“Wait!” She growls. “How do you know my name?”
“Mick told me.”
She nods her head absently and my eyes follow those rusty red curls when they slip across her bare shoulder. Her top fits her like a second skin, the low neckline drawing my eyes like a bull’s-eye. If only she wasn’t married.
I start to turn away and then turn back to her. “I’m Jaxon, by the way. It’s only fair since I know your name.”
She nods her head but doesn’t smile.
I turn away from her again and then spot another beautiful woman smiling at me at the bar. I don’t feel the strange pull to her that I feel for Aspen but I’m an asshole but I have some scruples. And married is a line I won’t cross.
I head back to the bar instead and sit down, knocking on it to get Mick’s attention. He grins at me and I nod back at him. Within a minute he plunks a new beer in a mug in front of me.
“Told ya, man.”
“You didn’t tell me she was married.”
His brows scrunch together. “Is that what she told you? She’s not married, man. She lost her husband and her best friend in that wicked crash last year. The one that was on all the news last Christmas. Two of the guys that were on maneuvers were due to go home to her for Christmas.”
“Oh…shit. No, she didn’t tell me that. I saw her wedding band.”
“Ah. Yeah. Takes some people awhile to get rid of stuff like that.”
I know the name of that game myself. Not that I’ve ever lost a spouse. But I lost both of my parents in a car crash when I was a kid and then I barely graduated from high school and was on my first tour and my grandmother died. She took care of me after my parents died and she was my rock.
Yeah. Sometimes death is hard to get over. I understand that.
I turn back and my eyes don’t run down the bar to the woman I can see out of the corner of my eye. She’s still watching me. But my eyes are locked on the redhead with the long curls and the sassy mouth.
One of the guys from the base waves at me where he’s playing pool with some of the other guys. I grab my beer and head over to them, slapping a couple of the guys on the back but my eyes never leave the vivacious redhead with the smart mouth and the sad look in her soft green eyes.
“You’re up, asshole,” Bingo grins at me as he picks up his own pool cue. “You can break.”
“Gee, thanks, buddy,” I growl and line up my shot, fighting to keep my eyes on the table and not try to catch another glimpse of the redhead.
All of the guys hoot when I take my shot and have one of the lousiest breaks I’ve ever seen in my life. Not one good shot.
Sighing, I line my cue up with the best hope I have. The striped five ball. Taking another deep breath, I let it out and let the noise all around me settle into my bones and disappear from my mind.
Snap!
All of the guys hoot when I miss the shot and I sink my head to my chest.
This is gonna be a long damn night.
CHAPTER 2
Aspen
“Iknow what you mean, Sherry. It’s a hard thing when you lose someone you love. I know it’s hard to get out of bed sometimes. But you have to remember that Paris needs you. She’s hurting too even though it’s not the same thing. He was her uncle. I know he’s your brother but he was still an important part of her life too. And she recognizes that you’re sad and hurt. It upsets her too.”
Everyone in the circle around me nods their heads. Bobby nods his head. “When Pam was killed, I had a helluva time getting going. But Scotty needed me. He needed me to get him up and moving. To hold him when he cried. And you know, sometimes it helped me too. I needed that connection.”
I smile. “That’s exactly right. The more you let other people in, the better you feel sometimes. You can’t close yourself off. It will only stunt your recovery.”
I should take my own advice. I’ve heard that time and time again from my mother, my sister even my father.
But it’s easy to say. And I had my great love. And a best friend that was everything to me. I lost both of them
