“I…” His words stuttered, as a memory threatened to pull him under.Jenny’s look of horror at seeing him.The word ‘monster’ ringing in his ears.
“Carson,” a sweet angelic voice called him from somewhere far away and pulled him back to the present.He found himself staring down into a pair of eyes as deep blue as the ocean that he used to love sailing on.He could get lost in their depths.“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” he replied gruffly.
“Where did you go?”Her eyes bore into his, willing him with her mind to confess his deepest, darkest secrets.Something he could never allow.
“Nowhere, I’m right here.”He maintained eye contact.SEAL training kicked in to give the lie truth.He had been tortured before.Some of the most unimaginable pain he’d ever experienced to get him to talk, and nothing had worked.One look from her beseeching eyes made him want to confess all.He didn’t like it.
“That’s not what it looked like.”Allie was too observant for his peace of mind.
“Let it go, Allie.”His tone didn’t broach for debate.It wasn’t a conversation he wanted to have with her.
She looked like she wanted toargue, but nodded instead.“What about your bruises?”
He looked down at his arm and sure enough, several large round bruises were starting to form from his forearm to his bicep.Those little shits had had too much fun shooting him.He would have given Allie grief for recruiting them if she didn’t look so upset about it.“The bruises aren’t so bad.”
Allie raised one eyebrow, looking miffed with him.“Are you doing the macho man thing when something hurts, but you’re playing it off because you’re a guy and men are invincible?”Just like that, the tension was broken.How did she do that?One minute he felt panic setting in, and the next, she acted like nothing had happened.
“Know a lot of those do you?”He couldn’t help but tease.He’d been enjoying their banter over the past week.It was usually via text, but the effect was the same.Carson felt at ease with Allie, except when she was focused on his scars.
“Older brothers, remember?”
Oh yeah.The cops and firefighters.Did they have the hero complex she’d accused him of?She’d mentioned cops and firefighters specifically, so he had to wonder.
“No, I’m not playing it off.It hurts a little, but not enough to need anything but time for them to heal.”He was no stranger to pain and bruises.Nothing was injured more than his pride.
“I’m so sorry.”She looked up at him with big puppy dog eyes.For some odd reason, he wanted to kiss her and lift that frown into a smile.Would that even make her smile?Why was he even wondering this?He didn’t date.They were just…friends.He didn’t know what to call them.Friends sounded good though.
“It’s fine.”His voice was gruff and felt dry, like he had inhaled dirt.He took a step back, putting space between them, grabbing a shirt and quickly covering himself.“Where do you want to go for lunch?”he asked, closing the back door to open the passenger one for her.
“Do you like Chinese?”she asked, stepping up on the running board and hopping in.
“I do.”
“Perfect.I know a great place on Sahara Avenue.”
Carson made a mental map in his head.“I know the area.”
Chapter 8
Allie pretended to look over the menu.She always got the same thing at Chinese restaurants, so she didn’t need time.She was using the menu to give her time to think.She had so many questions she wanted to ask Carson but knew they might not be welcome.She normally wasn’t a nosy person, but she wanted to learn more about him.To understand him.She found him to be an intriguing man.
Which was funny, since a week ago she never wanted to see him again.Over the past week, she had learned there were many sides to Carson.He was sensitive, charming, funny, competitive, and could, of course, be very serious.
She liked fun Carson the best.Even when he was getting attacked by those adolescents, he’d looked like he was having fun.
She had seen a genuine smile on his face.Allie had watched him when she’d snuck off and formed the alliance with those kids—a decision she regretted now.He had stealthily lowered himself down from that platform.Observed the grace and strength he had used to make a silent entry.
Allie could see him in his element as a SEAL.He still had the physique.It was hard to see why he had gotten out.He was thirty-six.Close to retiring age for that line of work, but he looked like he was still in great fighting shape.
She had noticed his right arm straining at times as if he couldn’t lift it too high, but that shouldn’t be a reason for him to get out.He could still be a trainer or something.Admittedly, she didn’t know much about military life and all it entailed.
“You stare at that menu any harder, you’re going to bore a hole through it.”
Allie lowered her menu down to look at Carson, who was still looking at his own menu.“Everything looks so good; I don’t know what to get.”
His brown eyes rose to look at her.It was as if they could reach straight into her soul and pry all of her secrets out of her.Not that she had any.She was a pretty open boring book.“We both already know you’re getting sweet and sour pork and a side order of dumplings and crab cheese wonton.What I can’t figure out is where you put it all away.”His eyes roamed over her, though in her seated position, she knew he couldn’t see much of her.
