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“Apart from the fact that I hate the idea of being on a shooting range seven days a week, it’ll take me a lot longer to pay it off that way. There’s a big difference in the money.”
She wrinkled her nose, then she opened her mouth to speak and then closed it again. When I gave her an encouraging nod, she blew out a breath. “Have you talked to your dad about filing bankruptcy so you don’t have to bear this burden?”
I shrugged. “Uh, no. That’s not really something we’ve considered. He’d hate that.”
“I bet he hates that you’re killing yourself to pay down his debt.”
This made me chuckle. “Lyn, to be fair, it hasn’t been a hardship before now.”
“Oh, brother. What am I going to do with you?”
I leaned forward, wagging my brows. “Kiss me.”
She met me in the middle of the table, a scarlet blush caressing her cheeks. When her lips brushed over mine, it felt like something clicked in my brain that everything would be all right.
Until she pulled back and glared at me. “So, um, did your dates—sorry,clients—for this weekend pay extra for kissing?”
“Well, as you know, it’s not always something that we account for in advance. Sometimes it’s a spur-of-the-moment, camera in your face, kinda thing.”
She rolled her eyes with a low laugh. “Oh, brother.”
“Hey, I’ll put a new kissing clause in the contract.”
“What will it say?”
“No kissing, under any circumstances,” I told her. “Even if it makes things weird in front of the people we’re trying to fool.”
Narrowing her eyes, she considered this. “Why would you do that?”
“Because I can’t imagine kissing anyone but you?”
“Aw, swoon,” she said, sarcasm dripping from her tone, though her lips were pulled up into a smile.
I grinned. “Okay, you wanna know the real reason?”
“Yes.”
“Because kissing anyone else would be gross?”
The smile widened. “You’re getting closer.”
“Fine. Because I’m afraid you’ll think kissingmeis gross if I kiss someone else.”
Poking me in the shoulder, she leaned away again. “That’s the one. And it’s very true. I would think that.”
* * *
Istepped out of the office with way more energy than when I’d gone in. My package had been approved, and not only that, but I got my wish. Parris Island, South Carolina for another three years. It felt so good I wanted to shout it from the rooftops, but I refrained, because that would be weird.
But I couldn’t wait to tell my pops. And Lyndi, too. I could call her now, but I felt like I needed to see her reaction in person. Over the last two weeks since her cousin’s wedding—with all of our feelings being out in the open and not marred by fear on either side—watching her face while we talked or laughed or after we kissed had become one of my favorite pastimes.
She’d completely let her mask fall away as quickly as I’d let mine go, and every day I got to know her even better than the day before. Even through texts while we were both at work or if she was home in Bluffton while I was in the barracks over here. Which had been great to experience, since until today, I’d been low-key worrying we’d have to spend the next three years only communicating by phone. It’d been good to feel like that wouldn’t be too bad after all.
But this was much better, of course.
When I stepped onto the range, Grant greeted me with a curt nod because there were recruits all around us. “Hey, how’s it going?”
I beamed at him, no need to look stern in my position. “Great, actually. I just found out my package was approved.”
