I cracked my neck, working out the kinks brought on by lugging heavy gear and constantly watching my back. As I reached for a bulky duvet cover, I felt a disturbance in the air, caught a whiff of sawdust and Old Spice. I turned to find August standing in the doorway, knucklesraised.
He froze. Without knocking, he slid his hand into the pocket of his sweatpants. “Your aunt told me I might be able to find youhere.”
Of course she did.“Did you come to tell me how stupid I amagain?”
Surprise carved his face. “I never said you werestupid.”
I grabbed the duvet cover, folded it in half, and thrusted it into the iron. I heard him approach…smelled himapproach.
“Ness”—his voice was on my neck—“I don’t think you’restupid.”
I didn’t turn. “So why are youhere?”
“I’m here to tell you that I’ve decided to return to activeduty.”
I let go of the duvet and whirled. “You’re going back outthere?”
“Just for a fewmonths.”
“Why?”
His eyes raked over my face. “I missit.”
“Is that why you broke up withSienna?”
“News travelsfast.”
“Isit?”
“It’s part of the reason. The other part is that she’s a sweet girl who deserves a goodguy.”
“And you’renota goodguy?”
“I’m not good”—he watched the rotary iron spin—“for her.” He wet his thick bottomlip.
I’d never noticed August’s lips before. He had really nicelips.
“Will you give me your phonenumber?”
“You want my number?” Ibreathed.
“Yeah. You know”—he smiled—“so I can callyou.”
“You’re not leaving because of me, are you?” I realized how conceited that sounded only after it popped out of my mouth. I raked my hair back. “You know, because you don’t want to see my ass handed to me.” A spot of heat spread over my jaw and throat and spilled into mychest.
Shut up,Ness.
Shut.Up.
A groove appeared between August’s eyebrows. “No,” he said after a long pause. “I just need to get away from Boulder for a while. I’ve been here for three years. I don’t like staying in the same place for long stretches. I have my entire life to grow roots, but until I have to, I’d rather runwild.”
“And going to fight in… Where are yougoing?”
“It’sclassified.”
“And going to fight is your idea of running wild? Why can’t you run wild in the Rockies or in theAppalachians?”
A smile grew on his face. “Worried aboutme?”
