between my legs and your dick somehow magically got lodged deep inside me.”
Grover burst out laughing. Man, he loved this woman. He dipped his head and nuzzled the sensitive skin near her ear. He’d found out this morning how much she liked being touched and licked there.
“You aren’t playing fair,” she grumbled, still tipping her head to the side, giving him nonverbal approval to continue.
Grover moved his hands to her waist and did his best not to pull her shirt up and over her head.
He really did want to get her bed set up.
Everything else could probably wait, but she needed a place to sleep.
Thinking about her being here without him wasn’t a comfortable thought, but he pushed it to the back of his mind.
She wanted, and needed, to be independent.
He’d survived thirty-three years of his life without her, he could handle a night or two here and there. He hoped.
His teasing quickly turned into a long make-out session.
Despite his good intentions, a hand did end up under her shirt, and the other between her legs.
He made her come right there against her wall, and it was sexy as hell.
He didn’t have a lot of room to maneuver his hand down her pants so it was a challenge to stimulate her, but he didn’t do so badly, if the way she undulated against him and moaned was any indication.
After she’d come, he pulled his fingers out of her waistband and licked them clean. The blush on Sierra’s face was something he’d never get tired of seeing.
“I can’t believe you just did that,” she said.
“You shouldn’t be so damn tempting,” he countered.
“So that was also my fault?” she asked.
“Yup,” Grover said with no remorse.
The look of determination on her face gave her away, and he managed to catch her hand before she could grab his cock. “Uh-uh,” he said. “We need to get your furniture set up.” Grover glanced at his watch. “And it’s getting late. I need to feed you.”
She harrumphed. “But what about…that?” She motioned to his cock with her head.
“It can wait. That was for you.” Grover reached for her hand but she shook her head and sidestepped him.
“I’m not a prude, but you’re gonna need to wash that hand before we do anything else.”
Grover chuckled. “Right. Why don’t you go on into the bedroom and figure out where you want to set up your bed, and I’ll be there in a second.”
“Okay. Grover?”
“Yeah, Bean?”
“I’m happy.”
Two words. That was all it took to make Grover feel content and satisfied. “I’m glad. Me too.”
They smiled at each other before Sierra turned and headed for the bedroom.
Grover went into the kitchen to wash his hands, thinking about how much his life had changed in such a short period of time.
When he’d gone to Afghanistan, he had no plan in mind, but once he realized his best bet to find out what happened to Sierra was to get himself taken captive, he didn’t think twice.
And he’d do it again a thousand times over if it meant hearing Sierra say she was happy.
He was lucky, and he knew it. The outcome of his capture could’ve been bad.
But Sierra had been worth the uncertainty and pain he’d experienced.
Seeing her flourish, laugh, blush, and smile was worth any amount of hardship he’d gone through.
Sierra was free. And she was his. She still had a ways to go to get back to normal, whatever that looked like for her, but she’d get there. He had no doubt about that.
Sierra lay in Grover’s bed that night and wondered how she’d gotten there.
She’d had every intention of staying in her new apartment.
The last thing she wanted was to overstay her welcome at Grover’s house.
But after they’d put her bed together, Grover convinced her to let him help her unpack a few things.
They then rearranged some furniture before returning to his house for lunch.
That had led to a quiet relaxing day today before Grover fed her again.
He’d made them orange-glazed pork chops, then talked her into watching the sunset from the loft. Somehow, they’d lost track of time as they talked on the leather couch out in the barn, and the next thing she knew, she was yawning and couldn’t keep her eyes open.