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Everything seemed to point toward the base. A few tall apartment buildings were adjacent to it and provided housing for many of the soldiers who weren’t assigned quarters within the facility.

The main roads all bordered Schofield, and her earliest memory of the base were the enormous eagles standing guard on either side of one of the gates. They seemed really imposing, in her head they were bigger than the Fu Dogs that stood guard outside of certain buildings and temples.

But Heath’s house near KBay was a duplex in the middle of a housing area that looked, well… like a house.

He pointed her toward a guest spot, and she pulled the car in. As she got out, she looked at the spots directly in front of the duplex.

“They’re all backed in.”

“Hmm?”

She looked across the top of the car at him. More than a little embarrassed. “Oh, nothing.”

He turned his head in the direction that she’d been looking before setting the package on the hood. “It’s a thing we do to make leaving faster.”

Mari ducked into the back seat and brought out the cat carrier. When she’d closed the door, she moved around to the front of the car.

Heath had his keys in one hand and the takeout bag in the other. “You want me to take her?”

She shook her head. “You’ve got the food and the keys. I’m good with the shrimp.”

As if she knew they were talking about her, Ebi yowled again and swept a paw out through the bars.

Heath smiled and her heart fluttered in her chest.

Wow.

That’s all it takes?

A smile?

Maybe Reiko was right, she needed to get out.

“You can bring her inside. Nothing inside is breakable.”

Startled from her thoughts, she followed him toward the door. “Are you sure?”

The door opened quickly even though he just used the one hand and she followed him inside, looking around.

The interior was cool. Either they had a good air conditioning system, or the temperature of the area was just that amazing.

Looking at all of the furniture that she could see from where she was standing, everything looked comfortable and clean. Heath and the others who lived there were good at keeping things clean and well kept.

She would really hate to see what kind of damage that Ebi could do to the peaceful interior of this house. “If you want, I can keep her in the carrier and-”

“Let her out as long as she doesn’t eat through power cords.”

They’d just walked into the kitchen when he’d said that and turned around to look at her.

Holy Moly, her cheeks heated and she felt like she’d gone back in time to middle school. Blushing over the hot guy in her class.

“Don’t give her ideas,” she cautioned him. “I’m beginning to wonder if she’s the reincarnation of my elementary school bully.”

“Yeah?”

She shrugged. “Then I remember how wonderful she was for my parents, and I know that’s not the case. That,” she explained, “and my school bully is still alive.”

She couldn’t help the shudder that came after that.