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Chapter Two
Alex
Since I worked from home most of the time, I was used to getting deliveries. In fact, today, three packages had been delivered, and I opened the two priority mail envelopes first. I’d been expecting the contracts and was glad they had arrived. Everything was right on schedule.
I stared at the box for a moment, wondering what I’d ordered. It wasn’t the first time I’d forgotten something that I’d purchased and had an ‘oh yeah’ moment once I opened the box. Using the pocketknife that I always carried with me, I sliced the tape and peeled back the flaps.
I stared down at the contents and started to chuckle. “Well, damn, someone is going to have a rocking night.” I lifted each item and read the package, grinning more and more. “Fun times,” I said as I put them all back into the box and then looked at the label.
My name was on the label, but this was not for me. Was it prank from one of my buddies? I didn’t think so. I looked at the return address, and it wasn’t familiar. I did a quick search for it on the internet and came across a company that sold an enormous collection of sex toys. “Hmm,” I grunted and saved the link to my bookmarks. Never hurts to look later.
I tapped my thumb on the table for a moment, then slipped my knife back into my pocket. I took the box with me back out to the hall and returned to the mailboxes, scanning the faded name tags. “Bingo,” I said softly when I saw that there was indeed another A. Miller in the building on the third floor.
Taking the steps up to the third floor, I found apartment 303. I rapped lightly on the door and then thought I should just leave it and go. The door opened as I was setting the box on the ground, and I picked it back up as my eyes ran the length of the tan slacks in front of me.
Why I had thought that the owner of this box might have been a man was beyond me, but as my eyes got a look at the curves on the body in front of me, I knew it was most definitely not a man. I locked on to the questioning, big brown eyes that were watching me, and I froze.
Holy crap, this was Alex Miller? I’d seen her coming and going from the building a few times, and I never missed a chance to check her out. Her face was heart-shaped, and her long dark hair hung in waves over her shoulders. I’d hoped that eventually I’d get a chance to introduce myself to her, maybe ask her out for a drink, but I’d never gotten the chance—until now.
She was obviously miffed that I had opened her package, and when the female laugh exploded from the phone speaker, I had a feeling that the person on the other end of the line knew exactly what was inside. After explaining what had happened and proving I was who I said I was, I stepped farther back. The urge to ask her out was on the tip of my tongue, but then she was gone, and I frowned and returned to my apartment.
At least I knew her name now, and what apartment she lived in. I grinned. I also knew she liked to have fun. Now that was a girl that I would enjoy getting to know.
* * *
The next afternoon,I was leaving my apartment when I heard someone at the mailboxes and was happily surprised to see it was Lexi. She peered my way and quickly snapped her gaze back to the key that she was either trying to put in or get out. Were her cheeks turning pink? I chuckled to myself as I approached her.
“Hello, Lexi. How are you today?”
“Fine, thank you,” she replied softly. “Damn key!” she hissed as she tried to pull on it.
“Here, let me get that for you.” I stepped into her personal space, and she about jumped out of her skin. I held the door closed with one hand and turned the key. “You need to make sure the door is closed all the way.” I turned to her, and she was looking everywhere but at me.
“Yes, I know that,” she replied to my shoes.
I held her keys out, and she snatched them and began to step around me, her cheeks bright red. “Hey, Lexi.” She stopped but didn’t turn around. “I have some carrots in my fridge if you need them.”
She turned toward me, her forehead lined. “Carrots? Why the hell would I need carrots?”
I fought not to laugh. “Not for you. I thought your rabbit might be hungry.”
Her jaw dropped, and if it were at all possible, her cheeks turned a brighter red as she spun on her heel and began to run up the steps. I couldn’t hold it back anymore and started to laugh as I yelled up the stairs, “I was joking, Lexi. I’m sorry.”
Her response was to hold her hand up and give me the finger over her shoulder before she hit the landing and spun to the next flight.
“I could do that, too,” I said softly to myself as I headed out of the building to go meet my buddy for a drink. I found myself grinning like a kid as I walked down the street. Yeah, that comment wasn’t very nice, but it was a joke. Maybe she didn’t have a sense of humor. Too bad, because it sure would have been nice if she did.
I made it to the tavern where I was meeting my buddy and grabbed two seats at the bar. It wasn’t quite happy hour, and I knew that it would soon get busier. A slap on my back caught my attention, and I got to my feet. “Jump! Man, it’s good to have you stateside again.”
“You have no idea how good it is to be back, Shadow.”
I’d met Paul, known to our buddies as Jump, during my second deployment overseas. He was new at that time, and I had tucked him under my wing the first time out as we went under heavy fire. We’d saved each other more times than I could count, and God knew I owed moments of my life to him, as he did to me.
Six months ago, I retired after doing my twenty. It was scary as hell to walk away from it, especially since it was all I knew—but I was ready. I’d seen enough to last me a couple lifetimes, and I was only thirty-eight. Now, I was working with another buddy, Jake, aka Screamer, who had started Safety Zone Security to give basic firearms and tactics training to civilian contractors who were being deployed overseas by their companies.
“Oh, I know how good it is, trust me, Jump. It’s nice not to live in that world anymore, while still having ties to some of my brothers.”
“Yeah, I get it, but,” he took a seat and looked around, “civilian life is weird.”
