"She...we became good friends."
"Looks like Lancelot broke his own rule about leaving a girl behind. Oh, how the mighty have fallen." Howie made a crude gesture. "Sounds like hegot luckywith his cousin's new sister-in-law."
A series of chuckles rippled through the room.
"Knock it off." Damon pushed past Howie and headed to his bunk.
"So do we get to see what this Grace looks like?" Romeo was off his bunk now, blocking Damon's path.
Damon's shoulders sagged. He knew this would happen. He just didn't think he'd have to deal with it so soon.
He pulled his phone out and sent the picture of him and Grace in the elevator to Howie. He'd keep the other pictures with better lighting, including the ones at the wedding, to himself. "That's Grace. The stranger I kissed in the elevator." He dropped his phone back into his pocket.
Howie let out a whistle as he studied his phone. "She's a hottie. But you were supposed to kiss astranger, not your cousin's new whatever."
Irritation made Damon's shoulders hike up.
"Shewasa stranger when I kissed her. I wasn't introduced to her until the next day."
Romeo pressed his shoulder against Howie's to get a good look at Grace. "Oh yeah, I'd kiss her in a heartbeat."
"I'd do a lot more than that with a babe like her." Howie's grin turned to a leer as he continued to study Grace's picture on his phone.
And that's why Damon didn't want the guys to know about Grace. He closed the distance between him and Howie in twolong strides. Grabbing the front of his shirt, he shoved him against the wall.
"If you ever talk about Grace like that again, I will break your nose, do you hear me?"
King and MacDonald were on him in an instant, pulling him off Howie.
Damon's eyes never left Howie's face that had turned beet red as he let the others drag him backward.
McDonald stepped into his line of sight. "Go take a shower and cool off, man."
"Yeah." He shot another scowl at Howie before grabbing his Dopp kit and walking out of the room.
Before the door closed behind him, he heard King turn on Howie. "When are you going to grow up?"
"How's your mom doing?"Damon watched Grace's face on his phone to see how she was coping with what her mom was going through.
"Not great." A frown marred her features. "She got out of bed and visited with your mom for a few minutes yesterday, but then she went right back to bed."
"Did she eat anything?"
"Very little."
They continued to talk about Grace's job and his family while he waited for his CO’s order to load up. The knowledge that he'd soon get on a plane and fly almost ten thousand miles away from Grace constricted his chest to the point he could hardly breathe.
Desperation filled him as the first of the soldiers walked onto the plane. "Promise me you won't fall in love with someone else while I'm gone."
She laughed. "For an Army Ranger, you have low self-esteem."
"My self-esteem is fine. I just don't want some guy to turn your head and make you fall for him."
"Like whom?" Grace's giggle made his heart skip a few beats. "There aren't exactly a lot of single men around here."
"Zack Hastings is recently divorced and on the prowl, from what I hear."
"On the prowl?" Grace quirked a brow at her phone. "Who is Zack Hastings?"
