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“Just hers?”
“I admit I’m enjoying every second of this pampering. I’ve missed this kind of touch.”
“I know what you mean. On deployments, we go months without meaningful touch. We used to joke about designating Tuesday as Hugs Day—and we weren’t entirely kidding.” He wrapped his arms around her.
She reclined against his chest and ran her fingers over his forearms. Her thumb brushed over the four to five-inch raised scar she’d noticed on the underside of his forearm. That his muscles twitched served as a warning not to ask how he’d gotten it.
“Did you want to go in and have dessert?”
“While I appreciate you getting the cake, I told Piper to check in with me in the morning. With the time difference, I’ll probably hear from her at like five a.m. I should head home soon and try to get some sleep. Can I get a rain check?” She angled her face to kiss his jawline.
“Of course. Tomorrow, we can have a nice dinner and come back here for dessert.”
“I like that plan. Along with a couple more minutes of this.”
“Is that an order?”
“I don’t think you have to take orders from me.”
“Just remember, I’m conditioned to follow them, especially if the person issuing them has a certain objective in mind.”
His deep timbre and implied promise drew out a low, breathy laugh as she imagined his hands moving to other parts of her body.
ChapterFifteen
When Graham returned homefrom golfing and lunch on Saturday and saw Megan’s car in his driveway, his gut tightened. It wasn’t unusual for Megan to drop by, but her running into him at the game on Thursday gave him a good idea of why she popped in.
“I’m back here, Dad,” she called out to him.
He did a double take, seeing her wearing Bethann’s gardening gloves and pruning the rose bushes. She looked so much like her mother. “You don’t have to do that.” He motioned to the yard waste can next to her, half filled with clippings.
“It gave me something to do while waiting for you to get back. How was your golf game?”
“Not my best.” It’d probably been one of the worst since he started playing again after Bethann’s death. Today, he’d been distracted thinking about Erin. Hopefully, she’d heard from Piper that she was doing better. “Do you want to come inside and get something to drink?”
“Sure.” She pulled off the gardening gloves and followed him inside. “It was good to see you getting out, and I hope you enjoyed the game.” She started in while he poured them glasses of iced tea. “So, Erin? I thought she didn’t want to get married.”
“She doesn’t, but we enjoy each other’s company. A lot. I got to thinking about what Reece said about how if I were in a serious relationship, that could suffice, especially considering both Boatman and Thomsen were married.”
“Mightsuffice. There’s no way to know. If General McKittrick insists you follow through with getting married, what happens? Do you think she’ll change her mind?”
“That’s doubtful. But I did explain the situation. If we have to, we’ll announce an engagement and see how long we can string that out.”
“She’s willing to go along with this?”
He was going to have to come clean. “It’s a mutually beneficial arrangement. See, Erin is writing a TV series that involves the military. I’ve set things up for her to observe a Special Ops team.”
Megan cocked her head, and her eyebrows rose. “What’s to keep her from bailing on her end of thisarrangementafter she gets what she needs?”
“Nothing other than her character. Well, and she does like me. She did not seek me out. I pursued her. I would rather see how this turns out than try to fake it with someone I don’t enjoy being with as much as Erin.”
“But this could backfire, Dad. It’s not like you can fake a marriage. You’d have to produce a marriage certificate to get her a spousal ID.”
“We won’t take things that far.” Erin had made that clear. “If only marriage will suffice, we can break the engagement, and I’ll deal with whatever comes my way, even if it’s a permanent change of station until I retire. I can always come back here as a civilian contractor.”
Megan sighed. “I don’t want you to leave, but I don’t want to see you get hurt, either.”
“Sweetheart, nothing will hurt me as much as losing your mother. I understand seeing me with someone new might be hard for you.”
