Rhett shrugged. “He gets that military guys need this when they come home.”
Her brows shot up. “To fight each other?”
“To readjust to civilian life,” he countered. “You train for years in the military to be a fighter, to respond on instinct, to always be on the alert. It’s difficult to turn that off when you come home. This helps.”
“Oh,” she said. Then soft understanding crossed her face. “Okay, I guess that actually makes a lot of sense.” He liked how she seemed to get him. More than anyone else. “It’s good you all have this,” she added softly. “To come to a place to be together.”
Rhett gave a firm nod then tossed his hand wrappings into the trash can. He turned back to her and took a step closer. He saw the hitch of her breath, and fuck, he got that. Whenever he got close to her, his body responded. Being around her spoke to a very primal part of him. “Other than this, I’m either at work or with your brother and Asher or at a bar.” He took that last step, closing the distance between them, then glanced down into her pink-cheeked face as she looked up at him with those blue beauties. He tucked her hair behind her ear, and the way she leaned into his touch slowly unraveled him. “But there is one other thing I also do for fun.” He lowered his voice. “One other thing I’m very good at.”
Her lips parted, inviting him in for a kiss. But then she blinked, and the heat faded a little from her gaze. A sudden softness crossed her face that had him wondering what was on her mind. “Not interested tonight?” he asked.
“I never said that, but later.” She gave him a little push. “Go shower.”
He held his ground, not moving an inch. “Why?”
“Because you’re gross, sweaty, and stinky, and your mouth is still bleeding.” She tried to push him again. “I want to take you somewhere before I forget I want to take you there.”
He didn’t budge. “Is it going to involve that show you and Remy watch…Housewives of…something?”
“The Real Housewives of Orange County?” She stopped pushing and laughed softly. “No. Why would you even think that?”
“Because you and Remy talked about that show for two years straight.” It had been a punishment to everyone who had to endure it.
She rolled her eyes. “Okay, fine, we do love that show, but no, I’m not going to make you watch it.”
He grabbed her shirt and yanked her closer, loving the hitch of surprise in her breath. “Does it involve bubble baths?”
“No,” she rasped, wide-eyed.
He dropped his head and dragged his nose along her neck, drawing in her scent, which called to him on every level as a man. When he leaned away, he grinned at the heat burning in the depths of her eyes. He lifted an eyebrow. “Long talks about girly things?”
“Oh, my God, Rhett, you’ll see,” she said, giving him a final hard shove. “I promise it won’t be painful. Go.”
“All right.” He began to turn but then stopped to scoop her up in his arms.
“Hey!” she exclaimed.
“I’ll go shower,” he said with all the heat he felt burning between them. “But you’re coming with me.” And then his lips found her neck, permanently ending the conversation.
* * *
With a steaming hot chocolate take-out cup in her mitten-covered hands, Kinsley sat on a blanket next to Rhett on the tailgate of his truck an hour later, with another cozy blanket over her lap. Her body still hummed from their shower together, and luckily, no one had come in and disturbed them. Rhett wore his black winter hat and leather gloves. She, her cute slouchy winter hat. Acadia National Park was south of their location, but she’d taken him up the summit to a parking lot that led to one of the hiking trails.
“I gotta admit, I wasn’t expecting you to find this place fun,” he finally said after many long minutes of silence.
“Well, there’s probably a lot you don’t know about me.”
Unusual softness reached his eyes. “I’ve got no doubt that’s very much true.” He watched her a moment longer then asked, “Maybe we should change that, so why don’t you tell me what you love about this place so much?”
She tore her eyes off the stars shining down on the Atlantic Ocean. “It’s just…quiet. The type of silence I can’t find anywhere else.” She had started coming here when she was old enough to drive. When she really started dealing with her mom’s absence. The tourists didn’t know about this place, and for the most part, no one else came to this parking lot atop the mountain, unless they were hiking the trails throughout the day.
Rhett drew in a deep breath and exhaled a cloud, leaning against his leather-covered hands. “It is quiet. Peaceful.”
She nodded at him, figuring he would like this too. Rhett’s world seemed so small. Work, fight, go out with friends when they asked. Her heart couldn’t help hurting a little at that. Soldiers were brave and strong, and the world owed them a great service, but there was a price to be paid, and Rhett had paid that price. Hell, he was still paying it. “Whenever things get heavy, this just lessens that load.”
He tipped his head back and his gaze went somewhere else when he looked up at the sky. “If you like this view, you would love the stars in Afghanistan. I’d never seen so many stars like I did in the sky there.”
“God, over the desert, the sky must have looked so black.”