Piece of My Heart (Fostering Love 4)

“Thank you for what you did earlier,” I said, glancing at him.

“Of course,” he replied, flexing his fingers on the steering wheel.

He didn’t say anything else, and the silence stretched into awkwardness while I searched for something to say.

“I thought you told Sean that someone named Clover was going with you?” I finally asked, grasping at straws.

“That’s Keegan,” Alex replied. “His name’s Keegan Clovis.”

“But you call him Clover?”

Alex grinned and glanced at me before turning his gaze back to the road.

“You can’t smile like that and not tell me why,” I said, turning my body toward him a little.

“It goes back to when we first met,” Alex said. “Me and Clover both got stationed here around the same time, and as the new guys, we didn’t have many friends, you know? So we exchanged numbers, planning to hang out at some point, but that same night I get a call at like two in the morning.” He looked at me again, and I felt my heart do this weird thump. He was really gorgeous. “Turns out, the caller is Keegan. He asks me to come pick him up at some house off base. I bitch and moan, but I do it, right? The guy doesn’t know anyone but me, and I can’t just leave him stranded.”

“That was nice of you,” I replied.

“Oh, it was worth it,” Alex said. “I get to this house and all the lights are off, and I’m wondering what the hell is going on. I just happen to glance at the field across the street, and there’s Keegan, doing a little shimmy in nothing but a pair of cowboy boots, using a hat to cover his junk.”

“No,” I said, laughing.

“Oh yeah. Turns out the lady was married, and Keegan had to bail out the window bare-assed naked.” Alex laughed.

“But where did the name Clo—oh,” I said as it all became clear. “He was standing in a field of clover, wasn’t he?”

“Yep,” Alex answered as he pulled into the parking lot. “Kind of perfect that his last name was Clovis.”

I laughed. “What do you two do in the Army?” I asked as he parked and we climbed out of the truck.

“Nothing exciting,” he said with a laugh. “I’m just a grunt—infantry.”

“I have no idea what that means,” I confessed.

“I’m just a soldier,” he said with a grin as he gestured for me to walk into the store ahead of him. “That’s my specialty. Nothing fancy.”

Alex seemed to know where he was going, so I followed him to the coolers in the back and stood there while he loaded cases of beer into the shopping cart. He didn’t let me carry anything or pay, but he refused so politely that I couldn’t even argue. I’m a strong, independent woman who works out occasionally; I could’ve easily helped him load beer into the bed of his truck, but I kind of liked the fact that he held my door and helped me inside the cab before loading everything. It was so unassumingly sweet.

“You doing okay?” Alex asked as we headed back toward Hailey and Sean’s. “You know, after all that shit earlier?”

“Yeah. I’m okay,” I replied, turning my head to watch him as I remembered how he’d thrown that guy against the wall. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“Yes, I did,” he said. He reached up and scratched where a five-o’clock shadow darkened the side of his face. “I can’t stand that kind of stuff, and if no one does anything, then guys like that think they can keep doing it.”

“He seemed pretty wasted,” I murmured.

“Don’t do that,” Alex said softly. “Don’t make excuses. It doesn’t matter how drunk I am—I’d never touch some woman without making damn sure she wanted me to. No one else should do it, either.”

“I agree,” I said simply. “There’s no excuse.”

“Good.” Alex nodded. He reached out and flipped his hand palm up.

The calluses on his fingers rasped against my skin as I put my hand in his.

“See?” he said, shrugging as he gave my hand a squeeze. “Easy as that.”

I smiled as I watched his fingers thread through mine until his swollen knuckles pressed against my unblemished ones. His thumb slid gently back and forth over the back of my hand, and all my rules about distractions and my excuses for staying single flew out the window. I was pretty sure there was no way I’d ever be able to say no to Alex Evans again.

Chapter 3

Alex

I liked having Sarai in my truck, especially with her fingers wrapped around mine. I’d never really been a hand-holder, but this felt good. Easy. The dark cab of the truck made it feel like we were in our own little world. I glanced over at her profile and contemplated taking the long route back to the house but decided against it. I didn’t want to freak her out after the kitchen incident earlier.