Since they’d eaten just before coming home, she really couldn’t imagine what it might be. “Cheesecake?”
His shoulders fell. “We had that at the banquet.”
She laughed. “I know. I give up.”
Blayze bent into a low bow before lifting his chin a bit. He looked at her severely through his lashes. “I present to you… le croissant.” He’d used a French accent for effect.
Sophia gasped, touching both hands to her cheeks. “Le croissant.”
Blayze lifted the champagne glasses off the tray and poured Pepsi into each. He lifted a strawberry by the stem and dangled it over the glass with a lifted brow.
She grinned. “Why not?”
At once he released the stem, sending the bright berry into the drink with a plunk. He did the same with his before joining her back on the couch. A bit closer this time.
“Thank you.”
“So, tell me how you’re doing, after having just lost your mom,” she said before taking a sip.
“I guess I’m doing all right. It’s different from the way you lost your mom,” he said. “Since my mother had cancer, we’d known it was coming. Guess that gave me time to grieve before she was even gone. But at least I got to say my goodbyes. All of us did.”
“Thank you for putting up with my hectic schedule.” She remembered herself once more. “I don’t know why I make comments like that to someone who’s been through what you have. Maybe I need it drilled into my head. Can you tell me about your best day out there? And if you don’t mind, one of your worst? I’d like to get a glimpse of what you guys really do out there on our behalf, so I don’t take it for granted.”
Blayze set his drink down and lifted a bent leg onto the couch. “Best day, huh? Okay…” His brow furrowed, softened, then lifted. “All right. We were overseas, of course. Me and my Navy SEAL brothers from Team 7 had been choppered into this remote area where eight military officers were being held hostage. We received word they were ready to negotiate, so we went in there, unannounced of course, armed and prepared to use force if necessary.”
He draped an arm over the top length of the couch as he continued. “We lost connection with our commander, which was terrifying because he was supplying a translator. I’d gone through brief courses on a handful of Middle Eastern languages, but in making negotiations, one misunderstanding can be fatal.”
Sophia gulped hard. “That makes sense. So, you were supposed to do the negotiations?”
“Yes,” Blayze said. “That’s what I specialize in. Hostage situations, negotiations.”
“You seem like you’d be good for that,” she said. “You’re good at staying level headed, from what I can tell.”
He gave her a soft smile. “It’s a pretty long story, actually. And possibly a boring one with the way I’d tell it. But there was a moment when we huddled together, the sixteen of us. This guy named Cannon, used to be a chaplain, lifted a prayer to the man upstairs asking Him to give me the words to communicate. If there was a word I needed to speak to get our men set free, Cannon asked that it would come to my lips.”
The memory caused an air of awe in him even then. He licked his lips, lifted his gaze back to Sophia. “Let’s just say those words were heard loud and clear. And with God’s help alone, we were able to free all eight of those hostages.”
“Wow,” Sophia said. “Sounds like a miracle.”
Blayze nodded, his eyes turning dim suddenly. “As for the worst… we were working to free a family in the Philippines. Another hostage situation, only this one turned ugly fast. I mean, I’d barely gained communication with the hostiles when gunfire broke out. It had been a set up for an ambush all along.”
Sophia took in the reverence settling over the room. Sensing the severity of his loss. His pain.
“We had this kid on our team named Doug. He was the youngest, kind of like our younger brother. We razzed him like big brothers should. Joked that he was inexperienced with women, that he was still going through puberty, the whole nine yards. But we all…” He paused there, cleared his throat. “We all loved him the most too, I think. It was hard not to concern myself with him while we were on a mission. I’d check in with him more than the others, make sure he was safe. But this day… and he’d made it that far. Was just days off from finishing his term. And then that…”
She already knew what he’d say. Could feel it in the heavy ache in her chest. “He didn’t make it?”
Blayze had his eyes set blankly on something across the room. He shook his head. “No. It’s no surprise that the sound of gunfire triggers PTSD among vets. I had my share of takedowns. Times where I had to shoot, kill to keep me and my team alive. But what that sound triggers for me is an image of Doug— a kid with more energy than the sun—turned lifeless. Never to live the life he’d hoped to live.”
Sophia smeared tears from her face and sniffed. “I’m so sorry for your loss,” she said. “I can’t imagine the heartache you all must go through.” She made a resolution to herself then. “I never want to forget this. I don’t want my futurechildrento take the liberties we have for granted.” She scooted toward him on the couch, reached out and sandwiched one of his hands in hers. She brought it to her lips then pressed a kiss to the knuckle of his thumb. “What you did matters. What Doug did matters. And I truly thank you for it.”
She loosened her grip on his hand, lowered it onto the small space between them. In the moments that ticked on, the air changed. She’d experienced spurts of chemistry between the two of them before. Moments where the attraction morphed into a life force of its own. It was happening again. Only with the story he’d just shared, the passion she’d sensed in him, that sensation had grown and swelled.
And that was just it. Men like Blayze Brockton didn’t have to stand up to a pulpit to prove or express their devotion. They’d risked it all. Put themselves on the line. Bled their devotion in the literal sense. Something about the realization made the moment feel all the more right. He was someone worth falling for. Investing in. Maybe losing her heart over.
She dared herself to lean in, softly, slowly. Testing as she looked up at his lips. She cupped his jaw, released a shaky breath, and brushed her mouth over his, the slightest touch.So good.
Blayze slipped a hand around her wrist, the contrast in size making her feel delicate—but not weak. He never made her feel weak.
