If they shared his bed, she’d feel both warm and safe.
Talk about inviting trouble. He wasn’t the most beautiful man she’d ever met, but he had a rugged magnetism that could easily unravel all of her vows to stay independent.Not that she needed to be celibate forever, but she wanted to choose wisely. She wanted to take her time and get to know a man. To know that he liked her for who she was before getting naked.
She’d been desperate for love for so long that she’d done herself a disservice. The next time she had sex, she would know the man wantedallof her, not just her body for the night. Sure, there were noguarantees of a lasting relationship, but it would be a start.
She sighed. Her thirtieth birthday was a month away and she wasn’t even dating anyone. Not that thirty wasold, exactly—there were plenty of people her age who were still single—but she wanted marriage, kids, the whole fairy tale, and she wasn’t getting anyyounger, that was for damn sure. Five more years and a pregnancy would beconsidered high risk. What if she still hadn’t met someone by then?
Stop it. That was the kind of thinking that got her into trouble. For now she needed to focus on loving herself, and trust that the right man would appear when she was ready.
“Everything okay?” Jeff’s voice startled her. He filled the doorway from the bedroom, his hair adorably mussed. The loose cut of his CU shirt did nothingto disguise his muscular chest or flat abs. Track pants hugged his narrow hips and never-ending legs.
“Sorry.” Had she been sighing too loud? Making the loft creak? Shaking the RV as she tried to find a comfortable position? There was no such thing as comfortable when it was your brain that couldn’t relax. “Did I wake you?”
“No.” He shuffled into the kitchen, flipping on the light withoutoffering more explanation. Maybe she wasn’t the only one freaked out by the day they’d had. “I think I have some tea bags stashed in here somewhere. Want a cup?”
“I’d love some.” She sat up, tugging the bedspread around her shoulders. Despite the clothes he’d loaned her, she couldn’t get warm. Her breath was no longer visible, but the RV wasn’t exactly toasty. And yet, Jeff stood barefoot onthe linoleum, seemingly oblivious to the cold. “Thanks.”
He started an electric kettle and leaned against the far wall with his arms crossed, emphasizing the cut of his biceps. “Can’t sleep?”
“It’s too quiet.”
A deep, startled laugh escaped him. “You’re such a city girl.”
“Yes. I am.” Defensiveness straightened her spine. “I like the noise and the crowds. You’re never alone in the city.Out here…” She glanced toward the side window and shivered. “It’s so isolated.”
He shook his head. “We’re not even in the country. There’s literally a massive shopping center maybe two hundred yards that way,” he said, gesturing to his right.
“I know, but being nestled back here in the trees makes itfeellike we’re in the middle of nowhere.” She crossed her arms. “Excuse me for not beinga good little camper.”
He approached the bunk, his rich brown eyes level with hers as he hooked his hands on the edge of the platform. “I apologize. I sometimes forget not everyone needs to escape the city as much as I do.”
Warmth spread from her chest and up her neck. “Have you always been like that?”
He shifted back, still holding on to the loft, his gaze straying to his hands. “Prettymuch. I grew up in Colorado Springs, so the mountains were right there, always waiting. I even enjoyed Afghanistan on occasion.”
“Really?”
“Really.” He met her gaze again, the muscles of his lean forearms rippling. “When we weren’t being shot at or dodging IEDs.”
She shuddered. Weren’t they always being shot at and dodging improvised explosive devices? “Why’d you join the Air Force?”
He hesitated for a beat. “I was sixteen when 9/11 happened. I had some vague sense of patriotism, I guess, and the Air Force has a large presence in Colorado Springs, so I had a lot of friends whose parents were in the service.” He shrugged. “The money for college didn’t hurt either.”
Finally, something he was willing to share.
“How’d you end up in Combat Weather?” She cocked her head. Whyhad she never asked him about this? “In fact, what does that even mean?”
His grin set her heart fluttering like a flag in the wind.Danger, Tara Fujimoto. This man was all wrong for her. She could probably finagle her way into his bed—and would very likely enjoy her time there—but she’d hate herself, and him, for it later.
“I was assigned to meteorology out of Basic, but when AFSOC—that’sAir Force Special Operations Command—came recruiting, I signed up. Science, danger, guns. What’s not to like, right?”
She raised an eyebrow.
“Technically, we’re called Special Operations Weathermen now. Basically, we’re trained to be meteorologists, but we also go through all the commando training like PJs so we can infiltrate ahead of a mission for, say, Delta, or the SEALs, to ensure theweather and environment are good for a mission.”
Tara had never thought of the weather when it came to special forces missions. “Like to make sure it’s not going to rain?”
“Well, sand storms were a big problem for visibility in the Middle East theater. And you don’t want to drop guys into a zone in extreme winds, or lead Marine recon troops into a blizzard or flood. All of the seasons canbe brutal in the some of those places, so we help determine the timing, the routes, and the method of insertion by forecasting the weather conditions.”
