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“No accountin’ for taste, I guess.”
I snorted, and settled next him as he pushed off the ground with one foot, sending the swing into a slow rock.“Stop.You’re objectively gorgeous and you know it.”
I felt him smile against my hair.
We swung back and forth for a few moments, my head pillowed in the crook of his shoulder.
I lifted my hand to gently stroke the pad of my finger over the little bronze star pinned to his suit jacket.“How did you get this?”
He cleared his throat, and I felt his thumb stroke up and down my arm.“Meritorious service in a combat zone.”
“You were very brave?”
He nodded.“Yeah, that’s about the size of it, although, when something needs to be done, bravery doesn’t come into it.You gotta get it done.My unit was transporting some civilians to Kabul airport.We got ambushed.Not an unusual occurrence, but things had been quiet for a while, so we were hoping this would be an easy run.We defended the civilians, but some of my guys got wounded in the crossfire.Mack, from my unit, covered me while I pulled some of the soldiers into the safety of our Humvee, and then I went back out to shield the others as best I could with my own body until backup arrived.”
A shiver ran through me.“That must have been terrifying.”
“I was in charge at the time while our CO recovered.It was my job to protect them,” he explained.
The sunshine glinted off the medal.“I’m glad they honored you with this.”
He kissed my hair again.“Feels weird to wear the dress uniform, but I do if people specify it for stuff like this.Weddings,” he clarified.“But, it’s nice to pin this on if I wear a suit.Makes me remember the good times as well as the bad times.The camaraderie, all the jokes.The heat, goddamn, the heat over there.And then after, where there was less fighting and more humanitarian stuff.Evacuating people.Helping with medical aid.I’m glad I did it.All of it.Met some amazin’ people.A few I still keep in touch with.”
I slid my arm under his and entwined our fingers.I didn’t say that I was glad he’dstoppeddoing it, because if he was still serving, we’d never have met.
It was a selfish thing to think, but it went through my head anyway.
In a few days, I would have to leave, and everything would change.
“Rick?”
“Hmmm?”
I tilted my head up, and he shifted back so our eyes could meet.
“I feel like our time is running out so fast.”
He cupped my cheek, and stroked his thumb along my jaw, his touch gentle as the kiss of a butterfly’s wings.“I know.”
“I don’t know what to do.”
His gaze was soft.“Do you have to have all the answers right now?”
I laughed weakly.“It’d be easier if I did.”
Rick drew me close again and pressed a kiss to my forehead.“Maddie, I ain’t gonna make suggestions as to what you should or shouldn’t do.From what you told me in the diner, you’ve had a gut full of that.”
My heart squeezed.“Thank you.I have.”
He continued, the timbre of his voice intimate, compelling.“Instead, I’ll tell you that I want to spend as much time as possible with you while you’re still this side of the Atlantic, and that I wanna see youafteryou go back to England, too.”
My breath caught.I’d dreamed of him saying it, but hearing him say it wastop tier fantasy.
“And,” he added, “what you do with that information is up to you.”
ChapterTwenty-Five
It was a gorgeous wedding.
