“The spook. He was making coffee…”
“Right. I remember now.”
Daniel’s face darkened, and he spun, walking out of the room. I rolled my eyes. It’s not like I could say, ‘You mean the guy I fucked last night, and this morning. That Daniel?’
“Okay, I’m booking it down the coast. I’ll be there shortly. See you on base.”
Parker hung up before I could say anything else. Checking the time on the alert I received. I called the number in the alert.
The operator answered, “Hello, Petty Officer Madison. I have you checked in.”
“Thank you. Is there…”
“No. You are good.”
“Okay. Thank you.”
The operator hung up. I laid the phone down and set a timer on my dive watch. Gathering my clothes from around the room, I pulled on my underwear and pants while deciding if I should confront him or not. He walked into the room as I tugged my shirt over my head.
He paused, huffed a sigh, before saying, “You don’t have to…”
“Are the two of you together?” I asked, interrupting him.
Daniel shook his head, his lips pressing together to turn down, but then said, “What do you mean?”
“I may be younger than you by several years, but I’m not a kid and I’m not fucking stupid.”
“No one said you were.”
“If you’re not together…”
“I’m not dating anyone. I’m single.”
Was that a deflection? I’d been in this apartment twice. There were no indications he had a boyfriend. None.
Other than my team leader knowing where he lives and Daniel knowing Parker’s number by heart.
Not sure how to respond, I pivoted. “I’m going to head upstairs. I need a shower.”
He pointed behind him. “There’s one a few steps away. You might remember fucking me in it last night.”
Ignoring him, I finished dressing, tucking in my shirt, doing up my pants, then sat down and pulled on my boots. When I stood, Daniel leaned on the edge of the dining table, legs crossed at the ankles, arms folded over his chest.
“I’ll see you on base,” I said before walking out.
CHAPTER 12
DANIEL
September,11, 2001
The door clicked open, then slammed shut, and he was gone. Rising to my feet, I moved to follow him, but stopped when the clock on the wall caught my gaze.
“Fuck!”
I turned back to the bedroom. If we were getting spun up, I’d need my go bag, too. Xander kept my head spinning like a top through dressing and packing. Hell, for as much as I felt his presence on the drive to base, he might as well have been sitting his fucking ass in my passenger seat.
The world passed by in a silent blur of black dotted with glowing spots of white, green, and red outside the windows of my car. Like the lights that streaked by, emotions and thoughts raged so fast I couldn’t identify them. At least not well. Nor could I grab on to just one, and the ones that did land only fucked with me. The hotter-than-hot sex, the banter, the way he went from shy to domineering, hell, even the Daddio shit—it all combined in my head to make Xander the first guy I felt I could possibly build something with—something long, steady, lasting.
