I knew I would never meet a woman like Gretchen. She was smart and strong. Opinionated and sweet. Kind and thoughtful. I smiled, lathering my chest with soap.
I promised I would pick her up this afternoon and bring her back to the cabin for the night. I felt better knowing I could keep her safe. Tonight, I would tell her everything.
I reached for a towel and dried off.
I passed a family picture hanging on the hall. I felt a twitch in my chest. There were so many kids in the family when I was growing up. That’s what the Jacksons did. They had babies.
I thought about what Gretchen told me today. It was hard to adjust to the idea of having kids. I think it shocked me most when she told me it would be hard for her to get pregnant. I’d be lying if it didn’t make me fuck her harder. Try to root my seed deeper inside her. No babies meant no land. Was I really ready to try to be a father? Did I really want to get her pregnant, or could I blame it on my primal instinct to knock her up? I never backed away from a challenge. Was this another one? Fuck. Was I that competitive?
She did say it was possible to get pregnant, she would just need fertility treatments, and who knows what else. That wasn’t my area of expertise. Maybe one day when I was retired from Special Forces we could go down that road. In the meantime, I would figure something out to keep her. Because now that I had found her, I couldn’t let her go.
Fourteen
Gretchen
I let the water wash through my hair. The shower felt good. I smiled. I’d never had a night like the one with Brett. I loved how he took control of my body. It was unbelievable.
What was more unbelievable was that he was already making plans for tonight. I had assumed it was a fling. Two strangers letting out lonely frustration. Ending the loneliness for a night. But when I woke up this morning with his arms wrapped around me, I didn’t feel like it was a one-time thing. It felt deeper. I felt as if my body somehow belonged to him.
I turned off the shower and twisted my hair in a towel. Tonight, I’d be in his bed. It made me hot just thinking about it. I walked to my room to dress and pack. Brett said he would be back to pick me up in an hour.
Brett was always punctual. He knocked on my door an hour later.
“Hi.” I opened it like a lovesick teenager.
“Hey.” He grinned. “Ready?”
I nodded. He picked up my overnight bag and I locked the door behind me.
As we drove along the private drive, he kept looking at me. I smiled, wondering what was on his mind. My eyes drifted back to the road.
There was something behind his eyes I couldn’t figure out. For two years he had been part of a special operations unit. He couldn’t talk about what he did. It had to be weighing on him. The secrecy of his life. The requirement to keep things hidden. To live a secret life. How did he do it?
“All right. Here we are.”
He put the truck in park and grabbed my bag from the bed of the truck.
I smiled when he opened the door for me. “Thanks.”
He threaded his fingers through mine and led me up the front porch steps. “Home sweet home.” He pushed open the front door.
I had been here two days ago, but this was different. Then, he had been an unknown name on a volunteer project list. Today, he was the man w
ho had rocked my body until I was blazing embers in his arms.
“I’ll put your bag in the bedroom.” He walked down the short hallway.
I wondered what he had planned for our afternoon. He seemed anxious and preoccupied.
“Are you hungry?” he asked.
“Food does sound good.” I smiled. If Brett was about to cook for me, I would know I was witnessing a mirage. Men like him just didn’t exist in my world.
He turned for the kitchen. “I bought all these groceries the other day.” He stopped as he was about to open the refrigerator. “Wait. That’s who the anonymous caller was.”
“Huh?”
“You said an anonymous caller put my name on the list for the Help a Hero Program.”