Wilde Love (Forever Wilde 6)

At one point a man I recognized as a mechanic who worked at the same marina where Letty’s husband worked came over and asked Deb to dance. She looked downright offended since she was clearly there on a date with Major. As far as she knew.

“No, thank you, Randy. I’m fixing to dance with the lieutenant colonel here in a minute.”

That was news to Wes but he simply nodded agreeably.

Randy’s eyes narrowed at Wes before turning to me. “You saying you’d rather be out with these baby killers than—”

“Watch it,” Major said in a low voice. Since he’d served so much longer than I had, he’d experienced military prejudice more than I had. It still shocked me. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Did you serve in Vietnam or not?” he asked. His tone was loud enough to draw the attention of his friends from around the nearest pool table. They wandered over and stood behind him, eyeing us. “Did you kill innocent people for no good reason or not?”

The faces of the men we’d killed were nothing compared to the faces of all the American soldiers we’d saved. All the young men who’d gotten to return home to their families because of Major’s phenomenal command of a medevac operation. I started shaking with anger and a little bit of fear. If those men wanted a fight, I would stand no chance.

Major stood up slowly, towering over the man despite Randy’s muscular frame.

“Please leave us in peace,” he said slowly and calmly. “If your issue is with me, you’re welcome to find me another time when I’m not out with these nice ladies.”

“Peace isn’t something you’d know much about, is it, LT?” The man spat at Major’s feet, and that was enough for me. I stood up and hauled my fist back, but Major grabbed my elbow before I could take the swing. His other arm came around my waist and hauled me back.

“None of that,” he said low enough for only me to hear. “We’ll just get out of here and go somewhere else.”

There wasn’t really anywhere else. We were a one-horse town that rolled up its sidewalks at eight on the dot.

I pulled out of his grip, still angrier than hell. “No. We’re not leaving. We served our country while these pissants stayed home and did shit-all. They have no idea what it was like over there!” My voice wobbled and cracked, and I could tell by the look on Major’s face that he thought I was going to lose it.

He was right.

“C’mon, ladies,” Major said to Deb and Bonnie. “We’ll drop you at home.”

The girls started scooting out of the booth when Deb batted her eyelashes at my… major. “Let’s go back to your place and continue the party.”

Maybe he wanted to poke a stick at Earl or maybe he was willing to agree to anything just to get us out of there, but Major nodded. “All right, let’s go.”

Thankfully, Randy and his thug friends let us leave without further incident. We made our way out to the car and drove back to the ranch in relative quiet. It wasn’t until we parked outside of Major’s house that I realized what a mistake this was.

How in the world were we going to take these two into the house without raising false expectations of more than a few drinks?

Well, it turns out one option was to concentrate too much on the drinks. Within an hour of sitting around the kitchen table talking and listening to music—and drinking screwdrivers—I was a few hairs past a freckle.

Bonnie was giggling and leaning into me. Somehow her chair had gotten progressively closer to mine over time. At one point Deb had pulled one of Major’s big hands into her two small ones to “read his palm” which I assumed was Deb-speak for getting his sexy mitts on her.

I ignored it and doubled down on talking to Bonnie until Major’s growl caught my ear.

“It’s time I drove you ladies home.”

I blinked at him and found him staring at me. I knew that look. That was the look that told me to get naked and wait in his bed.

“I think maybe I need to lie down. Ladies, will you be very mad at me if I don’t accompany you home?” I tried pulling the puppy dog face.

Bonnie looked disappointed but rallied anyway. “Will you walk me out?”

Oh hell.

“Um, sure.” I followed them out to the truck and thanked them profusely for a nice night. When it was clear Bonnie was waiting for a kiss, I leaned in and kissed her cheek. Not daring to look at Major, I waved and turned for the house. As soon as I got to the bedroom, I stripped down and jumped under the covers to wait. I was asleep within seconds.