CHAPTER FOUR
NOAH
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“This place is incredible.” I grin as we cruise through the facility in an open-top Humvee—or a High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle if you want to get really technical.
You’d think I’d drunk ten Red Bulls with the way my body is humming. Between this world-class training compound Aidan and Josh have built and knowing I’m going to come face to face with Quinn again, I’m excited and anxious.
I was correct about that.
After reviewing the list of attendees, I found her name, and now nervous energy is pouring off me. It’s palpable.
“Never seen someone so excited to do their job.” Josh laughs. “Actually, that’s not true. Couple of classified SEAL missions probably had us as hyped as you look.”
I don’t bother asking. Josh rarely talks about his days as a SEAL, and when he does, he never gives details.
“You should write a book.”
“Fuck that. I’ll leave that to some of the others; I’m too busy creating all this.” He leans his arm on the steering wheel and slows to almost a stop beside one of the ranges.
Yeah, man.
I get it.
Fuck sitting at a desk all day with a keyboard when you have a military Disneyland. I still think they should call it that.
“Can’t believe you created all this without anyone knowing,” Liam says from the back seat behind me.
There are multiple tours of the facility taking place at the same time, including a group with Aidan further down the multi-acre property.
“There were a few of the crew involved, but mostly outside contractors. Everyone was under a strict NDA,” Josh says, turning his head to survey something.
I’m not surprised. We’re all used to keeping our mouths shut about top-level stuff.
“Where are we staying?” I ask.
“The barracks, of course.” Josh grins, pressing on the gas and looking happy to be back with his boots on the ground.
We cruise through the compound and pull up in a parking lot near some nondescript buildings which look as familiar as my own face. This might not be US government-owned, but they’ve mocked it up to look pretty damn similar.
They are near the administration building and a few facilities like restaurants and so on.
We jump out of the Humvee and grab our bags, then follow Josh into one of the buildings. The gray walls and dark gray doors all look the same.
“Pick a room and drop your things. I’ll meet you outside in ten, and we’ll grab a bite to eat in the chow hall.”
“So, not like Disneyland.” I wink at Liam, who laughs and tugs his bag up onto his shoulder and tries a door handle.
“Ten minutes!” Josh calls out, heading right down to the end of the hall.
I do the same. No one wants the room by the entrance except Liam, obviously.
I choose a door and walk in, then smile.
There’s a little more comfort inside than I was expecting.
I’d put money on these beds and linens being high quality despite the no-frills look.
First off, they’re queen-size, not fucking singles.
Thank God.
Dropping my bag on the bed, I unzip it, drag out my travel kit and head to the bathroom. A quick refresh, and my ten minutes are almost up.
I wonder if Quinn is on the way today?
Some of the XOs arrive tonight, some tomorrow, due to rosters, so I’ll have no way of knowing without asking too many questions.
I should have messaged her, given her advance warning that I work at Black Hawke and would be training her.
I should have.
But I haven’t. I should have done a lot of things I haven’t when it comes to Quinn Parker. Like not fucking falling in love with her.
One minute I’m the party guy, dating a ton of women, and the next Lieutenant Parker is saluting me in formation as one of the newbies in my platoon. I will never forget stopping in front of her and staring deeply into her bright blue eyes. My dick reacted, and I couldn’t move.
There was an invisible chain that locked our souls together. That’s the only way I can describe it. She was mine from that moment...except I’m the only one who seems to have gotten the goddamn memo.
Cold water poured over my dating life, and while I occasionally slept with other women, it was Quinn Parker I saw...and craved. I’m not proud of it, and God knows I tried to change it. More than once. Many times.
For me and for her.
The problem is, Quinn is a stunningly beautiful woman, and there wasn’t a man on the base—well, except the Colonel, her father—who didn’t want to bang her.
While I wanted to kill them all.
An Army buddy I was having a beer with one night asked how I could handle seeing her hot ass run up and down the PT track.
Lifting my bottle, I’d just shrugged and taken a sip. “I’m immune.”
“Bullshit.”
“I get enough hot ass. Parker is just another soldier who needs to perform. Her ass doesn’t concern me.”
Such a fucking lie.
I’d dreamed about spreading those supple cheeks and licking her pussy while on my knees behind her. Hearing her moan. Stroking my cock as I shoved a finger inside her tight cunt.
“Come on, you can’t tell me you haven’t noticed her.” My buddy laughed.
I dropped the bottle on the bar a little hard. “I’m not blind; of course I have. Quinn is good at what she does, and it’s my job to make sure she’s equipped, just like any GI, to fight for our country and stay alive while doing it.”
“Quinn?” He lifted a brow.
Shit.
“Oh, fuck off. It’s just a damn name. I’m not boning her; nor am I fantasizing about it, but go right ahead.”
But I’ll fucking kill you if you touch a single hair on her head.
He wasn’t the only senior officer to notice Quinn Parker over the years. I saw them watching her when she lifted her arms to tighten her ponytail, or as she bent over to re-tie her boot laces or simply walked past on the way to the gym in her shorts.
She knew it, too.
Not that she flaunted it. Quite the opposite. She hated the attention and tried to fit in with the boys. Her shorts weren’t tight as fuck, leaving nothing to the imagination. They were Army regulation khaki and yet still that tight peach drew men’s eyes.
Including mine.
When I should’ve been dating more seriously and settling down with the right girl, instead I was craving Quinn Parker.
When I struggled through another Christmas with the old man, just the two of us, as he drank bottle after bottle and complained about everyone at work and the neighborhood, I should’ve reminded myself if I didn’t get my act together I’d end up alone like him.
When I turned thirty-three and began questioning why I was still serving, I never truly acknowledged that she was part of my decision to discharge. But she was. The uniform was like a ten-foot wall between us, while other women lined up to spend a night with me.
Why did I want Quinn Parker so badly? I’ve asked myself a thousand times, and I still don’t know the answer.
The only answer I do have is that it didn’t fucking matter in the end.
She rejected me.
Christ, I knew she was too young, under pressure from her peers to prove herself despite the fact that women had been in the military for years and that her father was the Colonel.
But I also knew she had feelings for me.
For three fucking years we had navigated our attraction and feelings, and she still walked away.
I was the one who trained her, had to assess her performance without prejudice, and at the end of the day recommended her for promotion. As I rose in rank, I signed off those promotions.
Me.
Always fucking me.
I’d gone above and beyond to give Quinn the space to prove herself, not giving her any reason to feel as if I was easier on her than the other men or women. There was no proof that she’d achieved a single thing because of my feelings for her.
Nothing.
And yet... it meant nothing in the end.
But fuck that.
I thought I had given up after arriving in California, but as each week of the past six months passed, I realized I was still fighting for her, just silently. Biding my time until I saw her again.
Now the universe has placed her in my lap—I wish—once more.
I’m no longer enlisted. This is no longer a prohibited relationship.
The problem is that the little firecracker of a woman who I’ve fallen in love with thinks that if we’re caught being involved romantically even a thousand years from now, it will reverse everything she’s worked for.
Rubbing my forehead, I glance around the room and wonder if I’m being a fool. Should I move on with my life and stop waiting for Quinn to work it out? Because if I don’t, I will end up alone and bitter like my father.
I don’t want another woman.
I want Quinn Parker.
And I’m going to claim her.